Pearce, AZ Festival

What an interesting day! Lots of storm clouds to enjoy and wonderful stories from our tour guides Jim and Evelyn. Pearce was a lovely festival. However, the cold wind surprised all of us. Enjoy a few of our pictures and plan on going to the festival some year!

Pearce store Bost family - 8 kids - Boy just won state mandolin championship

1800's Mercantile - for sale, if you are interested!

Good ol boys - Pearce style Huge hands!

Guy who was very proud of his skunk hat

Bad hair day - or does this guy work at this mess?

Texas Canyon

We are still smiling, even though Dairy Queen ran out of ice cream! Abby,Jim and Evelyn paid $1 to see "The Thing" at the Dairy Queen stop. They think it is an Asian mummy - but nothing in the exhibit actually says what "The Thing" is. There are billboards starting in New Mexico to advertise this place.

Abby, Sue, Evelyn, Jim, Jim, Joe, Marianne

The Importance of a Captured Israelite Girl OR How to act when things don't go my way!

What a blessing to find newness in the Word of God! Last Sunday our minister mentioned 2 KI 5 about the healing of Naaman the leper. I had read it before, but I had never seen that the young girl in the story had been captured from Israel. She was in Aram, as a slave to Naaman's wife. Could we be right in thinking that things weren't going her way? Yet, she apparently heard that Naaman had leprosy. She believed the prophet Elisha could help the man who held her captive and shared that with her mistress! What does that say about her heart - about her forgiveness of him? Naaman was healed and we hear nothing of that little girl. It struck me deeply, because there is unfairness in life - even for believers, who are trying to hear from God and wanting to obey Him.

Then on Thursday, the Lord suggested I read Luke 4 during my quiet time. I thought "temptation chapter - I've read it before,but OK". Well, it does talk about the temptation of Jesus, but it also includes Jesus' words in the synagogue. Verse 27 = And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed - only Naaman the Syrian.

Ok - Jesus could have spoken about so many situations in the Bible to get His point across, but He chose the Naaman story. It was an important point in history and of great significance to those to whom He was speaking. What if that little girl had not mentioned Elisha? How do I react in unfair situations? Can I always be faithful and forgiving to honor Him? This I do pray.

Serene - quiet - secluded - beautiful get-away

What a blessing we received from the Lord! We made plans to take time away to celebrate Jim's birthday. I bid the price of a Motel 6 room on Priceline and we were TREATED to a $199 a night room at a wonderful resort. There were 5 pools and miles of beautiful walkways and gardens and lots of opportunities to relax. They even gave us terry cloth robes to wear! We did have slow mornings and didn't rush. We both like to work, but rushing off to work 5 mornings a week does get old at our ages! While there, I passed out 297 Sweet Evangelism packages and that was a thrill. Wonder how the Lord has already used each one? Enjoy pictures of our special treat time!

Although Phoenix is only 2 hrs away,it is lower in elevation and supports different plants. Here are some examples of 3 varieties that do not grow in Green Valley.

This tree is really cool. Unfortunately, our pic didn't come out too well. Guess we'll have to return for a better shot someday - good plan!

We took a nice trolley ride in downtown Scottsdale and saw these sites from the trolley. We plan to return one day to check out the many art shops and see the beautiful work they offer. For today, it was just nice to have someone else do the driving. The streets were a thrill, because they reminded us of New Zealand. There were flower pots on nearly every corner - so much charm!

So - see the little canal of water in front of this huge condo? Would you then call this waterfront property? Well, apparently, they can justify this. We laughed.