New Year?

Here it is a year later!!

It has been crazy for sure. But the Lord has been close at all times.

We've been busy with work and church activities. Jack is still working at the store cutting meat. Lyndsy is still looking for a job. You know they are few and far? And I have been delivering the mail almost everyday since the first of October. The lady I sub for had surgery at that time and was suppose to come back on Nov. 30th. Well, the post office asked her to be the OIC (officer in charge) of the Marthaville office. The had the postmaster from Marthaville to come to our (Robeline) office. This took place on the first of December. I don't know how much longer this will last, but I am now finally starting to get caught up on the bills that accumulated when we sold the store. Praise the Lord!!!! Hopefully this will last until I get the most if not all of them paid! :)

Our dad is not doing well. He has lost sooooooo much weight that you would not recognize him. My sister sent me a couple of pictures of him to me today. I cried at the way he looked. Please pray for him and Mom. Mom is having trouble with her eyes. She really needs them to see her work. She has been doing quite a bit of sewing.

last week I went to Alexandria for more training. I was suppose to have this training 3 years ago. Oh, well, I got it and got paid for sitting there and listening to something I knew and was able to help train the newbies that was hired in March. lol

Next week is church assembly and conventions. I am not a delegate this year, although I am an alternate for all three divisions. I am going to be able to go and help where ever help is needed. I DO so enjoy being with God's family which is MY family.

Then the middle of June (14-16) I am going to State Union Convention. As I am the Central District Union President, I guess I need to be there. No I do not know what I am doing being the President other than I was elected for this office. I was vice-president last year. The state meeting will be in New Iberia, LA. I will have to leave Sunday to be ready for the presidential conference at 8 am Monday. This convention will last until Wednesday.

Well, don't know what else to say at the present time. Hope you all have a great day. Enjoy what God provides for you. And pass along to others what He has.

Love to all.........Mary

W O W ! ! !

It has been a while since I've been on here! I am soooooooo sorry. Please ya'll forgive me.? Thanks.

Saturday April 11 I delivered the mail for the short route. As soon as I got home, we loaded the jeep and went to Missouri. We got there around 8 p.m., give or take a few minutes. We spent part of the week with Mom and Dad. They are doing about the same. While we were there the home nurse weighed Daddy and he only weighed 98#. His mind seems to be fairly alert. He just wants to sleep and does NOT want to eat. Mom is getting very weary. This is to be expected as she is the caretaker, for the past 4-5 years. We also saw Marika and her family, Mark, Allen and his wife, Eileen, Sarah, Jeff and Victoria. As Jack and I both had to work the following Sat. we left the folks place on Thurs. so we could have one day to mow the lawn and etc.

Last week, we had our Dist. Conventions and Assembly. I was a delegate so I got to go. Yes, I took off another 3 days. I did enjoy the SS convention and the Missionary Convention. Bro. Stan Toler was the speaker for SS and Miss Linda Russell, missionary to Russia, was our speaker in the NMI section. I was not able to listen to our GS, Dr. Paul Cunningham, as I was setting the dining hall up for the SNU banquet. Dr. Terry Toler was the rep. from SNU.

I wish you could hear Miss Linda tell about her experiences in Russia. Did you think you would be able to hear about the church in Russia, when you were a child? WOW God is in control!

Please pray for my job. I was told yesterday that the route I have been in charge of for the past 4 1/2 months is being dissolved into 2 of the other routes. They say that USPS is going broke, so they must do this. If congress votes and makes it official for the 5 day delivery, I will be out of a promised day to work. I will be on standby only. MAYBE I will get to work when someone needs off. Then and only then I will work. :( I was told about 3 RCA openings in Alexandria. That is 1 1/2 hour drive from my house. I could do it, but would be extremely tiring after a few days. Robeline office is ten minutes from my house. A lot of difference time wise. I need to stay in Robeline if at all possible. Maybe does not pay the bills.:)

Saturday, May 2, I went to a LaRLCA, Louisiana Rural Letter Carriers Association, central district meeting. I was nominated and selected to be a delegate to the State Convention. I was also elected and voted into an office. I am now the Vice President of the Central Dist. LaRLCA. I have no idea what I am supposed to do for this job. I am suppose to be sworn in next month at the State convention. I feel honored and humbled to have been chosen. I pray that I will be able to represent our district to the best of my ability with the Lord's help.

L yndsy still has no job. They are few and far between. Please pray that she will find one soon. Our finances are getting extremely short.

Marika had surgery today. She is doing as well as expected at the present time. Ed has kept me informed. Wish I could have been there for her. Again, finances and jobs have held me from being there.

God bless each and everyone of you!!

Rusty........

is in doggie Heaven as of Tuesday March 17th. We sure do miss that guy! The house is so quiet without him. The vet office sent a sympathy card to me. Wasn't that sweet? I cried when I read it. I just couldn't help it. He was with us for 11 years. He suffered so much the past two weeks was the reason we had to have him put to sleep. We buried him by a tree. The roots were so plentiful that Jack just dug until we could get the box in the hole standing up. So Rusty is standing on his hind legs again. I found a rose bush at the feed store. The name of the bush is Scentimental. It is bergundy with splashes of white. We planted this bush beside Rusty. Just thought it appropriate.

I have been working more hours this week. I did route 4, short route, last Sat. Monday I did route 2. This route is 94 miles. Wed.-Fri. I did route 3, which is 127 miles. I just received a call from our OIC and I will be doing route 3 again tomorrow. I was told I will be doing this route more. Brenda, the main carrier for this route is still out due to her cancer surgery. She is doing very well. She may be able to come back to work in May, and work 3-4 days a week for a while. Her husband told me that he may be able to go back to work in a couple of weeks. They are Praising the Lord for His goodness to them, as we are doing the same. There was a benefit held for them in Robeline a couple of weeks ago that netted $15,000.00 for them. Isn't this an awesome figure?

Last month I had to have brakes on the jeep. This week Lyndsy's car wouldn't start. We had to have it towed to the shop and get a new starter. almost 400 dollars. Thursday, Jack carried his truck to the shop and had 2 u-joints replaced along with spark plugs and 2 new tires. This was over 3oo dollars. Where oh where oh where will the extra moola come from? Only God knows that. I thank Him for His loving care for our lives. Maybe this is why I am having to work route 3 so much? hmmmmmmmm Isn't God good?

While on the mail route, I get to see alot of wild animals along with the BEAUTIFUL flowers and trees. The tulip trees were very pretty but through blooming. The red buds have been beautiful. The wild plum, pears, cherries, and whatever have dotted the countryside with lots of color. The peach tree in our yard is full of blooms. Now the dogwood is busting out. The wisteria and azaleas are trying to show out. I get to see all of this along with deer, wild turkey, bobcats, and many, many other wild animals. I listen to KLove radio all day. So it is just the Lord, KLove, and the many animals praising the Lord all day long. I do enjoy my job. :)

This pic of the azalea is at our front door. This is one plant. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

Hope you all have a great day in the Lord's presence, today and always.

Oh, you see my new pic?

This is Marika and her little family. Ed, Corey, Sam, Levy, and Hanah......Isn't this a great picture? They do make a beautiful family.!

ll Divo "Amazing Grace"

I hope this video is available to watch by everyone. It is Beautiful!!

Oops,........a senior moment?

The evangelist name in not Robert but Richard. Sorry about that! Yesterday was a wonderful day in the Lord's presence. What a blessing I received. Wish all of you could be here to partake of the blessings God will distribute to us.

I wanted to give you the 'rest of the story' so to speak....As I was driving to Alexandria the day I worked there, I called a friend that goes to our church. I told her what I was doing and asked for prayer. I also called Jack, Lyndsy, and Mom. I know all of these were praying also. While delivering to some of the businesses, the people there told me to be careful in the area I was headed. Some even said to be extra careful. So I prayed even more for my safety. At one of the 'shotgun' houses, there were several guys standing around. I felt the sudden need to let them know who I was, not my name, but that I was delivering their mail. I just needed to make sure that I did or did not have mail for that particular house. They were very helpful after that. Yes, I felt like I could have been a subject of their next 'whatever'. I asked the Lord again for His special protection for me. He sent rain. When Timothy was helping me divide the mail so he could take and deliver, God sent more rain. We were standing in it as there was no cover to get under. We got soaked! So wet that my clothes were still wet the next morning!! Because of the rain, the rough guys were kept inside and I was able to deliver without them attacking me. Isn't God good? ALL THE TIME He is Good!!! I just wanted to publicly, again, to thank Him for His loving, protective arms.

Busy, busy, busy......

Boy have I been busy...

Since Brenda is off for her surgery, I have been filling in more and more. Brenda had her surgery on the 10th. She is doing better as she came home this past Wednesday. They took her voice box, vocal chords and her thyroid. They said that there were 2 lymph nodes that were affected. She is not to have any company for at least 2 weeks. Probably more as she has chemo.

The week of her surgery, I delivered mail on rt. 2 Monday. This is an eight hour route. Tues.-Sat. I ran the 2 hour route. On Thursday, the 12th. after running the 2 hour route, I went to Florien High School and subbed for a History teacher. Friday, I went to the Post Office at 6:30 am to sort the mail to all the routes. Then I cased the mail for the Post Office boxes. After doing this, I went to route 4, the 2 hour route, and cased it. As I was pulling the mail to deliver, the district supervisor sent an e-mail looking for help. My OIC asked me if I would be willing to go to Alexandria to help them. I said I would. So after running route 4, I went to Alexandria. This is a little over an hours drive for me. After I got there, they told me I would run a route. This was so different than what I was used to. I am use to just putting the mail in the boxes from my jeep. This route I had to dismount and carry the mail to apartments and businesses. This didn't bother me too much. What bothered me the most, was that the supervisor would not give me a route description. He said that city carriers to not have route descriptions. (This was a bald faced LIE) He gave me a map but there were so many subdivisions NOT on the map. I had to call them several times to find these places. One of the regular city carriers found me and took the mail that was for the walking section and left me with the curb service section. I got to Alexandria a little after 11am. I probably started delivery around 11:45 or so. I had 3 very long trays of letters and 2 long trays of magazines plus several parcels. (boxes) Timothy found me at 5:45 and I had just started on the second tray of letters. He called the office and said he was going to help me. It was starting to get dark by this time. I was also in a very, very bad neighborhood, according to the businesses I had been to before. By 7:15 or so I was really getting tired. I still had a tray to go. Timothy found me again and took the rest of the mail. He said this was sooooo wrong for that supervisor to give this particular route to me, as I had never been on this route before. He said this was the dirtiest, nastiest and meanest route in Alexanderia. I am from Robeline. What a difference. If he had given me one of the rural routes with a route description, I would not have gotten so flustered with them. I got back to Robeline after 9 that night. BOY, was that a long day!!! I had to get up the next morning and run the short route again. I have been working 6 days delivering mail. This week, I did route 3 for for 3 days. Next week? we'll see.

Well, Mom called me yesterday. She is going to have eye surgery on March 2. Her eye is bleeding and the Dr. couldn't find the source. Daddy isn't doing any better. He is about the same. Please pray for them as if she goes blind and he stays this sick, I don't know what will happen. Allen is now living on the place, so he can help when it is needed.

We are starting revival tomorrow at our church. Rev. Robert Beckham is the evangelist. Bob and Becky Gray are the song evangelists. We are looking forward to a GREAT revival. The Lord has been working in our church. I'm looking forward to seeing what He has in store.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about our Quiz team. We had the invitational for Children's Bible Quiz on Feb. 7. We had a great time. Out of the 8, I had 5 show up to quiz. We had one that missed only one question out of 40. The rest did very well. I am proud of our children for hiding God's word in their hearts. This is the main purpose for this curriculum.

My jeep is still NOT fixed. grrrrrrr. The Lord knows about this too. So, I will let Him help me take care of it. The place in Natchitoches is still closed. The next place is over an hours drive. If I can't get an auto to drive while they fix mine, well I HAVE to have one to deliver the mail!. So I guess I am stuck with this lemon.

Well, I guess I will let you go for now. Hope you have a great day in the Lord's presence.

Love to all.