We are settled into the parsonage. It is a very nice house with a lot more room that we had in our house in Florida. The weather was nice with just a touch of autumn in the air.

I preach the very first Sunday morning here. The church folk had a wonderful carry in dinner for us after church. Sunday evening we all went to a church about 30 mile from here to hear a great Gospel Quartet. It was very good and the folk enjoyed it very much. We stopped on the way home for hamburgers. What a sweet group this is. We really love them.

Let me tell you a little bit about the church. This is the church where Georgia was saved and baptized. She grew up in this church. Her pastor married us. This is our commissioning church. They have supported our missionary ministry for over 45 years. I was ordained in this church. For Georgia, it's like coming home.

This is my first experience of being a pastor. I am very excited that God has given me this wonderful opportunity at this stage of my life. Please pray for me that I will be a good shepherd of this dear flock.

We received a call to be the  interim pastor of a little country Baptist Church way out on an Illinois prairie. Corn and bean fields are all around the church.

We left our home in Florida on October 17 and arrived in Illinois on October 20. We arrived safely at the Church in Illinois. Our trip went beautifully. Our daughter did most of the driving for Georgia. She drove the little truck some, too. She likes driving a stick shift vehicle. It was over 1400 miles up here and we are so thankful that we has absolutely no trouble. Our little truck surprised us. I hadn't driven it any farther than to work (about 8 miles) for about ten years. It is 24 years old and has 235,000 miles on it. We drove only 60 miles per hour the first day just to take it easy on the old thing. That evening I checked the oil and it hadn't used a drop. So, for the rest of the journey we traveled at 70 mph. When we arrived at St. Mary's I checked the oil again and it hadn't gone down one bit. I think that is amazing.

I tied the load on at home and fastened it very carefully. I bought a 20x25 ft plastic tarp which I laid in the bed of the truck. The I loaded everything on top of that. It was so large that I was able to totally wrap the load from the back, sides and front. Then I put a canvas tarp over all of that and tied it down with lots of rope. It never flapped in the wind. I never had to tighten down any of the ropes. It was as tight when we arrived as it was when we left. As you can imagine, I was very pleased.

Sidewalk appeal is very important. A home that looks junky and unkempt will not have any appeal. If there are holes in the screen door and shutters are loose, a lawn unmowed and weeds in the flower garden will turn prospective buyers away. About the only people who will even bother to look at a house like this are those who are looking for a cheap fixer-up bargain.  

 Take that same house and mow the lawn, clean out the weeds from the flower garden, fix the shutters and screen door, add some paint, and put some pretty flowers around the house and you will make a world of difference.

One thing most buyers will ask about is the condition of the roof. If it is bad, repair it. True, it will cost a lot but you can usually add that to the price of the house. Is is a saleable item. Usually, a bad roof shows badly from the sidewalk. A new roof greatly increases the appeal of the house.

If the sale of you house falls at a time when flowers are not blooming, you can buy silk or plastic flowers to brighten up your flower garden. We put some artificial flowers in our front yard and some folk stopped to visit us and they asked how we kept our flowers blooming so well so late in the year.

The value of a house goes up in direct relationship to its sidewalk appeal. When people buy a house they want it to look nice in the neighborhood. They want to feel good about it and be proud of how nice it looks.

The inside is very important, too, but that is another story.

Travel can be a delightful thing to do or it can be a disaster. Much of making a trip successful and fun is proper planning. A trip to South America in the summertime could put you there in the coldest time of the year. You didn't know that and you had planned to swim in the ocean of sun bath on the beach. So you go to the stores to buy warm clothes and you don't know the language. Whoops! Good planning would have made the difference.

The author of the website, Adventures Scape, has written a very helpful article about this subject. You won't want to miss it. Just click on the following address.

http://www.adventuresscape.com/2009/08/24/travel-to-south-america.html

A few years ago we sold our home and needed to buy a another one. We were retiring and wanted to down size. We went with our Realtor and looked at about 20 different homes in a price range we could afford.  One thing that I couldn't believe was the condition of the homes we looked at. They were all filthy. It looked like every one move out  and left their mess for the new owner to clean up.

When we were selling our house we did a lot of redecorating and left it spotless. Nobody could comment that the house was dirty. There were some things that we did for the sale that we wished we had done earlier for ourselves.

Redecorating can cost a little bit but if you want to sell quickly it really pays off. Some have found that even setting the table with pretty dishes helps to make a sale.

My brother put his house up for sale last week and it sold within 48 hours. Why? Even with the bad economy and slow selling of houses his sold very quickly because he and his wife had everything in the house and yard spotless and beautiful. They didn't do it just for the sale. For them it was just their way of life. You could drop in on them anytime, no mater when, and find the house in perfect shape. This is what sells a house.

When a prospective buyer enters the house they should say, Wow! That first impression means a lot. You may not have much talent at redecorating but you can make any home clean. When a prospective buyer enters and see dirty windows, dog hair on the sofa, moldy rubbers on the refrigerator door, curtains hanging askew and  nail holes in the wall, they will say, What a mess. We don't want this.

If you have to leave in a big hurry and don't have time to clean, it is good to hire it done. It is worth every penny.