And We're Off!

This is just a quick post as we're on our way to Africa. The picture above is the five of us going to Africa to help Pieter Marais (affectionately known as "Oom Piet") with Bible distribution in Zambia. We are flying to Johannesburg, South Africa, via Zurich, Switzerland. Then, Lord willing, we will be driving to Zambia. Your prayers are appreciated! God has been good to allow me to join my cousins once again, and to provide finances as well. Hopefully in a few weeks I can post some pictures of our trip! Until then, God bless each one of you!

January to March 2018

These are a few pictures that I've taken over the last few months.

I went to Penn View for a block class in January. This is my cousin Candace and me in the Scranton airport just before I flew home. 

While getting ready to take off from Scranton, I saw this sunset.

On the short flight to Philadelphia, I got to enjoy the gorgeous display from the air! 

In February, my Uncle Gabriel's family visited. This is his youngest boy, Aaron, when we were visiting the paint mines on Sunday evening. 

We saw several rabbits at the paint mines. 

A bluebird I saw on one of my afternoon walks. 

We left early on a Thursday morning in March to go to the Arms Around the World missions convention in South Dakota. I got these pictures of the trees silhouetted against the sunrise when we stopped at a fuel station. 

 

Wind turbines

Spring is coming! 

Natasha and Amaris Graduate from Nursing School

 December 14th was a special day for our cousins Amaris and Natasha, as they graduated from a two-year LPN program at a local nursing school. 

Sam, Carrie, Rose and I surprised them, flying in the day before the graduation. Natasha's dad, Uncle Fain, picked us up from the airport. He and one other uncle, plus our two aunts, were the only ones who knew we were coming. We girls had a hard time containing our suspense as we drove to Uncle Fain's house. We even had to pull over and wait a few agonizing minutes to be sure that all the girls would be at the house when we got there. When we finally walked in, we were a little disappointed that nobody screamed or fainted! They just sat there and looked at us like they couldn't believe their eyes! Needless to say, it was a BIG surprise for everyone! It was so special to get to be there for this important event!

This is the graduation announcement they had sent out.

Aunt Iva's family arrived the next day. We surprised them too! Some of us girls went with Amaris and Natasha early.

The front of the graduation program.

The class of graduates. The lady at the podium is one of the instructors.

Several people made comments. I think one of these men is the president, but I'm not sure which one it is!

The student speaker

This picture isn't the clearest, but Natasha is receiving her nurse's pin. 

The class saying the nurse's pledge. 

Family pictures! Natasha and her family

Amaris and her family. Sorry the pictures aren't the best. There wasn't much time to take pictures since others were waiting their turn. I was on the sidelines trying to grab quick snaps while the real photographers quickly took some nice pictures.

Amaris and Natasha with their certificates and roses.

After the ceremony, friends and family gathered at Uncle Elon's house for refreshments, and got more pictures! This is Natasha and Amaris with their sisters. Pearl on the left is Amaris's sister, and Candace in the middle with the pink is Natasha's sister.

All the girls who were there. 

We so enjoyed getting to be with everyone for a few days! Both Natasha and Amaris passed the state board exams, which are taken after graduation. So they are official LPNs now!

Pictures of Cousins and relatives

While we were back east, we were able to get some pictures of some of the families, and some of the girl cousins as well! This is Uncle Fain's family on Sunday morning. Their family and Uncle Elon's family play handbells, and had two programs the Sunday we were there. We really enjoyed tagging along and getting to listen to the bell music and the vocal arrangements.

Carrie got this picture of all the girl cousins who were at the morning program. Sam and I decided to go where our relatives normally do for morning worship. We went along to the evening program.

We were delighted that Aunt Iva's family were able to be there at the same time we were! Here are Carrie and Rose with Aunt Iva's three girls. The next picture is of Aunt Iva and Uncle Kenn with their lovely family.

Driving home from Pennsylvania, we stopped in to see Grandma and Grandpa Morley in Missouri. Grandma showed us the baby quilt that she sewed for the first great-grandchild, with help from the granddaughters to embroider the animal squares.

We grabbed a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with Grandpa's bass guitar. We were happy that we got to see them too!

Adventures in Missouri and South Dakota

I've had these pictures on from September and am finally getting around to posting! Hang tight to hear about our adventures in Pennsylvania in December!

 Two days after we got back from camping, we girls took off to Missouri. We went to help our friends the Goodwins, but we also got to spend some time with our grandparents and cousins. I hardly took any pictures, but I did get this one of Carrie sawing some wood for Grandma and Grandpa! We cousins helped stack wood and cut pieces that were too long.

We enjoyed making some freezer meals for Goodwins. These are some homemade pizzas we made them.

We also stopped at a seed store/gift shop that sells heirloom seeds.

Hats decorating a wall. 

Baskets and quilts for sale.

Some cute aprons.

It's kind of hard to tell, but these pumpkins were quite large!

I enjoyed looking at these colorful paintings.

An old-fashioned phonograph (?) playing music.

On our way back from Missouri, I got this picture of a combine in the field. I think this was just across the border into Colorado.

Not long after we got back from Missouri, the whole family went to South Dakota! The first morning we were there, we girls helped move things out of the church basement, while the guys prepared for concrete to be poured in Keith Lavery's shop. Alanna Lavery and Rose put screens on the church windows.

About one o'clock, the cement truck came. Everybody went out to the shop, either to help or to cheer on the helpers. Thanks to the Yarrison boys from Pennsylvania for their help with the pouring! 

The only picture of their work I got was this one of them pouring and smoothing the concrete. We are thankful for what the Lord helped us accomplish during our short visit. 

"Be Steadfast, Immovable, Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord"

I had this post started last year when Penn View was in revival. Matt Maloyed, youth pastor at Beavertown God's Missionary Church preached a very simple message with ideas he got--of all things-- from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss! (He did have a Bible text, by the way: 2 Tim. 4:1-8). He had three points about sharing Christ.

1. We need to realize that we will encounter rejection.
Sam-I-Am's friend did not want to try the green eggs and ham because he was afraid they would not taste good. It's the same way with people who encounter the gospel message and have not tried it. They may be hesitant, or downright reject the message. But we must not give up. Go to the next person!

2. Keep it simple
Sam-I-Am's message was very simple: "try it!" Our message is simple too: "Just try Jesus"!

3. Stay on the message
Sam-I-Am certainly didn't deviate from his message! He kept urging his friend, over and over to "just try" the green eggs and ham! Brother Maloyed pointed out that we should not just be trying to get people to church, although that can be an avenue where they can hear the gospel. Our aim should be to get people to Jesus.