Most of it got sold!

Remember, a couple of weeks ago I wrote about cleaning out my kitchen cupboards? I also went through our closets and one corner of the basement. I thought that this corner was storing stuff for a garage sale. Well there was some of that stuff in there, but there were a few other things, too. Some of it went straight to the trash can, but some of it was : "So THAT is where this was hiding! I wondered what happened to it!" Sometimes Ron helps me and puts things where I would NOT put them!

I had a goal in mind: gathering stuff for a Rummage Sale.
Eldon [where K&S live] had their city-wide sales this past weekend and I knew that Stacy and her Mom and sisters were going to have one. K&S house is a great place to have one. They are in a good location, their driveway is fairly level, and their garage is pretty big.

I took a van load of stuff down on Wednesday night, including my 3 'racks' for hanging clothes, and my folding tables. We did a lot of 'organizing' and 'setting up' that night, too. On Thursday night I took another load down along with my suitcases to spend the night. Stacy's Mom came down after her evening at work,too. We were up early the next day and had the garage doors up to set things outside by 6:30. Our first customers came soon after. We kept 'organizing' and selling for a while and a lot of stuff was going almost as fast as we set it out! At one point in the morning-when we had already sold bunches of stuff- Stacy's mom looked at me and said "Not bad for 8:30 in the morning!" I looked at my watch and could not believe that it wasn't 10 o'clock or something! We had steady business all day and there were very few times that we didn't have at least one customer on site. By evening, Stacy and I began to work on getting everything that was left, organized so it would all fit into the garage the next day because the forecast was for rain. We didn't 'open' quite as early on Saturday, and it was misting and sprinkling when we did. Before long, though, the rain stopped but it remained cloudy for most of the day. As soon as the driveway was dry enough we set a few things out on it,too, to make a little more room in the garage. More people were having their sales on Saturday, because of working, and because of that, too, we still had LOTS of people coming through our sale.
Along about 2:30 in the afternoon we noticed that no one had come for 15 minutes or so and there was no more traffic out on the road so we began to pack up. Each of us kept a few things to try again in another sale,but the majority of our 'leftovers' went in to four big boxes to take to Salvation Army/Goodwill. We were all very pleased with what we made in the sale! And Kirk and Stacy also sold Kirk's old work truck. They were glad to get that off of their hands!
I went home with my van about 1/2 full, and that included my tables and racks. I am glad,too, that all of that stuff is not in the house any more. Now, I just have to keep going through stuff and get ready for another sale--either here, or at my friend's house in Sedalia--or maybe BOTH!

We had a different ...

...kind of family celebration for Easter . It was more laid back and 'easy' for one thing. We had it in the evening instead of right after church because Ron and I had lunch with a former pastor and his wife.
Greg and Amy Crofford had emailed and asked if we could meet them for a meal on that day as they were going to be in town, and they had to be in KC that evening. They are getting ready to go back on the mision field in June and are traveling weekends to different churches for 'deputation' meetings.[They tell where they are going, and what they will be doing, and create an interest for the missions program.] It was really great to see them and visit with them. They will be living across the street from my nephew Don and his wife Evie who are also missionaries.

Easter was also Danielles bithday so we took time out to celebrate that, too--with[Danielle's request] cheesecake!
I had a spiral cut ham, and bought some rolls and rye bread to make sandwiches. Kris helped me make deviled eggs, and cut up veggies for a green salad. He made a fruit salad and a cheese spread for crackers, Kirk made baked beans and they brought a slaw, too. Cory made cheesy potaoes and provided the drinks, and the place to have our meal!
There were only 2 kids there--Emily and Maggy-- but I had fixed plastic eggs to hide. So, Cory took the girls into the other room while Kevin and Kirk hid the eggs in the living room. The girls had a great time finding them, and we had a ball watching them.
Danielle is raising some ducks, so she went out and brought one in for Emily to see. It was quacking and the girls were imitating it--so cute. Emily wanted to touch it, but everytime she got brave and reached out toward it-- it would quack again and scare her.Danielle had wrapped a big towel around it so she could 'contain' it on her lap. Ducks grow so fast! Just the week before they were still 'peeping' with an occasional quack out of one of them [kind of like when a boys voice changes!]and now they were all quacking! Everyone had a good time watching the duck and the girls interact.

Oh, Yeah? Well What Is So GOOD About It?

When I was a young child, I could never understand why they called to day GOOD FRIDAY. Isn't this day supposed to remind us of the day when Jesus died? What was so GOOD about that? I even harbored feelings of ill will towards "those people" who put him to death! Someone dying represented sadness to me. Especially, if it was someone I LOVED! Why should I 'be thankful' for Jesus dying on the cross? I just didn't understand.
As I write this I am thinking of a song my Mother sang for church: "Why?" by John M. Moore. Here are the words to the first verse:
"Why did they nail Him to Calvary's tree?...Jesus the Helper, the Healer, the Friend. Why? tell me, why was he there?" and then the chorus:
"All my iniquities[sin] on Him were laid. He nailed them all to the Tree; Jesus the debt of my sin fully paid. He paid the ransom for me."

Because of MY sin. He voluntarily paid my sin debt. By becoming the one true sacrifice for the sins of us ALL! He wiped out our sin debt!

That is why it is GOOD Friday! Jesus selfless act for us means we don't have to pay for our sins. All we have to do is accept His gift to us by: recognizing we live in sin, we need a savior, and Christ Jesus became that Savior for us when he died for us and rose again to sit by God's right hand and intercede with God for us.
I have accepted His gift! I hope you have, too. Blessings to all!!