PRAISE THE LORD!!!

What great news I have!!! The short, short version is: WE HAVE A PLACE TO WORSHIP!!! Wa-Hoo! The not so short version is...

We've been worshipping in homes or renting a small room at a motel for the past year+ since the CoGoP sued us for the church building. The ladies here just didn't feel like fighting it out in court, so we walked away. We've been feeling increasingly desperate to find a place that we could call ours, whether renting or buying, but things are sooooo expensive here and it seemed like the doors just weren't opening for us. About a week and a half ago our members started talking and discussing how urgently we were feeling the need to have a PLACE to invite people instead of just worshipping in homes. We started praying real hard again and James and the Clarksons starting looking high and low for possible locations. They checked into several places, but most wanted $900 or more per month (LOTS more sometimes) for a little space.

On Monday Brother Chris went to look at a little office space that was advertized at $550. The meeting room was a little smaller than we would have liked, but it would work. It's nice and has fresh paint, has a nice little room for Sunday School in the back, and we would be the only people there on Sundays and in the evenings as all of the other suites are rented by daytime businesses. After lots more prayer and discussion with the members here, Brother Chris called yesterday and offered them $400 per month and we all just prayed that God's will would be done. And they accepted!!! Wa-Hoo!!! AND...

We couldn't move in and start using the place until we had insurance, but God worked enough miracles that we were able to find insurance and move in TODAY...

In time for our first night of Revival!!! Is that great, or what?! God's timing is sooooo perfect!!! Brother Chris signed the rental agreement this morning, spent some time working through all of the insurance kinks, then rented a U-Haul and headed up the mountain to the storage facility that contained the chairs, piano and pulpit that the church had invested in over the past several months in anticipation of getting our own place. Our family met the Clarkson clan there and we got everything loaded up, drove to town, MOVED IN (wa-hoo!!!!!), then we all zoomed back to our houses and got ready for church, sped back and made it just a few minutes early. :-)

And God TRULY BLESSED our first service in the new building. Such a wonderful spirit of worship and thankfulness for what God has done for us--and how quickly all of this happened once it was the right time. :-) We really felt the Lord in our prayers and singing and then he really used Brother Ammons to minister to us. Brother Ammons felt led to anoint the pulpit that the word of God would be preached from, the floor that people would kneel on and receive salvation on, the door that souls would walk through, etc. God really blessed and we just feel so excited about what God is going to do in The Church of God right here. He is moving and preparing us for something great. We don't have quite as much room to grow as we'd like to have in this building, but we will find a way to pack 'em in when the Lord brings 'em. ;-) And we are only in a 6 month lease, so who knows what the Lord may have for our future!

So that's our great big news from around here. I'M SO EXCITED!!! So thrilled to finally have a place and so sure that this is God's perfect timing--and so touched by how He instantly flooded into our new place tonight and anointed our very first service. God is so good!!!

That's the good news. The bad news is...

I've lost my cell phone. Maybe for real. It's been two days now and I can't find it ANYWHERE. I have been so much better about things like that (being married to a Choleric necessitates improving, or certain death will come--either physically or maritally! Ha!), but I'm really beginning to wonder if I'll ever find it. I've looked in all of the usual places several times and all of the unusual places I can think of, too. I've spent HOURS searching and re-searching high and low, on my knees, under tables and beds and dressers, in the gravel out where we park the van, drawers, bags, shelves--you name it. James was none to pleased about it, but still handled it much better than he would have a few years ago. Within 20 minutes or so he reached a cold, stiff hand over and patted mine, then said through gritted teeth, "It'll be okay." I had to laugh. I told him that I truly appreciated his empty words, knowing that he didn't really mean them (I KNOW what was really going on in his mind, but he was kind enough to not verbalize it), but he loved me enough to TRY to mean them. Or even if he wasn't trying to mean them, he SAID them because he loves me and is trying to be kind and patient and understanding and all of the things a good husband should be. That makes it almost worth losing the phone for! What a great guy to put forth such effort when it goes completely against one's nature. That must be what true love is for a Choleric. And I appreciate it soooooo much more than he knows!

I'm still looking for my phone, but hope is beginning to fade...

Umm... what else? Been a busy week around here, thus my failure to blog. I've been spending a lot more time with the kids' school now that Joe is into his new books. He requires more attention than I wish he did. Katie is doing well with her school and hasn't been cheating anymore, so that's good. ;-) OH!!!

I know!!! VERY EXCITING NEWS AROUND HERE!!! I knew there was something else! SAM IS READING!!! I think I've written that before. But he's doing it again!!! Ha! We've had moments where he's been able to sound out a word here and there, but we always seem to run into a wall. For the past few months, the only "school" I've had him do is letter stuff. He copies the alphabet over and over again and I have him arrange the letters on the fridge in the right order. My only goal was for him to become completely familiar with EVERY letter AND with the sounds they made. He's not totally there yet, but he's getting close.

So yesterday (or the day before?) once I got Katie and Joe settled in with their school, I grabbed the Hooked on Phonics workbook (we found the boxed set for $.75 at a yard sale a few years ago) and sat down with Sam. I was surprised to find that he actually knew nearly all of the lower case letters and then amazed to discover that suddenly he seems to know what sound almost ALL of the letters make! Wa-Hoo! Before we've just worked with the 5 or 6 that he was most comfortable with. We went through all of the letters and sounds, then the first 10 words (bat, cat, fat, hat...) and he was able--with some work--to read them. Then he used those words to read his very first comic strip on the next page. Something about THAT made the difference. For the first time he read something that made SENSE and I think for the first time HE really felt like he was reading. He was sooooo excited! We worked on things again today and although it's not something that comes easily to him, now that he feels like he's actually starting to read (he never really believed it before, even if he could sound out a word) he is showing some actual interest in it. He keeps walking around with the little books that came with the set and trying to read them. He climbed up in James' lap yesterday to show Dad that he can read! How exciting is that?!?!? It's just sooooo cool. And although it's exhausting to try to teach the kid to read, it's so rewarding. I've never taught a kid to read before (Katie and Joe just READ, I didn't teach them--they just DID it) and it's pretty fulfilling for me, too! Ha! I feel like if we can be consistent in working on it that maybe this is the real deal. Maybe he'll actually be able to READ for himself in the next few weeks or months! Wa-Hoo!!!!

Lots of good news. The other really great thing this week is that we went to the Balloon Fiesta on Sunday and actually saw some balloons!!! Last year we waited until the last day, drug the kids out of bed at 6:00, drove all the way into town and spent an hour or two looking in vain for balloons, then finally turned the radio on and discovered that it had been cancelled that day! Ha! So this year was much, much better. :-) I took lots of pictures and lost my cell phone (that's the last time I remember having it, not that it has anything to do with the pictures I took or what I'm talking about at the moment, it just popped into my head), but I'm too tired to post them. I'll get some up here one of these days though. If for nothing else, to show Sister Tammy W. what she COULD be seeing right now instead of a grungy basement remodel job. ;-)

As I mentioned earlier, we are in Revival this week. Brother Ammons flew in last night and will be here through Sunday. He's staying with us since the Clarksons aren't set up very well for lots of company and Sister Clarkson will be coming to stay with them, too. (Shhhhhh! Don't tell the Clarkson kids--they don't know that Grands is supposed to be coming tomorrow or the next day!) It means I get company, so I'm glad they don't have a guest room. :-) Is that selfish? Probably. Nah, not really 'cuz Sister Shanda's not a big company person like I am, so God probably arranged things like this so it would make both of us happy! Ha!

Anyway, we look forward to the next two nights of Revival with Brother Ammons. He'll preach here again Sunday morning, then we'll drive him down to Hatch where the Revival will start that night. He'll stay there for a few days, then be the guest speaker at our Minister's Retreat next weekend before preaching his final Revival in Andrews, Texas. Busy guy! We're so glad to have him.

Wa-a-a-a-a-ay too long of a post, especially with no pictures. I just had to write and publicly testify to what the Lord has done in providing a place for our local church. Then one thing led to another and we have a long, drawn-out post. But I'm done now. I'll try to post some pictures next time. Brother Ammons is wanting to go see the balloons with us, so we'll do that on Saturday morning, probably. I'll try to get some more pictures then. But between now and then, if anybody finds a pink cell phone... :-S