We're going on a chorus tour

We're leaving at noon on the first leg of our chorus tour.  Friday night we'll be at Goshen Mennonite at Latonsville, Saturday night we'll be at Crossroads Mennonite at Richfield, Sunday morning at Womelsdorf Mennonite at Womelsdorf, and Sunday evening we'll have a short program at Blue Ridge Christian Fellowship near Aroda.  Walter Beachy is speaking at Blue Ridge on Sunday, and we'll sing before he speaks in the evening.  So, if you're anywhere in the area, come on over and say, 'HI.' 

Last night we had our final practice, so we invited friends and family to come listen.  We were surprised to have the church pretty well filled.  Carson is going along on the tour, so he didn't go over.  He wasn't sure if he should go along since he isn't singing, but he can chaperon. 

Martin Layman is our director.  He comes from a very musical family of singers.  He married a beautiful singer, and they have 3 sons with beautiful voices.  Their middle son, Nathan, eleven years old, sang a solo at church several weeks ago, and did a terrific job.  Our chorus is made up of 30 + people from at least five different churches, and the ages range from 15 up to grandparents. 

Pray for our safety on the highway, and pray that we will be a blessing and an encouragement to others.  We want to bring honor and praise to God.

Till next time.  Ruth

Busy Week

   We've had a busy week ... in fact, the last two weeks.  But it was a good busyness, just tiring for these old bodies.  It started out with special meetings at our church, from Wednesday to Sunday, with Brother Phil Hollinger from Pennsylvania.  We enjoyed meeting him and appreciated his messages.  He brought his wife and two younger sons.  His parents and his two older sons joined them on Friday night.   Phil has two sisters who are part of our church family,  so it was a nice reunion for them.

We had Monday evening to rest up.  On Tuesday evening, we went to Woodland, our local nursing home, and met with some of our neighbors from the Trinity Mennonite Church to sing for the residents.

On Wednesday evening was prayer meeting, and on Thursday evening was the much anticipated evening with Eduard Klassen and his Paraguayan Harp.  It was an absolutely enjoyable and worshipful experience.  It was hard to believe that he could get that much music from one instrument.  Between the musical selections, she shared about his life, and how a missionary came to his remote village in Paraguay and explained to them the way of salvation, and what a change that brought into his life.  We were truly blest to be there.

I almost forgot that we were supposed to have chorus practice on Friday evening, but when Carson prayed before supper, he asked the Lord to protect me as I drove to chorus practice.  So I had to quickly clean up the kitchen before heading out the door.  We usually practice twice a month on Thursday evening, but we are preparing for a tour to Pennsylvania early in May, so we have had to shift to weekly practices to get ready.  We are learning some beautiful  songs, and its really a challenge and a thrill.  God has blessed us with so many beautiful songs with which to praise Him.

We were to church this morning.  Quite a few of our people were gone, but we also had some visitors.  The attendance for Sunday School was sixty-one.  On the way home from church, we quite often take a map along, and go exploring the back roads so that we are more familiar with our new community.  Today, we didn't have a map along, but there are quite a few dead end roads along route 15, so we explored them today.  After we got home I quickly warmed up the poor man's steak, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables, and for dessert some chocolate pudding dessert.  We didn't have church this evening, so we rested, and watched the wildlife outside our door as we read. 

... Of course, the clock has kept on ticking, so it is now early Monday morning. 

God bless!          Ruth

Eduard Klassen - In concert

Eduard Klassen

Harpist & Speaker  with his Paraguayan Folk Harp

In Concert on Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m.

at the  Oak Hill Mennonite Church

Cumberland  Virginia

visit his site at www.eduardklassen.com

I've heard that he is very good.  If anyone would like to come and needs directions, let me know.

Winterstorm and Finished Project

The electricity went off on Sunday evening while I was working on this blog, and was off for about 15 hours.  Our first major snow storm since we moved north, brought us close to a foot of beautiful snow.  Everything closed down.  Since we really weren’t expecting it, we were sadly unprepared in many ways. Our only heat was the gas logs in the den, which worked very well in keeping us warm, but did nothing for heating food or water.  The only water that we had on hand was two pint bottles of water which had been in my pantry long enough for the bottles to be misshaped, and I had considered throwing them out last week, but, thankfully, I didn’t.  The two bottles were enough for frugal hand and face washing, brushing teeth, and an occasional sip.  We also had some juices in the refrigerator so we didn’t fare too badly for lack of fluids.  We were grateful when the electricity was turned back on before suppertime.  Many others are still without electricity.  There are some perks in living close to a major highway and close to town.  I had a great time watching and feeding my birds, and enjoying the snow.  Carson enjoyed reading in his recliner by the fireplace.

Snow Covered Garden Plot & Side Yard

We’re slowly getting a few things done around here.  After more than a year without the master bath, we are finally finished with that project.  We waited a loooong time for the tile man to come, so we finally gave up on him and asked our long time friend and fellow Xangan, Nelson Miller, aka southernheir, if he would do the job for us.  When he was able to fit us into his schedule, he showed up on our door step on a Monday morning, and by Wednesday noon we had a beautiful new shower stall and a tiled floor.  When we bought the house, much of the house had been renovated, but the master bath had not been completed because the husband and wife couldn’t agree on what they wanted done.  That was just fine with us, because we knew what we wanted.  We tore out the dilapidated tub and commode and replaced them with something that was more handicap friendly, a shower stall and a taller commode.  Its wonderful how the Lord takes something we plan, and makes it even better.  There were 2 boxes of tile left from a previous project, so we thought we would just use them for the floor, but realized when we got closer to the project that the 2 boxes would not be enough.  Not knowing where the previous owners bought the tile, and not finding anything local that would match, we finally ordered something that we thought would be compatible with the other tile … however, when it arrived we could see a big difference in the two tiles.  I held my breath, wondering if we‘d made a big mistake.  Nelson, master tile man that he is, did a beautiful job.  He used the two different floor tiles and did a checkerboard, and I love it!  It’s much nicer than a solid color floor, and I think the original tile would have made the room too dark.  I had fun working on the shower curtain and curtains for the window.  I used the drapes that we had helped Martha get for her apartment just a few months before her death.  They are a nice reminder of her.

We're grateful for the beautiful home God has given us here.  We have more work to do to get it finished.  My next project is to get my utility room ready for a laundry tub.  I have to move all the food and sewing stuff that has been stored in crates on top of the counter onto shelves in the cupboard.  Its a lot of work, but if I do a little at a time, it eventually gets done.

God's best to each of you.               Ruth 

Carson's Birthday