Dave and Jan are very grateful this Thanksgiving season for the Lord’s leading and provision for their son Stephen and his family (Meagan, his wife, 7-year-old Ryan and 4-year-old Erin). When Stephen’s employment with Zeiss Lens Company in Germany as a cinema technical sales specialist at the cinema lens demo center in Sherman Oaks, California came to an untimely end, he applied for many positions in his field of specialty. After months without any job prospects, Stephen and family visited Dave and Jan over the fourth of July weekend in Cedar City. Liking what they saw, Stephen checked for jobs in Cedar City and found a restaurant for sale, so he decided to check on it. When the owner (who built Dave and Jan’s house) spoke with Stephen and made the connection with his parents, he invited Stephen to visit the restaurant to check it out. He did check it out, and is now in the process of taking ownership of the iconic Top Spot Restaurant and Gas Station in a prime location on Main Street in Cedar City.

Finding housing in Cedar City is a stiff challenge. Places which are up for rent typically have lengthy waiting lists, and potential renters have to pay a fee to get placed on the list. But Stephen found a property management company in nearby St. George, Utah which had a listing in Cedar City with only one other person in line to rent it. So Stephen applied and was given the opportunity to rent the house beginning November 1st. The house is large (4,000 sq. ft. – including an undeveloped full basement), but located in a fairly new housing development in a good location and well-suited to the family’s needs.

After living in a big city townhouse for the past two years, with no yard, Ryan and Erin are really going to enjoy their spacious new “digs” with its fenced yard and its lawns in both the front and back.

And there are nearly unlimited opportunities for adventure in the beautiful area around the city!

Dave and Jan are very thankful to the Lord for His direction and provision in all of these details. The Balsley families are trusting in the Lord to make paths straight for Stephen as he learns the myriad of details involved in running a restaurant and gas station business – seeking to trust in the Lord with all of his heart, not leaning on his own understanding, but acknowledging the Lord in all his ways (Proverbs 3:5-6)! You are welcome to pray as well for the Lord’s direction and rich blessing in this new adventure.

An annual event Cedar City citizens look forward to each fall is the Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival. For Dave and Jan this was the second time to experience the event. It began on Friday evening at the Cross Hollow event center (which Dave and Jan did not attend), but Saturday’s parade down Main Street, with the sheep parading through town, is an annual highlight of the event, with many other activities taking place at the Event Center. Decorations in town anticipate the event for the weeks leading up to it.

The parade features many indications of the region’s agricultural and animal heritage. Antique tractors not only participate in the parade, but compete at the Event Center in tractor pulls which test their ability to pull heavy loads as far and fast as possible.

Other vintage vehicles participate in the parade as well.

Among the farm machinery appearing in the parade are steam machines which add moisture to downed hay in a dry climate.

The sheep in the 2021 parade had apparently not rehearsed their part sufficiently. The crowd waited a while for the sheep to appear. When they did appear they seemed intent on traveling in circles rather than the straight line intended for them by their shepherds. Dave and Jan didn’t witness it, but they learned that late in the parade route the sheep headed by the hundreds into someone’s back yard to add interest to the event! Their behavior called to mind the Bible’s comparison of sheep with human beings when it says (Isaiah 53:6) “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him [i.e. Jesus].” How loving of the Lord to bear the burden of human wanderings!

At the Cross Hollow Event Center, after the parade, tractors and horses pulled their loads, shepherds showed the trailers they live in during their attention to the sheep during summer pastures in the mountains, and vendors displayed their wares.

The Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival is a very interesting event – one of the many things Dave and Jan enjoy about living in Cedar City.