Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday morning to you from our corner of the world here in Iowa.  The past three days we have had temperatures in the mid-fifties...so nice for November.  The snow is gone so everyone in the neighborhood finished up the fall outside work in preparation for winter.

Speaking of winter we had a couple of days with a high of 25 and windchills....Windchills already.....sigh.....We walked around the mall and in the gymnasium of a church here in town for those days and this morning in the mall again, otherwise we walked by the river and in the neighborhood!  Walking at the Mall on a Saturday is iffy, due to so many people shopping. Hoping we can find a better place to walk this winter........like ARIZONA?!  Haha

I have started to organize pictures from our trip in the hope of finding a few good ones for our Christmas photo card.  It has been fun to look back, but we are still laughing at how many photos of trees I have!  Joel kept telling me that I would not be able to pick out which trees were from which state, but that is easy!  They go in order :)............I enjoyed seeing all the fall colors and could not resist taking photos.  This is one of my favorites taken at the Delaware Water Gap.

It is so difficult to see the devastation in the Philippines.  Our hearts break for the people who survived the typhoon only to be starving or afraid for their lives due to sickness or robbers.  So sad.  When we lived there Marshall Law was till in affect.  No one could be out after midnight with an armed escort.  One time Bethany had an ear infection and we did not get out of the ER in time to get home before 12.  The military guards at the base gate had to call local guards to come and escort us home.  As I have shared in the past, while living off the base we had a home with bars on our windows, lights on every corner of our home, heavy doors that bolted into the floor, cement block fences with barbed wire or broken glass on top along with a steel padlocked gate for the car to come through, and 24 hour armed guards we paid to watch the area.  Since we did not have a phone and cell phones were not in existence, I would struggle with sleeping when Joel worked the night shift......so long ago now.  The two years we lived in the PI were a life-changing experience, and 95%for the positive.

Speaking of life-changing, if you have been readin g my blog the past two weeks, you know that our trip out East was just that~ life changing.  It has been fun to recall the time spent at the conference, the places we saw, the new experiences we have tucked away in our memory banks.  I told Joel today, it is still hard to be back home without an agenda and he agreed.  Although he is busier now with his next four Sundays filled. 

I have a few more days of our trip to share, starting with our marathon day in NYC.   Stay tuned!

I am excited about Christmas already.  I put out our "winter" decorations and today I put on Christmas music just to get a taste.....we have purchased a few gifts and are making plans for when the family comes after Christmas.  I am going to write the Christmas newsletter next week and order cards.  Hoping to bake up some pumpkin bread for the neighbors, too.

I have been reading Michael Koulianous's book, "The Jesus Book" and skimming through a book called The More Excellent Way by Henry Wright.  We have listened to a few teachings, and plan to watch a Hallmark movie tonight.  What are you up to?

Until next time............