Our Children

Keeping current pictures of our children is a nearly impossible task. This picture, however, gives you an idea of their corporate naughtiness.

Summer's End

Ministry Update

This summer has been a difficult one financially for us. The dark valley is over now and we can praise the Lord that He has supplied every need. October 7, the meetings start again and we are all eager to be back on the road. During the last couple weeks of down time, the Lord provided a job whereby I was able to alleviate some financial pressure. I praise the Lord for how He always provides. We covet your prayers for us as we get back on the road. As always, pray for more meetings to come in.

Family Update

The summer days are over, and autumn has officially begun. With the new season come hopes of cooler weather and beautiful foliage. There is a certain sense in which the year is coming to a close. The days are getting shorter, and the nights longer, and our children are growing up. People tell us to treasure the days when our children are small, and, to be sure, there are many wonderful memories. Some, however, I am not so sure how to categorize. In my mind’s eye, I can see Paul and myself in fifty years, sitting in our rocking chairs and reminiscing…

S: Paul, we’re getting old.

P: Yep, but you’ll always be older than me! Har! Har!

WHAP! (sound of cane hitting shins)

P: Ouch! Take it easy – I was just joking!

S: You had better be glad I am not as strong as I used to be, or I would need a shoulder replacement after that!

P: I wonder what the kids are doing these days. I sure miss the times when they were small.

S: I do, too. Do you remember the summer of ’07?

P: Sure I do – what a summer! All three of the little ankle-biters were busy that year!

S: Josiah sprinkled his legos over the floor every morning as soon as he woke up, in the event that if an early-morning burglar got into the house, he wouldn’t get too far. We never had any burglars, of course, but many were the mornings that I had to remove the imbedded legos from my feet.

P: Whatever happened to all those legos, anyway?

S: I believe most of them ended up in the super slide of our first trailer. I never tried to dig them out, because of the entire package of 450 straight pins that Esther deposited in the same slideout that summer. That girl was into everything!

P: Her favorite words were “me-me” and “no-no” – the latter because she heard it so often, I guess. She was the human pinball that year – ran into everything. She could find something new with which to injure herself every day, I believe.

S: She was particularly bad about banging her mouth. It is a wonder she still has teeth! I can’t imagine what the dentist would have thought had she been old enough to go. He would have wondered why a fifteen month old child only had three teeth, and those ones were green!

P: Ah, yes. Many thanks to Crayola for assuring us that our daughter’s favorite low-fat snack was also non-toxic.

S: And don’t forget about Abigail! That was the summer that I was trying to potty train her. She messed her clothes every day. And then the washer broke. Actually, it still worked – just leaked like a sieve. Remember that?

P: Yes. It leaked down into the storage bay and ruined a box of books.

S: And then you tried to fix it yourself.

P: Hey – the Lord called me to preach, not to fix appliances! Anyway, it turned out fine. Just because you could only use the washer outside didn’t mean we went around wearing dirty clothes. Besides, we could kind of get in touch with our redneck side that way.

S: Yes, those were the good old days. I’m glad that we can sit back and laugh about it now. It wasn’t always so easy back then. I guess, at the time, we failed to realize that they were memories in the making.

Of Books and Jokes

Ministry Update

The Lord gave me a wonderful trip to Southern IN in where I preached in the Hope Baptist Church of Lawrenceville. After closing the short meeting on Sunday, I drove to Chicago the following day to pick up a friend's trailer for him; and then I drove all the way home. Grand total for Monday: 970 miles. It is good to be with my family again in my own trailer.

Thank you for praying for our meetings.

Family Update

Things have been rather slow compared to our normal schedule this summer. Since Josiah started school three weeks ago, things have become a little busier. He is really getting back into the swing of things. He told me this morning that he was glad for all this review, because he had forgotten a lot of things! His reading has improved over the summer, and he is now the proud owner of his very own library card. We have made several trips to the library, and I am glad to have an excuse to get new books for myself as well. He is discovering Curious George, Amelia Bedelia, Paddington Bear, and various other “favorites” of children. He told me this week, that he wanted to go to the library again because he had already read all his books several times. He is definitely my son. The world could go down in flames around me while I am reading, and I wouldn’t even notice until the next chapter. When I was a kid, I always had my nose in a book at every opportunity. I am glad to pass on the trait to my own children!

Josiah is also starting out in the Master’s Club program at church. He is really excited about learning verses, and earning badges for his vest. He has expressed some desire to learn to play the piano, so we are starting that, too. So far, we have only had two lessons, and those have been rather slow, but you have to start somewhere. Pray that my patience holds out for music lessons in addition to school!

Abigail is getting taller and has graduated from a car seat to a “booster seat.” She enjoys that so much more. We are still working on the potty training. She’s making progress, but very slowly. She enjoys singing little songs that she makes up herself. This morning while I was fixing her hair, she was singing a song about how nice her mama was because “she is giving me bwaids.” It is very cute, and I enjoy hearing all the original ideas for her songs.

Esther is growing up so fast. She runs about the trailer on her stubby little legs, and tries to follow her older siblings wherever they go. She is quite vocal in expressing her displeasure, and I always know when something is not going her way. She is beginning to speak our language now, and there are a few recognizable words. She now interrupts prayers that she deems too lengthy with a hearty “ME,” which is her rendition of “amen.” She has also learned to nod her head in affirmation, and it makes us laugh when she bobs her head in answer to our questions. Of course, we would never bait her with incriminating questions…

Several months ago, our children were introduced to the concept of the great American joke, courtesy of Laffy Taffy candy. I believe, from the quality of the jokes printed on the candy wrappers, that you must have to have eaten at least two dozen pieces and be on an extreme sugar high for the jokes to be even mildly amusing. The initial joke was this: “Why did the chicken cross the playground?” The answer: “To get to the other slide.” After I thoroughly explained the joke and its original context, the kids apparently reasoned that every joke must have a chicken hero. I will not regale you with a full account of all the senseless jokes we have heard over the last several months, but suffice it to say, not even Laffy Taffy would have printed them. The kids, of course, thought they were all hilarious, and would screech with laughter after every new rendition, while I would groan and try to escape into the next room before the next chicken joke was told. Last week, however, was the crowning chicken joke. I actually laughed. I know you are all wondering… “Why did the chicken go into the trailer?” Answer: “Because he wanted to be an evangelist!”