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posted by Dad on 12/9/07

I had been hunting in ideal weather conditions but without success for six days. For three of these days there was not even a sighting of a deer. The strangest things seemed to happen on the days deer were in the area. On several occasions I had a deer in my sights, but it would have been an unsafe shot; either a sky shot or a shot into the open woods of a neighbor. I let a very small deer, probably born this year, walk past. Another deer came trotting, stopped directly behind a stand of trees, and scampered off into a thicket. Then there was the deer I spotted walking slowly toward my tree stand about 50 yards away. Somehow it literally disappeared from sight then reappeared 20 yards directly behind me. I was beginning to get a complex. However, I took last Friday off work to try again. The only problem was I could not get off to an early start because our son would be calling from Taiwan at 6:30 am. The Lord encouraged me to keep my priorities straight and I was eager to talk with Donald so I decided to just get out as soon as I could. However, God’s plan was for Donald’s call not to work out until 8:30 am. We had a nice long talk and I finally left for the woods at 10:00 am. The cold snow crunched under each step. When I reached the tree stand it started to sleet so I had to remove the crackling plastic from my vest to cover the gun while I climbed up to my seat to remove 6 inches of snow. As I scraped it off it fell 30 feet to the ground below. Scrape … splat; scrape … splat. Following a discussion on the walkie-talkie about the location of a book in our library that was needed for the day’s home education class it was 11:00 am and I was finally situated.

“This is useless,” I thought, “I’ll just consider this a preparation day for hunting again tomorrow.” But that is when God likes to show Himself strong; and He did! Only 1 hour later three large doe came grazing into a shooting lane. I got one and Michael got another. On a day like this I would never have guessed for success, but it will ever be a reminder to me that as long as I keep my priorities straight, God will take care of the rest - sometimes in mysterious ways.

3 Comments » | posted in Family News, Possessing the Land

posted by Dad on 08/20/07

We have spent many delightful hours together as a family this summer playing badminton. A friend who joined us one evening made a very insightful comment: “Families who pray together and play together, stay together.” This is so true.

We have seen many benefits to setting aside one evening a week for what we call Family Night. Family Night is a top priority time where we all get together and do something fun as a family. Each week a different member gets to choose the activity. Some of our favorite choices have been croquette, target practice, card games, board games, and badminton!

This time of family unity has been worth the time invested. It has encouraged us to get on the same side of struggles, to yield our rights and be willing to participate in what others choose to do on their turn (Luke 6:31), and to deepen our love for each other. “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12

5 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Dad on 08/6/07

It is not too often that a missionary is paid by an organization in the host country to come and serve. But this is the marvelous provision that the Lord has made for the team that Donald will be serving with in Taiwan. (We plan to post more specific updates so stay tuned!)

After notification of acceptance and just two weeks and two days to prepare, Donald was very busy packing, obtaining his visa, opening a bank account, getting a health certificate, traveling to PA for his cousins wedding, assigning his duties to others, taking care of last minute emails and teaching responsibilities.

As a special treat, David and Esther braided bread dough in strips and formed the letters to make “Good-Bye”. Donna’s parents joined the nine of us for his fair well dinner since it would be a year before we would see him again. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. in order to have Donald at the airport for an 8:30 flight.

We are grateful for Donald’s faithful service here in our home for the past 2 years. We know the Lord’s call is upon him and we rejoice in the ministry God has for him. Please pray for him as the Lord brings it to your mind.

2 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Dad on 09/18/06

Today is the last day that Michael and James are going to be here at the farm for awhile. They’re heading off to Indianapolis for six weeks to be a part of Life Focus! We are really going to miss them and all the hard work that they do around here everyday.

Donald, Daniel, Esther, and Mom are all needed to fill Michael’s shoes as the gardener. David will be in charge of feeding our dog (Sentrina) and the deer. Donald will be taking over the mowing. And Robert and Jonathan are going to take care of managing all eight hives with close to 395,281 bees! (last we “counted”). In short, we’re all going to be busy as bees while they’re gone. However, it will be worth it all because of the different kind of work they will be doing at Life Focus.

Life Focus is a program to help young men who want to deepen their relationship with the Lord and their fathers. Please pray for Michael and James as the Lord brings them to your mind. And keep checking back for updates from them to see how the Lord blesses.

2 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports