Author: Grace Mally

Noah's Archive Bookstore

Noah’s Archive Sign Installation

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Some projects are just extra hard to complete, and this sign was one of them! There seemed to be a new obstacle to work through at every step. But we saw many answers to prayer. Below are some pictures of the sign creating process.

Preparing to sandblast. Mike and our other friends from Wood Graphics down the street were GREAT to work with, and we’ve gotten very well acquainted because of all we’ve had to work through together. Lots of decisions; lots of discussion. They were very patient with us. 🙂

This man has been painting signs for over 50 years and he did a great job.

The engineering details of mounting the sign with the new wooden sign post cover

Installation!

Putting on the last end cap!

“Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.” (Psalm 147:1)

Announcements/Family News

On the Road

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I can’t believe how our 2011 schedule is filling up! Below is a list of the home school conferences we will be speaking at this year as well as the the Bright Lights conferences that have been scheduled so far. We’d appreciate prayer! 🙂 Hopefully we’ll be able to see many of you along the way!

February

7, Cedar Rapids, IA
Bright Lights Spring Internship Begins

March

3-5 Memphis, TN (Midsouth Homeschool Convention)

17-19 Greenville, SC (Southeast Homeschool Convention)

31-April 2 Cincinnati, OH (Midwest Homeschool Convention)

May

6-7 Arlington, TX (Homeschool Book Fair)

27-28 Manchester, NH (Christian Home Educators of New Hampshire)

June

23-25 Philadelphia, PA (Northeast Homeschool Convention)

27 Cedar Rapids, IA
Bright Lights Summer Internship Begins

July

5-6 Oshkosh, WI
Bright Lights “Strong in the Lord Conference”

8-9 Oshkosh, WI
Bright Lights “Radiant Purity Conference”

12-13 Omaha, NE
Bright Lights “Strong in the Lord Conference”

15-16 Omaha, NE
Bright Lights “Radiant Purity Conference”

August

9-10 Collegeville, PA
Bright Lights “Strong in the Lord Conference”

12-13 Collegeville, PA
Bright Lights “Radiant Purity Conference”

16-17 Willoughby Hills, OH
Bright Lights “Strong in the Lord Conference”

19-20 Willoughby Hills, OH
Bright Lights “Radiant Purity Conference”

Announcements/Radiant Purity Conferences

Radiant Purity Video Conferences!

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We are very excited about this new venue available for discipling young ladies, since we know we can do only a limited number of live conferences. Thanks to the help of many good friends, the DVDs of the Radiant Purity Conference are now AVAILABLE for Bright Lights leaders to use to run video conferences in their area. Nickie, Rachel, and Sarah also recently designed a 50-page journal to help girls internalize the message and dig deeper into the Word. The first RP Video Conference took place last month in Michigan.

The next Radiant Purity Video Conference is scheduled for Cambridge, Minnesota (near the Twin Cities) on January 22. If you live in the area and would be interested in attending, click here for details.

Click here for pdf of the above flyer. (Thanks to Nickie for her great job in designing it.)

To learn more about the Radiant Purity Conference, click here.

Family News

Recent Random Pictures

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Hi and Merry Christmas Everyone! Well, I have some random pictures from the last week or so… they don’t really go together, but I thought I’d post them all anyway.

A special Christmas lunch at a nearby sandwhich shop with the girls in the BL Office here…Nickie, Sarah Rachel, Bekah.

Ok so when we bought our Christmas tree this year, we were told that it had been returned because it wouldn’t stand up straight. (I know. Who returns their Christmas tree?!) But my dad and I thought, No problem…We’ll work with it. Unfortunately we didn’t have as much success as we thought. This is how we found the tree on Christmas morning. I love Stephen’s expression. It was a race to get all the water and pine needles off the carpeting before Mom got up!

Christmas caroling! This is actually a great ministry, people are generally very touched.

Our “littlest caroler” warming up from the cold.

Stephen bought another guitar the other day. I’m so excited…

Yesterday morning was official “winter wonderland” in Marion, Iowa! All the trees were like this — It was amazing!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

And Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour….” (Luke 1:46-47)

Christmas Ministry Ideas/Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

Christmas Story Printout

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Here’s an idea of how to get into witnessing conversations at Christmas. Ask people, “Have you read the Christmas story from the Bible yet this year?” If they haven’t, you can give them a copy! — a great way to get people into the Word. One friend at church asked us for 35 copies to mail in her Christmas cards. I thought that was a really good idea.

If you’d like to print off copies you can do so HERE. It’s 2 pages, so print it on both sides.

Thoughts

God My Exceeding Joy

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Christmas is supposed to be time of joy. That’s why so many especially struggle at Christmastime if there is pain in their life. So if there is something in your life that hurts right now, take a minute to pray Psalm 43 — a psalm that has really blessed me recently!

“…O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling places.
Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

When God is our joy, our joy is secure. God made us with deep needs so HE Himself could satisfy those needs. May we long for Him and delight in Him as we should.

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)

“Gladden the soul of your servant, for to You, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You.” (Psalm 86:4-5)

“You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Psalm 16:11

Christmas Ministry Ideas/Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

Christmas Tracts

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A few people have recently asked about Christmas tracts. We wish we had more. I sometimes use this “Christmas Quiz” that my dad put together. People receive these very well and they teach about the Christmas story and ask a few gospel questions. (We print it on both sides and get two on a page.) My dad also wrote a short “Prince of Peace” tract this year, which we link to in our December newsletter. I hope these ideas are useful for some of you!

Christmas Ministry Ideas/Family News/Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

Simple Christmas Questionnaire

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Merry Christmas Everyone! Christmas is such a great time for sharing about Jesus with unbelievers because people are in a festive mood and willing to talk! Here is a simple questionnaire that can be used to get conversations started:

1) What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
2) Why did God choose to be born as a baby and enter the human race?

Just grab a notepad and pen, find someone on a bench at Wal-mart who looks bored, and see if they are willing to take your Christmas questionnaire! 🙂 After they answer the second question, you can ask them if they’d like to hear what the Bible says about why Jesus came. (Consider sharing these Scripture verses: Matthew 1:21, Luke 19:10, John 18:37, Philippians 2:7-8, Hebrews 2:14)
And be prepared with a Christmas tract to leave with them!

On a different note, this afternoon my dad and I bundled up and picked out our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. We picked it out in record time this year! (The temperature probably had something to do with that!)

Thoughts

Intercession

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If you have not yet seen Eric Ludy’s video clip, “Intercession” please take the time to watch it! I love this clip. What a powerful message. And what an awesome Savior Christ is.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)