The Farmer's Place: July 2016

Month #7 in Savannah.

The biggest thing we learned is it is oh, so good to be with family. And home is not a location, it's wherever your family is.

This move to Savannah has been a great blessing. To worship with your children on Sundays, have meals together, spend a day at the beach together, even have your son drop by on his way home from work. What a joy!

Here's a few things we learned this month ...

1. Good friends stand by you and bless you at the most unexpected times.
Our pastor, Rev. Jim Dunn, has been a friend since Michael started ministry. They were actually ordained together. He has been right here for us since we retired, making sure we have what we need and encouraging us. Even though he has had troubles of his own, most recently he had pneumonia and was in ICU in a medically induced coma for 8 days. As soon as he was awake, he asked Mike to come visit. He basically, just wanted to know that we were alright.

But I get ahead of myself. Here's the sweet thing. He managed to get his hands on the retirement plaque for Michael since we did not go to District Assembly. Then he planned a special day at church, had the plaque presented to us, and a church dinner with a special cake. He wanted to be sure that we had our "day in the sun".

Forty Years of ministry cannot go by unnoticed.

2. Michael has still got it.
Due to Pastor Jim's illness, Michael has preached twice this month. Yep, he's still got it.

He also has become an excellent proofer for my blog series, Fibromyalgia is Real. I continue to write about fibromyalgia along with other things the Lord places on my heart. Have you read it? Just click here.

Michael built these shelves for me!

Michael also built me these great shelves for my desk this month .....

3. It really is awesome to have all the family together.
I just sat there and soaked it all up this past week. Daniel did the smoking, Mikaela & Tina did the cooking. And we all just enjoyed being together. What a blessing!

"I wonder if I should sample this before dinner"

Yes, Daniel still has it too. Yum!

Like Father...Like son...Like Grand-dad

4. Keeping a surprise makes the days long.

This lovely box was filled with cards

When June hit, we had big plans. Brian would be coming to visit for a week for Father's Day and Michael's birthday. We wanted to do something special because we didn't get a chance to celebrate his retirement. We began sending out notices every way we could to ask our friends and church members for all his churches to send cards. To keep it a surprise, we had people send cards to Brian.

We finally presented the cards to Michael on his birthday. He received over 30 cards, e-mails, and two very special videos. It was wonderful to hear from friends new and old. It brought to mind so many wonderful memories throughout our ministry. What a blessing that we will be able to enjoy for a long time. Thank you to all who participated in that.

All the kids and I also wrote a letter to Michael. Click here for mine. There's also a post about my dad for Father's Day.

5. Michael and I love sitting in our room, hearing the laughter of our children.

Tina says, "I can easily creep out Brian".

You've heard the saying "I shook my family tree and a bunch of nuts fell out". Well, that would be the Farmer tree. What craziness happens when we get the family together. Pure silliness. But the laughter we hear when playing games is a great joy to me.

6. God is always way ahead of us.

While we were trying to figure out where to move and how to get there, the Savannah Harvest Church was deciding to hire a minister of music. The Grimes Family arrived in Savannah one week before us.

When we arrived, we learned that Eric & Amber and I attended Asbury University at the same time. While we didn't know each other 30 years ago, we had several mutual friends. This created a quick connection, but this also meant that our children are virtually the same ages. Our families seem to be so much alike. I believe, we have made some life long friends.

8. Mikaela says, "Staying up too late can affect your whole week."

Can we blame this on Pastor Grimes? They were over to play board games. It lasted until 2am or so. Oh well, they were the ones that had to get up early the next day. Besides, it was lots of laughs. And we plan to do it again soon. [Sorry,no pics :( ]

9. Good friends can pick up where they left off, even if it's been 10 years or more.

Ministry friends from our 6 years in Wisconsin stopped by on their way home from Disney. We took them down for a trolley tour of historic Savannah and then our famous BBQ and Brunswick stew from the Low Country. Great friends. Great day.

One thing I learned on this tour ...

9a. To see beauty, You need to look up!

10. Even with so much going on, you can still get a little crafting done.

Fibro Giveaway

Donated to the youth
auction.

Wreath making
with the church ladies

Patriotic wreaths

11.You are never exempt from home sickness.

Even after all these years, a picture posted on
Facebook can make you a little homesick.
This is the Wisconsin home place taken from
my brother's place. The farm was sold several years ago

12. God always Provides.

Found in the rain

> Though we did not request gifts, Michael received enough cash in his cards to make ends meet this month.

> If you wonder if an extended warranty on your car is wise, the answer is "YES". [Door handle repairs, AC repairs, and the car rental ... all covered. PTL!]

> If you wait long enough, first class airfare becomes reasonable enough to purchase.

P.S. Our Grandcats ....