Dear Family and Friends,                                                                                        Fall 2009

We were waiting for the summer to come and as I blinked my eyes it has come and gone. Someone told me that as you get older the time goes faster and maybe when that happens to me I will see that.  I am looking forward to the beautiful colors in the fall.  My son and his wife take me and the grandsons on a ‘color tour’ and it is such a fun time.  We also go to a place called Gull Meadow farms where there are a lot of fun fall things to do with hayride and all.  And then we get pumpkins from the neighbors.  I am getting in the mood.

Our pastor is getting ready to retire very soon and I am not looking forward to it.  He has been a wonderful pastor, always willing to visit when needed.  His gift definitely is evangelism and he is always ready to share the salvation message.  His dedication to the Lord is always evident and he does not compromise his stand.  He will be greatly missed but I am glad for him and Queen Jan.  I am working on a retirement celebration for him.

Awana starts up very soon at our church.  It is an exciting time.  Chris Knobloch and his team from God’s Helping Hands will be presenting a puppet presentation for our kick-off.  We will be passing out flyers with our calling program to encourage our kids to come back after a summer off. 

Uncle Charlie from CBH Ministries will be with us for Promotion Sunday at our church on September 13.  Uncle Charlie is Ambassador-at-Large for CBH.  He was director there for many years and is on the radio with Keys for Kids.  We are blessed that he is able to come and share with us.

I did not have the boys a lot this summer as Donavan spent some time with his Dad and Jaden would not come without him, but we are back in the swing of things with school starting and all of the fun things going on at church.  Jaden will start pre-school.

I have taken a couple of great trips this year.  I went to Colorado with a friend who had to go there to work for a couple of days.  We stayed in a hotel in downtown Denver.  It was a beautiful city and by the time we left we knew how to get around.  It is just a short distance from Colorado Springs so we spent some time there.  A friend of ours from Michigan was out there at the same time and we met her and went to Focus on the Family and to dinner at a ranch. We got to tour Valley of the Gods with beautiful rock formations.  It was a great trip.

In June my three brothers, two sisters-in-law, two nieces and four of us sisters went back to visit our home on Cape Cod.  We rented a large house in a nearby town.  We visited the tiny church which we had attended and sung in the choir and where I was married.  My girlfriend who was my maid of honor is still there and had a luncheon for us after the service. A friend of one of my sisters from New Hampshire came to visit. A girl I had graduated from high school with lives about an hour from where we were and she and her husband came to visit.  We visited old places where we used to walk and go to the beach and visited a museum where there were pictures of some of us when we were kids.  We got to walk the land where our home used to be.  I have a cousin that lives on the Cape that has always been like a sister to me and she brought many cousins to visit at the house we were staying. Some we had not seen for many years and others some had never met.  Our aunt from Arizona usually comes each summer to visit her children in Massachusetts and came at the time she knew we would be there so we got to see two of her daughters.  My uncle has two cottages on the Cape and had all 11 of us over for a cookout.  All five of his children were there.  We had such a great time.  I can’t think of anything we did not do except whale watching as there was not time.  One brother was so excited because he was able to get tickets for him and his wife to go and see a Red Socks-Yankees ball game.  It was an absolutely fantastic trip.

As we think of how the Lord has blessed us, we remember his promises of never leaving us nor forsaking us and we are thankful for His faithfulness.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement of us in this ministry.

In His Name,

Norma Bales, Office Manager

P.S.  If you would enjoy getting our prayer letter or The Glance newsletter by e-mail, please contact us at office@ghhinc.org.  Check out our web page at www. ghhinc.org.