From Southern Indiana

Ministry Update

After a good close to our meeting in Greer, we had a very action-packed week off, complete with unexpected doctor’s visits in Charlotte and unexpected ministry opportunities. Now we are in Laurel, IN at First Baptist Church. Yesterday was a good day with a man named William Teagarden walking the aisle to trust Christ in the morning service. After the service, he informed his relatives that he had to go home and pour out all his beer that he just bought last week. He is planning to be baptized on Wednesday night. In the pastor’s opinion, last night was a particularly good service in which some people really got some things right with God. This meeting is supposed to go through Friday of this week, but there has already been talk of extending it if God begins to break things open. Please be in prayer. I don’t know if I have ever been in a church that worked as hard as this church does. They seem to all be involved in the ministry in some way, even though the pastor is the only full time staff member. It is such a blessing to be able to be a part of their ministry here. Please be in prayer for the services at 6 o’clock EDT each night.

Family Update

We have finally done it – allergy testing for Josiah. While at the doctor’s office in Shelby, his pediatrician recommended that Josiah be tested for allergies. I agreed to set up an appointment if possible while we were in the area. When I went to schedule the appointment, I told the secretary that I had a window of three days the next week that we could have it done. She was aghast, and told me that it usually takes about two weeks to get in to the allergist. I left, and went home, where I told Paul about it, and we agreed that if the Lord wanted us to have it done, He would work out the timing. To be honest, I really didn’t think about it again, because I didn’t think it was going to work out. The following Monday, I received a call from the doctor’s office, asking if I had received any paperwork in the mail. “No,” I said. “Why?” The receptionist proceeded to inform me that Josiah had an appointment in Charlotte in two hours! Talk about high gear! We raced around the house, getting everything ready, and took off as soon as possible, making it in the nick of time for the appointment!

They performed a skin test, or scratch test on him, with 74 different substances, mostly trees, pollens, weeds, grasses, molds, with a few foods thrown in for good measure (we made sure that neither peanuts nor eggs were in the lineup). He came back very high in almost all the trees, grasses, and weeds, as well as several of the foods. His back was just a mass of welts, but he was very brave, and we were proud of him. The allergist told us that he wanted to have a blood test done for the food allergies, because it is more accurate than the skin test for foods. So, three days later, we had blood drawn for that in Shelby. Josiah did not do very well on that day. He made more fuss over that one needle than he did over the all 74 of the others. We are now awaiting the results of that test. Please pray with us that the results will be very definite, with no “iffy” reactions. This will help us to better control his asthma, hopefully, and stay far away from the hospital. The allergist was convinced that if we can keep his allergies under control, we would have no issues with his asthma. He wanted to start allergy shots right way, but because of our travel schedule, it was not possible. I was relieved, but I am sure that Josiah would have been more so, had he known what was in the works – shots three times a week for six weeks and then decreasing over time. Anyway, for now, we are done. Pray that the Lord would give us wisdom concerning further treatment.

The whole family was able to go fishing the other day. This was quite an event for us, as you might imagine. Abigail ran around with a stick and splashed in the water “catching” leaves, while Esther sat on the bank and played with her cheerio container. Paul, Josiah, and I caught fish. I would like to tell everyone that I caught more fish than Paul, and that mine were bigger, too…but that would not be true. He threw half of mine back, saying that they were “borderline” keepers, but between just us, I think he was worried that I was going to school him. I forgot to mention that Paul also caught the smallest fish. Josiah caught a nice-sized bluegill. He had been casting, and was upset because he couldn’t reel in his line. No wonder – there was a fish on the other end. He was rather excited about it. We caught a total of 13 fish, which we summarily devoured that evening for dinner – after cleaning and cooking them, of course!

Esther is nine months old and such a cutie! She is not crawling yet, but it probably won’t be too much longer before she is. She still has only two teeth, and her newest trick is “kissing.” She puckers up her little lips and goes “pk, pk, pk.” Then she gives the cutest little grin. Her favorite trick, though, is blowing raspberries (this is also known as the Bronx cheer). I think she takes great delight in spraying spittle all over our faces. Abigail always says, “Essa pitted on me! Eew! Das yucky!” Josiah is almost through his first year of school (six weeks and counting). He has learned so much this year. He is all boy, though, and we rarely have a chance to forget it. He informed us the other day that burping makes him happy. Relieved, I might understand, but happy?? Abigail is finally taking the initiative in potty training. We have seen so much success this week, that I have great hopes of this being the last package of diapers for her. Rejoice, but keep praying!

We have a lot going on right now, which is why the updates haven’t been as regular as we would like. Please continue to pray that the Lord would use us, and that we would have safety as we travel. We had several close calls on our way to Indiana. Paul would probably attribute it to all those “Yankee drivers,” or worse, “crazy woman drivers,” but whatever the case, the Lord kept us safe. When I suggested to Paul that it might be his driving that was the problem, he looked at me in horrified astonishment, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. Now he said I am not allowed to write any more updates as punishment for my insulting him. Well, so long until the next time!