July 2011

June 29 - July 3 we were in revival in Kennewick, WA.

We had a wonderful time in their beautiful building

that God has provided for them.

It was great to see Sis. Connie and Sis. Lori.
They helped out with the music, during song service
and altar time.
We had such a great time with Justin and
Celeste Sweeney. They are a great couple...
And their kids are cuties.
We were glad to introduce them to
Panda Express, our favorite!
Duke even enjoyed himself at the Sweeney's.
He found a comfortable place to sleep.


4th of July we headed to Burlington, to spend some

time with family. We had the most fun 4th of July

ever. Since living in the city, and fireworks are illegal, we

haven't even had sparklers for the kids, in 7 years.

Papa Shuler went all out and bought a HUGE box

of fireworks and several bricks of firecrackers.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures to show... If I knew

how to upload videos I could show you some

fun stuff. The guys thought of all kinds of ways to blow

things up with firecrackers. The most successful

was a 2 liter bottle full of firecrackers.

Pretty impressive. After the sun went down,

the fireworks began. The kids had so much fun...

And so did the adults. The whole neighborhood

was involved and there were "booms" and "bangs"

going on all through the night. City kids sure can

be deprived...




July 9 - Allison (niece) married the love

of her life... Michael Anderson. It was a

beautiful wedding and we are so happy

for them. Here are a few characters

that showed up.

Allison and Michael Anderson.

Cousins: Jonah, Philip, Allison,

Jacob and Tommy.

The happy Uncle, Aunt and parents.

The happy bride...

Megan, with a burnt out sparkler. Everyone had

sparklers and blew bubbles when the bride

and groom left... Pretty cool, although I was

a little concerned that some one's hair was

going to get caught on fire...

After the wedding, everyone was exhausted. We

picked up burgers from Jack-in-the-Box and we

came home and relaxed... As you can see.

July 15 - 17

Darrington Bluegrass Festival.

Always an enjoyable weekend.

Here is the Navy Band:

Country Current.

Great group of guys and

amazing musicians.

The Grascals...

Colin was one of the Emcee's for the weekend.

Everyone loved him... How could they not? :0)

Here he is all spiffied up, getting ready to sing.

Megan singing, "Old Blue".

Sara singing, "He Goes to Church on Sundays Now".

Backstage... I guess I got these pictures a little

mixed up... They would have done this BEFORE

going on stage...

Papa and Sara, backstage.

He seems thrilled to have his picture taken

at this time...

Lyndi (niece) with the Navy boys.

They probably thought she was my daughter.

Ed Blanton (cousin) with

Jamie Johnson (Grascals)

The whole crew minus a few, with

the Grascals.

The Grascals, on stage.

July 20 - 23... Revival in Hamilton, WA.

Our services were held at an outdoor

pavilion, in the Hamilton Park.

What a great new experience. Really nice

turn out for a small area. Several people

would stop and listen form across the street.

That was great... I hope the Lord touched

their hearts. It was nice to be with Jacob Doran

and his family.

July 24 it was time to load up and head towards

Salem, OR. We had such a wonderful time with

the family these past couple of weeks, but it was

time to move on...

Here is Ken (brother-in-law) helping Colin

with the memory foam mattress pad.

Once those babies expand, it's hard to get

them tiny again. I think they did a

pretty good job.

It's a good thing they got that mattress topper

small enough to fit between the seats... You can't see it

but that was Jacob's seat all the way home, since we

picked up a hitch-hiker from TN. Andrea flew

in for the Festival and had so much fun

with this crazy Shuler bunch that she decided

to stick with us for a while.

Here is Andrea, in Seattle, at Starbucks. She

had to stop at a Starbucks, IN Seattle to get

an authentic Starbucks mug.

By the way Andrea, YES, I was a little perturbed.

No, I was very perturbed... Here we were pulling

our trailer through the streets... Narrow streets

of downtown Seattle, trying to find the Starbucks

for a coffee mug. I was a nervous wreck!

We survived Seattle and headed down the

road to meet up with Devin and Lyndi at

Multnomah Falls. What a beautiful place.

The many times we have passed these

falls, we haven't taken the time to stop.

Since we were so close, we wanted to take

the kids. The kids all hiked to the very top.

It's a little over a mile hike, strait up to the

top... The falls are a drop of 611 feet.

Then it was time to head on over to Salem.

While in Salem, we were able to visit with

some of Colin's family that we hadn't seen

in over 20 years. Aunt Helen, Uncle Emmett

and Sally. It was so good to see them.

Revival in Salem, OR. July 25 - 29.

Devin and Lyndi stayed the week with us, while

we were in Salem. It was great to be them... We

always have a great time with them.

Since they were there, they had to help

in the services also...

We had to stop and have breakfast with

Uncle Emmett, Aunt Helen and Sally before

heading to our next destination... And we were

happy to see more family show up...

Leroy and Wanda.

July 31 - Aug. 3... Revival in Prineville, OR.

The first day of revival was at this pavilion,

at the Crooked River Park. Sunday morning

we had our service, then we had some amazing

food, prepared by the local church, and then

an afternoon service with visitors from the

community.

We played volleyball with the pastor (Ken Brock)

and his family. We had fun, except it did become

quite competitive and I think we all had to

get saved all over again, after this game... :0)

After volleyball, the kids decided they were too

hot and they jumped into the creek. Here they

are trying to convince Andrea to jump in. Eventually

she made it in.

Megan and Andrea.

All of the wet kids... Except for Morgan Brock...

Notice, she is dry... She's the only one who got

to ride home on the INSIDE of the vehicle,

because she didn't get wet :0)

Everyone else rode in the back of the truck.

The Brock's took us to Goody's.

A yogurt bar... It was SO YUMMY!

You pick your yogurt then go put whatever

toppings you can find on it. It was so good.

Tommy had candy Legos in his yogurt.

Jacob, giving a guitar lesson...

Since Andrea was tagging along, we put her

to work too. She helped with singing and sometimes

played the piano.

This was at Shelly's (cousin) house.

Tommy thought this was a good place to store

his sword that he acquired from the McLeod's.

Pastor Ken Brock and his family.

Aug. 4th (Megan's 14th birthday) we headed home.

We had a fantastic summer in the Northwest.

Met new people... Had wonderful revivals...

Spent time with family...

God is SO good!

June Travels 2011

June was the beginning of a two month tour through the North West.

Everyone was very excited to get on the road together.

The night before, we needed good rest...

Even Duke.

Our first stop (June 11) was in West Jordan, UT.

We sang and Colin preached for these good

people... And afterward they had cake and

ice cream, for our birthdays... Very nice of them.

They wanted a fun song so the guys sang,

"Man of Constant Sorrow"

It was a big hit.

Yummy lunch at Fazoli's.

We were so glad to see old friends while visiting

this area... Sonny and Alice Blanscet... We spent

a couple of nights with Tolly Blanscet and his beautiful

wife and daughters. I'm still amazed at how Tolly

snagged such a great wife ;-)

After leaving UT, (June 12) we headed toward MT. We originally

were scheduled to be in Nampa, ID... But due to sickness,

that revival was cancelled. We made a quick call

to Bro. Dave Hendricks and he allowed us to drop

in on his congregation, even though he was out

of town. We had a great service Sunday night,

in Columbia Falls, MT. The next night

we crashed Jessie Parks' graduation party.

The guys sang some songs and we enjoyed some

fantastic burgers, cooked on the grill.

Josh Davis helped out as much as he could.

June 14... It was time to jump in the van and head

to Havre, MT. We were pretty anxious to get

up there and see Grace and Zoe... Oh, and Paul :0)

We were able to spend 13 days with our kids and

it was great!

Sara and Megan playing with Zoe...

Now, don't get confused... This is NOT Paul and Grace!

This is Paul and Sara... With Zoe and Paul's dad, Kirby.

June 15... Sara's 16th birthday!

Look at that little angel.

The guys dug a fire pit in Paul and Grace's

backyard. Something we would never be able to do

in the city. It was then time to roast some hot dogs....

... And Smores (Or as Grandma Bunny

would call them... Snorts)

Father's Day (June 19)

OH MY WORD!!! How blessed we are!

What a good looking crew!

Papa Shu feeding Zoe...

Hmmmmm..... Not really sure what

is going on here.

Time for Ninja Battle...

We had such a great time so far... And more to come...

What Happened In The Month Of May?

To start this story, I'd like to show you a fantastic picture of Megan, Tommy, Sara, Jacob and Philip... Aren't they a good looking group of young people?

We have started a new chapter in our Life Book and it's sure to be an adventure. April 15, 2011 was Colin's last day working for Home Depot. We finally took the step of faith to start evangelising. We have been feeling this work for several years but just never knew when the right time would be to begin. Now is the time. May 5 - 7, 2011 was the first revival, scheduled in Oklahoma City, OK. Colin, Jacob, Philip and Sara set out for OKC on May 2. Megan, Tommy and I stayed home to care for Grandma Bunny.

The day before the revival began the "traveling" family attended the local service in OKC. During this meeting the whole Church gathered and prayed for the family.

Colin, Jacob and Philip took turns preaching and they sang too. They had a wonderful time in the Lord... A great start for this new journey.

There were three saved and one filled with the Holy Ghost. Four were baptised in water.

May 9 - 15, 2011 was in Broken Arrow, OK. I am sorry I do not have pictures of this revival. They are somewhere but I didn't have them :-( Maybe I can locate them and put them up at a later date. God, again, did an amazing work during this revival. Two were saved, one of which was a homeless man that attended. The people in these two churches were such a blessing to me and I was not even there. To hear the reports of how they are actually putting action to their words and doing the Great Commission of going and preaching the gospel to all was SO exciting! I am so encouraged by seeing and hearing of the many miracles He is performing in these areas. One was sanctified and two were filled with the Holy Ghost, one of these received the Holy Ghost during morning devotions at the pastor's home. Very exciting! Six were baptised in water.

After leaving Broken Arrow there was a stop, for lunch, with some great friends in OKC, OK. Some that did not get to attend the revival earlier.

Now it's time to move onto Andrews, TX. Travelling can do some weird things to people...

May 18 - 22, 2011. Andrews, TX. Here is little Jeremiah Kaufman. They all had a blast with this kid.

The new Kaufman baby, Abraham.

In this revival God worked in many hearts and there was one confirmed healing. I am so thankful to know the HEALER!

Here is Bro. Sam and Sis. Tammy K.

May 22, Colin was pretty anxious to get home, so they jumped in the car and drove all night to surprise us the next morning. We were surprised! And very thankful to have them home again.

May 26, 2011 was graduation day. Jacob survived school and graduated. We are very proud of him. We had a ceremony and some yummy food at the Golden Corral.

After graduation we took a few days to regroup and get ready to head out to the North West...

More to come....

Lord, I Want To Be Like The Ant!

Sometimes, in life, we are required to accomplish certain tasks and we may get tired and wonder why we do the things we do... God has a purpose in our lives and He uses each one of us to take care of certain jobs. 1 Tim. 1:12 says,

"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;"

I am thankful that I am able to be a minister for Him, in whatever capacity He can use me. But when I may get to wondering why I may be required to accomplish certain tasks I will remember this little story...

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens.
'Great', she thought. 'Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.' She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she might find her contact lens. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the Bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.'

She thought, 'Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.'

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, 'Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?'

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens...

God is so amazing! He brings simple things into our lives, just when we need them. I love Him!

Wednesday... Here And Gone

Today was another busy day. I woke up at 5 something but didn't get out of bed until after 6:00. It just doesn't seem right to be up and around at 5am... Although I did hear Grandma shuffling around.

I got up, started the coffee, put a load of laundry in the machine and took Duke out for his morning duties. I sat for awhile, watching the news and drinking my coffee. I woke the kids up at 7am and got them going... While they were eating their breakfast, I cut Grandma's hair... Then Tommy's hair. We did a little school, cleaned and washed and folded three loads of laundry, then I fixed some lunch and we ate... Grandma went to a luncheon at her church.

After lunch I took the kids over to Papa and Grandma's house for the kids to Papa sit, since he is supposed to be taking it easy... A lot of good that did, the kids said he wouldn't let them help him. I came home (Grandma's) with Duke and I worked in a quiet house to organize our finance books. I also cleaned out and organized under the bathroom sink... Oh joy! Finding the school books was the next item of business. I found the boxes and unpacked them so I could pack them again... Doesn't make much sense, I know, but I just through them all in a box to get to Grandma's... Now I have to go through the check list and make sure everything is accounted for so I can mail them back to AZVA at the end of the year (May 20). I unpacked the boxes and started sorting them... About 3pm it was time to start dinner so I didn't run out of time. I cooked Salisbury Steak and put it in the crock pot to keep warm while I ran over to pick up the kids. Picked up the kids, came home and ate supper, while watching the service in OKC (via Skype). We are now officially members of the Church of God in OKC and the boys were set forth as Lay Ministers... Very exciting.

The service ended, we cleaned up the kitchen, watched Wheel of Fortune and then I started to pack Jacob's school supplies, checking them off of the list as I went. One box down... Four to go.

Now I am about to fall over, I am so tired. So for now, I must say goodnight.

Goodnight!

Departure Day

Colin, Jacob, Philip and Sara left yesterday morning at 6:30 after a sleepless night. Problems with allergies, because of all of the dust that was being kicked up while moving stuff out of the house, and thoughts of the changes going on in our lives, made it difficult to sleep. They left and it was time to get to work, here on the home front. Megan, Tommy and I got dressed and headed to the hospital to be with Bonieta and Marcy, while Paul was in surgery. We are thanking God that He kept His hand on Paul during this procedure. He had to have his bladder scraped due to cancer. Thankful that everything went well.

The kids and I left there at 11:30, when they allowed Paul to go home. We headed to the grocery store and bought Grandma's groceries and picked up some TV dinners for lunch. We then went to the house, ate lunch and started cleaning. We were able to completely empty out and clean the master bath, bedroom and Jacob's room. Three rooms down, six to go... Then garage sale.

Today I have washed three loads of laundry, cut Grandma's hair and Tommy's hair. Beds are made, kitchen is clean, Megan has done a Science lesson already. Now I must do some school with Tommy, clean Grandma's house all before lunch. Grandma has a luncheon today, so when she leaves I will take the kids to lunch and then drop them off at Papa Shuler's house... The kids are Papa sitting today, since he is unable to get up and around for the next week to ten days. They will stay with him and be his gophers... I will come back to Grandma's and start organizing stuff and get rid of some boxes. I will go back and pick the kids up and be back to Grandma's by 5pm so we can Skype with the OKC church and be a part or their service tonight... Tonight is a special night for us. Not only will our memberships be accepted (I hope) there, but they will be setting Jacob and Philip forth as Lay Ministers in the Church of God. Very exciting time. I am truly grateful for the calling on my kid's lives and their willingness to accept. God is good!

Now I must get started on school with Tommy.