Big Plans

The next few days will be very busy around here. So much so that I am a little bit nervous about it all, however I am sure it will all work out like it usually does.

We have a grave site service for a very dear sister who used to live in this assembly many years ago. Her name is/was Sis. Betha. She was near and dear to our hearts. I remember going to her house many times as a teenager, with all the rest of our church teenagers, just to hang out on a Sunday afternoon. She was a widow back then, but she didn't let that discourage her or slow her down. She had four children of her own, and she was determined to show them the faith. Den, even, lived in her basement when he first struck out on his own, and was engaged to me. So Monday we (the brethren in the northwest) will be saying goodbye. I am not sure how many brethren to expect, but I know based on past experiences it will be a LOT. The brethren are very good about supporting each other in times of need. So the three other sisters and I are making the plans, finding the community building, and deciding how to feed over a hundred people.

Then, Mrs. Martin and her entire family are coming from Oklahoma. We haven't seen them in two years. I haven't even laid my hands on her chubby baby yet, so I am very excited! Well I have to say that my entire family is beaming and can hardly wait, as well. They will be staying for a couple of weeks (although they will be making the rounds to other places and assemblies in this time too), and then I believe her plan is to stick around until my baby is born. We are on the edge of a lot to do, and a lot of excitement.

I don't know if I will make it out to the gravesite since the sisters and I will be preparing for the potluck on Monday, but I will try to get some great photos of our get together afterwards. We appreciate any and all prayers so that this will go smoothly for everyone, but especially for the family who lost Sis. Betha.

Bro. Isaiah

What a beautiful weekend. I had no idea how this weekend would unfold, but God did. Thank you for answering another one of my prayers on my children's behalf. You are a generous and merciful Heavenly Father.

Here is our little assembly. Isn't it amazing to see how much it has grown since 9 months ago? All the brethren have gathered at the waters edge to watch Isaiah walk down in to that watery grave.

Bro. Sean was the one Isaiah asked to baptise him. We sang "Shall We Gather At The River", and then he knelt down to pray. This photo is sooooo beautiful to me. To see and to hear another man pray is so private and so humbling.


Here is Bro. Sean ministering about the importance of baptism.


Bro. Sean and Isaiah beginning their walk in to the water while the brethren sang "Go Bathe in that Beautiful Beautiful Pool".

I love how that he lets Isaiah lean on him while he makes sure his footing is sure. Just how it should be in real life. It touched me.
I love the smiles here.
Announcing what he is baptising him into.Down goes the fleshly man, making sure all is covered.

Bro. Isaiah sitting in the chair overlooking the water, while he continues to listen to how he will receive the holy spirit.

Den ministers on this for a while.


Bro. Sean, Bro. Dennis, Bro. Doyle, and Bro. Elvin lay hands on him to receive the holy ghost and certain gifts in the spirit. With a sensitive ear I listened to hear what it was they were praying over him.

My heart is so moved. I am so thankful that my second son has made this important choice, on his own, in the Lord's time.

When we first got to the lake the wind was whipping about briskly. I was shivering as I began to wait for the brethren to all gather around. I worried about how cold it would be for Bro. Sean and Isaiah. Once they walked down in to the water the wind just stopped. I was amazed as the temperature felt like it had risen remarkably. After Bro. Isaiah was sitting in the chair, Bro. Doyle announced that he and Bro. Brian had prayed that the Lord would stop the wind, and that he wanted to stop and thank the Lord by giving Him credit for this. Tears streamed down my cheeks because God is such a kind Father, and hears and answers so many of our prayers.

We had his ordinance supper later that night. Again a beautiful, traditional service that has been handed down from generation to generation.

The whole weekend was full of unexpected company and it all worked towards our good. I will share more later, but for now I want to savor these pictures and this moment in time.


Thank you to Sis. Tisha for remembering your camera, and to Sis. Marisela for snapping the shots that will burn a beautiful image in my mind forever.

Decisions Decisions....

It is hard to decide on the time for meeting. I don't know that the men have made a complete decision on this for Sundays. We have been having our meetings at 3pm, which is odd and completely untraditional. None of our churches do this, but this was the time that we could get the bank on Sundays. At first we felt out of sorts and kind of joked about it, but like anything, after a while we became accustomed to it. It has been nice to have those laid back mornings and early afternoons, time to run errands before company all arrives, Den even got to visit with the boys on scripture for a good hour or more Sunday morning because there was no rush to get around. I am sure we won't be keeping this odd hour, but I have to say that I will sort of miss it. In time it will be a funny memory of, "Remember when we started at 3pm....back in yonder day?" hehehe

When we arrived at meeting yesterday everyone was pretty tickled. We talked about how exciting it will be to get in our own place. It felt so grown up, like a teenager who finally strikes it out on his own or something. It is small, but we don't care, we are all in love with the idea of having our OWN place. We daydreamed about potlucks (crockpot ones), get togethers, and benches. We joyfully appreciated the bathrooms that we could use at our leisure, guaranteed....lol There is even a little "area"off the main room that we can sit with noisy children, or maybe a crying a newborn that will soon be a permanent fixture....

Then church began (had a GREAT meeting), and we went to Bro. Sean and Sis. Marisela's for dinner (thank you for your hospitality). To which we, again, struck up the conversation. Yeah we are all pretty excited!

Moving Time

It's Sunday morning. Everyone in the house is still fast asleep, but here I sit, at the computer wide awake. It was weird but I kept dreaming that Den was so happy because we bought a boat. I know this doesn't make sense, but in a way it does, you see we FINALLY found a little building to hold our assembly in. It is small, but it is affordable for the small group that we currently have. The thing is is that it's our very own, all month long, any time we want, or need it. A huge prayer has been answered (not that there were any doubts that God would hear us). So I dreamt happy dreams all night long, and I can only contribute them to this wonderful gift that the Lord gave us.


Before, we were renting the bank community room for free, and let me just say it was a blessing in it's own right. However, we had to reconfigure the tables and chairs everytime we joined together, and then they wanted the chairs to be in the EXACT same place when we were done. You know the purple chair couldnt be in line with a blue chair or other some sort of nonsense. If you didn't really study the order of the chairs before they were pulled apart, or if we didn't take a quick photo with someone's digital camera then we were in trouble. Now we will have the freedom to put our own chairs any where we want and leave them there. Plus, I think we have some church pews that we have found, online, for almost nothing. Things are coming together after all.


Secondly, the bathrooms in the bank were locked half of the time. Luckily, we were adjacent to a Subway shop, and we used their bathroom, but that was incredibly inconvenient and awkward. Nevermind that there was no place to change diapers or console children. It was definitely frustrating, but honestly, beggars can't be choosers, and we appreciate the banks generosity to the community. Otherwise all meetings would have been held house to house all this time.


So today we are starting anew. Well I guess that would be next week, but it feels different already. I feel happy, blessed, and giddy that the Lord is following through with so many of His promises on this journey. It hasn't even been a year and so many changes.....so many things falling in to place, people living here and supporting each other........*misty eyed*. Thank you dear Heavenly Father............