Equipping Families to be Strong in the Lord
This morning I woke up at 1:00am, my mom woke up at 2:00am, Sarah woke up at 2:30, and Stephen woke up at 4:30… yeah… our sleeping schedule is a little messed up right now. Looking on the bright side, the middle of the night is a great time to get stuff done! I got my whole room unpacked and organized. My mom organized the garage. 🙂
We arrived back home in Cedar Rapids about 3 hours ago!
As we were sitting in row 66 at the very back of the plane eating “dinner”, the flight stewardess came by and served us coffee. Just as we were beginning to sip our full little cups of coffee, we felt the plane began to swerve and jolt. (Perfect timing I thought) The turbulence increased and became pretty intense—like a roller coaster—causing the coffee to fly up out of our cups and all over us and our clothes. We all began laughing and yes, we had many coffee stains on our clothes.
It feels great to be back home, and we’re very grateful for the Lord’s protection and guidance all along the way. More reports and pictures coming soon.
Sarah snapped this picture of Stephen yesterday afternoon. He’s been a pretty busy guy recently…
Today was a hectic-but-good day. We had five girls volunteering over here at the Bright Lights office. We really appreciated their help because there is a lot of work that needs to be done in preparation for the upcoming conferences we have scheduled in the next 2 weeks.
Tonight our family went out to eat for my mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! 🙂
Sunday after church we had the Bontrager family for dinner, and we enjoyed a full house! They have 9 children, a heart for ministry, and they travel and sing as a family. It was a nice afternoon of fellowship…and we’re glad Stephen saved all his old legos! 🙂
Yes, we are in Florida… again! Sarah and I flew down just for a few days to speak and bring our booktable to the Jacksonville, Florida homeschool conference. We came down again mainly to lay some groundwork and get the word out about the Bright Lights conferences we will be doing here in November.
After setting up our booth yesterday afternoon (all by ourselves without Stephen or my dad’s help… 🙁 ) Sarah spoke at a special Mother/Daughter tea. I didn’t mind tagging along. 🙂 Sarah spoke about how powerful it is when young people live fully for the Lord, surrender to God, and choose to be bright light in this darkening generation.
The atmosphere was very sweet with many girls evidently seeking the Lord and desiring His ways.
After the tea, we came back to the Russell’s house, the family who we have been staying with. Since they had some other friends over, I joined them in playing “kick the can”, hide and seek, and ultimate frisbee in the dark. Sarah joined us for the frisbee, but unfortunately she was on the other team and the other team won. Oh well. It felt really nice to “switch gears” and get all worn out and dirty from running around on a nice, humid, Florida night. 🙂
Left to right: Chrissy Baskerville, Me, Rebekah May, Elyssa Ertz, and Nickie Biegler.
In a couple months we will be boarding a plane to Singapore and Malaysia where we’ll be doing 2 Bright Lights conferences and one Bright Lights Leaders Training. There’s lots of planning to do! Most of the night tonight we spent dividing up teaching, planning skits, filling Elyssa in on what it’s like over there (since she is the only one who didn’t go last year), and discussing lots of miscellaneous details. We are all excited. 🙂
Since it’s Nickie’s 20th birthday, we surprised her with an ice cream pie. Happy Birthday Nickie! 🙂
We visited the Answers in Genesis Museum 2 weeks ago as we were passing through Kentucky. Our experience there exceeded our expectations, and our expectations were already high!
The first thing we went to was the “planetarium”. As we entered the dark, round theater, I learned that we’d be reclining in our chairs and watching the ceiling! The 15-20 minute show on stars and galaxies was really incredible. I knew the universe was huge and immeasurable, but seeing this mathematical and visual description of the universe caused me to grasp how amazing and beyond our comprehension it really is, bringing much glory to it’s Creator. And Genesis records their creation in only 5 simple words! (“…he made the stars also” Gen. 1:16)
Next, we went through the “Men in White” special effects theater, which was a lot of fun. In a lighthearted way it clearly presented many answers to the questions and objections people face in school and in everyday life regarding Creation science and the purpose of man.
From there we started our “walk through history”. It began with a look at the current state of brokenness and suffering in families and nations. Then it jumped back in time and walked us through the Garden of Eden, the fall and it’s effects, Noah’s ark, after the flood, Tower of Babel, how mankind then spread through the earth, etc. The museum holds up God’s Word as the all-time source of infallible truth and illustrates how clearly science does confirm Genesis in every way. It teaches thousands of interesting facts and evidences via videos, posters, scaled-down models, and life size displays. It’s amazing how much you can learn after spending one day there! There were anamatronic dinosaurs (kind of scary if you get close to them while they roar at you 🙂 ), and many realistic looking sculpted people and animals.
Near the end of the museum is the “Last Adam Theater”, which was one of my favorite parts. After coming out we ate a great lunch at the Noah’s Ark Café, and looked through their large bookstore. We walked back to the van through the nicely landscaped trails and the bridge over the lake.
Some say it’s hard to believe they made the whole museum for only $27 million. They obviously didn’t “cut corners”.
Creation Science is such a key battle of our day. I’m grateful that Answers and Genesis is impacting the world with the truth of Genesis. We need to keep them in our prayers! www.creationmuseum.org
Relaxing and talking with the Mostert Family.
Mr. Mostert has been a huge help to our family as he’s made lots of contacts for us…from arranging harp/chalk programs and Bright Lights conferences to meeting our lodging/food needs while we are in Florida.
About two years ago the Mostert family met a 19-year-old girl named Chelsea at a homeschooling event. They were immediately impressed with her radiant countenance and maturity. Since they had been looking for someone to lead a Bright Lights group in their area, they asked Chelsea if she would consider the idea.
God, who amazingly works all things together, had already laid a desire on Chelsea’s heart to start some kind of a discipleship ministry for younger girls, and she told them that she was interested.
In God’s plan, our family came to Florida around that time and needed a place to stay. Chelsea’s family graciously offered their home and we became good friends with their family (the Owens). Sarah and I explained about Bright Lights to Chelsea and not long afterwards, she started a Bright Lights group. The group has been going very well and we often hear good reports!
Our family eating dinner with the Owen Family in Clearwater, Florida
From left to right: Chelsea and Delaney Owen, Sarah, Jessica and Tara Allman
Sarah and I went to Starbucks one evening with Chelsea, her sister Delaney, and two older girls who help in their Bright Lights group, Jessica and Tara. Since we hadn’t finished talking when Starbucks closed, we moved to the bed of Chelsea’s truck. 🙂
Tara and Jessica Allman, Delaney and Chelsea Owen
For those who live in driving distance of Clearwater, Florida, our family will be doing a harp concert and chalk drawing Friday, June 1st at Skycrest Baptist Church. The time is 6:30-8:30. For directions, call Allen Mostert at 727-443-2318.
The program went well tonight! My friend from the grocery store didn’t come, (see previous post) but I am praying that the Lord would still be working in her life.
We are currently visiting my dad’s cousin and his wife in Philidelphia, Mississippi for a few days enjoying great hospitality and delicious meals.
Here I am sitting at the table after dinner tonight getting a history lesson from my dad’s cousin. I had a few questions and it turned into an 2+ hour discussion. It was so interesting to listen to him explain things from all the history books he has read.
It’s amazing how much quicker you can learn something (history, for example) if you are interested in it. The exact same principle applies in learning God’s Word. Those that approach it with enthusiasm and desire gain far more than those who just read it because they have to. No wonder it says right at the beginning of Psalms, “Blessed is the man…whose delight is in the law of the Lord…”