Ronna calls

Ronna called today, we weren't home but I called hr back as soon as I could.  We talked for quite a while and this is what I learned from the conversation.  Here phone number is 413-883-0905  She was at Samantha's apartment and would be there tonight.  So if you would like to contact her, this is what I know.

Her four youngest children are in foster care and have been for almost 2 year.  They are trying to adopt them out saying that they are not Native American.  She said that to be a member that had to have been born in North Dakota.  They changed the law, so that you have to have so much Indian blood.  She has sen the enrollment papers back to North Dakota.  She aid that she is going to court in February.

The four children in foster care are:

Brandon is 13, he is with a single father.  She has seen him at a meeting and I think she felt o.k. about him.

Jennifer is 11, and Angelina is 6 they are with a Puerto Rican family.

Rebecca is 4, she is with a white family.  She doesn’t see her often(even at the visits)  She said she is sick a lot and is quite thin.

She said it would be 2 years in March since I think they have been in foster care, and I don’t think there is much of anything she can do without the tribes help.

Brian is 18.  He is with Samantha and dropped out of school.  She said he is depressed.

Steven is 21 and in jail for 1 years.  He will be out in February.  He has a drug problem and is in a rehab program.

Samantha is 23.  Her first child Nathan is 6 he is with the father and they haven’t seen him since his birthday.  Her second child, Isaiah is 5 years old, third son Jadon is 3 years old and fourth is George is 3 months old.  She lives with a Puerto Rican, George.  He works for Big Y, which is a grocery store.  He is the father of the last three.  She says they are getting married this coming year.  She is going to a community college there, in liberal arts program.  

Ronna is living in a homeless shelter in Springfield.  It is 2 hours for her to get to Chicopee by bus.  She takes care of the children when George is working and Samantha is in school.

If she had children she would have a better chance at housing, they must wait years for housing.

Her address is:

Ronna Neidlinger

% Samantha Neidlinger

40 Abby St. 2-R

Chicopee, MA 01013

December 2011

The year is about over.  what do we feel about it.  did we set any goals at the beginning of the year?  Have we succeeded in what we set as goals?  What are our thoughts for the coming year?  I read this poem and would like to share it with you:

                The New Year!

The New Year like a book lies before me;

On its cover two words, “My Life,” I see.

I open  the covers and look between 

Each page is empty, no words can be seen.

For I am a writer. I hold the pen

That’ll fill these pages to be read by men.

Just what kind of book will my book be--

My life written there for others to see.

Each day a page written, one by one.

                                Author unknown

Father, I pray that you would help each of us to take seriously our relationship with you.  That we would value the choices we make, that we would seek your direction and guidance in each part of our lives.  Thank you Father for hearing and answering us.  In Jesus Name. Amen

November 2011

Thank you to each of you for the part you had in making Thanksgiving a special time.  It was good to see each of you.  We are home and back to the everyday activities.  

For whatever you are facing this devotion is helpful:

Yours For A Song


Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor
 of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks
to the Lord, for his love endures forever." As they began to sing and praise, the
Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading
Judah, and they were defeated. --II Chronicles 20:21-23

People facing fear have often resorted to song. But for God's people, it's not any
old song. When King Jehoshaphat was confronted by a great force of allied armies,
he had his people fast, pray, and then he assembled the troops... placing the choir
out in front of the army! As they marched, the singers lifted up praise to the beauty
of God's holiness. And as they sang and praised the Lord, the opposition was thrown
into confusion.

Songs and hymns of praise clear the air like nothing else. If you're in any kind
 of spiritual conflict, the best defense is to sing. It's a way of resisting the
 devil. Singing is also the best offense. Songs of praise will confuse the enemy
 and send the devil's hoards hightailing. Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, wrote:
"I truly believe Satan cannot endure the power of song and so slips out of the room...when
there is a hymn of praise. Prayer rises more easily, more spontaneously, after one
has let those wings, words and music, carry one out of oneself into that upper air."

Victory over the enemy can be yours for a song! Sing a hymn or a worship chorus
as you march into your day or wrap up your evening. And if you can't sing, read
one of David's praise psalms out loud. To begin and end the day with God's praise
will do much to chase away dark thoughts, and open the door to peace.

Lord, you are worthy of endless praise. Help me to make room in my thoughts for
the songs that declare your greatness and love before both men and angels.

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.