Starship III

  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...