It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Possum Ranch. I finally got a commercial hosting service for the mailing list and the web site. The old addresses to the front page of the web site will still work, but it takes you to a screen that directs you to the new location. This should improve speed and reliability. The address will be a lot less cryptic too. All the links in the back issues of the newsletters have been fixed now and everything should behave as before. With more projects and toys on the way, hopefully I can take advantage of the additional space on this site and provide more news and pictures for anyone interested.
Ok, so enough with the chatter, you need the new link:
http://www.possumranch.net/ica/

Thank you all for your patronage and patience with the development of this e-newsletter and webspace. My apologies for any inconvenience these changes cause. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to send them. I am in the process of trying to make a prettier site, so any layout suggestions are welcome as well.
Prayers and warm wishes,
charley.

Issue #45
February 6, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,
Hello! I guess I took a week off from writing a newsletter. It was the end of the week before I realized I had never written, so I thought I might as well wait until today.

School is going well. We finally had a normal week without a bunch of extra things going on. It was nice for me, because I was able to get my class back on track. Of course, this will be our only "normal" week for awhile. I think for this trimester the "normal" weeks all have some kind of extra activity in them.

This Friday night is the Valentine's Banquet. Everyone is trying to get signed up for tables deciding whom they are going to sit with. The banquet committee will be busy with decorations and food.

The following weekend is the BIG weekend of the year. Saturday will be Penny Fair. This is a big carnival put on by the freshmen and sophomores. Freshmen take care of all of the food, and Sophomores do the games and rides. There are already rides being built. There are parts to the water slide that will be going up in the Coach's yard. On Sunday evening will be the elementary musical. I am in charge of this since I teach the elementary music classes. We still have a lot to do in the next two weeks. I haven't quite figured out where to have all 60 kids on stage. It just seems to get mighty crowded up there. There will be lots of parents here for this weekend.

There are several praise and prayer items.

*Most of you have heard of the plane crash that happened in Abidjan last week. One of our kids' parents was supposed to be on this plane, but he was at ICA at them time. Praise God for His protection. The Africa director of SIL (Wycliffe) and his wife were on the plane. They were not recovered. Their daughter was supposed to be traveling out to Africa. She was in Canada at the time of the crash. Please pray for her during this time. She is the only one left from this family. About 10 years ago, her two brothers died of cerebral malaria.

*Pray for all of the parents that will be traveling in the next week or so. There will be a lot of them covering a lot of distance on bad roads. Pray for safety and protection. Also, pray that they will not be hassled at police stops. (This has been even more of a problem lately.)

*Pray for those involved with the Valentine's Banquet, Penny Fair and the Elementary Musical.

*In March, a group of students and staff from ICA will be going on Outreach Weekend. I think I am going to get to be part of this group this year. There will also be a team coming out from the States. They will be helping to build a church in the area where we will be working. Please begin praying now that hearts will be open to the Gospel, that the resistance that it is in this area will be lessened, that all of the necessary details and preparations will happen without any problems.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support!
In Christ,
Traci