Thank you, Shirley, for asking us to provide music for your husband’s funeral. He was one of the kindest men we know. We’ll always remember with fondness the Thanksgiving we spent together. We loved hearing Bob’s stories and seeing his sweet admiration for you. He was an amazing, humble man who loved his family and the Lord. We look forward to seeing him again. It was wonderful to see many old friends and familiar faces that came to show their respects at RSBC.

We are so blessed to have had our sweet 92-year-old Grammy live with us for almost three months. After voicing her strong desire to live with our family for months prior, she moved in with us and was so happy! She loved having us girls take care of her every day. Her strength drastically improved as physical therapists and the guys in the family worked with her daily on exercises. She was excited to be working towards more independence, as she was starting to be able to do more things on her own. Her favorite place was on the couch in the kitchen, where she could look out the window at all our animals, especially our little black kitten, her favorite.

Although she let everyone—people here and in her family—know about her desire to live with us, and not at the nursing home, unfortunately a probate court in Michigan ordered her back into the Michigan assisted living facility anyway—against her will—for guardianship proceedings that began after she moved in with us. It is so sad to see the voices of vulnerable elderly people, who have worked hard their whole lives, ignored in their later years. Many leaders and officials in our county and state of South Carolina are furious at the injustice our grandmother faced, and they wonder how something like this could even happen in America. Grammy asked, “Why doesn’t anyone care what I have to say about it?” She also said, “How could this happen? This is America!”

We would appreciate your prayers for our family and for Grammy to have strength, peace, and comfort as she is away from what she called “Home, Sweet Home.” We counted it a privilege to have taken care of Grammy entirely out of our own money, without spending a penny of hers, and we would continue to care for her ourselves if given the chance. We love her very much and thank God for the sweet time we were able to spend with her!

We had fun at Priscilla’s recitals for her students. This year, there were so many people that she had to split it up into two back-to-back recitals so that we could fit everyone in the church! It worked out great, and all the food that people brought was so good.

Our “Angel Joe”

Many years ago, when our children were small, I would take them for walks in the subdivision behind our house.  As best as I can remember, when we had around 7 young ones at the time (baby to 10 years), I took them for our usual stroll with our older boys riding their bikes.  They called a large incline the “Lion Hill” due to cement lions outside one of the houses at the hill.  While speeding down, my 8-year-old son lost control and took a bad spill off his bike.  He was screaming uncontrollably with pitiful tears spilling out of his eyes.  As I was trying to juggle everything and feeling overwhelmed, I cried out to the LORD for help.  A kindly-looking man seemed to appear out of nowhere with a shirt that had big letters:

J-E-S-U-S

across the front. He came to my aid and helped calm my son down, cleaned up his bleeding wounds, and set us back on our way.  When I finished getting our baby settled into the stroller and looked up to thank him, he was gone!  From that day forward, we always referred to him as our “Angel.”  Although we had walked the subdivision for years leading up to that day and for years following,  we never saw him….until about 3 years ago and 20 years after the incident.

Walking into an assisted-living facility nearby where our family has ministered for over 25 years, I immediately recognized a new resident—our “Angel” Joe! 😊 (We learned that he had lived behind the subdivision on the other side).  We thank God for sending him back into our lives.  He is truly one of the most kind and gentle men we have ever known.  He has since moved to another facility closer to our farm, and every week Peter plays the piano or accordion, holds a devotional and prayer time, and visits with the residents there.  Sometimes we join him.  Our family had the honor of being invited to Joe’s 88^th birthday party, and while we were there, the girls were asked to sing.  May God continue to bless our “Angel Joe”, as we’ll never forget his act of kindness so long ago. 

–KariJoy

We either stand for what’s right or we stay silent.
I am proud to say that we are standing strong in Laurens County, and I am honored to lead the charge. What started as a transgender/LGBTQ propaganda billboard targeting the most vulnerable among us, our children, has since transformed into a message of biblical truth. God has been at work in our community and this story is simply too good not to share.

–Luke Rankin

New billboard:

Thank you for inviting me (Deborah) to come and play my harp for the morning service! I had a great time, and we enjoyed getting to meet ya’ll afterwards.

We had a fun day ministering at our church and nursing home on Easter!

We are excited that Luke won reelection for chairman for the Laurens County Republican Party!  It was an answer to prayer.  We enjoyed singing the National Anthem to kick off the event.  Loud bursts of thunder accompanied both the opening and closing prayers as well as the perfect timing during our song. 😊   What a morning—Praise God!