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| It's been a few days, so time for another
update! Melissa's step-mother did make it in last Tuesday and we
enjoyed a good week with her. She departed from McAllen
International Airport this morning and we are busy trying to "get
back to normal" after two weeks of visitors. We were able
to get the bus fixed....eventually. It took 3 visits to the shop
and almost $550 in cost, but the air conditioning system is once more
working properly. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Holly
Hills group, but it was needed and will be beneficial in the
future. We've had a few additional inquiries about summer camp,
but no registrations as of yet. We've also noticed a 50%
increase in traffic to the ministry website since we started putting
out material last month, so that is encouraging as well.
Tomorrow we will have our first "official" service here on
the property. We've been holding services with our visiting
groups the last 2 weeks, but had given a July 1st start date to the
general public, so as to avoid confusion. We have several things
we'll be working on in the coming weeks/months, but overall it will be
the development of a "routine" ministry here in the valley
in lieu of any larger projects. Please continue to pray with us
as we get settled into this phase of the work to which the Lord has
called us. And, in closing, one "interesting"
story. While Robin was here we visited the Rio Grande River
overlook in Roma (about 10 minutes west of our house). We've
been there a few times. This time, as we entered, we noticed an
adult male already standing on the overlook, alone. We entered
and began to look around, but he kept acting
"strange". We also noticed a large lump near his hip
under his shirt. After a few minutes we noticed a group of
hispanics across the river (on the Mexican side) who jumped up and
began shouting. We thought they were yelling at us because Robin
was taking their photo. However, we later realized they were
shouting at a group of 4 Hispanics (3 adult males, 1 male child) who
had entered the overlook with us. These 4 also acted
strangely. The man who was there said something to them, but we
didn't make it out. We did notice that he was looking at them
and indicating towards us while shaking his head no. So, we
decided it was time to go. We exited the overlook and crossed
the road to get into our van. As we settled in, Melissa saw the
4 Hispanics sprint from the overlook and jump in a car and speed off
past us. We then saw the other man exit, with his hand up to his
face. He then got into a vehicle and took off another
direction. We departed in our van and about 2 blocks later came
upon the same 4 Hispanics, lined up on the side of the road with about
4 border patrol vehicles behind them. We assume that it
was a drug deal and that the lone man was an undercover agent, but we
can't be sure. What we can be sure of is that it was interesting
and it was a reminder to pay attention to what is going on around
us!! Otherwise, not much to report, so have a great day!
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| Our
family with Robin, Melissa's step-mother, this past Monday. |
Robin
with the grandkids....and Bo. |
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| The week is over. It's been long. It's been
hot. It's been tiring. But, it's also been fun and most
importantly it's been very productive. We had morning services
today at Iglesia Bautista Betania in Mission. To celebrate
Father's Day they had all of the men (that wanted to) come dressed as
cowboys. It was interesting! After the service we returned
to Rio Grande City for some authentic Mexican food at "Tacos
Nay", a local taqueria. Again, it was interesting. In
the afternoon we went out to Loma de la Cruz for a brief sightseeing
stop and then returned home for some much anticipated (and perhaps
needed) relaxation. We also had evening services here on the
property. We will be leaving for Laredo at 7:00ish in the
morning tomorrow for the first groups departure. I will be
"hanging out" on the streets of Laredo with Braden, Richard
and Sarah until about 4:30pm, when I will take Richard and Sarah to
the airport for their flight out. Tuesday morning we'll drop the
bus at the local Ford dealer to see if they can fix the AC this time,
and then travel in to McAllen to pick up Melissa's step-mother at the
airport for her weeklong stay. Have a great day!
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| A
photo of the group from Virginia, along with most of our family.
Front row, l-r: Addie Grace, Steve Cominsky and August; Back row, l-r:
Braden, Pastor Blackwell, Richard Freeman, Me, Alex Cominsky, Sarah
Ellinghausen, Lisa Blackwell and Dana Cominsky. |
The
same group....just a second shot trying to get everyone smiling. The
newly painted casita is in the background. |
Melissa's
Sunday School class had a Bible Review game this morning. |
Jason
Mendoza sports his cowboy hat this morning. He also had new-to-him
cowboy boots....which he didn't find overly comfortable! |
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| The
other team in Melissa's Sunday School class. |
These
are the children of Jim and Sarai Mendoza, whom sang a special this
morning. |
Pastor
Blackwell also sang a special this morning.... |
.....accompanied
by Sarah Ellinghausen on the piano. |
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| Pastor
and Steve wait for their food at Tacos Nay. |
August
and Addie are waiting also. |
As
are Sarah and Alex. |
And
the rest of the crew waiting....service was a little slow today. |
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| Steve
Comsinky ordered the Tampequeña platter. |
Two
different salsas for their homemade chips. The green is really hot....the
red is hotter. Richard made the mistake of eating a spoonful of the
red salsa all at once....without anything else. By the time he made
it to our table he was sweating profusely!! |
Melissa
and I both ordered the botana platter. Fortunately, I ordered the
"double meat" botana, which I thought just had more meat, after
she already ordered her meal. They cancelled hers (without asking)
expecting us to split this plate. Good thing...we still had
leftovers!! |
Sarah
ordered the Pizza Taco. The photo may be deceiving, but this plate
is twice the size of the botana in the previous photo. It was
massive. |
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| Lisa
and Addie on the bus during the drive to Loma de la Santa Cruz. |
Braden
on the drive as well. |
The
group poses for a shot at the top of Loma de la Santa Cruz. |
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| Another update from the missions trip. Yesterday
morning we completed the final work we will be able to accomplish
during this mission trip. All of the outside walls leading up to
the casita have a first coat of paint, which in many places will be
sufficient. We still need a second coat on the garage doors, and
need to work on the trim, but it looks much better. We also
finished cutting the stumps out from across the road, as well as
trimming the severely overgrown bush behind the house. Our brush
pile has tripled in size and we are working to try and get it removed
as soon as possible. Steve was able to finish painting all of
the inside trim, including the doors in the casita, the trim in the
casita and the trim and door in my office. Some will need a
second coat, but it is already a great improvement. Yesterday
afternoon most of us went door-to-door distributing more information,
this time in Roma. It took a couple of hours to complete one
large neighborhood, and that's all we could handle in the heat.
Pastor went with Hector (from Betania) and Dana to distribute the
remaining 23 boxes of cupcakes, which they were able to
accomplish. Today we spent the day at Wal-Mart once more, again
distributing flyers and tracts, but also working in conjunction with
the puppet team from Betania. It was our plan to have puppets,
face painting, animal balloons and a clown. However, it was too
hot and the foot traffic was moving too fast for puppets and face
painting, so we stuck with the clown and the balloons. It went
just as well, and they definitely drew a crowd. We were able to
hand out about 600 animal balloons, each with a tract, of
course. We also distributed many more tracts.
Although we have no way to give an exact total, I can reasonably
estimate that we have distributed at least 6,000 tracts this week, but
possibly as many as 8,000 - 9,000. It has been a very good
week! Tomorrow we will have morning services with Betania in
Mission and then spend the afternoon sightseeing. We will have
evening services here on our property. Monday morning the group
will be packed up and heading towards Laredo for their flights
home. Please keep them in prayer for safety while travelling,
and please continue to pray for fruit from this week of intense
ministry. One other note. I was able to arrange
transportation in order to drop the bus at the Ford dealer
yesterday. They had the vehicle all day and by 4:30 I was
informed that the air conditioning was fixed. We picked the bus
up and although it was by no means "cold", the AC was indeed
working and it was keeping us from sweating. Unfortunately, the
AC died again today and is once more blowing hot air. We will
not be able to get the vehicle into the shop before Tuesday, which
means we will be putting a couple hundred miles on the bus in some
very hot weather. Please pray that it isn't too difficult, and
also pray that come Tuesday the dealer will be able to finally fix
this problem once and for all, as this is the third time in 10 months
that the bus will have been there for the exact same
problem.
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| Front
of the garage with the doors painted. They still need a second coat,
and the trim needs painting, but it's looking better |
The
view from the front-right corner of the garage |
From
the same corner, but this time looking back towards the casita |
Our
brush pile is nearly as large as our 24' trailer. We're still trying
to get the county to come clean it up (they pick up brush free of charge). |
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| The
"guys" room this week. They stand the beds up each day to
make more space. |
In
the guys room, looking back at their newly painted entrance door. |
The
main entrance to the casita with completed painting and some
decorations. They green sign says "Bienvenidos" (Welcome) |
In
the "girls" room, looking at their newly painted entrance door. |
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| Another
shot of the girls room, this time looking in from the door. |
Standing
in front of the casita, looking back towards the garage. |
A
better shot of the front of the casita. Everything still needs trim
painted....in fact, the casita still needs trim installed, but it's all
looking much, much better. |
Our
bush in the back yard that was trimmed. We took about 2/3 of the
bush away, and this is what was left. It will grow back in just a
couple of months. |
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| Another
shot of the same bush. |
Bo
strikes a pose for the camera |
Another
shot of Bo for the camera |
Dana
works on cleaning up the debris left on the patio from the trimming that
large bush. |
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| Steve
and Sarah helping Dana with the final cleaning up. |
Lisa
takes time to pose |
Alex
is fixing his breakfast |
August
watches while Richard relaxes a little before starting the work day |
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| Steve
stops for a quick pose this morning with Alex and Dana |
Braden
with Lisa and August, stamping more tracts for distribution |
Sarah
cutting additional brochures about our ministry for distribution today |
Pastor
and I are packing up the tables to go to Wal-Mart |
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| Steve
with Alex and Sarah are on the bus and ready to go |
Pastor
with Richard, Lisa, Dana and Braden are also ready |
Pastor
is passing out tracts as people enter and exit Wal-Mart |
Hmo.
Mata, the clown, is working on designing a balloon flower for this
girl. |
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| Sarah
shows off a balloon heart |
Alex
has a balloon heart as well as my balloon centipede |
Addie
Grace got a heart as well |
August
has a balloon hat |
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| Hmo.
Via works on creating a balloon heart as well. |
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| Well, it's been a week....a very long week, with a ways
still to go. On Monday, the 15th, the missions team from
Virginia arrived. Everything did work out okay with the tickets
from Continental, so the two "replacement" members were able
to make the trip, although they did have a tough road to make it to
the airport for the 5:00ish AM departure from Philadelphia. We
certainly are thankful to David and Martha Ellinghausen for everything
they did in making sure that Sarah and Rich were able to participate
by providing transportation to Philadelphia and lodging the night
before. We've been battling Satan for weeks leading up to this
trip, and he has not relented yet. In fact, our trials continued
as the group arrived. We departed the airport and began to
travel home only to immediately find that the AC in the bus had
stopped working (in between the time I parked it in front of the
airport and the time we left the airport with the group). So, we
had a somewhat sweltering 2-hour ride back from Laredo in 100+ degree
weather. It was made longer by the fact that I made a wrong turn
which added about 25 miles of cross-desert (literally) driving to our
trip. But, we arrived back safely nonetheless. Monday
afternoon saw us primarily going through preliminaries, briefing
everyone on plans for the week and also making some basic preparations
such as cutting/stamping tracts and stuffing door hangers.
Tuesday morning we hit the ground running. Sarah and Lisa began
making cupcakes for an outreach to local businesses and the rest of us
headed outside to tackle much-needed property work. We stopped
for lunch, changed clothes and then changed gears as we headed to
Wal-Mart to distribute literature about our ministry (along with
tracts) and also try an outreach where we were taking photos for
Father's Day which we are going to print on nice backgrounds.
The literature distribution went amazingly well. We estimate
that we distributed between 1200-1500 tracts that day alone. We
took 1 photo. We want to thank the members of Iglesia Bautista
Betania who came and joined us in that activity (their were about 10
people from their church). It was certainly a blessing.
Wednesday the girls continued their baking in the morning and us guys
continued the work outside, that day focusing on finishing a few tasks
from the day before while also tackling the priming of the casita and
workshop. Melissa and Braden also went out in the morning to
distribute the cupcakes from the previous day. That afternoon we
headed out for door-to-door visitation in downtown Rio Grande, again
joined by members from Betania. We were able to distribute the majority
of the tracts that we had, but after about 2 hours were drained from
walking about in the 103ish degree weather. So, we headed back
to the house, cleaned up and relaxed a little before holding our
Wednesday evening service there on the property. Today we all
(girls included) took the morning hours to continue various yard work
and paint the first coat of our actual paint on the casita and
workshop. That went very well and it is already looking much
better. This afternoon we headed back to Wal-Mart to repeat the
ministry from Tuesday, again working with about 10 members from
Betania. We saw great results once more, with the distribution
of another 1200-1500 tracts, but no additional photos.
Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in the Wal-Mart ministry
this afternoon, as I spent that time trying to get the AC fixed on the
bus. We've narrowed the problems down, but have not reached a
final determining factor. Please pray that we can get that
fixed, as 9 people riding around in a bus in 100+ degree weather
quickly becomes stiffling. After bringing the group back to the
house Braden and I were able to go around for a little while longer to
distribute additional boxes of cupcakes. So far we have been
able to distribute over 40 boxes of cupcakes to local businesses, as
well as tracts and other ministry information. The responses
have generally been favorable, and we've certainly noticed that the
people are surprised that we want to give them something for
free. Hopefully, this little bit of kindness will be used to
help bridge the initial gap between us and them. So, several
good things happening and a lot of work being accomplished.
We've received several leads and a few people have expressed an
interest in visiting with us when our Bible Studies begin on the 1st
of July, including one young man (about 20) who promised that
he will be there and exhibited a great deal of enthusiasm.
Please pray with us again that the Lord would bless these efforts and
that we would begin to see fruit from the labor. Tomorrow we
will continue work around the property in the morning and have not
made definitive plans for the afternoon. It will be some
combination of door-to-door witnessing as well as cupcake
distribution, but the exact details will be arranged in the
morning. Saturday we will be at Wal-Mart all day with a special
ministry in conjunction with Betania in which we will have face
painting, clowns, balloon animals, puppets and more....as well as the
sharing of the Gospel message. So, please be in prayer for that
ministry as well. A few photos are provided below for your
enjoyment.
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| Lisa
mixing the batter for cupcakes |
Lisa
takes time to pose |
Sarah
removing the cupcakes from the muffin pan |
Lisa
refilling the muffin pan |
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| Both
girls working on seperate muffin pans to keep things moving forward |
A
sample of the chocolate cupcakes cooling |
Dana,
Sarah, Addie Grace and August stamp and fold cupcake boxes with ministry
information, while the cupcakes are in the oven |
Sarah,
Lisa and Addie Grace washing the bowls and spatulas between batches |
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| Dana
stamping more cupcake boxes |
Rich
getting another load of dirt to fill Bo's hole in the back yard. |
Steve
mows the grass where a pile of wood was lying just a short time before
(the boys just moved it) |
Pastor
finishes cleaning up here where the wood was lying |
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| Alex
uses a hoe to uproot the overgrown aloe (and weeds) |
Alex
continues working on the aloe |
Rich
and Braden are back....for another load |
I'm
covering up the graffiti on the side of the workshop |
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| Here's
a shot of some of the large-sized boxes of cupcakes, filled and ready to
go out. |
Another
shot of the large boxes. |
These
are some of the smaller sized boxes for the smaller family-run businesses |
Breakfast
time |
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| Morning
devotions |
One
of the entrances to Wal-Mart as our group, working with members from
Iglesia Bautista Betania, distribute information and tracts |
More
shots of our group |
The
group at the other door. |
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| This
was the only family to permit us to take a Father's Day photo |
Alex,
Rich and Pastor start the priming on the casita |
Priming
work continues |
Steve
has begun to tape the handles/hinges to paint the doors/trim inside the
casita |
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| Setting
up the room for the Wednesday night service (the "back" of the
room) |
A
view of the "front" of the room |
The
guests are all seated and we're ready to begin |
Dana
and Lisa sing a special for the Wednesday night service ("Written in
Red") |
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| I'm
welcoming everybody and going through the "preliminaries" before
the service |
Addie
and August sing a special as well ("Our God is Able") |
Alex
and Rich put a top coat of paint on the front of the workshop |
Lisa,
Dana and Pastor painting the front of the casita (the orange is the final
paint color) |
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| Dana
takes time for a pose while painting the front of the casita |
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| Just a quick update on the situation with
Continental. After a very polite email to the director customer
service and the CEO, Continental has agreed to issue electronic
vouchers and has already reserved seats for the two new participants
on a different flight. We had to pay a total of an extra $200
over the cost of the original tickets, but that was only because of
the unaccompanied minor fee on the new tickets. So, God has
allowed everything to be worked out and we are back at the full 7 for
this trip. We've even received a phone call from a pastor about
possibly sending 1 additional person in the second group, an adult,
which would save us the $200 unaccompanied minor fee (the full ticket
price is only $264.90). So, that would be a blessing as well and
would help cover some of the additional expenses of the trip (since
she would still be paying the $100 trip fee). But, we leave that
in the Lord's hands and thank Him for all that He has already done in
this situation.
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| VBS has been going well this week, but I think we'll be
glad when it's over....these kids are wearing us out! Please be
in prayer for Melissa, as she is already starting to lose her voice
and is struggling to teach each night. Also, please continue to
pray about the missions team coming next week. We did find a
second person to fill the second empty seat, but unfortunately we are
having a hard time transferring the tickets. Originally
Continental absolutely refused to budge, but they have since relented
and refunded the original fares, issuing vouchers towards future
flights. The catch is that they are snail-mailing the vouchers,
so they will not arrive until after this trip. We're
still trying to see what else can be done. As for medical
insurance, it is being evaluated by the company for approval, but
could take 2-3 weeks...meanwhile today we received an invoice for our
first new $600+ premium. So, pray they approve it quickly.
Other than that, not much going on. A couple more photos are
provided below.
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| Melissa
teaching her class. |
Melissa
speaking with one of the kids about the "speck" (giving
background on the 'Big Bang' theory, before arguing against it). |
Melissa's
class listens eagerly. |
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| We've been busy over the past 9 days since the last
update, and we don't foresee a change in the pace anytime in the near
future. We've accomplished more work on the buildings, getting
them ready for the ministry to commence, and we've also been working
at Iglesia Bautista Betania this week in their VBS program. In
other news, we are working on ministry preparations as well, preparing
materials and getting all of the last minute details organized.
Please be in prayer as we work through issues with the ministry group
coming next week, as they had two cancel due to different
issues. One spot has been filled, but we are still working on
filling the second. Also, please be in prayer regarding our
medical insurance. We notified the insurance company in August
of 2008 that we had moved, and they updated our records
accordingly. However, they just renewed our policy on June 1st
and informed us that they had to raise oour premium because we have
moved to Texas from Virginia. Unfortunately, the increase was
nearly 200%, increasing from $239 to over $600 per month. That
is completely unacceptable for our level of coverage (catastrophic
hospital coverage only), and so we are looking for a new
provider. We have applied with one company and are awaiting
results. Several photos of what we've been doing recently are
provided below for your enjoyment.
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| Completed
wall in the casita. Paint, electrical box covers and blinds are now
all done. |
The big
window in the front with the new blinds installed. |
The
bathroom with the blinds installed and the toilet tank now covered.
Hopefully we will be installing all of the "fixtures" soon
(toilet paper holder, etc.) |
One of the
windows in the other room in the casita with the new blinds. |
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| The ladies
are busy working on snack for the night: nachos and cheese! |
Hma. Nora
is the river guide in Melissa's first-of-three classes she teaches each
night. |
These are
the 2's and 3's enjoying snack. |
I'm doing
"Bible Review" with the kids. I have 3 classes each night:
7-8 years old, 9-10 years old and 11-12 years old. |
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| Some of the
kids doing craft at VBS. |
Three boys
arrived early for Sunday school, Emmanuel, Leroy and Alex. |
Addie Grace
sitting with some of her friends, waiting for class to begin. |
The Betania
choir getting ready to sing Sunday morning. |
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| Hma. Sarai
practices with two of the girls before the special. |
The Ochoa
children. |
Hmo. Jim
prepares the kids choir for the special. |
Braden's
workbook for his VBS class. The teens are going through a Financial
Workshop for their VBS program. |
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| Addie Grace
singing in the kids choir for the opening night of VBS. |
I had a
special with the kids for the opening night as well. |
August also
had a special for the opening night. |
A closer
look at August as he is singing. |
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| Another of
the opening songs, this one with Frankie singing a special. |
Hmo. Rosas
and his daughter, Karyn. |
More
opening night activities, this one has Hma. Sarai Mendoza explaining the
"flow" of activities to the children. |
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| I'm providing a few more photos of the work here on the
property. This past Friday I "moved (back) in" to my
office. I'm enjoying having the space available once more, but
it will certainly be a while before everything is "in place"
how I would like it to be. I'm still shopping for some more
shelving for my office. Wal-Mart had them clearanced, but we
missed the deal, so I'm still looking. Until then, some things
will remain in boxes, but I can certainly live with that. I've
also made a little progress in the casita, hanging the bathroom
mirror, installing some shelving and applying the first coat of
paint/sealant to the shower today. Not much more to report for
now!
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| Looking
into my office from the door. You can see the painted walls and the
furniture now in place. I still need to paint the trim at the
ceiling above the red wall, but it looks okay for now. |
From the
far corner of my office. I'll be adding 2 more bookcases to match
the existing two, one to the left along the red wall and one to the right
along the yellow wall. |
The
"other side" of my office, which is where all the boxes of
"stuff" are still stored. I've got enough books to fill at
least one, possibly two more bookcases, not to mention tracks, scripture
portions and other ministry materials. |
The new
corner shelving I built in the casita bathroom. |
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| The sink
now has a mirror as well. |
The shower
is looking better every day. Now it has a full coat of sealant/paint
and is much nicer. The blue in the bottom is just a simple floor
mat. |
The cabinet
that we put in the bathroom for storing linens and other supplies. |
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