Blessed Beyond Measure

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

Ephesians 1:3-4

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It's traveling time again!

The destination?

Deale, MD

Just can't survive without the snack basket. : )

Don't worry.....we picked her up along the side of the road.....oh, yeah.....it was right in front of our house, wasn't it??? : ) : )

We had a meeting at a church only 30 minutes away from Deale in Prince Frederick, MD. This was one of those churches that you immediately feel right at home. Such sweet people! We spent all day with them -- Sunday School, Sunday morning, lunch, an afternoon service, then snack time. It was such a wonderful time of fellowship!

We stayed with a lady who has graciously opened up her home to our family time and time again. She's really kind of adopted us. : ) ....and we her, of course.

We absolutely love her pier!

But what we North Carolinians still can't fathom is why or how they could ever call this a creek!

While we were there, one of our projects was to do the mulching around her house.

And we even found a few pets! : )

One of our supporting churches in the area was having revival meetings, so, since we were in the area, they asked if we would provide the music.

And as was stated above....we absolutely LOVE the pier! : )

Enjoying the sun

His first catch

The "blueness" is absolutely amazing!

Allison especially had fun feeding the birds

If you look closely, you can see that crabs aren't even nice to each other.

This was a friendly visitor.....one who was kindly escorted to the weeds far away from the house. : )

The underneath is neat looking.

And it wasn't too little, either.

Allison and our sweet hostess

"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

I Peter 1:24-25

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After staying in Deale for a week and a half, we traveled over to WV. The last time we made the journey, we had passed through some quaint little historic towns obviously having a part in the Civil War. And, of course, there were some who spotted a gun shop. So on this trek through, we decided to stop. It was very interesting....more like a museum than a store with little price tags that told about the articles and in what war they were used.

It is soooooo beautiful back in the mountains of WV! No cell phone, no internet.....only God's beautiful creation.

...and the Wii, of course. ; )

Meet our very gracious hostess, "Ms. Gladys". : )

Ray wasted no time in getting down to the pond to go fishing....and he wasted no time in bringing one up. This was within an hour of our arrival!

This church in Capon Springs is filled with such precious people! This was our second time there -- the first for a missions conference, and this time to replace a roof over the entryway to the church.

Wednesday, we went over to Rio (pronounced with a long "i" -- if you pronounce it any other way, they KNOW you're a foreigner : ) to take a look at the church building they hold services in on Thursday evenings.

It has a lot of history, as you can see from the plaque that adorns the wall beside the front doors. It was intriguing to gaze across the back yard and realize there were men who died fighting in the Civil War buried there.

Thursday evening, our family held the Bible study there in Rio. It was a good evening with several in attendance.

Some came from the church

but most came from the community.

Well.....our family kind of doubled the attendance. : )

Bub, Larry, and Ray

This is our little friend, Daniel. Absolutely adorable and FULL of energy! He spent Friday night and Saturday at Ms. Gladys' house, so we tried to keep him busy. His favorite thing to do was to go fishing. And he was a trooper! The WV mountains can get rather nippy, but he persevered in spite of the cold. Bundled in 3 long sleeved shirts (2 of which were about 5 times his size), 2 pair of pants, and thick socks over his hands, he caught the most fish.....and, boy! was he proud! : )

Just like the big guys

In addition to both Sunday services, we had the privilege of ministering at a nursing home on Mother's Day.

This is the project (unfinished in this picture) Dad, Ray, and Sara worked on throughout the week. We went to be a blessing, but the Lord has a way of blessing us far more than we feel we were a blessing! Isn't it wonderful to serve the Lord!

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

Colossians 2:6-7