Land of Magnolias

...well they're not blooming yet, but they will be in June....
Saw a very unusual sign on a corner coffee/doughnut shop this morning.
** Owner broke his hip, help us buy him a new one. Buy Something**
Now that sounds like desperation to me...I'm just wondering~~how many cups of coffee or doughtnuts must they sell to clear enough for the owner's new hip. I just picture this poor man laying in a hospital bed wondering when he will have his new hip. Not trying to be uncaring, this one just hit me as a very funny sign.
I got to go to some garage sales this morning. What fun....Incase, you are wondering....no, they do NOT have garage sales in the Dominican. Dominicans are the untimate recyclers. But I was able this morning to get Stephan and Samuel some t-shirts like new for 50 cents each. And a copy of the book *Charlotte's Web* for a quarter. The boys love to read and to be read to. I LOVE garage sales!
This is the first I've gotten to go online without a squirmy 2 year old on my lap. Shiloh on my lap makes for some interesting typing/spelling. But thankfully, there is a bookstore less than 2 minutes from Shan's house that has free wi-fi! Thank you LORD! My tracphone will not allow me to call Bob in the Dominican. The phone would but Lynchburg is in a valley between the mts and is very particular about calling signals I guess....gggrrrrrr.....and Bob has not been able to connect to either my phone or Shan's. Which makes no sense because I could call Shan from my cell phone before I left. Crazy airwaves. Thank the LORD for email, laptops and wifi!

Hope everyone is well....it was great seeing some of you last Sunday.

In Ole Virginnny

Well I left out yesterday A.M.(on the road after stopping at gas station by 5:55). Had a very uneventful trip and arrived here at 2:30ish. Boy~~ an 8 hour trip in the States is nothing like a 5 minute trip in the Dominican....only saw one motorcycle the entire way! Everyone was in their respective lanes and going in the appropriate directions. Every single vehicle had all of its windows and doors. The most I saw in any vehicle was three people ...the record for what I've seen in the DR is 27 in a 15 passenger van along with all their groceries! Nobody had tied their horse to the side of the road. For that matter, there was not one single section of guardrail needing repair, missing or totally demolished. In the DR the roadcrews install guardrails and if people find them to be in their way, they just remove whatever sections are blocking their passage! The only cows I saw were in a pasture...I didn't share the road at any time with goats, chickens or roosters. Not one single vehicle was on the side of the road having one or two of its tires changed. And absolutely no one was riding on top of any of the truck loads...
Like I said my trip was very uneventful....
But I'm here and all is well.... thanks for your prayers!

Broadway Joe's

~~It is 9:45 Am Thursday and I am sitting at Broadway Joe's with a large cup of Highlander Grogg, doing the Wi-fi thing and hoping someone I know decides they would like a cup of coffee now too!

David and Lyndie are both at work, Bob is in the Dominican, and I don't have anyone's phone number, nor can I find a phone directory and I don't have a car...so my options are limited.

But if anyone gets this soon, and cares to join me I'll be here until about 11AM. Then over to the library, then maybe the Christian bookstore. We'll see how the ankles hold up : }
I LOVE being able to walk around safely and have cool places to stop in. and a coffee shop in the morning is delightful beyond words!

Spring time....

Our group left out on Saturday. What a blessing they were to us. The teens are always ready to serve, and are an encouragement to us in so many ways! We stood at the airport crying as they wound their way thru the Delta line. Seeing 26 people in a Dominican airport calling out *I love you* and some of them blowing kisses at us was truly a moment to be remembered~~
But now my days are changing again. We had our tickets purchased to come *home* in July for about 5 weeks before going to Costa Rica for language school thru December 18th. Well, thru changing circumstances I will be flying out tomorrow (Wednesday) into Dayton. I'll be at Grace on Sunday!!!! Then Monday I'm heading down to Lynchburg, where I will be staying with Shan and the kids. I'm going to be helping her by taking care of the kids at night while she works and getting them off to school in the morning (she gets home from work at 2:30AM!) It is a temporary thing, but it means I will be in the States again for about 10 weeks before Bob arrives July 12th.
I'm delighted to have this special time with my daughter and my grandchildren. Bob and I have been praying about this for over a month, and Shan would like for me to come.
Last year at this time I was at David and Lyndie's for 10 weeks recovering with my heels. I didn't know going into it how much I would miss Bob and being here in the Dominican. This time I know before I leave how hard it will be to be gone for so long. (Actually with the planned time in July and then language school, I will be gone from tomorrow thru December 18th, but at least Bob will be with me starting in July:)
As I said I am happy about being able to spend this time with Shan and to able to interact with Stephan, Samuel and Shiloh for an extended time period. But I would covet your prayers for all of us....you may not know all the details but the LORD does and He knows why you're asking....
So, hopefully, I'll see many of you this weekend sometime. David, I'll see you at the airport Wednesday night at 9 and you won't have to carry me up any stairs this year!!!

Fun times~~

Well, we have a group here from North Carolina. This is their third trip in two years. When they came on their first trip, they were all in Jr-High and there were only 13 including leaders. Now they have grown to 26 with 4 leaders. The original leaders have moved to TX, so it's a new group of leaders. I asked why the group had grown so large. The one leader said, "Because when the kids come back they are so excited, they get everyone else wanting to come!"
This is such a great group to work with....they encourage us so much! When we are home on furlough in the Fall each year, we stay in the home of one of the girls who has come each year. They feel like famly to us.
I'm so looking forward to this week! All weeks are good, but this week is special!

Also there is a group of missionary wives getting together for a retreat April 24-26 at Casa de Campo. Only about 12 ladies, but I get to go! Yes! I am really looking forward to this. Some of you may know Ron Bishop's sister, Paula Hodges and her daughter, Allison. They are heading it up. We're going to each share about our ministry, what we're doing, what our plans are, our needs, concerns etc. and then have time to pray for one another. How wonderful is that???

So hope y'all are having a blessed week. Did David and Lyndie get moved????

7:05PM......
I got to talk to David and Lyndie this afternoon!!!! YES!!!! I love Alexnder Graham Bell and his wonderful invention! They sound happy, relaxed and at peace...this Mama is smiling!

they call them *lemons*

Greetings~~
Haven't been able to write for a few days....aggravated my ankles again and have been off my feet and unable to leave the apartment. Wheelchair and braces are back in use....while I am thankful to have these items when I need them, I can still wish that I didn't need them. Imagine wearing the old snow boots in August and you get an idea what my "personal foot suanas" feel like.
But Sunday I got to go to church. We went to Manny's church in Consuilito. What a wonderful time of refreshment. ((If everyone here spoke as clearly as Manny does, I could actually learn Spanish and understand a whole lot more.)) Sunday was their communion, so Manny spoke about the wage of sin is death but Christ paid it all. No one else could pay it, we can do nothing. It was so good to actually understand most of what was said.
After church, we walked over to Evangelista's home, just a couple hundred feet from the church. Her son-in-law, Esidro, works at SCORE in the maintenance. A dear brother in the LORD. His wife is pregnant (6 weeks) but 5 months ago she had a routine exam and the Dr gave her antibiotics for an infection. Esidro had Bob look at her lab results two weeks ago....she has early stage cervical cancer. Last week she had new tests, nothing has changed...which is good, but she is 6 weeks pregnant so they have to wait for the delivery of the baby before they can operate.
She is a believer. They have two other little boys (about 4 & 2). So please pray for this family and for the safety of the baby in all of this.
While we were there, Evangelista gave us a bag of fruit. They look like grapefruit. In fact Manny said they were, but Evangelista said "NO!" Dulce! Turns out they are called sweet lemons. They look like grapefruit, are the size of an orange, are called sweet lemons and taste nothing like a lemon, orange or a grapefruit! But they are delicious. Very mild, and it's what they use to make lemonade after adding mucho azucar!!! (much sugar).
Ron is here today working on plans for Kosmos 2006. So we just had a big staff meeting to discuss plans. There should be about 450 people here all in one week in June. Please pray for this special time also....it should be exciting!
So trust all is well with everyone there!