Paul moves out on his own

The new year has started with new beginnings for the Ralph family. Paul completed his degree requirements at BJU on December 17th and is now a college graduate (he will walk in the graduation ceremony in May). We are so thankful to God for clearly directing Paul where he should work and live. We have absolutely no doubt that Paul is where God wants him to be. On December 18th Paul accepted a position with Answers in Genesis at the Creation Museum doing IT work. His title is Solutions Developer. On his trip home from BJU Paul stopped in KY to find an apartment and signed a lease at Sanctuary Place Apartments for a nice 2 bedroom apartment.

Between December 18th and January 5 we had a graduation party, Christmas, Christmas with Jen's family, New Year's Eve Annual Party, and packed all of Paul's belongings and painted furniture that was given to Paul.

It has been awesome to watch God provide for Paul's needs. Everything that Paul has for his apartment was given to him. These items came from family, friends, and http://www.freecycle.org/. One of the concerns Paul had was the need for a bed. We watched God provide a "like-new" queen size mattress, boxsprings, and bedframe at no cost to Paul. Close friends gave Paul a couch and loveseat, and other friends gave towels, shower curtain, dishes, and monitary gifts.

I have posted a photo albumn on FaceBook for those who would like to see photos of Paul's apartment.

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.

We have much to be THANKFUL for...

The day before Thanksgiving our family got together for a family photo. This is something our parents have begged for and something I have really wanted for awhile.

Rusty and I are so thankful for the children that God has given to us.

Paul is now a sophomore at BJU. He works several jobs to pay his way through college. We are so thankful for the blessing Paul is to our family and for the way God has provided for his college bill.

Timothy is a senior at TCCS this year. He has applied to college and is working to finish the application process so he can hear if he is accepted. He works as an intern for Kids 4 Truth and for the facilities department at Tri-City Ministries. He works in children's church and in the puppet ministry at church.

Peter is a sophomore at TCCS. He is interested in photography, technology, and is one of the basketball managers. Peter never knows a stranger and is always a delight. He would like to work in camp ministry and currently works in the bus ministry, children's church, puppet ministry and does audio for the youth department.

Andrew is in eighth grade at TCCS and is a huge teddy bear:-) He has passed up both Peter and Tim (much to their dismay) and will do anything to help others. He loves to cook and does a wonderful job at it. Andrew participates in the junior high choir, junior high handbell choir, junior high percussion ensemble, and junior high band. He works in the puppet ministry at our church.

Arrena is in the fifth grade at TCCS. She is our little princess. She is getting close to passing me up (which I know doesn't surprise anyone). She had her hair trimmed for the first time in 3.5 years in time for our photo and lost about 4 inches in the process! She loves to read and memorize, and excels in all that she does. She plays the piano and is learning the french horn. She also works in the puppet ministry at church. She is a joy and blessing to our entire family.

Rusty and I counted ourselves as very blessed. We keep very busy with our family and jobs, but are so thankful for all God has given to us.

God provides...

The old saying is "When it rains...it pours." Well, we have felt like that recently. Recently, we have had our share of car problems. About the time Rusty fixed the GEO a while back...the Fiero decided to go down for the count.

But you know, God ALWAYS takes care of His children. The Fiero went out the night of the TCCS back to school retreat. Rusty was going to the church to pick up Peter when the car lost all power on the road across from the church. Timothy called Rusty to find out where he was and when he found out he was across from the church he grabbed Peter and four friends and they pushed the Fiero up the hill and when the light turned green they pushed him across the street. Then one of the young men got his SUV and pulled the Fiero into a parking spot right under the lights where it would be safe. How good of God to allow the car to breakdown right across the street from church instead of along the road to Liberty. So, Rusty has had the Fiero in pieces in our garage since Labor Day. He is repairing the engine of the car, and had hopes of getting it back together by the first part of this week.

Well...like I said, when it rains it pours:-) And, yesterday I received a call from Rusty. First of all, he asked me how I was feeling as the doctor had ordered me to bed until Monday because of a severe infection and bronchitis. And then he asked "Want to go car shopping tomorrow?" And...I was on my way to Liberty to pick Rusty up and look for a new car.

It seems as though Rusty was on the way home and the car started acting funny. He thought he would pull over at one of the district's buildings while he looked it over. Well...it was amazing to hear him tell the story of how he coasted up to the stoplight and then into the driveway which was downhill and coasted right into a parking spot. He said a friend came out and helped his assess the situation. They found out that the timing belt had broke on the car...which requires pulling the engine to fix. Something he just doesn't have the time to get done this weekend. We simply cannot get by with one car next week.

So...Rusty decided with the ages of our cars it was time to get another car in the family. So today, we went out and purchased another car.

Welcome our new car: 1999 Ford Taurus. We praise the Lord for providing us another car at a price we felt was fair and we could live with. Timothy is already begging to drive it; and in fact, had to have his chance behind the wheel before we ever got it home.

We still plan to fix the Fiero and the GEO. Please pray that Rusty is able to get these on the road soon. With four (soon to be five) drivers in the family, three active teenagers and one college student, a elementary child, and two full time jobs it is important for us to have dependable transportation.

Family Project - Water Garden

After years of dreaming of having a water garden God has provided by giving us a used water garden liner at an unbelievable price. My dream was to have a waterfall and possibly a fountain as I love fountains:-) It looks as though I am going to have both!

This is exciting for me as we have not had any flowerbeds at this house. Our house has beautiful mature scrubs out front, but no real place for a nice flowerbed. Now we will have the perfect place for a beautiful flowerbed. In addition, we hope to use the water garden to help reroute the drainage in the backyard to keep the basement from flooding into the boys bedroom.

This month we went to Mississippi to visit Rusty's folks and while we were there they gave me a frog fountain for our water garden. Saturday we went shopping for a water garden pump and found one that not only operated a fountain but also had the parts for a waterfall!

Andrew, Peter, and Rusty worked hard on Saturday and Monday to dig the hole for water garden. I think it is coming along real nice.

Watch for updates on how the water garden is coming.

Sarah's Bridal Shower

We had a great evening tonight as we celebrated Sarah's upcoming marriage on April 14 to Bob Roberts.

The shower was a drop in event that went from 5 to 9 pm. We had a steady flow of ladies from 5 to 8:10 pm before it slowed down a little. We still had a few ladies drop in between 8:10 and 9:00 with the ladies leaving shortly after 9.

We praise the Lord for the 55 people who dropped by to celebrate with us making a total of 67 people in my house tonight:-) It is a good thing I have a large living room!

A very special thank you to Julie Gillen, Marie Tabler, and Ann King for co-hosting this event with me. In addition I would like to thank my family for their help and work as they prepared food, cleaned house, and cleaned up after the party.

God Protects - Sometimes In Mysterious Ways

Ever had one of those things that you did and you really don't know why you did it? Or perhaps you had one of those days when you were running late and didn't know why and then came across an accident that took place about the time you would have been in the area. Perhaps, like Timothy this past August, you went through an accident in your car, at work, or at home and you know that there is no way you should have come out of it alive or without injury...and yet you did. You know that God was the only way that you were protected in that situation. I have a testimony to share with you of how God recently protected our family. I share this giving God the Honor and Glory for His protection and provision!

On December 29 for some reason I unplugged my mixer...now I NEVER unplug my mixer because it bothers me when I try to use it and it is unplugged. However, even when I unplugged it I thought "Why am I doing this? I don't like my mixer unplugged..." but I kept it unplugged and went on with cleaning my house and kitchen.

On December 30, I started a large pot of gumbo. When I make gumbo I fill a 16 quart stock pot to the top. My pot is large and overhangs the burner by a good 1.5-2 inches. I started the pot of gumbo in the morning and allowed it to simmer all day long, because anyone who has ever made gumbo knows that the longer you let it simmer the better it is:-) And, once I had my gumbo started and chili meat started in another pot, I went back to cleaning my house.

Around 4:30 I wore out...and told Rusty "Let's go to the store and look at dishwashers." I knew if I stayed home I would continue to work until I dropped, and I was ready to get a new dishwasher after handwashing dishes for the past 6 months! I was hoping to get a dishwasher and have it installed by the next day - dreaming wasn't I? But, I know our God!

So, we didn't tell the kids where we were going but we left to "go to the store." I didn't want them disappointed if we didn't find a disherwasher at a price we could afford. We drove a good 30 minutes to the Sears Outlet store and looked at dishwashers only to find they had $1200 machines marked down to $800-900 which was well over our budget. So we stopped at Home Depot to look at one we had seen before - we had forgotten to check the price the first time, and then ended up going to Sears in the Mall to "see if they had any good sales today."

God provided us with a beautiful dishwasher with all the features I "wanted" including a stainless steel interior - which was one of those "extras" God provided. This particular disherwasher had been sold, but apparently when it got to its original location there was a large nickle size scratch in the front panel and it was returned to the store. Instead of sending it to the Outlet store as usual they had it on the floor at the mall. They had marked it down a good $250 because of the scratch, and I said "I can cover that with white fingernail polish." (which I did when I got home.) And, since it was at the store without a box, we had to "take it with us." The kids were so pleased when we came home with the new dishwasher.

By now it was about 7:00 and time for a late supper. I went to serve my gumbo and removed the pot from the stove to put it on the table. Nothing fancy that night as Rusty had the dishwasher to install. When I removed the pot from the store we were shocked to see that the power cord from my mixer had slipped under the pot of gumbo and touched the metal ring on the burner. The cord was burned and melted! We immediately praised the Lord for His protection. Had I not unplugged my mixer the day before we would have had an electrical fire in the kitchen. We knew it was possible that a fire could have happened while the kids were home alone. Yes, we have older children, but praise the Lord they nor we had to deal with a house fire. Just this past month we had friends at church have their house burn. We have heard the stories of their damage and working with insurance companies, reconstruction, etc.

We praise the Lord for His protection!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We have enjoyed having everyone home for the Christmas season. Both Rusty and I are off work and enjoying extra time playing games and watching old movies with the kids. Rusty even brought home a projector so last night we watched Going My Way on a large sheet spread across the fire place.

Paul is home from his freshman year at BJU. He had a wonderful but busy semester. He enjoys college and his course work. He works in the Kids 4 Truth Club at Hampton Park in Greenville, and is in his society's choir that sings at area churches. He rejoices in the opportunity he has to continue to work as an intern for Kids 4 Truth and that is keeping him busy while at home during this break.

Timothy is keeping busy with his Junior year at TCCS. He is also working as an intern for Kids 4 Truth. This month he was able to take a trip to Greenwood, IA to minister at Bible Baptist church with Bob Roberts. He enjoyed traveling and visting with Bob and the time he was at the church there. He really enjoyed the youth deptartment there and how close the teens in the youth department were. Praise the Lord for the ministry Brett Denham has at that church. He played the role of young scrooge in the school play this year.

Peter is a freshman and is keeping busy as the Varsity Basketball manager. He enjoys technolgy stuff like Paul and Rusty. He received a puppet for Christmas and is enjoying playing with him. He desires to be a camp director and is doing what he can to prepare himself for the ministry. Peter was also in the school play and played several minor roles including the part of "getting engaged" to the boss' daughter. (I guess it won't be too many years and our boys will be getting engaged.) Peter is one of the happiest, most friendly young men you will ever meet.

Andrew is now in 7th grade. He is showing us that he will be the largest of our boys. He is only 1/2 inch shorter than Peter and 1 inch shorter than Tim. He will be taller and broader than the other boys. He loves to work with his puppet and enjoys drama. He does well in math and with computers. While more on the shy side like Paul, Andrew is a teddy bear of a young man and has a very loving and caring side. He watches out for others and hates to see anyone hurt. He would never purposily hurt anyone.

Arrena Jeanette is now in 4th grade and takes after Paul in being a star student and bookworm. She loves a variety of things such as scrapbooking, crafts, reading, and playing the piano. She has been letting her hair grow out for the past couple years and is happy that it is now down to her waist. Granted it is as straight as a pin and thin, but she enjoys having it long. She loves to have it french braided or have a spider web headband. Arrena could talk your leg off if allowed to. She loves stories whether it be to listen to them via dvd or cd or to read a book. She loves to get into stories and feel a part of another timeperiod or world. She is loving and every bit all GIRL! Definitely NOT a tomboy even though she has four brothers!

Rusty and I always keep busy. Between our jobs, church, our embroidery business, and five children our life is definitely not boring.

We praise the Lord for the provisions of this past year.

• We have watched as our children have grown and matured.
• Our health has all been good and we have had all our needs met.
• Paul graduated high school.
• God protected Timothy through a terrible car accident that should have killed him.
• Paul has one semester of college under his belt.
• The children continue to attend Christian school.
• Our parents are healthy and still able to take care of themselves.
• We have children that desire to honor, serve and please our God.

God is good and on the throne! We praise the Lord for His working in our lives and pray that He will continue to work in our lives this next year.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Carena!

Today I had the privilege of sharing Carena's 2nd birthday with Debbie, Julie, and Erika.

We went to lunch at El Maguey's and then visited the K4T office. El Maguey's is a Mexican restaurant that serves "authentic" Mexican style food. Because most of the staff at the restaurant are Mexican and speak Spanish we thought this was appropriate for Carena's birthday. The staff made a fuss over both girls...they just loved them. I asked if they would sing Happy Birthday to Carena in Spanish since she speaks both English and Spanish, and he said sure. He later came back and said that the ladies who do a good job singing the birthday song were on break and instead of singing they wanted to give Carena fried icecream that would be large enough for all of us to enjoy. Sure enough they showed up with a huge fried icecream sundie. So we sang Happy Birthday to Carena and had a great time.

Then we took Debbie and Carena over to the K4T office. Carena was so cute when she saw all the K4T books and said "I need a book." So...we gave her level 1 book A. She was so proud to have her own K4T TruthBook, and Debbie was thrilled to be able to start her in the K4T curriculum. Later, when we got back to Grandpa and Grandma's house I showed Debbie how to get lesson plans and coloring sheets to go along with Carena's TruthBook.

Happy Birthday, Carena. We praise the Lord that God has placed you in our family. May God richly bless you with understanding of His Word, and may you come to know Him early in life and serve Him with your life.

Castle Making

Andrew and I had a good time tonight building a castle. I thought you might enjoy seeing the project.

One of the assignments for 7th grade history class is to do a project. Peter choose to make a flan when he was in 7th grade, but Andrew choose to make this castle. Although the directions said to make the castle from cardboard, the teacher told Andrew he could use styrophome. So...of course, Although Andrew started the project a month ago...he never finished and we had it to do tonight...so he and I spent a quality time filled evening on the kitchen floor, cutting, hot gluing, and then finally he painted it on the front porch in the rain with Rusty.

All in all I think it turned out pretty good.

Travel with Care...see you in 2.5 weeks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with all of our children (even Paul!); Dad & Mom Raymer; Dave & Jen and Crystal, Jarid, Lynnae, Craig; and Russell, Debbie, and Carena! It was great to eat, relax, play games, and just visit together on Thursday.

Friday, Paul, Timothy, and I along with Alyssa and Peter had our traditional "After Thanksgiving Shopping Trip." We hit the "techie" stores like Office Max and Circuit City...along with a camera shop, and several other stores. I heard it said several times and I agree the sales and specials were not as good as in years past...and thankfully, my checkbook agrees! as I didn't purchase much this year.

Saturday was a busy day...running errands, cleaning house, sorting old clothes, and working on wedding plans with Sarah and Bob. It was a good day with much accomplished.

Today was a normal Sunday with church services and family time.

Paul's ride decided to leave tonight instead of tomorrow morning, so we received a call around 10:00ish asking for Paul. He was out at a college/career SS class party and hurried home. They wanted to leave the church at 11:15 tonight instead of 6:15 tomorrow morning. Thankfully, I had told Paul to pack before church and he had done it with the exception of the last load of clothes in the dryer...so he had time to change and get things together and be up at the church by 11:15. They pulled out of the parking lot at 11:20!

So...if you think of it, please pray for the guys as the travel through the night and tomorrow. Wade says that he will definitely let others drive on the way back:-)

And...one last time...I will say thank you to both Paul and Wade for my special Thanksgiving Surprise gift. I loved being able to visit with Paul in person and to have our traditional Thanksgiving time together.

Thanksgiving Surprise!

I went to bed on Tuesday evening suffering from the start of a mild flu bug...I awoke on Wednesday still feeling ill and having suffered from a headache all night, and told Rusty he would need to get the kids off for school and promptly took 4 ibuprofrin and a migraine tablet and headed back to bed. As Rusty began getting up and ready I heard the front door open and wondered who was going outside...I heard the door again and decided to get up and check it out.

As I walked down the hall I saw Timothy say something to someone who ducked into the kitchen. Thinking that Jarid had dropped by after work (knowing he was to come over before noon I thought maybe he wanted to see Tim before school) I walked into the kitchen to say hello...and was greeted by PAUL!

Yes, Paul totally surprised us all by planning to come home for Thanksgiving. The only person in the family he told was Timothy...and that was to make sure he let him into the house and had his bed cleaned off!

It has been wonderful to enjoy talking with Paul and having him home for a few days. (well, 2 so far.) He returns to school on Monday, but it has been great to see him.

Oh yes, much to the disagreement of others...I will not believe that BJU food is as bad as it sounds....Paul seems to be picking up weight just fine on it! I think he has also grown taller by a couple inches!

Welcome Home Paul! Thank you for the great surprise! I will enjoy our traditional after thanksgiving shopping trip in the morning.