Thursday night college class last week

I don't think I've told about this yet, but on Thursday nights the college age young people have a Bible study/fellowship time. Anyone 17 years old and up can come. Well, almost everyone is 17 or up... :) . Tanner, Justice's younger brother, is just sixteen, but he was so disapointed that he was not old enough to come! And he is such a fine young man, serious about studying the Bible, and just a great kid to be around, that we voted him in ;D ! We originally set the age limit at 17 because, after all, it is a college class, and 17-year-olds would at least be seniors in high school, but mainly (not to be mean or anything) because we wanted to be sure that those who came were coming because they were serious about their walk with the Lord, and not just there for "fun". But Tanner fits that, so we allowed him in, and he really has added a whole new neat dimension to things!
Anyway, a few weeks ago, a young couple who were expecting their first child visited the church. The baby was due in December, but was born the week after they visited, quite early. So we as a church took them up, to love and help them during this difficult time, sending cards and baskets of goodies, visiting, calling, and praying for them. The husband is in the military, and the wife's family all live far away, so they were kind of "on their own". They have been so touched by all the caring and love, and it's been such a blessing to know we are being a blessing!
So anyway, the Thurs. night college class wanted to make up their own basket to send, so this past Thurs. instead of regular Bible study, we all went out to Wal*Mart to go shopping for stuff for the basket. We ended up splitting up, the boys and Bro. Mike (he comes to the class too, and also Bro. Dennis when he has a chance. I guess they are the oldest of those who come) went to look for things for the husband, and the girls went to get stuff for the wife and the baby. We spent about an hour, then paid for our things (everyone chipped in) and went back to the church to 'assemble' the basket. Actually, we ended up doing 3 'baskets' of a sort. We got a tool bucket to put the man's things in, a decorative basket for the woman's things, and a small diperbag for the baby's. None of them were big, and we didn't buy a ton of stuff, we just wanted to do something from the class show our love. After we finished with that, we just sat around enjoying each other's company :) . Most of them played a game, but Lindy (a really nice, kind, shy girl who Trissy and I are good friends with; well, sometimes she's shy. She's pretty tough when she has to be, and she's not really shy around people she knows. She's really pretty too, slim and athletic, with wavy/curly brownsugar-colored hair, powder-blue eyes, and a delicate, thoughtful face) was having trouble with Algebra, and brought her books thinking maybe some of us could help her with it. So Trissy, me, Oliver, Tanner, Landon Barker (he's another neat kid! He's slim and cowboyish, with short chocolate-colored hair and eyes, and he's 17, but he's got a lisp, so if you ask him his name, it isn't "Landon Barker", it's "Wandon Bawkuh"! :D But he says it quickly, so it sounds right anyway. He is such a good sport and just a really neat person to be around), and Archer (more about him in a minute) were all sitting with her, trying to help out. We ended up talking about several other things besides just math! I mainly wanted to tell about this because of what Archer confided (don't worry, he wouldn't mind me telling it). I'd like y'all to be praying for him. He's a really laid-back type person. He's got a quirky sense of dry humor, so that you've got to be around him for a while before you can tell whether he's joking/teasing, or if he's serious; but his mouth always looks like he's just trying to keep from smiling, and if you say something funny just right, the smile will break out. He's tall and lanky, (alot like Tanner is, 'cept Tanner's blond) with dark dark brown hair, just shy of black, a good straight nose with lots of freckles, and serious brown eyes. Ok, anyway, his family recently moved here from Kansas. When they had to move, it really sort of shook his comfort, you might say, cause they (he, his brother, and two sisters) were going to a small, close-knit Christian school, and he was real close to his classmates there (and they were good Christian friends besides). They moved here and had to find a new school. Well, the three youngest go to Victory Road Christian Academy here, but Archer's a senior, and the school only has through 10th grade right now. So he's having to go to another very difficult, liberal, non-Christian, public school, and it's about to get the best of him. He's going to try to "stick it out though". So just pray for him when you think of it, and for all the young people as they try to live Christian lives in difficult environments.

Wow, there is so much more, but I really need to take a break from the computer - my eyes are aching really bad.
Ttyl...Take care, and Ps. 107:8!