Back Again

So, here we are again...over a week since my last post! We’ve been in 3 different states since last Saturday...Maryland, (of course) Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Last Sunday (June 30th) we were at a church in WV and Dad preached their 2:00 service. (They had morning services, a meal and then Dad preached.) On Monday Sarah got her cast put on...it was red white and blue for the holidays! :) Tuesday I received my laptop I had ordered the previous day. Wow, talk about fast delivery! Dad took me by the office where a friend works to pick it up. I was so excited! (I bought it with some of my graduation money.) I’ve had a lot of fun putting my pictures on there from our other computers. Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. we headed out to another church in MD for their Independence Day Picnic. They had a contest to see who could make the prettiest and most creative patriotic dessert. A 16-year-old girl and her 15-year-old brother won. The cake was decorated like it was the Declaration of Independence. It was beautiful! After we ate we played volleyball. Our team lost both times, but hey...we had fun! :) They had us girls sing and then Dad preached. We started outdoors, but threatening storms forced us indoors.
On Thursday we went to visit a dear widow friend that lives in the area, and we went to a nursing home to tell the residents there good-bye. Of course, you all know that on these days we were packing as well. We are almost completely packed up. We hope to have it done today, as much as possible. Oh, by the way, this will be my last post before we get to NC, on account that this desktop computer will have to be packed up tomorrow. :(
Friday we packed and packed and packed. Some of that packing was for the weekend. Dad was to preach in PA on Sunday, so we went up on Saturday. Saturday for lunch we went to the pastor and his wife’s house. They ordered pizza. Yum! We visited with them for a while, then traveled over to a family’s house that goes to the church. We were to stay with them while we were in the area. They have five girls, and they didn’t know we were coming. (These are some of the girls that came up for my graduation in June.) Their parents wanted it to be a surprise. Well, they were all surprised, except for the oldest girl. She had it figured out. :) We had a fun time that evening, the whole family coming together around the table for a lively game of Spoons. Ever heard of it? Then we played Scategories. After the games we girls (including another girl from church) went down stairs and sang for a while.
Sunday we went to church (of course) and the services were held under a tent, for that was the last day of their tent meeting. It was very hot, but thankfully we had a breeze come through every now and then. We Miller girls sang "Gonna Stand By Me" for the morning worship service. Then while every one was melting in the heat, I took Gerald Jr. inside the church building and to the office, where I could turn a speaker on and listen to the service, while I was getting Gerald asleep. By the way, the church had AIR CONDITIONING! :) After church we had a meal, then we all changed clothes and played volleyball. There were 12 girls (I think) on one side and three boys on the other side. Guess who won? The boys!! Argh! And we had more players! Well, that might have had something to do with it. We had so many players that we were kind of tripping over each other. :) A few times, or maybe I should say several, we hit the ball over the electric fence that separated us and the cows, and one of the boys had to run get it. We played three games, and the other side always won. That last game we had an even number of players on each side. And we still lost. Oh, well, the point is having fun, not winning. :) After we were done playing all the girls practiced a song we were going to sing that night, "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb". Then we all went home. At 6:15 we went back to church for the evening service. After prayer meeting (6:30) we girls went to the church and practiced two songs for the worship service; the one song we mentioned before and "Out of His Great Love". Dad preached again for the evening service. Again, during the evening service I got Gerald Jr. asleep and this time, since it was getting a little cooler outside, I sat at the top of the stairs so I could hear and see the service. After church they loaded the chairs and pews up and put them away and took the tent and volleyball net down.
I met a new friend while there. She, her brother and Mom were down here from Michigan to attend the graduation of a girl from the church, and stayed for the week of tent meeting. I was so glad they did, because we wouldn’t have gotten to meet them. But guess what I found out? They are moving to NC not long after we are! And they are going to live about 30-45 minutes from our house! How exciting! Their daughter and I hit it off right at the start. She is just a year younger than me. I’m so glad to have met a new friend!
On Monday we drove to Hershey Children’s Hospital to visit a girl and her family that we had never met...a 3 year old girl named Mary Zander. (You can visit her CarePage at carepages.com. Create a free account then type in "maryzander". There you can read all about what they have been going through and what a miracle Mary is.) I was suprised to see when we arrived that Mary was actually walking down the hall! It was a blessing to talk to her and her family, and their pastor’s wife. When we left the hospital we went out to eat at China Wok and then we were on our way home.
Well, that’s about all for now. See you in NC!
~Gera~
Oh, I almost forgot. Dad went back to his urologist on Friday and the doctor said he was 35% cured. Praise the Lord! He’s gonna have to keep taking the antibiotic another month and a half, though. And he’s still on a lot of pain medicine. He’s trying to help us pack so he hopes to be able to taper off the pain meds after the move. But he’s doing a lot better. Please keep praying for him.