Bound for Mississippi!

Well, it looks like a group of 16 guys will be boarding our church coach bus and heading for Mississippi. We will be doing construction under Christian Aid Ministries in an area that was damaged from hurricane Katrina. We plan to leave this Saturday night around 7:30 and get back the following Saturday or Sunday. If I can get an internet connection, I will post pictures during the week.

A Wedding.

It was a lovely wedding indeed! Enjoyed seeing a number of folks that came in for the event. Click on the link below to take you to a number of pictures I took from the wedding and reception.

> LaDonna's Blog < Click

Top 7 List Add-on.

Most of you are probably familiar with Adobe Acrobat Reader which allows you to open and view/print PDF files. I mistakenly thought that you had to purchase an expensive full version of Adobe Reader in order to create your own PDF files. A friend of mine recently enlightened me to a neat little program called >PrimoPDF<
This program allows you to create your own PDF files. The best part is....ITS FREE! I can now send estimates/invoices to customers as an email attachment. Been wanting to do this for a long time now. Primo needs to become part of the Top 7 List as #8!

Wonderful Ebay!

One of the things mentioned in my "Top 7 List" a few days ago was Ebay. Once again Ebay has saved us about 70.00. My wife has diabetes and of course goes through a lot of test strips in her blood glucose monitoring machine. These test strips cost 51.99 for box of 50 as seen here at
>> Walgreens.
This brings us to the title of this entry "Wonderful Ebay!" Naomi recently won the auction for 100 of those strips. The winning bid, 33.00 including shipping! Buying the same quantity at Walgreens would have cost 104.00! Click here for the evidence as seen on ebay> Ebay Item #5676335766
Are there any Roblog readers with similar great deals on ebay?

Dial-up Hassles Part 2.

As was mentioned in the last post, sister Barbara was having trouble getting email etc. Well, the problem seems to be solved. Switching to > Coppernet < seems to have made the difference. She said that connecting goes through a lot faster now. I called Earthlink for her and got that account cancelled. She is still really interested in getting DSL if/when it EVER becomes available on her road. How wonderful that day will be!

Continued Dial-up Hassles.

I just got back from Sister Barbara's place. For some reason she continues to have random connection problems with her laptop. It appears to be a problem with Earthlink but I won't know for sure until we try another ISP. Another reason I am suspicious of Earthlink is because friends of ours >gokum< have complained of similar problems with Earthlink. I am suggesting that she give "Coppernet" a try. Its only 9.95 per month which is no more than she is already paying. This whole dial-up struggle that folks go through just makes me sigh and wish for they day when affordable broadband will be available for EVERYBODY! I consider affordable broadband to be anything under 30.00 per month. I will keep you posted on how this latest dial-up fiasco turns out.

Family Singing.

Our family was in charge of the service this Sunday evening. We had been asked to sing again by the Sunday evening comittee. All in all, it went a little better than I expected. Practicing tends to be rather tough as you can imagine and it seems that we just don't get it done like we should unless we have the pressure of a program to give! I told the congregation before we began that this might just be a continuation of our practice session. Thanks to the prayers of people before and during the service, it went pretty good. Hopefully somebody was encouraged and/or the Lord was honored.

A Top 7 List.

I sometimes wonder what life would be like without the internet. I have come to depend on it for so many things. Let me list a number of things I do online that would be a pain to do without. I will try to list them in order of importance with number 1 being most important:

1. Online banking and bill paying. It has been wonderful to almost eliminate the use of stamps, envelopes, and the associated costs etc. It now frustrates me when I can't pay a bill online!
2. Communication. Email and instant messaging are of equal importance to me.
3. Ebay. The amount of money we have saved on ebay pays for most, if not all, of my high speed internet bill.
4. Product Research. I love to research and read reviews on a product before I buy something. Examples would include a digital camera, camcorder, car, notebook computer etc.
5. Product Purchasing. Buying things online is so easy and convienient.
6. Blogging. Can you even imagine not having Xanga or blogs? It has become a great way to keep in touch with friends and family that you don't get to see very often. Instead of a Christmas letter that comes via snail mail maybe once per year, blogging has become a weekly or even daily newsletter!
7. Helpful Info. Have you ever lost a users manual for something? I recently needed a manual for a fax machine. No problem. Just get the model number go online and download the manual free at the manufacturers website. I have done this for my chainsaw, to get instructions for a 24 hour time switch, and instructions for a programmable thermostat to name a few.

Maybe this list will grow with more thought. Perhaps some of you have some things to add to this list?

A Puzzle And Then Some!

For services this Sunday evening we met at church then divided into several groups to visit our ministers. Our group ended up at brother Bill's place. All of us brought our own snacks! We did a little singing and had a devotional. After the little worship time, we had a good time visiting etc. One thing I have been wanting to see at bro. Bill's place is the huge jigsaw puzzle he has been working on for a couple months now. Its a 6000 piece monster puzzle! He hopes to get it done and in a frame to sell in time for our annual festival. Here is a look at the puzzle still under construction. Anybody out there want to come help on it?

Sadness.

I had kind of a sad day. Went back to this little house that I need to finish up the electrical work. This is the house that was being built by Daniel Swartzentruber. You may remember me mentioning him in an >earlier post. < Its kind of surreal inside that house seeing some of his tools still laying around probably the way he left them. They included a hand trowel for finishing drywall, a trim saw, ladder, paint brushes, extension cords, halogen work lights etc. Its just so hard to imagine I will never be able to hear his friendly voice again in this life. It was a tough day working there. I was sort of in a daze and just going through the motions trying to get some things done. I was glad the plumber was there. We were both under the house in the crawl space for most of the day. He mentoined that they had gone over to see Daniel's wife the other night. She was a little embarrased when they showed up because she must have been having a rough time of it moments before. Its so hard to imagine the amount of grief she and the boys must be feeling after only 1 1/2 weeks of him being gone. Death is so cruel and painful. How do people survive times like this without the Grace of God? That Grace, along with some time, will help bring this suffering family through this aweful haze. I am hoping the same will happen for another family near and dear to us. Namely, the Mark Yoder Sr. family. Oh how great the Day and great the Joy when Jesus returns to destroy our last and most feared enemy which is death! Hallelujah What A Saviour! I am so glad He loved me/us enough to die on the cross and rise from the dead. All for you and me!
These verses taken from 1Cor 15:

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.