Senior Parent Day Breakfast - 2006!

Today was parent day at the school. The seniors hosted the 2nd annual parent's day breakfast as a fund raiser. Our children were happy to have Rusty attend this year. They are used to having me at events during the school day, but it was a special privilege to have their daddy attend one this year!

Paul served biscuits and gravy all morning and kept the line moving. Timothy was unable to come to breakfast due to play practice, but he and Lynnae skipped out of practice for a minute or two to say "hi" and get a photo with Rusty. Although you can barely see Peter in one of the shots, he was there...only he skipped out to be with friends as soon as he finished eating.

Marrena 

New Office Update!

It has been an exciting 2 weeks as we have worked on the office. A very special thanks to all of the volunteers who came out for our first office workday last Saturday. Thanks to the work done on the eveings and Saturday the new office is now framed in and ready for the electrican to do the electrical work.

Once we pass an electrical inspection, we will begin hanging the dry wall.

The pictures here give you an idea of the new office. A special thanks to Rob and Brian Bear for their many hours of work. And...thank you to Rusty for installing the new doorknob and locks.

Marrena 

Here it is! New office.

Well...here is the picture of the outside of our new office. We plan to do a facelift on the front of the building later this spring or early summer. The big window you see on the left is my office and the one on the right is Bob's office. The door has already been replaced with a new door. I will try to post an updated picture later.

Probably the next warm day we will powerwash the entire building. We also plan to clean up the yard on the east side of the building. The building faces south. There is loads of parking available on the north side of the building. The parking lot belongs to our building so we will not lack parking spaces. There is also parallel parking available on the street.

Office Workday - 1-21-06

Yesterday when we arrived at the office there was a flury of activities happening. One could not help but notice how much had already been accomplished. There were two trucks and a trailer already full of trash and scraps. Everything that had been in the office was on the sidewalk outside the office. Things were organized in piles of trash or keep. Drinks were lined up along the wall within reach of the workers.

Upon arrival I started pots of coffee and water. It was a cool day and the workers were ready for some coffee to drink and a donut to eat. It didn't take long for those to be consumed and the workers to return to their tasks.

Rob Gillen has done an excellent job of organizing the tasks that need to happen. Drawing on past experience, he has been able to plan and organize the remodel project. He took me aside to bring me up to speed and show me a "special surpise" he had for me. There in the back where Julie's office will soon be was a stack of beautiful new doors. By watching the money carefully and finding good prices he had been able to get all new doors...including a new front door. How exciting that was! These beautiful new six panel doors will make a beautiful difference in the new office.

The day was full of activities including filling the holes in the brick wall, tearing off the rest of the old paneling and pegboard, removal of old ceilings, building new walls, fixing/fine tuning existing walls, cleaning, plumbing, and removal of old equipment. A delicious lunch was provided by Ina Gonzales and Ann King.

We had many people help us on this first workday. On behalf of the Kids 4 Truth Team I would like to thank the following people: Brian & Ann King and Daniel, Levi, Zachary, Ashley, and Valerie; Justin Wise; Brian & Autumn Bear and children; Rusty Ralph and Peter, Andrew, and Arrena; Ned & Ina Gonzales; and Ralph & Adele Roberts.

Cleaning up

Yesterday I took my children over to work in the new office for about an hour. We were on "trash duty" - meaning we were getting rid of the remodeling tear out. The children enjoyed working along with Ralph and Adele Roberts and filling up the trailer with old paneling, pegboard, and old boards. It was amazing how fast the trailer filled up.

Arrena had fun doing the job she has for Saturday (picking up nails). She counted over 80 nails that she picked up yesterday.

Peter and Andrew also had to get a head start on pulling the nails out of the 2x4s.

Timothy enjoyed looking around and took charge with Ralph on getting the trailer loaded and ready to roll down the road.

I guess I didn't prepare them well...I thought I had, but they were surprised when they saw the office. Of course, a gutted office always looks different from a finished office space:-)

I will post some photos of the office later, so that you can watch the progress. Thanks to Rob we are off to a real good start. He has the office ready for the work crew tomorrow and has his list of jobs to be done.

After we worked I took the kids to Pizza Street. One place I can afford to "fill up" my children...it takes alot of food to fill growing teens - especially teen boys! What am I saying...Arrena eats as much as her brothers:-)

I'll tell you all more later!

Someday....

Well...maybe someday I will be as techie as some of my husband and closest friends. Until then...I am liable to go insane trying to figure out this devices that are supposed to help you publish these blogs and photos easily. If anyone knows how this Hello Picture thingie works...please tell me...I cannot seem to add a photo to my profile, but I can to my page. Imagine that!

Anyway...this is a blog page about my family and our ministry with Kids 4 Truth International (www.kids4truth.com). On this page we will share some of the things the Rusty, the children, and I are doing to minister with Kids 4 Truth.

The children are excited to see the office space for the first time tomorrow. Paul will be out of town on a sports trip so he will miss the first job they get to help with. Tomorrow they will help load a trailer with scrap wood to be taken off and burned.

Saturday is the first official workday at the new office building.

Peter and Andrew will have the job of pulling all of the old nails out of the walls and making sure that the 2x4s are ready for the sheetrock.
Arrena will pick up the nails off of the floor so that no one gets stabbed by a nail and so that the nails do not go into the vacuum.
Paul: out of town:-(
Timothy: working:-(
Rusty will plan to work on the electrical and check out the plumbing.
Me: I will keep everyone happy and working.

We are rejoicing that someone has offered to bring lunch to all of the volunteers. That is a huge blessing and help.

Pray for us as we begin the "grunt" labor of remodeling the new office.

Marrena

Rusty and I 

Family in Reynosa, Mexico

December 29, 2005 the family visits the church where Russell & Debbie minister in Reynosa, Mexico.

We returned home 7:20AM on 12-31-05 after a much needed vacation in Mission, TX. We enjoyed spending Christmas vacation with my parents, Ron & Arrena Raymer, and my brother & sister-in-law and daughter, Russell & Debbie and Carena. We had a wonderful time relaxing, playing games, playing music, visiting Mexico, seeing Christmas lights, and just being together. We never imagined swimming on Christmas Day! but we did:-)

Later, I will post some of Paul's senior pictures. We are very grateful to Russell for taking about 150 pictures of Paul for his senior pictures. He did an outstanding job and we are very pleased with the photos. We are picking our favorites and will post them shortly.

I took a break from our vacation and was able to conduct training for a church in Mission, TX on Monday night, December 26. It was a great time with a church who has been using Kids 4 Truth Clubs for the past month.

We went into Mexico twice. The first time was on Tuesday - Dad & Mom, Russell & Debbie and Carena, Our family -- all 7 of us!, and the Meyer family. We enjoyed shopping in Progresso, Mexico. We returned to Mexico on Thursday. This time it was Russell & Debbie and Carena, Renae & Tina and Lukas, Maria, and our family. Russell showed us the church they minister with and then we went shopping. This time we went to Reynosa, Mexico and we got to see a different side of Mexico. I believe we are all more grateful to God for the blessings He has given to us in the United States. We are rich compared to our friends in Mexico.

Thursday night, Dec. 29 was a special night. We found out that Dad and Mom (www.raymerstudio.com) were playing a show at Tip O' Texas. So we decided to stay and go with them. They invited Paul to play three songs with them, and it was special to see him play with his grandparents.

Friday morning, Dec. 30 at 10am we left for home. It was a long 22 hour trip home, but the kids all travel well. We praise the Lord that our children get along so well together.

Saturday night, Dec. 31 we saw the new year in with our good friends the Joiners and Farrells. We have been blessed to have this as an annual event the past 4-5 years. This year the Joiners hosted the event since we were just returning from Texas - I greatly appreciated their kindness in hosting this year.

Monday, Jan. 2, we spent the afternoon with Dave & Jen and family. It was great to be together and allow the kids to play as they are all close cousins (both in age and friendship). David will report into Whiteman AFB tomorrow as he has once again been called up to active service.

Although Paul and I saw Ron's family right before we left town, we will not be able to get together with them. Ron & Lisa and family are on "an extended vacation" to South Carolina while Ron is working there. They plan to put their house on the market within the next month, and Lord willing, it will sell quickly so that they can get a place of their own in South Carolina where he is currently working.

We wish you all a happy New Year. This year we plan to focus more on our family. As our family grows and matures it seems we all get busier and busier. Both Paul and Tim work part-time jobs. Paul also puts in hours for Kids 4 Truth as an intern - so he keeps very busy.

Marrena