I’ve been remiss in writing since we left Minneapolis last week.  When we first got to De Pere (just south west of Green Bay, WI) we had a couple deadlines hanging over our heads, and when we managed to get those done, there didn’t seem to be much to write about.

I think we are actually in an area called Hobart that’s between De Pere and Appleton, but the mailing address is De Pere.  We are at Apple Creek Campground, and when we first checked in on Monday of last week, I noticed a sign saying they have church services here at 8:00 on Sundays.

This morning we got up and walked over to the office.  We were maybe a minute late and they were already singing the first hymn.  There were a handful of people already seated so we sat next to the pastor’s wife in the front row.  She obviously loves to sing with great gusto slightly off key, but the Bible only says we’re to make a joyful noise.  I enjoyed her enthusiasm!

The pastor preached from Matthew 5 on being the salt of the earth.  He said he used to be in construction and worked seventy to eighty hours a week, but he asked his boss if he could cut back to three days a week when he began ministering.  He talked about the other guys being jealous and ribbing him, but he spoke to them about his faith anyway.  He said you never know what seeds you may be sowing when you witness to others.  He said our lives should be so different from everyone else’s that we stand out, just as salt makes bland foods taste better.  It made me wonder: How salty am I?  Do I add the savor of Christ to those around me?

Mark and I are using this waiting time to downsize a bit.  Mark now has all his tools for being an RV inspector and has gotten rid of a large number of tools he hasn’t used since we’ve been Workamping.  We’ve gone through our files and gotten rid of a fair amount of paper so we can fit everything into a small file box.  This frees up our two drawer file cabinet to be donated to Goodwill.  We are trying to get to the point where everything has a place and everything is in its place.

Mark also signed up with the Green Bay VA.  It will be nearly a two hour drive from Ellison Bay, but it will be the closest VA to us this summer.

I’ve been working on a quilt I started a while ago.  It’s for my nephew, Nathanael McCroskey-Izzett, who will be graduating from high school this year and going off to college next year.

I am so proud of him!  All the seniors at his school have to do a senior capstone project where they ask someone to mentor them.  Nate is a gifted musician and decided to compose a band piece about a flood that devastated Vernonia, OR when he was going to school there.  A famous composer named Robert Sheldon (http://robertsheldonmusic.com/) agreed to be his mentor.

During the aftermath of the flood, my brother-in-law, Rob, lost all the sheet music for the band classes he was teaching at Vernonia High School so he sent requests to every musician he could think of.  Robert Sheldon sent him editor’s copies of sixty pieces of band music — boxes and boxes of it — and later came to Vernonia and met Rob and Nate. That’s why he agreed to mentor Nate.

A week ago Nate conducted the debut performance of his piece and dedicated it to his former classmates in Vernonia.  At the end he and his dad met on the stage and hugged each other and one of the band members tapped Nate and said, “Turn around!”  Nate was receiving a standing ovation!  As soon as I hear if it has been posted on YouTube, I’ll send it to you all.  I’m eager to see it myself!