Summer's Journey

We've been in Texas over eight months and I must be a bit nostalgic or something. Thank God that these deep feelings only surface every so often or I'd never get any work done.

Last night, as I was making jelly, I was remembering our dear friends in Colorado Springs. The fire was devastating and the Aurora killer an enemy's plot. It has been a tough time for many of our dear friends there.

We appreciate your continued prayer

for friends and family in Denver* / Colorado Springs.

I can't adequately express to you our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your love and prayers over this past year. We just plain miss seeing our friends and family. However, the memories are deeply embedded in our hearts. We thank God for such sweet memories!

Many of you have asked about Ernie. This week was a milestone. It has been about four months since Ernie’s spine surgery. Here's a picture of Ernie with John Zubro, FNP-C, Nurse Practitioner. Ernie still continues to have quite a bit of pain. Next week he starts seeing a Physical Medical & Rehab Specialist. We're hoping that he'll have the continued opportunity to learn more techniques to conquer the pain and muscle spasms. Ernie has had excellent health care and we certainly appreciate each of his doctors. However, his pain level is usually around a 4-6 (scale 1-10) even while taking all of his medications. The pain often brings him to a point of tears. Our prayer is that he’ll eventually be medication-free and relatively pain-free. Sometimes a 1-2 year recovery looks like a very l-o-n-g road. Nothing else could have brought us closer together and caused us to be so frequenting the Throne of God.

We appreciate your continued prayer on Ernie’s behalf.

In the past couple of weeks we bought a HUD home. It's in very poor condition. We'll have to clean and repair from top to bottom. The lot is large and the covenants few. We will have to replace stolen copper lines and toilets. The walls are strong. There is only one indentation in a wall to repair.

Our current plan is to move our 5th Wheel to the property, where we'll live for a year or more. The remodeling project will become a rehabilitation exercise starting with 1 hour of painting a day and gradually increasing as back and shoulder muscles are retrained. We still look to the day for Ernie to drive a hammer without pain. Lord willing, we'll eventually turn this home into a rental. It’s nice that the Lord found us this house for the needed therapy.

We appreciate your prayers for Ernie as he attempts this.

Please pray for the healing of his neck & shoulder muscles.

We've been working on retirement income and have found that rentals in TX continue to be a good investment. If Ernie has the strength, we're praying that the Lord will direct us in finding a couple more properties that will provide monthly income. There's much too much to share about the East Texas economy. Suffice to say that we're most thankful for God's grace here.

We appreciate your continued prayer for wisdom as we seek the Lord for next steps in this Texas chapter.

For quite some time, the Lord has given me a business model which can turn into a thriving mobile marketing business. If successful, the pattern can be duplicated. As I previously shared, the business has to do with marketing and emailing/texting my client’s customers to increase their business and reduce spoilage loss. As you may remember, I’m into marketing, networking with people, IT, and internet communications. So, with the Lord's grace, I still believe the Lord has given me the tenacity and technical know-how to implement this small business idea. We are praying that I can get this up and running soon. If I can aggressively go after the timeline, I hope that the business can be basically functional in 4-6 weeks. However, only the Lord knows these steps as Ernie’s needs always come first.

We appreciate your continued prayer on behalf of this business adventure, specifically for wisdom, tenacity, and technical & creative ability as I work to grow my business.

Everyone’s life style is a bit different. But, we’ve definitely found out in our lives that we’ll probably work on some project or another until we see the Lord face to face. Neither one of us are very good at leisure living.

We are getting connected to our new church home, Community Christian Fellowship (CCF). Ernie and I are helping with a new "Greeters" ministry. I think Ernie will eventually be helping with visitation and prayer, too. We are also thankful for CCF’s support of MyBible365.com. (Please check it out if you have time.) I recently created SharedServanthood.com, a new blog which represents a fledging ladies' group, which has been blessed by our home church. There are a lot of retirees in this area. So, we just want to encourage each other to run the race well to the end! Lord willing, once Ernie’s body heals, we’ll be able to commit with others in the church family to regular local and international missions trips, which have been our life-long dream.

I’m also working with my siblings and their children on a family blog, written from the point of view of 3 generations, helping us document what our family means to each of us. Eventually, we’ll turn the blog into a keepsake, should the Lord tarry. I’ll update you on this progress next time.

As we close, may I recommend to you two very challenging books. CrazyLove: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt. These books will not lull you into sweet memories. Rather, hopefully, they’ll help all of us stagger away from Christian mediocrity and walk determinedly into life-giving purposefulness, ready for the difficult, yet glorious days ahead. We’d love your feedback.

Thanks for praying!! Your prayers are greatly and deeply appreciated. How grateful we are for you! We love hearing from you anytime! Our new address is 16586 Timberwood, Lindale, TX 75771.

After we move, our cell phones will work much better! Praise the Lord! Our new phone number will be (903) 881-5951. I'll have my own DSL again! Ern and I are both looking forward to this opportunity! It's amazing at what now find to be the thrill of small impacts.

P.S. - Denver* = This is not a story of a personal friend. But, we always love hearing of the miraculous, even in the midst of the most tragic of circumstances.

April's Journey - All is Well!

We came home from Rehab Saturday morning, April 7th. Ernie had an escort of Kevin and all 5 grandchildren. What could make one feel better than that? Before lunch, we sat outside for at least an hour in the sun and just talked. So, all is well!

Per his instructions for at least 4-6 weeks, Ernie can move his head left to right about 5-10 degrees from center. He is not to move his head up or down. He cannot lift his hands above his shoulders and cannot tip or twist to pick up anything. No bending, lifting, twisting, or pulling. Right now, he could move much more than this; but, chooses to follow the Doctor's directions. Just remember that none of those restrictions keeps him from smiling and being thankful. Of course, Ernie has daily shoulder and forearm exercises. He can do 1-lb curls with each hand as long as his elbows are stable on a table. It's just his neck that the doctors are protecting. He is also encouraged to do a lot of walking, which he enjoys when he feels well.

We have a wonderful healthcare team. Thank you for praying that the Lord would direct our steps. The Lord answered our prayers! We know that the Lord has divinely intervened in our lives providing the very best. Our neurosurgeon, Dr. Patrick, is building a long-term healthcare team for Ernie so that he'll have a Ruhmatologist and Pain Doctor to help him, too. They will all be talking with our family doctor so nothing gets dropped between each visit. It doesn't matter what doctor we see, they all have access to all of the same medical records. Lord willing, it won't be long until we can find a solution for his right foot.

Our goal is to spend the next year or so getting strong so that we can spend several more years sharing Christ in this area and maybe doing some missions work. The Lord's timing is always perfect!!

Much love and thanks so much for praying for Ernie! You are such a wonderful blessing to us! We'll update you next month after the 6-week goal has been completed.

(719) 322-6600 Ernie's cell
(903) 960-9488 Ernie's VoIP

April's Journey - Next Step in Healing



Today's Smile!

We are so thankful to the Lord! Ernie will be moving to Trinity Mother Frances Rehabilitation Hospital today (3/30), tomorrow, or as soon as a bed is available for 7-14 days. This is such a miracle! They want Ernie to get as strong as he can be before he goes home. The electricity has travelled through his hands and feet for several months. Walking was quite difficult. Now, he'll get some help walking to victory! The rest of the good news is that Moni can also stay with him.

We so appreciate all of your phone calls! We realize that we are missing quite a few phone call because Moni is investing all of her energies on learning how to take care of Ernie for the next 6 months. There's a lot to learn. We have great doctors and nurses all around us encouraging us through this process. They remind us to stand in faith for all healing comes from God! We are so thankful for the Lord's grace in providing us this hospital system! 

Thank you for all of your prayers and words of encouragement!

April's Journey - Surgery Update 11:27AM 3/29/12



Immediately BEFORE Surgery

Surgery began around 7:30 AM. At 10:15 we had already finished talking with the Dr. Patrick after Ernie's surgery and everything went well from his perspective. He felt that the surgery went smoothly and even quicker than he had anticipated. After removing the bone on the back of his neck, he could immediately see the pressure on the spinal cord had been relieved. He felt this would give Ernie the best possible chance of halting the progression of pain as well as giving him the best possible chance of recovering.   

A Pre-Op Blessing: As we noticed that we were about 20 minutes behind the anticipated start time for the surgery, a kind lady walked in and introduced herself as the Nerve Monitoring Tech. It is specialized equipment to monitor the performance of the nerves before, during and after surgery.  She had a case that had just canceled 5 minutes prior and was now available for Ernie's surgery. We found out later from the Doctor that had her case not canceled, they would have postponed surgery.  So our apparent delay was actually a perfectly timed Divine appointment!  That is your prayers at work, to be sure! Thank you!

Some of the details:  There was no disc replacement. Sometimes on these surgeries they removed the intervetebral discs and repack it with bone. In Ernie's case, they did utilize his bone, which they ground into a powder, to repack in-between the vertebrae, but did not need to remove the discs. We count that as a blessing. 

He is currently 'coming out of the fog' of the anesthesia in a recovery room, but if they have adequate beds, we may be able to see him in the next hour or so.

April - Journey Continues

You have been wonderful! You are great encouragers! Thank you!!

So many things have happened, I am writing this quick blog to request your prayer support. 

We met a wonderful surgeon, Dr. Todd Patrick, at the beginning of this week. Dr. Patrick is a Mayo-trained, Christian Neurosurgeon here in Tyler. He's part of the Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals system. Ernie will be having surgery on Thursday morning (3/29) at 7 AM. It will be a 4-level decompressive surgery with fusion, using the bone that they have just taken out of the neck as part of the decompression and turned into powder, which becomes part of the fusion process. Technically the hospital staff procedures describe it as a four level cervical laminectomy (cervical three-four, cervical four-five, cervical five-six, cervical six-seven), posterior, instrumental fusion. Ernie will probably be out of the hospital in 3 days. It is then 4-6 weeks not lifting more than 5 pounds; followed by another 4-6 weeks of not lifting more than 10 pounds. They want at least 6-8 weeks for the "hardware to set".  He'll probably not carpentry again. He will loose some up and down and possibly roatational movement in his neck. But, the purpose of the surgery is to stop the progression of increasing pain. We are praying that all of nerves will be healed. But, this might take a year or more. [Click here] to learn a little bit more about the surgery. Then go to >Spine Procedures and then go to >Cervical - Posterior Cervical Laminotomy.

The pictures shows one set of a rod with screws. There are two rods for each of four fusions. So you can imagine that Ernie will be taking it easy when he gets home. The rule is "No BLT sandwiches or pickles." This acronymn means  "NO B=Bending, L=Lifting, T=Twisting or P=Pulling." Such movements are to be kept at a minimum for several weeks. However, we can spend the rest of the year building up his muscles. However, he is encouraged to walk and stay active.

The doctor cannot guarantee that there won't be additional problems. But, our doctor is  excellent and encouraging us that as we walk through the pain, remember that this should be a one-time fix, good for 15-20 years. We are thankful for God's grace. The Lord has been most faithful!!

Our son-in-law, Kevin, encourages us that ...

"Man can do the mending; but, only God does the healing."

We appreciate your prayers!!! Ernie will really appreciate some encouragement in a week as the drugs start to wear off and the limited movement becomes a challenge. So, if you have a moment, please pray, write or call.  Our new address is 5583 FM 16 E, Tyler, TX 75706

Since we're not getting good cell phone reception, we've also invested in VoIP. Ernie would especially love hearing from you in a week or so.

(719) 651-0777 Moni's cell
(719) 418-0437 Moni's VoIP
(719) 322-6600 Ernie's cell
(903) 960-9488 Ernie's VoIP

March - Yet I will exalt in the Lord!

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. - Habakkuk 3:17-18

It's been quite a month! Today I can write about it to you. I recently wrote a friend something like this, "I'm so thankful for the time I spent in the Word developing MyBible365, a devotional blog." Everything in life changes so quickly. Thank God that the Word of God stays with us as our Hope forever!!! 

Ernie's Severe Neck Problems: In the last two months, Ernie has walked down the path of having electric impulses shooting down his arms and hands seeking to do them harm. The nerves in his feet have already been harmed, along with his strength slipping away. Through various doctor visits, we've been told that he has spinal stenosis and myelopathy, which means his spinal cord is being strangled by his narrow spinal canal. One neurosurgeon is recommending decompressive cervical laminectomy for 3 different areas between C3-C7. This means they want to go in from the back of the neck and cut two sections out of each vertebrae that is causing the compression. We're told it's two months of recovery and maybe there's no more carpentering. We don't know anyone who has gone through this and has not had consistent pain thereafter. The surgeon has said that the surgery really doesn't fix anything. It just prevents further damage to the nerves. There are also suggestions that additional surgeries will follow for fusion for stability of neck bones. To say the least we are researching other options and asking for a second opinion. Therefore, we know that we have to do something soon. Would you please let us know if you know of anyone who has successfully gone through surgery without a continued life of pain and limitations? We'd love to talk to anyone who has experienced this! 

We covet your prayers!

Making a Home: We are starting down the path of becoming Texans. We have purchased Texas car license plates and are now working on our drivers' licenses. We had purchased country HUD property with a home in Lindale, TX, and then had the opportunity to return it after finding out about Ernie's pending neck diagnosis. We are thankful for this divine intervention now understanding that Ernie probably should not pick up a hammer for a while. This means that we'll probably stay in our 5th wheel for quite a while.

We covet your prayers!

We are so thankful for each blessing!

We daily count our blessings, knowing the Lord is faithful!

Here are just a few of the blessings we counted today!

• We know the Lord’s promises. The Lord will never forsake us!
• We are in love. God has protected our marriage during the most difficult of times. The Lord is faithful!
• We have a wonderful group of believers praying for us! Pastors and elders at our new church have prayed for Ernie, anointing him with oil, and are constantly encouraging him. Ernie's family has been fabulous during this time. They have filled our heart with support day in and day out! The Lord is so kind to show us Himself through these friends and family. It would be much more difficult to walk through these days without friends!
• Moni’s work continues with Food for Orphans. She is fundraising and helping create new outreach strategies. This has been a God-send. It’s a great blessing as we see the miraculous hand of God move in such fun and exciting ways for this ministry. It’s simply marvelous to see the Lord's hand! 
• Moni’s work continues with Office Pizzazz, her new little eNewsletter business. Although progress has been significantly slowed down with everything else, she has had the opportunity to talk with a believing entrepreneur, who is also a long-time friend. This God-send helped guide with excellent wisdom during the web design process. It was such a gift from the Lord. I’m so thankful to the Lord for kindness in allowing this opportunity. It’s amazing grace!

• We now have working Internet in our home. This is a blessing which gives us two more hours in each day as we no longer have to move around finding Internet access. It saves on wear and tear on the car and lightens lots of personal stress.
• We have the special joy of playing with our grandchildren daily. Some days when you don't think that you can take any more, it's a wonderful blessing to grab a little hand or have one say in their own way ... "Oma/Papa, I love you!!"
• Therefore the blessings are endless ... beautiful country living, daily walks, wonderful weather, precious devotional disciplines, a position of gratitude every day, friendly folks, and the Lord's presence. What else can one say; but, "Thank you, Lord!"

In closing, here's a new family recipe: Spicy Spanish Rice. It's got kick!

1-2 tablespoons Oil
1 1/4 cup Rice
2 3/4 cup Water
1 cube Condensed Tomato & Chicken Flavor
1 mini-cube Chipotle Seasoning (Knorr)
2 tablespoons Parsley Flakes
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne
1/8 teaspoon Curry
1/8 teaspoon Garlic
1/8 teaspoon Marjoram Leaves
1 teaspoon Mrs Dash (Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning)

Heat oil. Stir and fry raw rice for a minute or so. Some raw rice will turn a light golden brown. Add water. Stir quickly. Add seasoning cubes, and rest of seasoning. Make sure the seasoning cubes crumble and are mix in the mixture evenly. Bring to boil and cook for 14 min on low. Makes 5 servings. Excellent!

February 1 Update - The Lord is Faithful!

We are so very thankful that the Lord walks before us. Almost every day Ern wakes up saying ...
"I love being here in Texas."

Here's a picture of where we are temporarily staying at the RV park. Our grandchildren have a pool, bouncing pillow, basketball, walking trails, and many more activities. There's so much outside fun available for them!

Ern's Dreams: We placed a bid on a piece of HUD foreclosure at 18643 West FM 16, Lindale, TX last week and lost the bid. It was a great learning experience. Ern wants to set up something with a property investment for future income.

Moni's Dreams: Office Pizzazz, new online business, is still in start-up mode. Moni is working through web development costs. The Lord has graced her with a little work desk at the public library. 3 days a week she goes in at 8 AM and sets up shop. It is a terrific gift from the Lord! Since the phone and internet is so poor at the RV park, Moni is most grateful for the opportunity. One day, she'll look back at this meager beginning of Office Pizzazz and always remember the Lord's kindness!

Health: Ern has been doctoring for periphial neuropathy. Thanks for praying! After all of the blood work, we found out that Ern is in good health & the doctor took him off most of his medication. What a blessing!

Ministry: Moni is working one day a week for a small non-profit called Food for Orphans (FFO). This is a very practical way for Moni to give back to the Lord as a thank you for everything that the Lord has given to us through the years. Moni's task is to make the ministry known and gather support by networking, which is something she loves to do. Her current task is to see if she can find universities in our nation who would be interesting in hosting a food packing event. Moni heard yesterday that the first such event is being scheduled because of her networking efforts. Praise the Lord! [Click here] to learn more about FFO. May the Lord ever increase this ministry, saving thousands, even millions, of children's lives from starvation in the process.

It is almost like living in a mini-Colorado Springs, only near sea-level.

As we close this month's update, we just want to let you know how very much we love our new little church home, Community Christian Fellowship (CCF). It's not big on women's ministry and Moni will not be involved like she was at New Life Church (NLC). But, it is a new and different time, which is just fine. Prayer is a vibrant part of this body. On top of everything else, we have always prayed about going on missions trips. Maybe the Lord has positioned us for that to become a reality. 

We also appreciate the fact that the Lord has put his hand on this geographical area for many years. Many people move to this area just because of the Lord's heart for missions and ministries that exist here. Current ministries right around the corner from the church include Paul Baloche's worship, Youth with a Mission, Mercy Ships, Teen Mania, Calvary Commision, FatherHeart Maternity Home, etc. David Wilkerson was the first to ministry to buy 500 acres from 40+ years back.

Here's a special note to our NLC friends ... Please enjoy the initimate hand of God here. The worship leader at CCF has written and published music with Glen Packiam (a pastor and worship leader from NLC). Isn't that amazing?

Do take care! Much love! Because our poor phone reception, we'd love to have you email us  ErnieGuyer@gmail.com or MoniGuyer@gmail.com or text (7196510777) any time. Thanks for praying! One day we'll all learn just how much prayer impacts every day life and changes the course of history!

Merry Christmas 2011

How we cherish your friendship and love! As we look over the past year, it’s clear that we have down-sized in many areas of our life. Nonetheless, our new & long-term friendships have up-sized! You are a dear part of what’s happening in our lives. How can we sufficiently say thanks for everything? You are a blessing!

Thanks for calling, caring, and praying!! We are on a wonderful adventure, still enjoying the Lord's hand after 41 years of marriage!

We arrived in Tyler, TX, shortly after Thanksgiving. We stayed at 5 Star RV Park in Tyler for a week. At this park the grandkids only had a small place to play. After that we moved to Whispering Pines RV & Cabin Resort, which has a very rural setting with lots of recreational/play areas for the grandkids (e.g., bouncing pillow, family pool, swing set, miniature golf, etc.). Unless Dad or Mom calls them, they can play to their heart’s content outside. It’s fun to watch!

To help engage us in the community, we have found a small church that we are enjoying very much. It’s called Community Christian Fellowship. The pastor, Dave Hickey, is quite a man of prayer, which we deeply appreciate. Last Sunday, Ernie had a great time fellowshipping with the men of the church. It was good, old-fashioned fellowship, which is something near and dear to our hearts. Praise the Lord!

It has been raining quite a bit these days. Around here there's not one negative word about any moisture. The Texas drought has been long and the lakes have gone down. Therefore, everyone has been most grateful for the rain. All of the Texans we have met have been extremely friendly and gracious. We have only positive reviews except for some narrow county roads that need widening. After Christmas we will start to look at properties, which is one of several confirmations that this is where we should stay.

In the coming year, may we encourage you in the following ways:

• Prayer: Ernie is challenging all of our friends to engage in special prayer for our country. Intercession has always been the most important part of his life. Therefore, it’s easy for him to say, “Prayer is of utmost importance!” Prayer events are happening all over the country. To inform you about prayer events, [click here]. If you desire, you may post what you’re doing about prayer this year.
• Online Bible Reading: Moni is beginning her 3rd year of online reading through the Bible. The reading is just a systematic, personal daily devotional and then anyone can join her (or start one's own accountability group), which discusses one verse from the daily reading. It only takes about 15 minutes to read. The discussion, which is optional, takes an additional 10 minutes. In this day and age, what does it mean to sacrifice an additional 15-25 minutes a day to complete one of the most important disciplines in a Christian’s life? Sometimes we all just need a little encouragement to complete an annual read through the Word of God. Please see MyBible365.com. Moni would love to encourage/train you in the simple basics in order for you to have a successful journey through the Word of God in 2012.

One great grandkids picture. (L-R: Ian 10, Joelyn 2, Jasmin 4, Austin 6 wrestling Kaden 8).

Here's a more recent picture. (L-R): Kaden 8, Joelyn 2, Oma, Ian 10, Papa, Austin 6 & Jasmin 4. Email us and we are delighted to share all kinds of pictures and stories!

[Click here] if you have missed any of our 2011 journey. Please email us if you would like to be notified that we’ve updated our blog. Otherwise, just drop by the blog at your convenience to see what’s happening.

Thanks, again, for all your love and prayers!

Ernie & Moni Guyer

PO Box 36, Peyton, CO 80831

Ernie's Cell: (719) 322-6600, Ernie's Email: ErnieGuyer@gmail.com

Moni's Cell: (719) 651-0777, Moni's Email: MoniGuyer@gmail.com

11/23 Update - Now in TX

We finished our commitment to Habitat last Saturday, Nov. 19th. It was an amazing project to see a house come together in about 3 weeks. We met such great people, many of whom live a life of giving to Habitat, even some 10-14 years. Some have travelled internationally to help build a house. Others have done 20+ homes a year. Such giving folks! Each one was so very nice to all of us!

However, for me, it had been several years since I'd done that much carpentering work and had a few evenings when getting down was easier than getting up. My Habitat friend, Kathy, has loaded Habitat's pictures week by week. To see the progress click here. The home owner should be in the house by early December. Click in about a week and you'll see the finished house. For a more historical perspective, click here and see week by week progress from Artesia's Habitat's leadership point of view.

We left Artesia, NM, Wednesday morning, Nov. 23rd, and arrived at Baird, TX, in the evening, just in time for Thanksgiving. Moving a 5th wheel is a slower process than jumping in a car. Kevin, our kind and generous son-in-law, drives the 5th wheel with at least one of his children with him. Ern drives the car. I simply keep the conversation going. 

We decided to stay here in Baird, TX, for a week (or two) before moving on to Tyler. Really, it's just too difficult to get two trailers moved a long distance in such a short time. Once you park, it is easy to decide to take a couple of days to readjust.

One lesson learned for me during these past two weeks is just to be reminded of how much my sweet husband tries to protect me. I can't imagine anyone trying any harder to make the days sweeter. He's not quite perfect .... but, he sure comes close. It's really hard to believe that Ern is 65. It seems like just a few years ago when we were in Iowa pioneering churches. But, really that is some 30 years ago. It's difficult to realize how the aging process just creeps up on us and suddenly things change. This is an area of contant prayer for me as I'm not yet ready to "retire". Thanks for your prayers.

After arriving in Baird, I cleaned for a day trying to get the dust of NM out of the seams and crevices of this little home. It has been a nice, casual Thanksgiving. The grandkids are always our delight. Tonight Dawn and I are going to see if we can find a couple of Black Friday specials at Wal-Mart.

Blessings!

11/5 Saturday Afternoon Update

It's Saturday afternoon (11/5) and we just finished Week 1 of 3 for Habitat. There's a wind advisory out today; so, we ended early. It's pretty difficult to do accurate work with 45 mph winds blowing dirt & sand in your face. But, these folks are excellent at building the Habitat homes. The folks we work with are called Habitat RV Care-a-Vanners and a few of the couples are old-timers, successful, retired business folks in very nice Motorhomes cruising around the country and then regularly incorporating Habitat into their road trips. Some are so kind and generous that they have been building homes for 10-12 years. My new friend, Kathy, has loaded Habitat's Week 1 Pictures to Picasa for viewing. [Click here.]

Every day I feel so privileged to be a part of this experience, walking beside my husband through these new opportunities. I still do daily phone devos every weekday morning at 7 AM with Katharine, a special COS friend. Then, I have another group of dear friends from OH, NM & TX, who are joining me in a phone Bible Study on Tuesday evenings. We are studying James. (You can see more about the Bible Studies info at the end of this blog.) I'm also doing a little bit of part-time work with a small mission group called Food for Orphans and helping a dear friend with her business (With Time to Spare). Everything is online and quite mobile.

The RVing community is a wonderful group of people. They are kind, generous and very social. Then I have the added joy of hearing the grandkids in the RV next to us. What could be sweeter? This week they made their own teeter-totter and the littlest ones laughed for hours. It's an amazing experience.

Well, I'm going to take a nap (maybe) and then see what Ern wants to do. (He's already sleeping.)

P.S. This Sunday is Orphan Sunday, a nation-wide promotion for the poorest of orphans. So, let me know if you want to help them out. There are lots of needs and we all have so very much. ($15/a month keeps a child from starvation by providing one balanced meal a day.) I'll to happy to help you get any gifts directed to this needy cause.

P.P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight. It's time for the daylight savings time change.

Bible Study Info:
Join us as we read through the Bible using MyBible365, which is a devotional 10-minute discussion Mon-Fri at 7 AM MST. 
  Or, call (712) 432-1085, 933627# to hear today's recorded devotion.
The Online Chosen Bible Study: James is each Tuesday eve, at 6:30 PM MST (5:30 PM CST). All you need is a phone, email, and your Bible. Email me with questions about either study.
  Both free studies use conference calling at (712) 432-0075, 933627#.
  For more info on the other Chosen studies [click here].