~My answered prayer, God is helping Phillip in Colombia, Amish Country, Caramel Apple dip recipe, Strait Creek Services, & my Fall Tree~

 THANK YOU SO MUCH 

for praying for my 2 unspoken prayer requests!  

I see the Lord working on one of them!  

He is So FAITHFUL!

God has been helping my Phillip in Colombia, 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS FOR HIM, as TODAY is his last full day there!!

He has traveled and preached in 

Cartagena, (a 24 hour bus ride away from Bogota.)

Codazzi, (Near Venezuela)

Medellin, 

Barbosa (He didn't preach there but traveled 6 hours one way to encourage some saints there), 

and is now back in Bogota.

LORD WILLING, HE FLIES BACK TO ME THIS WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5th,

THE DAY BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY! <3

FLYING now-a-days is QUITE SCARY!

Especially with All of the incompetency in the mechanics and the pilots being HIRED these days...

sometimes has my heart like,

"Why pray, when you can WORRY!" ;-) (Just Joking!)

SO, PLEASE PRAY WITH ME THAT GOD GETS PHILLIP HOME SAFELY --TOMORROW--FROM COLOMBIA!!

~Don Jaime, Pastor Jimmy's Daddy, 

snapped this nice pic of Phillip and sent it to me.~

~Pastor Alberto from Medellin and Phillip~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pretty Lawn & Pretty Leaves

(Our Noah takes his time to stripe our lawn.  

He does a great job. Thank you, Dear Noah!)

~ZACH PILMORE SPEAKS FOR OUR 

STRAIT CREEK CHURCH~

Last Thursday night, Zach Pilmore spoke for our Church. 

He did such a great job!  It was encouraging!

This was sentimental to me.

Zach is only a couple years older than Noah.

As Zach grew out of them, 

Zach used to send his toy cars and trucks

to Colombia for Noah!

And now, Noah was leading the service,

And Zach was preaching.

Everyone is growing up!

~Sweet Little Stella cracked me up, 

by taking this purple mini disc, 

biting it and bringing it up to cover her eyes, 

and playing peek-a-boo with me.~

~LOOK! 

At this NEAT photo 

Phillip found of Pastor E. and Grammy holding tiny Baby Kimberly!~

~AMISH COUNTRY~

BERLIN

Each year, near my birthday time, 

I LOVE 

to go up to see Josh, Sarah, & Adelynn, 

and then all of us go to 

Amish Country, 

not too far from where Josh, Sarah, and Adelynn live.

We Love to go to the fun thrift stores and decor stores there.

We always pack a picnic and 

have SO MUCH FUN hanging out together

and shopping!  

Of course, we miss Phillip.

But, going here, helps my heart, while he is in Colombia.

~On our way to J & Sarah's house Friday evening,

The sun was hitting the top of the trees and making all the BEAUTIFUL FALL LEAVES stand out. 

I just kept praising Jesus for His beautiful handy work!

I LOVE FALL!

I never could capture a pic of the Fall leaves that did them justice.

~Except maybe this one.~

~Grammy and her 2 adorable babies.~

~Uncle Noah and Adelynn~

 

~Kimberly (Mimi) feeding her own little Stella, and her little niece Adelynn.

It was so cute, because Adelynn was opening her mouth each time Stella was given a bite.~

~A neat ol' canal on the way to Amish country.~

~Hershberger's Farm~

~We always stop here to get a yummy donut 

(to go with our coffee that we brought from J & S's house)

on our way to shop.~

~It is a tradition to take a pic with these big pumpkins.~

~They have a neat leather shop that we enjoy.

Chris, Kimberly, & baby Stella.  

We were so Glad that Chris could come this time.

This was his first time to Amish Country. ~

~Josh, Sarah, & baby Adelynn~

~We enjoy their glazed donuts.~

~Years ago My sweet Friend Lila gave me a tall Pencil Tree.

It was the PERFECT size Christmas Tree for our dinning room!  

I LOVED IT! (and so did Phillip.)

Our dinning room isn't any too wide, 

so this adds a decoration without taking up a large footprint.

Well, the last year or two, I started noticing that it was REALLY loosing its needles and looking quite bare.

So, I determined that I would look for another tree similar to it.

Dear Kimberly pointed this one out in a thrift store in Amish country.  

It was the perfect size again!

So, Elijah carried it up front for me. :-D

It was cheap, as Christmas trees go, and I now have my replacement tree.

~I loved the saying on this tea towel...

"Christmas presents come and go, 

Christmas Memories Last a life time."

~And this saying:

"As we grow older, Our Christmas list becomes smaller and 

the things we really want 

for the holidays can't be bought!"  

Soooo sweet!

It's true!  

I have ALWAYS LOVED GIFTS!  

Being the baby of my family, 

I used to SEND OUT POEMS to remind my family 

that my birthday was coming up soon. ;-)

I have always been very easily excited, and would clap my hands and squeal for joy!  Sometimes I still do over the smallest things!

One day when I was around 11 or so, 

I asked my more Solemn Daddy if he ever got, 

"Jumping up and down happy?!" :-D

But, what really means the world to me now, 

is getting to be with those I love!

~I had some birthday money from our kids to spend in Amish Country.~

~Chris and Uncle Noah watched the babies in this gazebo,

so we could go into the store named Kaufman's.

~Our Chilly Outdoor picnic.~

We decided to have a REAL TAILGATE party and eat our picnic from Josh and Sarah's tailgate.

It was a yummy combo of everything that Kimberly, Sarah, and I brought!~

~Tuna salad and Ritz, Pepperoni and cheese, hummus and pretzels, cucumbers, grapes, caramel Fruit dip and apples, and little Swedish chocolate balls.

~CARAMEL APPLE DIP RECIPE~

THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE FRUIT DIP!!!!

I could eat it by the spoonful! 

You might want to double the recipe, right off the bat, 

because just one recipe goes too fast!

With a mixer, Cream together: 

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp. 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Serve with sliced apples (sprinkled with some lemon juice or fruit fresh), 

bananas, grapes, etc.

~Mary laying down on the hood of our van, holding a sleeping Stella.~

~Mimi (What Abigail used to call Kimberly) 

holding Sarah's baby Adelynn.

We said our goodbyes and drove home back Saturday night, 

to be at our Strait Creek Church for Sunday.

~Strait Creek Church Sunday, Nov. 2nd.~

Our mission Director, Mark Becker, preached for us.

(Cousin Laura sent me these pics below.)

~Chris leading the singing.~

~Abigail normally takes up our offering, 

since everyone else is busy elsewhere.~

~The kids and I sang a special, and had the congregation join us on the chorus.~

~Here are some of my pics.~

(This one was taken before church.)

~Cousin Laura told the story of David and Goliath Sunday AM and did a GREAT job!  

(You can tell she must be doing a great job, because she has the attention of everyone on the platform. :-)

Sadly I didn't get a pic of her telling the story.

~Noah led the service.~

This was pretty special.  

Noah was just a tiny little lad of FOUR WEEKS OLD...

when God called us to be missionaries.  

He was only about 3 or 4 months old when we joined 

Global Holiness Missions, and 

Bro. Mark Becker 

became our Mission Director.  

So, here we are now...

Noah is leading the service and his mission director is preaching.  

Where in the world does time go?

~Bro. Becker did such a great job preaching on the verse,

"When I was a child...and when I became a man..."

He used adorable little Stella as an example.

He talked about how cute she was over there saying her,

"GaGa GooGoo" little babblings...

but he said that if her Dad were over there doing that, 

we all would be worried!

Then he talked about them going over to our house for Sunday dinner after church, and how he was looking forward to whatever meat and potatoes, etc. that we would eat.  

But, what if Noah had a baby bottle beside his plate, and didn't want to eat meat and 'tatoes.

He applied all of this to becoming mature in the Lord and taking responsibility for our Salvation.  

Reading God's Word and praying each day, and living for Jesus faithfully, and then sharing Him with others! 

It was so Good!

~We had the Beckers over for Sunday dinner.

They have been a very DEAR mission director and wife to us!

They have loved us, 

they have come to see us in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Argentina, 

given us lots of nice gifts, 

Giving us lots of good advice,

And PRAYED lots for us!

They are truly DEAR friends! 

~The other day when I took Cousin Laura out for coffee for her birthday, we stopped at an Antique Mall nearby.

I thought that the prices in that place were EXPENSIVE!! 

But, I found a table where everything was A DOLLAR!

My kind of table! :-D

So, I looked around on the table and found some pretty white Lenox China plates...

with light blue and burnt orange around the edges.  

I knew that I already had blue and burnt orange pumpkins...

and so I could just see a pretty Fall table with these plates.  

 

However, there were only 7 plates!  

I looked around really well, because I obviously need more than just 7 plates.  

But that was all there were, 

so I bought the 7 plates, for $1.00 a plate.

Later, I went to Goodwill and found 2 White Noritake China plates for $1.00 each, which gave me 9 plates. 

With Phillip gone, I knew that this was the time to use these dishes.  (I am sure, later, when he is home, I can find another white china plate or two, or use something else I have when I want to use these dishes again.)

~I had such a fun time setting this table!~

~Here is a close-up of the plate~

~My Sweet friend Mrs. Lila also gave me these gold goblets...

I love them! 

They make any tablescape look more elegant.~

~We had such a FUN and profitable visit with the Beckers!!~

~Knowing that I would be in Amish Country, and would get home Saturday night, 

I bought Pumpkin Cheesecakes from Aldi's for our dessert.  (and little choc. dessert squares too.)

I had fun putting the caramel on the plate first to make it look fancy. 

~Dear Sweet Mrs. Becker gave me this fun fall soap as a hostess gift. <3~

~Sunday night at Strait Creek Church.

I got to hold an adorable sleeping Stella, while her parents sang.~

~Chris & Kimberly sang the special.

Noah preached Sunday evening and did such a great job!  

He preached on the Parable of the man who had 3 servants and gave them all talents to take care of while he was away!

Of course, we know that one of the servants doubled their 5 talents and presented his Master 10 when he came back.

Another doubled his 2 talents and presented his Master 4 talents when he came back.

But the one lazy servant DID NOTHING with his talent, in fact he buried it. (Did not serve Jesus with his life or what was given to him. )

We all know that the Master was very pleased with the first 2 men, but the other man lost his soul. :-(

Noah encouraged us to use the talents and life that God has given us.  

To hone ourselves, to use our life and talents to glorify God, and to touch other lives for Jesus! 

He talked about cousin Laura's story of David and Goliath, and said that David used what was in his hand...what he was good at, his sling.

WHAT IS IN OUR HAND to use for Jesus Christ?

Noah compared the Scripture of the men with the talents, to the Scripture in Romans 12:1 about presenting ourselves a living sacrifice to God.  

Giving God all that we are, or ever hope to be!

The title of his sermon was, 

"Use it, or You'll Lose it."

~After everyone left, the kids and I had so much fun playing Christmas carols together.

Elijah on the bass, I was on the piano, Noah on his guitar, Kimberly & Chris playing violins, Mary held Stella, and Abigail took the pic.

~PRAISE JESUS FOR MORE HENS~

I cannot remember if I told y'all that a few weeks ago, 

a raccoon got in and KILLED every one of our 

HENS, 

OUR ROOSTER, 

AND OUR GINEAS!!!

We were SO SAD!!

We have had hens and our own eggs since our Cinci days, and we were MISSING our fresh eggs.

I began to pray for Hens and for FRESH EGGS.

We have a new neighbor that has chickens, but he also has pigs.

I came up with the idea to take him a large 5 gallon bucket of scraps each week for 1 dozen eggs!

Soon, he started giving us much more than 1 dozen eggs for our scraps!  \o/

Phillip thanked him for the eggs and told him that his wife had been praying for eggs.

Right before Phillip left for Colombia,

that neighbor came by and told us he would sell us some laying hens for $3 each!

We were thrilled.

We are so happy to have hens and EGGS again!

PRAISE JESUS!! \o/

It is just a temporary system until we get time to do something better.

Elijah and Noah taking care of the chickens.

~Mary had really wanted an old Statler Brother's Christmas record.

At a thrift store in Amish country, 

Elijah found her one for 50 Cents! 

PRAISE JESUS!

I love watching our kids pray,

and God answer their prayers!! 

When we lived in Louisiana, when I was a teen, 

Dear Mrs. Nellrina gave my parents this same Statler Brother's Christmas tape, 

and we have enjoyed it for years.~

~Our house often looks like this with toys, cups from my cabinet, and cheerios here and there...and I LOVE IT!  

That just means that our little Stella or Adelynn were here! <3

HOW I LOVE THOSE BABY GIRLS!

~A few years ago (2020) when our Beloved USA, as I knew it, started falling apart, Phillip told me about this verse.  

Ezekiel 9:4:

And the Lord said unto him, 

"Go through the midst of the city, ...and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all of the abominations that be done in the midst thereof."

I find myself sighing and crying quite often for all the abominations and sins around us and 

I  AM PRAYING for our 

Country, our Churches, our families, our Homes! 

~Baby Stella~

~MY FALL TREE~

~Here is my new-to-me Pencil Tree 

that I bought at the thrift store in Amish Country.

(I'm still walking by and "fluffing it" here and there, 

since it came back in our van. :-)

~Each year, I display Abigail's little tiny brown leather boots.~

(My cake stands became more of a "collection" 

since I had to get some for the girl's weddings.

But, I use them often.) 

And yes, I love white or beige mugs, 

gifts to us, found on clearance or thrift store finds.

But since there are now 12 in our family,

and we have a lot of guests over,

it does not take long for those mugs to nearly all be gone off the rack, 

and all filled with hot tea or hot chocolate, or an Americano, 

or yummy sweet coffee, smothered in cool whip and caramel.

~I like this little maple leaf hanging at the top of my tree.~

Behind the tree is my sign...

a great reminder,

"GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!"

~My Heart loves the warm lights...the pumpkins around, 

the Fall scarf for a tree skirt,

and the gold "Gather" sign, 

A birthday gift from my Sweet friend Stephanie.~

~Thanks for stopping by, and for your prayers for Phillip in Colombia, on his last day there, and as he flies back to us.

~HEATHER~