Homeschool Conferences

Michigan Home School Conference

Well, I am happy to announce we survived yet another conference without Stephen. Not with ease, but God took care of us!

20140518_143202_26894 The first little scare was when my dad somehow got knocked to the ground by automatic doors that he wasn’t expecting to open outward. That was when I began texting friends for prayer, haha. Dad was fine, just a little startled. We thought “Oh my, I hope this isn’t a taste of what the whole convention is going to be like!”

20140515_125248_26824 The next scare is when we realized our computers were wet. It was raining for most of the travel day and when we arrived we found that a vent in the trailer had come open. Here Sarah is calling Stephen and getting his advice. Praise the Lord the computers still worked and only a few books were damaged!

20140516_181157_26828 Here are Sarah and I making last minute adjustments on a session on family ministry. While Sarah and I were sitting here working, we looked over at dad and noticed that he had literally fallen asleep while he was typing a text! Poor dad.

20140517_135831_26858 The Martin family was presenting eleven sessions during this conference, so we praise the Lord for giving them the strength to get through the weekend!

We’re excited that they are coming to our home tomorrow, so we will finally get a chance to talk with them (instead of just being in the same building but too busy to talk)! For those who live in the area, Mr. Martin will be speaking at our church (Cedar Rapids Bible Chapel, 3412 Oakland Road NE, Cedar Rapids) in two days (Wednesday, May 20) at 7:00 pm on “Astounding Evidence for Special Creation” and at 8:00 pm on “Developing Discernment in our Culture of Deception.” Mr. Martin is a very interesting speaker, and if you come I do not think you will be disappointed!

20140516_200127_26845 We were very blessed by meeting the Nachtman family and hearing of their heart for evangelism / discipleship. In fact, we learned that Mr. Nachtman lives in the same area as a man that my dad has been trying to disciple, so Mr. Nachtman is going to help! This is a very neat story in itself that I will have to post another time.

20140517_160629_26868 I really enjoyed getting acquainted with Valerie and Jason who are the Living Waters representatives in Michigan.

20140517_141642_26863 I loved how their booth was half booth / half nursery. (Not untypical for home school conferences!)

20140517_182453_26885 In so many ways, we saw the Lord provide help to make up for Stephen not being with us. Another wonderful provision was all the help loading the trailer. [smile]

20140516_183042_26834 Todd Wilson (Family Man) and Israel Wayne (Family Renewal) were the keynote speakers at this conference. Both of their ministries are focused on strengthening families–especially dads–and we really appreciate what they are doing!

“Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it (Psalm 90:16-17).”

4 comments

  1. I agree, it was a wonderful conference. My family attends INCH just about every year and we always learn a ton. We also loved Todd Wilson. He’s very encouraging – especially to a mom like me who has a tendency to be tough on herself. Loved all of the workshops, too. It’ll take me several days to get all of my notes typed into Evernote. Good stuff! 🙂

  2. We just heard you speak at INCH! You and your sister did a wonderful job! What a blessing your talks were!

  3. Wow, Grace!

    Looks like you all have had quite a few surprises and scares lately! Was Stephen not able to join your family on these trips?

    So wonderful to hear about your Dad’s Bible! I can only imagine the thoughts of losing such years of study and notes. Praise the Lord, He is so good!

    Hope all your conferences are going well.

  4. wow what a trip i’m glad youre not scared to show the sad side too it’s not easy gettin old also my life is too easy and boring staying in Darien all my life till 60!

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