Happy New Year!

Greetings once again...after quite a long vacation. I had great hopes of continuing to up-date my blog over the Christmas holidays, but things just got too busy! However, I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and plan to continue up-dating my blog weekly (on Mondays). A lot has happened since I last wrote an entry. I have quite a bit of news for you.

First of all, thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for the country of Bolivia. I was able to talk with some of my friends in Bolivia over the holidays and they said things seem to have calmed down for the time being. There isn't much happening there at the present, although the feelings of those involved haven't changed. Many of my friends believe that things will continue to remain calm for the next couple of months, until Carnaval, which is at the end of February. That tends to be a rather emotional time anyway so it could once again stir up the agitation buried during the holidays. Please continue to pray for everyone there. God is in control and His timing is perfect.

Speaking of God's timing...I continue to wait and pray that my condominium in North Carolina would sell. I haven't been told anything recently. I will try to contact the Realtor to see if there has been any interest within the last month or so. The last thing I heard was that they were going to be showing it to someone, but that has been some time now so I assume it was not the right person to buy it. Please continue to pray for that situation as well. I will keep you posted as I hear bits and pieces.

Thank you too for all who have been praying for and asking about Grandpa Pickles. He has been doing well although having a great deal of pain. The doctor recently ordered an x-ray to see how things were healing. It appears that the bone is healing quite well, but they determined that the screw is loose. They are going to need to go back in again later this week in order to correct it. This is believed to be the cause of a great deal of his pain. I will let you know how the surgery goes once I find out more myself.


Christmas proved to be a wonderfully refreshing time with my family. Janet and Rick and Emily, Christopher, and Wesley were all home. We celebrated Christmas on the 26th as is customary for us, then we left on the 27th to drive to Abingdon. We were able to be there for several days and all of us agree that we saw almost everyone we know while we were there...friends from Emory, Abingdon Bible Church, and babysitting days! All in all we had a great time together.


New Year's was a lot of fun as well. We actually stayed up until midnight (even though my dad said he wasn't going to make it that late). We had spend most of the day driving back from Abingdon, with a quick stop in Bedford, VA to visit my uncle. Emily, Christopher, and Wesley and returned to North Carolina so it was just Janet, Rick, Mom, Dad, and I. We had a nice dinner and watched a movie. It was great fun and meant that we didn't go to bed too late. One sad bit of news that we received on New Year's Day was that my aunt (my mom's sister-in-law) passed away. She has had several health issues recently, but her passing was still rather sudden. The funeral was on January 5. It is a sad time to lose a loved one and she will be greatly missed, but it is comforting to know that she is in a much better place!

On January 5, I joined Janet and Rick on their return to Texas. I will be here with them for about 2 weeks I am getting to meet many of Janet's students as well as hear a symphony concert that she has on Friday night. I will also get to do some shopping and a few tourist type activities. On Sunday, Janet has been able to make arrangements for me to speak to her church during the service in the morning. This will be a great opportunity to share about God's heart for the world. Of course, given the fact that I also still need to raise about $700 more per month, I'm praying that God will lead a few people in that direction.

I feel that this up-date contains quite a few prayer requests! Although that is why I am sharing them with you, I don't want you to miss the things that I am so thankful for today. Praise the Lord for giving me the strength to finish my classes last semester. I don't have any grades to report yet, but I'll let you know when I do. Praise Him also for the great time I was able to have with my family over Christmas, including our chance to visit friends we haven't seen in quite some time. Also, praise the Lord for bringing Janet, Rick, and me safely to Texas and for allowing me this time to spend with them. So far it has been great! Finally, praise God for continuing to teach me new things about Himself each day!

Well, I think this entry should keep you busy for quite some time! Sorry it is a long one! However, I do appreciate your prayers and look forward to our continued partnership this year.

Addendum to most recent up-date

I have a couple of quick things that I wanted to share with each of you...

1.) My grandfather is doing quite well. He has been moved to a room in the rehab center. Today the physical therapy had him up and moving a few feet with a walker. It will be awhile until he is home and moving around on his own, but we are praising the Lord for his progress! If you are interested in contacting him, he is now in room 307 and his phone number is 757-569-6307.

2.) I wanted to request a specific prayer request for the country of Bolivia. This weekend the political disagreements are excpected to become even more of a problem. The government is calling for military action and there are rumors of Civil War. I am concerned for the country I have come to love, as well as my missionary friends and Bolivian friends there! Please join me in lifting them up in prayer.

December 10, 2007

Thank you to all of you who prayed for my grandfather last week. I am happy to report that he is doing quite well. The surgery was a big success and they were very pleased at how strong his bones actually were once they got into performing the surgery! Praise the Lord for that! They wanted to keep him in ICU on Friday night, due to his age. However, he ended up staying longer than that, because there were no available beds elsewhere. We are thankful that today he was moved into a regular room, which makes it easier for others to go to see him or call him. Interestingly enough, they moved him back into the same room that he was in last week. He is in room 247 at Southhampton Memorial Hospital in Franklin. The phone number is 757-569-6247. Thank you once again for praying...please continue to pray for his recovery as he still has a long road ahead of him before he'll be up and walking.

Yesterday, our church in Suffolk had Michael Card come to do his Christmas concert titled "The Promise". The choir that mom and I sing in at church was his backup, along with an orchestra. It was a lot of fun and a very big deal for all of us who enjoy his music! It was a great reminder of the true meaning of the Christmas season.

With all of the activity we have had going on the past few days, I have gotten rather far behind on a research paper that I am supposed to have finished before this weekend. I have finally been able to develop an outline and fortunately I did most of the research before my travels last week; however, it is still a long process. Please pray for me as I work to finish that up this week and get it mailed to my professor.

Thank you as always for your faithful prayers. They are frequently felt and appreciated! Blessings to you all!

December 6, 2007

Greetings once again from Franklin! Due to the fact that it is already Thursday, I'm only going to write a quick up-date today and then I will write again on Monday with more details. However, I do have a couple of things on my mind.

First of all, thank you so much to all of you who prayed for my trip to Rockingham County. I had a wonderful time visiting friends. There were very few people that I wasn't able to connect with. I am tired, but feel that the trip was very fruitful! One of the highlights for me was the chance I had to talk with a friend of mine. She was actually a student in one of my inclusion classes, my first year of teaching, and graduated from high school the year I left to go to Bolivia. We have kept in touch and I get to see her or talk with her occasionally when I am in town. This time was different, the Lord blessed our conversation in a very strong way. We were not only able to learn many things about each other that we didn't know, but we also had a great conversation about Spiritual things. Please continue to pray for her, that the Lord would get ahold of her heart and call her to Himself.

The other big news that I have for today, is not quite so encouraging. This morning I was awakened at about 6:00 AM by mom asking me if I was using a hammer on something?!?!? I thought that was a strange request, but only minutes after asking me, mom discovered that the noise she heard was coming from Grandpa Pickles' room and was accompanied by a call for help. She called my dad and he went in to see what was the matter. Without making this much longer, he had fallen and was unable to get up. After getting him to the emergency room (via ambulance) and many examinations and x-rays, the doctors determined that he had fractured his hip. He will be having surgery tomorrow at about noon and would appreciate your prayers. This will be a very long recovery road for him and he isn't one who enjoys sitting still for very long so I anticipate that this will be hard for him. He is currently on a morphine drip so his pain is minimal and his spirits are positive (which isn't a surprise for anyone who knows him). I will include more details with an up-date on Monday.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! It is so encouraging to know that people are praying not only for me, but for those whom I love who are hurting! Blessings to each of you!

Almost the First of December!

The days are cooler, the leaves are falling to the ground, our Christmas decorations are up, Thanksgiving has come and gone, my mom bought me a bathrobe and slippers so that I'd stop complaining about the cold...I've been home for six months. That really is incredible! I can hardly believe it!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with my family! There were a couple of very cute pictures that were taken, but I think they are on Emily's camera so I'll have to wait until I can get them from her.

This week I am working on school work...isn't that a surprise! I have now finished my final exam for my church history class. That means that I only have one weekend of class left, one final exam (New Testament Survey), one more quiz, and one research paper! It is nice to be able to see the end in sight! Yesterday, I worked on some research for my last paper. I have a friend from church who is attending Regent University, an evangelical university, in Virginia Beach. Since mom needed to go over that way, I rode along with her and was able to use the library at Regent. My friend checked a few books out for me, which was a real blessing. I also got a few from Gordon-Conwell when I was there a couple of weeks ago, so I should be set for my paper...with the exception of the need for an outline and the reading and the writing...HA, HA!

Tomorrow, I will be going to Rockingham County, North Carolina. The county where I lived and taught before going to Bolivia. I plan to be there until next Wednesday, although I do need to drive down to Charlotte for class this weekend. It is only a couple of hours from there so that isn't too bad. It will help to break up the trip a bit. I haven't heard anything about the couple of people interested in seeing the condominium. I will look into that while I'm in town. Please continue to pray for the sale of the property! You can also pray for safety as I travel and for strength. It is always a little tiring for me to be travelling and meeting lots of new people. I will have the chance to see old friends, but there will be new ones as well. I am scheduled to speak at one of my supporting churches in Eden and a friend of mine asked me to speak in one of her high school special education classes! God is opening some exciting doors! There is also a woman living in Eden who is from Bolivia, near Santa Cruz. Her husband is from the states, but lived in Bolivia for a short time after they were married. We will be having dinner on Sunday night, after they come to hear me speak. I am looking forward to meeting these new friends!

I know this begins a very hectic season for all of you as well! I will be praying for each of you as you seek to follow God's will and spread His love to others, particularly in this Christmas season, which can be so stressful! Blessings to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

...well almost! I guess we still have a couple of days until turkey day, but not many! I can't wait! I've been about to burst with excitment for Thanksgiving Day and then all of the holiday festivities that will take place after that! While we were at Virginia Beach last week, they were getting ready for their festival of lights which they set up on the boardwalk. They were testing them out the last night that we were there so we walked along and looked at them! It was so beautiful! I'm certainly not implying that we should skip Thanksgiving Day, but I love that Christmas lights are starting to go up and that many radio stations are playing Christmas music. These aren't very common things in Bolivia, not to mention the typical 95 degree weather, really just means that for the last few years Christmas has not exactly felt like CHRISTMAS! In any case, it is especially exciting for me this year.

Today I am all decked out in my Thanksgiving vest and an orange shirt. My mom is too! We dressed like twins today for a special lunch at my dad's school and then I came with her to work this evening. She doesn't have to work tomorrow and she is very excited (as am I)! Of course, I plan to spend most of the day moving the boxes that I dumped in the guestroom so that Emily, Christopher, and Wesley will have a place to sleep when they come up on Thursday. It will be nice to have them here.

Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that I talked to my real estate agent today. He told me that he has a couple of people who have requested to see my condominium and he is working on setting up an appointment with them. Please pray for those meetings in particular and continue to pray that God would lead the right buyer at the right time!

I am also very glad to report that I only have one more weekend of class! That is a very nice thought! Thank you to all of you who prayed for me last week as I was finishing up my research paper. Praise the Lord, He gave me the strength to get it through and I was able to enjoy the rest of the time at the beach. Other than the remaining weekend, I only have one more research paper, two final exams, and a quiz left to take! Another reason to look forward to the upcoming holidays!

Well, I guess that's all for this week! I know I say this many times, but in the spirit of this upcoming very special day, I want to say once again how thankful I am for each one of you. God uses you in so many different ways (both small and huge)...more than you'll ever know. There have been so many times when letters, email, and/or money have arrived for me at the house, reminding me that you are thinking of and praying for me. Of course, these things always come at the exact moment that I need them! Isn't God's timing perfect?!?! I pray that each of you have a very wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the fellowship of family and friends this holiday season!

Greetings to all! I apologize that I haven't up-dated my blog in a couple of weeks. Last week I simply forgot until about Friday, at which time I decided I would just wait until Monday. However, Monday came and went and then I realized today that I still haven't up-dated my blog, so here I am. I have been rather preoccupied with a research paper that I needed to complete this week for my Theology Survey class. Praise the Lord I was able to complete the paper today and emailed it to my professor this afternoon. I am very glad to have that behind me. This week I am with my family at Virginia Beach. Emily, Christopher, and Wesley came as well. Christopher had to go home on Monday to go back to work after the long weekend. Emily and Wesley stayed with us and I will take them back to North Carolina on Thursday, since I have to go down for class this weekend anyway. This will be the last weekend of my Church History class. After this weekend, I will only have one weekend of my New Testament Survey class left, plus two final exams, a research paper, and a quiz. I still have plenty of work to keep me busy, but I am thankful for the light at the end of the tunnel. Well, Emily is waiting for me because we are going shopping, so I guess I will make this up-date a short one. I will plan to write a little more on Monday and maybe I'll even have a couple of pictures of us here at the beach! Blessings to you all!