Apples and sunsets

You have probably heard the saying "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." That is certainly the case between me and Heather. While unfortunately she inherited some of my weaknesses, she also inherited some good things from both sides of the family. One is her love of photographing beautiful scenery. I have no idea how many pretty pictures she has taken, just this last week, but I am sure it's very many. Nothing wrong with that. I like to take pictures like that myself...always have.

This past week when I took the mission team up to see the elk, she wanted to go, but could not because of a prior comittment. As we were leaving the mountain top I looked out the side window and noticed something that I just couldn't pass up. The guys were ready to get going and go warm up and eat supper, but I stopped the truck one more time so I could "take a picture for Heather". I knew she would love it. Personally, I think it was worth it...

Elkview Road

Yes, once again we have visited Elkview Road in Knott County and had a great time watching these magnificent animals. We counted around 50 last night, although it certainly looked like more than that. This was my favorite picture from the evening.

Prayer Request

We are much closer than we were on getting the gym opened back up. Please pray with us that the State Fire Marshall will come today (or early this week) and be lenient on what has to be done before we can open the gym.

Looking up...

Last week we had a great group of guys from Roebuck (SC) Baptist that came and got started on a new ceiling in the gym. The original plan was to just patch, but as you can see from the picture, the new plan is to cover the entire ceiling. They got one section finished and it looks great! Thanks guys! Now who wants to do the other 5 sections...? :-)

Mountain Heritage

As you may know, the first couple of years we were here, we hosted a Fall Festival here on Campus. Last year the team that was coming to help us do that (Ivy Creek Baptist - Buford, GA) could only come on the same weekend that the town of Whitesburg was having their Mountain Heritage Festival. Not wanting to try to compete with that, we decided to try having a booth at Mountain Heritage instead. We gave away popcorn and bottled water and had spin art and bead bracelets for the kids. We had a great time and said that we wanted to try it again.

Careful what you ask for! :-)

This year's booth was a HUGE success. Yes, we gave away bottled water and popcorn (about 4 times as much as last year), but we also had coloring books and crayons, free Bibles, spin art and... ta da! CRAZY HAIR! Yes, CRAZY HAIR! Now if you are like I was, and don't know what that is, I'll include a picture below. Basically it amounts to a crazy hairdoo made with everything from colored ribbons to hair-sprayed color to glitter to baloons to tiki umbrellas to... well, you get the idea. This was a huge success. The ladies from Ivy Creek were swamped from the moment they opened for hairdoo's each day until the festival closed that night. Folks were lined up and waited patiently so that they could sport their own personally and uniquely created "doo".

One of the ladies that works on the committe to organize the festival said she had never seen anything like it and begged Ivy Creek to come back next year! She said the Festival had the best atmsophere she had ever seen and said she felt it was because of the spirit and attitude of the folks in the Calvary Campus booth! I think we have a long running egagement in the works.

All of this was wonderful, but it was not the primary purpose we had the booth. All the give-away stuff was intended to help everyone have a good time - yes, but also to help get the word out about all the things that are going on at Calvary Campus and all the different ministry opportunities. We also took prayer requests and even had the opportunity to pray with folks right then and there. What a great weekend this was. Thanks so much to the folks from Ivy Creek and everyone else who helped make the Calvary Campus booth a success. Pray with us that the seeds that were planted through the Bibles given away, the coloring books, the prayer times, words of encouragement spoken and many other ways will reap a bountiful harvest in people's lives.

View from our front porch

Yes, Fall has arrived. The leaves are turning, the air is crisp (at the moment-43 degrees), and we've only had to cut the grass once in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Every time the seasons change I have a new favorite, it seems (although Spring really is my personal #1). I love this time of the year, when a campfire is about the best thing you can do with your leisure time, a fleece pullover feels really good and stew or chili "hits the spot" better than anything. We hope you are enjoying this time of year and remembering the Creator who made it all and made it possible for us to enjoy it. Have a great day!