Up in Smoke...

This past Wednesday, several members of our family spent a number of hours tackling the incredible task of organizing the leaves that have accumulated on our two acres of wooded lawn into one enormous pile. They then promptly lit that pile and their day's work went up in smoke - very literally. Too bad we can't upload that fragrance to this blog to share with you all...

But guess what? Today, there are leaves once again blanketing that immaculately cleared lawn with strong winds in the forecast for tomorrow. Wanna come help with round 2???

Browns Visit

One of the greatest blessings God has given us is the friendship of families who share a passion for truth, for Christ, His church, and the furtherance of the kingdom work of our Lord. Even when we are apart, there is great encouragement from knowing that there are others across the country working towards these same goals. But every so often we have the blessed opportunity to actually sit down with nothing else on the schedule and just visit, talk, pray, and sing, with these distant co-laborers. Last week we enjoyed one such opportunity - albeit a brief one!

Following the conference in St. Louis, on October 8 the Brown family of North Carolina drove up to spend all day Monday with us before heading home. In that one short day we managed to get in a long morning visit (around breakfast, and then moving to the living room where we spent some time in the Scriptures discussing the blossoming of Aaron's Rod), and then head out to the apple orchard for the seasonal delight of fresh apple cider donuts, sampling fudge, apples, dips...(unfortunately, it was Columbus Day so the place was pretty crowded, but we still had fun). From there a quick stop at Jeremy & Sara's was followed by our return home and dinner preparations - where we were joined by Jeremy & Sara, Nathan & Jeanine, and the Strand family for the rest of the evening. Of course, the time flew all too quickly and in the wee hours of Tuesday morning the Browns loaded up and headed home. Eagerly we look forward to "next time" and the continued encouragement, sanctification, and fun to be had in such company! Thanks for stopping in, Browns!

The Multi-Tasking Queen

As promised over a month ago, we will be posting special pictures of Jessica now and then. Pictures that show a side of Jessica that perhaps you were unaware of.

So, here's Jessica in one of her most remarkable moments. . .



Jessica is truly a most talented young lady. Don't you think?

NCFIC 2006

Before we have any larger backlog than we do, we thought we'd better get a couple of "outdated updates" online. First up, is the NCFIC conference that was held in St. Louis on October 5-7. On Wednesday, Oct. 4, Dad, Jessica, Joshua, and Joseph drove down to the St. Louis area to the home of the Serven Clan, which was to be our home base for the weekend.

The conference itself was excellent. The speakers were gracious in their presentations, yet articulate and fully convicted of their positions. May God continue to work in the lives of the attendees and strengthen His church through them.

While Dad attended the conference, Josh, Jessica and Joseph were there to record the event. Peter Serven was also in the employ of Resounding Voice that weekend, and we managed to stay busy behind the booth duplicating the numerous sessions, printing and casing the CD's, putting sets together, taking orders... and more or less having fun!

Saturday night we loaded up Josh's trailer, said our goodbye's and headed for home. We are very grateful that Josh managed to stay awake for the whole drive home - as none of the rest of us did.

Thanks to Vision Forum for hosting yet another God-honoring kingdom-building event. And many thanks to the Servens for the fellowship, food, fun, shelter, and chauffering they shared with us through the weekend!

SNOW!!!

Well, we have two other posts regarding events of the past week waiting to be finished and posted, but this breaking news can't wait! This morning after a beautiful frosty autumn sunrise, the clouds rolled in and we are currently enjoying our first snow of the season! It's rather earlier than usual, and considerably heavier than typical "first snow flurries," and we're loving it! Josiah made two snowballs and threw them at our newly cleaned windows, but hey, they were the first of the year!

We tried to get some pictures, but it's hard to get good ones of snow falling, but here are a couple!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Look who turned 15 years old yesterday!!
Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Sisters, Brothers - Friends

Corrine & Winston


William & Caroline