Living Life At Our Southern Home!

We have been enjoying our first few weeks at our 'southern home' here in Durant, FL. Our cute little cottage is our home for the next two months. We are busy cleaning, fixing, and doing general house things that we don't have to do for our apartment up north.

Since my last post we traveled to Mount Washington, KY to minister at First AG with Pastor Phil & Dellinda Walton. After traveling over 8 hrs. on Saturday, we settled into our hotel for the weekend. Sunday brought us to the church to do our normal routine of setting up our display and book table, and for me to get a sound check at the piano. Most of the time what I do on a Sunday is sing and play the piano or keyboard. It does bring joy to my heart to have this small part in what God is doing in His Church.

It was so great seeing our friends there, including Pastor Phil & Dellinda. Our story of meeting Phil is really a miracle; sitting down at a random table at a banquet during our General Council (the Assemblies of God national conference held every two years) which "happened" to be the same table as Phil. After introductions and talking he invited us to his church for ministry. We have ministered at First AG for several years now and enjoy each time.

Also that Sunday, my cousin Karen was in the service. She lives not too far from Mt. Washington and came for the morning. It was so great seeing her and having a few minutes to visit. Her dad and my dad are brothers. We had a lot of fun whenever we had the chance to be together as cousins.

We left Kentucky on Monday to travel to Troy, AL for the night; breaking up a 26 hr. drive into thirds (KY-AL-FL). On Tuesday we arrived here, at our cottage about 6 pm. It sure looked great! We were glad to get here. Began unpacking, putting food items in the frig and generally moving in. One of our neighbors here, Leo, had the cottage electric, water, and frig going. We had called him earlier in the day to ask if he could do this for us. We had given him a key to our cottage so he could keep an eye on it for us while we are up north.

During the week I cleaned and even hung up the bed blankets to air in the FL sunshine (sweet). Two of the things we get to do here during the winter season is to use the clothes line and to use our grill. Actually, up north during the summer we grill a lot, but can't hang our clothes outside. Nice to do it here. Also had to take some time to get food and supplies...but oh so much easier here. No freezing temps or snow banks!

Our next ministry was in Crawfordville, FL (in the panhandle, just south of Tallahassee) on Sunday, January 13. That's about a 4.5 hr drive from our cottage. The church we ministered at was Good News AG, with Pastor Jerry & Virginia Fielder. We had an excellent time of ministry there, too. It is truly wonderful how we can connect with pastors and spouses and create lasting friendships. We appreciate each one so much.

Back to our cottage on Monday afternoon, by 1 pm. Had plenty of time to unpack and do some extra cleaning in our bedroom. I love what we do...traveling, meeting people, even hotel living. One thing I do though, if we are going to be somewhere for awhile, is unpack my suitcase, makes it so much easier. At our cottage it took me until this Monday to unpack my suitcase because I had to clean the dresser from dust and bug remains! It felt good to finally put my clothes away.

During that week Bill started a project to repair some rotten wood in the eaves (overhang) area of the cottage. That meant a trip to Lowe's for lumber and supplies. We also had to get more food by then...seems we eat a lot!!! I continued cleaning, doing laundry...you know, just normal house duties. Difference is we also were able to do all this in the warm sunshine, tropical breezes, and sunny days! Sweet!

The following Sunday we were at Northside AG in Lakeland, FL with Pastor Eddie & Joyce Tanner (about 45 mins. from our cottage). It was a great day of ministry and catching up with so many friends there, too. We have ministered at Northside many times over the years. When my parents wintered here this was there church. When we started coming to FL we stayed with my Dad & Mom and attended Northside when we weren't traveling. An added bonus was that my sister, Beckie, and her husband, Al came for the morning service. They are able to spend a couple of months here, too! It was GREAT seeing them both. We had lunch together; then they came over to the cottage for the afternoon. Nice...

That brings you up-to-date. Like I said, it's normal life for us. Just the added bonus of working on a home and being in the warmth during these winter months. And to our freezing family and friends up north...hang in there, it'll get better soon!

In the weeks ahead we'll continue to travel in Florida and also South Carolina. If you are interested, connect with me on Facebook (Beth Ann Murray Juoni); my posts are usually a lot more current than this blog!

That's about it from here...our southern home.

On Our Way!

A quick post today!

We'll be heading to our Florida cottage starting Saturday. Though we won't get there until Tuesday evening, we are really looking forward to it! The temps there are in the upper 70's...can live with that.

We'll be ministering in Mt. Washington, KY on Sunday, then traveling south. We try to schedule a service part way south, then part way north to break up the long travel time.

On Monday we will stop for overnight in Troy, AL; that's why we won't be to our cottage until Tuesday.

If you want to read more about our little cottage read the March 29 post. It's a cute little, thing; just right for us.

We won't have a lot to do to the actual structure this year nor buy appliances, etc.; maybe we'll have more time for entertaining and visiting.

We'll be ministering in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina while we are south returning home the first week of April.

That's it...short and sweet.