Penny the Traveling Clothespin Doll shares her adventures at home and abroad.

Archive for February, 2013

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In our home we are solemnly remembering what happened a year ago.  This is not our house pictured, but Becky’s brother Peter and his family rented part of this house.  One day as they sat in their living room, they smelled smoke coming from upstairs.  Peter rushed up to find the bedroom full of smoke;  he grabbed blindly for his littlest son who was napping there in the crib, and rushed his family outside.

From the safety of their car they watched as the fire trucks came to battle the raging flames.  They praised God that they were all alive and had each other.  Beside them were their Bibles they had saved and the diaper bag.  Yes, there are times when a diaper bag has more value than all the household goods.

It was a stunning day for them and for the lady that owned the rest of the house who lost so much.  Peter, Amy and the boys lived in other people’s homes for several weeks until they found a new house to rent.  So many kind people shared what they had and helped in whatever way they could.  It is very touching to see the love of God poured out through the kindness of others when you are in need.

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Something like that really makes you re-adjust your thinking.  I sit here staring into the flames of my little fireplace thinking that this lovely dollhouse is really only just cardboard, and I am made of simple wooden clothespins.  So fragile.  So temporary.

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 Becky found this poem on the back of a box of tea, I think it is a good thought.

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

When the storm came and washed Zeb’s house away, he found refuge with the man whose house was built on the rock.

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“May I always remember things dear to my heart

Are mine to hold only by the grace of God.”

-Stuart Hamblen


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Another of my cousins has been adopted by Pastor Santono and his family in Indonesia!

They serve a small congregation of 30 people, who are mainly young high school and college students. They are pictured here with Phil Fields, the Bible translator.

 

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Here is a close up of young Semeia with her mother, Anna.  I know my little pink cousin with dark braids will enjoy her new home with them.  I pray that this cousin will be a useful part of their ministry.

The little book is for witnessing.  It is John 9 written in English and in Plain Indonesian. The title of the book is “Let’s Not Become Spiritually Blind!”

We read John 9 recently in our evening family devotions!  It is the story of a man born blind that Jesus healed.


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 We have news from Indonesia!!

My first two cousin dolls were given to two girls at a seminary in Salatiga, Central Java.

 As one of her assignments, this girl shared in her written testimony about wanting to share Christ with children.

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The card Anna is holding here is the  Manik-manik Penny card Phil Fields wrote telling the bead story in Indonesian, it is also available on this site. 

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Let’s pray that these girls will have opportunities to share!

 

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A Very Happy Valentines Day to you!!   A day to celebrate the gift of Love, both for the special people we love, and thankfulness for those who love us.  My favorite Bible verse about love this year is from John 16:27; Jesus told His disciples, “The Father Himself loveth you.”  What a beautiful thought.

“The Father Himself loveth you.”

 

I wanted to show you these sweet cards and this delightful box of chocolates – just my size!!!

Let’s see, one for me, one for my kitty Ruby, one for Becky, and one for you, Dear Reader!

Have a beautiful day!  And remember that you are greatly loved!!


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Hello friends!

I’d like to introduce you to my cousin Andy.

Here we are hunting eggs together in the barn.

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 He loves tractors and it thrilled him to sit on our John Deere 3020.

 

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Maybe he’ll be a mechanic when he grows up.

 

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Ha! A little mechanic that fits into the tool box!

 

 

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Dreamin’ of someday….

 

 

 

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In the meantime, he has been adopted by Mr. Bill Brown of the Fellowship of Christian Farmers International to help with his ministry of sharing the gospel bead story at farm shows and fairs.

This picture was taken last week at the Farm Show in Hamburg, New York.

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Bill Brown and his wife Kathy have worked for 14 years with The Fellowship of Christian Farmers.  He is the Area Coordinator covering all the New England States, and New York.  He travels a great deal in Canada getting the ministry started there, and also works in the South.  He coordinates mission trips to ECHO and Reality Ranch in Florida each fall, and helps with FCFI disaster relief.

 

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When at fairs and farm shows, the Fellowship of Christian Farmers sets up a booth where they pass out these walking sticks with the Gospel Beads attached as they share the precious story of God’s Love.

The card says:

Gold Bead – Heaven     Revelation 21:21b

Dark Bead – Sin    Romans 3:23 and 6:23

Red Bead – Blood of Christ    Romans 5:8 and 1 Peter 3:18a

White Bead – Purity / Forgiveness    John 1:12 and Romans 10:9

Green Bead – Spiritual Growth    Matthew 18:20 and 1 John 1:7

                     You should check out the FCF web site for more information about them  –  www.fcfi.org.

 

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On the way home from the Farm Show, guess where Pa Dart stopped!    Oh, yeah!!

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These are Amazing Donuts!  After sampling them all, I still couldn’t decide…

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Maybe I’ll settle for this one.

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Oh, so yummy!  But oh, so Big, I think I can only eat half!!

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It was a beautiful wintery day in western New York, here is a picture at sunset.

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Blessings to you as you begin your new work, Farmer Andy!

We look forward to hearing more about your adventures in the future!


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I really enjoy early American history, so I was thrilled to be able to join my friend, CiCi, and her family to spend Christmas in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Colonial Williamsburg is a 301 acre living history museum; a whole town of restored buildings dating back to the early 1700s, before the Revolutionary War.  In this town walked Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and the noble George Washington.  These great patriots, wise and courageous, led us on the journey to becoming Americans.

 

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 Nearby is the first permanent English Settlement in the New World, Jamestown, settled in 1607 and led by the English soldier, Captain John Smith.  A fascinating character in Jamestown history is the Indian princess, Pocahontas.  I really like her.  Maybe its because when she traveled to visit England, they gave her the name Rebecca.  I like that name.

scan0015As Virginia grew, Williamsburg became its capital in 1699.  It was a thriving town.  The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776.  Later, in 1780, the State capital was moved upriver 40 miles to Richmond where it remains today.

1789 was the year that Virginia’s own George Washington became the first president of the United States of America. Truly a great man!  It was a fascinating privilege to visit the town so full of history.

Oh, one more historic town in that area completing America’s Historic Triangle is Yorktown.  Here the final victory of the Revolutionary War was won, when British General Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington.  Yes, this area is chock full of the history of the birth of our nation!

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 After the trip, CiCi brought the photos over to Becky’s house and they made a huge mess scrapbooking them.  I like to see them try out lots of different colored papers, scissors, shapes and captions. CiCi is new to scrapbooking, but by the way she enjoyed herself, you would think she had been doing it all her life!  I’m going to show you some of their work in the slideshow below.

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Its a cozy place to be here in CiCi’s pocket.  She is a good friend to have and I thank her for letting me go along to see Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg!

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