Rain and Rainbows

Spectacular rainbow captured by Mary Zach.

"There was a perfect rainbow at my house the other night that stretched from horizon to horizon! It was so bright and beautiful! If you look closely, there is a faint rainbow above the bright one."
~ Mary

I agree Mary, it is very beautiful!
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As April is coming to an end, Marcia Little sent in the following poem mentioning is was one of Pastor Pritchett's favorites.


A Rainy Day In April by Francis Ledwidge
 
When the clouds shake their hyssops, and the rain
Like holy water falls upon the plain,
'Tis sweet to gaze upon the springing grain
And see your harvest born.

And sweet the little breeze of melody
The blackbord puffs upon teh budding tree,
While the wild poppy lights upon the lea
And blazes 'mid the corn.

The skylark soars the freshening shower to hail,
And the meek daisy holds aloft her pail.
And Spring all radiant by the wayside pale
Sets up her rock and reel.

See how she weaves her mantle fold on fold,
Hemming the woods and carpeting the wold.
Her warp is of the green, her woof the gold,
The spinning world her wheel. 
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Thank you Mary and Marcia for sharing!

Plants, Flowers and Gnomes

 Got a couple of shares! The first one sent in by Nancy Newlon...

The church flower beds got some much needed attention the last couple weeks.  A few plants, daffodils, Stella De Oro daylilies and some ornamental grasses, survived the 2019 flood.  I decided to plant some low maintenance plants, hostas and Stella De  Oro daylilies to replace all the plants that did not live. It's apparent nothing will kill or slow the growth of the Stella and the hosta is a rugged plant. 

Janice Cheney lives 3 houses north of the church.  She had a great suggestion and most importantly a money saver.  She offered to divide her hostas and Stella plants and give them to the church.    She had gotten her hosta divisions after the 2011 flood from Jo Ann Birkby.  And yes, Jo Ann had hostas to divided again after the 2019 flood. 

George Valquier, who lives just north of the Percival park offered to dig and plant the flowers.  What a blessing he was.

Of course every project needs a supervisor, so that was my job.

Hope to see you soon at church.  Until then, stay well and enjoy all of the wonders of God's Spring Blessings.  The trees in bloom, the birds singing and of course the return of the Monarch butterflies.

Nancy

 

Thank you Janice, George, Nancy and Jo Ann!  You guys are great!

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The following is from Jo Ann Birkby....

 

Jo Ann's fairy (gnome) garden.  Created by covid squatter Lora Lee.  At least the gnomes are optimistic! 

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Thank you Jo Ann and Lora Lee! Cute little gnome garden!

Note from Pastor Pritchett

 In order to assist and communicate with one another as a church family, Pastor Blaine requests that you follow this blog site.  If you need to talk or would just like to visit with Pastor Blaine his phone number is 402-679-5261.  He would very much like to visit with you anytime. I would also like to remind everyone, if you click on "follow" found in the right sidebar, you will be notified by email when there is a new blog post.

"I believe and am convinced that we will be worshiping together sooner if we follow the guidelines set up by the Medical health experts and patiently wait for just awhile longer. So continue to use good hygiene. Social distancing, small group gatherings and only go out as needed.  Please wear your masks and when possible...stay in."

Pastor Pritchett

            Be Safe        Be Kind        Be Content        Be at Peace

                                              

              

Bunnies and Baskets

Creative Betty Booker, has been busy making projects to benefit a Sunday school teacher.  She put together the little rabbits out of wash rags for their Easter surprises using plastic eggs filled with candy treats and for afterwards to hold hand lotion or other ideas.  Moving on from that project, she started on May Day baskets.  So even though our day to day normal May activities does not leave lots of room for usual celebrations, the tradition of leaving May baskets at doors of recipients can still be observed.  I'm sure we all remember filling and picking violets or other flowers, a piece of candy and knocking on doors, ringing door bells, running to hide as to leave a surprise for our friends and family.  Thanks Betty for sharing some normalcy for us to enjoy.

Pie Anyone?!

The following was written by Marcia Little.  I envy those that have a way with words and Marcia is one of them.  The only thing that is missing is a picture of this scrumptious pie!
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Prayers and love for all those in economic peril, lonely shut ins, healthcare workers!

I pulled from the bottom of the basement freezer a tub of last year’s cherries. I brushed off the freezer burn and set to make a pie.  In my kitchen, pies are problematical.  Sometimes they are failures that can’t be brought to the table. As a city girl, the time it takes to produce one pie, a farm girl might make forty. I felt this pie was doomed from the start, especially since my aching body was moving very slow, one step at a time.  I used what was on hand, all butter (no lard or Crisco), and cut pea size pieces into the flour as Mother would do (even though the butter lumps seemed rather large), added more water than recommended to pull the dough together, tried not to over work it, wrapped it up and put it in the refrigerator over night.  Next morning the dough rolled out more easily than expected, though a bit thick.  I added less sugar to the fruit and more Tapioca than recommended, former by preference and latter by fear.  Egg white was washed on the bottom crust to prevent what Paul Hollywood of the British Baking Show calls ’soggy bottom’.  I put in the cherries and made a woven top for the first time in my pie making life.  Some of the leftover yolk was washed on the lattice, then sprinkled with lots of sugar, as sister-in-law does.  The baking started at high heat which set off the house alarms.  Just as they stopped, Kate and Ron visited, and Ron said the crust was too brown too fast.  I cut out a foil ring to place over the thick outer crust, which one recipe book recommended and I had never done before. 

Anywaaaaay, as JoAnn might say….

This was the best pie ever!  Tart with sweet crunchy crust.
It is called Miracle Pie.
Thank you God.
I needed that.

Snow?!

Good morning to you all on this snowy April 17th?  I guess spring is taking a little pause at the moment, so while it's cold and snowy out there, grab a cup of coffee and let's share a few moments together.

Let's begin with the following sent in by Dale Pritchett.

This is the beautiful spring weather we've come to know and love in Nebraska!

Our granddaughters Tara and Skyler, picked up our groceries this evening and delivered them, guess we're spoiled.

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I  (Mindy) thought I would share a few things too.  Here's a view from our living room window.

Jasper the cat enjoys the warm radiator looking out the window.

As you can see, I have some hearts in the window.  I participated in the #aworldofhearts project. Last time I looked, the group had over 142,000 members and continues to grow daily. It was started by a North Dakota gal named Mandy Gill, who gave the following reason as to why she created the group:
" This group was created to follow the world vision of filling windows with hearts.  By filling your windows with hearts your neighbors and those passing by will know we are in this together! Everyone is welcome from anywhere! "

I posted my heart window picture on their Facebook page. I believe they are also on Instagram and Twitter. Just google a world of hearts and you will be able to find the information.

On Saturday, April 11, Hamburg had a "cruise night" where anyone who wanted to come to town and make the old "u balls" were welcomed to.  I see where other local towns have been having cruise nights as well. 

 While we are on Main Street I thought I would share this picture of the old lumber yard that was torn down recently. There will be other unsafe buildings torn down as a result of the flood as well. 

Please continue to stay safe and continue social distancing.  A big thank you to all the essential workers out there!  We are in this together and we'll get through it together.
Please continue to send in items to share!
I would like to leave you with this thought I came across the other day:

THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM IN YOUR MIND FOR BOTH WORRY AND FAITH.  YOU MUST DECIDE WHICH ONE WILL LIVE THERE. 

Blessings,
Mindy
Percival Church Blogger
 

 

More Sharing Moments and Selfies

Hello everyone, hope you had a blessed Easter! I know we are all missing our family gatherings but we must continue to do what we can to keep us all safe. 
Let's enjoy some more "shares" we have been receiving! 

Pastor Pritchett's wife Dale sent us a picture of her and their grandson, Grady. She said she is used to seeing her grandkids several times a week so has definitely missed that!

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Next is a message sent in by Joan Tiemeyer along with this beautiful card she created.

As we continue to practice social distancing, "Protecting our Flock" in many ways are celebrating like the disciples first Easter.  John 20:19.  Gathering by ourselves in our homes, daily listening to news that brings grief and hope as we learn to get through it but not getting over it.  As we are staying in there is fear but as a church family we are sharing, caring, uplifting, missing our families and wondering why and where God is?  The answer is God is in our hearts same place as when His son died, same place every day.  So with long distance hugs and prayers to all of those we hold dear, thank you for sharing all the celebrations we cannot be a part of in this Easter season.  I hope you enjoy the card, it is a sharing of our hope. 
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Beth Lueth shared a picture of her front porch showing the message that she wrote for her delivery people.

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Nancy Newlon sent in her "sharing signs selfie"  and yes Nancy, it did bring a smile to my face!

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Jerry and Jo Ann Birkby sent in their "sharing signs selfie"  Sure hope they figured out the correct distance! :) 

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Marcia Little sent in her "sharing signs selfie" and a poem written by Nellie Booker who is Betty Booker's mother-in-law and Sandy Booker's grandmother.

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It is so wonderful to hear from each and every one of you!  We look forward to hearing from many more and remember do not hesitate to share more than once!  I am sure you all would agree, it is nice to be able to see and hear from each other and stay connected!  Send in those selfie signs!

Blessings,
Mindy
Percival Church Blogger

Holy Week and Easter

I really want to encourage you to check into our Percival Church blog frequently. This is a good way for us to keep in touch during this pandemic. I hope a lot of you watched the Palm Sunday videos we posted last week. Here are some new ones for Holy Week. May they give you peace during this difficult  time. God is always with us and will always take care of us. ~ Mary Zach

Hymns for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

The Old Rugged Cross

He is Risen! 15 Easter  Hymns

Hymns for Easter Sunday

Was It A Morning Like This

He Lives

Up From The Grave He Arose

Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow