Andrew & Mama’s jacket, Bella and Ketsi

Our church is very diligent about reading letters from missionaries. Every Sunday in the Sunday School assembly time, every Sunday evening service and every Wednesday night service. On Sunday and Wednesday nights the pastor will gather the letters that have been read and distribute them to the families that have taken those missionaries as prayer commitments. To hand out the letters he calls upon the younger children in the church.


Andrew is only four years old but he never met a stranger. I suppose he is physically average for his age but he is the smallest of the responders – and the most noticeable. Every Sunday and Wednesday night he charges up the steps to the podium and mixes it up with the older children. I do not think he is ever denied a letter to deliver. I am sure that sometimes he is not sure who to give it to, but there is always plenty of guidance from the congregation.

Last Wednesday night Andrew was sitting with me and Mama. Being four years and thin, he was cold and was sitting on my lap on every occasion – until Mama came back from her discipleship study; when it comes to laps, there is no contest there. Since Mama had an extra jacket – a light terry cloth style one – Andrew had put it on even though he was sitting on Mama’s lap and they were sharing a cape she leaves at church for the evening services.

After hand-shaking time, the pastor held up the missionary letters and began questioning the congregation for those who were praying for the particular missionary the letter had been written by. Andrew did not hesitate. He hopped off Mama’s lap, shot past me and rushed up the steps to the pastor; all the time fighting to get the sleeves of Mama’s jacket pulled far enough back to expose his hands.

The pastor stared for a moment as the congregation muffled a laugh. He was so taken aback that he had to turn to the mike again and ask fro the name of the person Andrew should be looking for. He leaned on the pulpit and watched Andrew pop down the steps, swallowed up in the jacket, look to the congregation for direction and deliver the letter before he continued. By the time the pastor was done, Andrew was back on Mama’s lap wrapped in jacket and cape.

The pup, at only eight weeks old, is proving to be quite a digger as well as a chewer. The chewing was anticipated, the digging was not. Grandpa had to come and get some plants to rescue from her teeth before her reach increased too much more. Now he has to rescue the plants from both dogs, Bella and Ketsi.

Victoria has been working with Bella and she claims to be seeing improvement. I am less convinced. Bella’s destructive enthusiasm is difficult to contain. Thankfully, Grandpa remains hopeful.

Still working on the farm purchase.

Plan F&P, Our pearl?

It seems we have been paralyzed by the way in which Wells Fargo is treating the debt we are repaying on the house in New Jersey. I have called to get what I think is a justified correction to our credit report but have been assured that there is nothing anyone can do. It seems computers are in control – at least that is where they are told to put the blame. It’s very disappointing and though we are repaying the loan and have kept in contact with the bank about this matter, it may cost us the ability to make any purchases (like buying the farm) for several years to come. There are some options open to us but Mama and I are going to fast and pray about how to move forward.


The fellow at the “land bank” in Decatur seemed hopeful if we could clear up that point but he can offer no guarantees of our being accepted for the loan for which we applied. At any rate the issue needs to be resolved and I will put that at the top of the list of pesky problems to overcome. Mama was initially very angry at the bank for, essentially, holding us hostage – especially when so many others walked away from their outstanding obligations. I reminded her that, years ago, when we signed the original loan papers, we gave them permission to do what they are now doing. Legally they are doing nothing wrong; it just feels that way.

As I was driving home yesterday and listening for the Lord – as opposed to always doing the talking – the parable of the man finding treasure in a field came to me. I looked it up this morning. It is found in Matt 13:44, followed by the parable of the man seeking pearls and when he had found “one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” The man who found the treasure, hid the treasure again, went and sold all that he had and bought the field.

I am not sure if that is where we are but I would foolish not to consider it.

Two verses that have bothered me for some time are the following:

Luke 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Somehow that overlays where we are right now, I am just not sure what wisdom I am looking for that would make me, a child of the light, as wise as the children of this generation when it comes to unrighteous mammon. Another pesky little problem to overcome.

Speaking of pesky little problems, when Victoria offered yet another cute name for the pup, I could only say, “Don’t even!”

Second chances, Chase’s quest

Our realtor suggested another bank – of sorts. It is a farm credit agency in Decatur which can loan us the cash to purchase the farm. I got the paperwork late yesterday. Unlike the bank loan application, which was over twelve pages, this application is one page plus a separate release for permission to check our credit report. I figured, why not? I still have to provide a Wise County address for the application. Weird! The property is in Montague County at the very edge of the county line.


Grandpa is very excited about this property and it would be wonderful to get him started on it as soon as possible. He is putting together a three year and a five year plan for us to work off of. I am putting together a five year and a ten year plan which will include setting up the herb shop – hopefully in Bowie. It will give Mama and Grandma something to do to contribute to the income. I am hoping that will not become problematic.

I have had many second chances in life and I suppose Grandpa has too, but for both of us, the purchase of property to farm successfully really is a second chance. Grandpa did very well for many years on his farm in West Virginia, but sold it to start the business he and Norman ran for almost a decade. That, sadly, did not end well, and left him flat broke. This really is a chance to restart a tested and tried successful business model. I would love to share in that opportunity.

Chase is still putting in applications and going to interviews. It is interesting to see him approach a store manager and ask if his application has been reviewed. I am still not sure how he does on interviews but I know that he has asked to have Sundays off at every job interview – gutsy. It is something our pastor has insisted on and Chase has been bravely following through. This alone has been the turn off for at least four job possibilities and though he is disappointed, he is undeterred. God will respond to that kind of obedient faithfulness. It is simply a matter of time.

Anyway, he has an interview at Sam’s today as well as Cheddar’s and someplace else I cannot remember. I am not sure if any of the three will promise him Sunday’s off, but I am pretty sure he will ask. Mama is rooting for Sam’s and I suppose for his personality and “patience” of motion – translate that “he moves so slow even Grandma can out pace him” – it is a good fit. His heart is in the right place, now if we can translate that into actual muscle movement and brain responses we will have a glorious success.

Mama finally wrote the puppy’s name down for me: Ketsia, or Ketsi for short – as if it needed to be shortened. No wonder I could not remember it. I had to check the spelling on the internet. Very sad!

Not yet, the pup, storms

I contacted the bank in Decatur yesterday to let them know about the property we had found. I knew it was more in line with our abilities to finance with them and all of us were excited to see what the outcome might be. As it turned out it was not favorable. While I was driving home, I got a call from the person I had been working with and he told me everything looked very positive, but…they are uncomfortable with the idea that I do not know when I will be relocating to Decatur and they will not make the loan to someone who is not close by. If we lived there, or knew when I would be moving there, the loan would be approved; since I do not know, they backed away.


So Mama and I are going to pray about it for a couple of days, or weeks, and see if we want to go to another bank or just wait until things are finalized with my company. (I would love to get Grandpa started on a farm even if it is a couple of years before Mama and I can get there.) As Mama and I prayed together last night what struck me was the way God seemed to be all over the way things fell together when we found this particular farm. So to be so quickly told “no” was a surprise.

I am a little displaced this morning having that focus so quickly removed from my attention, but life goes on.

The pup, whose name I still cannot remember, seems to be adapting well to our home. Rosie is a little jealous but she makes sure she does not get overlooked. She is great with the pup; gentle in their play, never stealing her food, sharing her toys and blanket. Victoria is having a good time with both dogs and I am sure some pictures are going to be posted soon.

We actually got rain in Amarillo late yesterday afternoon. It was a little odd since in our office Safety meeting yesterday, we has a guest speaker from the National Weather Service. He is stationed here in Borger. He gave a lecture about tornados; how they form, when the warning sirens are sounded and why, what to do in case of a tornado. As I was traveling home yesterday, seeing the rain and the clouds in the distance, there was a perfect example of the type of cloud that he had said could spawn tornados. We did not get any tornados, but it was interesting to see live examples.

I was in bed before the sun set yesterday, but I bet the sunset was awesome.

Our Friday adventure, our new addition

Friday at about 5 a.m. Mama, Grandpa and I left for Decatur to look at properties. I had the day off – Good Friday – and it seemed a perfect opportunity to look over four or five properties since the realtor was willing. Mama had lined up four properties and I had asked the realtor to investigate a fifth, so we knew we would have to hit the ground running.


We got to the realtor’s office at about 9:30 a.m. and left ten minutes later; backtracking to Bowie, TX about twenty five miles back northwest. The first property was twenty six acres. It was nice property, with a large tank, a well and an electric drop that looked like a camper had been recently hooked up to. There were large open meadows with gently rolling ground – all of it tillable – and access on two sides, one to a state highway, and the other to a county road; very doable and with a price tag to meet out budget.

The second was the eleven acres that I had hoped would be the property we could start out with. It was a disaster. It was attached to and downhill from a rapidly deteriorating house; one that had begun well but was, sadly, not being finished. Grandpa and I had to walk around to where the fence had fallen down to get on to the land. Our main interest being the tank that was supposed to be there. It was an even bigger disappointment –poorly situated, overly deep and completely dry. I was very disappointed.

Next stop was a forty acre plot of ground. The owner got in the van with me and Grandpa and gave us a tour. It had a very large tank in the front and as we drove over the property, the owner, a delightful horse trader, gave us the history of the land. We wound our way around to a second tank and when Grandpa and I got out to look at it I wanted to laugh. He explained that the government had helped pay for the installation, but it was the worst I had ever seen with no real hope of ever making it right. (Scratch that one!)

Lastly – my suggested property did not work out – we looked at a sixty acre farm with a small house. The whole property was terrible neglected and had been for many years. I supposed it was being leased since there had been cattle on it recently. The house was the repository for someone who had never thrown anything away yet had, sadly, chosen to leave most things right where they had fallen as they abandoned the house.

It was awful! The realtor was afraid to go in. An attitude quickly adopted by Mama. There were papers scattered everywhere, dirty dishes filled the sink and every counter, clothes filled every closet and dresser as well as being piled on every flat surface – including the floor. Surprisingly, it did not smell as awful as it looked. Outside was very different.

As Grandpa and I looked past the mess and began to see the possibilities we both got a sense of a plan that had been carefully laid out and implemented over the last many years. What remained of those plans had died with the original owner. None of the heirs had seen fit to learn or follow through on them. They had only let what had been done fall into ruin. Never the less, we could see that someone had gotten most of the way done and what they had done was well done.

There was a meadow – now long overused – and five fenced pasture areas. It has four tanks with water in them. It looks like three of the four are spring fed – they are beautiful. In addition, there is one tank that is massive in design but the drought has left it only 20% full. Grandpa and I found four huge clusters of blackberry bushes as we investigated the large tank. Across the upper part of the meadow, towards the road is a stand of old oaks; a perfect place to build a home. It is the farm we hope to buy.

On Saturday we picked up the puppy Mama and I had looked at Thursday evening. She is a Scottish terrier. I can’t remember the name the girls and Mama settled on even though Victoria spelled it for me half a dozen times – I guess I really don’t like it much. The pup, I think, will work out well for us.

Even Chase is excited about it.

Meeting minutes, a new dog, Chase

My staff meeting went very well yesterday. Mama got to meet two more of the ladies I am responsible for and we had a great lunch together. I have some minor items to take care of for the ladies, which is as it should be, but overall everyone had their say and now all the ladies know each other better. Everyone went to their respective homes last night, which was a long drive for those returning to Decatur, but we ended early enough to get even those three home before dark.


The three little ones spent the night with Mama last night so we took them to church – which thrilled all the ladies of the church; two for the nursery and one with us through the service. Because of choir practice and rehearsal for a trio I am singing in on Easter Sunday, I did not get home until almost 10 p.m. That may not seem late to some but it is an hour and one half past my bedtime - making last night the second night in a row with less than six hours of sleep. Regardless of how the average individual may feel about that, I know it is not healthy. I owe myself some hours of sleep. One debt I am looking forward to repaying.

Mama has her sights set on a Scottish terrier now: only $300 – only a couple blocks from our house here in Amarillo; so cute, so hard to find (especially for that price), so long desired. Since there is no commitment to relocate and no room for two dogs in my house it is easier for me to say “no”. I may have a problem on the follow through. I keep trying to say “not yet” but these wonderful and rare opportunities keep coming up and I do not know how much longer I can resist such a streak of good fortune.

Chase is still without a job, though not for lack of effort. He has put in over thirty applications, had a dozen or more interviews and followed up on at least half of the interviews yet still without work. I am not sure what God is teaching him but it will be interesting when the truth of the lesson is revealed to him. In the meantime, I would love to be the “fly on the wall” at his next interview. He is very private and quite unexpressive to the point that it takes a concentrated effort to get him to talk about anything long enough to get to the root of any issue. Thank God for the insights He gives. Most times that is all I have to go on.

Chase came home from school yesterday with a cut right beside his left eye. He also had some broken blood vessels in the same eye. The injury was caused by a Rubik’s cube thrown in frustration at someone else. It was a very bad throw and, yes, it was a girl who threw it. Bobby De La Garza gave me the rest of the story after church.

They were having a contest in school – boys against girls – over Bible trivia. One girl in particular was having difficulty getting the answers correct but her competitive spirit would not let her take the time to clearly think through her answers; whatever came to her mind was just shouted out. Of course, what teenage boy can resist pointing out a string of incorrect – bordering on silly – answers? The last straw revolved around the question, “In what book of the Bible did a man use a stone for a pillow?” Her instant answer was, JOSEPH!” I suppose that was too much for the boys to contain.

When they were dismissing only a short time later, one of the boys said to this girl, “See you later ‘Joseph’” That was all she could take so she threw the nearest loose item at hand at him (the Rubik’s cube), only Chase was the contact point.

He hopes it will turn into a black eye. After all, they are really cool!

Staff meeting, no lucky bug, flying Friday

Today I have a meeting with all of my staff, less one who is out on maternity leave. It should be a good face-to-face for all the ladies I have charge of since some of them will be meeting for the first time. I asked Mama to come up to Borger so she could go out to lunch with us. Some of the ladies have not met her either. Victoria asked to come also and I originally said “no” since the three little ones would have to come along with her and Mama, but I am thinking about reconsidering.


I have put together an agenda that we probably will not make it through but you have to start somewhere. It has been a good experience leading in this atmosphere; where most everyone is happy to have a good job and has few complaints about doing their job. I am hoping, in the future, when we have our herb shop the lessons I am learning now will give me some reasonable ability to run a business – from the personnel perspective.

We went out soul-winning last night and I was extremely tired. Mama went with me as well as Maggie and three other young ladies from the church. We had a very good time in a large apartment complex – several good visits, several prospects for the church. On the way to and from the girls watched Mulan on the little screen in the car. One of the girls had never seen it before and she loved the line when, after Mulan is discovered and they are sitting in the snow on the mountaintop lamenting how they have been living a lie, the cricket confesses to Mushu (Eddie Murpy’s does the voice) that he really is not a lucky bug. To which Mushu replies, “You told me you was a lucky bug. You mean you li-i-i-i-ied to me?” She must have repeated it a dozen times laughing harder each time. I can’t imagine what her parents will think when they will have no history on where the line comes from.

Mama is setting up with the realtor to look at several properties on Friday. We will leave Amarillo at 4:30 to 5:00 a.m. to arrive in Decatur at about 9:30. The properties are all in the Bowie, TX area. All are more reasonably suited, price wise, to our budget. I am particularly interested in a tract of eleven acres for $40,000. Mama is leaning toward a tract of twenty six acres for $110,000. She has mentioned that we should consider buying both properties since the combined price is so low. My response was, “What would Dave Ramsey do?”

So we will not literally be flying, but it will be an over and back trip in one day. Grandpa is going with us so he can see what we are considering. I enjoy having his insights. I am not sure that it is not an effort in futility since I asked my boss yesterday where we stood on making the move. His rather sour answer was that he has yet to convince his boss of the value of the relocation. So nothing is definite; which is why I am leaning toward the smaller piece of property. If it will be several years before we can make a home on it, I do not want to greatly limit my financial options by overextending at this point.

I am ready to go. I am also ready to wait.

The answer, the building, the Coral snake

I stayed late in the office last night to work on my personal studies. I have no place when I get to the house to work in enough privacy to accomplish what I can at the office, so I will make it a practice to stay over several evenings a week to press forward on my studies. It puts me home late but the sacrifice is well worth it. At the very least, it allows me to make measurable progress, however small that may be.


As I was here yesterday evening, the bank president called me and we talked for about half an hour concerning our application to buy the eighty acres. He very kindly and almost apologetically reinforced what I have told Mama about the purchase; that it too much for us to handle financially. He explained that although the bank would not say “no” to the request, borrowing that much money on raw land would put us in a position which would limit our ability to secure the money to build a home or any other structure on the property when we might seek to do so.

I got the immediate impression that we were dealing with the right people. I did not have the heart to tell him that Mama has already abandoned that purchase and moved on to looking for land with houses. It is apparent to her now that we will need a place to live while we develop a farm and the availability of smaller properties with houses on them is proving easier than we originally thought: especially since we bought the latest Bowie newspaper.

We may still go over Friday to look at one such property but I have cautioned Mama that we may be better off to wait until we see a little more clearly what the economy is going to do – lest we end up buying a property that immediately has a diminished value based on market conditions. Land is generally safer than houses in a falling market but the old rock song that says “once bitten, twice shy” is true in our case when it comes to house purchases.

While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Kline, I asked Grandpa to show Mama the building he uses as a shop. It is a 40 by 80 building that once served as a general store and later as a saloon in a small south Texas town. It is early 1890’s construction. Its walls are not framed but rather floor to ceiling boards inside and out nailed to the wooden foundation framework and to the framework of the ceiling. There is no studwork, only full length boards, one layer for the exterior wall and one layer for the interior wall, and yet it still stands!

It has some of the most beautiful decorative tin lining the interior and where the tin has been carefully removed there is some intricate, hand painted artwork of vines and flowers that completely encircles the building. It is quite amazing.

On our way back from looking at the building Mama and Grandma were a few steps ahead of me and Grandpa when I saw a coral snake in the grass. They are beautiful creatures; dangerously poisonous but rarely do the bite humans because of their tiny mouth and fangs. Like a cobra, they must chew their venom into their victim, giving a larger victim plenty of time to shake them off. I called Mama back so she could see it and, of course, was instructed immediately to kill it. I mashed its head with the heal of my shoes but I am sure I only bruised it slightly.

It fled into a crack in the dry black gumbo of Grandpa’s property as soon as I lifted my foot.

A week’s recap, visiting family, no calls

Last week was a quick seven days. Mama and I traveled on Monday and Tuesday. I trained on Wednesday and Thursday. We traveled on Friday and Saturday; mostly Saturday. The first two days of traveling took us to Decatur where we looked at two properties, one of which we were interested enough in to approach the bank.


It is eighty acres with six tanks and a well. It has a creek that splits the property in two sections of roughly 55 and 25 acre tracts. Three of the tanks are very nice and the other three have water in them in spite of the severe drought. There is a loafing shed attached to a corral complete with a head gate. The creek is full of small brim. It is clear and deep enough in several places to provide a swimming hole. A small, dilapidated house would provide some lumber if it were torn down carefully; quite a lot to offer in one property.

Tuesday we got to Houston in the late evening. We were put up in a very nice hotel about one mile from the ConocoPhillips headquarters. Mama shopped around, mostly at Costco, on Wednesday and Thursday and I was in training to become certified as an Incident Commander. On Wednesday night we got to go to Johnny Pope’s church, Christ Church, in Houston but he was away at Crown College doing a series of special meetings. The Youth Pastor was great and it was a very good time for me and Mama.

After my training was over on Thursday we went to see Grandma and Grandpa Kline in Chappell Hill, TX. We had a pleasant evening with them and we arrived early enough to take a walk around town. It is not a long walk but it is a scenic one none the less. After only two days in Houston, we were happy to be in the country. Grandma and Grandpa Kline are doing well, but the effects of more than eighty years of living are starting to show on them, especially my Dad. They are content. They are healthy and still very mobile. Regardless of how good they look and feel I am relieved to be closer to them.

On Friday afternoon we drove over to Rogers, TX to see my sister Sarah and her family, Fabian, April and Josef. It is always a delight to spend time with them. As it turned out, we arrived in time for Sarah and Fabian’s youngest, April’s birthday party. There were fifteen young teens over for an evening of party activities, mostly unorganized, but the partiers did not seem to need any organization to enjoy themselves. I got to grill hamburgers and hotdogs. Mama helped get all the food set up. Sarah was relieved to have us there. The wind was so bad that we had to clear out the shop building and set the tables and chairs inside. Nobody seemed to mind. It was a much easier venue for the flies to annoy us – no party is complete without them.

The boys played basketball with the rim lowered enough so that even the shortest could dunk the ball. The girls pranced and pretended to play volleyball with just the proper amount of squealing to keep the boys looking. We visited with Sarah and Fabian and pretended not to notice the silliness.

Saturday we left pretty early so we could take a look at the property once again on our way home. We spent a little over an hour walking around, mostly looking at the creek and the back corner of the upper portion of the property. It was more effort than either Mama or I realized, a fact we discovered several hours later when we were getting out of the car after traveling a couple hours; a gentle reminder that we are not getting any younger.

We were expecting a call from the bank about the property, but none came. We are waiting on their commitment before we make an offer and it appears to be a good thing since Mama has already found two other properties with houses nearer to Decatur that she is interested in. If any of them are still available we may go over on Friday to look at them.

Mama is quite excited. I am getting there.

Training, Travel again, more training

It has been a week since I have written and there is no way I can catch up to all that has happened in that week but I will give some highlights.


I spent last week in Indianapolis, IN, for training to become certified as a Natural Health Provider. It was eight twelve hour days of intense training in five different areas of focus in natural health; nutrition, body systems, iridology, body works and practicum. I hope to say I learned a lot, but it would be much safer to say I was exposed to a lot. Ninety-six hours of instruction in only eight and one half days was grueling but it was the very best way to get the coursework completed so the certification is granted.

Not only was I exposed to a lot in the training but I was also exposed to a lot in the ninety people who attended with me. There were people – mostly women – from all walks of life and in all developmental stages relative to the information we were being given. Many, the majority, were Christians, as were all of our instructors. It was a great time. Now it is up to me to do something with what I have learned so both the time and the expense are not wasted.

I have learned many things over a dozen or more years but it has been difficult to put all the collection together. What has been even more difficult has been finding out if what I have been told is actually correct. One book say one thing and another book something slightly different. This week answered most of those questions as well as giving me the resources to begin helping people with confidence; not that I know all the answers, but I have learned how to ask the proper questions.

The human body is a marvel of creation and I am amazed at how thoroughly God has provided for our long-term health through what He has given us in this world.

Mama and I are traveling to Houston this week – today actually – by way of Decatur. We are scheduled to look at several properties tomorrow and talk to the bank about the possibility of financing such a project. Mama is so excited about this. I am less enthusiastic, not because I do not want a farm, but I do not want another huge debt. At this point it seems the only way to accomplish this goal. Perhaps it is a lack of faith on my part. Finances have always been an area of weakness in my faith.

I have training in Houston on Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday night we will go to Chappell Hill to see Grandma and Grandpa Kline and on Friday we will go to Rogers to see Sarah and Fabian. Saturday we will travel home and hopefully arrive in time for the revival service at our church that night. The training was a great excuse to go to look at property and to visit family. Mileage and the hotels will be picked up by the company so it will be far less expensive than last week was.

As was mentioned by one of the instructors last week, the romance of the road has worn thin for me. I am ready to be home for a while.

Tax news, Mama’s overnighter, my flight and more

I met with the accountant yesterday as planned and on the way over I was praying for wisdom to pay what I thought we would owe. I was floored when he showed me a $750 return from the Federal government and almost $500 from the state of New Jersey. There was equally good news for Maggie and Victoria’s taxes. Because each of them claimed themselves and I claimed them as well – to keep them on my insurance – they each received a letter from the IRS stating that they would each have some additional taxes to pay for 2009.


Maggie’s portion is $780 and Victoria’s is $814. As it turns out, Victoria would have gotten a refund of almost $800 and Maggie would have gotten a refund of almost $500. In all, the penalty for the mistake we made will cost each of them the refund, but it will lift a burden of almost two thousand dollars from my shoulders. Thankfully, each of them is willing to forego their returns to help me correct the mistake. Ouch and Yeah at the same time!

Mama and Maggie are off with the ladies of the church on an overnight women’s retreat. Fortunately it is only a couple hours from the church so they will be away only overnight – literally. You know Mama. She agonized over the trip for days but I have the suspicion she will be glad she took the time to go after she gets there. She had the little ones all night last night so her fix is in until Monday. Victoria is keeping the three boys until their mother comes to get them this evening. So she’s doing okay too.

I am in Indianapolis tonight and will be here until Sunday the 10th. I had great flights on both legs of the journey. I only had a twenty minute layover in Dallas and I was a little worried about that flight since I had been assigned 31B. You kind of know what that means and I was praying that I could get a seat with a woman and a young child or something – anything to not be in between two “big-boned” people.

As it happened, row 31 was at the very back of the plane; the next to last row. It is right by the station used by the attendants to load their service carts. It was like having the first seats behind first class or like the exit row seating. It was great! To make it even better I was sitting by a twelve-year-old boy.

I walked about a mile and one half tonight to eat at Chipotle’s. It was sprinkling lightly as I walked but the Lord held off the rain. On the way back I stopped at Kroger’s; about ¾ mile from the hotel to get some breakfast things rather than pay seven bucks for a buffet here at the hotel. When I came out it was raining very hard with huge flakes of snow mixed in. Not good walking weather.

I waited and prayed for about half an hour and the rain stopped, the snow tapered off and I walked back without getting wet. As I look out the window, it is raining hard now.

Ain’t God good!