Return to Flathead Lake

The Hallelujah Hikers returned to Laura's Flathead Lake lodge for a couple of days of relaxation, hiking the Jewel Basin & prayertime. The first evening after a delicious supper of chicken kiev & a variety of salads, Laura took us out on a boat ride.

It was a warm evening & the clouds were beautifully wind-swept as the sun began to set.

Laura knew right where to find a couple of nesting bald eagles. We found them & their nest. We also sited a couple of the half-grown eaglets. I'll post some of the Jewel Basin hike photos later this week. This mini-vacation was such a blessed time!

Health Challenges

I need to be careful what I pray for my family. I have been praying that the LORD would enable us to move closer to Him in preparation for the trying days ahead. So... we have been experiencing numerous on-going health challenges.

Louis has had sinus problems for years & a sinus infection since Nov. 2008. He was placed on strong antibiotics off & on with some relief while taking the medicine & a rebound back into full-blown problems after. Scans revealed that the sinuses on the left are totally without an outlet due to thickened mucusa resulting from the long-term infections. The outlets on the right are extremely narrow. So corrective surgery has been set for August 13th. It starts with a Septoplasty, scrapings, cutting the turbinates down to size, etc. Supposedly this will all be out-patient surgery. We'll see. About 4-5 weeks ago, Louis broke out in total body hives along with another rash that looked more like multiple tiny bites. The doctors are thinking this may be the reaction to so many strong antibiotics for his sinus problems. Well, Zyrtec, Benadryl creams, Prednisone, etc. have not touched this rash that now has definite hard lumps & bumps under it. Louis says he now empathizes with Job, as he sits & "scrapes" his sores upon arriving home from work. Needless to say, he has little energy for much of anything. The Dermatology appointment ended in 6 sores where the PA took 6 biopsies - 2 of the rash & 4 of other areas suspiciously looking like basal cell & squamous cell cancer. We should get the biopsy data back in a couple of more days.

Our daughter has had health issues of her own. She developed Strep. Throat back 3-4 weeks ago & then added an intestinal component later. After attending the funeral of an 8 year-old she has babysat a lot in the past, (the sister of her best friend, who was electrocuted on the top of her church building while watching fireworks on the 4th of July), she started having trouble keeping even fluids down. Esther ended up in the hospital ER getting IV's for her severe dehydration. Obviously there is an emotional component tacked on to the underlying health issue. Well, she is keeping sips of gatorade & other fluids down now, but is afraid to eat much of any solids. I have talked to her about the complications that accompany anorexia. Yet, she likes the fact that she has lost 20 pounds in the process. Sadly, these types of losses come from muscle as much as fat stores in the body. Esther & I talked about how she needs to turn to God during this time. I left her my copy of "The Message", Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible. Reading the Word from a fresh perspective may perk her interest...I can always hope.

My health is "ok" except for a small sore on my inner lower lip, where an irritation fibroma was removed by a surgeon a week ago. It has festered instead of healing. But in comparison with my husband & daughter, this is "small potatoes".

Summer Playtime

My grandnephew, Conner & grandniece, Caimbrie came this week to share much of a morning. Both Conner & his Mom, Kylie, are allergic to cats & so can't visit at our home in comfort. When my sister, Esther, called about the visit, we opted to meet at the Florence park. Florence is not yet incorporated as a town, but has done many things that are town-like... for example, erecting this park for the children about 5 years ago.

Conner loved the challenge of the monkeybars & Caimbrie always tried to do - with help - anything big brother did.

There are many areas in this play park to enjoy vicariously through the children. I had a great time watching the children play & catching them in their smiles with my camera. Esther assisted Conner & Caimbrie with this sandscoop at various times. Other times it was slides, swings, a fireman's pole or tire ladders, etc. Such fun lived through others!

Mosquito & Deer repellents

Louis heard somewhere that spraying Listerine on your body was a great mosquito repellent. As this year has been particularly bad with mosquitos whenever I am outside working in the yard or garden & I was already covered with mosqito bites, I decided to try this remedy. It works for me. Since I started using the Listerine, I have only gotten one additional bite in a whole week. Try it & see if it works for you.

We also read that Ivory soap is especially abhorrent to deer. If placed in your trees, they will leave your apples alone. So I tried them in my flower barrels by the gate, as you can see above. So far, so good. My plants in the barrels last year had been nibbled nearly to death by July 1st. Not so this year. I have seen at least one deer sniffing & turning away!

8th grade week at Camp Utmost 2009

In January, when Pastor Art called to request me for his nurse at Camp Utmost, I almost turned him down outright... Yes, without even taking the request to God. I had helped him with the 7th graders last year. It was the most difficult camp week in which I had ever worked. Now this same group of campers were the 8th graders. I didn't want to consider volunteering with these campers again. I delayed my answer & finally prayed about the week in June. It seemed I should say "yes", although my flesh fought that answer. I still felt reluctant as I arrived at camp this year. I should know that God would not place me in the same classroom again, if I had learned the lessons He wanted me to learn during that trying week a year ago. This year the week with those same campers became one of my favorites! We had 52 campers, but only 9 of those were boys. How that changed the complexion of the week! Sometimes the campers were all at one place together, like at the chapel, campfire or the waterslide. Other times, like at the teaching times, the campers were separated so certain topics could be discussed freely. One of the boy cabins had 3 counselors & 4 campers, (as pictured above); the other boy cabin had 3 counselors & 5 campers. Nearly all the boys had accepted Yeshua as Savior last year & had matured quite a bit. This year was perfect for discipling those campers.

I also had a preconception about one of the four girl cabins. Almost all the "girlie" campers, who spent an hour getting their hair & make-up just right in the mornings were all in this cabin. I thought that would probably be a problem cabin at least in attitudes. I couldn't have been more wrong. Nearly all 12 campers in that cabin accepted Christ on the second day of camp!! We never did have a problem cabin this year.

What we did have is counselors not feeling up to par. Yet, God sovereignly took care of those situations, as well. For example, one of the girl counselors was in her first trimester of pregnancy. She got married last November & miscarried her first fetus during the winter. We gave her crackers for her nausea & extra rest during the day. When I left on Thursday evening, Pastor Art's sister took over as camp RN. She is an OB nurse from Billings & was anxious about being the camp nurse for even two nights & about 1+ day of activities. Only God knew that her one main patient would be this counselor, who needed her expertise! Isn't that just like Him, to turn all my preconceptions around & bring the exact person needed to care for one of His children in need!