Happy Trails: Our Time at Navajo Trails Mission

Summer Break! Or is it?

2009-06-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

School is out! You may all be wondering "Hey, what are they gonna do with all their free time now?" Well, let me tell you, we are staying busy!

Well, actually the first week of break the girls and I took a break. Jerry cleaned out his classroom, as the summer plans are to paint and refinish the floor in the classrooms. He moved most of the furniture of the classroom that he used and took down the white board and all wall hangings in preparation for the refurbishment.

On Wednesday, Jerry and I took the opportunity to drive Miss Springer to the airport in Phoenix. It was so nice to be able to spend some "quality" time with her in the car and to get to see her safely off to visit her family for a few weeks. We had planned to make a mini vacation. Phoenix is about 3 1/2 hours from the mission. We booked a hotel and spent the next three days swimming in the pool, reading by the pool and relaxing with Abby & Kelcy. It was very nice. We actually stayed in the same hotel as last time, so each night we got to spend time in the hammock and view the ducks and hummingbirds and rabbits that inhabited this area. It was great!

Now that we are back, I am working in the office generally between the hours of 9AM-11:30AM. Jerry is working all around, working in the church, the school and everywhere and also helping out our friend Jim at his house. Jim spends countless hours at the mission doing all kinds of maintenance and repair work! So, we are continuing to work and serve during the summer days!

Graduation & the Last Day of 2008-09 School Year!

2009-06-11T16:19:00.001-07:00

The school kids began to finish subjects and books during this period. They were working hard, but also having a little more free time.

Monday, May 18th

The Hope in Transit teachers, Dave & Lisa Sprinkles came and brought Pizza for lunch. We all enjoyed the pizza and the fellowship. Afterward, they brought in a lot of instruments for the kids to try out during the afternoon session. I can not even tell you how many instruments the Sprinkles brought. There was a banjo, two violins, a flute, drums, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, a dulcimer, and a lot of exotic instruments for which I can not even remember the names. The school kids all had a great time trying them out. I think the favorite was the violin. Gracie from Murray Christian Fellowship played the violin while she was here and I think that inspired a lot of the ladies to try it out! At the end of the class session, the group gave away some instruments to the children so that they could continue to learn on their own throughout the summer. The Sprinkles also brought groceries for the kids to take home to their families. They provided a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, pasta, spaghetti sauce, and fruit to each child. I'm probably forgetting something that was included in the food package. This was a wonderful gift to all the families, including ours!

The Sprinkles also plan to offer a new opportunity to the kids next fall. The Sprinkles will be providing the music classes that they now provide, which are already great. They also plan to provide individual lessons to any school student wishing to pursue a better knowledge of music and musical instruments! Dave & Lisa do an awesome job loving and teaching the children. The Navajo children are extremely drawn to the music. This ministry helps to provide the children with a source of pride in themselves and feelings of accomplishment that can combat the negative peer pressure, worthlessness and hopelessness that often pervades their environments. I can't say enough about how important this ministry is to the Navajo children. Thank you Dave & Lisa for your service to the Lord and Thank you to all the supporters of Hope in Transit that have brought this amazing opportunity to the children of the Navajo people.

The work group from Tyro Christian School in Tyro Kansas arrived late on Saturday, May 23rd. The Tyro group was our largest group since I've been here, at 25 people (I think). This group had amazing organization. They got their supplies, the ladies provided amazing home-cooked meals for the group almost every meal. I am told they had homemade biscuits and gravy one morning. I saw them making home made pizza crust for the pizza they served at lunch. The ladies were just awesome! We were invited to dine with the group at every meal! I got a chance to talk to some of the ladies and I really enjoyed getting to know them.

The Tyro group worked hard! They really achieved a lot of things in their time at the mission. They painted and painted everything that wasn't moving. They mudded walls and painted walls and painted the exterior of one entire house! The house was transformed from a rustic cabin look to a lovely sea-side villa look under their skilled labor.

They also managed to minister to the local children on top of all of their other duties! The group went out on Sunday afternoon and passed out fliers in Leupp about a Soccer camp that they were going to host the next two nights. On Monday night, Mr. Bill drove the bus out to the reservation and picked up fifteen kids for the camp! The weather was rather inclement (it was REALLY cold for the desert) that first night! The Tyro group opened with some Christian singing led by the Tyro youth! This group also has a wonderful God-given musical talent that they shared with us and with the Navajo children. Next, they allowed the kids to create a craft project. Next was the exercise and soccer part of the evening. I know that the Navajo kids really enjoyed the opportunity, many of them continuing to play soccer in sleeveless shirts in spite of the cold, cold wind. Tuesday evening the Tyro workers presented another Soccer Camp/VBS to the kids. They added basketball to the Tuesday night program instead of Soccer. The Navajo kids (and my kids) all had a great time and went home tired from all the fun and exercise!

Oh, many of you know that the mission was searching for a new vehicle. The Lord provided one to us! Miss Springer received an email from a local gentleman who had just purchased a 12 passenger van at an auction and wanted to know if any church group local to Winslow would be interested in purchasing it. Mr. Bill and I went to check it out and purchased the van. While it is not new by any means (1995) it is in great shape and has very low miles. We should get five or six years out of it and that will give us time to save in our van fund for a new van. The man from Winslow only asked us to pay him back what he had paid for it at auction, which had to be a fraction of the cost. Thank you, Lord!

Thursday, May 28th

Tonight is the Kindergarten and Eight Grade graduations, as well as the Schools 2008-09 closing program. We are so excited! The kids are ready! The school purchased Bibles for each of the graduates. Kindergarten graduates: Abby & Jessica. Eighth Grade graduate: Merritza. The kids all did great. Miss Springer started the program as we start each school day, with the pledges to the American Flag, the Christian Flag and the Bible. The parents and visitors were asked to join us. Next, we all joined in singing two Christian Worship songs: "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" and "Here I am to Worship." Next the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades made a vacation pledge to remember all that they have learned while they are on summer break. Nate recited a Bible memory verse. We joined together and sang "God of Wonders". Merritza recited a Bible memory verse. The Kindergarten class read a story. We recognized the Hope in Transit and Dave & Lisa Sprinkles and brought them a rose bush for appreciation of all they have done this year and so that they remember us! Mr. Bill provided the devotional message. Next were the graduations! Miss Springer said a few words about each of her students and Jerry said some words about Merritza. He mentioned how "You've heard of the show "Smarter than a fifth grader? Well, I had to be smarter than an eighth grader this year and it wasn't easy!"

After the graduations Mr. Bill had a surprise. He and Mr. Larson presented Miss Springer with a Certificate recognizing her 17 years of service here at Red Sands! Yes, seventeen years! Isn't that wonderful! She does an amazing job at all that she does (and boy does she do A LOT!). Afterward, we all shared in refreshments and fellowship together! It was a wonderful night!

Friday morning, the group from Tyro Christian School took their leave. They said goodbye and were gone by early to the Grand Canyon, then headed back for Kansas. It was sad to see them go and we are so appreciative of all that they accomplished! Thank you all for your service for the mission and the Lord!

Friday was the LAST DAY of SCHOOL for 2008-09!

All the kids got to school excited. Today they cleaned out (and up) their desks! We are having a water fight and cook-out! Mr. Bill cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch, then the fight was on! I have to say that Odin surprised me the most. He soaked me to the bone and was still following me around with the squirt gun! I had a whole lot of fun! I got to squirt the kids and Jerry with the water guns I had purchased for just this occasion. (I'm afraid that Miss Springer did all of the cleaning up from lunch while I was playing. Sorry about that!) Of course, Jerry always won the fights because he had the water hose! He was in charge of refilling the water guns during the fight. Next, Jerry had filled up a bag of water balloons that we got to throw at each other! We were almost all soaked through. It was really sad to see the kids go that day!

The Mission Update April 22 through May 18th

2009-06-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

April 22 through May 18th

Miss Springer, Mr. Bill, Mr. Diehl and the school kids planted a tree in the playground for Earth Day, April 22nd. The school celebrated the National Day of Prayer by having a prayer circle after the morning opening exercises, May 1st. The girls and I were sick the week of April 27th, pretty much all week. Saturday May 2nd was my birthday! I spent the morning and afternoon in Flagstaff with Ms. Stephanie, a friend I have made here. We did some errands and some shopping and then had lunch. It was a nice time to get to know Stephanie better!

The month of May just flew by! Murray Christian Fellowship, who is due to arrive this month with a work group, has also sent a wonderful surprise. In partnership with a local book distributor (local to Murray), they have assembled almost 1,000 books to donate to the school library! Some of the books arrived by freight carrier! It was like Christmas here. We got to check out the new books and see what a wonderful gift the Lord had provided! The school kids, especially the older ones, immediately began checking out the new books. I love books and it was very exciting to see so many books, most of which I had never read!

On May 12th, the work group from Murray Christian Fellowship arrived. They were a great group that worked hard! Some of the group built shelving in the library to hold all the new books and the books we already had in our library! By the time the group left, the shelves were built, the books were organized and re-shelved in the proper places! I have to say, it was very exciting for me to see the finished product. I sometimes just go over there to admire the new library room! Other members of the work group painted the exterior trim of the church building and the library building, scraped the trim on the school building to prepare it for painting, and did various other jobs throughout the mission that needed to be accomplished! The Murray group invited us to go with them to the Grand Canyon on Saturday, May 16th. We had a wonderful time! Abby & Kelcy clung to Andrea & Stephanie like they were new family members. We all finally got to see the Grand Canyon. I hope that everyone else enjoyed it, in spite of the fact that I was constantly reminding my two girls to stay away from the EDGE! Abby, Kelcy and I all managed to conquer our fear of heights (mine and Abby's) to get to the top of the Watch Tower at the canyon. I didn't stay very long, but I did make it up there and look out for a second!

On Sunday morning, Gracie rode with Jerry out to the reservation to pick up the church goers. She made fast friends with the kids in my class. Gracie stayed in class with us and spent some more time with the kids and I was very grateful. I could tell that meeting Gracie had really made a difference in their day and probably their life! Next, the group from Murray led the worship services at Red Sands Christian Church. They did an excellent job. The church building rocking and the people inside were enjoying the modern style worship songs and the instruments! The group had such a wonderful, God-given musical talent. It was very enjoyable. After the worship, the Murray group leader, Mike, delivered the sermon to the congregation. He did a great job and we really appreciated his willingness to share the Lord's message with us!

The Murray group traveled to Dilkon Christian Church that Sunday night. They took part in the worship service and did a great attempt at following the Navajo singing, even without having Navajo hymnals! A few of the Navajo ladies had prepared Mexican food for the pot luck that night. We had a feast of taco salad, enchiladas and chips and dip. We all enjoyed the fun and fellowship, and (as always) the spectacular scenery views that Dilkon provides.

The Murray group said their goodbyes on Monday morning and left for home. The school kids missed them, as did the staff! Thank you all for your work and your encouragement!

The Mission Update

2009-05-27T14:17:00.001-07:00

April 19th through May 26th

The school went on a field trip to Tuba City on the Rez and visited the Navajo Cultural Museum and then went to see the fossilized Dinosaur footprints located just outside of Tuba City. I didn't go with them, so I don't have a lot of details about the trip. The museum appeared to be an interactive one, where the kids got to small models of hogans out of sticks and to use a weaving loom and different cultural activities. There was an exhibit about the Navajo creation story. It is a very interesting story if you want to read it. Jerry and I borrowed it from the library here. It is called "Dine bahane". Apparently there was a dust storm while they were viewing the dinosaur tracks. They made a quick tour of it outside and then headed back to the buses.

While the school was on the field trip, I went to Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation and the seat of the government. It was a very nice drive. I traveled there to attend an orientation for the Navajo Tribal Clothing program. Each year, the Navajo Government provides articles of clothing for every child who has a Navajo census number and is enrolled in school. This year, the clothes provided were a coat, jeans and a pair of sneakers. This is a wonderful program and a blessing to the Navajo families that are eligible to received the clothing. The orientation was very informative! I have to say, it was one of the only times I have felt conspicuous because of my ethnicity. I was not the only Caucasian person at the meeting, but I was one of three that I could see.

Kelcy's Update

2009-05-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

April 19th through May 27th

Kelcy had a rough couple of weeks during this time period. She had what turned out to be a really bad virus which lasted three weeks. She would get better and then worse again. She ended up at the doctor one day and then two days later in the ER getting IV fluids. She finally got better! She celebrated Abby's birthday and received some gifts of her own from our friends and family. Thank you all for remembering her! She really appreciated it! Kelcy was very brave at the ER and told Abby when she saw her that it hurt, but not too much. Miss Springer is teaching Kelcy to write her name pretty well and to write some other letters and number. Kelcy still goes to class one day a week and she loves it! She is so proud to show me her work when the day is over.

Kelcy enjoyed the work group from Murray Christian Fellowship as well. Stephanie and Andrea had another big fan! She loved all of the girls!

Kelcy is getting very sophisticated in her imaginary play, assuming all kinds of roles and writing in roles for me. It is so cute to hear the girls say that Barbie is going back to her hogan (instead of house). They have an all new vocabulary of "dust storms", "hogans" and the Navajo words that they have learned.

Kelcy loves to sing and she is getting really good at it. Some of her favorites are: "God of Wonders", "Above All", "Here I Am to Worship", and of course "Wheels on the Bus.". She learned to use Jerry's Ipod touch really quickly and picks out music using the menu (of course she can't read, so she uses the pictures).

Kelcy is so funny. Some of the things she says are just hilarious. She is just like her Daddy in a lot of ways. Miss Springer says that Abby looks like Jerry, but has my personality and that Kelcy looks like me but has Jerry's personality. She walks to the beat of her own drum. She seldom lets what other people say or do influence what she is doing. She told me the other day "It doesn't bother me when other kids don't want to play with me." This is because while Abby and Jessica were together, ocassionally one of the two would come to me and say "No one will play with me." Kelcy was looking at the situation and saying "What's the big deal? Go play by yourself". Big concept for a three year old!

I could also mention that Kelcy has begun to discover the power of words. She hears words that she knows that we don't approved of and likes to say them by saying "_______, that is not a nice word." Thankfully, they are not REALLY bad words yet. Just things like "fart" (as opposed to passing gas), "stupid-head" (thank you, Lilo and Stitch movie), and butt (instead of bottom, which I prefer).

Abby's Update

2009-05-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

April 19th through May 27th

Birthday!

Abby turned 5 years old! We celebrated with the cake she requested: pink cake (strawberry) with pink candles and Dora on top. She really enjoyed the idea of getting older this year. She also enjoyed all the cards and gifts that she received! Thank you all for remembering her! It really helps her to know that you all remember her!

Losing Teeth!!!!

All year long Abby has asked "When am I gonna lose teeth like Jessica?" Of course, Jessica is over a year older than Abby. I kept telling Abby that sometime after she turned 5 years old she would being to lose teeth. I didn't realize how quickly that would be! It less than a week after her birthday when I noticed one of her bottom teeth "wiggling". She was so excited! The tooth hung in there for about a week and a half. It kept tilting farther and farther forward. Finally, we realized that it was being pushed forward by the tooth coming in underneath, which we could already see! That little tooth was hanging on by a long root in the front of the tooth. So, Jerry decides it is time for the tooth to come out. He reaches for the first likely thing he can find, which is yarn. If you have never tried to use yarn to remove a tooth, I can tell you that it didn't work for us. It kept slipping off the tooth. Next, Jerry tried floss and it worked like a charm. Abby didn't even know her tooth was gone until we showed it to her. It bled just a little bit, but didn't hurt at all. Abby had learned from school (Miss Springer always tells them the truth, which I love!) that there is no tooth fairy, so we didn't have to have that conversation. However, she still wanted to put her tooth under her pillow. Instead of money under her pillow, she asked for a doughnut (Could she BE more like me?)

A work group from Murray Christian Fellowship came during the second week of May. Abby really became attached to two of the girls, Stephanie and Andrea. I guess I would call it "hero-worship". She really loved spending time with them and I appreciate how kind they were! I am sure that she really wore them out at times, but they insisted that she was fine.

Abby had her friends Jessica and Shyla spend the night at our house over the Memorial Day weekend. They had a great time and got along very well!

Abby has changed so much this year! She has grown taller and looks more like a young lady. She has learned to read and write very well! She has learned some games and their rules, like soccer and T-ball. She has lost her first tooth! She has learned to tie her shoes! It is so amazing. I think that this is her biggest year of accomplishments so far (not counting her first year of life, of course).

Abby is getting a little nervous about the end of the school year. She has never experienced this before and she always has a hard time with transitions at first.

Just the other day Abby said "I wish that we lived in the hogans". My thought is that she thinks it would be funner to live there, or that she would get to spend more time with the work group members while they are here. I asked her "Why do you want to live in the hogans?" Her response, "Because those people get to go home."
My heart was effectively broken.

April 6th - Apirl 18th

2009-05-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

Who thought it would be a month since I last updated this blog? I guess all of you who are checking frequently for updates! Time seems to by flying by.

The highlights

Mr. Bill started a Tuesday night Bible Study at Red Sands Christian Church! Yea! We have had three sessions so far, and I am really enjoying being in an adult Bible Study class again. We have covered the “Beautitudes” in Matthew so far. We run no bus for this service. We have had eight at each night. Abby & Kelcy do not have a “class” of their own, so they usually play or watch a DVD while we have class. Of course, that now means that Mr. Bill is the Director of the Mission, is teaching the third grade during the week, and he is creating/teaching lessons on Sunday morning (twice: Dilkon & Red Sands), Sunday night (Dilkon), Tuesday night (Red Sands) and Wednesday night (Dilkon). Yes, he is a busy man.

Resurrection Sunday

We had a lovely Easter service at Red Sands Christian Church. We had a low turn out for Sunday School Class, but ended up with 25 people at church without running the buses (everyone came in their own vehicle). We had a potluck meal today, with one of the families providing the ham for the meal. It was one of their own pigs that they had had slaughtered. It was so kind of them to do that! Mr. Bill brought baked beans, Miss Springer brought scalloped potatoes and rolls, I brought vegetables and dip and some drinks. We also had large submarine sandwiches, chips and cake provided by other members of the congregation. After lunch, Mr. Bill got to hide the colored and plastic eggs for the kids. I think we had eleven kids to hunt eggs. They had a great time. Abby’s friend Jessica was there and her sisters and brother. It was a little windy, but I think they all had a great time!

Mission Board Meeting

The Navajo Trails Mission Board Meeting was the weekend after Resurrection Sunday. It was wonderful to see Mr. Doug and Mr. Keith and all of the board members. We had a great meeting Friday night at the local Mexican restaurant. We all got to know one another a little better and talked about what the future could hold for the mission. Everyone was full of ideas. We made notes of contacts people have that might help in the recruitment of additional staff members. Abby & Kelcy played in the floor of the restaurant with their Barbie dolls and colored in their coloring books. They behaved very well, I thought. On Saturday morning, Mr. Bill and some of the other board members made breakfast for everyone. The menu included: pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, scrambled eggs, milk, orange juice or coffee. The men had also began the lunch preparations by starting the beef roast and vegetables cooking prior to the meeting.

We had a great meeting. There was a lot of information exchanged. Everyone was very positive and the board made a lot of unanimous decisions. After the meeting, the board members went down to the school to see the building and to see the new equipment purchased with the Labels for Education program. It is well worth the effort to clip those labels and send them in. The students have seen a great benefit from the program!

Sunday morning Mr. Keith preached at Dilkon and at Red Sands. Mr. Jack, one of the board members, was still here for the service. I had my “usual” four in Sunday School class. We have been doing a series on Elijah and Elisha. They are really remembering the Bible stories and are beginning to memorize scripture. I taught “Wee Worship” this Sunday, so I did not hear Mr. Keith’s preaching. The kids had a great lesson about helping others and how they can help people in their families. After church, Keith headed over to the Grand Canyon and we went home to rest until church at Dilkon that night. The pot luck meal at Dilkon was this Sunday night and Mr. Bill was making pork roast with vegetables. We headed out about 4:30 for the 6PM Dilkon service. I needed to stop at the store and pick-up some rolls for the meal, so we left about 15 minutes early. We enjoyed the message from Mr. Bill about what it means to be saved and how we are saved. Then we enjoyed a fellowship meal afterward.

Spring Break 2009!

2009-04-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Monday Morning, March 30th

We load up the car and prepare to head out on another big adventure. We have a cooler full of food, an overnight bag (just in case) and our Indian Country Map (Miss Springer bought for Jerry). We are ready! We left about 8:45 AM. Our route went as follows: we headed into Winslow via Interstate 40, then we turned off onto the road to Dilkon, passed by Dilkon and onto to Indian Wells, Greasewood. We headed up to Ganado and visited the Hubble Trading Post there. Then we headed back north to Chinle, then West to Kayenta and then North to Monument Valley, UT. Wow, Monument Valley was really neat. We drove around the circle to explore the park. It is around 14 miles and a very bumpy dirt road. Once again, Jerry had a TOO much fun driving on these off-road roads. Navajo people still live inside the park. It was beautiful, there was snow on the ground there. We saw rock formations named: El Capitan, the Owl, the Mittens, the Three Sisters, the Elephant, the Chair, and others. It was beautiful. We ended up staying the night at a hotel, as it was past 5PM when we were done viewing the park. The girls swam in the indoor pool. The next day we packed up and headed back a different route. We turned right at Kayenta, and stopped at the Navajo National Monument, which is a Anasazi ruins that has been amazingly preserved. Then we drove on to Tuba City, where we turned left onto the Hopi reservation and went across the first and second Mesas and then back onto the Navajo reservation and drove right by Tolani Lake on our way home. I just have to say to the Hopi Nation: add some more road signs if you want to encourage people to visit your land.

When we returned to our home, Abby had learned something new. She and Kelcy immediately went outside and built a gate out of bricks. Then they were charging admission to get out and in our house! It was too funny!

Wednesday we were at the mission. I went into the office and did some work.

Thursday Morning

We headed out at about 8:45 to Phoenix. We were to pick-up Mr. Bill at the airport on Friday morning. As the drive to Phoenix is 3 1/2 to 4 hours, we thought that we would spend the night there. We went through Winslow down Route 87. We didn't see any Elk, but it is a very beautiful drive. We got to the hotel about 12:30, ate our lunch I had packed and then hit the swimming pool. It was 85 degrees in Phoenix! The girls had a great time in the pool. We just lazed around the relaxed and enjoyed the day by the pool. After dinner that evening, we all layed outside together in a hammock and looked at the stars and talked. When I asked Abby what her favorite things was that day, she didn't say swimming--she said lying in the hammock and talking. It was so sweet! We got up the next morning and let the girls swim before we had to leave for the airport. We picked up Mr. Bill and headed back up route 87 to Winslow. We stopped in Payson and had lunch, then headed on back to the mission. It was a lovely trip and we were very glad to see Mr. Bill was back.

About the weather. I know that I comment on the wind and the weather a lot in this blog. However, I am getting a lot more accustomed to the wind than I used to be. It took realizing a few things: I am not the only one being impacted by the wind today; Jesus WALKED around in the desert and lived in the desert his whole life. I am sure that he had to deal with sand storms; and I thought of our troops in harm's way in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. I know that the troops are impacted by sand storms much longer lasting than the ones we have here. I also realize that a whole lot of people are dealing with problems that are much more serious than a lot of wind and sand. So, when I report the sand storms, I am just astounded by their impact. I know that God is in control, even during the sand storm. And we do have beautiful days now ,too. I am human and I want to report what is fantastic, like a sandstorm, and not just that we had another beautiful day with clear skies and abundant sunshine. This area definitely has the most sunshine of anyplace that I have ever lived. I am also told that the wind this year is very unusual. So, if you are considering coming to work and live here, please don't let my reporting of the weather impact that decision.

And the Winner of the Spring Art Show 2009 is...

2009-04-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday through Thursday were good days. Everyone, including the staff, had a little spring fever. We had fun and the kids worked hard.

Thursday, March 26

Today was a very interesting day. It started out fairly normal. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing steadily. The school children all gathered at the church for opening session. Then, each teacher and student departed to the school and their classrooms. Mr. Bill is leaving for Kentucky today. I think it is supposed to be a surprise that he is leaving so early, but he should be there by the time I post this on-line, so I am not spoiling anything, I hope. He left about 10AM. I had a Navajo lady and her husband show up to help clean the church today! It was wonderful to have their help and they do an exceptional job! Just before lunch, the wind started picking up some. The sand was blowing outside my window to the south. A steady stream of sand and top soil from Flagstaff and beyond sailed through the air past Leupp Road and on to parts unknown. Mr. Bill had asked me to go into town and pick up some dry wall, but I have to confess that I did not go. I was afraid it would have gotten blown out of the back of the truck!

I went down to the school about 1:30 PM to help my art students get their final work done before the art show tomorrow morning. This is where it gets interesting. During art class, a massive dust storm hits, this time blowing from the Northeast. We are blanketed with a red layer of sand, so much so that I could not see the trailer from the school. The dust began coming in the doors and windows of the art room, we could see the dust floating in the air inside and smell the smell that I have come to recognize as the dust. Our class moved to another classroom on the other side of the building to escape the dust as much as possible. This dust storm lasts for at least half an hour. Next, I see some raindrops fall. We look out the front of the school during a fairly clear moment and see that the white vans are spattered with a few raindrops and that wherever the rain drops hit, the sand stuck to the side of the vehicle. It is amusing to see. Next, I hear the younger kids in their classrooms exclaiming and we go to look outside again. Now it is snowing, along with the dust. Swirling, blowing snow and is hopefully settling the dust a little.

A parent arrives to pick up their child. She has just come from I-40 and said that there were four accidents on the interstate and that the traffic is very backed up. Miss Springer decides to drive the Ford truck instead of her van because the van is much harder to drive in the wind, which is still blowing quite ferociously. We decide that a trip into town would be a nice distraction, so we grab our library books to return and a snack and head out to town ourselves. As we approach the interstate, we see not four, but six accidents, one of which is a small vehicle that is turned upside down, with parts of the vehicle, including seats, lying in the middle of the interstate. Some of the other accidents involve semi trucks. These are all lined up right next to our exit on I-40. As we get on the interstate, we realize that it is apparently closed. It is eerie, seeing no other traffic for miles on this straight interstate. Jerry is driving slowly and carefully. We arrive into town without incident. We head to the post office and discover that the downtown area, including the post office, has no electricity. Next, we go to the library and spend some time there, reading books, playing with puzzles and picking out books to borrow. After this, we decide to have dinner in town. As we leave the restaurant, we begin to notice that the landscape looks like the version of nuclear winter depicted in that 1980s movie “The Day After”. There is a blanket of fine dust floating in the air. The dust is blocking out the sun. It looks a lot like a documentary we watched on the History Channel about the Dust Bowl years. When we are finished eating, we find that I-40 is still closed. Luckily, we just recently discovered that Route 2, while bumpy, will take us back to near the mission. We head back down the wash board road, joined by several cars on this trip. Jerry has a LITTLE too much fun driving on these off road-roads. We arrive safely back home to discover that the sand has blown inside our bedroom window, onto our bed and Josie’s (our dog) bed. I clean up the floor, change the sheets and prepare for another day, awaiting what this next day brings!

Firday

Friday brought the lovely Art show! All of the school children had entries into the show and Miss Springer had purchased a lovely gift for the Grand Champion, a satchel filled with art supplies! The children each got one vote for the best artist, as did the staff and the parents. There were water color paintings, chalk drawings, colored pencil drawings, crayon drawings, clay figurines, charcoal drawings and butterflies using crepe paper. They were all so lovely that I had a hard time deciding who deserved my vote! However, few people were surprised when Merritza won the Grand Prize! She worked very hard and did a great job!

School got out after lunchtime today for Spring Break!

Saturday

We (the Diehl family)packed a picnic lunch and lots of water and headed to Walnut Canyon, which is about 45 minutes from the mission. We spent the day here hiking down into the canyon and seeing the ruins/remains of the cliff dwellings of the Sinagua people. We had some very nice weather for our trip we took some great pictures and we all had a WONDERFUL time!

Sunday

Jerry preached today at church. He joked that he was taking our home church motto a little too seriously. The motto is “Bring them in, Build them up, Send them out”. Well, he drove the bus to pick up the church people, taught Sunday School, preached the message, and then drove the bus to take the people back home. I missed his sermon, so I can’t comment on it, although I am positive he did a wonderful job. One of the young ladies who rides the church bus was sick and I took her home right after Sunday School was over and I didn’t get back until after the church service was over. Jerry was pretty tired that afternoon. I went to town to get supplies and then later packed our things for our further adventures in the week.

The Group from Tomoka Christian Church!

2009-04-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Afternoon, March 16th

The work group from Tomoka Christian Church arrived this afternoon. There were so many people in the group that they pulled up in two vehicles. They had left from Orlando that morning and arrived at the mission at around 3:30PM Arizona time. Mr. Bill, Abby, Kelcy and I were there when they arrived, but Jerry & Miss Dawn were running the buses to take the school children home. We were introduced to them all. Abby was cute, she was shaking everyone’s hand and telling them her name. Kelcy was a bit shy and ran away after the meeting the first few people. But this will be a LONG story if I keep to all the detail that I want. I will try to condense it down the best I can.
The group all settled in and then went to get supplies in town for supper. They invited our family to eat with them and we enjoyed the company and the food!

Wednesday

The ladies worked together planning meals and taking care of the shopping for food and supplies for their mission work. In the afternoon, all the school kids gathered in the lunch room area and the ladies led us in making tie-dyed shirts with the children. The process was so much simpler than I had ever imagined it could be! All of the children did a wonderful job on their shirts. We could not admire them fully yet, as they had to dry and set the color.

Thursday

In the afternoon, the ladies from Tomoka set up chairs and did a very biblical thing. They took the ladies of the school children (and included Miss Springer and I) and they washed their feet. The ladies of Tomoka also gave all of us a pedicure and then a manicure. All of us ladies enjoyed this tremendously. Abby, Kelcy and Jessica were all receiving treatment from Ms. Bobbi and they just loved it! Merritza and Shyla thoroughly enjoyed the process as well. Miss Springer and I were also delighted to be included! We got to pick out our nail polish and even some decorations for our nails. The girls sat so still and were just enthralled with they whole process. They loved picking out the colors for their finger nails and toe nails. Abby & Jessica had to match each other, of course! Kelcy did her own thing, as usual. Merritza and Shyla were quieter than the younger girls, but I could tell that they really enjoyed it, by the looks on their faces. The Tomoka ladies even bought flip flops for the girls to wear home, so that they didn’t mess up their toe polish. During the manicure/pedicure process, one of the ladies read the scripture about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. It was a very powerful lesson to hear, after having seen the ladies humble themselves and wash our feet.

The boys of the school children were given an opportunity to learn about hand tools and carpentry work. They really enjoyed their lessons as well.

Friday

Hope in Transit came this morning to work with the kids in their music classes. Dave & Lisa do such a great job and they kids REALLY enjoy learning to read music and play instruments. Ms. Venetta worked in the library with me today, organizing books and removing clutter. It was nice to get to know her better.

Today was kite day! After lunch the kids (and those of us adults who are still kids) went outside and flew kites! Winslow has generally the perfect weather for kite flying, and this was a beautiful day for it! We all had a wonderful time! Abby, Kelcy & Jessica each had a Barbie kite. Merritza had an Elmo kite. Shyla kept her kite up for the longest time. Abby & Kelcy kept getting their kites tangled up because they wanted to be close to other people and fly their kites at the same time. After kite time, we had popsicles. The children also got to inspect their lovely tie-dyed T-shirt designs. They all did a wonderful job.

This evening, there was a dedication and remembrance ceremony for Deb Pederson. She was a member of the mission group from Tomoka Christian Church that had been here several years. She lost her battle with cancer over the past year. Her husband is from Tomoka Christian Church and he worked most all day digging a hole in the ground so that a tree could be planted in memory of his wife. If you have been here, you realize what effort it must’ve taken for him to dig a hole in this ground large enough to plant a tree! The group had brought pictures of Ms. Deb taken with the children here at Red Sands and also at the Little Painted Desert. I was very honored to be included in the number of people who witnessed the dedication. A large number of the Navajo people gathered for the ceremony. Eva is a Navajo lady who had been asked to play a special at the ceremony on her harmonica. She performed a lovely song. Afterward, Eva decided to rededicate her life to the Lord. She made the confession of faith in front of all present and then we all joined together and prayed for her. Although I had never met Eva, we, as a church, had been praying for Eva because she was recuperating from knee surgery. After the ceremony, a fellowship meal was provided by one of the Navajo families. They grilled steak, made fry bread, and had Marilyn’s broccoli salad and watermelon. This was a wonderful chance to meet and talk with all of the Navajo people there. The ladies from Tomoka were even doing manicures for the Navajo ladies in attendance! It was a great and inspiring time.

Saturday

This morning, the group from Tomoka and Jerry went with Miss Springer to work with her “Least of These” mission. Miss Springer goes each week out into the city of Winslow and brings food, drink, toiletry supplies, socks, blankets and supplies to the homeless people of this area. There were several people with whom the group was able to minister on this day. I am sure that this was an amazing experience, and I apologize that I have no details to share as I was not in attendance. I know that Jerry was able to talk to a man who was just release from prison for about 10-15 minutes while he was with the group.

This evening, we all drove over to the Little Painted Desert to celebrate the life of Deb Pederson, as this was one of her favorite places on Earth. Several of the people, including Jerry and Abby, walked down into the Desert and explored. Kelcy and I stayed up at the top. After a time of remembrance of Ms. Deb, we returned to the church. The Tomoka ladies provided another fellowship meal and afterward, they had a communion service. I was very touched to be included in their group activities.

Abby spent the night with the ladies group from Tomoka in the Hogan. Abby had been invited by Paige, who was a young Navajo lady who was spending the night with the group as well. I was a little nervous about them falling asleep, but the ladies said they did okay.

Sunday

The church attendance was great this morning. I need to check with Mr. Bill to see the exact attendance, but I know it was more than usual. We had one Navajo gentleman there who was a traditionalist who had never been to church before! After church service, we loaded up and headed different directions. One group went to Show Low, AZ to visit at AICM (American Indian Christian Mission) and our group went to the Grand Canyon Park. Miss Springer assured us it would take about an hour, but we took over 2 hours to get there. I guess she either knows a short cut or drives faster! It was a lovely trip. Being in the car with people who had never been here before made me realize just how much I take the view for granted. It is a beautiful drive to Flagstaff, which I enjoyed the first time I went. I guess my enjoyment dimmed somewhat with each visit, as the view became “old hat”. The sense of awe was renewed as I saw the view through the eyes of those people who had never seen it before. They were taking pictures and exclaiming over how beautiful it was and they were right! The trip to the canyon was amazing. We drove to the South rim, come up from the East Side. When we got to the gate of the park, snow flurries started falling. When we got to the first stop, which was the Watchtower, it was all out snowing with big snow flakes. We were able to see the canyon pretty good at this first stop. After this, the snow and accompanying clouds made it all but impossible to see down into the canyon. The snow kept up for most of the time we were in the park. It was a unique sight to see at the Grand Canyon. We left the park and drove down into Flagstaff and had dinner together there, then back to the mission.

Monday morning March 23rd

Monday was a hard day for everyone. The Tomoka group had a chapel service for the school children, where they each shared a little about themselves and it was wonderful. We sand some songs and the ladies gave out prayer baskets to the children, with emblems in each basket reminding them to pray for different things (their country, family), along with a prayer journal, a photo album (that included a picture of Ms. Deb) and a book of Bible promises. This was such a great idea!

The group from Tomoka each made time to speak with me individually at some point during the week. I got to know each of them by their names, which is saying a lot for my memory. They repeatedly asked what they could do to help. They included me and my family in their supper meals. It was a wonderful week of encouragement and love for us, as staff, and all the school children. We all thank you each so much for giving of your time to the Lord and choosing to do that here, at Red Sands! We hope you keep in touch!

March 23rd is our wedding anniversary. Jerry and I were married 7 years ago today! If you have a weak stomach, you can look away. I love him even more today than I did when we were first married! I have enjoyed these seven years, though they were good and bad times in them. I have a wonderful God and a wonderful Christian husband, two wonderful, healthy children, wonderfully supportive friends and family, and I am very thankful!

Brother can you spare a van?

2009-03-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 14th,

Parent Teacher conferences are today! The appointments are scheduled from 8AM till Noon. Jerry & I met with Miss Springer at 9:30 about Abby. She is doing well. She is struggling a little in her math work and more so in her penmanship. But I think that she has trouble with her small motor skills because she is younger. All in all, we are extremely happy with all that Abby has accomplished with Miss Springer's help!

Mr Bill, Miss Springer, Jerry & I also had meetings in between the conferences. We are reviewing and editing all of the admission materials and procedures, along with preparing information for the teacher training session scheduled for the first of August. After the conferences were over, we all went out to eat together to a Mexican restaurant in Winslow. Boy was the food good! After lunch, I went by the library to pick up a book I had on hold and then we went home.

Sunday, March 15th

This morning, the Lord was with Jerry especially close. He decided to take the cell phone with him on the church bus run. When Miss Springer got to the church this morning, there was a message. Jerry was on his way in, but the red van he was driving was having some severe problems. He was at mile marker 68 and needed someone to come pick up him and the people he had picked up for church. I drove out on the reservation and found the van sitting on the side of the road. The van's front passenger side tire was sitting at an awkward angle. The problem was diagnosed by one of the kids on board. Her dad was a mechanic and she said that the wheel bearing had gone out. There were four people on the bus transport with Jerry, so we all loaded into our pick-up truck and headed back to church. I don't think I mentioned it, but back before Christmas break, one of the white vans had broken down and it was STILL in the shop.

We had a great Sunday School session. We were so late getting back to class that we ate the muffins I had prepared for them and just talked about their lives and took prayer requests. They have really opened up about their families and the need for prayer for their loved ones. I enjoyed it! Jim and Anne have returned from Phoenix and it is very encouraging to see them here!

About three in the afternoon, there is a knock at our door. It is Alan Harrison and his family from Dayspring Christian Church in Colorado. His family is on spring break and they came to spend two nights here with us at the mission. It was inspiring to see his wife Susan and their four children (Michael, Lisa, Kelly and Matthew) giving up their vacation time to work here. After they settled in, they began preparing food for the potluck at Dilkon tonight. Alan was giving the devotion. They rested for a while then we set off for Dilkon Christian Church. We took two cars, because the van was broken down. Lisa and Kelly rode with me and the girls in the truck and Jerry rode in the van with the rest of the Harrison family. It was a beautiful ride to Dilkon, as always. We had an extra treat in store, because Genevieve led us in singing hymns in Navajo. That was really wonderful. I think that may be the key to my learning the Navajo language, using the music. Lisa and Kelly shared a song that went along with Alan's devotion. Alan present his devotion and it was right on target. It was wonderful to hear him speak! Then, we retired to the fellowship hall to enjoy the pork chops Mr Bill had prepared. There was also fry bread, pasta salad, vegetables and apple sauce. The Harrisons had brought Texas (or maybe southwestern?) caviar and some chips and cheese dip. The caviar contained some beans, olives and red onions and other ingredients that I do not recall, but it smelled and tasted wonderful, as did the queso dip. One of the ladies, Verna, was recovering from pneumonia. It seems a lot of people living on the resevation have contracted pneumonia. I hypothesize that the dust storms irritate their lungs and causes the pneumonia. We all traveled back to the mission and the Harrisons spent the night in the "first" hogan, next to the shower house.

Monday, March 16th

Ms. Susan, Lisa and Kelly worked in the library, organizing the non-fiction books and cleaning shelves and removing out dated textbooks. Michael & Alan worked around the property. I am not sure of what all they did, but I know that they fixed the exterior lighting around the hogans and loaded up some garbage to take to the garbage dump. They worked hard! And that night, the Harrison family watched Abby & Kelcy while Jerry and I went into town to have dinner by ourselves. It was such a strange thing, to be without the children. We had a hard time conversing. Ms. Susan told us that we couldn't talk about the mission or our children. It was wonderful to be out together. We REALLY appreciated the opportunity to go out without our children and be adults together. We hadn't done that since December. We kinda of looked at each other a whole lot, having a hard time making conversation, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely! Thank you, Harrison family, for your help of our family and mission on your spring break vacation!

2009-03-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

March 4th through March 12th

Thursday, March 5th

Kelcy goes to class with Miss Springer today! Miss Springer is teaching Kelcy the alphabet and the phonetics of the letters. Kelcy really enjoys getting to go to school with the other kids. She gets her backpack and heads right out on Thursday mornings to sit at her desk and learn. Miss Springer says that Kelcy also repeats the numbers with the Kindergarten when they are counting. The Kindergarten class recites their numbers from 10-100 by tens, and Kelcy does it too. She is three, going on six.

My art class is beginning to work on their projects for the art show. The school art show will be March 27th. We have worked on colors and value, pencil drawing, pencil shading, charcoal drawing, charcoal shading, pastel chalk drawing, and next week we work on watercolor painting. My kids are very artistically talented and it is so fun to help them practice and learn just how good they are!

Sunday, March 8th

The church service went well today. I have a steady class that includes at least 4 children each week, between the classes of first grade and 7th grade. They enjoy a challenge and I have to work hard to keep them busy sometimes. They all like to read the Bible scriptures and will volunteer to do so very quickly. We are finishing up a lesson set on Paul and will begin a new set in two weeks.

Mr. Bill and I created a bulletin for the church service today. He gave me his sermon notes and the song service order and I used Publisher to create a Bulletin and added in the prayer request and praise pages. It was fun. Jerry said that he needed to be my editor from now on. He thought that the font was not large enough!

Monday, March 9th

Music class is going very well. Nate is doing great on the drums and Merritza is doing great on the piano and guitar. Adam just passed his keyboard test and now is beginning to learn the guitar. The smaller children are all learning the keyboard and how to read music. It is amazing how quickly they can pick it up! The Navajo children seem to have a special affinity for the musical expression.

Tuesday, March 10th

We got rain today! I mention this, because the last time I remember getting rain at the mission was at the end of November.

Thursday, March 12th

We learned about watercolor painting in art class today. Nate did really well in the new medium. He is a little hesitant at expressing himself artistically, probably because he is a teenage young man and afraid to be ostracized by his peers. When he does work with the color, he does really well. Kelcy did pretty good too. I painted a tree trunk for her and she added some green leaves, a blue sky and some orange around the base (I think she was going for the sunset). It turned out really well.

After school today, Jerry decided we should go for a drive. He has been asking me to get him a Indian Country Map so that we can go exploring on the reservation for several months now. I have failed to obtain this for him and now he has given up. He said that we may get lost, but it would be my fault! He was kidding, I think. So, after school we set off. We drove down onto the reservation for a few miles, then turned off on Route 2. It is a washboard dirt road. If you any of you are not familiar with a washboard, it was/is used to wash clothes. The process was to get your clothes wet and soaped up, then scrub them on the washboard, then rinse. A washboard is not level and flat. It has grooves for scrubbing. This road was like that. Abby & Kelcy were making noises and hearing the sound vibrate with the vibrations of the vehicle. We discovered the Navajo reservation as Tony Hillerman describes it in his popular detective novels. There were small roads that went off into the desert where we could not see any habitation. There were also roads that led off into the desert where we COULD see the hogan that was FAR off the road. The sand changed as we traveled from hard baked earth with cracks in it to light sand that had blown into sand dunes. Next, there were rocky/sandy hills of the Painted Desert. Kelcy fell asleep on the washboard road. Perhaps it was the hum of the tires on the bumpy road, or the vibrations lulled her to sleep. Either way, I looked back to see her head leaning over to the side, asleep. Abby was worried, because she knew that we didn't know exactly where the road led. She kept asking if we were lost.

We saw lots of empty liquor bottles and beer bottles lying on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There were stripped cars and bags of garbage on the side of the road as well. At one point, there were large trees, just out of nowhere. I think they ran along the dry river bed where the Little Colorado runs at some times of the year. It was neat to see tall trees. I was delighted to see that a couple of houses had solar panels for electricity. There were no electric lines to these houses. They either had a windmill for water and electricity or they had solar panels, or they had no water or electricity. We came to a fork in the road, where the washboard continued on left and to the right was an asphalt highway. I chose the asphalt highway. We headed on this road at a faster pace. We were on the washboard for right at an hour. We soon reached Winslow. Jerry was right, the road did lead to Winslow eventually. When we go there, the weather turned violent. The truck was battered with first sleet, and then pretty large hail. That was an amazing sight! We drove on back home to find that there was no precipitation at the mission. Although, it did end up raining some later that evening.

Two weeks and Two Abbys!

2009-03-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

February 15th thru March 4th, 2009

I can’t believe it has been over two weeks since I updated this. Time really is flying here! Monday, February 16th school was closed in honor of President’s Day. If any kids are reading this, even the Winslow public schools were closed in honor of President’s Day. It was nice to see such a patriotic stance. The Post Office and Library were also closed. Our family drove into Flagstaff this day to do some shopping. Flag (as it is known here) had about 2 feet of snow on the ground? There were kids riding sleds all over the place. Jerry went to one of the teacher supply stores in Flag and purchased supplies for some science experiments that his classes will be doing. I went into the “Michael’s” store and purchased art supplies! Thank you, Ms. Alford, for the gift card from “Michael’s”! I purchased charcoal pencils and erasers, some canvas board, some watercolor paper and pastel chalk. I was very excited for my classes to begin using the new art supplies!

Upon our return from Flag, Mr. Bill was waiting for Jerry. They were planning to remove the furnace from the library building, as it was no longer functioning. They accomplished this goal very quickly! On February 21st Mr. Bill and Jerry installed the new furnace in the library and it works great! Thanks guys, it was a little cold in there during story hour!

After school on Friday, February 20th , we loaded up and drove over to a relatively local state park called “Homolovi Ruins State Park”. Jerry had heard that because of low funds this was one of eight state parks in Arizona that may be closing very soon, so we thought we would go to see it just in case.

We drove past Winslow and took the exit toward Second Mesa, then turned left. A short distance from the highway was the sign for the park, so we turned in. We drove past the camp grounds and to the “Homolovi Ruins I” site. We were all very excited. We went hiking up the trail, showing the girls how to follow the colored ribbons to stay on the path. The path was designed to allow visitors to walk among the ruins, but not ON them. These ruins were not very exciting at first glance, but when we got to the top of the hill and saw the view that the ancestors of the Hopis saw, we were impressed. The ruins is located at a bend in the Little Colorado river. The river bank is white and sandy and beautiful, it resembled a beautiful beach. I could see why these people had chosen to live in this area—availability of water, higher ground for scouting game and a beautiful view. Of course, there is a sign warning visitors not to walk on the river bank because of quicksand. Quicksand! I didn’t know we had that in the United States.

Next we went to the visitor’s center and met the ranger assigned to this park. He was very nice, even though it was quickly approaching closing time. The visitor’s center had a lot of Hopi art, including pottery and blankets. Next we drove back into the “Homolovi II” ruins. We all walked up a hill and enjoyed looking at the remaining signs of occupation. It was a beautiful area and one of the highest points in the area. Even though we were there for only two hours, it felt like we were on vacation!

Thursday, February 26th the Winslow Health Center was here and measured the Body Mass Index (BMI) for each of the school children. Abby was on the low side of normal and Kelcy was under-weight. The kids each got a sheet detailing the results of their BMI and a pamphlet promoting healthy eating and exercise. We really appreciate all the work that the Winslow Health Center does!

Today, my art class started using the pastel chalk. We were drawing a still life of fruit and then they were to color or finish it by using the pastel chalk. They were excited to use the chalk and they did a great job!

Monday, March 2nd

We found out that four of our students (one family) were transferring to another school. This was a hard day. Everyone, including the school kids, were disappointed to see them go. Two of the children were in Abby’s class and she has really been stressed about this situation. I think the way the children keep leaving really creates in her a sense of instability. I can’t imagine what it is like for the children who will be starting at different school for the third time this school year.

Tonight we had our staff meeting for March. We had a lot to talk about. There will be an art show at the end of March, complete with ribbons! We are also looking forward to our first visitors of this year. We have two groups set to arrive in March. Then at the end of March is Spring Break.

Tuesday, March 3rd Winslow Dental came out to the school with their rolling dentist’s office and cleaned and sealed all of the school kids teeth. It is so great to see this kind of service provided for the school! Thank you, Winslow Dental!

Most of you probably wonder about the weather here. We had the snow day a few weeks ago, but since then we have had abundant sunshine and warm weather, sometimes as high as 85 degrees already. However, the wind stays with us constantly. We have already had two sand storms this year and the Flint Boys are starting their mischief. Navajo legend says that the Blue Flint Boys are responsible for the Dust Devils. Today, March 4, I can feel the floor move in my office as the wind gusts outside. We are encircled by a sand storm, but the dust here is not blowing too badly. The sky to the east of us is red with the sand floating in the air. I guess March is coming in like a Lion.

Abby & Kelcy and I have been going into town on Saturdays to visit a local playground. The girls have made lots of new friends since we started going, but one in particular stands out. We were visiting the park and two young ladies came into the playground area. The older looked to be eight or nine years old and the younger looked about three or four years old. Abby practically ran over to the younger sister and, using her manners, asked the young ladies name. The young lady replied that her name was “Abby”. After that, they were inseparable. The look Abby’s face was so sweet! Kelcy came to tell me that there were two “Abbys” and that the new Abby was her friend. They played well together for quite a while. The time came for us to leave. As we told the new Abby that we had to go, she shared that her mother and father were both in jail. I told her that I was very sorry about that. We promised that we would try to return the next Saturday, if weather permitted. On the way home, the girls asked questions about why the girls parents would be in jail and I told them that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she is your friend. On the way home, Kelcy also said, "I wish there was two Abbys AND two Kelcys at the park today." We did return to the park the next Saturday, but found no sign of the new Abby or her sister. I hope you will all say a prayer for these two girls.

Church continues to do well. March 1st was the pot luck here at Red Sands and we had twenty-three in attendance, I think. Mr. Bill brought hams, Miss Springer brought rolls and banana bread and scalloped potatoes and I brought baked beans and salad. Some of the Navajo people brought fry bread, chips and salsa, drinks and cookies to share. I had a Sunday school class of six children today. They were a little rambunctious, but some of them were really paying attention to the lesson!

The pot luck at Dilkon has been moved this month, from the second Sunday to the third Sunday of the month. I look forward to traveling over there, as always! I also look forward to the return of our friends, Jim and Anne. They should arrive back here around March 15th.

I apologize for the rambling nature of this update, but I completed it very quickly, with no editing.

2009-02-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

Monday, Feb 9th

A needy family came by today and we were able to provide food for them!

The Hope in Transit group came by today, they completed classes quickly and left in a hurry. The mountains near AICM were forecast to get anywhere from 6-20 inches of snow that day! All day we watched the snow go around us. We could watch it get within a few miles and then the storm would split and we could see snow to the North and South of us, then to the East of us. At one point, we got a sprinkling of rain, but that was all during the daylight hours.

The snow flurries started about 9PM. They were the biggest flakes I have ever seen in my entire life! I had always thought those giant snowflakes at the beginning of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" movie were exaggerated, but these flakes were very large, I would say two or three inches in diameter. Then, about ten o clock the wind started and we had a blizzard outside. We had snow blowing in through our closed front door! Fortunately, the wind didn't last too long and soon it was just snowing again.

Tuesday,

A snow storm blew in after dark last night and today school was canceled! Jerry is not very excited about it, because he is anxious to keep his lesson plans on schedule, but I enjoyed it. I came into the office for a while and worked. Jerry took the girls outside to play in the snow. When I got back, they had already had the required hot chocolate and proudly showed me their snow man they had made outside.

Thursday

Art class went very well again! We used pencils and drawing paper to practice identifying light sources and shading objects in a picture accordingly. There are some really talented kids in my class! I really enjoy it. And Kelcy did really well with the shading practice too.

Friday

Valentine's Party!

Kelcy went to Miss Springer's class for the first time today! Miss Springer had offered to teach her one day a week and she started today. Miss Springer said she did very well. The whole class was making mail boxes to receive their Valentine's in later that day. After lunch, we all went down to party! There was cupcakes and brownies and hot Cheetos and juice! The whole school watched "Space Buddies" and ate snacks and exchanged Valentine's. It was a very nice day! Thank you Miss Springer for the Valentine's party!

Saturday

The Diehl's went to town today! We drove into Winslow and went to the Post Office and then to the Library. The girl's picked out books to borrow and so did Jerry and I. Next, we all went out to lunch and ate at Denny's to celebrate the holiday. It was yummy! Then, (as if that wasn't enough) we drove to the local playground and let the girls play for an hour or so outside. They had a great time with the bumpy slide and twirly slide!

Happy Birthday!

2009-02-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

Feb 3

Jerry had a very nice birthday. He shared it with one of the school children. He said that he had never known anyone else who had his same birthday, so that was neat. The school kids sang to them both at lunch time. He didn't get his cake until Saturday, but he enjoyed a nice relaxing birthday.

Today, Miss Springer taught the Chapel lesson about not holding things inside. We stood outside in a circle and tossed around a can of soda until it burst and spewed everywhere. The point was that we need to communicate and not keep things inside, or we will blow up like that can of soda.

At lunch time, Miss Springer introduced the Marshmallow Wars. Now, I did not witness the spectacle, but Abby & Kelcy both participated along with all the school children present. Apparently, the children were armed with Marshmallows and they threw them at Mr. Diehl (Jerry)--at least that is how Abby described it to me. I did see the aftermath and the birds were having a meal of the few marshmallows left on the ground.

Wednesday, Feb 4th

After lunch today, the kids all lined up at one table for the hot Cheetos eating contest. The goal--see how many hot Cheetos you can eat without resorting to drinking water. If you have never tried the hot Cheetos, there are two types: the puffy and the crunchy. I find the puffy to be hotter than the puffy ones. Miss Springer had purchased the puff hot Cheetos for the contest. Needless to say, none of the teachers were participating. Neither did Abby or Kelcy or their friend Jessica, but everyone else did. I imagined the kids wolfing down the Cheetos quickly and then grabbing their drink. However, this was not the case. In the end, Miss Springer had to impose a time limit on eating the Cheetos to end the competition and I think last about 20 minutes, with several of the kids still eating Cheetos. Some even wanted to eat more after time was up! The champion was a young lady and she won the bragging rights and a prize. All of the participants were commended for their bravery and given a certificate or a prize. And a bag of hot Cheetos!

The Hope in Transit group that teaches music came on Thursday of this week. The kids all enjoyed the music class, as usual!

Friday night the girls and I made Jerry his birthday cake. He had requested a Lemon Bundt cake with a lemon glaze. Abby & Kelcy are both getting good at cracking eggs and are very interested in the baking process. The cake turned out wonderful and Daddy was delighted that all of his girls had made him a cake.

This Saturday, the wind blew most of the day, so we stayed inside and read and played the Dora Memory game.

Sunday, I got some new faces in my Sunday School class and they said that they would be back every week. I look forward to it! Church attendance is doing very well, I think. It is encouraging to see people returning each week to hear the word. Jerry has finished the "Facing the Giant" Sunday school program and is starting the "Oaks of Righteousness" series. Mr. Bill did a fine job with the message today! Tonight we had a pot luck at Dilkon. It was very encouraging to see some new faces there as well! Mr. Bill made us baked chicken, which was delicious. We had a nice visit to Dilkon and we look forward to the next one!

A Wing and a Prayer...

2009-02-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

January 26 through Feb 2nd

We had a great week of school! The kids were again pretty well behaved. The physical education classes are doing great!

In art class, we made clay sculptures out of modeling clay. Two of the boys made army tanks out of clay and one made “Wall-E” from the Disney motion picture. I had assorted decorations available for use, including beads, feathers, sea shells, drinking straws, toothpicks, etc. We all had a good time. The winds were blowing this week, causing the electricity to go in and out. We continue to have warm weather, at least above 50 degrees in the daytime and about 10-20 degrees overnight (Fahrenheit of course).

Friday evening we learned that one of the school children had a little brother that was still born at nearly full term. I have never been so close to someone in this situation. It was really heartbreaking and I have prayed for this child and family a whole lot. I hope that you will, too.

Saturday started out okay. The girls woke at their usual early time, but they went to play in the living room, leaving Jerry and I to rest in bed for a little longer. Unfortunately, they made a bad decision, one that we had warned them about in the past. As soon as I sat up in bed, I noticed an odd smell. Then Jerry noticed and we both took off running. It was the smell of melting plastic. We found a total of seven Barbie dolls sitting on TOP OF THE GAS HEATER! The Barbie dolls were melting down into the stove. Among the dolls was Abby’s collector’s edition Barbie Cinderella doll. Cinderella’s dress was brown and smoldering! I was terrified. We had warned the girls not to put ANYTHING on top of the gas stove, even before we began using it for heat. Needless to say, they both got a stern lecture about what could have happened and we had to throw away four of the dolls, including Cinderella.

The rest of Saturday was good, we spent the day working around the mission as a family. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being outside in January without hats and gloves.

Sunday was a great service at Red Sands Christian Church. I had three kids in my Sunday school class, which was good. Then, I had six kids in junior church with me, which was nice too. The kids used puppets and made a puppet show to illustrate using good manners. It was very cute. We had a good adult attendance and after church we had the pot luck meal. Mr. Bill made roast, we brought chess cake and broccoli casserole and Miss Springer brought green beans and rice krispy treats. Some of the other church members supplied drinks and large sub sandwiches to share, potato salad and macaroni salad. It was an excellent meal.

Sunday evening

We did not watch the Super Bowl. I wanted Arizona to win, for obvious reasons! We had plans. Some friends of ours from Corbin were visiting the area and they took us out for dinner on Sunday night. It was a wonderful meal and it was VERY wonderful to see our friends and hear about their travels and answer their questions about our work. Abby & Kelcy were pretty well behaved at the restaurant. Our friends were staying at the La Posada hotel in Winslow, so after dinner we visited their rooms. It is a very interesting older hotel with European styled rooms. They had rooms that were named after celebrities such as Mary Pickford and John Wayne.

Monday morning our friends came to visit us at the mission and brought juices and pastries for the children to share. The children really enjoyed the visit and appreciated the gift of food. I got the chance to show them that I was not exaggerating when I said that you can see 50 miles in any direction from the mission. It was a wonderful visit from our friends at home. They traveled onto their next destination, but the kindness of their visit will stay in our hearts here.

After we left the classrooms on Monday, Miss Springer’s class went outside with their cardboard ground hogs to see if they would see their shadow. They did lots of things with shadows that day.

Next week: Jerry gets older, Marshmallow Wars and a Hot Cheetos eating contests.

Just to make myself clear...

2009-01-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to make sure I was clear in my previous post. I put in there that I cry almost every day. Please don't think that I am miserable and crying all the time. I was afraid that I gave that impression, so I want to correct it. It is really just that I am emotional about some decisions we are preparing to make and THAT is making me more emotional. Things that would not ordinarily drive me to tears tend to do so right now. If I read a story about a lost dog or especially about the airplane crash landing last week, it always bothers me, but now I find myself crying. So, please don't worry about me and my family. We are all fine.

The other thing is that I want everyone to know that it was not my intention to complain about the work that I do here. I am happy to do what I can and always feel like I can never get enough done. All that I do is volunteered and not pressured by anyone. In fact, I am not nearly the busiest person who works here at the mission, much less the busiest person out there reading this post. So, if I gave any wrong impression there, please forgive me.

I am very blessed to be here at the mission and I am so blessed to have a healthy family and a comfortable home, plenty to eat and the opportunity to spend time with my children and husband during the work day.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. We appreciate your interest and hope that I do not bore you too much with the details of our lives!

Now I understand what love is...

2009-01-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 12 through January 18, 2009

Monday, I got to teach Art class again. The music teachers were not able to make it today, so they are re-scheduling music class for Thursday afternoon. Since that is when I teach art, I get tot each today! Today’s class was even better than the first class. We talked about shapes and identified shapes in our physical world. The class did great and we still had a lot of participation. I really enjoy it. Abby got her first homework assignment today. She is very excited. She is assigned to read in her reading books on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday, we had library. I got the list of overdue books updated and prepared to story time this afternoon. I read two or three books, some poems and then we did some tongue twisters. The kids checked out books and I got to read some of them their new books. The guy came and replaced the windshield in our truck today. Abby got her report card today. She is doing very well. She needs to work on her handwriting, but otherwise she is doing well.

Wednesday, we dropped off our truck at the repair shop around lunch time. They called at 3PM and said they had the wrong part to fix the windows. We left the truck there until the next day, when we picked it up. The windows work fine. However, the passenger door cannot be opened from the inside now. So, another trip back to the shop on Monday.

Thursday, the Sprinkles came to teach music. Dave said that Abby is learning very well on the keyboard. He suggested that we do some hand exercises with her to help her be able to use her “ring” finger separately from her other fingers.

Friday, we went out to eat with Mr. Bill and Miss Springer. We finally got to try out the China Feast restaurant at the other end of town. It was very good The girls were well behaved and both ate pretty well. It was when we arrived at the restaurant that we realized that the door handle didn’t work. No one had ridden in the passenger seat prior to this time.

Saturday, we stayed home. It was a beautiful day for January. It was 70 degrees and sunny. The girls and I went for a walk out behind the trailer I felt pretty comfortable, as the rattlesnakes hibernate during the winter. We walked out a ways, back to the back fence of the property, then over to the fence corner behind the school. All of the tumbleweeds back there had been broken off and rolled away already. After that, I worked a little bit in my art room and the girls played on the playground. Abby is getting very good at starting the swing and swinging by herself. We got back to the house and I tried to get the girls settled for a nap, but they wouldn’t go for it. Jerry stayed with them, while I walked up to the church to get things ready for Sunday School class and to do a little straightening in the storage rooms. It was a nice relaxing day.

Sunday, we had church at Red Sands. I didn’t have any kids show up for my Sunday School class, so I got to sit in Jerry’s Sunday School class. Then, I did Wee Worship during the service so that Miss Springer (who teaches Abby’s Sunday School class) could come over for church service. We went home and had tacos for lunch. Mr. Bill drove the church bus to take the church members home. We had another lazy day, we all took a nap this time. Well, I guess Jerry did not nap because he was watching the Arizona Cardinals win the NFC Championship and get their place in the Super Bowl! We could have been at that game! Jerry argued that God would understand why we couldn’t go to church, but instead had to go to Glendale to see the Cardinals play. But I didn’t quite buy his argument. Jerry was kidding, of course.

As I sit writing this, dusk is falling over the desert. Another day is done.

I am having a hard time adjusting to life here again myself. I am feeling a little lost and lonely. I have been reading the Bible and that helps, but I really miss my friends and I am an adult. I can’t imagine the impact this is having on Abby & Kelcy. I am struggling with not crying almost every day. I am not sure why I am so emotional, but the decision we are making about whether to make another year’s commitment here weighs on my mind a lot.

I am trying my best to get things accomplished at the office, but Kelcy has been very needy and clingy. I haven’t been able to get nearly done what needs to be done. I feel like I get farther behind every day. I guess I have never really told what all I do, so here it goes. I do a little bit of church secretary work (trust me, not near what a real church secretary would do) and a little bit of school secretary work (again, not nearly what a school secretary does). I do a little bit of administrative assistant work with Mr. Bill, but he doesn’t ask for my help very often. I do the bookkeeping, paying the bills, the taxes, the salary and answer the telephones while watching my three year old daughter. I also try to do my part to keep the sanctuary clean by dusting furniture, vacuuming carpet and sweeping and mopping. I am not the only one who does this job, but I try to do my part. I am teaching the second grade through high school Sunday School class at church. I am acting as the librarian since Ms. Anne is in Phoenix for the winter. I keep track of the outstanding books and try to return the books to the shelves in their proper place. I also get to do story time with Miss Springer’s class. I am now teaching art on Thursday afternoons to the third through eighth grades. I get to lead the singing at Chapel every other week and to teach the Chapel lesson every fifth week. I try to keep up with the domestic chores as well, trying to keep the clothes washed, dinner cooked every night and the house straightened up. Life is pretty busy. I am not trying to impress anyone, just let you know a little about what I do in a week and why I might have a little trouble keeping up with everything. And I have yet to set up the ladies Bible study that I would like to start.

The title of the blog is a song lyric in an important song in my life, just in case you all are wondering.

Pained glass Part II

2009-01-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry I didn’t finish my original story last time, Kelcy dumped a large glass of water all over the desk I was working on, so I was unavoidably delayed.

Back to our story: We had a snow day! School was canceled on January 4, the first day back from Christmas break. Jerry stayed home with the girls while I went into work.

The first day back to school was good. All the kids were pretty well behaved. It was Tuesday and we had chapel that morning. Miss Springer had the lesson and led the singing. She taught about resolutions and how we could all resolve to be better people. Certainly something we all need to hear! We didn’t have library that Tuesday.

I taught my firs art class that Thursday afternoon. It was a lot of fun for me and I hope the whole class. The class consisted of all of the kids from third through eighth grade. We stated off learning about the kinds of lines and how to find them in our physical world. The kids all did really well and proved willing to answer questions and draw examples on the board for everyone to see.

Saturday we went to Flagstaff to do our semimonthly visit to Sam’s to stock up on lunch snacks and frozen foods. We also did some Christmas shopping for the girls with the Christmas money they received. We had a nice trip, no snow or scary wind this time. We also purchased a “Mad Lib” book. Jerry had asked me to find one. His class was beginning grammar and diagramming and he thought it would be a fun way to learn about the parts of speech.

Sunday morning, we had church at Red Sands and Dilkon . We had I think sixteen at church on Sunday? I had two in my Sunday School class. They were good kids and we learned about Daniel , Paul and Peter and where they found the strength to face the oppositions.

Sunday night we drove to Dilkon for the pot luck meal there. I took potato salad, Mr. Bill made hamburgers and hot dogs, Miss Springer brought dessert and the Navajo ladies brought fry bread and baked beans and a wonderful chocolate cake. While I was driving over to Dilkon, Jerry was doing the Mad Libs with Abby and Kelcy. At one point, I was laughing so hard I could not see to drive. Of course right after that, my window fell down inside the door. As you may recall, last week the passenger side window fell down in the door. Well, this time it was the driver’s side door. I was just driving along and “poof”, it disappeared down into the door. It was pretty cold outside. We stopped at the Little Painted Desert to see if we could get the window up, but we didn’t have tools with us, so we headed on to Dilkon—about 10 to 15 miles with the window down. It got pretty cold on the girls, but we didn’t have to worry about the potato salad getting too warm!

We got the Dilkon at dusk and Jerry and Mr. Bill were able to get the window back up. It was a little irritating, but I tried to keep it in perspective. It is not like someone is sick or something bad has happened, it is just going to take time and money to get it fixed. On top of our windows, the front windshield in our truck was going to be replaced on Tuesday. The truck windshield had been hit by a rock out on I-40 and the hit began to crack the windshield. Hence the name of the blog—the glass issue is getting a little crazy.

To get to more serious matter, we lost four students over Christmas break. Three students moved away. I talked to the mother of the three who moved away and I am sure that she is doing what is best for her family, but we sure will miss that whole family. One student transferred to another school. It is hard to adjust to so many changes. I started elementary school in one school system and completed high school in the same school system. It is very difficult for me to imagine changing school like that as a child

Abby and Kelcy have had a hard time adjusting to coming back to Arizona. They ask every day when we are going back to Kentucky. They miss their friends and their “red” house as they call it. I really didn’t think that leaving would be this hard on the kids.

Pained Glass Windows....

2009-01-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

We returned to the mission on Saturday, January 3rd. We left Louisville at 9AM and arrived in Phoenix at 11:00 AM local time (15 minutes early!) Our friends Jim & Anne picked us up from the airport and then provided us with lunch at their home before we began the drive to Winslow. Thank you Jim & Anne! Your hospitality is truly inspiring!

It was 70 degrees in Phoenix. We headed up to Flagstaff, which is about 2 hours north of Phoenix. There, it was blizzard conditions! It was 31 degrees and pouring the snow! It was beautiful! We stopped for groceries in Flagstaff before heading back to Winslow. Here, one of our problems started. While I was inside the store, Jerry was outside, putting our luggage into garbage bags (the luggage was in the back of our pick-up and, as I said, it was pouring the snow). Jerry had the passenger side window down so that Abby & Kelcy could see the snow. Well, somehow the passenger side window fell down into the door! Yes, fell down into the door! As in, can't come back up with our cracking open the door and doing something. So, it is 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. We just left the airport, our window is open, it is pouring the snow and we are still 50 miles from home with no tools to get into the car door. Needless to say, we were a little put out.

But, the Lord provided as usual. We drove down the street and we saw a business with its "OPEN" sign still lit. We pulled up and saw that the shop was supposed to close at 3PM. Jerry tried the door and there was still a man there. He came out and looked at the door and said that he could probably help us. We pulled it inside and after an hour, he gets the door apart and the window up. THANK YOU SIR! We gladly paid him and were on our way home again. The window was up, but it was not fixed.

We drove home to the mission to find no snow. Kelcy made the comment that maybe we would have snow in the morning.

We got up on Sunday morning and we had snow! Lots of it! Jerry, Mr. Bill and Miss Springer decided to cancel church because the roads are not cleared here on the weekends. So, we had our family Christmas gift exchange that Sunday. It was magical. Abby kept saying "I told you it snows on Christmas". I was sad that there was no church that day, but we had a wonderful family day. We got to play in the snow. The snow was too powdery to make snow men, but Abby and Kelcy played by jumping into the snow drifts. We have not idea how much snow actually fell because the wind whips it around so much. But there were drifts about two feet high here at the mission. The girls jumping into them on their hands and knees. And we made snow angels. Then, we came in and had hot chocolate. It was a wonderful day.

That next day was Monday and school was canceled because we got more snow that night. The roads would have been terrible at school time. However, by lunch time on Monday, all the snow was melting quickly. Jerry kept the girls at home while I went into the office and got a lot accomplished that day. We also had a staff meeting about 1PM, since Miss Springer & Bill had come into their classrooms to work.

Abby and Kelcy have had an extra hard time coming back here. I think Kelcy was glad to be home in her bed.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

2009-01-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Dec. 19th through January 3rd

We had an amazing trip home for the holidays! We had great flights to and from Kentucky (Thank you Southwest Airlines for doing a great job!) We traveled around to Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and then back to Kentucky for New Year's celebration. We got to see friends and family. We didn't get to see Jamie, Jerry's brother from Charlotte, NC. We missed you this year Jamie! We just had a wonderful time. It was wonderful to again be in the fellowship of our home church and to speak with everyone. I really had a great time. It was, if anything, too busy. I didn't get a whole lot of time to spend with any one person, but it was still wonderful.

It was great to speak to those of you who are supporting our mission. It was nice to have an interested audience to hear as we droned on about what it is like here and the work we do and what we have learned about the Navajo people. Thank you for letting us share!

The New Year brought a lot of decision times for us. We are deciding whether we will be renewing our commitment to Navajo Trails for another year. Please keep that in your prayers.

Thank you to Mark & Tammy and especially to Emily who let us sleep in her bed! And to Norma (Jerry's Mother) for having us into her home and for taking care of us, even though she was not feeling well! I hope you are feeling better now. Thank you to Johnny & Barbara for having us in their home. We are so thankful to have such a loving family, that we can crash there for days and not feel like we are in the way.

The night before we left to come, I admit that I broke down and cried. We had a gathering at Tammy's home and when all the people left, I realized I would not see them for another long while. I broke down and cried and Jerry held me and let me know that everything is okay. Abby & Kelcy had a hard time leaving as well. But more about that later...

2009-01-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

Week of December 15th
Monday

Today was a great day at school. The Sprinkles,who teach music to the school children, brought pizza for lunch for the entire school! We celebrated and had a lovely afternoon. The Sprinkles had to hurry back to Show Low, as they were forecast to get between 6 and 24 inches of snow.

After school, we loaded up in the school van and drove to Flagstaff,AZ for our Staff Christmas dinner. We picked up Miss Dawn and Mr. John and Ms. Ruth in Winslow, then headed toward Flagstaff. The snow started about 6000 feet. We drove into a blizzard of beautiful snow. Mr. Bill drove us fearlessly to the restaurant (Outback Steakhouse). I would like to thank Bill & Norma Jean for sending a donation for us all to have Christmas dinner together. We had a great meal and all enjoyed it tremendously. Afterward, Mr. Bill drove us home in the heavy snow. The roads were all covered as we were getting on the interstate, but the snow stopped again about 6000 feet in elevation. When we returned to Winslow and Red Sands, there was no snow.

This was a party week! The school children had received gifts from churches all around the country. There were some from Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Kentucky. The kids opened gifts each day, so that they could remember which church sent them and take them home one at a time. The kids got toothbrushes and toothpaste, candy, toys, clothing and shoes. Thank you so much to all of the churches who sent presents to the schoolchildren! It really made a nice Christmas for the kids who would not otherwise have received things that were needed and wanted.

Thursday night

The Christmas program was tonight! All of the kids were great! Mr. Diehl's class read the scripture of the birth of Christ, Mr. Bill's class furnished the backgrounds and Miss Springer's class performed the motions indicated in the scripture. Abby & Kelcy were angels. A stretch for them, if you all know them. This was Kelcy's debut in school programs and she did just fine. Abby had been in the Fall program, and she followed instructions well and performed her role well, too. All of the kids did great. Afterward, Mr. Bill gave a devotion about making Christmas and the spirit of Christmas last all year. Then, we had refreshments provided by the children. It was a wonderful night.

Friday

The school kids opened the last presents and then we provided lunch for all the kids and then we all watched a movie together. School was released early today. Then, we were on our way to Kentucky!

Winter in the Desert--What?

2008-12-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 12, 2008

Today was another good day at Red Sands Christian School. Mr. Bill has settled in to teaching the third, fifth and sixth grades. All of the classes are preparing their parts for the Christmas program next Thursday. Mr. Bill’s class is responsible for building the sets and props. Mr. Diehl’s class is reading the scripture for the program. Miss Springer’s class is acting out the manger scene. It will be a lovely program for the parents and a wonderful witness about the real reason for the Christmas season.

The school children had been collecting non-perishable food items for donation. After lunch today, we loaded up the donation items and the children into the school buses and drove to Jackrabbit. (Yes, there is a place called jackrabbit, along with Two Guns and Twin Arrows etc). We surprised the staff at the Shelter with a very good donation of food. The shelter provides a home for children who are not with their parents for various reasons. It was a nicely built place with a large play ground area. It reminded me of a college campus in some ways. There were buildings that served at dormitories or cabins. Another building seemed to be the recreation and food area. It was nice for the children to see where their donation of food was going.

After our delivery, Miss Springer told the children that we had a surprise for them. They were all excited and were guessing what the surprise could be. Some thought it might be “Hot Cheetos” (one of their favorite snacks) or Pizza. We took the kids to McDonald’s and bought them all ice cream cones. Then, they all got to play on McDonald’s play land. The kids had a great time and they were all really well behaved.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

We decided to drive to Flagstaff, Arizona today to do our Christmas shopping. We knew that the weather forecast called for some heavy wind today, so it was no surprise to hear the wind blowing when we woke up. We had a lazy morning involving pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We left for Flagstaff about 10AM. I was driving and I could immediately feel the pull of the wind. The wind gusts were forecast to be up around 45 miles per hour. On the way to Flagstaff, it was kind of fun. I would compare it to the game “Frogger” for those of you who are familiar with old Atari games. I would drive down Interstate 40 and try to avoid the tumbleweeds crossing the interstate. First, slow down and a big one glides by right in front. Next, speed up so that one doesn’t get across the median before we pass it. We got to watch other cars and trucks plow right into the tumbleweeds and splinter then into debris. We even saw a semi truck driving with a very large tumbleweed stuck to the front of his grill. We did our shopping and by the time we were done, it was snowing in Flagstaff! It was really beginning to feel like Christmas.

The ride home was not so joyful. Almost immediately, we saw an overturned Hummer H2 attached to a travel trailer. The Hummer was heavily damaged. The wind shield was busted and the travel trailer was on its side in the middle of Interstate 40. The wind had caused a terrible accident. Next, we saw a truck pulling a trailer with a car in it. It looked like one of those trailers that the racing cars are carried inside. The trailer was blown over on its side beside the Interstate. Thankfully, the truck looked okay. We could see the dust storm in the distance right away. We drove into the dust storm when we got to the Meteor City exit. The dust enveloped our vehicle. Jerry wondered aloud if this would be called a “red” out. The dust was as thick as dense fog in some spots, drastically lowering our visibility. The dust cloud lasted all the way to Winslow.

When we returned to the mission a little later, we drove in the dust the entire way. When we pulled into the driveway, Jerry noticed that the wind had broken out one of the windows in the church. He hopped out and surveyed the damage. Then, he drove us down to the trailer and returned to make the needed repairs. There was broken glass and sand all over the sanctuary floor. He single-handedly nailed a sheet of plywood over the window (pushing against the 40 mile per hour wind gusts in the process). Ironically, the plywood he used was part of the set for the Christmas program. Then, he swept up the glass and sand. I am glad that we found the problem tonight and not Sunday morning!

The wind from this storm blew from about 6AM on Saturday morning until 2AM on Sunday morning. It ended with some sleet and freezing rain that left a sheet of ice on the vehicles. Praise the Lord! The roof on the new staff house remained intact. The roofing was being pushed upward by the wind, but it held in place. It was funny this morning to see the shingles on the roof sticking up in the air. The shingles had been lifted by the fierce wind gusts and quick frozen by the sleet up in the air.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I did not attend church today. Kelcy was up last night for six hours with another stomach virus. About two hours after Kelcy started, Abby started as well. Jerry said that everything went well without me. I missed being there, but it was better for the girls to be at home so they could recuperate and not make anyone else sick.

The girls were well recovered by the afternoon, so we drove to Dilkon Christian Church for their Sunday evening service and monthly pot-luck dinner. Dilkon actually had snow on the ground still. Mr. Bill does a really great job with the service. We sang about eight Christmas carols and then he had a short devotion about celebrating Christmas every day, not just in the month of December. The Navajo ladies had prepared mutton stew with dumplings, a lovely vegetable salad, tortillas, vegetable medley and a green pistachio-lime-pineapple salad. Miss Springer brought cake and chocolate fudge, Mr. Bill prepared Ham and baked beans, and we brought mashed potatoes. I counted sixteen in attendance at the pot-luck. I enjoyed the chance to get out and socialize. However, by the time we left, it was nineteen degrees outside! Time to get home and warm up!

As I am typing this blog update, the girls are asleep already and Jerry is working on his lesson plans for when he returns in January. This week is riddled with forecasts for winter storms. Along with the weather, I saw there is a strike that is going on at Southwest Airlines in the Phoenix airport. Please pray that the Lord’s will is done in this situation. Our tickets for Friday’s flight home are with Southwest…

Next week: Staff Christmas dinner, Christmas program and Christmas school party!

Snow on the mountain!

2008-12-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

Week of December 1 through December 5

This week was a week of adjustments. Mr. Bill began teaching the third, fifth and sixth grade classes at the school. Jerry & Miss Dawn began taking on extra chores to maintain the school. Some transitions went well, others didn’t go quite so smoothly. I really don’t feel the need to say anything other than we all had a week of adjustments. We all came through it and I think it has drawn us all closer together as a team, as difficult times often do.

Friday, December 5th

We said farewell to our friends Anne and Jim today. They are “snow birding” down to Phoenix for the winter. They stopped by at lunch time today and Ms. Anne took one more opportunity to provide us with her wonderful cookies! Thank you Ms. Anne and Mr. Jim, we will miss you all this winter! Oh, and speaking of winter, I have to tell the reason for the title. Anyone who has visited here probably remembers the view of the mountain peaks at Flagstaff. It is beautiful, especially set against the western sunset. Now, it is snow-covered! If possible, it looks even more majestic.

Saturday, December 6th

This Saturday dawned bright and early! Miss Dawn had organized and scheduled a “Craft Fair” at the church for today from 9AM to noon. All the parents and school children were invited, along with people from the church. We had several kids from school attend! It was so much fun! I cannot stress how much I enjoyed the crafts and the children. We all made Christmas Tree ornaments and Christmas decorations. There were ten craft projects to choose from and I know several children were able to complete them all. We had Christmas tree shaped ornaments, snow flake shaped ornaments, Christmas wreath shaped decorations, three different kinds of candy cane decorations to make. We served cookies and hot chocolate for a snack. Jerry hooked up some Christmas music to play in the background. One of the music selections was “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley, played in honor of both Miss Springer and Nana (Jerry’s Mom, Norma). They are both really like Elvis!

Kelcy’s favorite craft was making the candy canes out of red and white pom-poms. She made four of these, because she loved it so much. I think she enjoyed it so much because she could do it all by herself. Abby’s favorite craft was the “Snow” picture she made with a snow man and a penguin. She completed two of these projects.

While we were making crafts, Jerry and Mr. Bill were filling bags with Christmas goodies for the church folks. Miss Springer had acquired the supplies and the boys began filling the bags with oranges, apples, nuts and hard candy. Miss Springer says that that is the traditional Navajo stocking stuffers.

Sunday, December 7th

The service at Red Sands Christian Church went very well today! I had eight kids in my Sunday School class. We read about Christ’s birth in Luke. Next, we discussed what Paul says about why Jesus had to be born and to come to earth. It went well. Next, Mr. Bill brought a great lesson about “the indescribable gift” from 2nd Corinthians 9:15. The message was delivered beautifully and to a crowd of thirty people.

After the service, we had our potluck meal. Mr. Bill had provided ham for everyone. I made hashed brown casserole and a pineapple cake. Miss Springer made desserts and corn and vegetable casserole. The Navajo ladies brought fry bread, tossed salad, potato salad and some dessert. As far as I could tell, everyone stayed for the meal and we all ate hearty! There were also plenty of leftovers. It was so good, Abby and Kelcy didn’t even eat their dessert!

Monday, December 8th

After last week, I think we were all a little nervous today, but all went well. Today, all the kids had to eat in their classrooms, because we had an event scheduled at the church during the lunch period. I spent a lot of time at the school cleaning and straightening.

The school has been collecting Campbell’s soup labels for several years and this year the teachers got to purchase supplies using the points. We have begun receiving the supplies and it has been like Christmas every day! We open the boxes, not sure of what is inside. There are lots of supplies for recess games and P.E. games. There are aquariums and basketballs and science kits. Thank you to all who have collected soup labels, it has really paid off for the school kids!

Today, the church was on loan to another minister who performed a funeral service there. Afterward, the families had a fellowship meal there.

Tuesday, December 9th

And for those of you who don’t think it gets cold in the desert, I am here to tell you, it does. All day Monday, a cold wind blew. This morning, we woke up to snow on the ground! It was very pretty and the girls were very excited. We wondered if there would be school, but alas it was not canceled. Most of the snow was gone by 10AM. It was nice while it lasted! It REALLY does snow in the desert. Who knew?

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

We had such a great day today! There is a place called AICM (American Indian Christian Missions) in Show Low, Arizona. There is Christian boarding school located there for the children from the Apache reservation. Today, three of their classes came to visit us here and brought gifts for the school children here. It was so much fun! It was great to meet the four lady missionaries who came with the group. They were a mixed group geographically. One was from North Carolina, one from Massachusetts, one was from Indiana and one from this area. The kids from Show Low got here about 10:30AM and stayed until 1:30PM. The Red Sands School provided a pizza lunch for the children and adults alike. After lunch, the kids played “tug ‘o war” (thanks to the new supplies from Campbell’s soup labels) and I confess that the Show Low team won! And they won soundly! I think Jerry will have to have the kids here do double the work in P.E. After the games they all came inside and the children from Show Low handed out gifts to the kids at Red Sands. All of the children were very well behaved and it went very well. All too soon, the Apache kids were on their way back home and the Red Sands kids were back to class work.

Next week: potluck at Dilkon, staff Christmas dinner, school Christmas program!

Where the buffalo roam...

2008-12-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

I must first apologize to all of you who are anxiously awaiting news from Red Sands. I have failed to enter any new info for two weeks now and I apologize. I know it can be frustrating to check in and see no updates for so long, so please bear with me.

Friday, November 21

Tonight Miss Springer, along with the school children, presented their fall program. It was a mix of scripture memorization and songs. The program ended with Mr. Bill giving a devotion about the first Thanksgiving. The kids all looked lovely and they were so excited to be there and performing. We had a great turn out with the parents and families. Afterward, the parents and teachers had provided refreshments. Most everyone stayed around to chat and get to know each other. It was so much fun.

Saturday, November 22

Today is the Winslow city Christmas parade. We drove up to town and parked out at the Warren Avenue Christian Church. We walked around before the parade started. It was a very big event! We saw vendors with Navajo Tacos, Tamales, Navajo blankets, Turquoise jewelry, and all kinds of foods. It was centered on the "corner" in Winslow. We found a nice spot and watched the parade. Kelcy called it a "hurrah'd". Pronounced like parade, only with an "h". It was her first parade to my recollection. She really enjoyed it. We got to see some of the school kids there walking around. In the parade there were Hopi dancers and marching bands from as far away as Payson. They even had the Shriners with the small cars. Some of the floats threw out candy, to the delight of my children. Kelcy REALLY enjoyed this part of the parade. The parade ended with a fire truck that had Santa and his sleigh riding on top. It was a fun day.

Sunday, November 23

We had quite a few people at church today. I had 11 in my Sunday school class alone. Mr. Bill gave a wonderful and encouraging message about being grateful.

Tuesday, November 25th

Today, we saw the buffalo. They were right behind the school, lying down in the grass. I drove Kelcy down after lunch to look at them, but they were farther away then. It is very neat to see the buffalo roaming here. We believe that they belong to someone around here, they are not wild.

Wednesday, November 26th

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch with the children today! We all pitched in to bring the various items and had a great lunch! We had Turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls and pumpkin pies prepared by Miss Springer's Kindergarten through second grade class. We had a great turn-out again with the parents and friends of the school. School was over after lunch and all the kids went home with their hunger fully satisfied.

And today it rained! I forgot to mention it, but God had provided someone to put the roof on the new staff house. The old roof was half removed by the fifteen hour dust storm back in October. If it had rained without a roof on the house, it oculd well have damaged the dry wall inside. Well, the gentleman who replaced the roof was finished on Tuesday and then we got rain on Wednesday! Isn't that a wonderful miracle? The Lord provided once again! And just in time!

Thursday-Thanksgiving Day!

We stayed home today and had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving day. I was up at 7AM starting the turkey and had lunch on the table before noon. We had turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and green beans and rolls and pumpkin cake. By this time, I was little tired of pumpkin pie, so I made a pumpkin cake that turned out well. We all just played and read books and rested.

Saturday, November 29th

The Roberts family left today. The Robert's family, both of them were teachers, have decided that this is not the place for them at this time and they have left the mission. We wish them well in whatever the future holds.

Today, we went to the Winslow public library again and had a great time. The girls love the library! We read books and played and found some books to borrow. We borrowed about 10 books for the girls to read/be read to. The library is such a wonderful place. I love books and I think that the girls also love books!

Sunday, November 30th

We had quite a few people at church again today! I had 9 in Sunday school class today. I didn't get to hear Mr. Bill's sermon today, but I am sure it a great one. During the evening service, we drove to Dilkon Christian Church to hear Mr. Bill teach. His lesson there was on Romans. We all enjoyed the lesson and getting to see the Navajo members over at Dilkon again.

I'll be home for Christmas!

2008-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

This week has flown by! I can hardly believe that it is November 16! How could this be? Could it really be just a month from the Christmas holiday already? We are going to be traveling to the East for Christmas break. Hence the title of this entry! We will be doing presentations at our home church and will be visiting with another church that has been supporting us. Abby & Kelcy will get to see their friends. Abby already wants to see if she can spend the night with Eva. Abby has been talking a lot about her “old” friends in Kentucky and her family. How much she misses them and how much fun she is going to have when she sees them.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Mr. Bill is back in the office today! We also have a new Navajo lady who is watching Kelcy and Noah for me in the morning. She arrived right on time! The kids liked her and played with her well. It was a hectic kind of day, adjusting to having two people in the office with me. Not that it is a burden by any means, but it is different. I had been alone mostly all day with the kids for about seven weeks, so it was different, like I said.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Today is the day that our nation sets aside to honor our veterans, the men and women who have served our country in the armed services. I will add my personal thanks to that of many others by saying “Thank you!” for keeping our country safe and making it a place where freedom still rings. In honor of Veterans Day, the school was closed today. We spent the day as a family at home, resting and playing together. The mission also got a new washing machine, that is located in our trailer! Thank you Community Christian Church! The old washing machine seemed to wash fine, but each time the washer hit the spin cycle, one of us would go and sit on the washer so that it would not “walk” out into the hallway and keep it from making loud banging noises. Jerry had tried a couple of times to see if the washing machine needed adjustment from the bottom to make it level and it would be a little better for a while. But now, thanks to a designated gift from our home church, there is a new washing machine here! We can wash clothes without having to constantly monitor the cycles and having to interrupt whatever else we are doing to sit on the washing machine. Yeah! We are very grateful.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Today, we are taking the 5th through the 8th grades on a field trip to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. There are seven children in these grades and they all were signed up to go. Six of the students stayed after school. I got to hit around some volleyball with two of the ladies. I had a lot of fun even there. At 4:30PM, we all loaded up and went to Captain Tony’s Pizza and had supper. It was an Italian buffet with spaghetti and pizza and cheese sticks and salad. It was very good. The kids all had a good time. Next, we drove the 45 minutes to Flagstaff to the Observatory. It is set upon a mountainside just west of the downtown of Flagstaff. As we drove up the mountain, we could see the lights of the city of Flagstaff below us. It was a lovely sight. It was unusual, I must admit. I hadn’t been out at night or seen city lights of that magnitude in quite awhile. We had scheduled a private program and viewing with the 24” telescope they have there. The program about the planet Mars was very educational and the kids asked some good questions, showing they were really paying attention. We all had a great time at the hands-on exhibit hall. There was a puzzle that involved putting the planets in their proper order in distance from the Sun. After this, we went to another exhibit hall and looked at three dimensional pictures of Mars with 3D glasses. It was really neat to see the craters, one as long as the United States land mass and the volcano called Olympus Mons in the three dimensional format. Even Abby and Kelcy enjoyed it. Next was the big event, looking through the 24” telescope at the moon and perhaps other heavenly bodies. Unfortunately, God had other plans. The wind was too strong to open the largest telescope and the night was cloudy, so the very reason for our evening visit not realized. We did get to see the moon through the 16 inch telescope and that was neat. The kids all had a good time and I think they will remember the visit to the Observatory for a long time. It certainly made a memory for me.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Kelcy and I went into town to run errands for work and do the weekly shopping. We went to the bank, the post office, the library, to get gas in the van and to the grocery store. It was a busy day.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I enjoyed the service at Red Sands Christian Church. We had another wonderful lesson about thankfulness and gratefulness. I always enjoy having my life put into the proper perspective. I had four students in my Sunday school class and that went really well.

I just wanted to let you all know that all of the staff here are having a personal impact on the students and members of this community. I realize it doesn't look like that by reading this blog. These personal meetings and evangelism will never be reported here. I think that someone would be afraid to talk to me if they thought I might talk about their life situation on this blog. So, please understand there is a lot of individual evangelism that goes unreported here because of confidentiality.

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 3, 2008

I don’t remember much about this day. I was in bed with a stomach virus from 7AM till 5PM. Yucky!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Kelcy’s Birthday! Today, Kelcy turns three years old! Kelcy woke up happy on her birthday and was happy all day long! It was Tuesday, so we had chapel in the morning. All the school kids sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She smiled shyly during the entire event. Abby & Kelcy & I made birthday cookies to share with all the school kids. We passed those out after chapel service. After school, Jerry worked on the new staff house until 6:30, then came home so Kelcy could open her presents. Thanks to all of you for the cards, gifts and letters! Kelcy had a wonderful time opening the presents. She gets so excited and she really enjoyed hearing the cards and their sentiments! Afterward, we went up to the church and had cake and ice cream with the Roberts family. Kelcy wanted strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream. Imagine! Kelcy picking a pink cake with pink icing! I even got pink ice cream, it was strawberry cheesecake. Both Abby & Kelcy thoroughly enjoyed the cake and ice cream. Thanks to a lot of people, Kelcy had a lovely birthday and felt really special on her special day!

I also forgot to mention that a dream of mine came true recently! I found out that Ms. Anne who does the library for the school was going to be out of town for a few weeks and I offered to perform the library duties. I was able to do story time with the kids and shared some of my favorite poetry and some pictures of works of art. It was a lot of fun for me and I hope for all the school kids.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

After school today, I gave Leah a bath. Leah is Mr. Bill’s dog, who had been staying at the mission while he was traveling in the Northwest to promote mission work. Needless to say, I was afraid that Mr. Bill would not recognize Leah after her seven weeks of running around in the red sand, so I decided to wash her. Boy, was that dog dirty. Abby and Kelcy watched the entire show. They were helping and working to keep Leah in the tub where she was supposed to stay. I think she felt much better afterward and I know that she felt better afterward.

Lights Out! Sometime between 10PM and 11PM, the lights in the hogans went out, with the Roberts inside. The power failed and no one here knew how to fix it. So, the Roberts spent a night without electric, meaning no clocks, no lights and no heat. Yikes! Did I mention we need some help to finish the staff house so that they Roberts can move in there?

Friday, November 7th, 2008

The electricity in the hogans was fixed about 4:30PM today. Yeah! Thank you Mr. Jim for helping us with the electricity! Mr. Bill was expected to return before school was out, but he did not arrive until much later. He did finally arrive and we were very happy to see him! Leah was very happy to see him as well! He stopped in for a chat at the trailer and then he went on to Dilkon to rest.

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Parent teacher conference was this Saturday from 8AM until Noon. Two of Jerry’s parents came to the school at their appointed time to visit and see their child’s work. Jerry’s first parent teacher conference day went well. He enjoyed getting to know the families a little better. All of his students are doing well, so it was a pleasant experience. We also got to hear from Miss Springer how Abby is doing in school. It was a nice opportunity to look at Abby’s first report card and to talk about areas where she was doing well and where she could use improvement.

Ms. Tami wins the prize for attendance. She was able to meet with 100% of the parents of her classroom. Miss Springer had 60% parental attendance, which is good. All in all, it went well and the teachers enjoyed getting to meet and talk to the parents of the students.

Later that day, Abby & I had a special afternoon! I took her into town and we ate at Pizza Hut. We redeemed her “Book It” coupon for a free personal pan pizza. Abby earned the certificate by reading. Abby and Kelcy and Jerry and I all read seven books to reach the goal for her Kindergarten class to get her certificate. She ordered a cheese pizza. We sat in the restaurant and she ate her “special pizza” as she called it. I believe that is the third time that we have sat in a restaurant to eat since we have been in Arizona. Abby really had a good time and so did I. While we waited for the pizza, we colored on the place mats. After she was finished eating, we went on to get her hair cut. We waited an hour and a half for the hair cut! I was ready to give up, but she was determined to get her hair cut that day, so we waited. It turned out very cute!

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

We had twenty people in attendance at the Sunday morning service today. Mr. Bill was preaching again and that was nice. Daron did a wonderful job preaching while Mr. Bill was gone! Thank you, Daron, for being willing to step in where you were needed! Miss Springer was at First Christian Church in Winslow, Arizona speaking for the mission and the school. I know that she did a great job.

Sunday night, we all loaded up in the van and drove to Dilkon for the pot luck. Well, not all of us. Miss Springer drove from Winslow by herself. Danny Roberts provided the devotional for the night and then we ate! Mr. Bill had prepared Turkey and gravy! We all provided the rest and it was quite a feast! We had twenty people at the pot-luck at Dilkon. I got the chance to talk to some of the Navajo ladies that attend at Dilkon. It was nice to get to know them a little better and to share a meal with them.

Next week: Some of the classes get another field trip!

2008-11-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

Oct 26 through Oct 31

The school registered two new students recently, one in the fifth grade and one in the seventh grade. Unfortunately, the seventh grader was a transfer student, but has not returned to school since the first day. We are praying for the child, but have now heard that the student will be registering at yet another school. The total students at this point are 23, including Kelcy & Noah in preschool.

Thursday

Today, we went as a school to the Winslow first station and visited. The trip to the fire station was so great! We got to meet two fireman, who showed us some of the tools that firefighters use to combat fires. We saw an ax, a hammer and a hook. Dylan got to demonstrate the "Stop, Drop and Roll" technique. They also informed us about fire safety and the proper installation of smoke detectors. After their demonstration, one of the firefighters put on his jacket, neckguard, helmet, oxygen tank and mask and all his fire protectant clothing. I thought that this was a brilliant idea. Afterward, he went around and shook hands with the kids. It was quite an intimidating sight. The firefighters want to make sure that kids will recognize them in an emergency and not hide from them. Abby and Kelcy reacted strongly to seeing the firefighter with his uniform. I think the picture of the firefighter in uniform brought back the memory of the past. Our neighbor in Kentucky had their house burn in November of 2006. Abby and Kelcy were right across the street with their babysitter Lindsey and they witnessed most of the scene. The neighbors called the emergency department from our house and they saw the firefighters and the fire truck and everything. Abby has talked about what happened for a long time. They witnessed the devastation of the fire and Abby will remember that forever. It is coming up on the second anniversary of the fire. Beth Ann and Wayne, if you are reading this, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family! We love you and miss you all!

The school kids got to try on the fire fighter's jacket and even the oxygen tank and hat. One of the kids in Jerry's class got to try on the uniform and I really think she could see herself in the job of firefighter. We all also got to hold the fire hose and shoot some water! Even Kelcy and Noah got to hold the hose and spray some water. The kids also managed to get very wet in the process. Thank you, Winslow Fire Department, it was enjoyable and educational!

After the fire station, we went to a local playground and ate our lunch, then played for a half an hour. It was a nice change of pace for everyone. On the way back to school on the bus, the kids sang songs and had a good time.

Friday night (WARNING: Sensitive Health Information)

Kelcy woke up about 1AM vomiting. She has been sick with the stomach virus since then (it is Tuesday). Same night at 3AM Abby woke up vomiting. Abby woke up Kelcy and she had to vomit again, so, we had one in each bathroom! Abby was fine the next morning.

Saturday night

Jerry & I made Navajo tacos tonight. I mixed and rolled out the fry bread and Jerry fried them in the iron skillet. Then, Jerry made the ground beef with onions and taco seasoning and the beans. We chopped up lettuce and tomato. Then we added cheese and sour cream and had a feast. I confess that I cannot make the fry bread like the Navajo ladies. I do not have the ability to pull it out flat enough to fry it, without getting holes in it. So, I cheated and used my rolling pin and it seemed to work fine to roll it out.

Sunday

Sunday service at Red Sands was not so well attended as usual. Daron brought a great message about the Superheroes of the Bible and how we can all be Superheroes if we trust God. It was pot luck Sunday and some of the members had prepared lots of food to help feed the multitudes we were hoping for. So, we had lots of leftovers!

The Roberts left to go to Phoenix right after service. They were picking up two men who have come here to help finish the staff house under construction. Please pray for the safety of the workers and for success in their efforts

Next week: Kelcy turns 3! Mr Bill Returns!

Coyote waiting...

2008-10-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

October 13, 2008

Monday- The school celebrates Columbus Day, so school was out today. Our family spent the day bonding and playing. We spent a lot of time playing games with the girls and teasing each other. It was a very nice day. Tonight, the Roberts and Miss Springer came over and we watched Monday night football. Miss Springer always says it, but it is funny to watch. The kids all think it is so exciting to see their teacher outside of the classroom. Miss Springer teaches Abby, Ian & Dylan, so they were all very excited to have her there. I enjoyed getting to know her better as well. It isn't easy with our conflicting jobs and time schedules to get together and just talk about general things. It was nice.

Tuesday

Jerry killed another rattlesnake today. The kids went down after lunch to the playground. When any child has to sit out of recess for some time, they have to sit on the picnic table. Well, this day there was five boys sitting on the table, when Jerry notices the snake, right underneath the table. The snake was all sprawled out, not coiled up. It didn't seem to even notice that it was surrounded. Jerry softly instructed everyone to back away and then dealt with the imminent threat.

Wednesday

We got another new student! The child enrolled this morning, just in time for the Navajo lessons in the morning. This time, the teacher gave us sheets to study the Navajo language. I am working on it! It seems much more complicated than Latin and Russian that I have studied in the past.

Thursday

I went to the library this evening and picked up some books by the author Hillerman. He writes mystery novels, a lot of them based on the Navajo reservation. I have heard that his depiction is very accurate. The girls are in bed asleep. It is about 10 o'clock at night and I hear one of the girls crying out. I rush back to their room, thinking they must be having a nightmare. They are both sound asleep and the sound continues. I then realize what the scream really is. Coyotes. They are right outside our back door, it sound like at least three of them. I wonder if they are killing the rabbits that I see playing out there sometimes. When I turn on the porch light on the back of the trailer, I can't seem them. And, they don't stop bawling. Jerry and I hear them a couple of more times that night. It is a scary sound to hear, right outside your window where your children sometimes play.

Sunday

Today, Daron & Tami & Noah are driving to the Dilkon Christian Church and Daron is preaching the lesson at 9AM. Then, they turn around and drive back here so that Daron can preach the message at Red Sands Christian Church at 11AM. Dilkon Christian Church is around 50 miles away, so their traveling starts at 7:30 AM. Dylan and Ian are staying with us while their parents travel to Dilkon. The kids play well together this morning. Abby and Dylan walked up the hill to the church arm in arm, stopping every now and then to pick flowers. Unfortunately, the flowers are on cactus and Kelcy gets stuck by the cactus trying to pick flowers, too. However, she did pick her own splinters out of her hand today.

We had 30 people in the church service today here at Red Sands. I had lots of kids in my class. It was really great. We are averaging 28 people at the church services here in October.

I received some packages from my Ladies Bible Study group back home! Thank you all for your gifts! We have all enjoyed them and we all appreciate your thinking of us!

Next Week--Another new student for the school!

Rattlesnake, Tumbleweed, Dust Storm.

2008-10-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday October 7th, 2008

This was a busy week! We had school every day as usual. I was busy getting things prepared for the board meeting. On Tuesday, we took school pictures and class pictures. For those of you who are familiar with the campus, we took the school pictures outside, by fence on the horse corral. It was a beautiful, cloudless day. Jerry took the pictures with our film camera and Miss Dawn took pictures with the digital camera, just in case. We took individual shots, then all of the kids in one family, then the individual classes and their teachers, then the staff all together. I hope to post some of these soon. We also had music with the Sprinkles on that day AND library with Ms. Anne. It was a busy day for the kids. The kids all got very rambunctious when their routine was messed up like that. It was a rough, loud ride home of the school bus that day.

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Roberts parents and his middle brother arrived for a surprise visit. And I do mean surprise! No one knew they were coming. They arrived at about 2:30PM, when the guys were outside teaching P.E. They are a lovely and loving family. I must confess, I was glad for Daron, but seeing his family here, also made me more home sick. I wished that my family and Jerry’s family might be the ones visiting here some day. Wednesday evening, Mr. Rich and Mr. Mark from Miamisburg Christian Church in Ohio arrived to visit with the school children prior to the board meeting. We had been expecting them. They were both very kind and I enjoyed getting to know them. They stayed at the church building in the Sunday school room with the couch. They both have an obvious love for Red Sands and the Navajo people.

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

This morning, I ran into town to the bank and the post office. While driving from the mission to the interstate, I saw my first TUMBLEWEED. I don’t know why I was so excited (and still am excited) to see tumbleweed. Maybe it is because I love western movies and I have seen many scenes where the tumbleweed rolled across the dirt road and it was exciting to see one in person. It was initially a small one. The tumbleweed was a little piece of brush that had dried up, turned white and been broken free from its fragile hold in the sandy soil by the wind. It rolled right across the road, just like in the movies. I have since seen several more tumbleweeds cross the road. Some are green, some are brown and some are white.

After lunch, the school children have P.E. One of the kids came inside the school and said there was a snake. Jerry, thinking it was a joke, went outside to check. Sure enough, there was a rattlesnake just outside the school door. It was curled up under a rock, so I don’t think it was being aggressive at the time, but Jerry got to kill his first rattlesnake that day. All the men who were on the premises at the time, Daron, Rich, Mark, Daron’s Dad and brother were there to witness the killing. Jerry said it was probably an unfair battle, having seven men again one little rattlesnake, but the snake needed to be disposed of and Jerry was the man to do it.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

At 3AM, I am awakened from sleep by the sound of the wind. The wind hits the trailer and I can hear the roof roll and something that is loose on the outside slams open and shut. I can never quite see what it making the noise when I look outside. A wind/dust storm at night is not unusual, so I prepare to wait it out. An hour later, Abby and Kelcy are awakened by the ferocity of the storm. I send Abby to our bed with Jerry and I take Kelcy back to her room and lie down with her, again figuring to wait out the storm and hoping to return to sleep. Unfortunately, it is hope that does not play out. The storm continues. I take Kelcy back to our room, hoping she will sleep in there. She keeps asking “What is trying to get in here?” and “Why is our house shaking?” Then she starte telling me there are bugs in my hair? I am not sure about that one, but I assume it is a manifestation of her fear of the storm. By now, we can feel and see the wind shaking and moving the house. Abby keeps saying, “I’m not afraid anymore”, probably trying to convince both me and Jerry and herself that it was true. I must confess, I was getting a little nervous. I know that this trailer has stood for 30 years, but I wonder if the roof is capable of withstanding the battering it is taking. Time moves on: 5AM, 6AM, 7AM. By this time, Kelcy and I are in the living room. I was hoping the wind would not be so loud out here and I began making dessert for the board meeting today. Abby finally goes back to sleep about 7AM. Kelcy never goes back to sleep. When it is light outside, I can see the dust. It is like fog, only not just close to the ground. It swallows up the landscape and envelopes everything around us. It insidiously makes its way inside our house through any opening. At the windows, the front door, an electric outlet, sand piles up in our house. The wind is blowing from 30-40 miles per hour, with reported gusts up to 70 miles per hour. We have to leave the house to go to the board meeting. We have to plan to load up the car. We look like Western bandits, with handkerchiefs over our mouths and noses and our sunglasses on to keep the sand out of our mouths and nose and eyes. We wait for a brief break in the sandblasting force of the wind and make a break for the truck. The wind makes it difficult to get the door to the house shut, as it is blowing directly into the door. We wrap the girls’ heads in towels to protect them and carry them out to the truck. When we get to the church up the hill, the process is repeated. The storm lasted for roughly fifteen hours, from 3AM to 6PM that day. The end result is that the roof on the new staff house and the old school building has been destroyed beyond repair, there is insulation from the house all over our fence and yard. The ground no longer has that soft layer of sand, it was all blown away. What remains is the small rocks on top of the bedrock. I am told that the length and intensity of this storm is unusual, even here. I sincerely hope that is true!

The board meeting went well. Both the board members and the staff met from 9AM till Noon and then we had lunch. Afterward, Keith came down to the trailer and we got to talk to him about everything going on at home and how we were all doing here. It was nice to get a chance to see and talk to him. We did miss Ms. Aleta. I know that she wasn’t able to attend the meeting this time and I just want her to know how much she was missed. Ms. Aleta always brings life and sparkle to a room!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

I was wondering if the storm would affect attendance. It was down today, we only had 21. I did have four of my regular class members present, so that was nice. One of the Navajo ladies, Miss Sonja, led the singing today for the first time, while Miss Anne played the piano. It brought a big smile to my face to see her up there leading us. We also got to sing “Jesus Love Me” in Navajo. That was really neat. Mr. Keith preached the sermon on Jonah and his experience. The message being it took being swallowed by a fish to get Jonah to be obedient, but “what’s it going to take to get your attention?” It was great! Afterward, we went out to eat at Denny’s with Mr. Keith and the Roberts family. It was nice to not be cooking and cleaning up for the meal. Abby and Kelcy were very well behaved, so it was an enjoyable meal all around. After lunch, we drove over to the Little Painted Desert that I described before. Abby called it a big slide. She was not even a little afraid to get near the edge and she wanted to slide down the smooth rock to the bottom. She was running around the edges of the canyon and making me terribly nervous. I think it looks like a large cemented skateboard park. It has natural ramps and curves like that. I did take some pictures of the LPD to share.

I've seen how the joy outweighs the pain...

2008-10-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

This week was a pretty normal week. We had the Indian Health Center come and checked the kids teeth and sealed them. I am not sure what this entails, but Abby is now super excited about brushing her teeth. Kelcy has picked up on this and they both brush their teeth morning and night now. Of course, the “brushing the teeth” emphasis in on bed time, when they are both trying to avoid going to sleep. They have to brush their teeth again. I am really excited about this because the water here is well water and it does not contain fluoride. At home, we mostly drank distilled water, but the kids were also exposed to fluoride in their bath tub and shower water and I would fix them water from the sink occasionally, to keep some fluoride on their teeth. Abby, along with her whole class, brushes her teeth at school. That is really great!

The Red Sands Christian School sent out report cards on September 30th. Some were really good, others needed some improvement. The school uses a system with three periods of six weeks, instead of 2 periods of nine weeks. Some of the kids confessed that they were worried what their parents would say when their parents saw their report card. However, progress is being made with all of the students. You may wonder about Abby? Kindergarteners do not get a report card the first six weeks, so we don’t have anything to report yet. Although, Miss Dawn says that Abby can read several words, like “pot” and “cat”. Very exciting stuff!

Mr. Mark came to visit on Friday, October 3rd. He was on his way to a business meeting in Las Vegas, so he said he wanted to stop by since he was in the neighborhood. He arrived here at Red Sands on Friday evening, about 9:30PM Arizona time (that is after midnight Eastern Daylight Time). We were all so happy to see him. Abby & Kelcy has been anxiously awaiting his arrival. Abby even agreed to take a bath that night so she would smell good when Mark got here. Mark brought a drawing from Alex and Jason for the girls to have. We have it posted on the refrigerator here. Abby & Kelcy both wanted to send something back, so they drew some pictures to send back with Mr. Mark. On Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast and it was pretty cold outside here. I don’t remember the temperature reading, but it was colder than it had been here in the morning. And it rained almost the whole day on Saturday! Mark came to the desert and it was cold and rainy all day! I don’t know if he was laughing or disappointed. Mark had rented a sweet ride for his trip here from the Phoenix airport. The girls and I loaded up in our pick-up and Mark & Jerry road in the rental car and we headed into “town”. We drove downtown to get some building supplies for the staff house under construction. We drove right by “the corner” from the Eagles song, “Standin’ on the corner in Winslow, AZ such a fine sight to see.” Mark & Jerry turned around and headed back that way. I thought maybe Mark wanted a picture of the “corner”, but they said there was a car show back there and they drove through it. The hardware store is right across from the Post Office, so the girls and I crossed the street to check the mail. By the time we made it back to the hardware store, the boys were there. We picked up the supplies and then Mark & Jerry drove on from Winslow to Dilkon to see Mr. Bill’s church.

Mark & Jerry drove up highway 87, headed toward the Dilkon turn off. The road toward Dilkon begins with what I call “scrub”. It is miles and miles of sandy soil with short bushes and rocks. It appears relatively flat and the road is certainly straight. Soon, you begin to see the Buttes (no pun intended) at Dilkon. They appear like giant, rounded rock formations in the distance. Jerry stopped at “The Little Painted Desert” on the Navajo reservation. The LPD (for short) is just a barely marked turn off on the road. There is a rusty, difficult to read historical marker. You drive up a little dirt (read sandy) road up a little bit of a hill, and then you get to the top. AWESOME! You are looking down on the LPD, which consists of a canyon with mounds of rock formations that have been “painted” by the hand of God beautifully. They are gently rolling rock formations that are orange and black and yellow in color. When I say you are looking down, you are looking DOWN. You stand on the edge of a precipice, with a radical vertical drop below it. It is so much like all the land around here. You are driving along looking at what is straight and boring and just off the road “surprise!” Some of the most beautiful country is hidden so much that you would not even know it was there and certainly not expect it to look like the LPD. We have since been to the LPD as a family, which is how I can describe it.

Mark and Jerry then continued on to Dilkon to see the church and Mr. Bills hooghan, then back to Leupp. They stopped at the flea market and saw one of the kids from school and their parents. They spent a little time walking around the market and then bought some Navajo tacos for their lunch. They returned back to the trailer, where it was raining. It was a drizzly, fall rain that soaked into the ground and made it harden back up. When we got here in August, the ground was hard and rocky. After the kids returned and the buses were driving up and down the road and the kids were playing on the playground, the soil softened up and became more like Sand than rock. After this rain, the ground hardened back up a little.

Mark stayed for church on Sunday, Oct 5th. He rode with Jerry on the bus run to Tolani Lake to pick up the Navajo church-goers from that area. After making the trip, Jerry said that Mark asked if he ever got scared when he was driving the church bus out to the reservation alone. Jerry replied that he had not, at least not since the first trip he made out there by himself. Jerry figures that God can protect him. It was another great day at the Red Sands Christian Church. We had 34 people in attendance at the church service, and I counted at least six regular attendees that we were missing. I taught my Sunday School class and I had ELEVEN kids, ranging from second grade through eighth grade. It was very (what’s the word?) hectic, maybe. Some of the kids were a little rowdy and laughing, but it was exciting to see them all there. All of the new people at church were from different families and it was exciting to meet them. Jerry asked Mark to do the communion mediation and he did a great job! After the service, we had the monthly scheduled potluck.

We were a little panicked that we might not have enough food for everyone, because the new people didn’t know it was pot-luck Sunday. But again, the Lord provided. The Lord was at work, because Miss Dawn’s Sunday school lesson was about the feeding of the five thousand! She was a little concerned because we had one meatloaf, one crock pot of sloppy joe, one casserole dish of corn pudding and a single dessert. To our other offerings, the Roberts added hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodle soup. In the end, everyone was fed and again we had leftovers. Thank you, Lord! Mark left and we were sad to see him go. We love you, man! And, it was very nice to see a familiar face.

Next entry is titled Rattlesnake, Tumbleweed, Dust Storm... Very Exciting!

Great is thy reward!

2008-10-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is October already! These last two months have flown by! The school kids are doing great! We have a total of twenty kids from Kindergarten through eighth grade now. I am getting to know them a lot better now. I had the opportunity to give the Chapel lesson this week. My verse focus was Jeremiah 29:11. God led me to focus on this verse to help the children see how important they each are to God. And they He has plans for their future!

I thought this would be a good time to show a little about the school schedule, so listed below is a typical week at school:

Monday

8AM School Opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church (kids walk from the school to the church)
12-12:30 Playground
12:30 Music with the Sprinkles
3PM Bus departs for home

Tuesday

8AM School Opening program at Church
8:15AM Chapel
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM Story hour and Library book check-out
3PM Bus departs for home

Wednesday

8AM School Opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM P.E.
3PM Bus departs for home

Thursday

8AM School opening program
11:30AM Lunch at Church
12-12:30 Playground
2:15PM Music with Miss Springer
3PM Bus departs for home

Friday is a duplicate of Wednesday

I cannot remember if I have mentioned about the Sprinkles. They are a husband and wife team who travel around and teach music to the kids on the reservation. They live on the Apache reservation currently. They bring with them keyboards, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, drums and sometimes other instruments. They teach the kids to read music and how to play the instruments. At the end of the lesson time, the children get to practice and play music on whichever instruments they choose. The Sprinkles do a great job relating to the children. They are good at keeping them focused and disciplined. The school kids all LOVE this time. All of the kids seem to be very musically inclined. I believe music class is their favorite extracurricular activity. The Sprinkles do a great job and we all really appreciate their dedication and initiative!

Miss Anne does the story hour and library time. She also does a wonderful job. She organizes the library and records the books that are checked out. She insures that books are returned. She also gives the chapel lesson. She is an inspiration of service and dedication. Miss Anne also plans the music and plays the piano at the church service on Sunday mornings. Thank you Miss Anne!

Mr. Jim is also dedicated in service and love. He works at the mission almost every day somewhere. He is currently working on the new staff house during the day. He serves communion and takes up offering most Sundays. He just generally does an awesome job and is also an inspiration in the area of service. Thank you Mr. Jim!

Mr. Bill is also an inspiration in service. He does so many things, I am afraid that I will forget something. He is currently traveling in the Northwest and promoting missions to Christian congregations all over Oregon and Washington and Montana and places in Northern California. While here he ran the school bus route to the reservation some mornings, especially until Jerry was familiar enough to do it by himself. He also made sure the van was serviced and full of gasoline when needed. He is the preacher at Dilkon Christian Church on the Navajo reservation, about 50 miles from here. So, he preaches there on Sunday morning at 9AM, Sunday evening at 6PM and Wednesday evening at 6PM. While serving the congregation there and maintaining their property, he also drove 50 miles over to Red Sands each day since I have been here. He would obtain the construction materials for the new house and the trailer. He also helped in the construction work. He would babysit the children when needed. He mopped the floors in the church, taught P.E. twice a week and preached at the Red Sands Christian Church on Sunday mornings (after having already preached at Dilkon). And, I am quite sure I am leaving things out. He does an amazing job. Thank you Mr. Bill! We miss you and pray for your safe travel!

Miss Dawn Springer is another amazing person here. She has been ministering here for fifteen years. She currently teaches the Kindergarten through Second grade AND functions as the School Principal. She does an amazing job. She submits monthly reports to the board. She teaches her class of 10 students five days a week. She provides the students with snacks and drinks and inspiration. She also performs her public ministry for the "Least of these", providing meals, clothing and emotional support for homeless people here in Winslow, Arizona. Miss Springer also alternates teaching the preschool through first grade Sunday School class and the Service time Wee Worship at Red Sands Church on Sunday. I am sure that I will forget lots of things that Miss Springer does. She is a bundle of energy and efficiency. The children all love her and so do adults! Thank you Miss Springer!

I apologize if the following thank yous are not as specific, but I do not observe all of these people in their jobs, as I have the others.

Ms. Tami is also a bundle of efficiency and love. She teaches the third and fourth grade class at the school. She works had to show them love and have them love and respect one another. She also motivates her kids and provides them with occassional snacks. She teachs the chapel lesson and, on Sunday, she alternates teaching the preschool-first grade Sunday School class or the Wee Worship during the Sunday Service with Miss Dawn. All this, and she cares for her husband and three children after hours, providing food and love.

Mr. Daron teaches the fifth and sixth grades at the school. He does a great job and is being motivational for the children. He is good at relating to them and sharing fun time and serious work time with them. While Mr. Bill is gone, he is helping to teach the P.E. classes. Mr. Daron also does maintenance around the church and generally does what needs to be done. He is also working on the new staff house in his spare time. He is also preaching at Red Sands Christian Church while Mr. Bill is absent.

Mr. Jerry teaches the seventh and eighth grades. He drives the school bus each morning to pick up the kids on the reservation and returns them home each evening. He works individually with the children in his class to makes sure that they stay on task and learn as much as possible. The curriculum is tough and the kids are doing great! He also spends a lot of time outside of class preparing his Lesson plans and reading through the material so that he knows it well enough to teach it. He is also teaching P.E. while Mr. Bill is gone. Jerry is also teaching the Adult Sunday School class at Red Sands Christian Church on Sundays and driving the church bus route to pick up the church-goers.

In addition to their regular duties, the teachers also are responsible for one of the following each week. They alternate weeks:

1. Cleaning and mopping the school and the bathrooms when the kids are not there.
2. Leading the morning opening program
3. Leading prayer at lunch time and cleaning up the lunchroom after lunch each day.
4. Playground duty-observing the children after lunch while they play on the playground.

I hope that you all have enjoyed this entry. I wanted to let you know about all the people serving here and what a great job they are all doing! Continue to pray for all of us and I will get back to my regular personal post next week.

On Saturday, October 11th, we will welcome the NTM board members for their semi annual board meeting.

Why we do what we do...

2008-09-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are a child of any nationality. At age six, you are the youngest of six brothers and sisters. You and your family live in a small home with no running water and no electricity. Therefore, you go to bed when the sun goes down. What else would there be to do? You have to have your homework done before the sun goes down because there is not enough light from the oil lamp to see. You go outside to use the restroom, alone in the dark. No porch light provides light nor do you have toilet to flush. You wake up when the sun does. For breakfast, you eat whatever food can be prepared without using electricity. A breakfast bar or snack cake or fruit. You have to be driven half an hour to catch the school bus. One parent works to support your family and the other is "away." They are both rarely at home with you.

After school, you stay with an "auntie" or "uncle" or "grandparent" that will provide food and shelter for you. You get off the school bus one day at one house, the next day somewhere else. Often times you are dropped off at a different house each day of the week. It is scary to leave school and not be sure where you will end up. No one is home where you were told to go and the doors and windows are locked. Your parent is at work and cannot receive calls there. You are scared-home is far away and even if you were there, no one is home to be with you until well after night fall. You have homework to do and need food and shelter. The bus driver drops you at a friend's house until your parents can pick you up. They weren't expecting you. Will they have enough food for their children and you? You won't return to your own bed until after midnight when your parent can take you there.

How important would it be for you (as this child) to have a safe, constant, caring environment to visit and feel secure? How important would it be for you (at this child) to know that God loves you, that you are important to him and that He has a plan for your life?

That's how important the work at the Red Sands Christian School and church is to all the Navajo children here. And how important this type of work is in all the missions like ours around the world. This story could be common here on the Navajo reservation, in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky or in areas of South America, Africa, and all around the world. Pray for the families and children and workers all around the world. Pray that more children will find their way here and to places like this. And remember how blessed you and your family are daily.

"I know the plans I have for you..."

2008-09-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 22, 2008

We got a new student today! The Mom called here and wanted to know if we offered the eighth grade this year. I confirmed that we do indeed! She came by an hour later and enrolled her child. Jerry had been expecting God to send more students and he received another one today! It is so exciting! This student was just moving back to the area, had attended school at Red Sands previously and God sent her here again! It is so encouraging.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I heard from Mr. Bill today. He is doing well and thus far all is going well with his trip to the Northwest. He is speaking at various churches. Generally, the churches provide his housing for the evening and he said this arrangement had serves him well. I won't include too much of his information because I am sure he will let everyone know the details.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The students are all so excited! Today, we are hosting "The Lost Dogs", a musical group at the school. The group has been traveling along Route 66, beginning in Chicago, IL and performing concerts. They offered to come here and do a free concert for the children and we agreed! The children really enjoyed the concert. Abby looked like a 1950s surfer queen. She sat with a deadpan serious look on her face and body stock still in her seat, save for her hands. Using both of her hands she was snapping to the beat of the music. It was very amusing. Most of the children were afraid to move and sat very still during the performance. At one point, Jerry walked around and got everyone to stand up and clap. However, as soon as the music stopped, we all sat back down. Afterward, the group gave out pictures and autographs to the kids. "The Lost Dogs" also allowed the children to play the musical instruments with which they had performed. The kids REALLY enjoyed this and had a great time. It was hard to get them to leave to go home on the bus on that day.

Thursday evening we drove into Winslow as a family and had dinner. It was our first family meal eaten out together since we had gotten here. We first went to the public library. Jerry had checked out "Where the Red Fern Grows" to show his class and it had to be returned today. We also returned some books and checked out some more books. There was a group there doing a craft and Abby and Kelcy got to make bead necklaces, too. The people at the library have been very nice. Then went to the restaurant and had some nice Chinese food. The girls loved the egg drop soup (except Jerry and I had to pick out the celery). Abby & Kelcy also got a package at the post office today. Miss Joyce sent the girls some books to read. Thank you Joyce! We got home and promptly read all of the books you sent, plus the ones we borrowed from the library. It was a lovely evening.

This was Jerry's week to monitor the playground after lunch. All week he gets to spend half an hour with the kids. He pushes them on the swings and generally has fun.

While you in London, Kentucky were having the World Famous Chicken Festival, we also had a Festival in Winslow. The "Standing on the Corner" music festival was Friday and Saturday this weekend. We were told there was music and food there but, alas, we did not attend. It was geared toward a more adult audience than our two and four year old.

Saturday Abby got the change out her earrings for the first time. I can't believe it has been six weeks since she had her ears pierced. She had been counting down the weeks and now she exchanged her pink flower earrings for a pair of pink stoned stud earrings that Tammy sent for her, which she calls her diamonds. She was very excited and promptly asked for a jewelry box to contain her "jewels." Kelcy is very interested in Abby's ears and sees that it is a big thing to Abby, but has never even mentioned wanting to have it done herself. I guess that is a product of her witnessing the process when Abby had it done.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Jerry did the usual bus run to Tolani Lake and back, but this time he came with an extra child! And the child was in my Sunday School class! It was so exciting! I am enjoying teaching the class. Jerry taught his Sunday School lesson on "Prepare for Rain". Mr. Roberts continued his sermon series on Super Heroes of the Bible. This one was about Abel and Enoch. I am really enjoying the series. The attendance was twenty-eight people for church here. We again had some new faces in church.

Dilkon Christian Church, where Mr. Bill preaches, has had a fall in attendance since he has been gone. A member of the board of directors of Navajo Trails Mission has been there both Sundays to preach. We hope to be encouraged next week by some new faces there. I am afraid people see that there is no car at Bill's Hooghan and assume that means no church service.

Next week... The school kids meet the dentist and we get a visitor from "home".

Now, that's something you don't see everyday...

2008-09-23T09:06:00.001-07:00

Greetings! We are here in the desert, continuing to work and receive the Lord's love.

Monday, September 15, 1008

We celebrated two birthdays today! Noah turned two and Mr. Roberts turned a number that is monumental, but cannot be mentioned here because of my discretion (30). We laughed, we celebrated, we ate cake. It was very nice. We also got to see the Dallas Cowboys win on Monday night football! Very exciting. How 'bout them Cowboys? But enough of that.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

We had a student withdraw from our school today. It was quite heart-wrenching. It was so sad to see him go. He rode the bus to the reservation and was always well-behaved when I saw him. I just hate that he withdrew to attend a different school, because I know that he is going to miss out on so much! He is going to miss out on the great educational material and the caring of the teachers. I can't imagine his receiving that kind of love at the reservation boarding school. The child has lost a great opportunity by leaving. Mr. Bill and Miss Dawn asked him to think it over and at the end of the day, he still left. We will miss him! It is just very disappointing to lose a student, any student.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mr. Bill left today for the Northwest to teach about missions and the importance of supporting missions in the world. He also is presenting information about the Navajo Trails Mission, its history and current situation. His leaving has left an empty place here. I began to miss him about an hour after he left. He is such an active part of the School planning and the Mission here that it is strange for him to be away. We are all praying for him. I don't know if he has mentioned this, but Bill also got a new granddaughter last week. Congratulations Mr. Bill! And Roy and Monica, of course!

I did something for the first time today. Well, our whole family did. We went out after it was dark and watched the Moon rise. We went outside about 8:30PM and watched something that we could never see in the Kentucky mountains. We watched the full moon come up over the horizon. We could begin to see the sky lighten right where the moon was going to rise. The stars in that area began to dim. Then a little piece of the moon appeared over the horizon. It continued to rise until it was full and clear. That is certainly something you don't see every day... I asked Jerry if he loved it here and his response was that he is enjoying its beauty. The visibility of the stars is amazing on clear nights. I can literally see thousands of stars. We are going to use Jerry's star chart from his science book to identify some of the constellations. So far, we can only see Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the Big and Little Dipper). Right now, the star chart in Jerry's science book shows the night sky in the northern hemisphere at 11PM. We haven't been out THAT late yet to watch the stars.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sunday was a beautiful day! Jerry ran the bus to Tolani Lake. The girls and I rode up to the church in our truck. Jerry taught the Sunday school lesson about being "Wholehearted." Mr. Roberts started a sermon series about "Super Heroes of the Bible". We had an attendance of 23 people at the church service, and we had several out sick with a stomach virus. We had some visitors that I had not met before, which was really nice!

Abby, I might mention, missed the whole event of the moon rising. She is afraid of the snakes in the dark outside and wouldn't come off of the porch. She wouldn't even let me hold her and stand in the yard. I have to admit she gets that fear honestly. I am always warning her to pay attention at dusk and watch out for snakes when we are outside. Abby is doing well in the school. She is learning a lot and behaving well for a Kindergartner. She doesn't eat much of her lunch most days, but I know that they have snacks in the classroom, so I don't worry too much. She is a little upset about being smaller that everyone and younger. She asks when she will begin to lose her baby teeth like her friends. And she asks when we are going back to Kentucky. She still misses Eva and Margo and Ivy and Alex and Jason and all her friends. Just this morning, she told me "The house is different, huh?" I asked her what she meant and she said "It's different from our house in Kentucky." She is also picking up the speech patterns of the Navajo children, such as adding and interrogative "huh?" after every sentence. For instance, Abby will say "I'm coloring with red, huh?" Or "That was fun, huh?" It is very cute. She is excited to visit "home" at Christmas. She wants to spend the night with Eva and visit her Nana.

Kelcy is doing fine. She does not mention home nearly so much as Abby. She just goes along with whatever we are doing. She does seem to be arguing a lot with Noah lately. She wants to be the "mommy" to him and keep him from getting hurt or doing something he shouldn't be (at least, that's the way she sees it). It is very frustrating for Noah to have her taking things away from him that she deems dangerous or, more probably, something she wants for herself. There has been a Navajo lady who came by three days last week to watch Noah and Kelcy. They really like her and were doing very well. It has been a great help to me. It was also very nice to get to know her. I am still learning about the culture and the people of the Navajo Nation. Being able to spend time with the Navajo people really helps me. Also, while I am riding the bus in the afternoons with Jerry, I get to know the kids a little better. I get to hear their conversations and ask them questions. It is nice to get some interaction.

My office is located at the Red Sands Christian Church and the kids classes are down at the Red Sands Christian School building, so I don't get a whole lot of chances to speak to the children. I do get to see them everyday at lunch, as all of the school kids walk up to the Church to eat their lunch. I also get to see them each morning at the opening program and on Tuesday mornings when we have chapel at the Church. I will get several opportunities to teach the Chapel lesson to the children throughout the year. I also get to lead the children in songs every third week during chapel. If anyone has suggestions for some rousing church songs, complete with hand motions, just email me or leave a comment with the suggestions.

A sneak peak for next week, Jerry's class gets another new student and the school is having a concert group perform!

Witnessing a miracle!

2008-09-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again! I was trying to get this published on Sunday evening, but I am late, but for a good reason. I am so happy to hear that people are monitoring our little blog. I also have a correction to make. It is actually bright outside during the full moon here. I guess I just had not been here long enough to know that yet.

Jerry isn't able to add much to the blog information, so I am going to update you on a few things about him. He told me this past week that he had never had a job that was so rewarding every single day. He said that he enjoyed working at SBS and that it was his most rewarding and enjoyable previous place of employment. However, here at Red Sands Christian School he has a rewarding experience every day. Every day he gets to see his class children learn and put things together AND (because of the Christian curriculum offered here) he gets to teach Science and History and all subjects from a Christian perspective. Even in the English curriculum capitalization and punctuation are taught using scripture. World history teaches about the Egyptians, along with the Hebrews and their history. He gets to see the children learn Bible verses and Bible history. He is also pleasantly surprised by some of their existing knowledge. The first six week grading period is up soon and he is excited to see how their grades will finish out.

This week and last week, Jerry and Daron spent most afternoon/evenings working on the Roberts house. The Mr. & Mrs. Roberts and their three children ages 7, 4 and 1 are still living in one of the Hogans here on the property. While it is comfortable enough to sleep, they have been here over a month and still have to go outside to take a shower at the shower house and to go to the restroom or get a snack. It is also getting cold here at night so we really need to speed up the completion of their home. They have been hanging insulation, dry wall and interior doors. The house has a way to go before it will be completed, so please pray for that! After completion of the Roberts house, the construction will begin on the second staff house, which is slotted for our family.

We also have a new staff member that is preparing to enter the mission field here at Red Sands! Please pray for her and her family as she builds support at her home church and prepares her children for the move. When she gets here, the plan is for her to live in the "Old School" building, which is now the current library. After completion of the second staff house, she would then move into the trailer.

On Thursday, September 11th, we all prayed during opening program for the survivors and the family that lost loved ones in the terrorist attack on 2001.

Friday morning, the school took park in a community activity. The local Indian Health Center sponsored a 4 direction walk for Diabetes. Our whole school participated. We started out headed on Leupp Road North at mile marker 69 and walked into the town of Leupp. Our group was the first group to arrive at the destination point. All walkers received bottled water and a piece of fruit. The walk was to raise community awareness about the prevalence of Diabetes among the Navajo population. I think that this was a great chance for our children to be a part of the community activities and that next year and maybe all of their lives they will be encouraged to join in on activities like this. Also, the community got to see our children walking and representing our school very well. They walked about 2 1/2 miles. The kindergarten class did very well to complete this exercise! We are all very proud, as should the children be and their parents!

On Saturday, the Diehls went to town. That's what we call it here. We all loaded up into the pick-up truck and drove into Winslow to do various tasks. Kelcy got a hair cut (this time from a hair stylist and not from Abby). We went to the Library and checked out some books. We did our weekly grocery shopping and looked at some used furniture stores in Winslow. This day, we also spotted a Navajo Taco stand. We had to whip the vehicle back around and park and get a taco. The Navajo Taco is the traditional fry bread, covered with beans and beef mixture, then lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese. Delicious!

On Sunday at Red Sands Christian Church Jerry started teaching Sunday school. He is teaching the "Facing the Giants" small group Bible study series to the adults here. The total attendance here was 28 on Sunday morning. This Sunday was the monthly pot-luck at Dilkon, so we all loaded up and drove over to Dilkon to enjoy the service and take part in the fellowship meal. The Roberts also went as a family. While we were in the building, it just kept filling up. We ended up with 31 adults and children in attendance at Dilkon church that Sunday evening service. We heard a wonderful lesson from Mr. Bill about serving the Lord in your mission field at home and in places like Red Sands. How we should always be about "The King's business." Excellent!

This is the miracle. I promise you I am not exaggerating, but we fed all 31 people with Mr. Bill's roast, one bowl of salad, one bowl of fry bread and one 9 x 13 cake for dessert. AND I saw at least two plates go home with one of the Navajo ladies. It certainly wasn't five thousand people like in the Bible, but I was still amazed and then there were some leftovers for the people to take home. God is so good!

Where he leads me, I will follow...

2008-09-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 31st,
Jerry began the bus route that runs out to Tolani Lake. He left our house at 8:15AM and headed out to the furthest stop, where a grandmother and her granddaughter and grandson awaited his arrival. These were the only passengers on the bus today. It was gratifying however, because they have no other way to get to church to worship and God is providing that through Jerry, who is driving, and the supporters of the mission who provided the van and the gas to make it go. While the van ministry seemed disappointing that morning, we had an attendance of 36 people at the Red Sands Christian Church that day. Of course, eleven of the people were the staff and our children. The other 25 people were Navajo adults and children and we were very encouraged to see them here. Jerry returned the passenger on the bus route and got home about 1PM. The rest of Sunday was a simple night. We ate supper here and played with the girls.

Monday, September 1st
Labor Day! We explained that today is a holiday and Abby asked, “Where is the holiday?” Of course, we would have been sharing it with family and friends back in Kentucky. It is truly the first time I have really been “home sick.” I was home sick for our friends and would have liked to have been with them. I called and talked to my cousin Tammy. She said that “everyone” was gathering at one of the church members house for Labor Day. I guess it just hit me that we were missing another gathering and that Abby and Kelcy were missing playing with their friends in Kentucky.

We did end up getting to “celebrate” Labor Day in the traditional way. We were invited up to the church building for a cookout with the Roberts. We drove up there about 5:30 or so. I made macaroni salad and the Roberts made hamburgers and baked beans and corn. The corn was a surprise. Daron had bought the corn on the cob at the flea market on Saturday. When they shucked the corn, it was Indian corn! It cooked fine tasted great. Jerry ate a piece that was dark purple. Abby and Kelcy both enjoyed it as well. After dinner, the kids played on the playground behind the church till it was dark. We all watched another beautiful Arizona sunset and then returned home to rest and prepare for another week. The sunsets here are truly spectacular. Looking directly west from our home, you can see the mountains around Flagstaff, Arizona, roughly 50 miles west of here.

Each night we watch the sun dip below the mountains and flood the sky with beautiful pinks, purples, yellows, blues and oranges. On some evenings, the color arrangement travels the entire 50 miles across the sky from Flagstaff and flows over our heads on to Winslow. The nights here are amazing as well. Without all of the ambient light that is abundant in Kentucky and most places, the stars just pop out. On a cloudless night I can see thousands of stars very clearly just looking up with my eyes. Along with the beautiful sky at sunset, it is dark at night, even on a full moon. I don’t mean a little dark; I mean very inky dark, like not seeing your hand in front of your face, dark. When I am using a flashlight to walk at night, the only area I can see is the area directly in front of the beam of light. It can be very disconcerting to have no peripheral vision when I am frightened of running into a rattlesnake. I frequently think of what it must have been like for the settlers, travelers and cowboys who traveled these areas by wagon and on horseback. I just can not fathom being alone on horseback in this country, with just a fire for company. Nor can I imagine traveling by wagon over the sand dunes, rocks and buttes. How did they survive? I guess the promise of a new life was enough to keep them going. Is it enough for us?

Thursday, September 4th
Today, we had five more kids enroll in school! I am so excited! Jerry has said all along that he knew he would get more kids in his class and today he got one more, an eighth grader. Jerry believes that God will send more children to our school and so do I. The mother of the five children came by to enroll them. She was very nice and very organized. She had all of their records in clear sleeves and folders. I believe the mom looked at me funny because I told her “We’re so excited that your kids are coming to our school!” Perhaps she thought I was a little over zealous. There is God again, working behind the scenes and filling up the space in the school.

One of the school children that enrolled was a fifth grader. However, this child did not know how to multiply numbers. Miss Springer estimates that the reservation schools are at least one year behind “public” or non-reservation school systems in their curriculum. That situation has been my first hint that the work here is important not just to spread the gospel of Christ, but also to teach the basics of education to these children. I just assumed that any school system would be the same in America and that all children, even the Navajo, are given equal access to education and higher learning. This situation reinforces what the creators of this school knew: the Navajo people need this school to teach their children about God and His son AND to provide them with the education that can make them powerful leaders and help them to be the best people in their communities that they can be. Whether that is being a physician or banker or a mother, being the best person they can be and applying Christian principles to their everyday lives. I feel our duty here is not to take the Navajo people off the reservation, but to help them be the best person that they can be, wherever they live. Okay. (Sally is stepping down from her soap box)

Saturday, September 6th
Today we drove into Flagstaff to do some shopping. There is a used furniture store there that I wanted to check out and I wanted to check out the Sam’s warehouse there. The used furniture store was very neat. It had a very eclectic collection of furniture, but nothing that we could buy today. It was neat to be on Route 66. I guess I haven’t mentioned it yet, but most people probably know. Route 66 runs through Winslow, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ. It is funny to see the antiquated neon road signs advertising diners and bowling alleys along Route 66. I imagine it looks somewhat like it did years ago, before Interstate 40 came along and altered the travelers route along Route 66.

At any rate, we discovered Sam’s Club and we were in luck! The store was giving away lots of free food samples. Between the free food booths and the Halloween aisle filled with candy and gory creatures, Abby and Kelcy were very entertained. I purchased lots of juice boxes and snacks to go in lunch boxes, along with stapes that we use a lot like Pancake mix and bottled water. We hurried home to watch the West Virginia football game. I guess “game” might be overstating it. It was not a pretty sight.

Sunday, September 7th
Today the church at Red Sands had its monthly pot luck dinner after the service. We were told to expect lots of attendees, but the numbers of people were down from last week. It was a little disappointing, but we all still ate and had a good time. Mr. Bill made his famous chicken and dumplings. Abby had at least four helpings of them. It was a good day. The whole family took a nap today after the potluck. There was a dust storm while we were napping. It was nice to be inside and safe. Now it is ten o’clock in the evening. I am typing this entry, while Jerry works on his lesson plans for the eighth grade. He is trying to figure out how to catch up the new student with the three weeks worth of material he has already covered. Now Jerry understands a little of Lindsey was talking about when she had to do ALL of those lesson plans during her teacher training. It seems to be a lot of work, but Jerry really seems to enjoy it.

The Lord has done His work and added five new students to our school. Please keep praying that He will continue to add others. We still have some room left!

This is the day that the Lord hath made!

2008-09-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

What a great day! Today is Saturday, August 30th. The whole family got up this morning and had breakfast. Then we and the Roberts family loaded up into the van and drove down to Leupp to visit the local open air Flea Market. Leupp is the town where most of the school children and most of the church attendees live. Leupp is located about 20 minutes from the mission on the Navajo Reservation. There is an empty spot in the rode as you enter the town of Leupp and people pull up with their vehicles and sell their wares to the public. We all thought it would be a good place to get to know some local people. We piled out of the van and perused the offerings of the day. There was a lady selling family heirloom jewelry, with real turquoise and sterling silver. Another lady was selling beautifully hand made purses, fanny packs and backpacks. We also found clothes and toys, of course. Abby ended up purchasing a baby stroller for $2, replacing the ones we had left in Kentucky. We got to become acquainted with several new Navajo people: the purse maker, the jewelry seller, and a champion bull rider (retired).

The flea market also has its share of food vendors. There was the tamales booth (that was sold out by the time we got there to sample them), the mutton stew and mutton sandwich booth, the ice cold drinks vendor complete with Arizona Tea for sale and the snow cone sales booth. Four of the kids got a snow cone and they all shared with Noah and they all sampled each others flavor. Abby & Ian got orange, Kelcy got bubble gum and Dylan got green (not sure what flavor that one was). We were told there was a trail ride going on, so the attendance at the flea market was low. We plan to make a habit of going out on Saturdays and getting to know the local people more.

We returned to the mission for lunch and a nap, then began our next journey of the day. We left at 2:50PM to head to a town called Dilkon. This is where the other mission church is located. Mr. Bill is the minister at the Christian Church at Dilkon, so we were going to visit Mr. Bill and have a cookout at his Hooghan. Hooghan is the term for a Navajo roundhouse. The roundhouse is a building style that is very common here and it is very wind resistant. It appears as it sounds, a small veritably round house with a center pointed roof. Navajo Trails Missions also maintains a ministry to build houses like these on the reservation for families. It is similar to Habitat for Humanity, as the Navajo people have to apply for the Hooghan and are also asked to help in the building project.

The drive to Dilkon is another surprise. The scenery is constantly changing here in Arizona. We left our area of Winslow and headed down to Leupp again, this time turning right to head toward Dilkon. The mission area here is very hard rock and red sand. As we passed through Bird Springs, the scenery changes to more pure desert. There is less foliage and more white sand. It is almost impossible to see where a road turns off the road until you get right to it because the roads are mostly sand and dirt. We look out the window soon and there are mountains! They appear from nowhere and are just beautiful. Jerry mentioned the word “majestic” and all I could hear and sing was the song “Majesty.” The mountains were truly majestic. And, the closer we got to Dilkon, the higher in elevation we went. So that, by the time we arrived in Dilkon there was grass on the desert ground, with horses and sheep and cattle lounging on the free range that is the reservation. The Dilkon church building was nice and they even had a fellowship hall in back. Mr. Bill’s hooghan was nicely appointed inside with everything he appeared to need. He had made a lovely meal of chicken and steak, potato salad and baked beans and rolls and brownies. It was delicious. Afterward, all the kids played outside and found lots of “treasures” on the ground. Here there were shrubs growing in the ground that had mean briars in them all over the place. This reminded me of my childhood in Eastern Kentucky and visiting my grandmother in Manchester. We would play out in the mountains and woods for hours and find lots of “treasures” there too. When it was getting close to dark, we began the drive back home. It was an even more beautiful return drive through the “Little Painted Desert.” This is a very beautiful spot in the world to see. It seemed to me like New Zealand, like the scenery from the movie “The Man from Snowy River” just beautiful plains surrounded by beautiful mountains and cliffs. I also thought of Cade’s Cove located near Gatlinburg in Tennessee. If you have ever been there, where the settlement has the yellow grasses on flat land, surrounded by the Smoky Mountains, it was a lot like that.

Then we returned home to the mission and Abby and Kelcy had a great time playing pretend. Abby was pushing around her “new” baby stroller with her naked baby in it. Some day, my girls will learn to put clothes on their baby dolls. At one point, Abby was watching Kelcy’s baby while Kelcy was at work. Here came Kelcy, carrying a Bible, a purse with a cat in it (the one Eva got Abby for her first birthday) and a DVD and asked me which way it was to church, because she needed to get to work. As I type, they are settled down and watching the “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” DVD.

Abby still asks about Kentucky and when we get to go back to our home. She misses her family and friends, but she is doing very well otherwise. She is making friends at school and at church. After her second week of school, her handwriting has improved dramatically. Kelcy is getting used to being with me at the office, but she loves going to Sunday school class by herself. She misses her friends too, but she has Noah with her all day, every day to play with and fight with, so she is adjusting too.

I am looking forward to Sunday school class tomorrow. I am teaching 2nd grade through high school and it is great. This will be my second week teaching, but I already get some challenging questions and I am just getting to know my class. I had five students last week. I am anxious to see who shows up this week.

Blessed be the day!

2008-09-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

School Starts!

Monday, August 18th
6AM Abby leaps into our bed and says, “Does school start today?” It does indeed! Jerry jumps up and gets dressed for the 6:45 AM school bus departure. I get up, get breakfast ready. For the first day of school, we have sausage and biscuits for breakfast. Abby loves these. Thank you, Nana, for the canned sausage that makes them so quick and easy to make for breakfast. Kelcy wakes up closer to 7AM. Jerry is already gone, of course. The first day of school Jerry was riding the bus with Mr. Bill and the bus was running down to a community call Bird Spring, along with the stops in Leupp.

I get all three of us girls dressed and fed. Then I pack us all lunch for the day and we walk over to school about 7:45AM. Abby & Kelcy play on the playground until Miss Springer arrives and then they run inside the school building. Bill, Kelcy and I stay there for the opening programs, where we say the pledges to the American flag, Christian flag and the Bible and sing a few songs. The Bill, Kelcy and I leave to go to the mission and Abby and Jerry stay there at the school. The school children walk up to the mission for lunch time around 11:30AM. Abby comes in and give me a hug and then goes to sit with her class. She has a hard time the first day at lunch and wants me or Jerry to sit with her while she eats. After lunch is recess for half an hour and then back to their classes. School gets out at 3PM, Jerry drives up the hill and let me know that Abby is riding with him on the school bus to take the kids home.

This pattern is pretty much how our week days are continuing. Up at 6AM, school by 8AM, I’m at the office by 8:30. Then, at 3PM, Jerry picks up me and Kelcy and we all ride on the bus to take the kids home. I have become the school bus children monitor/rule enforcer.

The school is doing really well. All the kids at the school are very respectful and very nice. Jerry likes teaching, especially science and history. Jerry is teaching sixth and seventh grade, so he has to teach all of the subjects, whereas teachers at this grade level normally teach the same subject to different classes of children all day long. He has had one field trip, walking around the mission property to observe the weathering process. He has an unassigned student, which is our dog Josie. She goes into his classroom some days and hangs out. She always comes up to the mission for lunch, too.

Abby is doing well in school. She is making friends with the Navajo girls in her class. She is learning a lot and comes home with probably 10 papers each day that she has completed, along with art projects and puppets. Abby’s class has two pets that I have seen. One is a hamster; the other is a guinea pig. The kids all love the pets, including Abby. I cannot remember the name of the hamster or guinea pig, but I am sure that Abby knows. She has gotten to hold one of them. Abby did indeed get her ears pierced and she didn’t even cry! She picked out pink flower earrings to wear. She is doing well at taking care of her ears and they have healed very well.

Kelcy is adapting to going to the mission with me. I think she would rather go to school, if the entire truth is told. She loves to go to Abby’s room in the mornings and see the class pets. At this time, the board is interviewing a lady who may begin a preschool program here at the mission! This is very exciting and would be a blessing to all of the Navajo children and to all of the Navajo mothers who work outside the home.

I began my job the same day as classes started. I have gotten a lot of work done and am making some changes. The bookkeeping has been done very meticulously in the past and I am certainly trying to follow that pattern. I am working on an estimated budget for the mission for the coming year. We are now officially hooked up to the internet at the Navajo Trails Mission. Mr. Bill acquired internet service for us and it is working very well.

Thursday August 28th

Jerry was preparing to go on the church bus route so that he could learn where to stop and learn the route. So, God sent him an idea. We all (10 of us) went on the bus routes! We piled into the church van and on Thursday, drove toward Winslow for the church bus route there. We stopped at the individual “stops” and handed out a flyer with the church information on it, a pen from Navajo Trails Mission, a coloring book, crayons, stickers, and candy for any children there. If the stop was at one of the school children’s house, their teacher would get out and go to the door to drop off the packet. Sometimes, we all got out and visited shortly.

Friday night, we drove the second bus route, which went to Tolani Lake on the Navajo Reservation. This route is 70 miles in one direction. At one point, we went down a dirt road for seven miles. It was very dusty and very hot (the van has no air conditioning). We didn’t get too many people to answer the door on this trip, but we left packets where we thought people would find them. We plan to make another visit to Tolani Lake and see if we cannot visit more people there. Tolani Lake is a small group of houses in the middle of the desert. It appears that there used to be a lake there, but now there is just a dry lake bed.

I will end this one for now, but I have another big update soon.

Sweet is the Work.

2008-08-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet is the work.

We made it! The trip to Navajo Trails Mission began at 4:30AM Saturday morning, August 9. Abby, Kelcy & I awakened bright and early, as did our friend Margaret who was taking us to the airport. After being dropped off at the airport, we went through security and boarded our plane, no problem. We landed in Atlanta for our connecting flight, then had an hour flight delay on our flight to Phoenix. I know the Lord’s hand was at work there in the delay, because that flight was the smoothest I have ever taken. Kelcy slept almost the whole way. It was amazing. We landed in Phoenix, happy to deplane. We found Jerry waiting for us outside of security. Abby was yelling “Daddy” and we were all so happy to be reunited.

After a little drive and a stop at the grocery store, we arrived at the Mission. Jerry had tried to prepare me for what I would find at our new home. At first I was okay. The dirt and disorganization of our stuff I expected. I am embarrassed to say what really bothered me was the bugs. They were everywhere! And, mind you, I am not a bug hater. I know that God created them and that they have their purpose to fulfill on the planet. I just don’t want them in my house! And they were everywhere. There were little black bugs, flies, crickets (for some reason?), and moths. At least there were no biting insects in the house. Jerry and I spent the evening killing bugs. That first night we just had ham and cheese sandwiches, as all the dishes, food and cooking supplies were still packed away. I told Jerry about my feelings and he said that he had felt that way, too, about bringing his family into this home in the state it was in at the time. However, he also said “All the people that we will be ministering to also are afflicted with the dust and the bugs and the old housing. Our getting used to this situation will help us understand them better.” And I have. I have gotten used to the bugs, for the most part. Kelcy loves the bugs. She is stomping on them and using the fly swatter and anything she can find to kill them.

Church

Saturday night I searched through our containers to find church clothes for all four of us and we attended church on Sunday morning. It is not a stretch to get up in time for church here at least so far. The time difference means that we wake up about 6AM with no problem or alarm clock. All of us, of course. We were all waiting for it to be time for church. We walked up the hill to the Red Sands Christian Church and were greeted by Tim, Ms. Anne and Jim. Miss Springer arrived shortly, as did Irene and Kenneth, her husband and Erin, their grand daughter. Abby, seeing the little girl walk in the church door says, loudly, “There some Indians!” We were mortified and explained to her they were Navajo people, not Indians. I thought we had always referred to them as Navajo, but she obviously picked up the term somewhere. Sunday school was taught by Ms. Anne and she did a wonderful job explaining the mysteries of the book of Job and how Job felt when God questioned Job about his personal wisdom compared to God’s wisdom. Ms. Anne also plays the piano for the church. Mr. Bill showed up and led the worship service with a wonderful message on tolerance about styles of worship, whether the raising of hands during worship or the style of music.

Jerry and I got to meet John and Ruth on Tuesday. They have both been long supporters of the mission and John is a board member. John and Ruth came by to meet us. They are both clearly very warm people. I am sure we will get to spend some more time with them in the future.

Red Sands Christian School

Miss Springer. She is so amazing. I am intimidated by talking to her because she is just so great. She has been here at the mission for 15 years. She teaches the Kindergarten through 2nd grade at the Red Sands Christian School. She is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm. I can’t wait to have a chance to get to know her better. Red Sands schools starts on Monday, August 18th. Please pray for the school and the students. Miss Springer says that this is the first time ever that she has had enough room in classes to advertise for more students. Because the school is fully staffed, she has not had to turn any child away this year. So, if you are a Navajo and reading this, spread the word. The Red Sands Christian School is open and needs more students for this school year. And, if you are a child sponsor, spread the word so that when God blesses us by filling up the school, we will have sponsors for each and every child.

Assorted Information…

If you are from this area or have visited this area of Arizona, you can skip this part or roll your eyes at me, but I am adjusting, remember?

Did I mention the dust? I confess to being a teeny bit OCD, but the dust here is everywhere. And the dust devils? Imagine the Tasmanian Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoon. That is what the dust devils look like. It is a mini tornado with dust and wind that can travel for miles across the desert. Jerry got hit with one on Monday night. He was putting some things into storage and he heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see the storm. Quickly, he turned around again and ducked his head and closed his eyes before getting pelted with the whirling dust. He was fine, of course. What else? Fortunately, I have not seen a tarantula, rattle snake, or scorpion yet. But this morning the wind was down and I was painting some trim outside. The sand fleas attacked. Abby and Kelcy were helping me and we were all getting bitten. I put on insect repellent, but it did not help. I finished the trim quickly and retreated inside.

Josie

For those of you wondering, our dog Josie is doing okay. She has a friend named Digger with whom she spends time. She is slowly learning to stay in the shade and take her time here. Yesterday our thermometer outside read 122 degrees! I didn’t think it got that hot here, but it was very hot outside then. Josie has somewhat made friends with Mr. Bills dog Leah. They still stare each other down once in a while, but Josie hasn’t attacked Leah recently.

I cannot forget to mention Tim. He is an angel sent from the Lord. He will have been here three weeks on Friday and he has worked and worked and worked and worked…ad infinitum. Just since we got here, Tim and Jerry have been putting in 12-14 hour days working to get our trailer in great shape. The transformation is incredible. I feel like we are on Extreme Home Makeover. Just since I have been here (4 days ago) they have repaired one toilet, replaced another toilet, torn out a shower (because the water was running out on the ground underneath the trailer), replaced the flooring and the shower, laid down subflooring and flooring, painted, sawed and everything you can think of, it has been done. And, Tim would have been working for two weeks prior to our arrival.

I haven’t been able to help too much, but I did get to paint some trim and walls, remove carpet staples from the floor (no tetanus shot required this time Mark), and pried up some linoleum flooring that had been there a long time. I have also been getting my office ready at the mission. I have cleaned it and vacuumed and have begun looking over the documents and getting familiar with the documents I will be using. At this point, my job is definitely the boring stuff to write about.

Abby and Kelcy are doing fine. They are adjusting to the time difference. The first few days were pretty whiny, but that was expected and we tried to be very patient and understanding. They are sleeping in the same bed for the time being. We hope to get them twin beds for their rooms. Abby is going today to get her haircut, her ears pierced and a new pair of shoes for school. I will be surprised if she goes ahead and gets her ears pierced, but she has been asking for a couple of weeks. I explained the process and she still says she wants to do it. The girls both love the playground here. We usually walk over there after dinner in the evening and play for a while. The first few days the girls fell on the ground outside and realized the difference here. There is no soft grass to fall on, you land on either dirt, rocks, tumbleweed or gravel. None of these alternatives are very attractive, so they have quickly learned to walk more carefully.

Close to my heart!

2008-08-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

We are here! All four members of our family (five if you count Josie) are here safe in Arizona. Abby, Kelcy and I have been here for two weeks now. It seems like no time has passed. I have limited access to the internet right now, so I cannot type to my heart's content. I have lots of material prepared for when I can spend some time typing into the blog.

Short story version:

Abby Kelcy and I arrived on August 9 via the Phoenix airport. It was a wonderful reuniting with Jerry, whom we all missed terribly. We moved into our trailer, which was still under a great deal of construction. As I write, the "large" construction has all been finished and we are working on the small projects. One of the projects is killing all the bugs in the house, but more about that later.

Church has been great we have attended two Sundays. The first Sunday there were about seven or eight Navajo in attendance. The second Sunday, there were about 15 in attendance. I have heard that now that school starts attendance will pick-up. Jerry is teaching 7 & 8 grade classes. Jerry is also driving one of the school bus routes to pick-up the children in the morning and return them in the afternoon. I am working at the mission in the office, updating the bookkeeping and working on budgets. Jerry will soon (Sept 18th?) start teaching the adult Sunday School class at church and I will start teaching the 2nd grade and up childrens Sunday School class.

Abby is doing great in school. Miss Springer says she should be reading by Christmas. She is so excited and was trying to read the signs on the way into town today. Abby and Kelcy are here with Jerry in the kids department at the library. Kelcy is also doing great. She is adapting to wearing shoes, an adjustment as we all know.

I will write more later, but I had better go for now. Please excuse any misspellings, as I will not be able to edit this listing for a while.

Continue to pray for us! God is at work here and I believe he has great things in store for the Church and the School.

Also, the gas bill is very expensive to run the two bus routes for school and the two bus routes for church. If anyone is able to, please pray about helping Navajo Trails Mission with that.

Nearer, Still Nearer

2008-08-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a whirlwind since I last posted! We have certainly been packing up and getting ready to go! Tomorrow, the adventure begins. Jerry leaves for Arizona tomorrow morning (Tuesday), taking with him our dog, a 12 year old boxer named Josie, and all of our "stuff". Abby, Kelcy and I will join them on Saturday, August 9th. Please pray for the safe journey of our family.

The Lord has continually blessed us during this process. I cannot describe the feeling. Our cup is filled up and running over with love and the joy of the Lord. We have had some many friends to pray for us, help us and to encourage our whole family. Our church family and our friends have blessed us tremendously, so that the overwhelming process of moving has been almost accomplished.

Abby will be starting Kindergarten at the mission school. She is so excited! She has received some wonderful school supplies from our friends! She has her "princess" backpack and Barbie lunch box and she is ready to go. She has been praying for the Navajo children that she will meet and their families most every night.

Kelcy is pretty oblivious to the whole process, other than her toys disappearing slowly. She will adjust well, though. She is very flexible and good-natured. She will be the child that picks up a rattlesnake.

We are all anxious to arrive at the mission and begin our adventure! You should hear from us soon, and hopefully see some pictures!

We're packing up, getting ready to go!

2008-07-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hello! This is my first blog post ever! I am very excited! My name is Sally. My husband Jerry and I and our two children, Abby (4) and Kelcy(2 and a half) are preparing to move cross country! We are Christians from Southeastern Kentucky and have made a commitment to work at the Navajo Trails Mission located near the Navajo Nation in the Northeast corner of Arizona.

Moving from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the High Desert of Northeastern Arizona will be a climate adjustment! We are currently packing, with an estimated arrival date in Arizona of August 9th.

I am trying to keep the garden produce picked, pack our things, take care of our two children and spend time with all of the friends we will leave behind. My husband is busy preparing to leave his job and training other people to take over for him. Life is hectic, but we are so excited and look forward to arriving at our new home at the mission.

I will try to post regularly!