Pioneer Girl and Uruguay

Hello, friends! I hope you're all doing well. :-)

Our school's third quarter is almost over, so I've been pretty busy getting ready for the end of the school year. We'll have to shorten our Easter break this year due to the snow days we had last month.

I am so excited that my copy of Pioneer Girl finally arrived yesterday! I had placed an order with Amazon, but they were out of stock for weeks, so I finally canceled that order and placed one with Barnes & Noble.

The book came while I was at work, so my husband decided to have a little fun. :-) He is so funny...I never know what he might do! *hahaha*

I hope to find some time to read this weekend.

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Katie's trip to Uruguay went well. It wasn't easy letting her go so far away. She was gone twelve days. During that time they ministered in five churches and also had times of street witnessing.  They estimated that they ministered to about 2,000 people.

One day they went mountain climbing and even had a chance to talk with a group of orphans that also happened to be there at the same time. This cross was on the mountain they climbed.

What a beautiful view!

The two pictures above were taken from inside the cross.

Spring has definitely arrived in my neck of the woods...my daffodils are just about to bloom.♥

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Take care,
~Melanie

Fall...

is in full swing around here. I love this time of year...all the pretty colors and the cooler weather does my heart good!

It's hard to believe our first nine weeks of school are almost over...time seems to be flying by!

I just snapped this picture outside my front door this evening. We don't have a lot of color here yet, but it's coming. :-)

Things here have been quite busy lately. We've had some very serious issues to deal with in and around the church and school. My husband has had quite a time of it. Pastoring can be very stressful, and lately it has been stressful on a whole new level. But, God has helped us through so many things, and we are praying that very soon we'll be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday was Pastor Appreciation Day at our church. We had a potluck dinner after the service, and some of the kids put on a cheer for us. It was all very sweet. One of the families put this card together and we thought it was so cute...very creative. :-)

 I happened across this blog not very long ago. As I looked through the posts, it just touched my heart...these poor Ukrainian orphans all but forgotten. Thankfully, some folks have taken an interest in these children and are helping to provide basic necessities for them.

Oh, my sweet friends, as I looked through this blog, I was reminded that we in America have so much!

 I'm sure they would appreciate any donation you could give. There is a donate tab at the top of their blog. What a genuine care and concern they have for these precious ones!

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.   - James 1:27

I hope you all are doing well...thanks for stopping by! :-)

Take care,
~Melanie

September Hodgepodge

Hi, everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Things are good here, just busy as usual! School started on Tuesday, so we're trying to get back into the swing of things.

These are some pictures from Katie's missions trip. They ministered to over 2,500 people and reported 328 salvations! It was a great experience for her. It definitely made her appreciate the little comforts we tend to take for granted!

They took bucket showers and slept on floats while they were in Mexico. They went from one little town to another doing dramas, and would talk to people and pray with them through translators.

She stayed at a Christian college while they were in Guatemala, so she actually had a bed and running water there. They ministered to school children during that part of their trip.

She said the people were very friendly, receptive, and hospitable- willing to share whatever they had.

Katie is the one in the green shirt.

The missions team

My mom made this beautiful quilt and entered it into the West Virginia State Fair last month. She worked on it about three years. Isn't it beautiful?! She won second place for it. I didn't see the first place winner's quilt, but I can't imagine it being more beautiful than Mom's. This is a stack and whack quilt. Everything about it is just so pretty!

Katie started 10th grade on Tuesday. Oh my, how time flies!

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Take care,

~Melanie

Samaritan's Purse OCC...It's Not Too Late!

Next week is Collection Week for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child! The ladies and girls from our church will be meeting Monday night and filling boxes for this very worthy project. We have fun with it every year!

This year, we also showed the following video to our church. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words! After the video was over, my husband said to the congregation, "If that video didn't touch your heart, you need to meet Jesus". How true! It seems we see so much sadness and injustice in the world anymore, but we can't let that harden our hearts to the suffering going on around us.

As Americans, we have so much, and it's amazing to see how so little can make these children so happy! They will not only get toys and hygiene items, they will also get the message of the Gospel, and that is the most important thing!

If you're interested in filling a shoe box, please go to the website listed above to get more information about what to do and where to drop off your box.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Take care,

~Melanie

Moments With Baxter

This is such a sweet video. It's a couple years old, and Baxter has already passed away, but he spent 16 years as a therapy dog at San Diego Hospice. He looks like he was such a sweetie. Have some tissues handy!

~Melanie

What I've Been Doing

Hi, everyone! I hope you're all having a great week.

Our weather has been very nice, and the leaves are beginning to turn. Fall has always been one of my favorite times of the year.

Well, I turned another year older last Friday, and had a very nice day. The teachers got a cake for me, and some of the younger children made me some cards. I got some beautiful cards and gifts from my family, then we went out to eat. :)

We're getting everything organized to put the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes together. This is a great ministry. So many lives are touched.

It's hard to believe the first quarter of school is almost over! Our staff is a bit short-handed right now, so I've had to do my own job and help out in the classroom. Things have been very busy!

We just finished a Yankee Candle fundraiser, and made a great profit! Their products are wonderful, and we got 40% of the sales. One of our students' moms picked it out for us to do, took care of all the paperwork, and did a great job! This will be a big help in addition to the Box Tops for Education labels we collect.

Unfortunately, the cold virus has been making its rounds through our area, and our house was no exception. I had it first, then Katie, now my husband has it, and today is his birthday! Poor guy. I think he was sick last year on his birthday too. It's just that time of year, and I don't guess it helps being in a school all day with kids and germs.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I took yesterday.

These are the trees across from our house.
The leaves were so pretty in the sunlight.

Our blueberry bush out front.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Take care,

~Melanie