Category: Family News

Family News/Homeschool Conferences

TEXAS

Another home school conference!

Thursday night we ate dinner at Lalo and Dara Gunther’s house with the Martin family. I’m sure some of you are familiar with Jobe Martin’s ministry or their DVD’s — Incredible Creatures. We have a lot of respect for their family and have been blessed to get more acquainted with them this past year!

With Lalo (right), his wife Dara (left) and his little daughter, Anna. Lalo works for the Institute for Creation Research. (A Christian organization that is on the “cutting edge” of Creation Science research today. We appreciate their unwavering stand on biblical authority. But they have many enemies in our evolutionary world and could use our prayers!) Lalo used to be a gang member and spent several years in jail. Then he got saved and his life dramactically changed. Over dinner he told me several stories of amazing witnessing adventures he’s had – from witnessing in dark alleys in the worst parts of Dublin, Ireland, to drawing crowds at fairs by organizing impromptu skits with the youth group he led and then boldly proclaiming the gospel to the crowds. Just listening to his stories reminded me of how much we will miss out on in life if we don’t forsake our fears and get into the battle for the Lord. We were talking about how witnessing brings an adrenaline high (one that is much better than rollercoasters 🙂 ). Nothing compares to serving the Lord. (Not suggesting going into back alleys, though…)

Sarah, Stephen and I did a session at the home school book fair called “Preparing Young People for Mighty Works.” We had never done this session together with all three of us before, so we thought it was a little rusty, but we were encouraged by people’s responses. One of the things we were talking about is how we need to be doing God’s work in God’s way–striving for holiness without compromise. As Stephen stated in closing “We think that the church today has replaced the doctrine of separation with the doctrine of relevance. As a result, we have lost our saltiness; we have lost our testimony. In seeking to be culturally relevant, we have become ineffective.” To be mighty for the Lord requires purity and holiness. We are supposed to be different. If we are copying the world or compromising with it we will not be demonstrating Paul’s attitude in 1 Cor 1:20. He did not try to impress the world, but instead he held up the cross of Christ – foolishness and a stumbling block to the world, but the power of God.


Our good friend, Alex, who was a part of the first Bright Lights internship

Saturday night we celebrated Mother’s Day at Pei Wei’s — a favorite restaurant of ours that we go to every once in a while when we can find one. It’s kind of like Panera in regard to prices and ordering, but the food is all Asian (and it’s sooo good).

Bright Lights Internship/Family News

Interns :-)

I’ve been storing up lots of pictures of times with our Bright Lights “interns” to share with you all! We’ve really appreciated the extra help they have provided around our office, and we’ve enjoyed some fun times outside of “office hours” as well.

Singing in our basement

Each of the “interns” have been doing the “4:12 study” with one of the younger girls in our Bright Lights group. They met all together for the first time (above picture) and since that time they’ve been meeting once a week individually with their partner.

A couple times Kristin cooked a meal for all of us at the “guest house,” where they are staying. She is a very good cook / hostess. 🙂

Here Baylie and Kristin are packing boxes as we are gearing up for a conference trip. There is so much work that needs to be done before and after conferences — it’s been great to have the extra help. Last weekend we split up and Nickie, Rachel, Kristin, Emily, and Baylie went to the Nebraska Home School Conference while our family went to the Cincinnati Home School Conference. I’ll put up a few pictures of that soon.

Nickie taught the Desktop Publishing class this time instead of Stephen. She did a great job!

Tired and stressed from the class, but still similing! (because I told them to, haha 🙂 )

Cake and ice cream for Rachel’s birthday. Rachel (red) coordinates the BL Internships, and she is also in charge of purchasing. Both of those areas involve a lot, and I’m not sure how we would manage around here without Rachel! She and her sister Bekah (brown) have been working at the Bright Lights office 3 days a week for almost a year now.

We had a nice time with Kristin’s mom and sister who came to visit

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Announcements/Family News

On the Road

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”

Family News

Recent Random Pictures

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/Family News/Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

Simple Christmas Questionnaire

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!)

Family News

A Few Pictures from Thanksgiving Yesterday

Being the youngest in the family, you never outgrow the “kids” table! Thats ok, I’m sure we had a lot more fun, anyway. 🙂 (Pictured above are Stephen and I with our cousins Laura and Andy, and our Uncle Ron cutting an amazing pecan desert he made.)

The “adult” table

Andy and Stephen, entertaining themselves with a half-broken flashlight…

Family News

Rocky Mountain National Park

Last week our family attended a wedding in Colorado and spent a few days camping while we were there. It was a very refreshing time.

Early morning devotional time in the mountains…Life doesn’t get much better than this does it, Dad?! (Notice Dad still found a way to make his morning toast slightly burnt just the way he likes it…)

A definite highlight was the individual time we had with the Lord and our Bibles in the crisp, quiet mountain air! We also enjoyed the chance to spend time in some books we had been wanting to read…
Dad: The Ultimate Proof of Creation (Jason Lisle)
Sarah: After the Flood Historian Bill Cooper shares fascinating information about how earliest Europeans recorded their descent from Noah through Japheth and knew all about the Flood!
Stephen: Going For the Gold (Joe Wall) About the Judgment Seat of Christ and living our lives in light of it.
Myself: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

Because of a misunderstanding, we had to move our tent to a different spot for night #2. Some members in the family decided we should just carry the tent so we didn’t have to take it down. It made a pretty unusual sight in the campground…

By the time we moved campsites, ate lunch, cleaned up, etc. it was already late in the afternoon when we began our hike.

It took about 15 minutes to drive to where the trail began. Upon arriving, Mom asked, “Did anyone zip up the tent windows?” No one had. Mom, who doesn’t even like camping, began to imagine what it would be like to sleep in wet sleeping bags. So we all piled back into the van and drove back to our campsite.

On the way there, it began to rain and hail but thankfully we got the tent zipped up before anything got too wet.

Finally we began our hike!

It was so beautiful and we were all really enjoying ourselves….

…Until, right at the top, it became very windy, rainy, and cold. We were wondering if it would continue to be rainy and cold for the 3.5 miles back to the van…

…But laughing at Mom and Dad in their funny rain gear made us forget how cold we were.

When we finally arrived back at our campsite, wet and tired, we found that our tent had turned completely on its side in the rain. (Hmm…maybe camping would be easier without a tent at all?!)

All in all, we had a wonderful time camping. The good family times around the fire were another highlight. We feel so blessed. Even my mom, who doesn’t like camping, said she would do it again! Wow!

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:2

Family News/Witnessing Stories

Grace at NEA

Hi, everyone. This is Sarah, writing a quick post to fill in for Grace. Grace is working at the Answers in Genesis Booth at the NEA (National Education Association) convention in New Orleans this week. Answers in Genesis has a booth there each year reaching thousands of public school teachers with the truth about creation and God’s Word.

You can read some updates – Click Here

Also, you can watch a witnessing conversation that Grace had with a young lady she met at the booth – Click Here

Family News

Lots of Little Helpers!

I haven’t posted for a while but that hasn’t been because of lack of action around here. 🙂 Good friends from China visited us for 12 days and left last week. We had a great time with them and made so many special memories.

We decided to take advantage of having so many energetic helpers around! Here Mary, Charity, and Loice are punching butterflies and flowers in preparation for crafts at the upcoming Bright Lights Conferences. Sarah and Nickie also kept them busy writing and recording testimonies for Bright Lights (in which they did a fantastic job), shrink-wrapping materials for our booktable and online store, sorting and labeling shipments of books, sharpening boxes of colored pencils, entering registrations for the upcoming conferences, etc.

Priscilla and Melody

Lunchtime! (After being around a family of 12, having a family of 5 seems very small…!)

Is Stephen really that funny, Priscilla?!

Listening to my dad tell stories around the fire…

One very special part of their visit was when Mary came with me to the hospital. (I take my little harp and play room to room for patients on the oncology / neurology floor every other week or so.) I usually take calligraphy Bible verse cards for the patients I talk with, many of whom don’t have very much longer to live. Mary had spent several hours coloring the cards for me, so I began to think about how great it would be if she could come along to help deliver them. I called the hospital to see if Mary could come. To my surprise and delight, the hospital gave special permission for Mary to accompany me – even though she wasn’t an official “volunteer”. This was an answer to prayer, and I realized that God must have a special reason for Mary to come.

The patients just loved Mary, and having her along helped to open more doors to talk with people. I wish I could report all the stories, but here’s one of them: The lady pictured above and her daughter and granddaughter were very open to talking about spiritual things so we were able to sit down, open our Bibles, and explain way of salvation to them. When we explained that eternal life was a free gift—not something you have to earn—the mom and her daughter looked at each other like it finally “clicked”. Her daughter told me, “I’ve been wanting to join a Bible study. In fact, just yesterday I was telling my mom about how I was looking for some sort of Bible study to join.” We are planning to meet up again to study the Bible together soon. Isn’t it exciting to see God arrange these things?