For those who are unaware – Elizabeth has gone to Haiti again. This time it is to teach Bible school in two different places. She left August 12, and will return September 3. She will be in two completely new areas of Haiti – for her – and will be teaching Bible School. At the end of the time, she plans to be at IFM for a couple days before returning home and “hitting the decks” with a work schedule!

Consider the lilies and see how they grow – this reminds us that God cares.

It is not easy to hear the doctor say that my father’s heart is wearing out. It is something that we knew, but sort of put it off in the future years. Now we know that years are not an option, although we have no idea when. The heart muscle is thickening, slowing all the work it needs to do, which creates other problems. There is no medicine or exercise that will make it any better. A pace maker is being considered, and a heart monitor is on him for the next 24 hours. The doctor has said that he should not do any long distance driving at this point.

I have been very grateful to have my parents as long as I have. They are 82, and I really wonder if I will live to be that old. It has greatly shortened the length of time between their passing and my own, giving me many blessings I had not expected.

My prayer is that when the time comes for his heart to give completely out, that God would see fit to give Daddy a “quiet and peaceful” passing from this earth.

We have been blessed with the birth of a granddaughter last Monday, August 3. She will be known as Jamie Belle Hershberger, and have Jacob and  Valerie as her parents. She will also have a big brother – Isaac.

Our family was all together last evening for supper. They wanted to see Elizabeth before she returns to Haiti for three weeks. We had a really enjoyable time, looking forward to more like it!

Elizabeth, Tom and I will be going to Atlanta on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, she will fly to Haiti to teach Bible school for three weeks, returning Sept. 3.

Elizabeth and I were winding down last evening when the phone rang. She answered it and let me know that my nephew, Shane, was on the way to see us!! He is on a four day leave to see his mom, and I never expected that he would come over before he left. I had seen him a couple months back in the Atlanta airport, and just figured that he had many places to be while here such a short time. He and his mom were here almost two whole hours!  Merle had been over at his folks, and was able to be here most of the time. Was really very special for us!

I found this on the Heart of Compassion Xanga site and copied it for you to read. It really meant a lot to me!

Every Child School

Well there are quite a few changes at the little school on the mountain. Let me first start with Miss Elizabeth Hershberger…

We (the board) would like to give our many, many thanks to this special young lady with a huge heart. Elizabeth left the many comforts that we all know daily to make her home in the mountains of Soliette. Now just how many of us would be willing to give up our running water, electricity, family, friends, American food and live among strangers??? We may not even realize what a sacrifice she made to be of service, but we want to thank her! Elizabeth you did a great work and helped the school so much…we will miss you. Elizabeth will be leaving Haiti on March 18^th to return to home back in S. Carolina, so please keep her in your prayers as she adjusts to life back in the States. God bless you our dear friend!!!

In one hour it has gone from a world of rain and wind to white and very quiet!  The snow has just blanketed everything so pretty.  (Even the skunk that waddled, as though he did not like the snow, over to our garage!) Merle told me I should go shoot it, but I will wait til he is home and take care of it himself!

Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be in the 40′s, so the snow will not last long. It should be in the 20′s before morning, so it should still be here when we awake! I love snow in this area. It comes, stays 24 hours or so, and then leaves. Sort of makes one think they are having one of those wonderful “snow days” from back in school.

We now have HOT water!  The water heater had leaked in the kitchen, making a mess of the floor. Up comes the linoleum and a couple underlay boards to let everything dry out.  When Merle got the new heater, it would not fit where we had it before, so he has spent all his spare time the past week under the house. He had to send a new set of water lines to the back porch and set the heater up next to the washer. This will eliminate the problem in the kitchen again!

Pray for Elizabeth, she is sick and on medication. We were glad she was at IFM and could see the doctor.

I have a friend that is ICU, so I will be going there after teaching Sunday School this morning.

The weatherman is calling for 3-6 inches of snow tonight!  The wind is really STRONG this morning! Maybe we will see snow before bedtime tonight!

Have you ever wondered when you prayed to our Heavenly Father if He really hears what you are saying?  Well, I have a recent happening in my life to share with you!

Elizabeth called me Sunday evening. I returned her call to see what I could do for her. She requested that I turn the radio on in our home to 88.5 FM/WRAF in Toccoa Falls, GA. While I went to the radio and found the station, this is what she told me.

Elizabeth said there had been no church this morning (not sure why) so she began to pray for me at 9:45 AM because she knew that I was teaching a woman’s Sunday school class. (I let her know how much I appreciate that.) She had listened to some tapes, read some books and listened to the radios playing all around the area. Most of them were not what she wished to hear, and there isn’t much of a choice anyway. She asked God to please give her something nice to hear, and very shortly there was nice music. She listened, and thought she heard “88.5 Toccoa Falls, GA”. She ran to her radio, turned it on to 88.5 and listened.

By that time our radio in our home was on, and I held the phone so she could hear it. She told me that she was hearing the same thing in both ears!!!!  Please understand – the tower for that station is one half mile away from our front door and Elizabeth was in Soliette, Haiti!!!! (with a radio that has only batteries)

I truly believe that God wanted her to know that He listens to her needs, and answers them as He knows best! She – or I – will probably never forget that He listens to our prayers – right as we say them!

I spoke to her this morning and she said that she was able to listen for about one half hour before it went away!

God is Good – only we need to remember that.

I know that lots of other places look like this background, but not our area We had lots of weather predictions, but the weathermen got it all wrong this time. If the clouds/snow come over the mountains, it will often skip right over us and let the areas farther east get the snow. Now, if it comes from the south and comes around the bottom of the mountain range, then we can really get a nice snow.

Merle has had 3-5 days of work each week since Thanksgiving. It has allowed him to cut up a lot of wood that has been available to him, and get a few things done around the house. One of the first weeks that he only had 3 days of work, he had a big list of things he wanted to do!  Maybe one got done!! It was such a nice time to relax for a few days, and he did.(Well deserved too!) We want to thank the Lord for the work He does provide for us, and pray that we as a nation will not have to see what it saw in the 1920-30s.

Elizabeth had gone back to Haiti. A cousin of mine is having their last child get married this spring, and told Elizabeth that they will be empty nesters then. Elizabeth said that her folks have one bird that keeps flying back to nest every so often, and they only have spurts of the empty nest!