A City Life For Me

  I had in my mind to write a post on the good parts of 2020, mostly because I needed reminding that it was still a good year, despite innumerable difficult parts!  I knew I would have a little bit of time between baths and when Ben returned home with the food pantry load that needs sorted tonight. Somehow in that space of time, the five year old managed to splash the entire contents of the tub all over the bathroom and down the hall, which of course made the kitchen ceiling leak...again.  Thankfully it had been mudded but not yet painted from the last bathroom catastrophe.  I was still in the middle of cleaning up the frying oil in the kitchen from dinner when all of this happened.  Sort of made me feel ungrateful for 2020 again! So before I forget...here are some bright spots in 2020 for our family.  Add some of yours in the comments! Three of my children got saved this year - Liberty, Nehemiah, and Henry Our church got kicked out of the public school....

I’ve noticed a trend around the blogosphere the last few years on Mother’s Day. Everyone starts posting about why we should “tone down” our Mother’s Day celebration and be uber sensitive to those for whom Mother’s Day is a painful reminder instead of a joyful day. It includes those who may struggle with infertility, who have had a miscarriage, whose own mother has passed away, or those who are still waiting for Mr. Right to come along so they can begin a family. I certainly understand that we should be sensitive of the pain experienced by the ladies in these situations. We are supposed to bear the burdens of others (Gal. 6:2), to comfort the feebleminded (fainting), and to support the weak (1 Thess. 5:14). Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us that there is a time to weep, and a time to mourn. Romans 12:15 teaches us to weep with those who weep. However, the pain of some does not negate the rejoicing of others. Both Ecclesiastes and Romans tell us this – continuing the verses mentioned above wit...

Our most recent deputation trip took us to Maryland, Ohio, and New York.  After Maryland we stopped by to see Ben’s Aunt Paula near Washington, D.C.  There was beautiful weather so we ate lunch outside! We tried out a selfie-stick, but the kids weren’t really paying attention! While we were in Wilton, NY the kids got creative and turned our deputation table into a tent.  I was standing there talking, and this little hand crept out with a yellow taxi in it’s grip.  Liberty and Henry thought it looked fun, and the games commenced!    We stopped by Ben’s parent’s home en route to Mountainville, NY.  This allowed us a brief visit and we also picked up our bikes from their storage shed.  Now that we have a bike rack and a place to ride them, we wanted faster access!  The kids did painting with Grandma, too. Elaine painted our van with the new bike rack installed! Nolan painted Elaine (see her round head and triangle dress in the middle?) an...

One of our supporting churches in Ohio is Kings Mills Baptist Church near Cincinnati.  Last year Ben and I stopped by to present our ministry after the BWM Orientation Seminar in April.  This year we got a call a few weeks ago asking us to be a part of their mission’s conference, since someone else wasn’t able to come.  We agreed, as long as we could miss the Sunday services (we already had a meeting scheduled). We enjoyed each evening service.  The music was wonderful and we enjoyed the other missionaries in the conference.  I felt refreshed, and it was so nice to have familiar people come up to speak to us at the table after the services.  We talked for quite a while after each evening service! This conference was also full of surprises for us!  Each evening Ben and I had to introduce ourselves during the service and present either a need or a want.  We feel so blessed and in need of very little…we really struggled to come up with things to sh...

As we prepare for full time deputation, we have been hashing out ideas for how to travel when the van is “home”.  With all of the baby gear needed for twins, and the addition of homeschooling, the minivan just didn’t seem big enough.  And though it seats 7, it’s more like 5 1/2 when you add in four car seats. We decided to start looking for a full size van.  Dad found one right away on a government surplus auction site.  Everything seemed good – only 26k miles, maintained every 3500 miles, in Florida near my brother so he could go an inspect it.  The price started right in our budget range, but we didn’t know if it would sit there long. We watched the van for 10 days.  Finally, on the night before the auction ended, there was a bid.  We waited until a couple hours before the end of the auction to enter our bid.  We had determined our highest possible price, and prayed that if God wanted us to get the van, that He would provide it. On the aftern...

We had a great week of Summer Adventure Club last week.  Our western theme was “Ridin’ Strong: Cross Canyon Trail”.  The kids learned lessons about the Christian’s walk with God – like Ridin’ Faithful, Ridin’ Courageous, Ridin’ Bold, etc. We had 50 different visitors throughout the week, and we averaged 51 kids per night.  The week got a slow start, but ended with a bang! Part of our evening presentation was a skit each night set in the Wild West town of Grand Junction.  Our teens, church staff, and summer intern did a fabulous job (with many late night practices) to put on this production each evening.  The conflict built all week until the resolution on Friday night.  The suspense helped the kids want to return each evening for SAC.  We never knew if Bad Bart (Ben) and his gang would succeed in stealing away the Friday Fair.  In the end, the Lone Stranger and Marshal Mellow prevailed – and Miss Polly even got asked to the Round-Up! Take a peek...