Happy 21st Birthday, Paul!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

invites everyone to watch the newest Kids 4 Truth dynamation at http://kids4truth.com/ladylucy/.

invites everyone to watch the newest Kids 4 Truth dynamation at http://ping.fm/oCeRu

loves the family God has given her.

Busy Times!

One would think that as your children grow that life slows down and gets a little less hectic... So far, I haven't found that as true.

This summer found two of our boys working out of town and one working hours just opposite of ours...so our summer went fast and we didn't have much time as a family together.

Paul spent the summer in Knoxville, TN working. For the past couple summers he has had the awesome opportunity to work as an intern under Rob. This summer he lived in Knoxville, spent many evenings with the Gillens, enjoyed spending time with the Oakridge Baptist Church's singles, and enjoyed some additional freedom of basically living on his own. Paul is in the midst of his junior year at BJU where he works at least 2 jobs (cook & lab monitor) and is a computer science major.

Timothy worked in town but with hours almost opposite mine and Rusty's. Tim and I shared a car...so I would get home in time for him to go to work. We tried to use times when we were both off work to do our "college shopping". He had the opportunity to submit some graphic work to an area politician, and although his designs failed due to office politics, he gained some valuable experience. Mid-August we said our goodbyes as Tim drove off to PCC where he is working as a cook and is a graphic arts major.

Peter also worked out of town this summer. He had the opportunity to work on the Tech/AV/Progaming Staff at Southland Christian Camp (http://www.southlandcamp.org/). He absolutely loved the chance to work at the camp and still feels as God is directing him toward camp ministry. He is begging to get his driving license asap (I think this will happen next week). He is the class president of the junior class at TCCS.

Andrew continues to grow, but I guess when one has a size 13 shoe he has a LOT of growing to do! He is right at the 6' point and shows no signs of slowing down yet. He has been working hard to help with our current home remodel project. He loves to keep things organized.

Arrena is right at passing me! I can't believe my baby is now 12! She plays the piano and french horn, loves to read, does well in school, and loves K4T club on Sunday evenings.

Before the college kids all left for college, we got together as a family at Dad and Mom's. It was great to have all David & Jen's and Rusty and my children together with Grandpa and Grandma. We enjoyed watching them play games, tease, and love on each other.

After Tim left for college we found an evening to go to PowerPlay out in KS. This unique indoor gaming center is mostly all blacklite and was loads of fun! I was surprised at how inexpensive it was for us to spend a few hours today doing something fun and different. Paul, Peter, and Andrew enjoyed a round of free-throw shooting together...we found that Andrew had quite a talent shooting free throws! Peter threatens to tell Coach Christensen.

Graduation and a month!

The past couple months have just flown by...I keep saying that I need to write a post, but time never seemed to allow for it. So I will try to catch everyone up to speed.

Saturday, May 24...we celebrated Timothy's graduation from Tri-City Christian. We are so proud of the young man Tim has grown to be. He plans to attend Pennsacola Christian College this fall and major in Graphic Design. Tim loves to work in children's ministries at the church. He is involved in children's church, puppet ministry, and Kids 4 Truth. We celebrated Tim's graduation with an open house complete with family and friends. We are grateful for the family and friends who came from out of town to make this time special for Tim. Congratulations Tim! We are so proud of you!

Sunday, May 25...Peter left for the summer to go to Southland Christian Camp where he is working on staff for the summer. You can learn about his summer ministry at: http://peterralph.blogspot.com/. We are excited for the ministry he has this summer.

Tuesday, May 27...Paul left for Knoxville, TN where he is doing an internship again this summer. We are so grateful for the opportunities God has given to Paul. He is able to gain valuable experience, learn things that help him in school, and earn money for college all at the same time.

Sunday, June 1...Andrew and Arrena left for Mississippi to spend some time with Rusty's folks. The truck & trailer was full of people and animals when they left our house with 5 dogs, 3 cats, Grammie & Grampie, Brant, Neal (friend from Mississippi), Andrew, and Arrena. The kids enjoyed their time with Grammie & Grampie and Brant (their cousin from FL). Andrew even caught a catfish the size of his arm!

June 8 - Saturday June 14...Rusty and I took 47 junior-age children, 10 teens, and 3 adult sponsors to Southland Christian Camp for Junior Camp. Arrena joined us on Monday and we were able to see Peter. It was a great week of camp watching many bus children make professions of faith and church children make life changing decisions.

June, 22-28...Rusty drove a bus to Southland Camp again to take our teens to camp. This time Andrew joined him on Monday and once again he saw Peter.

June 27-29..For the first time ever I flew in an airplane. I went to Greer, SC to teach a Kids 4 Truth Advanced Regional Event. It was amazing to see God's Creation from the clouds! A bonus on this trip! Paul drove over from Knoxville, TN to see me and help with the training (he taped it all) and I stayed with my brother and his family. It was good to see them all and see Paul after a month! I had a great time teaching (enjoy teaching), but was so glad to get home to my family. It was smooth flying there but the trip home was full of delays.

July 4...We spent the fourth as a family. I went shopping with Tim in the morning/early afternoon getting clothes for college. In the evening we went to Ralph and Adele Roberts (our adopted family) to have a cookout. We enjoyed fresh fruit, hotdogs/brauts, and homemade icecream. The beautiful clear sky make watching fireworks special.

Well...I'll do my best to update the blog more frequently.

Prayer Requests

The past couple weeks have been difficult emotionally for my parents. A couple of their siblings are having major health issues that we need to bring before our God in incessory prayer.

Darlene Mauss is my dad's sister. She turned 80 in November. Shortly thereafter, she fell and broke her hip. She has been through surgery for a hip replacement but it is not taking. The doctors have determined that previous radiation for tumors/cancer in that area has prevented the area from healing. In addition they have found new tumors in the area. The doctors have decided it would be best to allow the area to heal itself. So she is in a nursing home while she heals.

Don Mills is my mother's only sibling. He has multiple health issues that includes Kidney transplant, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, and Hardening of the Arteries. Yesterday, my Uncle Don fell and broke both of his legs real bad. He will be in a cast from the waist down on both legs. The legs really need pins, screws, and plates, but they cannot do this because of his other health issues. He also needs to be put on blood thinners and have a filter, but they cannot do this because the thinners will react with his other medication and the filter goes where his transplant incisions were. Because of the many health issues he has he must go to the nursing home as there is no way they can take care of him. This will not be easy because of all his health issues – nursing homes don’t want that many problems to deal with.

The family requests that we put them on any prayer lists that we have. They desire our prayers as they know that only God can provide the healing and peace we need.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a very merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior with your family and friends.

We are happy to have all our children home for Christmas and will be celebrating with my sister and her family tonight.

On December 31, we will host our annual New Year's Eve Party. If you are in the area you are welcome to come by.