Past time to share once again.........

It's been a while since we updated our blog.....my sister had to email us and ask "are you still there?!?!" So I guess we had better get something on here again because maybe more of you are wondering. Below is a photo of our new home. We have many more trees here.....had none around my Aunt's home. There are pros and cons connected with the trees. They make a good wind break!!!, but they also cut down on the view. Another pro is the animal life......lots of birds - would you believe even a couple of squirrels, and we don't have to go far to view the deer coming out of the corn at dusk. So Gary has his eye on a couple of good sized bucks.We have been blessed with a lot of company this month. Not sure if they come for us or for the birds :-) :-) --- just kidding!!! It has been a LOT of fun. Each weekend this month we have had visitors (and more are on the way.) We thought we might be overwhelmed but that has NOT been the case!! They have really been a blessing.....LOTS of laughter. And even the Bible states that laughter is good for the soul. PLUS the work that was accomplished..... My sister and husband helped get us moved......the Van Malsens helped clean up around our place. Dan moved ?? a couple of acres... Dale and John got to help work with the cattle.....and give us a ton of laughs each day. And those who came for pheasants got to take some home with them.

And even though the view is different we have not been missing some awesome sunrises. The color can just be breathtaking!!

We have been busy with Release Time. We are doing crafts this year and that is going good. This week we worked on some Thanksgiving "wreaths" (on paper plates with colored leaves) and the one little guy who I thought would need "lots of help"...did just awesome. This past Tues. one of the little K-2 girls was concerned about one of the new boys....."he hasn't asked Jesus into his heart yet". That one little comment was enough to keep us going for a long time!!!!

It's so easy for me to get discouraged that we aren't doing enough...........There is such a need for follow-up. We have ideas but almost feel that we can't take anything more on our shoulders. We would appreciate your prayers that this can be worked out for the good of the kids out here and that we can handle it...... Don't know but maybe a prayer would be "send more workers Lord".

We have gotten started with the PMO (stands for Piya Mani Otipi) -- haven't figured out what that means (will try to find out and let you know).....so we call it the "Youth Ranch". We have had one young man pray to receive Christ. We know some of the kids from the JDC but lots of new faces. It's always a time before they feel comfortable with us. We haven't gotten into singing with them yet but one is asking....so next week the guitar will probably go along. We had tried to go on the same night that we go to the JDC.....trying to save on gas. However, we have had several RUSHED times and that DOES NOT feel good. Kids at the JDC want to stay after and pray with us. We can't let that stop!!! So we are now going to the PMO group on Tues. evenings and the JDC on Thurs. as usual. The travel distance is less now that we have moved so that is a good thing.

We have a weather watch for the next couple of days. We could be in for a good amount of snow. We are on a dead end road so we could be the last one to get plowed out. Yes! winter could be very interesting!! Good thing we have an adventurous spirit in us.

Ranchers are busy bringing in their herds and we have been part of that too. This past Monday we got into some really fantastic country. Some places were too steep for our quads but the views were wonderful. There were 2 on horseback to get into the places that we couldn't go. Believe we got the whole herd into the next pasture --- 400 pairs (cows with calves). Now next week the calves will be weaned and the whole herd trucked out. It's neat to be able to help out our neighbors.

Thank for again for your interest and your prayers!!!

Gary and Barb