The Choice

This morning, I was sitting considering the options for the future. My associate's degree in Child and Youth Character Development is almost done. This spring I will finish all my class work and then will move on to an internship. Since, I have several options for this internship it is hard deciding which one. It seemed logical to get advice from wise people in my life and then go with my instinctive choice. After all, the culture tells me to follow my heart.

However, the passage I came across this morning counsels otherwise. While considering my choices, I thought of Jer. 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" God seemed to be striking out the choice of relying on my instincts.

Then, it occurred to me that I had never read the passage around this well known verse. I soon found the first verse had some very strong language. "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord" (Jer. 17:5). Whoa, there goes my second option of relying on other's advice! It was if God was saying to me, that people will fail me. Listening to others is important, but God showed me another choice.

"7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (Jer. 17:7-8).

The last verse in the passage reminded me why trusting the Lord supersedes all other choices. "O Lord, the hope of Israel... the fountain of living waters" (Jer. 17:13). God is the ever living water that plants the tree of our lives. When we anchor ourselves in Him as by a river, then it will not matter when trials of heat come because His strength keeps us from despair. Our leaf will remain green. Through Him, we can continue to yield fruit. Why use a substitute when He is a living hope.

Happiness is . . .

Recently my cordless drill stopped working. Upon hearing this, a friend searched to see if he could find one like his. Not only did he find one but he found a closeout deal that was less than the drill cost originally. I got a four tool set. In the set is a drill, circular saw (6.5 in), light, hand vac, charger and 2 batteries. Each tool is component is cordless. It seems that Black and Decker is phasing out this line even though it was quite popular because of its features. I'm a rudimentary DIY kind of guy so I am always happy to get new tools.

Sugar Cookie

Behold, Joshua the Sugar Cookie. This was actually one of several events that occurred at the Connect Four Retreat that Michaela and I attended. I actually volunteered for this task, but was told what had to be done after I volunteered. My team created the sugar cookie by sprinkling water on me, dusting me with sugar, and wrapping me in an entire roll of plastic wrap. As you can see, I was pretty enthusiastic during the whole process. Oh well, I still had a good time.

My Summer

When the summer ended I hit the ground running and haven't had much of a breath since until now. I started the summer with the usual list of honey-dos

and cookouts

We maintained one of our passions in keeping a vegetable garden.

Something new this year was the addition of strawberries. I attempted to clip all the blooms this year in order to improve the plants vitality and help future harvests. I missed a couple and Grace ate our entire 2010 strawberry crop.

Another regular occurrence is the absence of Michaela and Joshua in the home as they head off to Child Evangelism Fellowship's summer training, CYIA. Michaela was chosen as a staff person this year.

Later on we had to be without all three children as Grace attended Camp Good News while Joshua and Michaela served as counselors.

The rest of the summer seemed like one long road trip. We started by heading east towards Indianapolis to go to our home schooling conference (ATI). We always stop at my first cousin's house in St. Louis when traveling east and get some great

southern hospitality. He is originally from Arkansas.

After that we stopped at the Mark and Wendy Correll family in Brownstown, IN and had a great time visiting and exploring their property in rural Indiana. They have 7 children: Stephen (19), Benjamin (17), Kevin (15), Maria (14), Nathan (?), Christina (?) and Marcus (?) in chronological order.

The conference was especially revitalizing as it helped us (actually Velda) to refuel for another year of home schooling. We also got to hook up with friends from previous conferences like the Greg Xiques family from Florida. Greg is also a public school teacher who home schools.

Michaela and Joshua served the youth at the conference as, respectively, a Children's Institute instructor and ALERT Cadet Challenge Squad Leader

The summer was finished off with a trip to see the Scott McDaniel family who had just moved from Salina a few months earlier. We had a great time being with them for a few days.

It was topped off with a trip to the Creation Museum where we saw some eye-popping sights!

The grounds were a treat as well.

All of this travel was in a wonderful Honda Odyssey lent to us by the Roger Hederstedt family because our van's A/C was not working. As comfortable as it was there was still an occasional need to stretch :)

Ah, Christmas!

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are enjoying a relaxing time together this season with no big plans just rest and enjoyment of God's presence with us. What a wonder to think of our most holy God coming here to be with us. It humbles me to know that he loves me and you so much that he would do such a thing for us. It has been my hope and focus to embrace Gods' presence as much as possible in the quiet of the morning and in the choosing of activities and how my time is spent during this Christmas season. I hope that the gift of God's presence fills each one of you with His love and His peace this coming year.

These are a few of my favorite things...

I love preparing for Christmas, but this year, I did not start preparing my heart until the week before. On December 18th all of a sudden, it dawned on me that Christmas was in one week. Here are some things that we did in that week that helped me prepare. First, we went and caroled with the (Mark) Kroekers and the Beckmans. We were very zealous carolers and sang our favorite Christmas songs in the car. One elderly bachelor said, "your singing and this pumpkin bread is Christmas to me." His gratefulness blessed me as well. Then, we went caroling again on the 21st with our home school choir.At one nursing home a lady began singing along. I love caroling and would love to do it all year round.

Now for the really different activity. Mrs. (Lyle) Kroeker invited my mom and I to go to a Christmas service at her home church. It's a little Swedish church in New Gottland. However, the catch was it started at 6 am on Christmas morning! Although it was early my curiosity got the better of me. We had to leave at 5:15 am because the church was a half hour away. When we arrived, I was amazed how chipper people could be in the morning. I personally, didn't talk much. We sang hymns, heard the Christmas story and a short sermon on the name Immanuel. Then, the choir sang an old Swedish carol in Swedish. I enjoyed listening to them. Now, most of you know that I don't get up that early without some compensation. After the service, we had breakfast in the fellowship hall. I had four different kinds of cinnamon rolls and some delicious minty hot chocolate. Because of our visit, we are now declared half swede. The service helped me start Christmas with the proper attitude.

The Creer's Christmas

Hey everyone!! We have not blogged in a long time! So, Michaela decided that I should post. Anyway, for Christmas I got a new game called Buzz Word, a journal, a book, and(get this) a 100$ gift-card for JCPenney!!!!!! That was from my grandparents. From my friend Katy I got a candle. To my mother I gave a poem in a frame called Dedication. I gave Daddy a teapot!! Just kidding that was the decoy, attached to it was a verse which was the clue to his present. which was a another poem taped to the wall of his closet. After that my family took naps while I read. After that, our friends the (Mark) Kroekers invited us over for games and desserts. All in all, I had a fantastic Christmas, and I hope to blog regularly.

Over&Out

GRACE

Kentucky Visit

I can sum up my summer in one word, hot. But since that would be kind of a short post, I'll show you some pictures of our vacation in Kentucky.

Dinosaurs! (not real ones) were a main interest at the Museum. Goofing off with our friends the McDaniels.
A white peacock located in the zoo area of the Museum.
Family picture in the gardens of the Creation Museum.

Full to Overflowing

Before we get to the vacation post, I thought it would be good to tell you about a big event in my summer: Camp Good News. First of all the director told me I would have four girls. The first day we counselors sat around in the foyer waiting for our girls. By the time of the first assembly, I only had three girls. It rather puzzled me. Mrs. Regier, the director's wife, told me the girl didn't show up and they didn't know why. I was a little disappointed. However, my three girls kept me busy enough. The, that same night, Mrs. Regier told me there was a girl on the waiting list who would be joining my group around midnight. I was so excited to meet her and she was just as excited to be at camp! That was my first highlight. I'll give you just a few more.

One morning, one of my girls turns to me thoughtfully and asks, "Miss Michaela, does your brain ever turn off?" After a quick counsel with Miss Mandy, we decided that your brain stays on 24/7(later in the week though, I wondered)

Every year, we have a talent night on Wednesday. I taught my girls a song and they loved it so much, they wanted to practice it every spare moment. We had so much fun!

On Thursday night, we have a special service to allow children to consecrate their lives to the Lord. Last year, I was so discouraged because so few children decided to do it. This year when they gave the invitation, at least thirty children from 2nd graders to 8th graders responded! I talked to one of my girls and asked her why she walked up. She said, "I have been doing things my way but now I want God to have His way." She was so confident and sincere. God was really working that night!

On the last day, I made a card for each of my girls, encouraging them to continue walking with the Lord. When they received them, I was so blessed to see the smiles on their faces. One girl said, it was the best gift she'd ever received.

It was a great week, so here are some pictures.

Tether ball is the national camp sport.
One of the five staff named Mr. Josh, waiting for lunch with his group.
The 3rd graders last day of Bible Lesson got a little crazy.
We all dressed up for Consecration night.
We made thank you notes on Friday.

We're Back

We left for vacation on July 28 and returned on August 3. We hit the ground running when we returned. When things settle down a bit you will be seeing pictures and updates.