September 24

Again, I wait and write once a week.  It is a really great school year.  I have a generous group of students to focus on.  three in 7th grade, that I am trying to get up to speed so they can manage themselves and not be frustrated.  It took a while to realize that several just weren't getting everything done.  I have a jr student who is really struggling, it was a difficult week for him, but hopefully we are getting him into a much more manageable plan.  then I have a new student,  he is special, a very loving child who some place along the way wasn't taught basic math facts, and has other special needs.  I am there for him when ever he needs help.  I have days when I feel like a mother hen with her chicks.  It is o.k.

There seem to be other activities, I ate with Edna Simon one day, saw pic of her family as they came to see her in August, visit with Gladys, we had pizza together, also saw Matt and Mavis, etc. 

Here are some good thoughts, because I feel somewhat like this, I know that I need to clean out my house and get rid of things not needed and certainly you won't want.  Also I have sensed this week several areas where God is saying let go you are done with that and I want to be free to be all that he wants so he is doing it.......

Mrs. Sherman's Treasures


Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. --Matthew 6:19-21

I first met my friends Randy and Charlotte through Young Life when they served on
the local committee. They prayed for hundreds of young people in the Baltimore area
who came to Christ.

Many years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman sold their beautiful Maryland farm and moved
into a retirement community. They took as many photos, furniture, and mementoes
as they could squeeze in their apartment. After about eleven years, Randy began
a long struggle with chronic pneumonia; unfortunately, it meant a second move into
a much smaller assisted living unit.

It was nowhere near as spacious as their other apartment and Charlotte found herself
"getting rid of lots of stuff," as she put it. My heart broke to think of her selling
their furniture and giving away family treasures. When I asked her over the phone
how she was able to manage it, she said with a smile, "All these earthly treasures
will disappear one day anyway; I know my real treasure is in heaven." I couldn't
 see her, but I could picture the twinkle in her blue eyes. What an inspiration!



Americans are experts at accumulating "stuff." Earthly things can sink anchors deep
in our hearts; we feel we could never live without that new exercise equipment,
that second car, or the Chico's charge card. What are the possessions you treasure
in life? Let Charlotte Sherman inspire you today. Find ways you can downsize...
it's the sure way to upgrade devotion to Christ in your heart.

Lord Jesus, may the way I deal with stuff in my life reflect how you and you alone
are my treasure.

this week

I haven't been writing every day, but so much is happening so I will try to recap the week.  We are thankful for the harvest progress.  They have combined all that was swathed and ready, the standing grain wasn't ready and it ended up misting later in the day.

It is a good year at school.  Our high school is small but we know we are going to be able to help some students succeed just be cause of the small numbers.  Friday I had so many students with me that I felt like a hen with her chicks.  We have some students that we are just feeling our way as to what they know and how to help them.  Pray for me that I have wisdom as I start helping a student with Math.

After school I have been doing some errands,  I had met a gal voer by Leeds, I went to visit her and saw that she was buying jars to can, I told her I had a lot that I could share, so the next night after school, I washed and boxed them for her, she came and got them Thursday evening.  I also went to see Hannah andersons mom with a dvd about the Rance girls brain injury, I know it was a help for her.  That was a busy day because I then drove to Starkweather school for another post office meeting.  This time the Devils Lake post master was the speaker and there were people from a number of towns.  and you realize that some of our roads are under construction so we have to take a roundabout way to get where we are going.

We have started Bible Study so that is the day I clean the church.  I try to see Frank and dorothy atleast once a week.  He was not doing good on Friday.

Saturday, Aliyah came and spent some time learning to sew.  She learns fast, and it was a good day, she likes to talk.  I know she likes cats, so I took her to see Franks cat.  At the end of the day she made some cards with stamps.

Her and Jerry were with us at for dinner and supper.  He did some cleaning out in the house across the road.

A family from Michigan has bought the bank building.  He works in the west with the oil and wants to find a place for his family.  I question how he will be able to get all of them into that house.  I think you guys remember visiting with Grant and Lucille there.

Today is another day and this is what I read, it is good:

There's Always a Way

For Christ's love compels us.... --II Corinthians 5:14

Glenda Heisley and her family are Mennonites who tend a small farm in the pasturelands
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Heisleys have a herd of goats and cows, besides
their modest fields of corn. Glenda loves to sing, and she's a member of her church's
choir. Shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001, she and her choir friends wondered,
How can we help the people of New York City? Our denomination has already sent medical
supplies, but what can our church do?

They asked God to show them how a few farmers from the cornfields might encourage
the city folk of New York. God gave them a wonderful idea. Early one Friday morning,
Glenda and her church friends boarded a bus for New York. They took with them a
stack of CDs, recordings they had done of all their favorite old hymns.

When they arrived, their bus stopped at a subway station, and they disembarked.
They looked quite a sight in their simple farming clothes-including traditional
white caps for the women and straw hats for the men. Standing near the station,
they took a deep breath... and began to sing. In rich, deep, four-part harmony,
they sang "Rock of Ages," and "Dwelling in Beulah Land." Suddenly the stockbrokers
rushing by slowed their pace. Students exiting the subway to run to class at Columbia
University, paused. Shoppers hesitated. All turned their heads as they walked by,
catching lovely strains of hymns from what must have seemed to them like another
 planet. As they sang, they held out the free CDs. Gifts of love, straight from
the heart, in the name of Jesus.

There is always a way-a creative, sincere way-to share the love of Christ. For these
Mennonites, it started with prayer, asking God for direction and fresh ideas. And
that's a good place for you to start today, too.

Use me, Holy Spirit-who I am and where I am-to show people an
alternative to a shallow, empty life without God.

another blog....

Yesterday was Franks birthday, Walter and Joan Scott were over for a while in the afternoon, we came and at lunch with them and then went on to Devils Lake for Rudy Lommen's family service.

more guests

Here we are with our second guests.  Arnold and eline are from Holland.  He is a historian doing research about the cold war and the  missile site on our land.  He had read Julie's blog and contacted her, and we have been communicating with him and made arrangements for him to come on Sunday.  After a tour of the site, we took them to Nekoma to see that site.  In the town fo Nekoma we saw a mail box with the name of the person that I associate with their site.  so we stopped and I went to his house, so he invited them to come the next day for a tour of that site. They stayed over night with us.  It was a fun time.  He has already visited the missile sites in Russia and showed us photos of those.  He hasn't visited Cooperstown but has been to a site in South Dakota.

Our guests

We have had company and wanted to share photos of them with you.  This is a photo of Lidia with her son, Ethan and her father.  We met her when Storers were our pastor and through the years have kept in touch with her.  She and her family came from Romania, her father doesn't speak real clear English.  Sometimes Lidia has to translate for him.  Her son is precious and he really loves Jesus.  They came to our home  one evening.