Weekend recap

Yes, I have been here. Running around in the mountains of Switzerland this weekend--well, Little Switzerland that is. ;) My BIL and SIL were house sitting and invited us to come and spend some time with them.
So here are a few of our weekend pictures.

Notice the shoe.....yes, proof that I was there. We did a little creek fishing..Keith caught some baby trout and I got some fun pictures. Notice the forerunner of the Chia head? Bet ya wondered where they got the idea from.......question solved!

We also found a pond and did a little fishing and picnicking. Keith caught most everything..although none were keepers. The critter to the right brought a little excitement and then gave Julia a nice lesson on God providing daily "bread" to the creatures in the wild when it decided to show her how a snake eats a frog. Yes, it was pretty gross!

Some of you will recognize the above product....Bon Ami. While in Little Switzerland we visited a mine called, Emerald Mine. This is the place where the ingredients for Bon Ami were first mined. The mine is no longer being used but we had a fantastic tour of the mine and how they used the equipment to pull great things from the earth.

There was Mica everywhere. The above picture is of my SIL showing Julia pieces of it still in the wall. You could still see the holes where they drilled before inserting dynamite to break away the huge pieces of rock. Who knew that so much work went in to
bring us a non abrasive cleaning product.
There were pictures of the mine in operation......pictures of women working in place of men during the World War....can't remember if it was one or two.

Julia walking the railroad tract into the mine.

If you know me- you know that I can not pass up the above. After walking through the History museum we bought a bucket of rocks and Julia and I did a little mining of our own. I LOVE doing this....I guess it is a good thing Julia does too. :)
We got some fantastic rocks.....the bucket contained stones from several different mines.
We got Opals, Emeralds, Garnets, Rubies, Amethysts, Smokey Quarts....and a few others.
I think I'll save pictures of those till a different time....I have some thoughts working. ;)

This was the view from the home we stayed in.
Pretty incredible!
The elevation here is pretty high. So high that when the clouds roll in for a storm-- the owners of the home say they can usually look out of their windows and view the storm going on below.
Now......a certain person told me that I had better get a picture of the above because they knew with the way my brain worked that I would pull some meaning out of that. But what she did not know was that my brain had not even gone there yet......guess I am rubbing off on her!
So.....let me share this.
There are certain storms going on right now....both spiritual and for some physical.
Some of us are standing on top of that mountain looking out on a beautiful view......majestic mountains rising above the dark angry clouds below. And as the storm begins to build we see the lightening flashing and hear the thunder shaking the earth below.
Far below those clouds are individuals who closed off from the light above...... because of the dark clouds swirling around their lives.
One of these individuals is my SIL. She went in a few months ago to have a contained spot of cancer removed from her colon....only to find that instead it had gone through the wall and now she finds herself in stage 3 cancer with six months of Chemo to come. There have been collapsed lungs, and many other difficult changes to her life along this journey.
She is in a major storm at the moment.
I would ask that you pray for her and her family. She has two children around my age... who I am not sure have ever found Christ. She and her husband are Christians......but I don't think the children are. I ask that you would pray for them all during this time.

I pray that I never get so lost in the view from the mountain above that I forget to come down and walk through the storm with those walking through the valley.
Let's pull out those goulashes and walk through the rain with those we are to love.
My SIL's name is Tanya Brumfield......I would appreciate you joining us in prayer for her.

Love ya!