Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy Birthday & Happy Halloween!

This beautiful flower arrangement with candles is for my upcoming birthday...from: you guessed it...Lorraine! She has good taste! I'm undeserving but it sure is nice of her!
The UPS man brought this jack-o-lantern full of candy to our door Wednesday evening! Earlier Jerry had asked me if I bought any tootsie rolls today! No...but there are tootsie rolls in here! So he's already eaten one and I ate a caramel kiss! Now who would send something like this? Only one person...a sister!
Thank you, Lorraine. Even though I need all that candy like I need a hole in my head! There's just about every kind of candy in here you can think of! (Click on the picture to see it up close.)
Lord, thank You for sisters and birthdays. Thank You for Lorraine.

Monday, October 26, 2009

"BROYHILL FONTANA".

"BAUM BROTHERS" CHINA

Our children, Rob & Jessica, are in the process, as most of you know, of adopting two precious children from the poverty stricken country of Haiti. They're getting closer to bringing them home, but yet, it still takes time. Meantime, they're being required to make another trip down to Haiti. To raise funds they have decided to try to sell some luxury items in their home. I've copied and pasted Jessica's e-mail letter to put on here with the pictures. If you, or if you know someone, would be interested in buying this beautiful set of China or the beautiful hutch, please let one of us know.

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
AS YOU KNOW, WE ARE EAGERLY ANTICIPATING THE ARRIVAL OF OUR CHILDREN WHO ARE COMING FROM HAITI. IN PREPARATION, WE THOUGHT WE HAD SOLD AS MUCH AS WE COULD, INCLUDING OUR CAMPER, ROBS BRONCO AND A MOTORCYCLE. AND THEN IT HIT US! THE HUTCH AND THE DISHES THAT I WON ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT!
SO... WE ARE SENDING ALONG A FEW PHOTOS IN HOPES THAT YOU MIGHT KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THESE BEAUTIFUL ITEMS.

DISHES - 92 PIECES OF "BAUM BROTHERS" CHINA. (SERVES 12) (NEW THESE DISHES WERE $1200.00, WE ARE ASKING $500)

HUTCH - 2 PIECES "BROYHILL FONTANA". (THIS ITEM CAME WITH A TABLE AND CHAIRS AS WELL AS A SIDE SERVER TABLE, NEW THESE ITEMS TOGETHER WERE $5800.00, WE ARE
ASKING $750 FOR THE HUTCH)

PLEASE PASS THE WORD ALONG IF YOU WOULD! WE ARE HOPING THAT BY SELLING THESE ITEMS IT WILL PAY FOR THE TRIP WE NEED TO MAKE TO HAITI IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. THIS TRIP IS A NEW REQUIREMENT FROM THE HAITIAN GOVERNMENT, AND ONE WE HAD NOT "BUDGETED" FOR :)
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
ROB AND JESSICA ARCHER

Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You because You are Sovereign. You have been guiding in this effort right from the start. We've seen Your Hand so many times. You know about the last of the money to be raised. You know about the plane tickets now and again when they bring the children home. I thank You for what I believe You are going to do.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Haiti Day

Our Haiti Day was great! These were Haitian folks from Lansing that came for the afternoon. They brought their own musicians, as you can see here. They're very good. I didn't have good lighting so I told them to smile big so we could see their teeth! They are Antenel, Cius, ?, Joel, and Jean Robert.

There were about 44 Haitians of all ages. Here they are singing and clapping, and praising God!

These are some of the folks from our church that were there. We all love Haitian folks.

This is Onide and her children. We enjoyed eating together and exchanged e-mail addresses.

These two beautiful girls, Tamika & Thaisha, also ate at my table.

This is Pastor Bev, one of the van drivers, Eric, and a good Haitian friend. St. Mark.

One of the musicians, Jean Robert, and his sweet son, Stephen!

Teenagers love to eat!

Jessica, Haleigh, and others standing in line to get their food.

Richard praying for our food and fellowship.

The food line...lots of beans and rice!

Lots of food for lots of hungry people.

Lord, thank You for such a wonderful afternoon. Thank You for our Haitian brothers and sisters. I praise You because You are Love. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Red Leaves

These beautiful red leaves on this tree are at Lorraine's condo in Oregon. I was telling her we don't have very many beautiful leaves this year so she sent this photo to me with her phone!Lord, thank You for the beautiful fall colors and for the technology to send them across the country in a few minutes! I don't get it... But thank You, Lord.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Recap

Here's a recap of our trip with no pictures. We left here Oct. 6 and took two days to drive to Bill's south of Denver. It was so good to get there, but we've decided we need to take three days to drive, two is just too hard. We stayed over night in Des Moines, Iowa, which is my old stomping ground! It was so good to arrive at Bill's house. They have a beautiful home and we enjoy staying there.

Bill and I went to see Mother that evening. She was waiting for us! It was so good to see her...
I was able to go see her one, two, and sometimes three times a day! We ate supper with her twice. She liked that. Once Lorraine was with us and once Tim was with us. We reserved a room so we had a private supper with her.

Lorraine flew from Portland, Oregon for three days, staying with Richard and Cookie. I hadn't seen Lorraine in a couple of years so it was special to be with her, even though her main reason for going was to see Mother.

Tim flew from Regina, Sask. Canada for three days. I hadn't seen Tim since we flew to Malaysia for Kaleb's graduation so this was also special. Of course he went mainly to see Grandma but we cashed in on that deal too! So you can imagine we had a great time. He stayed at Bill's in the room next to ours.

A treat for me was a dinner with a friend from Oklahoma. Richard, Cookie, Lorraine, Jerry and I, and Tom and wife from Oklahoma, all met at a restaurant. Richard, Lorraine, and I all knew Tommy when we were kids living in Oklahoma back in the 40's. Bill was too young to remember Tom so they didn't go. What a fun time we had reminiscing and telling stories of those good old days when we were all kids.

Another really fun and interesting day was going to the Castlewood St. Park. Lisa is a park ranger so on her day off she took us the park. It's beautiful. We didn't even know it was there!
Tim was with us so that made it even more fun.

We got to see Lisa, Doug, & Justin for supper at Bill's. They are special.

We also got to see Heidi, Kimberlyn, & Braden but only for a short few minutes...the flu bug struck. They had to leave and soon others in the family were also sick so we're all disappointed.
They are also special and the rest in the family too: Courtney, Jenna, & Scott.

There are other friends in the area we didn't get to see: Janice & Wayne. Hopefully next time we can get together with them. We packed a lot in in a few days and the most important time was spent with Mother.

After taking Tim to the airport we went on north to spend some time with Richard & Cookie. It was hard to say goodbye to Mother but we had to. We had a nice time with Richard & Cookie. I went to an Uppercase party with Cookie!

From there we drove to Chicago to visit Pam & Gene, again staying over night in Des Moines, Iowa. Home was calling so we didn't stay as long at Pam's as we thought we would. We arrived shortly after lunch on Saturday, went to early church on Sunday and then out to brunch, with Gene's parents joining us.

We drove three hours and then stopped for supper with Ted, Sydney, & Bella. I took pictures of the girls and their cats. Again we said goodbye and drove home. Home always looks so good!

Heavenly Father, thank You for a wonderful family time with my family. Thank You for each one. Thank You for keeping us safe as we traveled. Thank You for Mother, for her good health, for her sharp mind, and for her love of You and of us.

Harvest Time

My sister-in-law, Vel, loves to decorate. I took a few pictures to show her fall decor. This first photo is her display on the mantle.

This is in the hallway by the front door.

This basket is in the kitchen.

This is also in the kitchen by the breakfast table.

This elaborate display is on the baby grand piano! She loves to decorate...
Lord, thank You for talents You give to us. Each person is uniquely gifted. Help us to use our gifts to glorify You.

In Chicago



We went to Pam's in Chicago on our way home. Sunday morning we all attended first service and then went to brunch with Gene's parents to a very nice restaurant. This is Len and Gloria, Gene's parents. In the parking lot were six old restored cars. Beautiful! Gene and Jerry looked them over thoroughly!
Lord, thank You for good family, good friends, good food, good fellowship.

Meet Burley and Pewter!

Sydney and Pewter. Sydney and Bella have wanted a pet for so long and now they have two cats! They are brothers and have never been apart so it's nice they are both living with Syd and Bella.


Pewter.

This is Burley. He's bigger and has more white on him.

This is Pewter. He's actually the color of pewter!

Pewter.
Burley is in front and Pewter is standing behind him.

Bella and Burley.

Bella and Burley, they love to play.

Burley.

Burley. Aren't they beautiful?
Thank You, Lord, for pets, for cats, for granddaughters!

More Photos From Castlewood St. Park










This is a beautiful park that we didn't even know existed until we asked Lisa to show us where she works! It's beautiful and we didn't even see all of it. On her facebook she showed a picture of a mountain lion that hit by a car and killed in this park! Check out my home page.
I praise You, Heavenly Father, because You are the Creator.

Which Pepsi?

Lisa found the original kind of Pepsi and is trying to decide which one tastes best. Pepsi made with corn syrup or sugar... One has fewer calories. I don't even remember what she concluded!
Thank You, Lord, for family and for fun times!

An Evening At The Nursing Home

Vel, sister-in-law, and Lorraine, sister, eating supper with Mother and the rest of us at the nursing home where Mother is living.

This is a picture of Braden, Kimberlyn, Lorraine, and Heidi. We all met at the nursing home to have supper with Mother. However, the flu bug caught up with Heidi's family. Poor Braden didn't look good or feel good. He was feverish so Heidi took him right back out to the car, made a trip to the store, then after taking his temp. decided to go back home. It was a disappointment to all of us, but you can't take a chance, especially in a nursing home, with sick children. It turned out their whole family came down with flu, so she made the right decision.

Lorraine, my sister, and Jerry. They serve good food at the nursing home. We had a private room for us to eat in so it was nice. We were there from Michigan and Lorraine was there from Oregon. It was a nice family time.

I forgot my camera on this trip! Can you believe it? So I bought a little cheap camera just for this trip. I had a hard time getting used to the new camera so, alas, I don't have pictures of everyone.

Lord, thank You for the family time we had in Colorado with Mother. We drove a lot of miles and Lorraine flew a lot of miles. Thank You for watching over Heidi as she drove back home that evening. Help her family to get completely over the flu.


Castlewood State Park

My niece, Lisa, is a park ranger in Castlewood State Park. She took us on a tour of part of the park. It's beautiful! We didn't see all of it so we have something to look forward to next time we go out! This is a picture of Lisa and her mom, Vel. There is also a picture of Jerry.
Lord, thank You for the beauty of Your Creation! Please keep Your Hand of protection on Lisa as she works here.