Southern Porch Extension

[Green Leaves]

No, Laurie, I did not do that. And I knew better. I also put his instructions in a safe place where I could check it out when I had the energy. Thanks.

[Green Leaves]

The central part of our country is looking at some severe weather and looks like could head toward Carole's area. 9 on the tornado risk scale in some areas.

[Carole L]

The storms are expected here Sunday night, late. It can be even worse if it hits in the middle if the night.

I've been doing our family trees on Ancestry for a couple of years. Yesterday I dug up a totally buried little secret on Bill's side.

I discovered that his Uncle had been married twice. The knowledge of his first marriage never shared with his second family. They were only married long enough to have their daughter. They are both listed two years later as divorced in the 1930 census. His two kids, Bill's cousins, had no clue they have a half-sister. I'm not entirely sure I did the right thing in sharing the info with them. However, if they ever had any occasion to go on Ancestry, they would have seen it. Even if I hadn't put the info on their dad's page, any search in Ancestry would have brought them to the same tree I found that was created by somebody in his ex's family. They had found my tree, and already linked to it!

Their is 12 years between the two families.

[Green Leaves]

What a surprise that must have been! One of our daughters and grandson has been working with Ancestry on our tree. I don't know how far they have gotten. My mother used to say that Pocahontus was in our tree but I can't imagine that is true and, of course, have not been able to verify it.

[Green Leaves]

Just received a call asking for prayer for a 20 month old little girl, Londyn, with cancer. No details yet.

[Carole L]

They have changed the storm forecast. Instead of coming late tomorrow night they look like they will be here mid- afternoon.

[Joanney]

Good Morning, everyone.

I am thinking of blowing off a few of my normal Every-other-weekend Sunday activities this today. Last night's singles Bible Study was at the home of the one who lives the furthest away. After the study, we stayed and chatted until about 10 PM before driving 45 minutes home. Then I realized that I didn't have today's Sunday School homework done, which included a monthly budget. That was depressing to figure out since Spring Break really depleted my next check. I went to bed at 1:20, but then decided that since I am going to first service in Shakopee, rather than driving back to Prior Lake for Sunday School, I probably should just stay there and be moral support for my friend during both services. She is going WAY out of her comfort zone to give her testimony on stage this morning as part of the sermon.

Normally I would stay after church in Prior Lake this week and go to my Small Group, then drive to Shakopee to meet with my accountability partner before going to pray at 5:00 for the Youth Group. I am thinking that I will not go to small group or meet with my accountability partner. Today after prayer, I am going to stay and film a "Ministry Moment" for Celebrate Recovery. The Ministry Moment is a 3-4 video that they play during the announcements that features one of the ministries in the church. Often it is one that is looking for volunteers or a class that is starting soon.

The C.R. ministry moment will be four of us giving a one minute testimony of what Celebrate Recovery has done for us. Here is what I plan to say:

When I started coming to Celebrate Recovery, the betrayal and shame that I felt from my divorce had shattered my already low self esteem. CR has given me a safe, non-judgmental place to share my struggles, and as a result has blessed me with true friendships. Working the Twelve Steps has not only helped me to forgive my former spouse and others from my past but also to recognize and forgive myself for how my hurts, habits and hang-ups contributed to the breakdown of my marriage. God has used Celebrate Recovery to remind me that I am a precious, valued Child of the King of Kings, and He is molding me to become the confident, capable and creative person that He created me to be.

I wish you all a very blessed and relaxing Sabbath day.

[Laurie]

Joanney, and I mean this seriously, what you prepared for your CR testimony brought tears to my eyes. I rejoice in God's healing work in you. You've gone to the Lord with everything and allowed Him to help and heal you. That's wonderful in itself. But, in addition to that, I can't help but think of the opportunities He'll open up for you to minister to others - which I realize you already do, but I have a feeling there are going to be more and more opportunities in the future.

[Verna]

Hi Edy, I've missed you. And I'm so happy that He is risen indeed. Computer problems are a pain!
I did not see the Monty Python movies, but for a current one, I highly recommend The October Baby about a young woman who finds she was the result of a botched abortion. The most inspirational part of the movie occurs during the credits at the end.

Joanney, that's an absolutely beautiful witness. I LOVE the last sentence.

Carole, I hope all the storms miss you.

Praying for each request...


Yesterday our son and wife came for a little visit. We try to squeeze all the joy we can out of every time we get to be with our children and/or grandchildren. We took them out to lunch so we could enjoy all the time we had together. I see so much of my father and my husband in our son and so many ways he is like either my husband or me. I'm so happy that my children have Christian families and for every answered prayer for each of them. That truly is the joy of my life.

[Green Leaves]

Sounds like the storms are headed to our northern friends too. Stay safe everyone.

[Green Leaves]

 
LONDYN JUST CAME OUT OF SURGERY. SHE HAS STAGE 4 NEUROBLASTOMA.
JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW.

[ready2go]

Storm threats again? Oh, great! We did not get one yesterday or last night, but they were headed in our direction from OK, KS and NE. Iowa got hit pretty hard too.

Carol freaks out whenever there is the threat of serious weather. She heard about the 100+ tornados tracking toward us from those states, and stayed glued to the weather channel all night.

It didn't help, either, that a tornado destroyed most of an Iowa town. Our daughter just happens to live south of Des Moines. We haven't heard from our daughter yet. At one point Carol became so agitated I thought she might have a heart attack. We got no sleep until about 5:00am.

Her storm fears go way back to childhood, where her mother also freaked out from bad weather. Carol's storm fears are growing worse as she gets older.

I don't know what to do anymore to keep her calm. Attempts to focus her attention elsewhere during those times simply do not work.

Sleepless in MN...

[ready2go]

If one could fluently speak a foreign language such as Chinese, Greek, Russian or some other nonsensical language, it would certainly come in handy at times. For example, it could be used as a response to some of those annoying telemarketing calls we all receive from some remote area code as shown on your caller ID. Here is how that might work:

Your phone rings...

"Hello" (spoken in unclear manner)

"Mr. ______. This is ______ from ABC marketing research company. Blah…blah…blah. Do you own your home there on ______ Street?"

“&#^$9?#* *%#*?:&%@%8^$>%# @&~*%”

"Ahh...err...is this Mr. ______? Blah…blah…blah.”

“%@%8^ *%#* &#^$8^$>%#”

“We do seem to have a bad connection. Blah…blah…blah.”

“@%8^$>% &#^ %@%8^$>%@”

“Perhaps I should call back at a more convenient time."

“8^$>% *%# $”

Abrupt dial tone - - - - - - - -

[ready2go]

Minnesota is 'up-to-bat' in the storm department. Some tornados have been reported in MN late this afternoon.

In the past few minutes a tornado was on the ground, and possibly a second one...both about 15 miles away from us. I don't believe they are moving in our direction, though.

However, there are numerous other storm cells with nasty wall clouds following behind that could involve our location.

Might need to head for the bunker soon...

Don

[Carole L]

The stioms have started here in Arkansas, too. Just had a funnel form about two counties north of us. I can hear the thunder.