Starship III

 Bill has a Pastor friend that he likes to fish with at Lakeview.  Last Monday they decided it was a good day to fish - Any bad day fishing is better that an good day anywhere else, right??  Well...... Doug was helping Bill get into the canoe and somehow something went wrong and Bill fell in.  Billfold, cell phone, credit cards, etc., etc.  Doug happened to have a blanket, so he gave it to Bill to dry off somewhat so he could drive home.  Immediately jumped into a hot shower. About an hour later, Doug called to make sure Bill had made it home okay.  He apologized profusely. Later that afteroon Doug called again. Same thing, asking if he was okay and asked if Cheryl was mad at him for "throwing him in". Then, Tuesday we had friends over for lunch.  While we were eating, Bill got a text from Doug........ "When I got home and told my wife what happened, she accused me of deliberately tipping you over, so I could count you as a baptism for my preacher...

 We are in and somewhat settled in our new home in Texas.  We are SOOO happy to be Texans! Their motto is "Don't Mess With Texas!"   The move went smoothly.  Because of the one-lane driveway and the fact that it had rained on Saturday, the moving van driver decided it was not wise to try to make the turn into the driveway, so he had to go rent a U-Haul, back it up to the van in the road, transer everything into the  U-Haul, back the U-Haul up the driveway, unload, repeat, then repeat again.  They finished about 6:30 on Sunday night.  But surprisingly, the only thing that was damaged was a fan.  We highly recommend United Van Lines for anyone who needs to move.  They were great to work with. Grace, our housekeeper and great friend, showed up the day after the movers came, and literally unpacked all the boxes! We could not have done all this without her!  She has been such a wonderful help.  She had Christmas with us, then left t...

 After spending five months this summer at Lakeview and much prayer and listening, we came to the conclusion that we are supposed to be in Texas.  So we came back home and decided to put the house on the market, and if it sold quickly, it would be God's sign to us that it is the direction that He wants us to take.  We expected it to take two or three weeks for it to sell. It sold the first day!  With a backup offer the next day for more than full price.   Let the whirlwind begin!  We bought a house in Texas on three acres, where Bill can have a woodworking shop and Cheryl can have a small space for stained glass.  Mind you, we haven't SEEN the house yet, but we bought it!  How is that for Faith?  We did have someone do a Facetime, so we got to "see it" a little. We are excited about it! The  movers will be here Saturday, then we will be on our way to a new chapter in our lives.  I'll try to write more often when (IF) things slo...

  This was our radar at 6:38 this morning.  Palestine is left center on the screen.  Praise God it missed us.  We didn't even have any wind or rain from the hurricane.  Many of the guests who evacuated from Beaumont have returned to their homes.  Some have stayed on.  God is so good!

 We have been preparing rooms for up to nearly 300 evacuees from Hurricane Laura.  Mostly from Beaumont and the Houston area.  She is scheduled to hit tonight, and we are grateful that these people were able to get out.  Many are from Assisted Living homes.  Some came in ambulances.  Some drove all night.  Some came with their belongings in U-Hauls, at least one family brought a hospital bed, another has a generator in the back of their truck.  This is real life, folks.  It is so rewarding to be able to help in this situation, and we thank God that we are here.  Please pray for us that we will be shining examples of ambassadors for Christ.   It has been hot and humid, so it's very difficult to work outside except early morning, just like in Arizona, except we aren't used to the humidity again. Today is Coco's 13th birthday!  She is still going strong.  Bitsy is just Bitsy! She was moping the other day because she knew...

 Last month, we did something we have never done, and will probably never do again - we went on a hog hunt.  There are approximately one and a half MILLION hogs in Texas, and people are encouraged to kill as many as possible.  They are a very invasive species and will ruin entire fields of crops in one night.  They destroyed several areas of lawn, including rooting up irrigation systems.  Lakeview hired some professional hog hunters and we got to go along.  I won't gross you out with the details, but the night we went with them, they got a 250 pound hog!  That was a lot of bacon!  One of the guys processed it, which included soaking it in salt water for four days.   We have painted exterior doors on one entire set of dorms, cut lots of bushes, trimmed more trees and served in the cafeteria.  We have had two groups of people.  Most have cancelled.  One group was 185 people,  youth groups from a few of the local churche...