Thursday, December 9, 2010

H-e-r-e's-s-s-s the Duster

This is my brand spanking new right off the showroom floor (OK it was parked outside - this IS Romania) Duster. A Duster is sort of like a SUV - it has lots of bells and whistles (I got to buy it with not one but 2 upgrades!) This is a gift from God!

Last April Anita and Barb came to visit me. We took the girls to a mall and they were buying them some clothes. As we were exiting the mall there was a Duster on display - with a Win This Car sign and a desk. Elizabeth and I went to check it out - how do we win? You enter the drawing using receipts, for over $15, for things you have bought in the mall. Anita - Barb gimme the receipts! Elizabeth and I laboriously filled out the entries. I think the drawing was for May 20 or so. I explained to Elizabeth that I pretty much use up a car every 5 years. The Lord miraculously provided one for us in 2000 and then again in 2005 - we're due kiddo! The truck was getting iffy and I was putting more and more money in to it. Not to mention it is not easy to drive without power steering etc. Elizabeth asked if it was really going to be ours. I said it could be - the Lord has never provided with a drawing - but why not? Just start thanking Him for our new vehicle!

I was talking to several people about how I think that was the new vehicle for me and how God has always provided for me. It is financially really difficult for many missionaries here and I want to encourage as many as I can - God provides provision for His vision. Period. During one of these discussions someone said "Ah Jackie, the drawing was yesterday and you didn't win - doesn't that do something to your faith?" Ah - NO! The only thing that was clear was that the drawing was not God's provision for me. A church in Indiana bought this for me! That is God's provision - most often He uses the hands of man.

I just wanted to share our excitement and blessing with you!

Widows

There is no way this picture could portray the scene I encountered at Smila and Aurelia's house on Monday evening. Smilia must be at least 85 and her daughter Aurelia is in her 60's. Aurelia has been profoundly retarded her whole life and has been lovingly cared for by Smilia. When we added them to the program Smilia's one prayer was that her daughter go to be with the lord before her. Smilia was so fearful no one would care for her. In the right rear of the photo is Aurelia's crib. In front of that you can see the arms of the potty chair. On the left is Aurelia in her bed.

When we approached the house it was totally dark and the door was tied shut from the outside. I was used to the door being tied as it had been a long time since Smilia had been able to venture out. There is a woman who is paid to look after them. It usually is only in the morning and evening she comes. When I opened the second door in to their room there was no sound. I switched on the light and at first I thought they had both died. On the table at the head of Smilia's bed was half a cup of water and a metal bowl with a little pig fat that was strewn with rodent droppings. Mother and daughter were both still breathing we saw. I guess I wasn't quite sure that was a good thing.

Smilia had her head under a blanket so I couldn't see her face. I was unable to get her roused enough to speak but she did open her eyes. Aurelia was in her crib cramped in to her fetal position. I don't think anyone even tries to get her out any more. When she used to be taken out of her crib she was placed on a potty chair - all day she sat there. Aurelia is also blind. The room was cold. We went out back as we had purchased all the widows wood who needed it. There was a pile of old rotten gates and pieces of fence but no sign of the good wood. We gathered enough to start a fire. We got some blankets from the van and piled them on Smilia and Aurelia and built up the fire.

I called the Pastor I had contact with. A woman was given the money to buy Smilia and Aurelia the wood. I actually didn't care that the wood was not outside only that these women were kept warm. I thought maybe this woman was afraid it would be stolen and brought some over periodically. Certainly Smilia couldn't have gone outside and gotten wood to build a fire anyway. I thought maybe I could call an ambulance - but then what? These things are not so easy here. My Pastor friend promised to come the next day. There was fresh bread in the outside room so someone had been there - hopefully had brought food and fed them. There were some diapers and bed pads also.

I left with a heavy heart and in tears. We all did. Irene and Wayne are visiting here to help with all the work. They have a charity in Wales, Reaching Romania. They provide gift boxes every Christmas, not only for the widows but also for hundreds of poor children and for an entire hospital of people that are chronically mentally ill. Peter and Christine, along with Peter's granddaughter, are over from England to help. It was just so sad - and how many more are there just like Smilia and Aurelia? I also don't understand why the Lord, in His mercy, doesn't take them both home.


I would not have thought the sad mood would lift for a long time. We had one more stop to make - to Elisabeta. She is new in the program and I have never met her. This woman got us laughing!

Her house was also dark and everything was locked. We stood outside and yelled and yelled - but most of them are fairly deaf. Sani jumped her fence and opened the corridor door. Danny went in and was shining a spotlight in to all the windows as we keep calling her. Finally in the last window a light came on inside. This poor bewildered woman sat up in bed and I guess she thought she was having a nightmare. She struggled, and I do mean struggled, out of bed and then we noticed that her legs were all bent and she was partially paralyzed. Elisabeta worked her way to her crutches and painstakingly inched her way to the door. The handle rattled...and then nothing. After a moment of silence Danny quipped - "she forgot the key" We all burst out laughing. When the poor thing finally got the door opened she was so bewildered - and her look said it all - it said "who the ---- are you people?" Now actually I couldn't translate what she said - because it was all in German! Ah, does anybody know German? Yeah, Danny spoke all of about 6 words of the language. I saw she wanted us to go in to the other room, where there was heat but I said let's just give her the stuff and let her close the door. We kept trying to use motions to show this was for her, she kept trying German, Danny kept saying we couldn't understand...I put the shippers down by her feet. draped the blanket over a chair and took the lid off her box to show her the goodies. I pointed to her and kissed her on both cheeks and we turned to leave. As we cleared the door she said in perfect Romanian - "How did you get in here?" We explained that we jumped the fence and would lock up behind us - we couldn't contain our mirth at her finally speaking to us in Romanian - while just a short time before we had tears pouring down our cheeks.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Overwhelmed...

In September I took in two girls to stay with us, age 10 and 13. Their mother has been helped since the 13 year old was born. The mother was taken to the hospital one night leaving the girls at home alone. I picked them up the next day when they called me to say they were hungry. The older girl says they have moved 33 times in the last couple of years and it seems each place was progressively worse. This last place was two thin moldy mattresses with a couple of blankets on the floor surrounded by their clothing - no furniture - no dishes - no stove...

The mother is now in the State mental hospital. She doesn't need to be there but she does not seem in the shape to work and she is homeless. The doctor at the other mental facility said this woman doesn't want to get better, to take care of herself or her children. She wants her children to help care for her. Now what???? I have known these girls since they were infants and they have had to stay with us before. I am not sure how this will be resolved. I do not want to dump these girls in to the center for minors but I know I can not continue indefinitely.

I got a call this afternoon - Sani's mother and 5 siblings are homeless. They came to this judet and built a squatters shack in a field. No one considered that the owner of the property might object. They were thrown off the land today - where can they go? They are in the field in the rain. I called the center for minors and they will take the children on an emergency basis tonight while the mother figures out what to do. The youngest is only 3, what is this child going to think when they get dropped off tonight? I can still picture in my mind the look in Sani's eyes at 8 when his mother gave him to me.

I received yet another call - couldn't I find a place for the mother? Not wanting to sound harsh but I bought her a house to raise her other children (Sani is the oldest of 10) and she had sold it. She had yet another place after the one I bought (not sure who helped with this one) and it too was sold.

The plight and future of these children breaks my heart. The State no longer has the personnel nor funds to take them. The private places have, by in large, downsized or closed. The costs due to all the requirements they had to meet, especially in staffing, got to be prohibitive. I am hearing about foster care children and adopted children where the families want to give them back to the State - they can't afford them or they didn't realize children that had been in care would be difficult.

It seems to me it is going to be a desperate winter for many children and not a lot I can do about it.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The widows have wood!!!

Just a quick praise report. I received a wonderful gift and was able to buy wood for all the widows that needed it! They were all so happy. Lena has a broken leg so I also took her crutches and arranged to have all her wood cut and chopped up stove size. I should have taken a picture of some of the wood - it is delivered as whole trees.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Winter for The Widows

These two ladies are sisters from the village of Graniceri, they are both in the Widow's Mite program. As with most of the elderly in the program they are worried about wood for winter. Some of them have said they would rather we not give them food and help with wood. They are more afraid of being cold then they are afraid of being hungry.

The dollar has plummeted in value in the last 5 weeks and everything has risen in price. These are fun times, but I know much of the world is in financial crisis. The Lord has always been faithful - He provided provision for the vision!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Elizabeth Translating

Elizabeth had asked if I would write a message on Joseph. Sure I would. I asked if she would be willing to translate it for me on Sunday as Bogdan would be out of town. She agreed. She did an awesome job! I was so proud of her, not only for doing a great job but that she was willing.
Elizabeth and Sarah are both such a joy to my heart.

Elizabeth and her friends also distributed flyers around the village for our last Women for Women meeting.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Sarah - Such a delight...

Here is Sarah helping at Mocrea. Her job this week was to play scriptures for the patients. I received some spiffy little machines called Proclaimers. They have the entire bible recorded in Romanian and you can use adapters for electricity or they have solar batteries and you can charge the batteries with a crank. These are perfect for some of the people I work with.

Today driving home with Sarah, we had just taken a new mom and her baby home from the hospital, she says "I need to have Frankenstein's brain!" I was somewhat distracted driving so I thought I hadn't heard correctly. You need what Sarah? She repeated it..."Frankenstein". Most times I can figure out where she is going with a particular statement but my mind was on traffic so instead I just asked her to clarify it. Why would you want Frankenstein's brain Sarah? The response...? "So I will be good in math". Ah, do you mean Einstein maybe? Sarah..."whatever"

She is a joy to my heart! She would also be very angry with me if she knew this was in the blog!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Widow's Mite - Ema

Ema has died. In the Widow's Mite program we often have people pass away. Ema's first language was Serbian I think and she also spoke Hungarian. She was hard of hearing and somewhat senile, I was not able to share much with her verbally. I was able to tell her Jesus loved her and and He had sent me to help with food. I hope I meet up with her in heaven some day. Ema had been transported to a chapel in a cemetery just two hours before I arrived with her food on Wednesday. I asked about a service and they said she would be buried the next day. She had no family left and I thought how sad to be buried without anyone to say goodbye so I planned to attend. They never called me with the time or place so perhaps there was no service. Ema mattered to me and I just wanted to share this with you.

Bulgaria!






What an awesome time we had in Bulgaria! Marty Sutton has a wonderful vision from the Lord for multiple children's homes. He has received great favor, they have paved the road in front of the property, and there are now plans for a State sewer system so Marty does not have to worry about septic tanks.

I led a group of 3 adults and 5 of the young men from the Vinga church youth group. They worked very hard for 5 days. I did the cooking. The guys stayed on site but I stayed in town and returned every day after doing the shopping with Marty.

It was my vision to not only help Marty and be a part of his vision but to involve the Vinga youth in missions. I have a tendency to have big dreams and vision and just go forth and then part way through I often say to myself "What were you thinking!" But as with all the plans that are of the Lord - nothing is too big for Him! We were all blessed and look forward to helping out again, all the boys wanted to stay longer and do more. You notice I didn't say adults - we were ready to come back home! Ah, to be young and strong again....

Girls in England



We had a lovely time visiting Kay in Paignton England. The girls enjoyed the zoo, I ended up taking them. There was a water park there and we took in a movie with Kay. I just wanted to add a few pictures to the last post. They are growing up. Kay did crafts with the girls, which they totally loved and we were able to go to their group meetings to worship with Kay and her friends. We look forward to Kay being able to return to Romania for a visit.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

England

The girls and I are enjoying a visit to Kay's in Paighton, a lovely beach community in South East England. The girl's father and his wife have just picked Elizabeth and Sarah up for a day at the zoo.

We travel back to Romania on August 10 and then I leave with the boys from the Vinga youth group for a missions trip to my friend Marty to help with the orphanage he is building.

I hope to have pictures to post soon. I have very little Internet access here.

Friday, July 23, 2010

So much has been happening...!

We are leaving for England in the wee hours of the morning and I realized I have (again) put off updating the blog. This has been about the busiest summer I have ever had...and I am tired. The girls and I are going to visit Kay in England for 2 weeks. She lives in Paighton, a lovely seaside resort. We will spend as much of the two weeks on the beach as we can.

The two weeks of summer camp went really well - this year we were able to sponsor 43 kids as well as 4 adults. Next year I think we will do both age groups together and do one big camp. I have pictures, but the posting of them will have to wait until I get back.

The Toon family is visiting and has been a real help in the ministry. They will be watching over the house while we are in England and continuing with the work in Vinga as well as Mocrea mental hospital. The family, Yancy, Esther, Elie and Jason also went to camp and helped. Their music is a real blessing. The kids all have a good time together and that is really nice. They wrote a song and play for us, including "interviews" with the actors. We enjoyed it.

Patrica and Sandor Varga and their son Bela returned and did an awesome 3 days of VBS here in our village of Sofronea. She had it all so well organized, including games, crafts and snacks. The bible lessons were great and several children prayed with her on the last day. I do have pictures (OK, so I have misplaced the camera....) When we get back I will update!!!!

We get back on August 10 and I am due to take the boys of the Vinga youth group on August 15 to Bulgaria to help Marty Sutton with the orphanage he is building. We are excited to be able to go. Marty and Howard, the builder, were at summer camp with these boys last year.

Much is going on in my life but I do know that God is in control, and His grace is sufficient. Please keep praying for us here and the work.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Camp

How could I have forgotten to say that this year we have 45 kids going to summer camp - Praise God! The younger kids, 9-12, are there this week and the teens go next week. Right now I need to get up there, I have 5 homesick kids. I hope I can talk them in to staying until Friday. Needless to say Elizabeth and Sarah are not among the ones who want to come home. Including transportation the total cost was over $3000 but we made it! God is good!!!!! I will post some pictures next week (that is NOT a promise, but I'll try....)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Whoa...it's been a long time...!!!

I do apologize for not keeping up my blog! This summer is shaping up to be one of my busiest! I have 2 travel trailers parked in my garden now as well as being able to sleep 4-5 in the guest room. Sarah can bunk in with me and that frees up a room with bunk beds AND the couch opens in to a double bed. WOW! Going from not having hardly anyone visit to figuring out sleeping arrangements is an interesting experience, also eating in shifts! Scott and Caroline Poncy and a team arrive next week and will pitch in with the projects while here. Next week a team may go to Mocrea and I can stay home - how exciting!

This week while everyone is at camp I can hopefully catch up on my computer work (I am s-o-o-o-o very late on the last orphan sponsor letters but my computer crashed). I have a lot of financial stuff to catch up on also. Now I can check off my list of things to do "update blog!)PLUS the most exciting thing: I am shopping for a new vehicle - how great is that!!!! Upper Indiana Presbyterian church is blessing me. YIPPEE YAHOO. I need to write a few people about it. I have been witnessing to many about the provision of God and how faithful He has been every step of the way here.

The girls and I go to England July 24 to August 10 and I get to do my almost most favorite thing: lay on a beach! August 15 -21 I am taking a mission team, boys from the Vinga youth group, to Bulgaria to help my good friend Marty Sutton, Obedient Life Ministries, build an orphanage. August 28 is the next ladies meeting. Mary Jill and I are looking at a vacation week in October. Also in October Gena Turley is bring a team here to Romania.

Eye clinic

Ken Cloke and his wife Katy have a foundation and center here in Arad. Ken has been trained to do eye exams and they provide glasses for free or for just a nominal fee. He came to Vinga where we offered free exams. Many pairs of glasses were provided for the the people there. What an awesome blessing!!!!
Elizabeth was a a local village festival and helped represent Sofronea with the traditional Romanian dance. I hope to be able to get her to town sometime this summer to check out the local dance studio for lessons.

Last day of school

The girls look like they are truly best friends here - NOT! They are just overjoyed that this was the last day of school! This week they are at camp and are happy that I am not there with them. Aw shucks girls...

We have a family visiting us from Slovakia - the Toon family, Yancy, Esther, Eilee and Jason. They have pitched in with the work here and their two children are a delight. The Toons are at camp this week with my Sunday school group from Vinga as well as some of the children from the Kid's Club in Sanicolaul Mic. A family from Hungary drove the Toons as well as Mary Jill here the weekend of June 18. This family from Hungary, Sandor, Patricia and Bela (OK so I didn't get a last name!) will be coming back for another visit in July and do a VBS here in Sofronea. They have all been singing in church in both English and Hungarian, it has been a blessing. Yancy will be returning to camp next week to help Bogdan with the teens (another blessing!!)
We had another meeting of Women For Women on June 19. Mary Jill Callery, of Certain Women, was our main speaker and Caye Stiller, of Greater Reach Ministries, gave a powerful testimony of God's faithfulness. Around 40 women came and we will have the last scheduled meeting August 28. I am not sure how many more we will do but there is so little for women here in Romania and the ladies that came really encouraged us to keep going. Our special speaker in August is Paulette Carson and we look forward to that meeting.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Baptisms

I had the privilege of baptizing Bogdan along with two of Leontin's sons, Eli and David. This was an really exciting day and we had many visitors to witness the baptisms. There are two more young people in the Vinga church that also want to be baptized.




The three young men - Bogdan, Eli and David

Widow's Mite



On Friday afternoon Walter, myself, Elizabeth, Sarah. Hans and four of his girls went to Pauisani. I divided Maria's food in to 5 small bags as they had to hike 1 Km up with the food. I stayed in the van to read, well that was the plan anyway. I seemed to have been a tourist attraction in that small village - "look the American is back" I heard. I visited with several ladies. The owner of the small food store introduced me to a lady named Anuta and said I should walk back with her to her house and see the table clothes she makes. Not knowing how to politely get out of it I followed her up the road to her house. Anyone who has been here has seen those table clothes with the embroidery and cutouts - now I have seen how they make them. Anuta draws the patterns on with pencil, appears to be freehand. Then she hems a piece of linen cloth all around the edge of the table cloth or piece she is working on. She has this ancient treadle sewing machine and handles not only the thin thread on the top spindle but also a heavier cord as well as another spool of thread - all while moving the piece back and forth under the needle to secure the threads - amazing! She pauses and cuts out between the stitching with a tiny pair of scissors. She was so pleased I took pictures of her and her handicraft and said I would definitely put this in my blog.

When everyone came back down the trail the kids were all very wet - there is a spring up on top and there were polliwogs! Oh joy!

Ana, another lady in Pauisani that gets food from Widow's Mite asked why we do not come and spend a couple of days there. It is lovely. Walter said Maria has so much land on top of the mountain we should go there. Ana said we would make a big fire and roast things. The typical food here to prepare on a campfire is fresh bread and you put smoked or cured pig fat on a stick and catch the drippings on to the bread. To that you add fresh tomatoes and onions. It is actually pretty yummy. We talked about Hans bring his kids, our little family as well as Roni and the kids from his children's home and hiking up there to camp. I can not imagine how much food we would have to haul up there, not to mention tents, sleeping bags and changes of clothes - but I am game. I think it would be great for the kids! Yes, I will attempt to get up the mountain. If I couldn't for some reason I could stay down in the little valley at Ana's house.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Good Friday


We had a really nice Good Friday service in Vinga. I was surprised because the church was packed. I usually expect extra people on Easter Sunday and Christmas but not Good Friday.

Women's meeting

A pretty good crowd for a first meeting.






Mary Jill and our translator Diana.







Paula Dunn and the worship team








March 27 we had a women's meeting here in Arad. My friend Mary Jill Callery and two wonderful Hungarian ladies came to speak. The name of the meeting or group is Women for Women and our theme was that the Lord has something for everyone. Paula Dunn and a group of ladies provided the praise and worship music. I tried something new here - door prizes. They were a big hit. Several ladies asked when our next meeting would be so Mary Jill and I set a date in June and another in August.

An amazing thing happened in that meeting. When the ladies were filing in and settling in a man walked in and sat down. He looked really out of place in a women's meeting here in Romania. In the States we usually would have a few men, but this is Romania. Someone came to me as I was setting up the door prizes and making sure we had everything. She asked if I had noticed the man sitting in the auditorium and I said that I had. She thought he looked strange and we should ask him to leave. I was really busy so I just cut her short with a mumbled "oh just leave him alone". When the official portion of the meeting was over with I invited people to stay if they wanted prayer. I was busy cleaning up and noticed this guy was still there. We asked him if he needed something. He said his name was Attila and he had one of the flyers and it said that the Lord has something for everyone - he wanted a touch from the Lord. Attila went on to say he had tried to get his sister to attend with him, then he tried his mother and finally a neighbor lady but no female would accompany him. I was so surprised that a Romanian man would brave coming to a women's meeting because he was so hungry for a touch from the Lord. We prayed for him and of course the Lord met him where he was at.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The closing of the school

Today we finished emptying the school. It was sad but it seems this season is over. I knew this day was coming. I have had the classes there at the school for almost 10 years. The State gave me this building with the only conditions being that I had to renovate it myself and it must be used for the good of the community. A couple of years ago the Orthodox church took me to court. As with many buildings and parcels of land here, much confusion surrounded ownership before communist confiscation.





The Orthodox church is in the left hand side of the picture. We took apart the small kitchen and stored what we were not going to use immediately. We moved all the music things as well as additional seating in to my small church building around the corner from the school. It will take some organizing so it can be used for both the kids club as well as the music lessons. I think I need to move the stored things out from across the street in May. Monday I meet with Daniel to change the name on the house (church building) from the foundation's name to my own. That is the house that is to be Sani's inheritance.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Tuesdays are Mocrea days

This is at the end of our visit and we are gathering to pray. This week many of the locked ward women were released to join us. Last week many of the locked ward men were brought in to the area. They really enjoyed the crafts and games.

I have been blessed with help for the last several weeks. Lynsey Ball, Hans Jaspers and Adina Luca have been coming. I had photos of all of them but there were too many faces of patients showing so I could not use them. Hans plays the guitar, as well as lets patients use it. He plays chess and visits with the men. Lynsey and her family will be here in Romania until April and I will miss her help - she is excellent at crafts. Adina is back from a year in the States and has not yet found a good position - the job market is pretty bad here now. Adina has always pitched to help in many ministries.


This man is new at Mocrea and I am not sure of his history. He draws and paints very well. There is another man in a wheelchair that is also talented - both of these men enjoy talking with Hans. I am always looking for help at Mocrea - the patients truly look forward to these visits. We do a craft every week and serve coffee, soda and cookies. So many of these people have no one to visit them. There is an outdoor patio area now and we are all eagerly looking forward to warmer weather and being outside for our visits.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

More widow's

This is Eva. She has been in the program for a couple of months. Her sister Irina was in the program but has passed away. I went to take food to Irina and her landlord came out and told me. He said she had already died the last time I left food and they couldn't catch me. When I took the food there was no one home (now I know why) so I just opened the door and put the food on the table. The landlord wanted to show me what they did with the food - they gave it to Eva who lives next door. It seemed Eva is Irina's sister and Irina had been sharing her food with her. Eva is semi-paralyzed and bedridden.


I tried to find a picture I have from about 6 years ago. it was of Elizabeth and Sarah packing Widow's Mite bags in our living room. This one is in my bathroom - I have more floor space in there! We have added 3 more ladies to the program, they have no pensions at all. Praise God it has warmed up and wood consumption has slowed. George is out of wood however so I ordered him some more.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Vinga Youth goes skating

Last Friday I took the entire youth group, all 17 of them, from Vinga ice-skating and then out for pizza. None of the kids had ever been skating. By in large they all had a lot of fun. A small group quit after just a few minutes saying that it hurt their feet and they were afraid to fall. I took that opportunity to talk with them about life in general. If you afraid to try new things because you might fall or something might hurt you you will lead a very dull life. I told them I had prayed for them all not to break anything and they should have a sense of adventure and go for it. All but two went back and tried. I did not think it would be wisdom, with my knees, to get out there with them however!

We continue to work in Apple Way at the squatter camp. I am not sure what can be done for these families when the demolition starts in the spring. Claudia's baby died in the womb at 6 months. She is around 19 and this was her 4th child. As they were going to administer the anesthetic for the C-section she requested a tubal ligation. The same day she was taken by ambulance to the hospital her house burned - again. They steal their electricity and it was a faulty connection. When I saw how many things were wired in to one line I shuddered. I tried to explain to Ramos but he was not interested in listening. At least the damage was not extensive this time.

I need to move out of the school. I am praying about extending the church building in Sanicolaul Mic to accommodate the music lessons and Kid's Club. I need to hear from the Lord! Some have asked if I am not going to be reimbursed for the funds I put in to the renovation of the school - no I am not. That is the law here, however I was able to stay on for some time after the judgment in court. I need to sort out the property taxes since the school and the church are tied together in one enormous tax bill.

Everything else is going along pretty well. As usual I am sorry I don't post more often!