Papa goes to Liberia

If you're in the immediate family, you've been receiving emails about this remarkable mission trip.

Now for a few pictures of that beautiful place and those dear people.

The beach scene Johnny saw everyday.

This is where Dad and the others stayed on the beach. Papa's room is the one on the left.

Papa teaching at the seminar. There were two 5 day seminars,
training 70 pastors.

The pastors and leaders practicing telling the stories.

Papa's partner, Ralph, and his wife Rosene.

Johnny with some of the pastors.

The first seminar proudly show off their certificates.

The market in Monrovia.

"Grandpa" with the main Liberian leader's children.

 



These are some of the faces of Liberia.

And now...... Papa is getting ready for his next trip

just 8 days away!

                                                    Johnny has really enjoyed playing on

The Mobberly Leftovers team,

which Noel coaches. Their record for fun was 1.000 but their won/lost record was only about .500.

However, for the end-of-season tournament they made it to the championship game and lost a nail-biter, 23-10.  Oh well, second place ain't bad.

Repairs

It all started because our hall bathroom commode needed the seal replaced. Not a complicated job. Eric and Dad planned to do it while the Luptaks were visiting.

One thing led to another.

One problem revealed yet another.

Oh my!

Under the tiles, the floor was damaged. Even some of the 2x4 framework was rotted.

A carpenter is called (handyman found in the newspaper).

Nice man.
So let's chip out a bit of tile to investigate the problem.

The black hole you see is the space under the house. Johnny spent a lot of time there, finding out the wood was rotted and we had a bigger problem than the seal on the toilet.

By the time we got to this stage (picture below) we had busted a water pipe, flooded the bathroom, hunted and found the water main to turn off. I guess in the panic I forgot to get a picture.

But now the rotted 2X4s have been replaced and the rotted flooring replaced.

So up comes the old floor tiles. All of it.

Meanwhile, where is the commode?

Johnny and I went shopping for floor tiles and the handyman laid them.

The spacers are in place to await the grout.

The final step for the flooring is almost finished with this grouting step.

NOW the toilet can be put back into place.

 

TA DA!

The finished product.

We are thankful for the job well-done and finally completed!

FARMER'S MARKET

How wonderful to have a Farmer's Market available to us here

(in Longview, Texas).

But because of the lack of rain it only lasted a few months.

Not nearly long enough. But just look at what I was able to buy during their last week:

Zucchini, tomatoes, summer squash, blueberries and Noonday onions!

All homegrown.

And don't forget the -

PITTSBURG (Texas) PEACHES!!

GET RID OF WHAT SLOWS YOU DOWN!

Our cat, SUGAR, has been looking horrible this summer. He got scruffy looking and it appeared he wasn't feeling well. Wasn't he bathing himself? Was the heat too much for him?

So we began brushing him. First Elliott worked on him. Then Molly (yes, MOLLY). Still he looked pretty sad. His hair is super thick, and the hot weather must have made him feel awful with that big furry coat on.

So twice, I brought him inside, laid a towel in my lap and got serious about combing out all those ugly clumps. Sure enough, we discovered those clumps were loose hair just caught in his thick fur.

He was molting!

Here is some of the hair we combed out of his fur.

He must feel so much better now.

"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entanges, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus..."

Hebrews 12: 1-2

RAIN

How precious that wet stuff is! And how I took it for granted. It's a lot of work to keep our lawns semi-green and our plants from drooping. When God takes care of it, it is so much easier!

But we have seen precious little moisture in Texas this summer.

Rain has come sporatically,to east Texas! Texas has been in a terrible drought for a long time. The other day, we woke up to rain failling. We had forgotten what that was like. When it comes, it is wonderful!
Thank you, Lord.

As a result of the prolonged dry season, there have been many wildfires and fear of more. I was shocked when I saw this map the other evening on the weather report:

Over July 4th, many counties had cook-out bans as well as bans on using firecrackers. You can see northeast Texas is in the best situation. Even so, Longview has seen very little rainfall this season.

Little League Baseball

For many people a big part of spring and summer is baseball. It certainly is for all the Norwoods. Noel coaches Elliott's team, the hospital's team, and our churches' team. The latter team includes 3 generations of ball players: Papa, Noel, and Johnathan.

Elliott enjoyed and did well on the 9-10 year old player-pitch team this year. The rest of us enjoyed cheering the team on. Molly, Carl, and Johnathan ran the concession stand every night and were super busy throughout the season. Noel made sure all the food and supplies were purchased, but he was mostly busy on game nights when his team was playing or practicing.

The season culminated in Elliott being chosen for the 9 year olds' All-Star team and Noel was assistant coach. Because the boys making up this all-star team had played on various teams throughout the season, they might not know each other, so Noel and the head coach decided to do some fun things together outside of practice and playing. One such event was a cookout at our house, where we had 38 people.

(Dad cleaned and scrubbed the deck and put a sealer on the wood. A considerable job! But is looks wonderful now.)

In the midst of a terrible Texas drought, God blessed us with rain on that very night....but thankfully after the hamburgers had been cooked!  We were glad the kids could play in our game room!

Meanwhile the parents and older siblings sat around the dining table and living room to visit.

The All-Stars played well, but did not manage to win the tournament. Elliott's Little League team was 2nd place in the city for 9-10 year olds! Here, Elliott is batting in the All-Star game. See Noel, 3rd base coach.

The All-Star team gathers after the game.

It's been a great season!