Praises – Work completed at home, for others, and at camp; musical gifts to share with others; encouragement received
Prayers – What attitudes others see when our bodies get tired or damaged; speedy scheduling for bath remodel contractors; patience with the marketplace learning curve to sell guitars; diesel mechanic and car rental end of July
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV
Hello to our family, friends, and followers:
May weather was all over the spectrum. Heaters on overnight early in the month, a/c on all day and night about 1/3 of the month and a ‘feels like’ high of 104 at the end of the month. We had about two weeks of cloudy/rainy days, sometimes quite heavy but always just enough to stop any outside activities. The humidity was high most of the month, a bit early even for Mississippi! There were several thunder storms (Connie’s phone flashes a lightening in your area message and sounds an alarm now, scarier than the thunder) and some wind but nothing threatening our area.
Our walks have been reduced to short or skipped with the humidity. Connie’s guard turkey has a female now and enlarged his territory to our road, still fanning his tail and being very protective of his mate. We’re managing to swim three times a week, sometimes through the aches and pains at a bit slower pace. Both of us go in spurts with our workouts, it is so hard to stay motivated even when we know in our heads and hearts that we will feel better.
When not working on projects for others, John was focused on our unfinished room. He removed a former outside window, resized it, added a storage area on the other side, and installed a new single pane sliding window into our swim area. Lots of frustrations and building skills, a bit of help from Connie, and then the trim work, wall finishing, bead board for wainscoting, and custom made ‘chair rail’ trim for that. Add in lots of mudding, sanding, and fresh paint and one end of this long wall is complete! Part of the goal was to create more space, and that was accomplished moving things to and from the shed. We hired a contractor and started ‘shopping’ for our bathroom remodel that, depending on weather, won’t happen for another month. We are waiting for their start date so we can do some demolition ourselves, saving a bit of money.
Connie’s main focus was music this month: for the dulcimer club, for church, old recordings, and a Sunday morning music/message service. After several days of practice, deleting and arranging songs, choosing scriptures, and John filling in the message we shared lots of great songs and an eternity themed message on the 24th with Cross Point Church in Iuka. Afterward we visited a friend in the hospital, bringing him back a Chinese takeout lunch before heading home. Connie worked diligently organizing two songs in progress and trying to recreate tracks for two of our 1999 recordings. They were recorded with us in separate rooms before we learned about using a rhythm track to keep the beats steady and even! She has a couple more things to try before raising the white flag and re-recording the songs. Some of her music writing was for the kalimba; after finding it could be tuned to the key of D for the dulcimer club melodies. There were a few harp days as well after finding the ‘music’ for another song she thought was lost forever.
The dulcimer club played on the veranda of the Mississippi Welcome Center for a couple of hours, including a patriotic medley we worked on with a hammer dulcimer player. The weather turned out great and we were invited to enjoy snacks and refreshments officially opening the MS Hwy 45 tourist season. We joined the club for practices, a 3-program care facility day, and the Natchez Trace visitors center. Our monthly SALT music was cancelled with the group going out for lunch and we shared six songs at our nearby 2nd Saturday Gospel Sing.
We continued with our Wednesday night study in Romans and our Sunday night study on prayer along with a birthday and a graduation time of food and fellowship and a game night this month. We were at three different churches for morning worship; all had great messages as usual, and the worship songs went well. Connie inadvertently left her cell phone at church on Mother’s Day, getting all the messages later in the afternoon when her phone was dropped off by some friends.
We completed laying the vinyl on our first volunteer project early in the month, took a few weeks off, and started our second project on the 26th. We are helping finish up a handicapped bathroom, sanding drywall, painting, baseboard trim, and eventually will finish up with a few walls painted in the bedroom and some final trim touch ups with some custom pieces. John had two volunteer work days at Morganwood Camp. The first was making more shelves, matching the size, look, and style of the old unit; they turned out very well! The second was getting electric wires run to install motion lights on two corners of the girl’s dorm building. It was a very hot day with some attic crawling; eventually accomplishing the task by running wires outside with a shutoff switch.
John’s Salvation Army $20 Hoka shoes from 3 winters ago are wearing out and have been officially declared work shoes so we went on a search for a new pair. He loves the way they feel on his feet and they help his back and hips as well. After several stops, we found a pair. Another shopping day (at Walmart) we provided $200 of ‘free’ medical supplies for summer camp needs from our OTC insurance card and started a material list at Lowes for our bath remodel project.
There were only three date nights this month (family illnesses). The first we traveled to Muscle Shoals (AL) and picked up John’s amp after they tried for weeks to get it to not work; the whole car full prayed, so far it is working fine! One of the date night group hosted a cookout followed by a music jam; John attended alone with Connie staying home not feeling well. She missed all the fellowship and great music but enjoyed the ‘to go’ plate he brought back. We attended a senior high graduation for a student we have helped with mission trips, sitting at the top of the bleachers (that was a trip to the past), and we remembered our graduations and our kids, from classes of over 500 to this smaller country school of 58 with over half on the ‘honor roll.’ John had one evening spent with 11 other ladies with pizza and fellowship after a dulcimer club practice – a guy tapped him on the shoulder and asked him about dealing with so many women!
After our weed control spray arrived, Connie sprayed the berm and sidewalk to kill the poison ivy and weeds. It appeared nothing was happening, then everything turned brown about 10 days later. Eventually John was recruited to pull/dig out all the dead poison ivy and she continued planting bricks, finishing early June. She also finished up our longer than usual newsletter, filed lots of music away, made some pancakes for lunch, more chocolate pudding desert, and started learning how to play a kalimba (donated to our instrument repertoire).
John did all the driving one very long day, his eyes are a bit better, and only has headaches starting when driving on the windy roads when sunshine through the trees creates a strobe effect. There have been some achy legs and backs, frustrating work, and tiring days that make a good hot tub soak before bed very enjoyable! John was quite overheated (mild heat stroke likely) from his last work day at the camp and has been slowly getting some strength back and got something in his eyes when working on our window remodel one day. Connie has had more swirly eye issues this month (the 5th, 22nd, and 28th). Twice it went away and once she had to lay down waking with a huge headache. She still has some itchy areas from previous poison ivy, but used some ivy block, washed after with soap and water, put all the clothes in the washer, and managed to avoid any new areas even after dragging some branches to the burn pile. Of course, there are always a few fire ants that get her almost every time she tries to do ‘gardening.’ After a tip from a friend, she researched plantain (that grows everywhere) and she has dried some to reconstitute for fresh contact and makes tea that seems to help with the itching a bit.
John enjoyed a few leisurely days working on experimental and proto-type designs for another dulcimer music holder with a lyre. His clothespin design is starting to spin, and a new player that joined our group wants one as well. After his wood tap and die/dye tool arrived he dived in and had a lot of fun! He used a friend’s band saw to cut the nut for the shape Connie wanted (rather than square, no class there!). Early in the month we brought back a futon frame graciously donated to us and Connie started modifications for it to be our new RV couch (on hold for now as she needs 4 hands). We started a new devotion book, “When Christ Comes: The Beginning of the Very Best” by Max Lucado. Much easier to read but with some very tough questions after every chapter that we discuss together. And, our critter reports this month: on the way to and from our church service there was a turtle crossing the road (slowly, we’ve seen several since), a pot-bellied pig grazing in a yard in the country, and a goat in the roadside ditch! We also have a swallow nest in our RV hitch and a mourning dove nest above our porch ceiling fan. Connie ducks a lot!!
DEVOTION THOUGHTS THIS MONTH:
** Since your soul has been saved eternally, the enemy’s objective is to keep you from being a productive follower and representative of Jesus. Our ability to resist the devil is found in our willingness to rely on and obey God. Know the Lord is with you; submit to His plans for you; press on in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving; and hold closely to Jesus and His Word.
** Speak kindness where you see injustice, speak hope where you see discouragement, speak love where you see division, and speak mercy where you see oppression.
**Anxiety and anticipation are similar – both look toward the future. With anxiety, we are worried because we don’t know what the future holds. With anticipation, we are excited because we know something great is going to happen!
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV
Thanks for being a blessing to us!!
John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
Purchase our songs: SaltyStrings.com/shop
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
- July 22-25 – With two of our children at Dollywood
- August 26 – Jolly Seniors, Lincoln Christian Church, Lincoln, IL
- August 24*-September 9* – Clinton, IL – Little Galilee, Family Camp, family visits
- September 10*-16* – South Beloit, IL – Wisconsin friends and family visits
- September 16*-22* – Carlinville, IL – Memorial Christian Church friends
- Contact us if you’re interested in some music programs