Family news and HW updates

[Hidden Wisdom Magazine]

Dear friends of HW,

Wow, it's hard to believe that more than 6 months have passed since
the last time I sent out an email to this mailing list. The time has
been very full and busy for my family and I, with many difficult
lessons and many tremendous blessings. God has been good through it
all.

The biggest news from our corner of the world is that we're gaining a
sister this summer! Joseph asked Ami to be his wife back in March, and
we're looking forward to heading down to Arkansas next week to get
everything ready for the July 10 wedding. Ami is a sweet, fun girl who
loves the Lord and we are delighted to welcome her into the family.
Joseph and Ami will be living down in Arkansas for at least a year, as
she finishes nursing school and he works as a car mechanic. I'm really
missing my big-little brother and hope they'll be able to move up here
eventually. :) I'll be posting plenty of pictures from the wedding and
all on Facebook, so if any of you would like to look me up there and
add me as a friend, feel free to do so.

I've been staying busy with graphic design projects as well as some
online classes to finetune some skills. Putting together a resume and
a portfolio back at the beginning of the year was a new experience for
me, and I'm continuing to pray about how God would have me use these
graphics skills for His glory. My new portfolio is online (http://
graphics.asourceofjoy.org) if anyone wants to take a peek. If any of
you know of ministries or small businesses with graphic design needs
(internship/volunteer or job situation), please let me know. I'm
passionate about helping Truth be presented in a worthy manner and am
eager to see what doors God continues to open in the days ahead.

Susanna and I are continuing to volunteer once every week or two at a
local thrift store. It's been wonderful to be part of that ministry,
and we were excited to hear recently that the store has raised over
$30,000 since its opening in September - all going directly to help
the Christ-centered orphanage in Africa. Praise the Lord! And beyond
just raising money for the orphanage, the thrift store has provided a
unique opportunity to reach out to those who come into the store. Many
of them are low-income and from rough home situations, desperate for
hope and love. We're thankful to help supply their physical needs with
the bargain prices on everything in the store, and also seek to share
the love of Jesus through smiles, encouraging words, and listening
ears. God is at work!

In HW-related news: I've decided not to renew HW's domain name
(hwmagazine.org), so that URL will cease to work as of July 25. The
site is still online, though, and all the articles can still be
accessed. Please update any bookmarks or links you may have to:
http://hw.asourceofjoy.org . Thank you!

HW back issues have continued to clear out, and only a small selection
is left. If you're interested in getting any of these, either for your
own collection or to share with others, you'll need to hurry. The
following Volume numbers are still available (some have a stack
remaining, some only 1-2 copies):

Vol. 66, 69, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80

I'd really like to see these go to good homes rather than sit here in
my closet, so they're available purely on a donation basis. If you're
able to give a little to help cover the printing/postage, that's great
- if not, that's fine, too. Just let me know if you can use them. :)

We decided not to have a booth at the NICHE convention this year,
mostly because of rising booth costs. This was the first year we've
not been there, and we missed seeing many of you! I also missed
selling my books there - something I always looked forward to each
year. I am still selling online, though, and have added lots of titles
to my listings in the last few months. If you haven't stopped by for a
while you may want to do so, and see if anything catches your eye:
http://bibliophilesniche.blogspot.com

That's all the news for now. Hope this finds each of you well, growing
in the Lord, and enjoying all the blessings of summertime! Thank you
again for being such a support and encouragement to us through the
years of publishing HW - we miss you all!

A fellow pilgrim,
Abigail Paul
former HW editress

P.S. Oh - I also wanted to tell you all about a nifty way to earn a
little money online. Just go to: http://swagbucks.com/refer/ASourceOfJoy
and sign up for a free account, and then use the Swagbucks site as a
search engine (in place of Google or another site) whenever you do
searches online. Points will periodically be added to your account,
and when you get 45 swagbucks you can exchange them for a $5 Amazon
gift card, or a number of other prizes. I've been using the site since
late January and have already earned over $200 in gift cards, for a
very minimal time investment. Unlike most "deals" out there, this one
has no strings attached - they don't track your search or send a ton
of junk emails, and you can save up gift cards to use them all
together on the same Amazon order (I just purchased a digital camera
that way). And if you get family/friends to sign up under you, when
they win, you win, too. I've had so much fun with the site that I want
to share it with everyone I know - so check it out. :)