VBS

Yesterday was a long day at New Columbia GMC. After morning worship, 14 people came to the parsonage for lunch, after which we went VBS calling. Vonnie prepared a wonderful meal of ham, potatoes, macaroni & cheese, fresh rolls and a veggi tray served with ice cold pepsi! We then spent the afternoon calling only to return to finish preparing for a special themed service for the evening service. Our theme for the service was "Heaven". We had special singing throughout the service with Michael DeStefano playing a medly of song about heaven. Pastor Tolley and myself both preached, two points a piece. The outline was: The Design of Heaven, Directions to Heaven, Destiny - Heaven, and Heaven - it's your Decision. There were many posotive comments and people were encouraged. Now for a week of VBS!!!

The Masons

The Masons are soon leaving our congregation. They are under appointment from HIM to be missionaries to Mexico. I have had the wonderful privilege to dedicate their two children to the Lord. Here is a picture from just a couple of weeks ago when we dedicated little Taylor Scott. Last year we dedicated Kyle. What a talented family. Our prayers are with the Masons as they prepare to answer God's call.

Finally...Excitement to Report

This is a picture of Walnut Street in Mifflinburg, PA around 11:30 last night. We saw this scene as we drove by. I was curious and drove around the vlock. Police were everywhere. Telling us what alleys to use. Today's paper said 52 year old, Mr. Showers, had called to report a dog "pooping" on his lawn. When police arrived, he had a loaded handgun and was pointing it at the police officer. A standoff took place until 1:00 am this morning. No one was hurt do to fine work from our local tactical team. All of this over dog "poop".

Final Pictures

As I was viewing my past blog posts, I realized that I had not posted pictures of our new laundry room. The previous pictures were when Don Hallenbeck was tearing everything out. Here is the final outcome. It is so wonderful having the laundry on the first floor. No more up and down. A big thank you to the church board for the added convenience.

New Car

Here it is. Our new car. I really like it. Vonnie does too, but she calls it "grannies" car. Oh well. I am very thankful for it.

Church Picnic

Today was our annual church spring picnic. It was a beautiful day. We have it at the Watsontown Park. It is in the middle of a grove of trees and is greatly shaded. We had a great lunch and then we had some cake. The cake was for Michael and Crystal Mason. This is their last picnic here. They will soon be headed to Mexico as missionaries. Michael and Crystal served as our Minister of Music for the past three years. They will be greatly missed. We also played hillbily horseshoes and real horseshoes. Luke Brinkmann and Justin Steen was the team to beat. They were undefeated. They won 8 straight games. I've never seen so many ringers and leaners. Oh well, there is always next time. All in all it was a good day.

Making the Best of a Bad Situation

As you know, because of a recent post, we had bought a Jetta. We were extremely excited. It was awsome. It wasn't long until we realized we had been taken. This awesome car was in reality a piece of junk. The story goes like this. I found this car through the magazine "Autotrader". I called about it and it sounded nice. It was very reasonably priced. I asked why a 2002 was was so low priced. His response was that he had just paid it off. He had just finished school and he wanted to get rid of the car. His names was "Rocky". I got down to Reading, PA and found his house. It was in a very nice sub-division. When we got there, I soon found out that "Rocky" was short for Raqeb...that's right...Raqeb Ahmed. He had told me he had replaced the battery because it didn't start right. We bought the car and headed towards Cabelas. We went in and when we came out the car would not start. Alternator was bad. He replaced it. The next day he was going to meet me in Lebanon, PA where I was attending a viewing. He called and said he couldn't meet me there was some other problem. In short I had owned the car three days and I still didn't have it because it had been the shop two times. When I finally got it, it needed to go in again. I was bummed, frustrated, and I quickly became an advocate of racial profiling. To me, Arabs and cars go just about as good as Indians and hotels and gas stations! Oh well. The good news is I just traded it in at a local, reputable car lot. I paid $6,500. for the Jetta and Got $9,200 for the trade. Not bad. We ended up with an Oldsmobile Intrigue. It has less miles and is in excellent condition. I am finally at peace!! No more cars for a long, long time.

Big Day

Today was a big day at the New Columbia God's Missionary Church. This morning, we had the Penn View Chapel Choir. I must say, they were sounding 100% today. Their selection of songs were terrific. For the "Annonomous" writer out there who had something to say about my last music post, save your breath. I still believe familiar songs are best for these kind of situations. The theme was "Committed to the Cause of Christ". They had a good variety of groups, solo's accompanied by the choir, and straight choir numbers. They outdid themselves today...in my opinion! Tonight, we had Wesley Whitaker for a special Memorial Day service. He did a fantastic job. Wesley has been to our church a number of times and is always well recieved. God truly has blessed this young man with great ability. Congrats to Wesley on his recent engagement. All in all...it was a good day! Thank God!

You Are Not Forgotten

As we go into Memorial Day weekend, let's take some time to reflect on the many who have given their lives for our freedom. Yes, many of us will be having cookouts and pitching horse shoes, but let's do so after we have reflected on what our freedom has cost so many. I am truly grateful for those who fought in wars far before my time, but I am truly grateful for those who are fighting for our freedom right now. I am disgusted at those who ridicule our soldiers who are laying their lives on the line everyday. Our troops are worthy of our support and prayers. I am glad we stepped up and took the battle to them. If we would have done what many of these pansies say we should have done, we would still be being bombed on our beloved soil. Freedom is precious, but it isn't free. For those who do not appriciate such freedom, priceline.com can get you out of this blessed country for a mere $500.00. I wish we could only remember the tragedy of 9/11/01. The pain. The sorrow. The grief. The loss. The anger. After 9/11, a host of musical artist came out with songs concerning our country. One of my favorites is by Daryl Worley entitled, "Have You Forgotten?" You can listen to it, I think, at www.hit-country-music-lyrics.com/Darryl-Worley-Have-You-Forgotten-Lyrics.html. This song reminds me their are some things worth fighting for. Some things worth dying for. Some things worth holding on to for dear life. Let's not forget our troops and thank God daily for those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. All gave some...but some gave all.

New Car

This past week we finally found a car. No it wasn't in California. It was in Sinking Springs, PA. It is a 2002 Volkswagon Jetta. It has leather interior, CD, Automatic (Tiptronic), heated seats and it is a 1.8 Turbo. I'm hooked. Volkswagon's are a great way to go!

What A Trip

Today we returned from the Senior Trip. We had a blast! This is the chalet we stayed in. It ws three stories. Very nice. Among paintballing, we also whitewater rafted, golfed, miniture golfed, played tennis and X-box on a 54 inch plasma screen. It was awesome. I felt like a kid again. ( I'm allowed. I'm not 30 yet!) It was great. The kids were a hoot. Even though we had a grand time, it is great to be home and see the kids. We sure missed them.

26

This is the number of bruises, big bruises, that I have on my body after my first paintball experience. Vonnie and I were co-sponsors for the High School seniors for their senior trip. They went to the Poconos and one of the many exciting things they did was paintball. If you are ever in Mt. Pocono you should try it. For more information go to www.skirmish.com. It is rated #1 in the country with over 700 acres of woods and courses. The last game we played was called paint to pain. Basically you were never declared dead. You could stay in as long as you could endure the pain. Al in all, it was a great experience and I can't wait for the chance to do it again.

Cruisin'

Kevin Forney stopped by the other day and while he was here, the kids went cruisin'. Justin loves it when Kevin takes him for a spin. One of these days, I'll have to use Justin as an excuse to get a bike!

Mexican Meal

We recently had our annual mexican meal that was sold at the Penn View auction. Valerie and Vonnie have done one the past two years. They do an awesome job. They fix authentic food...and lots of it. I do my part by fixing mexican fried ice cream. They vow this year was the last! But have no fear, I'm in the family so I can get it whenever:) Valerie makes the best homemade guacamole! Mmm. I'm making myself hungry. Some of the guest have been the James Plank family, Michael Mason family, Steve and Sarah Miller, Donnie and Becky Hallenbeck, the Forneys, the Beachels and the Slavens. It has been great!

"I want a jump-a-leen"

These were the words of Justin after jumping on Jamison and Jennifer's trampoline.

On the Road Again

Yesterday was an off day for Vonnie and I. Since Laura was off for spring break and wasn't working, she babysat the kids and we went spent the day out. We are currently looking for a new car. I am a big fan off internet shopping, so we went to New Jersy to look at a car. Instead of getting a car, I about got a jail sentence. The story goes like this. We are probably going to purchace a VW Jetta. (We really like the Passat, but haven't had much luck finding one...for us.) I found this VW Passat online on autotrader.com. It was actually pretty cheap fpr a Passat, so I called the guy. Oh, he ranted and raved about the car. I asked some pretty detailed questions considering the drive is nearly three hours. His answers were, the car is in excellent shape. It runs great. Everythings works like it should. Well, we show up and guess what...There was a large scratch down the side, a dent to match, the air didn't work and the moonroof was malfunctioned. To top it all, his "car lot" was a body/junk shop. There were a few broken fixtures inside the car I was pointing out when he had the nerve to ask, "What do you expect for such a low price?" My answer was simple..."I didn't expect anything different, except for the fact you told me it was in excellent shape." Considering all the heaps of junk that it was sitting around, to him, it was in excellent shape. I wanted so bad to ring his neck, but refrained and left. So the saga continues.

New Gadget

My two year contract ran out recently with Verizon. I was having trouble dropping people all the time. After 4 or 5 trips to the shop, we came to the conclusion it was a deficient phone. Well, problem solved. I got a new phone. It is a Motorola Krazer, a new version of the oh-so-popular Razor. I love it. It comes with a bluetooth ear piece. So far, so good.

Remodeling

My father-in-law, Don Hallenbeck, is doing some minor reinovations in our house. He is fixing things so that we can bring our washer and dryer out of the basement to the upstairs. They will now be located in the guest bathroom. Vonnie is thrilled. No more climbing the stairs everyday with a clothes basket full of clothes.

Kayla's Two...on Friday!

Yesteray, we celebrated Kayla's 2nd birthday since my mom and dad were in from West Virginia. We gathered at Don and Val's and had supper and then birthday cake. Gwen Tolley made a really nice cake for her. It's hard to believe two years have come and gone. She is already potty trained and is starting to put words together. Wow...I'm getting old!

Pennsylvania Hillbillies

A couple of weeks ago, our church's young married class has a Hillbilly Shindig. Pictured are the class teachers, Roy and Doris Hoffman. They do a fantastic job. Also pictured are some of the food...Pickled frog...Catlitter cake. That one actually looked a little to real.

Gwen's Restoration

When Vonnie and I got married, my mom gave me a quilt, ole' Betsy, that was my great-grandmothers. I loved this quilt. It was a king-sized quilt and it was one of the real heavy ones. Thin, but heavy. Of course it was a old quilt and to say it was very, very ragged would be an understatement. I was discouraged because I thought it was time to say our tearful good-byes. But, then along came Gwen...Gwen Tolley. She took that quilt and restored it into this beautiful quilt. My nights are much more peaceful and my sleep has come so much easier now that I have it back. The tombstone came from Gwen as a reminder of ole' Betsy.

Yesterday was a very bad day for me. Mainly because it was mostly spent painting. Our bedroom now has a new look. As the pictures show, not everything is back in place, but I'm sure I'll be doing that soon. It was a lot of work, but we like it, so that makes it worth while.

I Miss Frank, Daddy

These were Justin's words this evening as we came home from town. The late Frank was our pet dog. Frank had the life span of nearly three-and-a half months. We found him strangled to death after an outside stay went bad. Apparently, life was rough for him at the Ellison homestead. Restricted areas in the house...no climbing on the furniture...a cold shoulder from the woman of the house. It was just too much. Today, he wrapped himself, by his leash, around a bush and strangled himself to death. His memory lingers still! Anyone wanting to contribute in the funeral meal may do so!

Already!?!?

Kayla has already picked up the wonderful female gift of gab. She loves to talk on the phone. Noboby understands her, but she talks a mile a minute.

Roger Bennett Dies

Roger Bennett, long time pianist for the The Cathedrals, and to-date was the pianist of Legacy Five, died today. He died to complications from his chemotherapy. He was 48 years old.

We Have Arrived

Lewisburg, PA was put on the map today. A moment we have all been waiting for happened around 8:00 am Wednesday morning. A Super-Walmart came to town. Not just any Super-Walmart, but the largest one in PA. It is huge. It is nice to have a Super-Walmart. Once you have shopped at one, on regular Walmart just isn't the same. I try and post a couple of pics later.

In Memory Of...

We received the sad news tonight that Rev. Smokey McDonald was killed in a tragic accident today. The accident involved a backhoe that flipped and threw Mr. McDonald. The backhoe then rolled and landed on Smokey. We remember Smokey from the times we were at Bible Methodist Youth Camp. He was always a lot of fun to be with. In my younger years, Smokey made a big impact on me. Smokey always made it a point to let you know he believed in you. That meant a lot as a young person. Our prayers are with the family during this very traumatic time.

Happy Birthday Vonnie!

On March 3, Vonnie turned 30. We gathered at the Hallenbeck's for her birthday bash. Gwen Tolley made her cake, Valerie made some flat-out awsome lasagna, and others gathered to give her a surprise.