The building alarm went off at 4 AM this morning. Now you have to know, this alarm is soooo loud it can almost wake the dead and we are directly across the street from it. In fact we hear it when the missionaries who live in the building don't. When it goes off Steve goes over to walk through the building with Ron Klaassen. I always pity new neighbors on the street the first time they hear it; they must wonder what kind of crazy car alarm that is anyway. Well, since we leave on vacation today, I had no chance of going back to sleep. So here I am.

We went to the Branch Brook park farmer's market yesterday for only the second time this year. It had supposedly been open for over an hour but there were only 2 vendors and almost no produce. How sad. We ended up at the one in W. Orange where they had all you could possibly want including three types of corn from two different farmers. Typical. I always feel bad for the people in Newark because so many have no cars so have few choices. I try to bring others along when I can.

It seems Facebook is having problems today as it won't load on my computer. Just as well, it reminds me to post here instead.
I am really enjoying reading THE KNEELING CHRISTIAN. So as to fully understand it, I read only one chapter a day at the end of my morning visit with God. Though it was written in the 1930s and contains an older language style, the message is rich and timeless. Do find a copy and read it if you want your prayer life to deepen.
Now I am off to "beautify" as Steve comes home from camp today. From the sublime to the ridiculous huh?

What a poignant night we had last night here in Newark. Our dear 3rd grade teacher, Emily Boyd is leaving today to be a teacher overseas. She has been so marvelous; so involved with her students, so enthusiastic, so real. There was a huge good-bye barbecue hosted by Emily and her teacher-roommates. They opened the gate to the playground and we got lots of kids--both invited and uninvited. Missionaries and school families also attended. Fun was had by all and tears were shed. I can't wait to read her facebook comments this school year, but how we will miss her!

Shame on me. I abandoned my blog in favor of Facebook. This post, however, is more suited to a blog.
In the 70's there was a popular writer by the name of Joyce Landorf. She mostly wrote for women. In later years she had personal problems which the church community felt disqualified her for further ministry. I remember her fondly however, for two specific reasons.
Her book, IRREGULAR PEOPLE, remains by far the best book I have ever read about moving past the negative people in your life. They are the people whose approval we most desire but who are probably never going to grant that approval. If you have not ever read this gem, get hold of a copy and do so.
The other reason I have for remembering her is the best BANANA BREAD recipe I have ever found; in fact it is the only recipe I use. Here it is.

JOYCE LANDORF'S BANANA BREAD

MELT 1/4 CUP OF BUTTER.
WHISK TOGETHER: 1 1/2 CUPS OF FLOUR, 1 TSP BAKING SODA, AND 1 TSP SALT IN A BOWL.
MASH 3-4 BANANAS IN ANOTHER BOWL. MIX IN 1 CUP OF SUGAR, 1 EGG, AND THE MELTED BUTTER.
ADD IN THE DRY INGREDIENTS PLUS 1/2 CUP OF CHOPPED WALNUTS.
POUR INTO A GREASED LOAF PAN AND BAKE FOR 1 HOUR @ 325 DEGREES.

The above is her original recipe. The following are some of my own variations.
I have added spices such as nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon. I have used poppy seeds, raisins, dried and fresh cranberries, other nuts or no nuts at all, mini chocolate chips, blueberries, apples, nectarines...Get the idea.
I also use less suger, part ww flour and half oil w/ half butter.
In other words, experiment and enjoy.

Oh the highs and lows of ministry. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving potluck with our neighborhood Bible study group on Wednesday evening. We ended the night by sharing what we were thankful for and by praying for each other.
This morning we had King's Kids and ended up having to kick out two boys. They are both my neighbors and are both in sixth grade. They won't be allowed back until January so they will miss the annual Christmas party and gift giving. It breaks my heart, but it will make it possible to teach the others without constant interruption to keep the peace.
Both boys are from single mother homes and both have anger issues. One is extremely bright and has prayed to receive Christ and one is special ed material and has not yet accepted Jesus as his Savior. Both have first names that begin with "T" so if you are reading this and believe in the power of prayer, please pray for both of them and their families.

God is good. He gave me a peaceful afternoon today as I prepare for our neighborhood Bible Study. We are having a baked potato bar so no major food prep! My wonderful husband did a ton of housework too.

We have been busy with responsibilities 6 days a week, but there is nothing I would willingly give up doing. I teach Bible four times a week, twice in our school and twice in neighborhood Bible clubs. I teach music all day long two days a week. We have the above mentioned home Bible study with our neighbors. I don't teach at that one, I cook, facilitate, and babysit...for one very active four-year old.

I do have one funny story to share for those of you who still patiently tune in. Recently on a warm Saturday night Steve and I were in bed watching a DVD before going to sleep. The kids from the corner plus a few more were playing up and down the street, mostly in front of our house. It got louder and louder and I kept peeking out to make sure all was well. Finally, I looked out and saw two fights start, one between boys and one between girls. Since I teach a few of them either in school or Bible club, I put on my (pink satin) bathrobe and my (fuzzy pink) slippers and went out to settle things down. There I was in the middle of the street using my teacher-authority voice and stopping the fighting. Steve and I walked them all home (next-door) and went home and called one of the moms on her cell. I must have been quite the sight, but they don't fight in front of my house any more. And did I mention that TWO male neighbors just stood and watched the fray? The occupants of the car that came by must have gotten a chuckle or two as well!

Life in the city.

It has been a busy summer with no time out for blog reading or writing. The end of the school year came and went so quickly with my concert followed by the conference I attended in Florida that summer was upon me and half over before I took a breath.

I taught a week-long Bible club with a friend. It was based on KidsEE and was lots of fun even if my right hand did develop arthritis from all the cutting out of crafts we did the week before. The kids were very responsive and really began to understand their faith in a way that they could share with others.

We hosted a 6-week long Bible study in our home during which one neighbor gave himself to Christ. Whoo-hoo! The Bible study included serving dinner ahead of time and me babysitting a very active 4 year old so his mom could attend. We will begin again in the fall.

Steve just got back from 5 days at youth camp and is leaving tomorrow for 4 days of teen camp. Looks like I am not going, as we have no girls attending this year. He'll get back on Wednesday and we will leave the next day for family camp with at least one family from the Bible study and another missionary. After that comes teachers meetings followed by the first day of school.

We also spent a week with Micah, Kim, Isaac and Caleb driving to Illinois for a brief visit with my sister Lois and on to Minneapolis for the Five P-Minus Family Conference. More about that later. Just let me say that 50somethings just don't recover from 2 days in the car like they did when they were 20somethings.

I know you have all heard of the horrible shootings in Newark last weekend. Please keep praying for our city. The enemy of our souls thinks he owns Newark and we are truly engaged in Spiritual warfare. The kids we work with are very at risk, very few intact families, and very few resources of any kind. It is a privilege to be here no matter what happens.

Yes: Finally I am back on my blog. It has been an extra busy 2 months and the blog is low on my to-do list. Let me fill you all in. Steve and I took an 8 week course on urban church planting from World Impact's Urban Ministry Institute. It involved the reading of 3 books, weekly memorizing of Scripture verses, weekly quizzes, a ministry project, a paper and a final exam. I went into it telling the course facilitator that I would audit the course though he did his best to persuade me to take it for credit. I won. The week of the final exam and the paper being due was the week of my end of year school concert. The concert was on a friday and following monday I left for Florida to attend a week-long clinic for Kid's EE (Evangelism Explosion), which also required memorizing of verses and materials ahead of time. Too much memorizing for this old brain. I actually did pretty well in both things: I took and passed all the quizzes, I did the memorizing, and I did the ministry project. I passed my EE course and am now qualified to teach Kid's EE and to train others to teach it as well. Pretty cool.

Since I returned from Florida I have been busy as well. We had the end of school this week as well as an overnighter for some of our King's Kids saturday Bible club group. I cooked and cleaned all week as we hosted a neighborhood Bible study on Wednesday, I had all my music classes come to my house on Thursday for a snack and end of year singing, and hosted a luncheon for all the staff and teachers on Friday. As soon as we cleaned up the luncheon we made a quick trip to the store for the King's Kids sleepover and made it back in time to welcome the first of the kids. I don't think I want to cook again for about a week!

The sleepover was a good time had by all! It is always a learning experience to have the kids in that type of setting because we see more of who they really are when they are not trying to make an impression. We start out with pizza for dinner followed by a trip to the local park. The most notable thing is how the other children at the playground react to us. When they see adults who are actually playing with children, they flock to us. One little girl was in a swing last night and couldn't get down. I saw her sobbing and realized she had no one to help. Probably a sibling put her in and left her. I went over, found out her mom wasn't there, and told her I was a grandma and I would get her out of the swing. At that she replied "Could you by MY grandma?" Newark will break your heart with love if you allow God to work in your heart. Pray for Samia as we hope to visit the playground again this summer armed with songs and Bible stories.

Next Saturday is our final King's Kids event. Every year we take them to a suburban park that has lake swimming and paddle-boating for a picnic. It is a favorite event. Keep us in prayer.

We are so blessed to be living here in Newark and thank God He is willing to use us here.
Thanks for reading to the end of this missive.

Hey everyone,

Just said good-bye to the 8!!! neighborhood kids who came to our house to dye eggs. We fed them some yummies and sat them around the table with 8 cups of dye. They had to share the colors and a good time was had by all. I spoke to them for approximately 3 minutes about the real meaning of Easter...about how much they were ready to listen to. Despite the fight that broke out in front of our house afterwards, it was a blessing. Really it was only a shouting match that we quickly took in hand. We feel blessed by the turnout and the reception of the "event". It was a good next step in ministry to the families that line our street.

Ruth is posting again?...So soon after the last time? (That's a joke, folks.)

Here we are, coming up on the most important day of the year...Easter. This is the day to remember that Christ did not only die for our sins, but He rose again. What a gift beyond measure.

I find that each time I move I have to grieve my family traditions at holiday times. Things change, children grow up and leave home, we move from familiar places and church families and it is time, once again, to establish new patterns and rythms. I was falling into a bit of melancholy so asked several sisters in Christ to pray for me. How good the Lord is to send praying friends and to answer our prayers so lovingly.

This past Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt for 29 kids who attended our King's Kids program at the building. On Good Friday, we will have 6 to 10 neighborhood children over to our home to dye eggs and then will send the eggs home with them. Our dear 24/7 Community Church will have a foot-washing service on Maundy Thursday which we will attend. I hope to find a Good Friday service to attend as well. Then on Easter, thanks to God, we will attend our old church in Wyckoff and eat dinner with my daughter-in-law's family. It will be a large group and they are enfolding us. We will also celebrate our Caleb's 4th birthday and be there for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Some things change and others stay the same.

I hope all who read this have a wonderful and joy-filled Easter.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Have I mentioned that a missionary's life is never dull, or slow, or boring, or lacking in things to be done? Do you get the picture? We have just had a week when 2 college volunteer groups were here. I can tell that I have more confidence as a music teacher than last year at this time because I welcomed the music ed. majors to my classes. One young lady named Sam did a lesson for us on brass instruments. She is a french horn player, but we actually had no french horn for her to play. We have 2 trumpets (one is a mess), a trombone, a baritone horn and a euphonium! These are all instruments that have been donated over the years and I keep them in my closet for teaching purposes. I actually demonstrated the trombone a month ago and what a riot that was. Sam did an awesome job with my students and they learned alot.

Our concert is planned for May 18th this year and we are not ready! The music I ordered did not come and I had to cancel the order. Fortunately I had started with a couple of gospel songs with choreography and they are almost ready. We have added a spiritual in 2 parts and it is coming along fast as well. I went to a different company and ordered a couple of more songs and hope they work out as well. I teach all the songs by rote method so I have to really know them first. Pray for me! Hopefully the 5th and 6th grades will be ready to play a song on the recorder too.

Has it really been 3 months? I really do spend lots of time on the computer but have been so neglectful of my poor little blog. Sorry dear reader!

It is Sunday afternoon and just as Steve was putting a little lunch together for himself, our front doorbell rang. That is always an adventure. Today it was a young man, 28 years old, with whom Steve had made friends before we moved in. At that time, he was on methadone and had no job nor any prospects. Over next few months he was able to get off methadone and Steve even helped him to find a job. Things were looking up and he even was able to rent a room in a rooming house in downtown Newark.

Just after Christmas he disappeared. He quit his job, claiming to be leaving the state to go for rehab. He called Steve on the phone and said lots of inappropriate things and then refused to answer his phone or door. All we have been able to do is to keep praying for him.

Thursday, Steve's phone rang and it was this young man. He came over to the building to see Steve and claimed he would be coming to church today. Well he didn't make it to church but did come to our house after church was out. They are talking as I write. The enemy of men's souls has a powerful grip on him, but God is not giving up. He was pretty strung out and is now back on methodone. You see, there is very little help for an addict to completely leave the life, but the government is happy to give out daily meds that serve to keep him addicted, just to another substance.

This is another side to city life. There are lots of stories that seem like failure, but they are NOT the END of the story. This young man has truly asked Christ to save him, now he needs to allow Jesus to be Lord. Pray for us as we balance toughness and boundaries with love and mercy. Pray for Steve as he uses patience and wisdom in this situation. Pray for me to back him up in prayer as well.

Thanks for "listening". I try to post something more upbeat soon.

I find myself in front of the computer with a few extra minutes and no "have to do's" waiting to be done.

Yes, we are in our house and it is as wonderful as I expected it to be. It is modest but all newly painted etc. It is an old shotgun faux victorian in the central ward in Newark. Most of the buildings on our block are new 3 family condos and our little house had been looking very seedy, thus the remake. Most of the work was done by my husband and lots of skilled ( and a few less skilled like me), very committed and generous volunteers. I will truly try to put out some pictures soon.

The Christmas...uh oh, the doorbell...be right back. That was one of our school moms and she had locked her pocketbook in the school's garage. I was able to help her to find it, thank the Lord. That is one of the reasons we are so well situated across the street from the school.

As I was saying, the Christmas season has been rushing by me so fast. We moved in 2 weeks ago tomorrow and actually put up our (artificial) tree the next day. I have of course been teaching with Christmas music since the last week in November. Last weekend we were at a camp in Pennsylvania which is owned by our ministry. The ministries in Newark and in Chester, PA brought families to spend the weekend making Christmas memories. There were crafts for children and women, the chance to cut down live Christmas trees and then decorate them, cooky decorating, and gingerbread house decorating. You should have seen us all try to get people, luggage, presents and gingerbread houses all home again. Ours was the only one that fell apart on the way home. (o: It was a lovely time.

Claire will spend Christmas in the Phillipines...did I spell that correctly? It is hard for us all to have her gone, especially for her sister. These are the things that remind us that the season is not about us, it's about Jesus. And it's not just about a baby, it is about a Savior for the whole world.

The Lord truly knows just how much we can take. Today we received our CO, that is our permission to move in to our house. We will move as much as we can on Saturday and will begin to sleep and live there that night. What a blessing it will be. I am already thankful for so many things: no more locking and unlocking the gate to drive in and out, (We will only deal with that when we are in for the night), no more laundry 4 flights down and up the stairs, a working oven and (eventually) all my cooking supplies and clothes in one place.

There are things I will dearly miss as well. I will miss our missionary neighbors--both those in the building and those in houses all around. I guess that's it. (o:

Did I mention that I will only have to walk across the street to school and church? Eventually I will be able to have a knitting club and a cooking club after school, in my house. Thank you Lord!

Well, well, well. I must first let you all know that our missionary friend with the broken ankle is progressing nicely. Last year he had some heart issues and began doing some upper body strength work and that has helped him immensely. He is not allowed to put any weight on it so is not back at school yet. The doctor's are pleased with his progress though. Thanks you for praying.

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. We were fortunate to go spend it with best friends from our last church as we still have no functioning oven. On Thanksgiving morning I began to miss Claire in a way I have not done yet. I am afraid that tears will be near the surface from now until Christmas. There is no sense in trying to avoid the feelings, I just have to let them come. I have a friend whose son is in Iraq so I try to pray for her and for her son whenever I think of Claire.

No, we are still not in the house. We are very close but now all the nit-picking begins. We failed our first final inspection due to some minor things such as a missing piece of trim in the CLOSET! We went to Home Depot the day after Thanksgiving and bought 24 mini-blinds. Steve is busily installing them all. Today however, he had roofers and window replacers at the apartment building repairing fire damage. Tomorrow our lovely inspector comes again to see if we can finally move.

It's funny: I am so ready to move, yet so dreading MOVING again. We'll move the stuff from the apartment first because once we move anything in, we must sleep there to avoid break-in attempts. I told Steve that the first things to come down from the storage area will be the Christmas boxes and the kitchen things.

We had our all-school program right before Thanksgiving and it was wonderful. The song I had prepared with the kids went so well and all the class presentations were so good. Our school accomplishes so much with so little. I am proud of our terrific teachers and students.

This is a quick request for prayer to anyone who reads this blog. One of our missionaries who also happens to be our school librarian/vice-principal/Bible teacher, was hit by a car yesterday while riding his bike. Both bones in his ankle are broken and surgery was done late last night. Prognosis is that he is off that foot for 3 months. He is a runner and we are praying for quick and complete healing for him. His name is Steve Larson and I ask you all to lift his need up to the Lord, also pray for his wife Martha. We are experiencing much opposition here in Newark, but the school year is going very well and each attack leaves us all more determined than ever to be the hands and feet and light of Christ in this city that God loves. I read the last chapter of Jonah today and prayed that we would have the same love for Newark and its people that God had toward Ninevah. Thanks for your prayers.

Let me tell you all a little about inner-city life. The first and biggest difference is in the amount of keys and locks in my life. I have a front door key and a back door key and a gate key. I have 2 keys that go to our Care Center. I have 2 keys for the school (I still don't have the school office key) and I hav 2 keys for Steve's office in the building. I have one more key for our house doors and an electronic opener for the school parking lot gate. When I leave my house I lock my back door and make sure I have both of my key rings. I go down 3 flights of stairs, undo 2 locks, and relock one of them from the outside. I get into and start my car, drive it toward the gate, turn it off, get out and unlock the gate, get back in the car and drive it through the gate, turn it off and get out with the keys in hand so I can lock it with my purse inside while I close and lock the gate from the other side, unlock my car, get back in, turn it on and go. I have a pretty funny story about it all: Several weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I went out for Dunkin Donuts and a newspaper. When I came back, one of the men who attend church at our Care Center was waiting for the pastor/missionary to come over and let him in. I kind of chatted with Bill while I went through all of the above steps in reverse. All of a sudden I realized I had just driven my car through the gate, left it running because now it was inside the lot, got out and went a locked myself out on the other side of the gate. I was now on the outside while my car, running with the door open, was on the inside. Fortunately the missionary-pastor came by a let me back in. I haven't done that again!
More on city life later.

It has been too long since my last post and I apologize. Five days after I last wrote, on the first day of school, while we were all in Chapel worshipping, the vacant house next door to our caught fire. My downstairs neighbor, another missionary, whispered the news to me as we sang. Less than five minutes later she whispered to me again, this time that our roof had caught fire---did I want to go home with her. Yes I did! We got outside only to realize that our husband's had each taken off with the family car so we were stranded: only until we asked our city director for a lift. We were only able to get about 3 blocks away and hoofed it the rest of the distance. There were seven firetrucks on our street and at least one more on the block behind our house. the firefighters did a wonderful job and we were left only with water and smoke damage, plus 3 very traumatized cats...2 of ours and 1 downstairs from us. One single missionary teacher had to move out, fortunately there was a house for him to move to.

Now we deal with the demolition and renovation work, which my husband will oversee. At first we were discouraged, thinking that it would take even longer for us to get in to our house. Instead, the opposite is happening. So that they can renovate properly here in the apartment, there is a push on to get us moved out of here and into the house. This week Steve and I went to Home Depot to choose colors and buy paint. Keep praying!

School is going well and I enjoy my students: all 70 of them. I see all of the classes twice a week. Last Thursday was the anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner so we had a good time learning the story, listening to the song as sung at the Super Bowl by Whitney Houston, and then singing the song for ourselves. This coming Tuesday is Johnny Appleseed's birthday so we will learn a song, hear the story of his life, and I will give an apple to each of the kids. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Thanks for reading, and for continuing to check my blog even when NOTHING changes for so long.

Well, we are never too old to learn something new. I suddenly became curious about my word "detrious" and found out that there really is no such word according to the dictionary. I was able to find plenty of people writing on the web who THOUGHT it was a word though. The actual word we all were searching for was "detritus" which can mean accumulated debris. Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about.