Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Warming up...

Well, it's back into the 70's (woot!). I am actually glad. I refuse to turn on the furnace until I absolutely have to. We are not looking forward to the propane bills this year. Last year we had one month where the bill was $1500, for one month. The church can't afford that right now. So, I am using a couple of space heaters as needed, mostly just in the morning, and sparingly using our woodstove. We don't have much wood yet.

We had intended to get some more wood this week but our schedule just hasn't allowed us to get up into the hills. Butch and I had to go into Reno Monday, came back Tuesday. Then Wednesday we had to play catch-up, Mornings for Moms met today and we have a breakfast meeting tomorrow to help plan an FFA Fundraiser. So I guess we'll go out 2 days next week. Luckily it doesn't take long to fill the truck. I hope the wind stays away.

Grady is doing well on fundraising for DC. He is almost halfway to his minimum goal. We sent his registration in this week and hopefully will get a confirmation on dates in the next few days. He almost has all of his tuition, the other half of what he needs is for airfare and then he will have to raise enough for some "spiffy" new clothes and spending money. He is still very excited about going.

Becca is doing very well on her Oboe. That is still her current highlight. She practices nearly every night for about an hour and is picking it up quickly. She has been frustrated lately because they have a concert Tuesday night and she isn't ready. She is doing as well as she can be with the way band is out here. I told her to just be thankful she has a mom who can help her learn her instrument. If I couldn't help her I'm pretty sure she would have given up by now.

Spencer is well...Spencer! He got off to a rough start in Biology and now has one week to get his grade up to passing. He is doing well in the rest of his classes, maybe not doing his best, but for the most part, he is doing better than last year. We are still hoping he will decide to be an FFA officer. His teacher wants him to but he is undecided. I think it would be good for him to have a leadership role but it has to be his decision. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Church life has been pretty quiet lately. We are busy, but it's because we are doing just about everything. It gets discouraging at times and we just pray that the people here would discover a passion for God and spreading the gospel through out our valley. We are doing our best to keep our eyes fixed on God. We have had some opportunities to help out with concessions at the volleyball and football games. Through that we are able to build relationships with those who do not go to our church. We are praying for God to open doors with these people.

Thank you for praying for us. God blesses the faithful.