Hello everyone! I hope your New Year is going well so far. We have been extremely fortunate so far in our area of the USA, we have had a very very mild winter and in fact the temps broke a record yesterday! It seems more like spring for several days then back to winter. We have not had hardly any snow, so it does not seem like REAL winter.

I have had the kids the past few days because Kristi has been sick again. I took a few pictures of the boys so thought I would post a few. They surely keep me on my toes. Please continue to pray for her. The dr. gave her a possibility of three things this could be and they are in the process of trying to find out what the problem is so they might be able to help her more.

The Wildgame Supper was in January and we again had a great turnout. There were 19 men who accepted the Lord as their Savior. We had a nice surprise this year, as Mike's brother Tim, and our good friend Bill Slone came for the Supper and spent the weekend with us. We had a really fun time, well.. they did. Joel brought his Wii over and they spent several l hours trying to outdo one another. On Monday they went hunting and Bill shot two deer to take home.

This weekend is our Sweetheart Banquet at church. The theme this year is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!" Mike spends countless hours working on all the details of these banquets, and they always turn out so nice. These two come very close together. I am sure everyone will have a good time. We have a record number of people coming this year too.

Till next time... we love all you guys!

Happy New Year!!

I guess things have just gotten too fast paced for me in the past few weeks! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and that the Lord gave you good times with your families and friends. We are enjoying a few days with ALL the kids home, the first time in 5 years. We are having a blast! Josh and family leaves on Sat, and Terri and the boys arrive in the afternoon. I PROMISE a bigger update in the next week or two. I had this on my list to do before Christmas, but I just never got around to it. May God give all of you a very Blessed New Year.. and we hope to hear from many of you and see some too!! We love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish all our friends and loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving! it seems that the holidays are approaching quicker than normal this year! November has been another busy month. This semester is going by fast, and has been filled with busyness. The last part of October we had our Revival and Youth Congress at church. What a great blessing both were!
November came in a flurry. The opening of deer season had broght 32 deer to our garage and 3 butchering parties. it does seem overwhelming at times, but we are very grateful for the meat during the year. Today is the first day of gun, so I am sure the garage will be full again by the end of this day.

Last night we had our Senior fund raiser which is a auction/basketball game with the school team playing the staff. The auction is fun, and we usually raise a good deal of the money the school needs for the Sr. Trip in May. T'hursday I spent most of the day baking for that. The Boasten Celtics (the staff team this year) lost again :-( Mike got to wear a little beanie this year which really added to his ability! Ha!! It was very funny. I think he made 2 points. We have alot of staff and everyone plays so playing itme is limited which is really good, because the "older" ones huff and puff after a few minutes! A good time was had by all. I wish I would have remembered my camera.. but I didn't. So you will have to use your imagination as to what those old guys looked like.

Thsi Tuesday is our prayer and thanksgiving service. This season is one of my very favorite. While we should be thankful all year long, Thanksgiving draws our focus to things more. This year we are privileged to be able to spend Thanksgiving in Ohio with both of our famiileis. We will be traveling on Tuesday night after church, and returning on Saturday evening. Joel, and Josh and Wendy and kids will join us in New Bremen. My brother, Casey will be coming in from Kansas City On Thursday we will be at Chris and Coni's all day with my family and on Friday with the Tangemans. On Friday afternoon we will be having a small memorial service to honour dear dad and lay him to rest. He passed away 2 years ago this December, and his body was donated to science. His remains will be buried in the cemetary close to the family farms. After that we will all gather at Matt and Gina's to celebrate Thanksgiving. We look forward to this time of thanking God for all his blessings He has given us, (and there are MANY) and spending time with all of our families.

May each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family, and let us remember to count each and every one of the blessings God has given us. I will try to remember my camera this time!

RAIN!!

Hello everyone! Its been awhile since I have written. There has not been anything going on out of the ordinary lately. Yesterday tho.. we FINALLY got some rain. It has been 40 some days since we have had any rain and we so desperately are in need of it. We are so thankful to have it, although it sure makes one feel more tired. I guess with the days getting shorter too it makes it feel like you just want to curl up with a book for the day! That will not happen anytime soon though. We have Revival with Dwight Smith staring on Sunday, and the the Youth Congress with Scott Pauley from Crown will follow that on Friday and Saturday. This week will be full.
Hunting season has started, so soon we will be having deer butchering parties in the garage. Its been way too warm here this fall. Mike has not been able to hunt with bow because of his recent surgery, but he is well on the mend and back doing things pretty much as normal. Black powder comes in soon, so I am sure he will be out as much as he can. We have alot of deer around us this year, in fact they ate almost our whole garden this year! Its time to clean out the freezer of the old meat and get ready for new. Maybe he will get a good buck this year. I think he has a place to hunt bear also this year, so who knows!
Hope everyone is doing fine, and ready for cooler weather. I will try not to wait so long till the next post. Have a great and blessed week!

September Already!!

And I thought things were supposed to slow down a little when you got old!! The opposite sure has been true for us. We left on Friday, August 31, at 4:30 to go to Gatlinbug, TN. We were able to locate a house owned by a deacon in Josh's church for a few days. Joel and Oakley traveled down with us, and Daniel and his family came a few hours later. We are all together for the first time in a very long time. We arrived around noon, spent Friday and Saturday there just hanging out! Friday night we went out to eat at the Apple Barn, which was GREAT!!! In case any of you ever get to Pigeon Forge I would strongly recommend it for a dining experience. Its very family and the food was excellent, and alot of of it. There are shops all around it to browse before or after. We walked along the river and bought a few goodies, and then headed back to the house to greet Daniel and Kristi and the kids. There was a game room in the basement so the kids (big and little) spent alot of time down there playing around.
On Saturday, we all took our time getting up. It was great. The house is located on a beautiful mountain so I went outside with the kids for a while just enjoying the scenery and the little things like 'bugs" flowers and butterflies. In the afternoon, everyone except me and little Micah went into town to do the "Nascar" experience! They had a blast I am told, while Micah and I took a nap. It was nice just for our family to be together.

On Sunday, we had the privilege of being at Temple Baptist Church, and seeing Seth be baptised. It was a joy to be present at this joyous occasion, and a big step in Seth's life. Daniel and Kristi left after lunch, and the rest of us headed to Josh's for a nap! Sunday night after church we went on a pontoon on the Tennessee River to see the gigantic fireworks in Knoxville proper as they celebate Labor Day. Its the biggest fireworks display anywhere on Labor Day weekend, and it was the BEST I have ever seen in my life. It was just beautiful on the river. If you ever can be in Knoxville on Labor Day it is well worth the effort to see this firework display on Boom's Day.

Monday we all just kinda relaxed. Cathy and Craig, my niece and nephew were able to come see us and spend time, and we all enjoyed just not to have to be anywhere. The men and Cathy went golfing in the morning. Joel and Blake took off for Va after lunch. I was just so glad that all the boys could be together, and that Joel was able to stay an extra day.

Tuesday through Friday was very relaxing. We went to Red Lobster for endless shrimp, Chunky Cheese, McKays Bookstore, and of course Walmart..Mike spent some time at the college seeing our students from Heritage and helping Josh with a few things. On Thursday we were able to spend a few hours with our good friends the Rossers, we always LOVE that and look forward to the great time of fellowship. I also got to see Seth's classroom and Cathy's classroom. I always love to see the ideas others have! It was a great time! We left Friday morning to come back to VA, with a stop at the Bristol Motor Speedway so I could see it!! Mike and I walked the track, which is only 1/2 mile, but it was FUN!! Its probably the closest I am ever going to get to seeing a real race!

Back home and back to work! However, on Tuesday, the Dr, informed Kristi that she could have her surgery on the very next day.. so Blake, Jeremy and Micah arrived Tuesday morning for the next three days. On Thursday morning, Joel took Mike to Falls Church to have his hernia surgery, and the kids left shortly after he returned home. Terri and the boys arrived at 10:30 that night on the way to Harper's Ferry for a dulicmer festival. Its always good to have them here, but we like it when they can stay a little longer than 10 hours!!! Sooo... the past few days have been recovery time, but everything is going slow but fine. We thank everyone for your prayers. He has some restrictions for the next couple weeks, but so far he has only tried to cut the church's shrubs! Wow! What do you do with the man anyway???
Our Missions Conference is this week, and we are looking forward to that. Till next time.. may the Lord keep you all safe!

Summers End

Hello everyone! This month sped by and we are back into school once again. Its hard to believe that summer is coming to an end already and it won't be long till the leaves will be changing. We will welcome some cooler temperatures, however. We are thankful that God saw fit to send us some rain this month. Our grass is now green again, and needs mowing! It was too late for our garden though. With the insufficient rain, and the deer invading it, we have had little produce this summer.

We packed alot in this past month. The county fair went really well and we had over 60 people ask the Lord to be their Savior. Mike was very busy with things at church, so I decided to pack up and go to Ohio by myself and visit our family. I left on Friday and came back on Saturday the following week. I had a great time! On Sunday my side of the family had our annual family reunion, and I don't get to attend very often. I got to see aunts, uncles, and cousins that I have not seen since my dad passed away last year. On Monday my sister and I took days just for "us" and we went to one of our favorite places Shipshewana, IN. It was good to spend some time together and we shopped till we dropped, but had a wonderful time together. The rest of the week I basically spent visiting with Mom T, having lunch with my special friend, Vinnie, and a family dinner on Thursday night. While I was in Ohio, Mike got a terrible toothache and had to have a "hidden" wisdom tooth that had a cavity was infected, pulled. It took the dentist about an hour to get it out. He is still in some pain over that. Last Friday he had the cancer on his ear removed, and it was a successful surgery. Thank you all for your prayers for him. He has one more surgery scheduled for September 13, and then we should be all set.

We have some very exciting news! Seth, our second oldest grandson called us last Tuesday night to tell us he had gotten saved! We were thrilled at this news. We pray for our grandkids every day, so this is a real answer to our prayers. We are going to TN this weekend so we will be at Temple Baptist when Seth gets baptised. How good God is to us. We are looking forward to a few vacation days to spend time with our TN kids.

September is a big month for us at church also. School starts, and one of the highlights of our year, our Missions Conf. takes place. We look forward to hearing from all of you soon!

A Busy Couple of Weeks

This has been a very busy couple of weeks for us. We have had the grandkids off and on for the month of July. Twenty five years ago we kept up with everything.. needless to say things have changed since then! We love having them here. Mike was gone for three days to Ohio for the wedding, and everything went fine. They had a nice fishing trip and Joel caught a record fish,which he is having mounted. They returned home at midnight on Saturday. Packed everything back up, and Mike left for Jr. Camp on Monday morning at 6 am, with a bus and a van packed with jrs. They go to Camp Anchorage in North Carolina. It was a great camp, with Pastor Chris Edwards from Charlotte, NC preaching this year. Many decisions were made and one profession of salvation! We praise the Lord for allowing the kids to go to camp every summer. It makes a difference in so many lives.

On Friday, Daniel had to go to Knoxville, TN to be in Phillip Rosser's wedding, congratulations to Phillip and Jessica! The kids came back to our house so Kristi could regroup and get some rest. Grandma is worn out since Grandpa was gone for most of that time! But after they were gone for a day, I miss them being here too. Kristi is doing much better, thanks to all who asked and prayed for her. She will have gall bladder surgery the beginning of September and we are hoping that will correct the problems she has been having for so long.

This coming week the Prince William County Fair begins. Our church is sponsoring a tent this year as a soul winning endeavor. Mike is busy gathering everything needed for that. We are trying to get away for a few days to go to OH to see family before he has to have surgery on his ear on August 24. School starts here on August 28. Time flys by and it just seems impossible that summer is almost over. I love doing this blog, and hope many of you will leave comments for us so we know how you are doing as well. Have a great week!