Growing up, my mom had tons of crazy old wives' tales. If she dropped a dish rag, she felt that a slouch was coming to visit. If her hand itched and she put it in her pocket, that meant she was going to come into some money. I recently learned that our culture is not the only one with strange superstitions. I was talking to some kids about a four-foot snake I ran over in the truck, and two little boys told me to stop talking about it because they are Navajo, they said only Hopi can talk about snakes. I asked them why I shouldn't talk about snakes and they said because it will cause them to get bumps on their hands and bad luck. They couldn't tell me why the Hopi were immune to this.


It really was a pretty basic week. We did a lot of work around NCF and with a lot going on in Bo's life Lil Joey volunteered me to do Bible study again. I had three people tell me how much better it was from the week before. That's good to hear and it shows me, the Lord is growing me in that area. The same day we saw the three little kids at the Children's home get to return to their home. I spent most of last Tuesday taking door knobs off trying to get all the sand out of them so they would return to good working order. I also looked at the washing machine in the children's home, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. That night we had open gym and more than 50 kids attended and took part in a short devotional and prayer time.

Wednesday (May 19) we had 12 and under night at the gym and there were 40 kids ranging from 5 years to 12. The people who normally help us weren’t there because they attended church that night. Needless to say, those kids ran me, Angie and Lil Joey ragged. Thursday night we attended Bo's discipleship class. This week the subject was inadequate children. The subject hit a nerve with Angie and she told me she was very emotional because that is the category where we see a lot of the kids who come into the Children's home falling in to.

Friday was a wild one. Lil Joey and I went out to round up the cattle for the Vets visit Saturday and we got about a mile from the house when Lil' Joey's horse “Doc” got spooked by a plastic sack flapping in the wind. Doc started bucking and Lil' Joey rode it out through three bucks, but the fourth one was too much to take. He got a fat lip, a sore thigh and a bruised ego, but other than that we thank the Lord that he is fine. I guess the old saying is true – “You can't keep a good man down!”

The vets visit Saturday was crazy. We went to watch the cattle get their shots and they put us to work. Lil' Joey and I had to get 30 cattle in the Shute and once in there I had a big steel pipe to put through to keep them from going back. Some of them weren't very cooperative so they would jump up and try to climb out. We had to yell at them and smack them on their nose to keep them settled down. There I was, slapping a 1,000- pound animal on the nose telling it to calm down. It turned out to be an all day adventure. It was four hours of solid work and an experience we will never forget.

On a more serious note, we ask for continued prayer for Cari. Wow, the past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. It seems like every time we take two steps forward with her, something happens that sends her three steps back. There is nothing more frustrating than lost progress. A quick update is that she is still on-line to graduate despite a big ordeal at school that put the whole thing in jeopardy. We also had a scare that she was going to have to leave the home before she graduated, but the Lord has put his hands on both those situations and for now, things seem to be going according to plan.

Cari just needs help because when she is 18, she will have no where stable to go. As long as she is here, we can keep a tight grip on her and try to change the course of her future. My fear is that when she leaves here, there is nothing waiting out there but drugs and alcohol around every corner. Pray for me and Angie and everyone involved in this situation that God would give us clarity on how to advise her. We will keep you posted on everything. God bless you all for you support and more importantly your prayers.

Love much,

Joey, Angie, & Lil Joey