Last weekend we attended the FEW in Culpeper.  The time was packed with insights, testimonies and encouragement from speakers, families and most importantly, God's Word. Here are a few things I took away from the conference:

• Take one day at a time; God will give you the grace to live your Christian life one step at a time
• Study God's Word so you can be prepared to give answers to those around you
• Praise God often throughout the day
• Christian maturity is a thing that takes constant time and effort, but persevere
• God has given us other Christians to encourage us...make sure you are encouraging those around you

The Lord has blessed us with an abundance of vegetables this summer, making it possible for us to share them with family, friends, and neighbors.

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." Psalm 34:8

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."  Psalm 37:3

"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing."  Psalm 34:10

"Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase." Psalm 85:12 

On July 25th, we were going about our normal Sunday morning routine, in preparation to drive to the Thrashes.  As is our custom, we had piled everything that we would take in the middle of the family room, and we were about to sit down for our family conference (prep for communion), when we got a call from the Thrashes.  This was at 9:15 a.m.  Mr. Thrash said that they had just found out that Niko had some kind of skin rash, and they were deliberating on what to do about it.
  

We proceeded with our family conference, and a few minutes later Mr. Thrash called back, and took up our offer to host here.  So, it was about 9:45 and the house was a mess.  The whole family launched into action, and by 10:15 when the first family arrived, the house was looking pretty good.  To top it all off, though, our air conditioner was having problems, and the main level of the house was still pretty warm.  Consequently, we decided to have the service in the basement.  I was so thankful that we had repainted it earlier, and it was all ready for the chairs to be set up.
  

We had originally been going to meet with the Plourds, Johnsons and Butlers at the Thrash home.  The first two families were successfully contacted, but no one could reach the Butlers.  They ended up driving all the way to the Thrashes, where they were redirected here.  While they were in transit, it was getting late, so we started the service here, not knowing whether they would make it here or not.  We were overjoyed when they arrived about halfway through the service.  After lunch, we had the regular afternoon session.

After the afternoon session was over, Dad informed us of what the discipleship activity was going to be.  Due to the excessive heat outdoors, we would have a time of practicing verbal blessings on each other, instead of soccer.  We were supposed to gather in the shade on the soccer field, but as soon as we stepped outside, we knew that there was going to be a change of plans.  We started the activity on the lily pond side of the pool, but it started raining soon after, forcing us to seek shelter inside the house.  There we continued the discipleship time, ending finally by singing Make Me a Blessing. 

Then we had singing practice.  We practiced I Believe in Miracles, and had quite a bit of trouble getting the rhythm correct.  Then we sang a few easier hymns, and had dinner.  After dinner, everyone left, and that was the close to our very eventful and unexpected Sunday.

This past Sunday the Maxwell family came to our church to give some teachings and present some concepts the Lord had showed them. A variety of topics were covered, including: anger, evangelism, preparing sons to support a single-income family, and others. We were encouraged by the talks, and I was especially challenged by Christopher Maxwell's presentation on sharing the gospel. The Maxwells travel a lot together as a family, with all their children except a married son, teaching at conferences. 

On Sunday, April 25th I heard a conversation something like this:

“What is this, a family reunion?” 

“No, this is a church service.”

“That's an even better idea!”

Our local church group met that Sunday at Cacapon State Park, WV for our usual order of worship service and communion, meals, prayer and a lively soccer game. Since the Hynes family was the host family we decided we'd better leave for the 2-hour drive early. After one stop in the neighborhood to look for a necessary article in the car, and a return to the house for Dad's eye-glasses we were finally on our way. Upon arriving at Cacapon Park we found that, while we were still early, most of the other families were already there setting up chairs and lighting a fire in the stone fireplace at the shelter we would use.

God blessed us with nice, moderate weather, and we were able to enjoy lots of good fellowship. However, occasionally throughout the day a storm threatened (we heard thunder), and during the soccer game a kind passer-by gave us a heads-up on some rain and hail that had passed through Winchester and were possibly heading our way. But God graciously held off the storm until people were starting to leave. It hit our car about five minutes after we had left the park. Some of the other families who were still getting into their cars were soaked.   

 A few Saturdays ago, on the 2nd of January, our family hosted our first Bible Marathon.  The marathon lasted about six hours, four of which we spent reading.  Mom got the idea for it from Gary Friesen’s book, Decision Making and the Will of God.   A couple other families joined us, as we read through Luke, and about three-quarters of Revelation.  This was the order of business:  

Each willing reader read a pre-assigned passage at a lectern in the middle of the room.  At every 7th chapter, we all stood and read a verse around in a circle, until we had finished the passage.  We had breaks every hour for discussion and prayer.  At the end of the Bible-reading time, we had dinner and fellowship.

I really appreciated the chance to go through a whole book of the Bible in such a short amount of time.  I don’t remember ever doing that before.  It was also more meaningful to me to hear others reading aloud, instead of just reading to myself.  Maybe I’m more of an auditory learner.  =)   I greatly enjoyed the Bible reading marathon, and I can’t wait to have another one!

 View attached file.

I know we have here foFlash Lits but is there such as a Flash Dark ,  have you herd Fash Dark's well if you have  plese  leve  a content thank you !

I think that there myte be sach a there Flash dark's [P]

"What should I say about you, Theta?  Hey Theta, don't fly!  Do you want to read a book?  Do you?"

"Yes, I do," said Theta.

"What book do you want to read?"

"One about flying."

"I want to fly.  Don't you, Theta?  Fluffball!  Oops, she pooped."

"Theta wants to write something; she's climbing on

 the keybo

ard!

That's why the spacing looks so funny."

"Now she's asking for food; she's licking the Num Lock key with her tongue."

"Yum...I think F10 tastes better than Num Lock."

"Have you ever heard of a begging bird that can type?"

"Now I think I'll try to put on Scroll Lock+33333333333333333336666666666666666"

"Did I do all that?  Wow!  Look at me!  I'm a typing birdie!"

"Well, it's time for Theta to say goodbye.  She was going to read, remember?  Say goodbye, Theta."

"hffffrssgfyp." (Theta walked across the keyboard)

 By the way, Theta is

 a 8++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ week old cockatiel.

"Stop it, Theta, I'm tryna write! Ok, Theta, let's go read.  No, don't fly!  Now you're stretching your wings."

"Let's get Tim to take our picture....shall we?"

"-----+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SNBPRTHRHWNWTWRTRPWT B    RR;R;R;R;R;SOSOSOSOS SOS     SAVE  OUR  SHIP! what ship?"

Here is a poem that I wrote a while ago. 

It depicts an early morning walk Dad and I shared while we were vacationing at Sandbridge Beach one year.

 A September Sunrise

A man and lass from cottage steal,
While the shroud of twilight lingers,
And o’er the moonlit sands of pearl
Their footprints yet imbedded lie,
‘Till foaming waves like a kitten laps them.

As seagulls wake from eventide,
The air grows full of lonely cries;
Footprints cease—the twain have paused,
And over restless wave and dark,
Their wand’ring eyes the sunrise seek.

The father points—they strain to see,
A faint red glow peeks above the horizon,
And while they watch, the growing light,
From pale, to pink, to salmon brightens,
The sun has ris’n triumphantly,
O’er sky and land and man and sea!

                                         ~Emily Hynes
 

 "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised." (Psalm 113:3)

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." (James 1:17)

 I am so glad that God has given me my younger brother Tim.  When it comes to computers, I'll admit it, he's got a lot more computer savvy than me.  Whenever I want to do anything on our blog, the conversation goes something like this:

"Hey Tim, how do I write a blog post?"

"Click on the button that says,  'blog post'."

"Where's that?"

And then he shows me on the screen where the button is.

A little while later:

"Tim, I just copied my post into Word to spellcheck it...now the post looks funny.  What do I do?"

"You have to use Notepad.  Word documents are in rich text, and that won't work on the blog."

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or if I want to check my email:

"Hey Tim, how do I get my email?"

"Get up google, and type in mail.hynesva.com."

"Ok, I got there...now how do I check my email?"

"Click on the button that says Em's email."

"Where?"

"Right there, at the top right-hand corner."

"Oh."

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so the conversation continues.  I'm so glad that Tim is able, ready, and willing to help me on the blog.  Without his help, I don't think this post would even be possible. Thank you, God, for brothers.

This Columbus Day weekend I went on a five day mission’s trip to Beattyville, Kentucky.  This is the 6th annual free dental clinic that this group has done.  I went the first time in 2004, with my home church, Family Bible Fellowship.  I was really impressed with the need of the people there, not just for free dental care, but also the gospel.

 This year, I went with a team of over 50 people, some of which took the 10 hour bus drive to Beattyville.  The dental clinic is held in a gym in Youth Haven Bible Camp.  The team brings some of the dental chairs and equipment, and some of it just stays there in Kentucky.  There were five dentists and two hygienists serving on this particular trip.  I was able to assist one of the dentists as a clean assistant.  Most of the time, I was arranging the dentist's tools on a tray, disinfecting after each patient, or taking dirty tools to the sludge line, where everything underwent a thorough cleaning. 

 I was blessed by the unity we had as the Body of Christ.  The team had Christians from all over the place; Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and California; but they all worked together, and were a powerful witness to the grace of God.  One lady told me that we could never know how much of a blessing it was to be able to get free dental care; apparently a lot of the people there can't afford to pay for it.

 Our days started off with breakfast, followed by a group devotional and singing before we went to the gym to begin the dental work.  Mr. Stevic, who heads up KMM, told me that many patients arrive as early as 4 am. in order to get in line for their treatment.  After we open the clinic at 8:30 am, patients go through the evangelism tables, where the gospel is shared with them, the triage line, where their dental needs are assessed, and then into one of three waiting areas: cleaning, restoration (fillings, dentures and such), or extraction.  Thankfully the dentist I was working with was in the restoration line, so I didn't have to witness some of the more distasteful scenes.  One young man had half of his teeth extracted one day, and returned the next to have the other half extracted--apparently the tooth decay was caused by drugs.  

We generally worked till 1:30 pm, had a quick lunch, and then ran back to our waiting patients.  Sometimes we didn't get finished up with patients for the day until nine or ten at night.  It was exhausting work, but well worth it.  We saw over three hundred patients.  There were several professions of faith, and one lady on our team actually got to lead her first person to Christ!  It was really neat to see how God was working, and see tangible answers to prayer.  On our last evening there, some of our team sat around a bonfire and shared testimonies and sang hymns and praise songs.  That was a really special time.  There is something touching about seeing other Christians walking in faith, rejoicing in the Lord, and encouraging others in Him.  It was certainly an unforgettable trip!