It has been nearly 3 weeks since my last post, and things have been quite busy around here during that time. When I last posted, we were all preparing for Gene's first one day evangelism training class. It took lots of preparation, printing out 75 books for the participants, and we ran into many obstacles. All of our planning and preparation benefited us greatly, as the class went off without a hitch. We had 48 people attend, which we found out is quite a big group. They were all very attentive and interested in all that Gene taught. Many of the participants have been putting into practice what they learned by hitting the streets with Gene on Friday nights. Nov. 3rd we had 7 new people to go out with our team, and Nov. 10th we had 8 new people. If you'd like to see what our team is up to, you can read our newsletter online, or if you'd like to sign up to receive it via e-mail, there is a place to do that on our ministry homepage.
We have also had a couple of bugs run through our house in the last week or so. It all began with me waking up with a stomach bug on the 11th (YUCK!). Another bug, stuffy head, chest congestion, low grade fever & malaise, proceeded to go through all of the girls, except Sarah. The bug that hit the girls has hit a lot of families here in the Houston area. We're all on the mend now, and hoping our allergies will abate soon, as the ragweed (devil weed) dies out.
On Halloween we acquired, were adopted by is probably a more accurate term, a sweet juvenile, female cat. She was quite underfed and cut up and scratched and the other cats around here were attacking her when we found her. The girls had been wanting a cat, so we let them keep her. We were really pleased as we watched her eating so well and beginning to fill out. Only now we're not so sure it's only the food causing her to fill out. Lindsay says she has felt what she believes are kittens, moving in her belly; or it could be her internal organs doing gymnastics. I'm really happy for the girls if she is pregnant. Rachel came to me today and asked me to find some pictures of newborn kittens online, as she had never seen one (that she remembers). I really believe that is an experience every child should have, watching a kitten or puppy grow from a newborn. It is an amazing thing to watch God's creation develop right before your eyes.
Back in August I wrote about a pigeon that we took in because one of the neighborhood cats had attacked it. All of its tail feathers had been pulled out, and it also suffered from many cuts. Just recently we noticed that its tail feathers were beginning to grow back in, much to our delight. Saturday we took the bird out to the prairie to let it go. I was concerned that we would get out there and the bird wouldn't fly well, but that we also wouldn't be able to catch it again...leading to many tears shed by the girls. We got to our spot and Gene took the bird. All of the girls told it "Bye" and Gene threw it up into the air. It flew up and to a tree about 50 yards away. I don't know if I have the words to describe how it felt to see it fly off as if it had never been injured. It was such a valuable lesson for the girls to learn to care for the bird, and to put away their desire to keep it as a pet. When they saw it fly away, there was no doubt that it was where it belonged. It was a great opportunity to talk to the girls about how God cares for the birds, and how much more He cares about us.
