Getting Ready

Today is our getting ready day - ready to head to North Carolina for the CEF International Conference. Our plan is to leave after my HSMA band rehearsel tonight, drive to Kings Mt., NC to see my sister, Deb, and her husband. We will spend the night there (Tuesday), have brunch with my niece and her husband who live in Charlotte, then head to Asheville, NC Wednesday afternoon. We plan to do laundry, pack, plan, and rest before we leave tonight.

At this conference, there will be CEF workers from around the world. We will challenged, refreshed, and encouraged as we listen to the speakers, attend workshops, and fellowship with other CEF workers. It is always a great time.

While we are gone, Philip and Bethany will be at home - as they both have classes to attend at LCC and jobs to go to. Joanna is staying with a friend here in Lansing who is also homeschooled and participates in many of the activities Joanna does.

On our way home from the conference, we will be staying the Bob and Linda Seever, friends from Detroit who moved to Springfield, OH to work with CEF, although they have not been involved in the work for many years. We will arrive home sometime Tuesday, May 6.

Thursday, April 25

Today we had Good News Club at Grand River School. Only three children were there, but they are good kids and really don't know alot about the Bible.

Monday night after my band rehearsel, we are leaving for North Carolina to see my sister and to attend a CEF conference. Philip and Bethany are staying home for the week. Joanna is staying at a friends house while we are gone.

God worked it out so that we could rent a car for the trip rather than take the big van that would cost mega bucks for the gas.

I guess that is all I have right now.

Here is a picture of the Good News Club kids at Sheridan Rd. Elementary School. We taught that club all year but it ended April 3.

April 22, 2008

We are still revelling in the wonderful weekend we had. Our family attended this particular church in Lincoln Park for about 3 years. When we left, Joanna was only 3 years old.

Now, Joanna is 16, Bethany is 19, and Philip is 21.

What's next for us? Well, Thursday Doug and I teach a Good News Club at Grand River Elementary school and Joanna helps at a club at Gier Park Elementary school, both in Lansing. Philip and Bethany are almost finished with their semester of classes, and both are working part-time. Saturday, Joanna has State Band Festival, and one of my nephews is getting married. MOnday evening, after band, Doug and I will be leaving for North Carolina. We will drive all night, arrive at my sister's house in Kings Mt., NC mid-day on Tuesday and spend the night with her, then travel on to Asheville, to Ridgecrest Conference center for a CEF International Conference. Monday, May 5, we will start home, spending the night with friends from Detroit who now live in Springfield, OH. Joanna will be staying with a friend that is also homeschooled. Bethany and Philip will stay home so they can go to school and work.

Please pray for Philip and Bethany. This time of year is stressful for all college students, as they finish up the school year. Both have many things to complete before the end of the semester. Both are struggling with issues with close friends.

Thanks.

Our missions conference is done. What a wonderful time of seeing old friends and making new ones. We have several opportunities to share what God is doing in CEF, in our State and in our family. We witnessed an 18 year old woman committ her life to Christ to be a missionary, if that is what God wants for her and saw God bring in over $1800 in one offering so she could go on a missions trip to Hawaii with the church.

Right now, Doug and I are preparing for a missions conference in Lincoln Park, MI this weekend. I am working on a powerpoint presentation that represents 25 years of ministry. Doug started working with CEF in 1983 as an intern in Detroit, working under John Heron. This is our first house that God provided for us. We lived there for 10 years for $125 a month! We moved from there to this larger house on Detroit's East Side in 1994.

Still renting, our landlord was John Heron, so our rent was a higher but very workable for us. We lived here for 6 years - ministering to the children in the neighborhood through Good News Clubs, 5-Day Clubs and an open back yard.

Can you spot Phil, Bethany, and Joanna? Not to difficult.

Doug became the Director of Metro CEF I think in 1992 when John Heron retired.

In 2000, we left Detroit because God was calling us to Tustin to care for Doug's parents. Our first house there was owned by friends that hadn't been able to sell the house. So, again, we rented with the thought of buying the house. We were in the house for about 4 months when we realized we were not the only residents. Bats also enjoyed the spacious home. We did not like cohabiting with them, but you can't exterminate them, so we tried to live with them for about 3 years. Not a very fun thing to do. When Doug's mom passed away in 2003, Dad was still in the nursing home so Doug inherited their home, so we painted, carpeted, wallpapered and moved in in October of 2003.