Back from the Conference

Hello All!
    The "Gospel Centered Marriages for A Glorious Church" Conference was great!!  The only problem was that we could not attend all of the wonderful sessions that were going on at once! My favorite, and I think the pivotal message of the entire conference was Paul Washer's "The Center of All Things- The Gospel".  Now that we are home we've begun listening to the sessions we missed on CDs (which you can order here).  We met a family who lives in our area while we were there, as well as a family from Alabama and some friends of the Holston family! 

    We will need to get more wood in before snow flies, Mommy and I are hoping to do a bit more canning and Thanksgiving is right around the corner!  In addition to all of that, Christmas is coming, secrets are developing and the new Vision Forum catalog seldom lies idle!  Hope all is well with all of you in blog-land!

In Christ,
For the rest of us,
Tiffany

3 Great Conferences!

Hello Everyone!
     Things have been quite busy around here!  We've canned Grape Jelly, Peach Butter and Tomato Sauce recently; as well as made a quick visit to the Henry Ford Museum to see the National Archives' Civil War Exhibit (Family Day = Free Admission!!)!  We know of three wonderful conferences coming up that we thought we'd spread the word about:

1.  The "Gospel Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church" conference hosted by the NCFIC, October 27-29, 2011 in Asheville, NC!  You can get more info here.  We're registered to go, we just aren't sure how!  The trailer roof is pretty much complete, but we still need to check out other things that could potentially be a problem.  One way or another we're going!

2.   The "Family Economics Conference" hosted by Kevin Swanson's "Generations with Vision", March 8-10, 2012 in Chicago, IL!  Not sure if we'll get to go to this one or not, but it looks great!  They're going to top off the event with Liberty Day (a re-enactment of Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!" speech)!  Info for the conference can be found here; and info on Liberty Day here.

3.  The "Teach them Diligently" convention, March 15-17, 2012 in Spartanburg, SC!  Many of you will remember the whole debacle surrounding the home school convention we attended earlier this year (our previous post is here).  This new convention stands in direct opposition to the failings and compromises of  GHC Inc..  Ken Ham, Voddie Baucham, and Doug Phillips are the keynote speakers along with other familiar names like Israel Wayne, the Mally Family and the Young family!  They are being very careful to screen their vendors, and have an awesome "About" page.  The price can't be beat either: $30.00 for the whole family if you register before the end of October!  Their website can be found here.

That's pretty much all I have to say for now; we're all really excited to see "Courageous" in just 10 days! Yippee!!  Hope all is well with our friends, from the east coast to the west coast!

In Christ,
For the rest of us,
Tiffany

Baptism and Blueberries

Hello Everyone!
I'm so sorry it's been so long; things have been crazy busy around here!  We started July off with a week long visit from Nana and Papa Cadle and Aunt Mary.  Smack-dab in the middle of the visit we had to take Hope (our golden retriever) to the vet and found out that her uterus was filled with puss and she had to have emergency surgery.  Normally a dog's uterus should weigh 2-3 oz.; her's was 4 lbs.!  The vet thought he would lose her twice during the surgery and the pain was so bad she was still fighting him at the highest dose of anesthetic.  That same week Mommy sprained her finger and we found out that one of the families from church's newborn baby had to be hospitalized (he has since been able to come home and is doing fine).  Mid to late July we picked cherries and 65 lbs. of blueberries.  The temperatures peaked to a roasting 105 degrees, with the heat index in the 120's.  A project our menfolk started in July and still have in progress is replacing the roof of our fifth wheel (Not an undertaking for the faint of heart!).  The month ended with the Tent Meetings our church sponsored in Camden, MI.  Tom Harmon and the Bates Family were our guest speakers.  Kaleb and a little girl from church were both baptized last Sunday:

First, Daddy gave a short address

Next, Kaleb read a short piece he had written

Ready...

Down he went...

And up he came; the last of us to be Baptized!!

Last Tuesday we went over to Nana and Papa Weber's house to help drag a dead Ash tree out of the creek and cut it up into firewood for us to burn this winter.  Wednesday, we saw Nana and Papa Cadle for the last time before they head south for the winter.  Our grapes are almost ready and our tomatoes and green peppers are starting to come on at a good pace.  I hope all is well with everyone in our small readership and thank you for still visiting our sleepy little Blogspot!!

In Christ,
For the Family,
Tiffany

P.S.  We've been having computer issues left and right.  The desktop will only work in safe mood and this laptop crashes intermittently, making it difficult to work online.  So if we can't update, you'll know why!!

Posting on Endurances blog about his last morning on earth

Heather said that she would post about Endurances last morning on earth at a later time. Well she posted it on wed. What a testimony to Gods enduring love and grace. I encourage everyone who looks at our blog to follow the "Run with endurance" blog short cut from the side bar and to read about how God used this little boy for his glory and honor. How the Holston family stood in the face of adversity and wouldn't give up. How God brought people close over long distances in His name. Truely an encouraging life story. I encourage everyone to read the blog from the beginning to its current post. What a testimony of strength and love, and the precious power of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Tim <><

The Trailer for Courageous!!

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