Finally, a Fravel Family update!

We are definitely settled in now, all the "stuff" seems to be in the right place. Since we have more space now, we did buy some more furniture for which we are still awaiting delivery. The movers severely damaged our family room sofa, so we will have to replace that very soon. We have even painted Christine's room from the awfully drab army green to fresh blue, white and purple...in true girly style! There are still more rooms to paint. The dining room and the great room both have the same green that Christine's room had.  I am hoping for something yellow....still thinking about those colors.

The weekends bring us to church search time. The first three weeks we were here we would visit 3 services each weekend; a Saturday service, and two services on Sunday. We've gone to all the Saturday possibilities now and are just down to 2 per weekend.  This week we visited Westminster Pres. for the early service and then a church called The Ransom Church for the late service. The Ransom Church meets in a warehouse! So, we saw two ends of the corporate worship spectrum this weekend.

Please do be praying for us to find the right church home. It is so hard to leave what you love behind. Sundays are most difficult because lots of memories and feelings just wash over me and leave me feeling overwhelmed. I miss CPC and all the connection we had there. I miss the sense of anticipation that I always felt each time we walked on to campus. I miss serving as a Deacon and the wonderful feeling of being useful that gave me, not to mention my "family" of deacon buddies!

Pray for me! Our house is only 10 minutes from town....however, we really do live out in the country.  The road our house is on is a dirt road.  I can see 7 homes from my office window, but they are not connected by sidewalks and I do not see people out walking. There is a golf course right next to us, so there is a lot of action around....it's not like we are out in the wilderness! There is a neighborhood behind us as well with about 20 houses and families. There are three houses for sale...so I keep praying for new neighbors! I feel really isolated in spite of all of this. I'm sure it has to do with summer and busy families just as much as it has to do with the "just moved syndrome". I am a person who needs connection!!! and I'm not finding it very quickly. Pray that I would find comfort in God Himself, that I would personally experience His tender care of me.

I can't tell you how much the Danville summer Bible study group meant to me when I lived in Danville and how much more it means to me now that I'm unable to be a part of you all!! I praise God often for your gracious inclusion of me for three summers and praise Him for knowing just what I needed when I needed it.  I pray too that you will continue to be open to new ladies in the community.

Pray for all of us to find friends. The kids are doing fine....but they miss little things like being able to walk to Yogurt Shack with friends and stop in at the library. The weather here is so hot that we are forced to stay in doors with the AC blasting! I know that as soon as we find a church home connecting with friends will be easier.  Our neighborhood here has lots of children...we just have not met any of them.  I have been praying about what to do to meet folks. I still can't believe that no one has rung our bell to introduce themselves to us! Then again, I have forgotten that here in the Midwest lots of people live really close to family and have deep roots so they have no desire to make new friends. We did notice that across the way from us some new people moved into a new house that had been empty.  We practically ran over to them with cookies and a welcome! My kids were funny..."Let's be sure to go welcome them since no one welcomed us!"  And, then after we met the new family my kids said, "Oh, we feel better now! It's so nice to welcome people!" This family is from North Carolina and has family of the mom in the area.

DJ has started a summer job at the plant where David works. David does not work in the plant part, but is in management doing new product development, which is not new to him, as well as sourcing--which is the new part of his job. DJ works as a "factory worker" as he likes to say.  He is really doing light industrial work. He works on getting products into packages and then boxed for shipping. The plant has no air conditioning...so it's pretty draining work. Today the high is supposed to be 100 with a heat index of 105! DJ has only been working a week and already has interesting stories about what goes on each day. He only works 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He carpools with David.

Christine and I found a local bead shop and have already taken three classes.  We were hoping to meet new people when we go...but so far it has just been the two of us.  We have one more class this month...maybe that will be the class!? We have really enjoyed learning how to make new things.  I think I'm going to post pictures of them here tomorrow. We have this idea that we might be able to sell some of our things.  We'll see!  Stay tuned for that!!

David is glad that he doesn't have to travel as much as he used to.  He still has to travel to Boston for three days once a month and to China once a quarter. His next trip is to China. He'll be leaving on this Friday and returning on the 4th of August. He seems to be settling in to the new office pretty well. Pray for safe travels for the China trip.  I think he is enjoying having DJ at work, at least in the same building, with him 3 days a week.  They get to eat lunch together besides carpool. Together they are working on trying to find a Scout troop to join in.

The last prayer request I have is for rain. We really need it here. We live in the middle of a golf course that is burnt to a crisp and corn fields that are parched, bean fields that are wilting. People's livelihoods are being threatened, not to mention the ripple of cost effects that will be felt all across the country. I heard an example about corn: the price of corn is going to go up because the corn will be scarce. Corn is what pigs are fed, which then means that hog prices will go up, which means that bacon is going to cost even more this fall.  So, it's all related! The severe weather conditions are being called a drought now. Pray for relief from the heat, for rain to come steady for a couple days!

OH! I almost forgot!! Our house in Missouri is officially on the market now. We'd love prayer for it to sell super fast with no glitches!! Here is a link to the listing

Click the following URL to see the listing:
http://portal.heartlandmls.com/DE.asp?k=213885XW3HV&p=DE-8587544-791

Here is a beautiful Prairie Sunset for you to enjoy! I took this picture in De Smet, home of Laura Ingals Wilder. We went to see the pageant that the community there does every July. Funny, the story of this year's pageant was "The Big Winter" all about an enormous blizzard one winter that almost did the town in.