Still Winter in April.......

We were beginning to think that we might miss Release Time again this week. But school was in operation and so we figured on it. However, we heard that the roads to the east -- the route we usually took were TERRIBLE -- almost impassable. And especially not advisable with our van.....(it's NOT 4 wheel drive!!) But we couldn't bear the thought of not going --- it had been 2 weeks without Release Time already. So we ventured out with the truck in the lead and the van following.....we headed toward the one road that is usually open and it was. We fought a lot of mud but made it through to the church. That meant that we had one mile of mud to go back and forth on 6 times.....getting the kids and taking them back to school....and then back to clean up.

We read the Easter story to the kids (both groups) and they listened (for the most part) very intently. One little guy even remarked "poor Jesus" when it said "they hit him and spit on him". The kids made an Easter cross.....K-1 made a "stained glass" cross and the others decorated a cross with "He Lives". We were even successful in finishing all of them so they could take them home.

We left the van at church -- thinking that it will be some time before the roads get much better and we might just as well not have to make that trek next week if we can avoid it.
The following is a picture of the spot we were advised not to go through. We were told that it took the guy 2 1/2 hours to work his way through these banks with the road grader and the big V plow in front.




This photo was taken at the end of a beautiful sunny day....so the bank had time to settle some already. It will take a while for this to all melt so we are planning on mud for quite some time yet. Not all of the roads have snow banks like this. It all depended on the wind.

We had another blessing toward the end of yesterday (Tuesday) we received an email from one of the girls that had been in the JDC. She was at home and doing good in school.....and we were also told that a little girl that is in our Release Time -- in the Kindergarten--- is her niece and they are reading her Story Bible together...."we're almost through it". AWESOME!!!!

God hears all prayers and the blessings continue to flow.
Gary and Barb