October's and November's Events

October came in a hurry and left just as fast. We have been busy with school, athletics, church and Missions Events.

I went a Missions Celebration in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by myself because Jody was unable to go with me. We had originally planned at attend together with the girls, but because of Jody's father's cancer treatments, they were unable to keep the boys as planned.

I had a good time in Hot Springs - the church was wonderful and the people I stayed with were great hosts. A friend from Botswana was there also - Paul Cline. We had a good time together as we had not seen each other in the last 16 or so months. Paul and Sally retired from Botswana after 28 years on the field, but now they are doing some consulting work with the IMB and the True Love Waits sexual abstinence program as it relates to Southern Africa. The HIV/Aids infection rate in South Africa stands at 25% and Botswana is at 40%.

We left for Muskogee, Oklahoma, after school on Thursday, October 25th. We wanted to spend a long weekend with Jody's grandma. We also had an opportunity to talk to the WMU at a Friday luncheon and then we were able to share in Sunday School and in the morning service. It was nice to be a grandma's for the first time in 4 years. I think that everytime that I have visited grandma's house, there was something different about her house - either on the inside or outside - so you can imagine all the changes that have taken place over the last 4 years. Everything looked nice. That Saturday evening was the family "Fall-Fest" (halloween) Party. Grandma went as a church mouse with Groucho glasses, nose, and moustache.

The first Sunday in November, I spoke in the morning service at FBC, Ore City. They are a small church about 25 minutes from Longview. We are scheduled to go back on the first Sunday night in December for their evening service. We'll show our pictures, share, and answer questions. For a church that run 45 in Sunday School, they exceeded the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $5000. That is fantastic for a church that size.

This last weekend, Nov 8-12, we drove to Chicago for a On-Mission Celebration. We left at 2:00 am Thursday morning where we spent the afternoon and night in Marion, Illinois -with my brother (AutoTuner1) He has a son that is 3 days older than Caleb named Jacob. The cousins had a good time playing together. It was good to spend some time with my brother and his wife. We hadn't seen them since we watched a Mudbug's hockey game in Bossier City in 2004.

While in Chicago, Jody and I had the privelage to speak in 4 different churches; Saturday night, Sunday morning and night. Jody's sister lives in Rockford and we stayed with them. It was a full house with her 6 and our 4 - Andy didn't make the trip - chosing to stay in school - he didn't want to miss a party they were having!! We left Monday evening at 7:00 pm and drove straight through, arriving home and 11:00 am Tuesday morning. It was a long drive!!