NEWS FLASH!!!

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Jaden is 99% potty trained. We have worked on this all year (since he turned 2 ~~ and that's about the time that this picture was made) and honestly, he just was NOT interested. Well, the child recently decided on his own that he was ready and about 2 weeks ago and got much more interested. He told his teacher at church on Wednesday night, "Miss Dorothy, I have to go potty!" and so she took him to the bathroom in the 3-year-old area and he got his clothes down, pottied, and pulled his clothes back up. He has been dry for me the past 2 Wednesdays and has been dry at school all this past week. Amy finally put him in his underwear for nursery school (instead of pull-ups) as she figured out that he does much better in his real underwear. I think he has to go 10 straight days at school w/o wetting his pants and then they will move him right up to the K3 nursery program. YEAH!!!!!

He was outside playing on Saturday afternoon and came running in our house saying he needed to go "CaCa" and Grandpa said Jaden hopped right up on that toilet and pooped. He wasn't early about it (he will be 3 on November 2) but better late than ever!!

Jaden has heard his Mommy and Grandma say, "We are SO so proud of you!" and we are!

My Friends in the Hospital

Matthew 25:36 I was sick, and ye visited me

After the Friday morning Bible Study at A/T, I met another friend and we did some hospital visitation today. It was a joy to see our friend from church, Dee, as she is recuperating from surgery on Wednesday. There was a chance that she had cancer and we all rejoiced and praised God that it wasn't! Dee is a lovely wife and the mother of five children: high schoolers down to 2 years old. She is a lovely Christian woman and it was truly a blessing to visit with her today. She is set to be discharged on Saturday and we thank God for the healing He is doing in her body.

Our second visit was with a dear friend, Angie, who suffered a stroke last week. Angie is approximately 82 years old and was planning a trip to the French Riviera when she was struck down by her stroke. She is unable to communicate but is making some tiny improvement as far as being able to squeeze your hand on command. She is such an active and adventuresome Christian woman, and it was difficult seeing her in that shape today. She will be getting a feeding peg put in her stomach on Monday and later next week, she will be discharged to a nursing home. My heart goes out to Angie's daughter, Ronda, as she and her brothers make these difficult decisions regarding their lovely mother. We remain in prayer for God's will to be accomplished in Angie's life.

It was such a joy to make those visits with my friend Dorothy today. We enjoyed a late lunch at Olive Garden; and when I took her home, I got my first tour of her's and Dan's brand new home. It is so very lovely. They built next door to their son, daughter-in-law and 2 grandkids so I KNOW how full her heart is with God's blessings.

Reunited with my cousin, Sharon

Hebrews 13:1 ¶ Let brotherly love continue.

I saw a cousin last evening whom I had not seen in at least 25 years. It was such a sweet reunion with Sharon. She is my only girl cousin on my mom's side and we were just 5 months apart in age. As kids and young teens, it was always so much fun to get together. She lived in Georgia and we lived in Alabama and those get-togethers didn't occur too often, but I loved her.

Sharon married young and after that, I didn't see much of her. Our lives took different directions and we grew apart. That is not to say that through the years I haven't thought about her and wondered how she was getting along, but that young bond had been broken and we had grown apart. So what a surprise it was to hear from her that she was here in our city visiting someone. Sharon had lost her husband in January and was eager to hook back up with family. We made plans to get together on Wednesday for supper and then she went to church with Richard and me. It was so nice to reconnect and catch up. She will go back to life in another state and I will go back to my life here. We didn't even exchange addresses, but we have each other's phone numbers. I hope we can stay in touch.

Ministry on Campus ~~ and new campus daughters

2 Corinthians 4:1 ¶ Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not...

It has been a busy time of ministry, but what better way to spend our days in this life?! I was available to help with the college ministry of being at the welcome table for parents of new students. A week ago right now, we volunteers met with the lady who heads it up and received our assignment of times to "man" the "orange juice table." We did that through Tuesday and what a joy it was to greet the parents of new students coming in from all over the country and many from around the world. Having been in their shoes when we brought Amy down for her freshman year in 1993, I was aware of some of their concerns and emotions and hope that I was able to deliver some comfort and assurance as they would be leaving their off-spring here and returning home without them. It was a great week of ministering in that light.

Speaking of ministry, the Lord used circumstances to bring us six new freshman girls to be our campus daughters this school year. One girl is Jennifer from Indiana. *Yellow shirt in the picture) Our son Chip had a girl in his youth group at his church in IN whose friend was coming down for school so Chip called us and "alerted" us that Jennifer was coming. He was able to provide an email address so we got to know Jennifer (and her parents!) before Jennifer ever got on the plane to fly down by herself. Richard and I picked her up at the airport and at the same time saw a girl who had arrived and was looking for a way to the college so since we already had Jennifer with us, we invited Jessica to ride with us to the college. She did and she is now our new campus daughter from Connecticut. Jess is in the red shirt.

Darla, a freshman daughter from last year, had emailed us a few weeks ago that two girls from her Christian school in TN were coming as freshmen. I was actually "working" the "orange juice table" when the twins and their parents arrived on campus. We had not corresponded but when I met them, I knew their last name and with the two girls there, I knew it was the folks that Darla had told me about. So I was able to be their official greeter on campus and tell them that I was their campus mom. That was neat!! The twins are Kelsey and Kaylee. Their parents were so nice and actually the four of us (without the girls) went to dinner together on Thursday night before they returned home to Memphis on Thursday. I didn't have my camera to make pics of Kelsey and Kaylee nor of their parents at the time. :(

And then we have a new girl from South Carolina. Candiace was here on campus working all summer when we met her through a friend.We were able to have her over and to take her out to eat over the summer and so we requested her for a campus daughter. We are also "adopting" Katharina the "friend" who is a senior this year. Katharina is from Canada and has never had a campus family. So we decided "better late than never" and she will be an unofficial campus daughter this year. (Candiace on left and Katharina on the right in the pic.)

And #6 is Julie from Texas. Last Sunday, we took to Sunday dinner at a restaurant the two girls (Jennifer and Jess) that we had picked up at the airport on Saturday. Jennifer asked if she could bring a roommate. We said, "Certainly" and that's how we met Julie from Texas and asked if she would like to request us for campus parents. She did and that's how she became freshman daughter #6. (I forgot to take my camera on Sunday so didn't get a pic of Julie.)

We have 2 freshman daughters from last year who are back. They are Darla from Tennessee and Melissa from Wisconsin. And to round off our group, we have 2 other girls we had "adopted" as campus daughters last year: Diana from Ohio and Melannie from Peru for a total of 11 girls this year who will be our daughters.

We are having them all over for Sunday dinner in our home this week so I am trying to decide what to cook for the girls. I can't wait and know it will be a fun time. I'm sure I'll post some pics from that first event with all of the girls. It will be fun to introduce them to each other and then to turn them loose to form some fast friendships with their campus sisters.

Sign up to receive updates on Joe Keller in Iowa

I have been sharing updates on Joe Keller, a young man in the ministry in Iowa. He was involved in a horrible auto wreck approximately 3 weeks ago. There is now a wonderful website where you can go to get updates. This is at carepages.com and you sign up for a FREE account. Once you sign up and go to Joe's site at joekellercarepage you will automatically receive notification when a new update is posted. I know the family appreciates your prayers for this man as he has a long way to go. His wife and his twin brother do the updates, and their strong faith in the Lord shine through each one. You will be blessed to read them and then can pray for the specific requests as they are posted. Please go there now and register to receive Joe's updates. God is good!!

Sign Up to receive Pollard Family Updates in North Carolina

We have been posting updates and praying for a young pastor and his family who were involved in a very serious car accident a couple of weeks ago. Bro. Jeremy Pollard, his pregnant wife Tiffany, and 16-month-old son, Stephen live in NC and were injured on their way to a Monday night revival service at their church. Bro. Jeremy is still in a coma and in bad shape. Wife Tiffany is doing much better and may be discharged in a few days. Little Stephen is having surgery on his neck to repair damage done to ligaments. There is now a website where you can register to receive notification when a new update is posted on the Pollard family. If you want to keep up with them, please go to carepages.com and sign up for your free account. The carepage name for the Pollards is: UGBCGrove. Once you sign up, you will be notified of new updates as they are posted. I know the family would appreciate your continued interest and PRAYERS as Jeremy and Little Stephen both have a long way to come. I will no longer be posting updates so please be sure to sign up and stay connected. God bless!! ~~Susan

Missionary Schuler Family Update on Situation in Roatan

Psalm 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

I want to thank you SO much for praying. God was so very good during all of this, and He gave us great peace through this whole thing. I am delighted (REALLY delighted) to report that Felix tracked south of Roatan, a direct and unmistakable answer to prayer. We spent a lot of time in prayer about this, and God so mercifully answered. Normally, hurricanes swing to the NW as the approach the coast, and if Felix had done so, it would have hit the islands. Instead, it took a straight westward track and passed south of Roatan, hitting a sparsely populated area of Nicaragua and Honduras. Roatan got some rain, but nothing extreme, as far as we have been told. Having said that, we do need to continue to pray for those affected. The Nicaraguan coast is poor and very low lying, and people are suffering there tonight.

In His service,

Mark

A Word from the Schulers.....

In response to the prayer request I posted for the Schulers, Missionaries to Roatan, Honduras, I received a nice email from Mark and Susan thanking all of us for our prayers regarding Hurricane Felix that is threatening Honduras. Here is their note:

Thanks SO MUCH for putting this out. We are still in the US and are scheduled to return (to Roatan) on Saturday (we are in Philadelphia now). I really appreciate this. The worst thing about it from a personal perspective is that we can't be there to make preparations, so the windows and such will not be boarded up if the storm hits. More importantly, we need to pray that there is no significant loss of life; a house can be replaced. We prayed in that regard when Dean came through a couple of weeks ago and God graciously answered. Please pray that God would protect everyone in the path of this terrible storm. This situation is in God's hands and we are praying for His abundant protection.

May the Lord bless you, and thanks for thinking of us and praying for us. We will keep you informed as we learn what is going on down there.

In Christ,
Mark & Susan Schuler

Prayer Request for the Schulers in Roatan ~~ Hurricane Felix

Psalm 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.


Hurricane Felix, a CAT 5 storm, may be making a bee-line for Honduras. Our dear missionary friends, Mark and Susan Schuler and their son, Joel, are missionaries to Roatan, Honduras ~~ a long narrow island off of the north coast of Honduras. They have been on deputation in the States but were to return to Roatan about now. Their work in Roatan, Honduras includes church planting, evangelism, youth ministry, orphanage ministry, and education ministry. I am asking you to pray for the Schulers and for the people to whom they minister as the hurricane threatens that country.

Our Friday Bible Study Team

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

What a joy it is to be a part of the Bible Study Team from our church as we conduct a Bible Study at a Retirement Center every Friday morning. Our teacher is Carol ~~ pictured in the middle. The little lady ~~ Peggy ~~ is brand new to our ministry and so is a new friend. She has joined our team and has been such a blessing for the past 4 weeks with us! There's nothing like laboring together in ministry to knit hearts in close friendship. And of course, those dear residents we see every week are the highlight of our morning at the Center. We have about 15 who are very regular and others who are in and out. We know there are some who have not yet accepted Christ as their Savior and so that burden is on our hearts for they are elderly folks. I just wanted to highlight my sweet friends on the blog and give Praise to the Lord for allowing us this privilege of ministry and friendship.