100th Celebration preparations.........what a celebration!! And family visitors....

I am somewhat late with this PREPARATIONS update.   The event is past .....and it was absolutely delightful!!!   But it's kind of fun to tell about some of the happenings that happened in making our church look so nice.   And I really don't even have pictures of all of it.  

 Marlys Walkling and Debbie Markus did a LOT of work on the flower beds in front of church.   What a beautiful spot.  The trees might have been loved by some ------ but the flowers are such a pretty sight.......  Thank you Marlys and Debbie and anyone else who had a part in the flower beds.

Thank you to the Boersmas' for mowing the lawn and cemetery......they looked so nice.   Yes, the rain helped make it green - but that just meant more mowing.

The flag pole was an idea of Dan Tinant.  The pole was originally located at the Wells Fargo Bank in Valentine.  One of our wind storms took the pole and bent it over  and the pole snapped off about 6 feet above the ground.  Gary did some straightening on the pole and then the men put it up at church.  It will have a plaque at it's base honoring our veteran Bud Noteboom who gave his life (in Vietnam) for our country.

That's Dan in the bucket and Gary guiding the pole.   Don S. was in the tractor and he said Dan was risking his life because it was Don's first time in that type of tractor and he could have dumped him (Dan) at any moment!!  YIKES!!!    But it all went great!

Our church really needed a new front door ---(take a look at the post I made in May of the new church sign.....it shows you how bad the old door looked).   Well, of course, I don't have a picture of the new door.....it looks SO SO nice.  It's a double door with the top halves being window.  WOW.    I did get a shot of the old door on it's way out.

Yes, that's how bad it looked ......
This is the new basement door ---- that"s my sister Linda Nysse cleaning up the mess after the cement saw.  We didn't want anyone getting all that white powder all over their nice clothes.....

And this is Gary giving it a coat of white paint.  If left a dark color it would become too hot to touch when the sun beat down on it..

The ladies of church came and did a thorough cleaning of the Community Center and the church.   Dan said he decided he should just stay there and tell the newcomers (new workers) which windows were done.   He witnessed windows being cleaned over and over by several different ladies.  And it was all because of the sprinkler system leaving a spotty film on the windows on the south side of the Community Center.....they really aren't that fanatic about their cleaning.   But everything looked so nice --- lovely patriotic decorations. 

I didn't take my camera along to the celebration ---- others did ----- they should put their pictures on the blog here.  We had such a nice turnout.  The church was full to the brim.  You should have heard the singing.   Wyonne said she just stood there with tears in her eyes listening to the wonderful sound.  There were a lot of  tears shed at the program on Saturday......so many memories shared and songs sung and visitors to visit with.  God is indeed faithful.  Psalm 100:5 The Lord is good......his faithfulness continues through all generations.  .....was the theme verse.  I guess I should get a photo of the words I cut out of that verse (from the cedar trees that were cut down by church a year ago).  They really turned out nice and when they were put up on the Community Center wall - I (myself) was rather awed by how nice it looked.

Gary and I had a house full of company.  My two sisters, Linda (and Dave) and Ethel (and Jim), my brother Bill, and our daughter Holly and her boys (Clayton and Sawyer) were all here.  My cousin Neil (and Phyllis) Verduin came and parked their trailer on our yard.  What fun!!!....sort of a small Verduin reunion but with too many missing!

Our grandsons did a lot of 4 wheeler riding, shooting the 22, playing with the kitties.......we took them tubing down the Niobrara.....and kayaking with the cows...... and on White Lake.    YES! tubing with the cows....can't do that just anywhere!!!!

Toby thought it was the best thing he'd enjoyed in a long time......nice cool water.  He didn't have a care in the world. 

It didn't take US long to realize that the pond was an e-coli breeding ground.....and we departed. It was a good spot to see how the boys would do with the kayaks.....just a nice quiet spot out in the pasture but we were very thankful that no one tipped over in it!!!   White Lake was much more desirable.....a little windy ....but cleaner water.

Our company is all gone now and it's very quiet here again.  Time to mow the lawn, change the bedding for the next crew, vacuum, put the house in order........but mostly time to put those final thoughts to the plans for Camp.  Camp will begin July 14 and end on the 18th.  We pray for safe travel for all the volunteers.....good health for all of us......and a blessed camp for all the young kids attending.  We pray that God's gospel message will go out clearly.   Thank you for those prayers that you lift up on our (and camps) behalf!!!

Gary and Barb