Well, the calendar pages at my home have managed to flip forward at a remarkable rate! Wow, here we go two months has past since we last spoke.
Getting ready for the 2nd fundraiser at God's Cozy Acres. This time it will be a chili cook off with an award and a prize made by Herb West a skilled woodworker. We have a special tag team cooking chili and looking for a winning combination from Redeemer Lutheran Harriman Tennessee along with Chef Mike at Rugby Café in Rugby, Tennessee. We have a challenge by a real expert lady in the kitchen Karen Minninger which will put the fear into Retired Colonel Joseph Tom Whitlaw Jr. as he looks to take the prize away from everyone with his Top Secret recipe. We hope to have one more chef if he is in town, that will really put some fire in the pot and get the competition hot! If we are really lucky our Biggest Surprise Chef will be announced at the last minute, so as not to give the others a chance to back down! WHO WILL DECIDE THE WINNER....YOU WILL!!!! Everyone who attends the Chili Cook Off will be voting for the best!!!! Come on down and get your spoon in the voting pot!
So we are going to have a variety of baskets filled with all kinds of goodies donated from every group I could get to. We will have auction and drawings, food and music. Come out and make a difference as we move forward at God's Cozy Acres Widows Ministry, a twenty five acre program filled with possibilities that will be in our community for many many years to come.
There is a lot of work that goes into a program like this and I am running every day and pushing the keys on my computer as my eyes cross at two in the morning. I have to tell everyone I see every day all the time because we need help, we need funds, we need volunteers that can help us obtain grants to further these programs. Everyone in the future will be a widow or a widower or loose a brother or a father or a sister or a mother. Some of us want to share the Hope God has given to us in whatever way the Lord leads us. Will you look into your heart and help us out?
Tomorrow is more visits to the funeral homes to see about borrowing tents, stores to see about donations, groups to see about volunteers, funds for rocks to fill in the road where the rain washed them away, help to get the 4 wheeler up on my tractor to go into town and get the starter replaced so its ready to go. Then I need to jump on the tractor and bush hog(cut the field down) so we can see the ground.
The best complement my Aunt Phillis could have ever given me was starting a monthly meeting with widows in her area. She said she was inspired by what I am doing. Please, seriously, grab your joy by helping others find theirs. Get a small group together go to or bring in a speaker, share the love of Christ.
Well, I guess I will have my daughter go crazy proofing this blog and I am heading downstairs to do some praying. While you finish up your day would you all pray for God's Cozy Acres and Widows?
Please try my new email address right after you check out the website that has taken me two years. Lots of learning going on in between my running. www.Godscozyacres.com and the email is Maryanne@Godscozyacers.com . How neat is that.
Have a great week in the Lord and drop our name for prayers at church Sunday too! thanks so much.
Your sister in Christ, maryanne
After all this is said, I want you to know that my dream is that enough people find interest in WIDOWS to help with this program and keep it growing long after I am gone to be with the Lord.
There is room for so many great ideas for this Twenty Five acres and everything is a benefit to widows and other who have lost loved ones and those who help build this project. My life has been so enriched when I started working for the Lord on this widows ministry God's Cozy Acres. I may be so busy but I am so happy and I now have a partner in life once again who loves the Lord and helping others who have lost a loved one.
You can not imagine the joy you can receive from the smiles and stories of the people you meet on their journey of grief as they discover their joy. God is awesome and we are walking and breathing proof "survivors" by the Grace of God. My life, which I thought was over in September 2009, is so wonderful and filled with JOY! I am anxiously looking for places to speak about God's Cozy Acres. I have been to Florida (East and West Coast) and around Eastern Tennessee and shared in Maryland around Baltimore. If your church group or organization has an opening for a speaker please let me know. I never planned on speaking in public but the Lord has put me out there and that's what I do now showing what a difference HE can make in your life!
