A hodgepodge and a prayer request...

For those of you who feel led, would you please pray for Josh's wife, Jess? She is probably going to the hospital today because Josh says she has been experiencing "waves of depression" and suicidal thoughts. This is not unexpected considering her mental problems, but still difficult to go through. On a positive note Josh also posted the following article on Facebook this morning. He said this is one part of a 15-part series that he's reading. He said God has been bringing up Lazarus a lot in answer to prayers. I hope this might help others, so I'm linking it here. Thanks for your prayers!

When Jesus Makes You Wait in Pain

Gretchen asked about the three languages I'm studying on the Duolingo website. I heard someone suggest that studying languages might be good exercise to keep aging brains alert. I thought it was an intriguing idea, and I've always wanted to try my hand at another language. Many folks on this website are quite addicted to this activity and are studying multiple languages. I began with Hebrew, thinking it would be a good challenge. I've loved Israel since my teens and this is more a connection to Israel than a language I might actually use. If I should ever visit Israel someday I'm well aware that most of them speak English better than I do! It has been a fun challenge so far. I do a lot of repeating lessons and am progressing slowly. After beginning Hebrew I thought, "Why not Spanish?" It seems like a practical choice, though it's probably more of a game than an actual thought that I will become proficient enough to use it in real life. I took Spanish in junior high, but that was in the stone age, right? Conjugating verbs is so confusing, so I decided that instead of making lists to memorize I would just do it like a baby does. Learn by hearing things over and over and over again! This seems to be the best method for me and things are sinking in very slowly. I added Welsh just for fun! It seems like such an ancient language and I love that part of the world. It does seem to be the one I have the most difficulty with remembering. The words are so "unwordlike"! They seem like crumbs and bits of words and I can't seem to come up with a technique to remember them. I'm taking it very slowly and repeating a lot. Anyway, it's a lot of fun to challenge myself this way each day, so I hope some of you might join in the fun. It's free so you have nothing to lose! Please blog about it if you do!

Duolingo 

The other day I decided to drag out all of my ATC making supplies and just leave them out so I could sit and work on cards as the spirit moved me. I never eat at the table, so it really isn't inconvenient to have it all spread out there.

 I can hear the distant sound of hammers pounding across the highway. The high school kids are building a house. They do this every year for school. My son-in-law, Adam, did this 9 years ago and he's now building his own house! I think it's a wonderful thing for kids to learn. There are a few girls over there, too. Go, girls! You can see them in the right side of the window standing on that horizontal beam, which is actually the floor. They have a piece of plywood they're about to put down on the floor. To the left you see a grey house which they built last year. They sell them eventually to fund the making of the next one. The place they're working is the lumberyard.

I think that's it for now. It's taken me quite a while, including stopping for lunch, to get this much down. Thank you all for stopping by and for your prayers!
Shalom, adios and prynhawn da! (Good afternoon in Welsh.)