Ethiopia
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sidebottom page

From the desk of

PHYLLIS SIDEBOTTOM

100A Garden St.; Grain Valley, MO 64029

Tel: (816) 847-0981

April 17, 2001  

Dear Friends,

THANKS to all of you who remembered us with beautiful cards, encouraging notes and newsy letters at Christmas time. We enjoyed hearing from EACH of you!

We arrived back in The States on Jan. 17 and wondered "Why on earth did we return in the midst of this cold winter?!!??!! L

The following week I went to my foot doctor then made several trips to Footworks to have special inserts made, which necessitated buying two new pair of shoes to accommodate them.   However, the orthodics have not relieved my pain and I am scheduled to have bunion surgery on both feet on August 21st.  This should give me plenty of recovery time before we return to Ethiopia in January.

Don’s blood sugar level continues to stay a bit higher than his doctor would like. He needs to exercise regularly but if he does he is totally exhausted and unable to do anything else.

PRAISE THE LORD we are both over "the coughing virus" that plagued us for 2-3 months.

Our blessings in February included the wonderful national BBF meeting in Tyler, Texas. What a blessing it was to hear some of our younger men preach such powerful and appropriate messages! It was an encouragement and spiritually refreshing for us.

Another blessing has been to see the growth of Crossroads Baptist Church here in Grain Valley. We’re just two years old and averaging 120, with a high attendance of 161.   We were out of space so rented the two bays next door, remodeled them for our auditorium, and are using all the "old" area for more classrooms, which we really needed. Eleven followed The Lord in baptism recently and others have been saved since then.

Quickly let me share some family news with you.

Dennis and Pam have their house & property up for sale and want to build again, hoping to come out debt free or nearly so. Joshua is selling his five acres next to theirs and they have signed a contract to buy another ten acres, five for each of them. A lot of details have to come together yet to make it all happen. Pam homeschools Micah (15), who just got his driving permit. He comes in and helps us with yard work etc. often. Chris and Nancy still live in Springfield but neither is in college at this time. Charles (4) and Abbey (2) will have a baby brother or sister in July, -- our third GREAT grandchild!

Michael still works at the bank. He and Jeanie stay busy with church and their children’s activities. Brooke, our youngest grandchild, will turn 8 in May! Blake will become a teenager in July. Luke, a H.S. junior, leads a Bible study in his school. Shane has finished junior college and will return to college in September, but is not real sure yet what his major will be.

Rhonda, Anna, a senior, and Charles, a freshman, are active in church and doing well but James really worries us. He still lives at home & is doing well in his job but his lifestyle just is not good and he is setting a poor example for Charles, especially. PRAY for him and also that Rhonda will exercise tough love when necessary.  We were happy to see James in church on Easter Sunday.

Mom Sidebottom continues to live alone but gets out less and less all the time, more because of her mental deterioration and depression than anything physical. It’s hard to know how to help her. She is pretty headstrong.

THANKS for all your prayers for us. We’re planning to return to Ethiopia next January and hope to be able to have two books ready to print at that time and two more written and ready for translation.

If you prefer to do so, feel free to respond via e-mail:

PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH so we can pray for you and yours effectively.

God Bless you,

Phyllis Sidebottom

E-mail: donsidebottom@netzero.net