OK, so we’re not THAT far north, but still and all,
THIS is not what we had in mind when we decided to head to Doylestown for a couple of weeks before Christmas:

It’s been great being home (snow not withstanding!). We’ve had our teeth cleaned, our eyes checked, and various doctors poking and proding various body parts! We’ve connected with friends (some of whom we haven’t seen in years!), braved the stores for Christmas shopping, and have watched the Christmas decorations appear in the neighborhood. We’ve even put in some honest “work” hours at both of our old jobs. One more week here and then we head to Ohio for Christmas with the kids. We’ll be stopping on the way to see my sister, so even the journey west will be filled with joy.

So many Christmas parties ….so little time!
Blessings to you all!

We learned this week that my dear little great niece Molly (just 3 months old) was born with a severe hearing loss in both ears. In the message that we got from her Mom & Dad (Mike & Robyn) they expressed the following request for prayer….
We have appreciated your prayers and thoughts to this point and we continue to covet them. Pray specifically for Robyn and me as we absorb
this information and adjust to some unforseen changes in our life. Pray for Molly that some improvement would occur over time with her hearing.
Most importantly though, pray that we all would see and continue to see God’s sovereign grace through all of this. Pray that this might prove to be something that God uses to mold us more in conformity with his will and something that he uses in Molly’s life to bring her to salvation and
grow her into a woman whose chief desire is our Lord Jesus.

Their road ahead is filled with questions and unknowns, but they are resting in the promises of our Lord. And so we’ll keep praying.
Mike ended his email with the following hymn -
“Whate’er my God ordains is right: Holy his will abideth;
I will be still whate’er he doth; And follow where he guideth;
He is my God; Though dark my road, He holds me that I
shall not fall: Wherefore to him I leave it all.”

We woke up to snow today. Ah, the delights of being home. But the true delight was worshiping with good friends and getting lots of hugs. =)

Just a quick hello to let you know that after a 15 hour drive(almost all on the same road, how boring is that!), we arrived at our friend’s home in Doylestown where we’ll be staying for the next three weeks. It’s been great to worship with friends, see our son Josiah, make plans with buddies and catch up with all the comings and goings here in Doylestown. We also will be doing doctor and dentist things and working at the house, so it won’t all be fun and games. But I must admit, it’s pretty nice to be hangin’ around the ol’ hometown!

We DID!!!
But my, it was wonderful. After we got the pie made and the turkey in the oven we headed to the beach! It was a beautiful day – a little cool for most folks to get into the ocean, but not so for the Sensings! Here they are coming out of the surf!

This was our second Thanksgiving with the Sensings, and their friends the Kents, at their home in Florida. Almost a tradition! As we sat around the table, each one thanking God for one thing (from toys to Jesus to the beautiful day), I was struck with how thankful I was that God has called us to be a part of His family. We couldn’t be with our flesh and blood family for the holiday, but we were still with God’s family, and it was a wonderful day. How blessed we truly are!
(Plus we were able to call the kids from the beach and tell them that the wind chill was 73. Pass the sunscreen, please!)

Here is just one more shot from Harvest Ministries, our last project. As we left there was still plenty of debris to clear up, but I think we made a dent in the some of the work that needed to be done.

Turkey sandwich, anyone?

Tomorrow we begin our long journey home. By Wednesday we should be in the Eastern Time Zone, Thursday we’ll be enjoying Thanksgiving with our friends the Sensings, and by Sunday we should be in Doylestown! It’s been a challenge to pack for a 5 week, 3 location time (including two holidays) away from our home on wheels and at the same time get that home ready to stay behind. The weather has been dipping below freezing, so we pretty much have to winterize her before we leave. When you’re used to taking everything you own along with you, it’s seems funny to be pulling out a suitcase and packing. The truck is getting pretty full……..

This has been a good project. While there wasn’t the devastation from Katrina that was found farther south, it still was a blessing to be able to be a small part in helping with the recovery. We never made it to the Gulf Coast. Somehow it just didn’t seem right to just go to “see” without being able to lend a hand. We’ll be coming back this way (after all, we have to retrieve Lizzie!), so it will be interesting to see the progress made.

I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to post before Thanksgiving, so I wish you all a blessed day. We have so much to be thankful for – and our travels have continued to remind us what a great and creative God we serve.