On The Road

Our vacation at the end of June began with heading to Wolcott, NY to see Dave's mother and to transport our van to Dave's sister-in-law and brother. We needed to downsize and they needed a vehicle. Works for me. Rick and Teri operate an organic dairy farm and work extremely hard. They are an inspiration to us. While we were there Rick had a suprise **th birthday party for her. We were also able to see her son, Dan, home from Germany and their grandson, Zack, visiting from NJ. It was a good family time.

June 30h we headed to Delta Lake Bible Conferance (near Rome, NY) for family camp. We have started to go there again after taking about 15 years off from camping. We rent the camp- owned tents and attach a dining tent which is a bear to put up. This year we were smart and put it up at home so we knew what we were doing. Monday's supper got a little delayed due to our 30 year old cookstove (which we originally got secondhand) dying. Thankfully there was Walmart and after spending $20 we were back in business. We had a great, relaxing time(after the set up). The schedule at camp is pretty loose but you are expected to attend most of the services which we wanted to do anyway. There are missions and Bible themed meetings in the morning and a service at night. Afternoons are freetime. One afternoon we went to Ft Stanwix which is a National park and free!

Another afternoon we went on a Delta Cruise which took us on a pontoon boat tour of the perimeter of the Lake. We learned that there used to be a town of Delta and the authorities came along and flooded it to make the lake. Other days we just sat at the tent and read or napped or worked on a puzzle.

The picture above is looking from our campsite toward the other campsites along Lakeside Dr. The other shot is of Dave doing what he does best! It is looking from the back of our dining tent toward the Tab (tabernacle in camp talk). We had to go thru there and around the back of the Tab to the bathrooms! The shirt Dave has on says Been Burned? It is advertising the new book CLC has coming out in conjuction with the movie Fireproof http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/). Our book is called Fireproof Your Life and is about having a faith that survives the flames of life. You can check it out at http://www.fireproofyourlife.com/.

We finished our vacation on July 5th with a leisurely drive through the backroads of the Fingerlakes of NY. Before we left on that Saturday we attended one last seminar on ministry sustainablility. How to stay in the game as long as possible and avoid burn out. The idea is to neither rust out nor burn out for Jesus because either way you are out! We learned how to take a sabbath and really rest. How to work better and refresh regularly. Good thoughts to come home on.

God Showed Up

Pennsylvania landscape taken by my friend Becky.

I saw some answers to prayer today! In our mission devotional time we talked about the need for more funds to pay bills for the mission as well as personal needs. Then I went to work and there was a large order for books from a store that hasn't ordered in years & another store called out of the blue and paid their bill. God reminded another individual that he hadn't ordered from us in a long time and hecalled to order. In answer to prayer, someone made a donation to our prison ministry and we were able to send to about five inmates and still have money for more.

Dogwood here at CLC also taken by Becky.

Life in the Fast Lane

Life sure seems to speed by, thus the lack of posts. We were childless on Mother's Day (saw both of our sons, and one daughter-in-love the previous week, recieved appropriate cards and gifts). Our neighbors were also childless so we decided to put together a no work (necessitating a trip to Wawa) picnic and we went to Ft. Washington State Park. We had a wonderful, albiet chilly afternoon hiking, trying to avoid the poison ivy. So far none. I think we are safe. This picture was taken there.

We are leaving in a minute to go to one of our CLC stores to have a Right Hand of Fellowship ceremony for the manager of that store who is becoming a member of CLC. It's like becoming a member of a church.

We've been busy reevaluating things like car and renter's insurance and AAA membership. All will be cheaper now that it's just the two of us. We are actually switching from Geico to State Farm because they gave us such a great rate-sorry Gekko! We have this nice family run agency right down the road. They seem like "good neighbors"!

We're starting to think about vacation. Our first thought was that we would go to Delta Lake Bible Camp where we went last year. We had a good time and left spiritually refreshed but it is 6-7 hours away. We're concerned about the gas situation. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else is altering their vacation plans because of gas prices or prices period.

Guess I'll be getting out those "live on nothing" and "tightwad" books to get us through these tough economic times all the reporters are talking about. I'm glad our trust is ultimately in the Lord and His provision. We live in a very expensive area but our mission is given free bread and bagels and occasionally other kinds of food. For fruits and veggies we go to one of several markets near us. The grocery stores are way too expensive. Mostly we shop at Aldi's. Anyone have any tips for saving money? Check out Money Saving Mom for some great freebies and frugal living tips.

Well, it's getting late and I need to wind some things up.

Two Blind Mice

Our maitainance man tells me mice are blind (that fact does not make me feel sorry for them)which means to catch one or two you need to put traps along the walls. This time it seemed to work. We have had really cold weather here the last couple days which drives them indoors through any crack they find. The outside door to our apartment building never gets latched so in they come, down the stairs and into our abode. Dave saw one last night in our kitchen and immediately set a couple traps. By this morning we had one struggling to get unstuck! We took him out before leaving for work. Then we noticed an oder at lunch time and this afternoon I investigated while home sick. Another one had actually succumed under the heating unit, so I bundled up and ran that one out to our dumpster. Hope there isn't a third. When I think of the really awful things missionaries overseas put up with I am grateful that I only have mice. Good news, it should be 60 by Tuesday and they can frolic outside!