Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

This is Pastor Bruce Bilkey writing.  Sorry for not writing; things have been crazy at best.  With the addition of two sons, things have only gotten more chaotic!

NOT complaining, though: feel very blessed.  Very much so.  God has been very good to our family and I am grateful for each and every member!

My wife, Toni, just had our newest son, Gabriel Hezekiah, two days ago: he is as cute as the dickens.  Looks just like me (poor child! LOL).  Healthy, ten fingers and ten toes, a sound mind, vision, hearing .... and a great set of lungs.  He will be coming home (with Mommy) probably tomorrow.  Can't wait for the children to see their brand spanking-new baby brother!  They are beyond excited; don't blame 'em one bit!

We have also taken in a foster child: we took him in June, so he's been with our family for the past month and a half.  Nice little boy, albeit very shy in nature.  He is starting to open up, but we have had to take it easy with him.  Little Benjamin Micah is borderline autistic, but other than that (and his extreme shyness) he is perfectly healthy.  We may eventually end up adopting him in the future; God has been whispering in my spirit that we should take Benjamin as our own.

I wouldn't be suprised if we end up doing just that.

Last week we got the children's immunizations updated, so they are all ready for school.  This week we will probably take advantage of the back-to-school sales and stock up on what they need; that way they will be good and ready by the time the first day of school rolls around.

This coming weekend at church we are having a "Back-Pack Drive" and a "Back-To-School Party" for the children of our church.  There will be backpacks given away (stuffed with school supplies), face-painting, clowns, free food and Christian entertainment, and all sorts of games and crazy contests.  It should be a lot of fun!  Really looking forward to it!

Two weeks ago, Tirpe', our second youngest daughter, fell and broke her arm when she accidentally stepped off the curb and went down, landing on her arm.  She broke her humerus and ulna; her arm is now sporting a bright neon-green cast.  You can see her coming very easily.  She will have at least four more weeks before she can get the cast taken off and until she deos, Tirpe' has been grounded to using her wheelchair. (Normally, Tirpe' waslks with crutches.)

Our youngest daughter, Tzipporah, also had to go to the ER when she got a peanut stuck up her nostril.  She screamed the entire time the doctors were working on trying to get it out; I had to go back there and hold her down.  It ws not very pleasant for me (or my eardrums)!  Tzippie may be tiny, but she is very loud!!  It's a wonder I didn't lose my hearing! LOL

I am already trying to think ahead: we have our Fall Festival coming in October (the Singing Cookes will be entertaining the festival crowd); in November is our Veteran's Dinner and Outreach (as well as Thanksgiving), and in December is our Adult Music And Drama Ministry's Christmas Cantata as well as Children's Christmas Cantata.  Then you have our Christmas Outreach for the Veterans and the downtrodden of our community.  We have a very busy time coming right up at Christ Community Assembly of God!

And that's NOT counting our revival, which is next week.  We have David Ring from here in Tennessee coming to peach and speak and special revival services every night.  We also have our annual presentation of "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames", which is going to be held the week before Hallowe'en and our Fall Festival.

The new children's building is coming along nicely; it should be ready by October if things continue to progress as well as they have been.  I hope and pray that continues.  Our congregation has grown, too: we now boast over 3,000 members!!  Lots of new people to get to know and welcome to our church family!

Well, the phone is ringing, so I must go answer it.  Seems that a pastor's work is never done ... until next time, this is Pastor Bruce Bilkey saying so long; may God bless you above and beyond!  Take care; will write more at a later time!

~In His Service,

Pastor Burce Bilkey, Christ Community Assembly of God Church.  :)