HE IS FAITHFUL!

It is alway such an incredible revelation to me when God not only takes care of our needs but our wants...as a bonus!  Since we started this new chapter in our lives, of retirement and ministry on the road, we have asked HIM to provide us with opportunities to serve HIM.

In the past two weeks we have been blessed in four directions:

We were contacted by the Campers On Mission (Alabama) asking if we can come next March to help a church in need with a building project by becoming a part of their construction team.  (www.namb.net/campersonmission)

We were asked by a small local church here in Ft McCoy, Forest Baptist, to come during their Wednesday evening program, and share Steven's "iCare" tools for evangelism.     (www.pastorsteveministries.net)

We were invited by David Burton, through the SBC,  North American Mission Board, to participate in their Evangelism Response Center training, next month.  This will equip us to share with churches an effective way of spreading HIS Word.     (www.erconline.net)

We have been invited by The Billy Graham Evangelical Association to participate in their "My Hope" event next November by taking their training in October.  What an honor to be a part of such a great organization and to honor a great man of God.   (www.billygraham.org/myhope_index.asp)  Billy Graham will turn 95 years old next November.

So our great and mighty God is providing for us and it is so important that the glory and praise be to HIM!   My sweet roommate in nursing school use to say that, "When you cast your bread upon the water (Ecclesiastes 11:1) it always comes back buttered."  Oh, how true that is!

Thank You Lord!

HE IS WORTHY!

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"I will praise You LORD with my whole heart;  I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done.  I will be filled with joy because of You.
I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High."
                                              Psalm 9:1,2

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THE REST OF THE STORY...

After a great week of cruising, Steven then had the task of arranging our military "hop" back to the East Coast.  The next plane out would not be for 3 days, which allowed us to catch-up with Brooks McKenzie (Mattison) and his beautiful new bride, Hannah.  They were more than gracious hosts as they have only been married 2 months and only been in their new apartment one week!  Thanks Brooks & Hannah for your sweet hospitality!

The flight out of Ft McChord got cancelled, so we caught a ride to the ferry to head to Whidbey Island, WA and  and were able to catch a straight flight to Jax from there!  The plane was a C-40, which is a passenger jet that has 121 seats and there were only three of us on the flight!  The plane is home based at NAS, Jax and had to fly back there for another mission, so it was going...even if it were empty!   The funny thing is that they joked about us having our own private jet!  It was a very nice jet, (no need for any inflatable air mattresses or floats this time) and the flight crew were fabulous, treated us extra special!

So another great adventure has ended and I am looking forward to staying home for a little while...but then again...I am married to Mr Adventure himself, so who knows???

ALASKA!!!

To celebrate our official retirements, (I retired from nursing in 2006, after 35 years and Steven just retired from a full time pastoring, after 33 years and 28 years as an Air Guard chaplain) we splurged on an Alaskan cruise!

We boarded The Norwegian, Pearl, in Seattle along with 2,392 other guests and a crew of 1,084!  Our 7 day cruise included stops in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, & Glacier Bay AK and Victoria, BC.  The views were spectacular and it is not everyday you can watch whales as you dine on delicious cuisine!  There was so much that we loved about the cruise, that is was hard to pick a favorite.  Here are a few of the moments we captured.

Re-Connecting With Old Friends

Our fun filled week in Seattle was made extra special by reconnecting with The Lemmons!  Mike, Holly, Mikey and Samantha were once members at Crown Point, until the Navy moved them away from Jax.  Imagine our delight to discover that they were now in Bremerton, which is just 40 minutes from Seattle!  They not only invited us to dinner, but then asked us to cancel our hotel and stay with them for the remainder of the week!  We enjoyed their warm hospitality in their beautiful home on the water, ate fresh seafood, attended their local town fair, worshipped with them on Sunday and felt like we were family reunited.  Such a great time!  We are so thankful that God has richly blessed our time on this side of glory with such special people!

Enjoyed my coffee on their deck!

What a view to wake up to!

Fresh crabs caught by Mike & Mikey 

Back View of house

Beautiful home with circular drive

Fun & Fellowship

Please keep them in your prayers, as Mike has now left for an 8 month deployment to the Middle East and will miss the birth of their third child in February.  :-(

Thanks, Mike, for your service to our country!

MT. RAINIER

No need for any words...