April brings warmer weather but lots of rain too!

Where does the time go?    We stay very busy and the weeks go by too quickly.   We have not had anything particularly interesting to post.   We are busy with computer work until early afternoon each day.  

All of our girls in the various safe houses are going to school and doing fine.    The girls are taking final exams and when school is out for the summer break, some of them will relocate to other safe houses because of school changes as they advance in their grades.    Schools in most countries are open again after having several lockdowns due to Covid-19 and Omicron.   Quite a few of the girls are being baptized but they are receiving a lot of biblical teaching and this is the result of their hearts being pricked to become followers of Christ.   

We have had friends visit for a few days and it was a delightful break from our routine.   It was good to share special food and conversation.    I cook simple but healthy meals for Ron and me but when I have company, I still love to entertain and do the best I can.

Monday night when guests arrived, I had already prepared spring rolls and hot and sour soup.   I decorated the breakfast table in "Chinese" colors, dishes, and place mats.   While they enjoyed these appetizers, I completed the cooking.   Chinese cooking has to be done at the last minute.  

When the food was ready, we moved to the dining room to enjoy roasted salmon and asparagus, chicken stir fry with mushrooms, snow peas, red peppers with yellow saffron rice.   We had ginger hot tea or iced tea.  Our dessert was pound cake with strawberries and blueberries, topped with whipped cream.     We had enough leftovers for lunch on Tuesday.   Our friends left on Wednesday and we miss them a lot.

Spring has brought a lot of rain and some very cool days, but when the weather is warm and nice, we work in the yard in the afternoons to get some exercise.  

This is Ronald and Gigi's house where we live in Woodstock, GA (north of Atlanta).  

We are doing the best we can to keep it until they decide to sell it.   During the winter, we close off about 3/4 of the house as it is too large for us and we don't want to heat all of it.    It is a beautiful house but a big yard and house.  It is a very safe and quiet location.  Neighbors are wonderful and looked out for me really well while Ron was away in Thailand.    

A week ago, Ron pulled a muscle in his back.  He had some very painful days until it finally healed.  We are careful not to do work too heavy or difficult but sometimes we can have this happen without doing very much.  I have actually pulled a muscle in my back by just reaching for something in the closet or on the floor.   Anyway, Ron is much better now and I am trying to protect him from doing too much.

We will begin traveling soon to report to churches in TN and KY.    We are driving the car now as the large RV has been turned over to a man on a lease/purchase agreement.     We still have the RV that was donated to SAS and we may take it south for the winter months unless Ron has to return to Thailand this fall.

We are waiting for Philip, Wendy and Deborah Zhang to come to work with SAS from China.   Their VISA has been approved but they can't leave Shanghai to fly to the U.S. as Shanghai is shut down due to a surge in COVID.    We hope to bring them here to our house first for a few weeks for Ron to train Philip in the SAS work as he will begin to take a leadership role to relieve Ron of the heavy load.   I hope Wendy will be interested in learning my job so she can take a portion of my work.   They may reside in Houston, TX but they will need to find a place to live and get Deborah enrolled in school by August.   They may be pushed for time by the time they can leave China. 

We hope Philip will get to go with Ron to some of the churches so he can be introduced to the way Ron gives the presentations about the SAS work. 

We will visit churches in TX, the Lord willing, in October.

It is a busy schedule for old folks but maybe the fast pace and the demand of the work is what is keeping us alive and active.  We are very thankful for our many blessings and that includes YOU...my friends, family and supporters who take time to read my blog and check up on us.   

May God bless you with good health and a wonderful spring/summer season.