As the Colours Change and the Nights are Shorter…

The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.” – Psalm 145: 13b (NIV)

Long over due update… but no news has been good news. All is well!

Eating Kipper Sandwiches in England

Eating Kipper Sandwiches in England

But why does the summer always go so fast? Because it’s so much fun… yes, our summer was great fun. The highlight being our month long trip to England to see family and friends for the first time in 18 months. We give the Lord great praise that we had great travel, wonderful weather, stayed healthy, and saw 22 family members, 8 friends and Noel attended the 50th anniversary of his time at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. We spent wonderful quality time with our grandchildren Eve and William, both close to home and at the seaside. The cottages we rented and the B&B we stayed at were all lovely. We ate lots of the English food we miss from kippers to tea cakes.

Meryl on crutches

Meryl on crutches

Towards the end of our visit I, Meryl, had an unwanted highlight with a trip to the local medical center and then the hospital. I damaged the meniscus of my right knee getting out of a boat. I came home on crutches and was rushed to the front of all the lines at the airports in a wheel chair. We got upgraded seats and everyone was very kind… but I don’t recommend the injury! Although it is now much better, it’s been no fun and quite frustrating.

Back home we have been catching up with Charlotte and Lucy. It’s back to school last week, 1st and 4th grade – time goes very quickly. We will be back doing after school care 3 days a week. This will include homework, gymnastics, dance, and swim lessons for 2 very busy girls. Only wish we had half their energy!! As life is always busy.

We have been blessed to be able to carry out much ministry this year, even though funds are just over $1,000 behind on the extra support needed for 2016’s larger budget that we started praying for last Fall/Autumn… please pray for the ministry needs to be met.

In March, Noel helped lead a Lay Chaplains training and in April ministered one-to-one with several active duty Chaplains at the annual Anglican Armed Forces Jurisdiction (diocese) convocation. In June, Noel helped Rev. Nigel Mumford (as his “right hand man”, as Nigel says) with a very successful Welcome Home Initiative (WHI) war zone Veterans retreat in Florida. The next weekend we gave two presentations about WHI at the Albany Diocese annual convention and, as part of the healing prayer team, prayed with numerous needy people. The following weekend after that, we organized and led a training workshop for 18 people who wanted to learn more about how to pray effectively for the inner healing of war zone Veterans and First Responders. After all that we felt we needed the break in England that Meryl talked about above!

The UK break behind us, this past weekend Noel was back into ministry with a trip to Alabama. He has written separately about this second Academy for 2016 on CaringBridge, www.supportnoel.org/news-and-updates/, his Personal Facebook page, and the Support Noel Page. A few of our friends have asked and receive this and other reports directly by email.

We have a busy Fall ahead of us so watch for out updates…

We have a visit to Boston later this month, visits are now every 3 months and we pray that the appointments continue to be well spaced. Noel is very heathy but he is still fighting the GVHD with the horrible mouth sores and occasional digestive tract issues. They are better than last year but please pray they will go away. He does not complain but it’s often miserable for him.

We thank you for continuing to walk with us on our journey and for your encouragement, support, prayers and love.

Please stay in touch with us by email, phone or Facebook. We love hearing from you and knowing how we can pray for you.

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