Mother Nature Is Steaming

Oh my gosh, it's hot! What is with this heat wave in early June? I'm thinking Mother Nature must be really miffed at us. She seems to be punishing us in so many different ways; earthquakes here and there, volcanoes everywhere, Tsunamis and storms of all sorts. In the past five years we have seen them all. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heat waves and deep freezes, have all taken lives, livelihoods, homes and lifestyles. What do you think? Should we maybe start taking better care of her earth? I'm thinking it couldn't hurt.

My heart goes out to those who were caught in the flash flood at Albert Pike Recreation Center last week. Also to the families of those who were lost.

My heart also goes out to the family and friends of Vickie Jo (Lyles) Rollings, who lost her battle with cancer. God speed to you, Vickie.

Susie Bell returned Saturday from a trip to the East Coast with her YouTheology group. They began their tour in Harlem, New York City, NY where they studied the history of the Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), AME Zion Church and the Christian Methodist Church. Susie says her most moving experience was worshiping at the Mother AMEZ Church in Harlem.

The group then continued on to spend two nights in Philadelphia, PA, a day in Baltimore MD and three days in Washington DC, where they attended seminars on human trafficking. Whew! What a trip! They certainly saw a lot of the East Coast and participated in some intense events.

Candy Hill was also out of town for the weekend. She took a couple of days and headed west where she spent the weekend with Cyndi Corkran in Holiday Island, near Eureka Springs. They spent the weekend shopping and visiting and laughing a lot. Cyndi said to tell you all she misses us. We miss her too.

The First United Methodist Church hosted a pot luck dinner Sunday evening to honor Paster Velda Bell and her daughter Susie and Mrs. Frances Haas. Pastor Bell will be moving on to a church in Alma at the end of this month. Susie will move with her mother, but soon she will be off to college.

Ms. Frances is also moving to be closer to her daughter. We will miss them all. I wish them all the very best in their new adventures.

I was glad to get some hugs from my great niece, Samantha Vineyard and great nephews, Simon and Spencer Vineyard when they were in Rector for their Aunt Vickie's service. I also got a great hug from Amanda Vineyard and got to meet her fiancé, Mark for the first time. They were here from Houston, TX and were stopping in Greer's Ferry on the way home for some water sports.

Guess that's about all I have for this week. I am going to go try to stay cool. You stay cool too. Let me hear from you. I always enjoy your news and your stories and I want to know what's going on. So please, stay in touch. My address is 514 West 3rd St. Phone: (870) 595-3173 and email: porchswing@newwavecomm.net.

God bless our soldiers. It has been a hard month for them so far.