moves, machines & missionaries

If you have been visiting my blog for new postings, then I must apologize for the long delay in updating. This will be an abbreviated one just to catch up.

The month of June was busy, the highlight being a wonderful visit with our daughter home from Alberta. It was so nice knowing she was in her old room for a few weeks. The time passed far too quickly, though, and before we were ready she was on her way back to AB. As for her, she was glad to be home in NS, but missed 'home' in AB. It seems that for now she has found a good fit for her life. Since her return there she has a 'boyfriend' - a nice young man who is a bull rider and also has a steady (less dangerous) job.

At the end of July - four days after her 19th birthday - our youngest daughter took her first airplane flight and is now living with her sister in AB for awhile. This pushed my husband and me right into 'empty nesting'. After over 30 years of having children at home it has been a bit of a shock. I still have the 'feeling' of her going to be coming home from work some days. Hard to get used to. Her move has left her little dog, Sammy, in our care. Each evening for the first two weeks he would sit near the door waiting for her to come in. He now seems to have adopted me.

I was late getting the last issue of Valley Sunshine mailed out to my subscribers. Along with other delays, the final one was that my printing equipment quit working properly. I now have the drum being checked over, and I am hoping that the problem can be corrected. Printing the publication on my printers is too costly. If I need a new drum for my machine I may be in real trouble. What I have been using is a now very outdated Gestetner duplicating machine - a Gemini 5170 copier/printer that uses copy printer ink CPT1 and CPMT1 masters. I had to order comparable supplies from a company in the US and if I need a new drum ... not sure where I will find that. I hope I don't have to start shopping for a new machine!

Speaking of shopping, my husband and I have been looking to purchase a new or kindly used car. My! There are so many new styles to choose from now. Have you seen the new Nissan Cube? I like it, odd as it is.

The last thing I will mention in this posting is a missionary family home on furlough. At housegroup this week Patrick Finnerty joined us and gave a very interesting presentation about their mission work in Rwanda. I would love it if you would check them out at http://www.vineyardrwanda.org . The Vineyard church is mainly their support church, but our housegroup - which includes people (myself included) associated with churches other than the Vineyard - is actively and enthusiastically supporting them and their cause however we can. I hope you will check them out at the above mentioned website as they are sincere and wonderful people with a heart for the Rwandan people, even through much personal sacrifice. The Lord has been working through them for the undertaking of a great work there.

Finally, I am trying again to get my own website/business worked out. If you have been interested in that, please don't give up on me. :) I easily get confused with details but once I have it things should go well.

Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)

receiving and giving

A new week, a new year for me. Yesterday I received some very nice things for my birthday, a day I spent with my sister helping her manage a table at a craft fair. On our table we had mostly donated items to sell to raise money for Missions in Rwanda. We did well for our first effort and it was a fun day. I am quite tired today though, and plan to 'turn in' early tonight.

While we were at the craft fair, sometime in the afternoon the wind picked up to almost hurricane strength and it rained heavily. Some areas lost their power but at the school we were not inconvenienced except that for some of that time less people arrived to shop.

In my last post I mentioned that I am thinking about 'supporting' a deployed Canadian soldier. A few days ago I remembered that one of my Valley Sunshine publication readers has a son who has been sent to Kanduhar (do I have that spelled correctly?), and I called her to tell her what I want to do. I could hear the excitement in her voice and she said she will be getting back to me this week with details on how I may send packages. I am looking forward to hearing from her about that.

Interestingly, my mother-in-law gave me a book for my birthday, a book of poems written by soldiers from WWI. What a timely gift and such confirmation for me! This book, in case you are interested, is called In Flanders Fields and other poems of the First World War, and is edited by Brian Busby. One paragraph on the jacket reads: "Selected from the work of soldiers killed in action - starting with Rupert Brooke in 1915 and ending with the tragic loss of Wilfred Owen seven days before the Armistice - the poems capture a broad range of emotions, contemplations and states of mind, ranging from anthems about the brutality of war to wistful evocations of home and loved ones left behind." I find it difficult to read, and by difficult I mean sad, revealing, and insightful.

I feel that yesterday was a great beginning to my next year of life, which I hope and plan to be a successful and satisfying one as I learn what God has in store for me and what He will do through me.

What are your aspirations when a new year begins in your life?

Thanks for reading and ... Blessings on your day! :)