Praises – Beautiful, secluded, protected Mississippi ‘home’ property; Emmanuel, God with us
Prayers – Renters still needed for house; Contractor’s safety and completion of addition; Our health and strength for January/February SOWER projects; Protection of property while we’re gone with winter weather; Friends in Mississippi and Illinois with health issues
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 English Standard Version ESV . . and . . “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.” Philippians 2:13 Contemporary English Version CEV Follow the call God has for your life – you can bring your ‘what ifs’ to Him for He promises to be with you and will provide the courage you need to pursue what He has planned for you.
Hello to our friends, followers, and family:
December brings Christmas! As we prepared spiritually for Jesus’ birth during Advent, we also prepared for gatherings and Christmas at home alone (by choice) this year. We ventured out shopping on the 24th to get some special food items (Pizza Hut pizza, pork chops, and peppered bacon!) returning home for an afternoon walk through the woods on this beautiful pleasant partly sunny day. Christmas morning John started with a peppered bacon breakfast, we had pizza for lunch, tuna salad crackers (part of Connie’s childhood Christmas memories), and eggnog later in the day. We walked through the woods again and found all our boundaries (first time Connie had been all the way back in the woods). Our neighbor’s shared biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, and pineapple crumble from their family breakfast gathering that we had the following morning.
This month started with final preparations for the church float. John washed and cleaned the inside of the truck. Monday afternoon they started at 2:30 getting the trailer hooked up and travel ready, and left at 4:30 to line up. It was a cold evening and Connie stayed inside starting craft projects and helping with supper when they returned at 7:30.
Our Christmas lights were up early this year – Connie decorated the front of our RV with our little wreath and a string of lights on the 3rd and after a few trials with the timer they come on about 4:30 and go off around 11, we enjoy their twinkling. She helped out on some of John’s projects as well; moving the washer and dryer in the house and enlarging the dryer vent hole with the ‘miracle tool’ all while telling John to keep his fingers out of the way! In the multi-purpose room Connie put in a new shower head and cleaned up the shower stall, fixed a used clock, and started a heater for our first cold night. She got ambitious and cleaned the ceiling vents and plunged the bathroom sink and shower drains in the RV. Connie was the organizer for the notes for our new contractor (work to be done in January when we’re gone), had some frustration getting bank account transfers to work, took a couple of afternoon naps, and relaxed one night with a cup of steamed milk before bed.
Connie had a very creative month! She made another attempt at dumplings with slightly better results, fixed waffles for breakfast one morning, made rotisserie chicken and turkey bone broth, used macaroni instead of noodles with a chicken broth alfredo and tuna casserole with crushed cheese crackers and parmesan cheese topping, two batches of eggnog, and was inspired by a date night conversation (and too much milk on hand) to make some shrimp chowder – very good! Holiday pot lucks included carrot salad, pudding cake, and rice pudding. Add in the gifts of cookies and candies we received – we did eat well this month!!
We manage to keep each other motivated with our swim days. A few times this month we skipped a day or went fairly slow because our bodies were complaining to us. We swam before breakfast a couple of times but typically after dark with a late supper. We’re still learning with chemicals, and the emphasis now is finding what works to keep things above freezing when we leave in January (trying doors open or closed, heaters on or off). One evening John warned Connie as she entered that there were two birds in our addition – she ducked a few times but they stayed put once we started swimming. John evicted them the next morning from their perch on the shower rod. We also started taking a phone with us to play music via a small Bluetooth speaker – works ok even with ear plugs in, but not under water.
Connie did a lot of ‘crafting’ this month and really enjoyed it once she accepted that was her “job” for the month. She sorted through her older items, made a bin of scrap yarn, found all her hooks and needles, put all the plarn supplies together, and made up some knit and crochet patterns. December 2 a scrap yarn lap blanket and 28×40” plarn rug were started. The new lap blanket was finished along with the final rounds of an older one; both were given to residents at a local facility on the 15th. After a week break the rug was finished on Christmas Day and is being used between the stove and sink in our RV. We also donated a new pink baby blanket she found to a local pregnancy center.
Fellowship continued with several date nights at some new places a bit further away and once with carry-in pizza to a couple’s home, good conversation, no rushing, and comfy chairs! Connie prepared fried potatoes with ham, veggies, and cheese for a Sunday School breakfast party, took some potato chips for a Sunday night white elephant gift exchange, and brought rice pudding and carrot salad for a potluck lunch after a special testimony and sharing service. We decided to give Captain D’s another try one Sunday lunch – after waiting in line our order was time stamped 1:20 and we finally got our food at 2:17!
John kept busy with odd jobs. Our trailer rental has a short section of gutter above the door that we cleaned and we found a rotted deck board that we replaced. We purchased two insulated covers for our window air conditioners on the property and he put those on (with a little help from Connie). John has cleaned and fixed many a vacuum while at SOWER projects and put those skills to work on two from church, one from our RV (lots of Connie hair around the beater bar), and two that were left on the property! A church friend donated a chain link gate that John was able to engineer into a top for our trash bin one nice day.
Early in the month John’s back and sinuses were problems for several days He stayed inside mostly, did a few short walks, and avoided bending and twisting. He had his eye exam and ordered new glasses on the 9th and Connie decided to order glasses as well. John had to change to over-the-ear type hearing aids; we are hoping they will arrive and work well before we leave for Florida.
Connie followed up from her doctor visit in November with several more blood tests and nothing conclusive. The doctor was concerned with her dizzy spells and really wanted an MRI but she decided not to follow through because all the symptoms quit. She is trying to watch her diet more with cholesterol and blood calcium being a bit high (likely some osteoporosis going on). There was a referral to a dietician who did a phone ‘visit’ with lots of information. Of course, loosing weight would be helpful for overall health. Connie did stress her lower back during her morning exercise time – it started on the left side, moved to the right side the next day, and she dreaded moving for about 10 days. Water stretches and gentle swimming helped some.
John spent a few days on inside work and built two platforms for the spa steps so our short legs can easily clear the top to get into the water – looks great and works beautifully! He finally built up his nerves to enter the crawl space and get our dryer vented outside. Four trips in and out, hopefully for the last time since it bothers his knees and back. Once the cold weather appeared we were very aware of the drafts in the multi-purpose room. Connie plugged a few gaps around pipes and John finished up the area behind our stack washer dryer.
Salty Strings music remained active this month with our churches and the dulcimer club. We learned a couple of new songs for church which typically involves ‘re-writing’ the words and chords and listening to the song several times for timing and melody. Connie typed up a sing-a-long sheet for our caroling at a care facility – we had around 18 including lots of youth for a program with devotion in the activity room followed by room visits to those who couldn’t attend. We’re not used to having booming voices with us! The dulcimer club included the monthly trip to the visitor center, the 2-stop care facility, a special ‘ladies only’ program at a museum (Connie wandered around the exhibits in the free time), and one canceled facility due to COVID. Extra practice was required with the Christmas songs and some specials with the hammer dulcimer.
We do have deer in our woods – Connie sighted two does cutting through the trees one afternoon and John glimpsed the white tails running away. One of them came back a few days later, bolting off as we went to the truck for Sunday evening service. There was a single red-headed woodpecker that kept coming back to the same branch in our apple tree and some fat squirrels. Stray dogs, including two puppies, have made a few messes with the renter’s garbage and John has chased them off several times. After some of the rains John found some bright green moss and several ‘pizza top’ mushrooms (header photo).
John continued his relaxing walks through the woods and built several fires to get rid of lots of cardboard clutter. Connie joined a few times, only staying by the warm fire about 5 minutes one windy evening in the low 40’s. He mowed a couple of times, took several afternoon naps, watched a few old DVD’s when his hotspot minutes ran out, cleaned and organized in our multi-purpose room; all enjoyable activities for him. A bit less enjoyable, he cleaned our RV shower drain, track, and doors and they look great again!
December weather was much colder than we expected this year and included a few storms. All was good with us; we are still amazed at God’s provision of this property! Our longest cold overnight started at 6pm (32) falling to 27 at 8pm, and waking at 7am at 24; we had slow-running water but it didn’t freeze in the RV and had a portable heater pointed at the plumbing in the multi-purpose room. John put up a large thermometer that registers a bit colder than our phone weather temperatures. There were many days with heavy rain, puddles and flowing water on the driveway, and a few days with fog. We did re-learn how to start the truck remotely!
John made the reservation for our 2-day travels to Florida and the trailer hitch made it back to the truck on the 30th. The diagrams and list for the contractor is finished, and we are now in ‘travel’ mode, watching the weather, worrying more than we should, and having the dread/anticipation of new adventures ahead!
Thought for the Month: Be encouraged. Keep moving ahead in the will of God for you. Be assured of His presence and power. Dr. Adrian Rogers reminds us, “Living victoriously is not our responsibility; it is rather our response to God’s ability.”
“Look! He is coming with the clouds! (Daniel 7:13) Every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him will see him. All the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. (Zechariah 12:10) This will really happen! Amen Revelation 1:7 New International Readers Version NIRV
Thanks for being a blessing to us!!
John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
30A Hwy 367
Burnsville, MS 38833
Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com
ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our web site
TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
^ January 10-11 – Travel to Melrose, Florida (Overnight stay Midland City, Alabama)
^ January 12-March 2025 – SOWER Project, Melrose, Florida
^ March-April – Tentative Mississippi home base