Ministry Update

Sunday, the Lord allowed us to minister in Tabernacle Baptist Church of Hickory, NC.  The pastor of many years Phil Vos is quite ill with cancer right now and the church is being served by an interim pastor, Joel Spencer.  Bro. Spencer was one of the men who taught both Sarah and me when we were in college.  It was an interesting experience to preach for a former college professor.  The Lord blessed us with a man who walked the aisle to trust Christ as Savior in the morning service.  He had come from time to time in the past, being son-in-law to one of the people in the church.  It is always a blessing to see the Gospel take root in the lives of people.

Our trailer is in NC for the duration of the year, with various ministry opportunities around the area.  Thank you for all of your prayers for our ministry.

There is a significant answer to prayer that I would like to tell all of you about.  I have been praying that we could pay off our trailer and be out of debt.  It enables us to be free to take meetings in churches that can only afford to pay our fuel expenses and food for the week.  I had been praying for a certain number of people to give a certain amount toward paying off our trailer.  The first of those people gave a significant amount toward out trailer.  We are so grateful to God for the gift and we are praying that God will supply the rest of the need.

Family Update

We thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving Day.  My parents and Micah came for dinner at our house.  I say, our house, but really, we ate our dinner in the church, since there is not room for our immediate family to all sit at the table in the trailer, let alone several extra guests and a boatload of food.  Mom and I worked together to prepare the meal, and it was dee-lish!  This was the first time I had ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner, so it was an experience.  We had a lot of fun, and spent the day relaxing.  The next day, Mom and I went shopping together (a belated birthday excursion for me).  The crowds where we went were not bad at all, and the sales were great.  We had a good time looking at anything and everything we wanted to see.  This was a luxury for me, since Paul absolutely hates shopping, and when we do go shopping, I try to hurry and only browse minimally.  So, all in all, I had a wonderful day.  Paul was especially thrilled that he didn't have to endure the crowds of geriatric ladies at Hamrick's.  I almost laughed when I saw the "waiting area" at Hamrick's (just outside the dressing rooms).  It was full of frustrated, tired-looking men.  It was obvious that most of them would rather have been running with the bulls in Spain than shopping with the women in Gaffney. 

Healthwise, the family is doing very well, with the exception of Esther, who has a dreadful cold.  She seems to have caught everything this year.  I am thankful that even though she doesn't feel well, she is pretty happy most of the time.  She and Abigail are learning to play together better.  Well, perhaps I should say that Esther is learning to snatch toys with the best of them.  Abigail is getting back her own and more.  Abigail likes to be the "little mama" and tell Esther what to do.  Esther does not like to be told what to do, so many times she will "club" her sister with the most readily available object.  Sometimes this is a hand, sometimes a shoe, sometimes a toy, always a crisis.  The phrase I hear most these days is, "Mama, did you hear Esther hit me?"  I am not sure why Abigail always says "hear" instead of "see," but it makes it seem worse, doesn't it?

Abigail is now reliably potty trained!  Hooooray!  I never thought the day would come, but it has!  Celebrate with us!  She is growing up so much.  This is most evident in her speech.  She has charmed us with her little quirky phrases for so long and now we are starting to miss them.  For a while all of her r's were pronounced "oy."  It was amusing to hear her talk about something on the "floy" or someone knocking on the "doy."  One of the funniest things she ever said was when someone asked her what a lion said.  "ROY!"  She still says "lellow" (yellow) and "busketti" (Spaghetti), but her childish speech is beginning to fade.  Grab the Kleenex...

Esther is not talking very well yet, perhaps because she can rarely get a word in edgewise, but her vocabulary is growing.  She can say "more, hot dog, mama, shoe, go, eat, and me-me (baby)" along with a few other recognizable words.  Of course, she can also holler "NO" with the best of them.

Josiah has his first loose tooth.  He came in last week, all worried that something was wrong with his mouth.  After a brief inspection, I reassured him that it was just a loose tooth.  He is quite excited about losing it.  I told him about the time my mom tied a string to one of my loose teeth and tied it to the doorknob (as a joke).  Before she could explain to me that we weren't really going to carry through with the plan of action, I, trusting soul that I was, slammed the door.  I still remember her gasp, the slam of the door, the yank of the string, and the scream that escaped my lips.  For those of you with loose teeth, do not let your parents try this at home.  I will say that while it is a most effective way of removing unwanted teeth, there are much better ways of becoming toothless.  Josiah evidently pictured the whole thing in his mind, because he laughed hysterically when I finished telling the story.  So much for sympathy.  Our trailer doesn't even have a doorknob so I can carry on the tradition.  Oh, well.  Maybe I will think of some other form of extraction.  Any ideas???