When my husband was pastoring a church in PA, I had an abundance of wonderful, caring, and loving ladies in my church!   There was one lady though, that I COULD NOT have gotten by without, as far as being a pastor's wife goes.   My purpose in writing this page in honor of her, is for those of you that are not pastors wives, but would love to be a help and blessing to the busy lady that serves your church in that wonderful role! A pastor's wife is so busy.   Joyce knew all that I did.   She had this uncanny knack of being able to ASSESS a situation and SEE what needed done.   She thought AHEAD.   She always had a way of seeing what responsibilities I had coming up, and then went into an immediate plan of action on how she could help! Joyce is VERY organized.   She would advise me of things that were coming up, and reminded me of even the simplest things such as daylight savings time, when we needed to buy meat for an upcoming function, when we were low on supplies, ect.   We had a system worked out, to where she emailed me about things I needed to remember, and then I checked my email and took care of it. She was wonderful about doing shopping for me that may have needed to be done for the church.   I knew that I could just leave it in her capable hands!   She kept up to date on when we were having people scheduled to stay in the Prophet's Chambers, and helped me do the cleaning and laundry that goes along with that.   All of these things freed up my time, and helped me in so many different ways.   You just cannot imagine the blessing it was to have someone helping carry the load!   My prayer is that by doing this "Joyce Award" page, other ladies out there, will make it their responsibility to minister to their pastor's wife, and help lighten her load. Joyce Viertel, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you did for me, but especially all that you do for God!   ~Tips for Helping Your Pastor's Wife~ Pray for her!!!!   This is the most important thing! Watch her kids, and let her get out. Take her out to lunch "just because". Buy her a new dress. Take her out to the beauty shop. Pray for her some more! Does she have to clean the church?   Do it for her! Send her a card of appreciation. Send her flowers. Offer to help in any way. Ask her for any job she might need you to do. Does she homeschool?   Offer to help with any papers to grade. Be sensitive to what she does, and ask God to help you as you look for ways to help her. Buy her a gift! Use this link! Gift Search (Fast, easy, and inexpensive!!) Pray for her again! I know there are many more ways to help, be creative, and I guarantee you, if you'll just start with these few things, it will be a HUGE blessing. Jennifer VeStrand from Grand Rapids, MI sends in this suggestion: "My biggest suggestion about encouraging your pastor's wife, (and it's not real original!!), is don't ASK what you can do, just be creative and tell her you WILL do it!! I have a very difficult time asking for help (which is a whole 'nother story!!) and I would love for someone to call and say "we will keep the kids, you guys go have a date!" Rather than, "we'll babysit anytime, just let us know!!!" *****GREAT suggestion Jennifer!!! Copyright © 2000-2005 Cox Family Homepage These pages coded with Notepad by ME!!!!