Sunday, October 23

Yesterday, I worked on getting the houses clean,  and ready for any other people who need a place to stay.  I don't know if I wrote but we got a sofa to put in the Neidlinger house, I haven't gone to get it,  The store is selling out and we didn't pay much for it.  After dinner I went over to Frank and Dorothy's  Sandy Weaver was with them, she stayed most of the afternoon and we had a good visit together with Dorothy.  Frank didn't wake up until after I got there, he was really thirsty, eventually did eat something and of course had a bunch of pills.  Brenda was there briefly in the late afternoon, and I felt I should go so they could be alone, but as I drove down the road I met Carla, so I came back.  She wanted me to help her get him cleaned up and change the sheets.  After Brenda left we started that task, but we couldn't manage it and didn't know what to do, so she called Carly who is a CNA and she came to help  She bathed him and we got him dressed and the sheets changed.  She had brought her friends Bobbi and Marta with her, they waited in the kitchen and then came in the living room and sang for them,  It was 9 by then and they were still singing but I felt that I needed to go home. 

I feel like Joni is on the same page as we are.... 

Therefore...
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death
- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave
 him the name that is above every name. --Philippians 2:5-9

Notice the "therefore" in today's reading. Jesus was on a journey of humility -
he was God, but he made himself nothing. He was a servant, but he was utterly obedient,
even unto death. And not only an average death, but death on the cross. At each
level, Jesus humbles himself more. And the point? "Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus." You may be a "somebody," but God would have you make yourself
a "nobody" in the world's eyes. But does it end there?

No! Therefore God exalted Jesus... and God will exalt you to be a co-heir with Christ.
"We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:17). It's like a math formula
or an inverse proportion. The more we humble ourselves, the more God will raise
us up not to just any old high place, but as a co-heir seated alongside our Savior.
Astounding! We suffer with Christ - that we may share in Christ's highest glory.
 Believers who face the greatest conflict yet hold onto God with all their hearts
- these are the ones who have the greatest confidence in sharing Christ's glory.

In what way can you humble yourself today? Is an apology owed to a friend or a family
member? Is there an elderly person in your apartment unit you can help with a chore?
Volunteer as a teacher's aid in the special needs class at church?

I humble myself today in the sight of you, oh Lord.

Sunday October 23

Saturday 22, 2011

I haven't been writing very much, these have been really busy days.  Between school, cleaning church, selling ads at Cando, and spending time with Frank and Dorothy that is about it.  We have such good memories of last week, I have taken the pictures you posted and put them into the guest book.  I would like to see the photos John had put together at Hampden, I started looking at them and got side tracked and didn't get back.

I didn't have school Thursday and Friday, Thursday i was at home and spent time outside cleaning, but Friday I sat with Dorothy.  Frank is not very good and we feel that someone should be with her.

These thoughts from Joni say a lot to us today:

Future Memories

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' --Jeremiah 29:11

I love a good memory. The older I get, the more I enjoy them. Talking about favorite
vacation spots, childhood jaunts, and my dear mother who has long since gone to
heaven. My sweetest memories are those that inspire hope. I recall what it was like
to peel an orange, pluck a guitar, hold a cold glass of Coke, and feel my fingers
tap the cool, ivory keys of a piano. Why do memories like these inspire hope? They
remind me that one day I will have new hands. Fingers that work, feel, touch, pluck
and pick, scrub and dig. I can't wait to reach for the glorified hand of Ken in
heaven. It'll happen! Today's verse promises it.

My best memories give shape to that hopeful future. Your memories - especially if
you've lost a loved one, or your health, or your ability to think clearly - should
inspire hope in you, too. For as wonderful as the world was when all those special
remembrances occurred, as wonderful as it was when my hands worked, these things
 are only foreshadowings of more delightful, pleasurable experiences to come. Jesus
is the one who makes our future bright. Jesus assures us that our best memories
will one day blossom into a more joyous reality than we ever imagined. He is our
 hope. First Timothy 1:1 speaks of "... our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope" (KJV). In Titus 2:13, he is called our "Blessed Hope."

What are the memories of things you've lost? How might those memories inspire hope
in you today? How might these remembrances draw you closer to Jesus, the God of
all hope? Grab hold of today's verse and so many other scriptures that promise the
world. Oh, not this world, but the world to come!

Lord of hope, thank you for the promise of hope and a future.

this week October 3rd

  This week I went to Cando on Thursdy after dinner,  I went to Matt and Mavis house.  You probably remember that I had a cousin Lois out in Washington, she passed away this year.  I think she was about 95 or near that.  This is her son, Leroy with his friend Rosemary.  His mom wasn't married when she had him and she never wanted him to have any thing to do with his father's family.  So in recent years he has met his family and made a relationship with them.  While we were there Matt's sister Rose came over and had coffee with us.  It was a good time together.  Later at the end of our visit. Their granddaughter Lacey came to get them and take them to Minot.  Friday they were going to the Doctor.  It is Matt that is having a problem.  

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.