Water water every where but not a drop to drink!

Storms, storms and more storms.  We got home from church today a little before 5:00 pm.  We had stopped by an older woman's home after church to visit with her since she had not been at church today.  Upon arriving home we came in the door to our weather radio going off with an alarm.  It was a tornado warning and the storm front was only minutes away.  We went to the family room for shelter when the high winds started.  A little while later we lost power.  Once the storm had passed, we were able to get things checked out.  The utility room had started to flood because the battery backup sump pump that we have wasn't able to keep up.  So we got out the generator and got it going.  While we were getting it ready the flood started into the family room and started across to the opposite wall, flooding half the family room by the time we got everything in place and started.  A little while later Lisa and I decided to take a drive up town.  We saw a few power poles down and snapped off just a couple roads over from us.  Our neighbors told us that there is a tree down across a road just north of us that also took out power lines.  So it looks like we will be without power for little while any way. Thank the Lord that we were home while this was taking place and not on the road.
In Christ,
       Tim <><

**Update**
Hello Everyone!  We got power back last night and are still trying to dry out and clean up.  This flood was worse than the one we had earlier this year.  But it is a little easier to clean up with how we rearranged the furniture!  Hope you all have better weather than us!
In Christ,
       Tiffany

Endurance is gone but he will not be forgotten!

If anyone were to tell you, that only one person could change the world you would probably disagree.  Well I know it to be true because I've seen it with my own eyes.  God has used a small boy to accomplish more in his 8 and a half months of life than most people accomplish in a lifetime.  This little boy was able to bring The Church together like I have never seen before.  People reaching out in friendship,  people being prayer warriors on others behalf.  People unselfishly giving of time and resources for others.  This is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak.  Through God this little boy taught people to be unselfish and to think of others more than yourself.  He strengthened every ones faith watching how God renewed his strength almost daily.  Watching his parents Mike and Heather and siblings give of themselves until they were totally reliant on God and his providence, living only by faith one day at a time.  Seeing bewildered faces on others wondering how can it be that a family from across the country would have SO MANY VISITORS.  His life though short was filled with purpose and resolve.  Though we may never know to the full extent of how his life changed others.  I can tell you this, mine has changed.  I have a renewed faith in the Church and trust that the Lord has great things ahead.  I have been encouraged by Mike and Heather's stand for Life when it wasn't easy and even down right hard at times.  I have been encouraged by their selflessness.  I truly felt like I was getting together with old friends when we met for the very first time.  I have been encouraged by their churches willingness to support them during this time of need.  I have been encouraged seeing brothers and sisters in Christ coming together on the Holstons behalf.  The Lord was able to make a way for our family to go and be with the Holstons during the surgery.  I was hoping to be an encouragement to them, but instead I was the one encouraged and strengthened by both Mike and Heather and the other families.  I praise God for his greatness and mercy, and his abundant grace.  Our love and prayers are going with the Holstons as they travel back to Seattle.  We will truly miss you!

In Christ <><
Tim

Families in need of help and prayer

Hello All,
    We thought we would pass on information regarding some families that are in need that we have been thinking about and praying for lately.  First off, the Lee, Crawford, and Boyd families were all devastated by the recent spat of tornadoes that ripped through the south.  Mr. Phillips posted about them on his blog here and here. Peter Bradrick is running a website were you can donate directly to these families via their local church.  The website is http://www.bradrick.org/helpalfamilies/ .  Also, Mrs.Crawford's website http://www.generationcedar.com/main/ has posted mailing addresses so you can send things (notes, gifts, etc.) directly to them here! 

     Secondly, we've been praying for the Holston family who we learned about on Daddy's SMM group.  (A group of men who all went through Mr. Botkin's Saturday Morning Mentoring last year.)  They have an adorable little baby boy named Endurance.  Endurance was born with heart problems last year and we've been following his progress on their blog http://www.run-with-endurance.blogspot.com/.  All this time they have been living in Seattle, Washington but they have just moved to Columbus, Ohio! You can get all the details at their blog, but please pray for a smooth settling in for the family and for Endurance to do well in the hospital down there.  

   We've been doing pretty well here.  Our sump pump failed and we got about an inch of water in part of our basement.  That was a fun mess to clean up!!  The perfect excuse to rearrange the Family room!  Our other appliances have been giving us a rough time as well.  Our laptop crashed with half of TJ's school work on it (we were thankfully able to recover the hard drive). We had to replace the dishwasher and a part on the dryer.  A burner on the stove went out and was replaced just in time for the bottom element in the oven to make a dramatic exit (It began to spark, flame and melt while we were making dinner)!  However... the leaves are on the trees, plants are going in the ground, seeds will soon be planted for the garden and hopefully everything will settle down soon.  We hope all is well with all of you!

In Christ,
   For the Family,
         Tiffany

The Cincinnati Convention Controversy!

Hello Everyone!

     We've spent a good deal of our time since the last post getting ready for, attending, and recovering from the GHC Convention down in Cincinnati!  Three days before we left, we caught wind of Ken Ham having been kicked out of the conference for "un-Christian like behavior"!  One of the speakers at the convention, Dr. Peter Enns, was going to be selling his new bible curriculum (published by Olive Branch Books) that instructs parents not to teach their children about sin and that the first Adam was merely a metaphorical representation of Israel.  Ken Ham knew what Dr. Enns was teaching and so posted a warning to attendees on his blog which we had seen and appreciated.  He also made a brief comment during an earlier convention that he has since posted on his blog.  For standing up and warning parents about Dr. Enns heretical views, the Great Homeschool Conventions LLC. board accused Mr. Ham of questioning Dr. Enns' salvation and being arrogant!  This sparked a great amount of outrage towards the convention organizers and hundreds of comments protesting this action were left on their Facebook page and sent to their inbox.  They ignored the emails and deleted most of the Facebook comments, even going so far as to unfriend some of the people who had complained.  At the same time Susan Wise Bauer and Dr. Jay Wile came out in defence of the convention and Dr. Enns.  Our first reaction was to cancel the trip, but that would only have punished the innocent vendors who had paid for their booths months in advance and had already shipped their goods to Cincinnati.  The convention would not give any refunds and we had already set up hotel reservations and to attend the Father- Son Campout at the Creation Museum that weekend.  Mommy and I spent a long time carefully looking over the vendors and speakers web sites to get a feel for where they stood and we made sure to avoid  any we were unsure about or who blatantly backed up Dr. Enns. 
    
      We arrived in Cincy safely the day before and got all set up to attend the next day.  When we got to the convention the next day it was amazing to see how many people were wearing "I support Ken Ham" or "I'm a Ham" badges along with Creation Museum and AIG hats, pins, and shirts in silent protest of the convention's decision.  Doug Phillips was also speaking there and made indirect references to Dr. Enns' heresy in all of his talks.  We actually ended up spending most of our time at the Creation Museum and got to meet and talk with Mr. Ham a couple of times!  The guys camped out at the museum Friday night and got to hear Buddy Davis tell them about his Alaskan adventure.  Mommy and I caught a showing of "The Runner from Ravenshead" in the Special Effects Theater (It's a very cute movie!), looked for new exhibits in the museum and shopped!!!  We then went back to the hotel and enjoyed the whole room to ourselves!  We picked up the guys the next morning, attended some workshops at the convention, did some last minute Exhibit Hall shopping and attended the Grand Finale with the Duggars.  We left that a little early to get ahead of the sea of people that would have been flooding from the near by parking garages. 

    

Us kids with Ken Ham!

Our guys were in the green tent in the middle

A new interactive Noah!

Yay! We can actually touch it!

Before we picked them up in the morning, the guys got a behind the scenes look at the

Petting Zoo!

A Zonkey!

Gomer the Camel

A Zorse!

A very packed auditorium of people waiting for the Duggars to appear onstage!

      We were able to attend one of Ken Ham's talks at the museum on Sunday before we left and enjoyed a nice, uneventful trip home!  I must say that Answers in Genesis bent over backwards for convention attendees that weekend!  All attendees who visited the museum got a MP3 disc of five of Ken Ham's talks, special discounts, curriculum demos, and a free subscription to Homeschool Enrichment magazine who had withdrawn from the convention.  Over all it was a very good vacation, but that was our first and last time attending a GHC convention. 

In Christ,
Tiffany

Bird in the woodburner this morning

There was a strange fluttering flapping noise coming from the woodburner this morning.  Lisa told me she thought it was a bird, I agreed.  So we stationed the kids strategically at the front and backdoors.  I then opened the doors, this started the most hillarious chain of events.  The bird comes flying out,  Lisa starts screaming, the bird started flying around the room I think it was screaming too.  The bird flew around the room a few times before making its way upstairs to the first floor where the kids had the doors ready.  It flew a few times around the first floor before finally making the great escape through the front door, and to it's great delight it was FREE!!!  We are now warming by the fire and starting devotions.  Hope you have a good morning.  Have a good day.
In Christ,
Tim

It's been a LONG TIME since I last wrote

It has been a very long time since my last post.  For everyone that is faithful to keep checking I am very sorry that I have not kept you up to date.  We found a wonderful Church last summer and have been extremely blessed to be part of the fellowship.  Now that the fall is over where we gathered wood for the winter, our wood supply is waining for the first time in many years, the pile is almost gone.  I turned over the soil in the garden last week when we had a beautiful and warm day, getting it ready for planting season.  The winter storms I hope are a thing of the past but we'll see.  Our clothes dryer is in need of repair, I ordered the parts and they will be arriving soon by fed ex.  Our kitchen stove has some issues, I ordered parts to fix it as well.  It seems like we've been pretty busy getting our house in order.  We finally got our kitchen ceiling finished, that has been a great blessing.  Many new friends from Church have used our Creation Museum guest passes to go and visit there.  We are looking forward to going again ourselves soon.  We have fought illnesses this past winter and have finally won I think.  We are busy trying to get everything organized so we can get the work on our house finished.  It has been an interesting fall and winter to say the least.  Work is going well, keeping plenty busy. I would like to start our own family business on our FREE time but what is that!!!   I'll keep praying for answers and our Lord will continue to keep guiding and directing.  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness.

In Christ, <><
Tim

Fishing a favorite hobby and maneuverability practice

I have enjoyed fishing ever since I was about knee high to a grass hopper.  I think the boys have inherited that gene.  They have all kinds of tackle and lures for just about everything you could imagine.  They have spent years collecting most of their treasures.  Every once in while we'll be able to take a short break to enjoy a couple of hours fishing.  Well, we did just that yesterday morning.  We headed out a little later than anticipated a little before 8:00 am ( we had talked about getting out before 7:00 ).  It was supposed to be a hot one in the low to mid nineties.  We went to my work where they have 3 large ponds with walking trails around them.  The ponds were well stocked when they were dug, they have Bass: both large and small mouth, Catfish: Blue and Channel, and Bluegill.  We had a great time while there.  We were there only about 1.5 hours, but caught 11 fish.  Each of us caught a larger fish and the rest were smaller.  The company policy has been changed to catch and release.  So we made sure to take pictures for everyone to see the catches of the day.

Fishers for fish and fishers of men,

The warm ups:

The Good sized ones:  Mine was a large mouth bass roughly at 16 inches ( Kaleb measured all of them )
TJ's was a Blue catfish roughly 17 inches, and Kaleb's was a small mouth bass roughly 14 inches.

We just got home from taking Tiffy out practicing for her license.  She has been driving for almost a year on her temps.  We had not taken her for maneuverability practice before tonight though. She flattened a few cones but very quickly got the hang of it.  She successfully did both right and left sides numerous times and was doing well when we decided to come home for the night.  We set up the course in Walmart's Parking lot in the way way back.  Next time we are going to bring some sidewalk chalk so we can mark were the cones go.  Much better than having to measure each time we go up there over the next week or so till she takes her test.


In Christ
Tim

Picking peaches

We have been watching our peach tree with great anticipation this year.  It has been loaded with peaches.  My parents came up for the weekend so we weren't able to pick them then.  We went out this morning and probably about a third of them were on the ground.  We picked all we could and ended up with about 12 gallons worth ( 2 five gallon buckets and a smaller bucket full).  We will be making peach butter soon, but for now we will process them tonight into sauce.
We visited a wonderful Church only about 45 minutes away, we attended there baptism service after the regular service also.  It is elder led and follows the New Testament model.  God is so good to answer our prayers.  As most of you know we have been looking for a good Church for a while now, I think we have found it.  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to discover what God has in store for us.

In Christ <><
Tim

Segregation~ Coming this Fall!!!

Segregation from NCFIC on Vimeo.

Help! We can't stop singing this song!!!

The Road Trip Song from NCFIC on Vimeo.