Monday, September 13, 2010

FALL MAKES US THINK OF YOU, EVEN MORE!

Oh, falling leaves, acid smell from the ground, trees turning lovely colors...it's my favorite time of the year! Autumn. We begin putting items aside that we want to take with us on our Snowbirding trip to Quartzsite: this pile for the church buildings or property, this pile for our place. We just transport things from there to OR and other things from OR to AZ. Kind of funny.

Vern just got back from spending a wonderful time in the deep mountains with our two boys. He is just a tiny bit cranky at having to come back to REALITY. But, this is reality: farm fences not hot today, air out of a tractor tire, dog's been to the vet and costing more money, things to attend to at Albany church that occurred during his absence, a big bill for fixing a small thing on the car. You know, just the normal.

The Quartzsite church of Christ has not gained financially during the summer. Perhaps some of us mean to make up our pledges when we get back. "Life" can also cause a drop in the donations. We've made a big commitment and had a great first year of donations. I have been looking at someway of making some extra money that we can give. Our children, g.children, Albany church, missionaries, etc. have needed a lot of help lately, as probably most of you are experiencing the same thing. This will be a test of our faith in God's word, when he says, "Bring in the whle tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you in the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until there is no more need."Malachi 3:10.

Linda Herrings son had his double lung transplant and is doing well. She has been in Tucson for a month, and should be coming home this week. Think Reg might be tired of bachelor life.

Our contacts with the body of Christ which meets in Quartzsite has not been very good lately. Our summer-from June 7-to Aug.28-was spend with a five year old grandson at our house most every day and some nights. Our accomplishments were great though: "we" went from a beginner 'white belt' to an orange belt in Karate for Kids, "we" got a medal for our first year of T-Ball, and "we" learned to swim without a life jacket on, even jumping into the deep end of the pool! "We" also learned to cut with scissors, and immediately trimmed a doll's hair! "We learned to write our name: Conagher. It's not an easy name to write. When I wrote it hurriedly one time, he pointed out that I had left out the "g."

Check in: tell us how you are doing, and we can send it out in this blog..or not.
We love you all and are looking forward to another successful year working in God's little kingdom at Quartzsite.


Thursday, July 1, 2010

Hello to the Quartzsite church of Christ, scattered all over the United States.
As soon as we get back to our biological families, we surely get "occupied" don't we!
Vern and I have been on grandchild and dog and horse duty for our youngest son, for 4 weeks now. Not doing too good, either. ha. We sold one of their horses, the grandson has a ecky nose cold, and one of their dogs attacked one of the others, and we have vet bills.
Oh well! That's life...ours anyway.
Vern is haying our fields now. The grass is lovely, but thought we'd never get to hay because we had so much rain in June and the ground is still wet; however, the hay cured out nicely. Baling more today, tomorrow, and to infinity....well, it just seems that way.
Not nearly as much to cut/bale as we used to have.
It was hard planting a garden, for the same reasons, rain, showers, sprinkles, INTERMITTENT SPRINKLES WITH RAIN. Our weather people come up with novel ideas to relay the same message...RAIN!

Heard from Pat Coffey, and Bob's mother passed on. They were very close to her, and he lost his dad not too long ago. They would be celebrating their 70th anniversary, and she wanted to be with him for that! Here is their address/phone in case you care to send condolences.
Bob and Pat Coffey:
311 Pebble Creek Dr.
Mountain View, AR 72560
Phone is 361-648-8686 (Pat's cell)

Earlier, we had a great visit with Bill and Darlene Sturgal, here in Albany. They played some Blue Grass and sang and we got to invite a few of our friends. Our son and his friend enjoyed joining in now and then, when they could.

Kay and Woody Hoyman just bought a house in Twin Falls, Idaho! They will still be wintering in Quartzsite!

Wendell and Joanne Seawright are in New Hampshire now, I believe. They were enroute and stopped for awhile to visit Rose. They attended services there and was surprised to see Joanne (Jo) Moreland there! Her son-in-law leads the singing there! Isn't that great to run into a member of our church family!

Olen and Edie Tackett called and reported they are doing well, and their garden is up and way ahead of ours!

Linda and Reg Herring have been doing some yard remodeling and found muscles they don't know they had! Been moving large rocks and boulders around.

Talked to Hazel Swangel and she reports that Paul and she are doing fine!
Also, visited by phone with Harriett Boenish. She got moved to a city and can attend all services now, and visit with friends. She was so far out and away, and Minnesota has bad winters which kept her house bound. She is much happier and sends her love to all.

A financial report is that we did pay an extra $8,000 to Red and Norma, who sold us the property and buildings, making a total of $21,000 paid this past season. Our bank account is $6,700+ so we are holding well.......but we need to be making some deposits to ensure we can make another $13,000 payment soon. Remember you can send checks to the Horizon Bank, in Quartzsite, for account number: 0303000723, which is the Quartzsite church of Christ. The bank's address is: P.O. Box 4680, Quartzsite, AZ 85359.

We are looking forward to being together again, Lord willing!
That's it for now. Our love to you all.
judy and vern







Monday, March 22, 2010

Our first anniversary




Our first year has gone by so quickly, as they all seem to do for us seniors.
So much has been accomplished at our facility at 76 S. Emelia in Quartzsite: the men made a new front porch ramp (the old one was rickety and unsafe) and then a new porch from the backside of the double wide was built that connected straight across to the door of the single wide, coats of protective roof sealer were put on, electric work modified and improved and beautifying of the outside and inside via women of the congregation, mostly.

Some of us went "door knocking" around our area to welcome and invite the neighbors to worship with us, as well as attend an Open House, potluck. Improvements in the lot/buildings can only be welcomed by the neighbors.

The Snowbird attendance peaked at over 100, and is staying higher than normal for this time of the year (which is the end of the season for many Snowbirds) with 31 present yesterday, March 21.

A congregational meeting was held after evening services last night, and it was decided to apply $8,000 more to our balance due on our loan. That will take us down to $44,000 due. People!
That is phenomenal. That means $81,000 has been paid off of the $125,000 beginning price, just in this year! Praise God! And blessings to all who have invested in this endeavor. OF course this will greatly deplete our bank balance, leaving approx. $3,000, for summer time emergencies. Hopefully the gains will be far more valuable than investments in "stocks and bonds." Every bit we put on the principal lowers our interest we have to pay.

So please help us pay this off quickly so we can begin to think about buying comfortable chairs for old bodies to set in!

Remember that the Church of Christ in Quartzsite has its own address of P.O. Box 5073, and the zip code is the new one for the post office annex, 85359. Contributions can be sent to it.
All donations are deductible as we are a non profit organization. If you need our number, contact us at 541 619-4437.