Hello to my dear friends.

I know an update is long over due.  But here I am . . . and much water has gone over the bridge.

I stopped going to market so I'm not baking three days a week any more.  You might wonder what I do with all that time.  Sometimes I wonder too, but for the most part there seems to be plenty to do.  I can't stand to be idle long, so it doesn't take long for my "job list" to grow again.  I helped another sister sew some dresses for Rachel, caught up on our mending pile, defrosted our two freezers and reorganized them, to name of few of the projects.

Billy is currently working for Christian Light Publications on their new Algebra textbook - that is when he is not feeding the animals, chasing naughty goats, and all the little job that need to be done around a farm.  He and I milk the cow together.  Can you just picture that - one on each side - all teats being milked at the same time!  Neither one of us can take the strain of milking her by ourselves, and besides that, she would get done eating her feed before we finished, with the possibility that she would walk off.  Nelson never tied her.  We just milk her in the pasture wherever we happen to put her feed.  The biggest problem is all the roosters that gather around to "help" her eat her feed.  Yesterday morning the cow moved her front foot on my side and I soon discovered that she had stepped on a rooster's foot.  The rooster was struggling painfully and I could hardly finish milking because of grieving for him.  We were almost done and Billy thought we should not disturb the cow.  The poor rooster hopped around awhile after he free, but this morning I could not tell which one it was so I guess he's none the worse.  The ground was soft, which probably helped.

Douglas passed all the qualifications, and now is an employee at Sykes, a banking call center.  After three weeks of training and three weeks of OJT (on the job training), today is his graduation party.  Beginning next week he will be a regular employee with his own cubicle, computer, headset, and all that goes with it.  He enjoys the job, but admits a certain amount of tension still at this point.  After all you never know what kind of person will be on the other end of the line.  Will they be all business, a kind old lady, or an angry woman who curses him and calls him all kinds of abusive names.  The second call he got was that last kind of call and it lasted for 45 min. - not very relaxing.   On the other side of the card, just yesterday he got a WOW call.  That means the caller was so impressed with him that she asked to talk to his supervisor to praise him.  When that happens they put your name on the WOW bulletin board.  This handicapped lady told Doug that he has a wonderful voice for this job.  "I called up all distraught and in tears, and you quickly put me at ease and straightened out my problems.  I'm going to tell all my friends to bank with your company because they have good customer service."  That obviously brightened Doug's day!

Then there is also Doug's reputation with the other employees.  He has the reputation of being the smiliest person they have ever met.  Just yesterday his coach said something like, "I think you must be an alien.  No one from this planet can be that happy all the time."  Doug said, "In a way you are right.  I have the Holy Spirit in my life and He's from another world.  So I guess I am an alien."  She said something like, "Well, I went to church all my life and I was never that happy."  It is Doug's heart's desire to magnify God in his body in the work place.  (Do I sound like a proud mama?  Well, I am proud of him.  Just to see our children loving and walking in the truth is our greatest joy as parents, isn't it?)

And now Emily is home - at least for awhile.  We are enjoying working together and talking together.  Emily applied for a job at Sykes and passed with flying colors, being considered "expert" in typing speed.  The examiner was impressed with her in the interview and offered her a job in the technical support side of the business.  She is eager to begin, but the next wave of training just began the day she applied so she will have to wait until Feb. 11 to begin training.  They do get paid while in training, which helps.  So that means Emily and I have about 4 weeks to "sharpen our culinary skills", as we call it. 

And Joyce is still in Wis.  She will be staying there until after Raquel's wedding.  In the meantime she is job hunting, helping Laura with food for the reception, and maybe being a little bored.  When Wesley's come back from PA she considers moving back up north and working the remaining weeks in the bakery. 

While Nelson's were in WI, and Champ's were also gone for a week, we had three gallons of milk a day to use or get rid of.  I really enjoyed this because it gave a reason to make contact with a number of our neighbors as we shared the milk around.  I want to keep up these friendships, but it takes effort on my part because I am pretty much a stay-at-home person. 

May God bless each of you.  I enjoy keeping up with each of you through your blogs.

Love you'all, Carol

I guess it's high time for me to update.  I'm sure a lot of you have kept up on things around here by reading the children's sites.  So I'll just brief you on things from my perspective.

The biggest piece of news, of course, is the arrival of our new little granddaughter.  We are so thankful for her safe delivery, and for the mercy of God in the days that followed in the hospital.  To learn more of the details you can go to Emily's site and Philip's new site at www.xanga.com/philtrina The latest news we have heard is that mother is doing well, and little Heidi is gaining weight very quickly.  Praise God!  There will be a big hospital bill to follow all this.  We are praying that God will provide for them.  If anyone feels led to help meet this need I will include their address here.  Philip Caudill, 2096 Frank Rd., Chambersburg, PA  17201.  God bless each one who reaches out to them.

The strawberries are growing well.  Since we cut off the buds to encourage more plant growth, now the plants are beginning to put out runners.  And the weeds!   I have spent many hours in the cool mornings before breakfast, out there on my knees pulling those weeds.  Others have been putting in time out there, too, but it looks like a mountain.  Last week the Lord gave us a special blessing.  A neighbor man, (one of the Smith brothers) cut his hay field right before a lot of rain.  The hay was basically ruined, so he offered it to us.  It will make wonderful mulch.  It amounted to over 200 bales.

With Emily home we are enjoying our days as a family, working, eating, praying, sharing together, and reaching out to the community together.  Tomorrow Emily has an interview with the doctor's wife, for whom she will likely be babysitting.  There are three children and they live in a house that looks like a palace.  May your time there, Emily, influence these little souls for eternity.

Joyce is still working at least part time for the Champ family.  We are still praying for your complete recovery, Sharon.  We thank God for the healing He has already done.  By the early part of August Joyce will be heading to Wisconsin to help Wesley's when there baby is born. 

Douglas is faithfully working here on the farm since he lost his job on the construction crew when his boss ended up in the hospital with a blood clot, I believe.  He is the milkman morning and evening.  He is the beloved uncle to his 5 nephews, and is enjoying the opportunity of spending time with his big brothers, which he really missed when they all got married.

Billy is our farmer, making fence, hoeing, repairing vehicles, tending the chickens, goats, and steers, setting up irrigation, hauling hay . . . many things too numerous to mention.  He really would like to have a part time job to help pay the bills around here.  Pray for him in that.

My new ventures are baking bread for market (I can just hear some of you say, "Sounds like Carol!) and tutoring a little boy in the neighborhood.  Jeremy's teacher wanted to hold him back because she said he reads well, but doesn't comprehend what he is reading.  In evaluating him, I find that he knows very well what he is reading, so I wonder what the teacher thought was lacking.  He does read in a monotone, which could make her think that.  I am trying to help him with that, but I am suspecting that he is tone deaf.  Instead of varying his tone, he simply varies the volume.  We'll keep working with that. 

Along with that we are working with memorizing his math facts, which I discovered that he doesn't know.  And no wonder, his math book takes the children so fast, and crams so much in first grade they don't have time to learn the facts.  I talked about how much faster he could do his math lesson if he knew the facts.  He said, "That's why I hate math, because it takes so long to do."  He is a very bright child, and relates to adults very much like many homeschooled children.  I loved him from the start.  The second day he asked his mommy if she would stay with him.  "Oh, no," I thought, "he doesn't like it here."  I felt better on the third day when I heard him ask her, "When do I get to come again?"  That day he was a lot more chattery and free, and said about some of the practice we did together, "That was fun."  That hour is a bright spot in my day!

Our contact with the community continues to grow.  Last Sunday we attended the graduation party for the daughter of the pastor here in the Decoy church.  Our girls had never met her before, nor two of her friends that were there.  Billy had a nice visit with the pastor's brother who has cancer.  He found out that Wed. would be his birthday, so after prayer meeting Billy and I stopped by for a visit.  They were so pleased that we remembered.  At the graduation party we ladies had a good visit.  The pastors wife said to me, "We need to do this more.  We just don't visit around like we used to do."

Another very close neighbor, Bryan Howard, is dying of cancer.  After months in the hospital, he came home in an ambulance on Wed.  The doctor gives him three weeks to live.  Please pray for him, as he is not saved.  We hear that he said he wants to get better enough to come to church.  Pray that he will realize that he doesn't need to go to church to get saved.  We hear that the Baptist pastors from around here have been visiting him in the hospital.  We want to visit him, too, as the Lord leads.  He and his wife, Tammy, have 4 children, and have not lived a good life.  The children have pretty much been raised by Bryan's parents, who also are not saved.

We hope to see some of you in August.  We would like to bring Joyce to help Wesley's, perhaps the second week in August.  That would be a good week for us because we have a neice and nephew who are getting married on the 9th and the 10th.  Then there is Nate's wedding on the 11th.  Emily and Joyce have not received an invitation yet, but they say they are going anyway because Nate made Emily promise that she would invite him to her wedding, so they think he better invite them to his! 

The girls have been hanging around here asking if this letter is long enough to be an epistle yet!  I should close and get to bed.  Most of the others have retired to their rooms already.  May our Heavenly Father bless each of you as you enter into the good works that He has before ordained for you.  "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."  What a promise!

Lovingly, Carol