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Story Book Weather

Talk about some beautiful weather! We are having it here in Rockingham Co. this past week. Nights cooling down to the 50's! Makes for great sleeping weather. In fact, we have not had our air conditioner turned on since the first week in June.
The past week we have had the privilege of having Daniel & Adrienne Spenrath and their 4 little children from Austin, Tx. with us. Seems different again to have little children playing around the house. Their oldest is 5 and the youngest 5 mon. In thinking back a number of years I guess we would have had 4 children age 5 and under, too. Daniel has a real interest in city evangelization and especially around college campuses.
Today Rachel and Monica & Sheldon picked 4 bu. beans -- so by now they feel kinda "full of beans"! I think around 100 qts. was the reward of their labors.

A Busy Life

So, maybe it has been awhile since we updated! For some, they don't update cause "nothing is happening", for others it's because too much is happening! Several weeks ago when our church hosted the Shenandoah Valley Music Camp, we had 11 young people at our house for the nights (which we enjoyed)! Mornings came much too soon as my wife was responsible to serve breakfast at church each morning at 7:00. She managed to drag her husband out of bed each morning at 5:00!! for this..... also Sheldon.... which wasn't too bad once a person woke up completely! Monica missed out on all this as she was in Co. with Rhonda. ( She is now at home again).
Today I tried my hand at something that was a "first" for me--- bowling! and I enjoyed it! Sheldon, Trell & I went and if you want to know who won(esp. the last game) you can ask them, since I wouldn't want to brag!
We have been enjoying having Cynthia & Trell here with us for several weeks. One of the "benefits" of their presence is that we get to enjoy the tastes of his wonderful talent of grilling and smoking meats!

I guess once people quit commenting on your site... is that a sign that it's time to update?
We have been enjoying some beautiful spring weather w/ warmer temperatures! Our business seems a bit slow which may well be affected by the economy as a whole. A lot of people (including us!) have had to look at ways of saving money where we can (not at the gas pumps!). Rachel has been busy with several new flower beds around the house. So ya'll need to stop by see all the work she's done ( I've helped too) Sheldon even spaded a bunch!

Presently our church is having Bible Study divided in 5 groups. Our group is going through the book "War of Words" by Paul David Tripp. One phrase that stands out to me is "Our life is not a resort, but rather a bumpy path". Anyone out ther able to identify with that? Our study, led by Steve Byler, has been tremendously challenging. We so often think we can "change" our words and fail to get to the root of the problem which is to recognize that ,"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". What comes out of our mouth only reveals what's in the heart.

Valentines Are Important!

We are enjoying a beautiful spring-like day of Rest. Some Sundays are so busy that we tend to miss the "rest" part of them!? Anyone know what I mean?
We seem to all be ready for spring, although our winter here has been rather mild. From the business standpoint, is that it's rather difficult to get people too excited about buying picnic tables and swings when it's snowing and blowing! From the gardener's angle, it's always exciting to get those seeds in the ground and feel the warm soft soil in your fingers and toes! We got our peas in the ground about a week ago.
Yesterday I helped my bro., who is auctioneer, with an auction which was to settle an estate. The "talk of the day" was that we had 4 handmade valentines. These were approx. 10" round w/ very intricate designs cut into them as well as handwritten and signed. 2 of them were dated 1850. They were of course very fragile and brittle and had to be handled with utmost care...especially after the first one sold for over $5900.00! The total for the 4 was over $15,000.00!!!! Can anyone out there beat that? I still don't understand, but that's what makes auctions interesting!

Well, here we are back home again after a wonderful trip out west to the beautiful state of Colorado! We accompanied Rhonda out to her new responsibility of being "Nanny" to a very cute, cuddley little Shawna! I guess we'll claim her as our grandchild while it lasts! Glen & Leona (houseparents) gave us a wonderful time, as well as taking us to see several of the other group homes of New Horizons. And yes, Colorado is a beautiful place! Here is just one pic w/ Pikes Peak on the left "where the mountains touch the sky"! This can be seen from the front yard of Rhonda's new home.