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Daniel Gets the Bronze

Daniel went to Nebraska for the Special Olympics Nationals in July with one other team member from Shepherds. His team brought back the bronze.  Good job Daniel!

A Story of God’s Protection

Years ago, when I was a child, our family took a trip out east to visit Washington D.C. We were campers, so when we found our camp ground for the week, the camp ground manager asked my dad where he wanted to camp – on the lower part of the campground near the office and all the amenities, or at one of the higher ground campsites, up the hill a ways away. For the past half hour, my dad had been whistling the tune to Higher Ground, his favorite hymn. Since the Lord had brought that tune into his head, he promptly answered, “Higher ground.”

We made the trek uphill to our campsite, and set up camp. Later that night a terrible storm came. It was so bad that I distinctly remember having to stand up part of the night holding up the sides of our camper for fear it would blow over during the storm.  I couldn’t have been more than 10 or 12 at the time, so this was a very scary night for me. The details of that night have stuck with me these past 40 years. I was not only amazed at how bad the storm was, but was also aware that we could be blown away with it.

Eventually the storm quieted and we were able to go to sleep for the night. The next morning we decided to check out, not ever having been able to see Washington D.C.  We discovered that we had to sit tight for a couple of days while they built a new road for us to travel down. The storm had washed away our road to the lower level of the camp ground. In the meantime we listened to the reports of how the storm had affected the area.

All news reports had confirmed that the storm wreaked havoc on the area and D.C. was pretty much under water. There would be no adventure for our family to our nation’s capital on this vacation. We were very disappointed, but as we gained clearance to take the trek back down into the lower part of the campground on the new road they built, we saw the devastation all around us. The high winds had swept several campers and vehicles into the river adjacent to the campground and many campers and tents had been blown away. In my mind’s eye I can see the floating campers and the rescue vehicles working at pulling them out.

It was obvious to us that our father had been given a song that would be instrumental in his decision to choose “higher ground.” Since that day I gained a new appreciation for my father’s connection to His Savior and realized in a tangible way that God is a God of protection – if we’ll just allow Him to keep us underneath His umbrella. I’ve kept that “umbrella” with me since then and have had many occasions that I’ve based my reaction upon the reflection of those days in D.C.

Here are the words God gave our family that day so long ago:
I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound, “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Chorus
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand, By faith, on heaven’s table-land, A higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay, Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Tho’ some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world Tho’ Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound, The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the upmost height, And catch a glimpse of glory-bright;
But still I’ll pray till Heav’n I’ve found, “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Thankful for God’s Protection

3 car pile-upI am very glad to let you know that God protected our family today. Our daughter Jillian was driving back to work after lunch today and was stopped right in front of the daycare where she works when another car stopped right behind her. They both had to wait for a tow truck to pass.

After it had passed, she turned into the daycare parking lot. As she did that, she heard a loud noise, but thought it was just the noise of a nearby truck. As she parked and looked, she witnessed a six car pile up right behind where she had been waiting to turn in.

Apparently someone three cars back wasn’t paying attention and rammed right into the car that was stopped right behind her. At the present time, she’s watching the scene unfold as ambulances and police cars arrive. One of the vehicles received the most attention. The back was smashed in about two feet and it appears that the rescue personnel are trying to extract a car seat from the back of the vehicle.

Thank God that she was saved from a possible fatal accident and please pray for what it appears to be a child that will be air lifted to a hospital. I’ll let you know more as she find out what has happened to those involved in the pile up. I am reminded today that life is fragile and that our lives can be changed in an instant. I am very glad I have a God that is in control.

Thank you God, for protecting my daughter today.

Yo’ Mama Wears Army Boots

With the help of my son, Andrew, this slam has become a reality in our family.  April, Lauren, Katie, Jesse, Devin, Marissa, Andrew, Nathaniel, Daniel, Mollie, Jillian, Jonathan, Jacob, Levi & Caleb…your Mama DOES wear Army boots – well, Marine boots, that is. Thanks, Andrew, for the boots. They really came in handy!

Our family has rogued the corn fields for the last several summers for college money and since our boys went to Camp CoBeAc this week, the last field was left for Mark to do on his own. I saw this as an opportunity. You know that expression, “Problems are just opportunities turned inside out”? Well, I decided that since the boys were gone, it would be a good opportunity for Jillian to make some money for college. She had elected to work at Meijer for the summer rather than do fields – since rogueing is quite the distasteful chore. I had tried to talk her into it only to be given the brush off. Well, I decided to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse! I told her that if she’d work the 263 acre field, I’d work alongside her and donate all of my earnings to her college account. Ha ha! She couldn’t turn that one down since working at Meijer hasn’t gotten her the $$ she’s needed to go back to college in the fall.

Of course I had to have Mark take a picture of me in the field to prove to all my kids that I really did get out and rogue the field!  This was supposed to be a vacation for me, since the boys are out of town for the week, but I decided that you can’t pray and ask God for $$ and then turn down an opportunity to make a lot of it in a short amount of time. I had to talk Mark into letting me do it, but he eventually relented and I think I surprised everyone! I got tons of comments from my kids, saying they “won’t believe it ’till they see it” on facebook. So here’s the picture to prove it – I worked 15 hours trompin’ through the field with a bean hook, cutting down rogues. Since I went into it with the thought it was going to be horrible, based on all the whining and complaining of past years by my kids about how awful a job it was, I was pleasently surprised that it wasn’t as awful as I thought it would be. Of course God was gracious enough to me to answer my pleadings that it not be too tall, or too hot, or too full of bees and other bugs. I had pleasant company, and a nice breeze both days. The second day we hired AJ and Ross to help and they were great workers. It was the biggest field we’ve ever been assigned.

Just call me Ma Podunk!

corn crew

My Eyes Were Opened

p1010014There is a camp called Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp  that a lady on my Adoption Support Yahoo group told me about. I was skeptical because it’s only 46 hours long and I’d never heard of it before. I’ve spend 100+ hours on the Internet searching out Christian resources for families like ours that needed help with their special needs kids.

How could a boot-camp type of weekend ever change my kid? We’d had years of tough times…how can they promise me results when I’ve worked with him for years and was never able to get through to him? I’m going to let him tell you himself. Let me introduce you to Jonathan – adopted at age 6 months, 17 years old, 12th child out of 15 in our family. He’s the one in the picture in the back row. I blanked out all the other faces since it wouldn’t be appropriate to show them. Below is his story.

The Way My Life Used to Be and What it is Now

I guess I can start out by saying God is good. For the past 6 months I have not been doing too well. I have been doing bad things and have been going down hill since. I’ve been disrespectful, disobedient, rebellious, etc. to my parents and thinking I was the only one that was right. I have been a fool, doing the same things over and over again and getting in trouble for it. This is where every thing changed. My mom was talking to a lady and found out about a camp called Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp – it was just like a boot camp and it was hard for me physically but I made it. I passed and I graduated during the process.

I was there and God spoke to me. I learned to listen to authority, not be disrespectful, and not be a fool, so in the process I learned a lot. Most importantly, my eyes were opened and I got saved. I am a totally different person. I’m a newborn Christian and I’m the most excited person ever. I’m so glad I went and I encourage you from my heart – if you are one of “ME” or what I used to be, or if you know someone like that, I strongly encourage you to go to Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp. It will change your life just like it did mine, but it’s your choice, so choose God and your life will be totally different.  ~ Jonathan

This makes five of our children that have been saved since June of last year. Wow. “I stand amazed in His presence.”

A Friendly Wave on Sundays

We have been given a great gift from God this week – a new mini van. We have been saving since Christmas last year, looking for a great deal on a mini van to save gas (Our big white van is a hog!) The picture below is for those of you that we pass on Sunday mornings. Don’t just look for a big white van or a red car any more. Look for a navy blue Chrysler mini van with a cheesy looking, grinning man in the driver seat. And BTW Keith & Nancy…we’ll still be swerving in front of you to get your attention! Elizabeth, flash those lights so I know it’s you! I’ve clued in Jonathan to let me know when he sees all of you – I tend to be oblivious!


Milestone Birthday

I’m not supposed to tell, so keep this under your hat!  My mom, pictured here at Christmas with Katie and Isaac, turned 80 years old today. It’s my favorite picture of her because she so adores Isaac! She’s on my Facebook friends listing if you’d like to send her a b’day wish.

Her favorite things to do are read, be with her great grandkids, quilt and sew, visit with family, and go to church. She’s in the process of writing a cookbook at the request of her dentist featuring meals that can be eaten by those who have just had dental surgery. She lives in the basement apartment just below us and plans to move with us to Wausau, Wisconsin. She’s been our greatest support during all our ministry years, including participating in the raising of our special needs children. God has given her so many years because she’s dedicated her life to serving others.

Happy birthday, Mom!

House Hunting in the Bag

The Jones family was successful in finding a house in Wausau to rent. It was a reasonably priced brick house, with four bedrooms, a nice large basement, and located very near the church. Please continue to pray that the Lord will continue to make their way straight. Change is hard but exciting! And, while you have the Lord’s ear, please bend it just a little longer and ask that He sell ours quickly so we can embark on our own hunting expedition!

It’s a Done Deal!

Adam has been called to be the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Wausau, Wisconsin. He was unanimously voted in without any formal candidating. In a couple of weeks they’ll be traveling back to look for part time work and a place to live. Please be in prayer as they make their way into their new ministry. So many exciting things have been happening in our family! We are in awe of our wonderful God.

Changes

Isn’t it often hard when family changes? How do you let go of a person who’s been in your life for 18 years and watch them make a life parallel to yours? To a mom, this change doesn’t seem right and your first and last desire is to prevent it. But that’s what it means to deny yourself. You go against the natural inclinations of protection and holding close. You choose outside of yourself and push them away from you – AWAY. I suppose some mom’s continue to hold on tightly, but that’s not what keeps them close. Actually pushing them away brings them back. Encouraging them to develop themselves apart from us is what will maintain the tie that was tightly knotted throughout their lives. But then, the knot had to have been tied by the both of you early on. Children who never tied the knot will drift away and maybe never come back. With some of our kids, the knot was tied very tight. Yet with others we just couldn’t seem get the second part tied. Oh, we tried, but “it takes two to tango” or in this case, “tangle.” All that said, here’s my first step in pushing away. Above is our family as we embark on Jillian’s journey – her journey that will hopefully bring her back home. You can see more pictures on her blog luv4him.

After a couple of hours on the road we stopped to Devin’s, then about an hour later met April and Adam on the road and visited for about 15 minutes.

They were on their way home from Austin’s wedding. Seven hours later we were standing in Katie’s apartment, dropping Jillian off for a day of shopping. The rest of us settled in at the timeshare. That night, to our surprise, Katie called and told us she got Tuesday off and would spend the day with us. We spent the day watching the Olympics and then went to Crossville shopping. Adam, I took the picture of Katie eating just for you – but then, I couldn’t have gotten a different one if I wanted to since she’s always eating! Today the boys played in the gym while Jillian and I worked on our laptops, checking our mail and loading our new Adobe software. Tonight we’re checking out a new church in the Glade, Fellowship Baptist.

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