Thursday, September 15, 2011

OH, DEAR, WHATEVER SHALL WE DO??

Our water well has gone dry. 
Actually, it's not quite dry yet
because we're watering the live stock
off of our neighbors water as their well
is deeper than 120 feet.
 120 feet deep has worked well for
the Thomason's since our current/original 
well was drilled in 1951, 
but it's worn out and
we have to put in a new one.
 Yeppers, we're drilling a new water well.
You should have seen the Tank's face
when we took out the $20,000.00 loan
to pay for it.
That's a hard thing to do when you're 70 years old.
Frank, not me. I'm the young one.
Child bride comes to mind.
Anyway, Frank's face turned so gray that I had to 
sneak a shake in
to make sure he reacted to it.
He could have been sitting in his chair dead from shock.
 I'm happy to say that he lived to sign on the dotted line.
Sure am glad that he's going to be around.
 We can enjoy our new water well together.
Have picnics next to the water tank.
Climb the ladder to the top and look in the hole
at the water.
 Get a dipper at a garage sale and say to each other,
"I'm mighty thirsty."
"Me, too."
"Should we climb the ladder to the top of the tank
and get a dipper of nice warm water?"
"Gosh, yes. That'd be great."
 Can't you just hear us?
It's pretty wild around here.
If you ever come to visit, get ready to rock and roll!!
 And, look!!
A plus is this great gunk that keeps flowing out of 
the machine that's drilling the pipe.
Fabulous! 
 The Tank and I will be having some 
naked mud wrestling time once the workmen leave
for the day.
I'm so excited.
I wonder what that gunk is??
 Okay, I think that's about it.
Our well is running dry.
We had to take out a large loan 
to pay for a lovely new really deep well.
So exciting.
That's it - but there's some great pictures
for you to look at - so just stroll along to the
bottom of the post and enjoy our new venture!










Thanks for taking the time to read me. 
I feel like I've lost a lot of readers because
I've been so sketchy in my posting.
For that I apologize and I hope 
my readers come back and leave a 
comment to let me know I'm not alone.


Love you!!
           Jan


Saturday, September 3, 2011

WAITING FOR GOD - PRICELESS

Now, why would I title this post, "Waiting for God - Priceless"?
Because that's what I've been doing for months and months.
In fact, for so long, I stopped thinking about my question and
stopped praying for it. 
Seriously??
Oh, yeah. I'm old and it's not that hard.

Quickly, I should have died twice in the last 7 years
from two of my medical adventures.
Well, it should be obvious that I didn't 
as I'm the author of this post.

I started wondering why God didn't take me.
And, then I knew without a doubt that
he had something for me to do.

He started planting seeds when Skyler and I were
planning our road trip/mini mission trip
to Joplin............we thought!
God had other plans which happens to me
all of the time!

Cut to the chase:
He sent us to Bokenkamp Emergency Children's Shelter
in Corpus Christi, Texas.

I asked for donations to help defer the cost
of having 79+ kids make their own journal
and was humbled by how many people jumped in
to help us.

The planning and specifics of that mission trip
can be found in the previous post.....

Since that time the volunteer director has asked
me WHEN we're coming back.
The kids loved us, loved making their own journals,
the clinicians love how the journals are
helping them work with the kids,
and Joanne is anxious for us to come back.

We will be going back as soon as I can gather up
enough of our "budget" to buy canvas, paints
and brushes for the kids to paint their
self portrait on an 8 x 10" canvas.
This is a perfect project and will, again, be a
huge help to the clinicians in working with these
amazing kids.
I'm so excited!!

On the drive home from Corpus 
(I live about 3 1/2 hours north)
after the first time,
I heard God.
Loud and clear,
I heard him tell me what he wants me to do.
Not only does he want me to continue my work
at Bokenkamp, he wants
me to volunteer at the woman's shelter for
rape and domestic violence victims
(and their children if they're involved)
in Kerrville, 10 minutes up the highway
from Center Point, where I live.

I visited the shelter office on my way home 
from Bokenkamp.
Why wait when God tells you to do something?

I have filled out the mound of paper work 
and go for my orientation next Friday.
After that I will start my volunteering
which will include teaching art classes
for the woman and any children there,
along with other programs.

I am extremely excited that God has chosen
me to be his vessel
in working with his hurting children.
(His "children" are all of us:)
Wow. Bokenkamp is my heart.
And, I know that 
Hill Country Cares will soon
be my heart, also.

There is never enough money to run a shelter
so these programs, these art projects, 
are funded by me.
Me and any of you who have a heart
for God's hurting children.
I would gladly accept your help and
I can send you a letter so that your help
can be tax deductible.

Or do you think I should put a PayPal 
button on my blog?
I don't know what to do -
I've never been God's vessel to this extent!

Anyway, that's the story Morning Glory.
No matter how hard your life is,
and mine's been health-hard these
last 7 years,
when you reach out and help others
through Jesus Christ,
your life takes on a new light.
And it doesn't have to be a "big deal".
God will take all of the blessings
we are able to dump (dump?) on his 
children.
Pay someone's toll.
Pay for the lunch, or a dessert,
of the person behind you in line
at McDonald's.
(My sister did that as my
birthday present this past week.
Best present I've had in a long time!)
Hold a door open for an approaching person.
Smile at the checker at Wal-Mart
(can you think of anyone else that needs
a smile more than a Wal-Mart checker??)

See? There's a lot you can do to be God's vessel.
Oh, another one.
Last night Frank and I were at a restaurant
and next to us was an older woman 
sitting by herself.
She was finishing up her dinner and
reading her Kindle.
So, I simply asked her if she liked her Kindle
which started a very nice conversation
for someone that may have been very lonely.

We don't know people's circumstances,
even the put together people we see,
so always take the time to be a blessing.

Sermon's over.
And, the people said?
"Finally!" LOL 

God bless you and God bless 
the people I will be working with,
new and old!

                           Jan

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