Grand Rapids, Traverse City and Apple Cider

This past weekend I took one of my high school girls home to Grand Rapids with me. It is something I have been wanting to do with the girls for awhile, and Olivia was the only one who could make it this weekend.

We arrived in GR on Friday night then headed up to Traverse City Saturday morning to be involved in an "apple cider making party" (don't know how else to describe it!) Families all gathered together to join in on the process of making cider. Olivia and I were responsible for grinding the apples. At first I wondered if she minded working on her weekend away, but she didn't complain and was proud at the end of the day to see the results of our hard work.

We cut out in the afternoon to see some of the sights of Traverse City. Olivia wanted to see the mall so we stopped there then went to the beach afterwards. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! I could see that Olivia loved being out in this new environment. As we road on a hay ride she commented on how peaceful it was. I also enjoyed it! It's always nice to get out of the city and into the country and God's creation.

It was so great to spend this time with Olivia and get to know her a little better. I really appreciate her in so many ways and am excited at what I see taking place in her life.

Lovin' my girls

Tonight was such a great night with the Jr high girls. We are doing a talk on purity with them, which can be a bit touchy at times, and sometimes I wonder if they are mature enough to handle. However, I know that they hear more about it at school and with friends than I care to imagine, so anything positive we can give them will be good.

Tonight, I talked with them about the true meaning of love. First, I had them talk about what they think love is, and then we talked about lust. I found most of the answers they gave for "love" fell under the "lust" category. This provided a great opportunity to share with them what true love is and of course, we looked at I Corinthians 13. The discussion ended up going another direction than I had planned, but was still really good. One of the girls asked about where it says "Love never fails", saying that isn't it possible that you stop loving someone and leave them...wow... great way to bring in God's perfect example of love and how He doesn't stop loving us, no matter what we do!!

Then we started to talk about how to deal with enemies, and those at school who want to get into fights. This discussion seems to come up a lot in discussion time with both jr and sr high ages. Of course it is something they deal with everyday and I don't always know how to answer. Of course, there is always the cookie-cutter-Bible answer...but lets be real, it's not what they want to hear and to live it out day to day, well, it seems almost impossble. And it is really. But as I got thinking about it while they were talking I realized that if they truly want to follow Christ, He calls us to live the impossible, in His strength. I shared with them that I want them to be above the "norm" of their culture. God wants more of them, and can give them the strength to do what is right. Being a Christian is living different. I've struggled with just teaching them "do's and "don'ts"...cause then you run into just trying to find the strength to do what is right with out a changed life. I want them to full understand living in God's grace and by His strength, to understand having a real relationship with Him...something He is continuing to teach me! I want them to understand TRUE salvation, which results in a changed life.

Overall, it was such an encouraging night. Not only do we get into great discussions, they are also so much fun!!

Time to catch up!

Between getting things rolling this fall and some computer problems, I haven't been to faithful at keeping this up. Poor excuses really, so please do forgive me!


I feel like there is a lot to share...all on various subjects. So at the risk of boring some, I will do my best to write about all the "important" stuff that has been going on.





First off, I have moved outside of Highland Park. Not really by choice as much as necessity (needing a place to live where I could have roommates and afford!). It has been a bittersweet move. I have been blessed to find a great house to live in with terrific roommates who all love the Lord and are involved in ministry throughout the city. They have been a great encouragement to me and I see God's hand in bringing me here. However, I miss living in HP more than I thought I would. Something about being right in the community makes a big difference. I am praying that God will open the door in His timing and until then, I will be content with where He has me.





The next bit of news is that I am in the process of going on staff with Navigators. Over the last few months, the Weidmans (who just joined staff) and I have been getting to know this ministry and their people. It has been a huge blessing and encouragement. Their ministry is very much in-line with what we are doing here at HPCO. Namely, building relationships and reaching people through Bible studies and discipleship. I am looking forward to being part of a larger team here in the city. Please pray as I make this transition and as I raise the needed support!



A friend of mine had an "art night" at her house a few weeks ago. I brought four of our girls out for it. At first, they were very self-conscious about not being able to paint. But once they got going, they had a lot of fun. We plan to do this kind of thing more often with them!

We started all of our fall ministries last week (first week of October). I was really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and having the kids around again. Last night we had a full house for Kids Club! Not on purpose, but the kids seemed to be floooding into the van. We have definately maxed out what we can handle right now. Our goal is not large numbers so we want to keep it small to allow for small group discipleship to take place. Most of the kids were those who came to Day Camp this summer. They refer to Kids Club as "night camp"! (and also wonder why we can't have it every day like we did in the summer). Our Bible teacher Jennifer is going through a general survey of the history of man. She started with creation last week then went into the fall of man this week and the results of the sin on mankind, leading into the need for a Savior. Last night, the kids were listening intently during the lesson. We are blessed to have all of our volunteers back from last year and also praying that God will bring more in.
This summer, we planted a garden and have seen the results of it this fall. The above picture is proof that the garden worked! The kids enjoyed picking the vegetables, and hopefully eventually eating them.

I have been extremely encouraged by our Jr high Bible studies. The boys seem to have been able to keep up the momentum created last year by the new leaders and smaller size. They seemed to have connnected really well with the boys, and it is continuing this year.


Our girls Bible study on Monday night was such a blessing to me. We had 3 new girls that didn't attend last year. One was a girl who came to day camp last year and two others are older sisters of a girl who came this year. They are such a sweet group of girls and the study was so good. They were filled with questions. I did the lesson on salvation, wanting to start the year off with a clear understanding of what it is and so the girls could know for sure where they stood. One girl in particular opened up a lot and it was so refreshing to hear her honesty. Another expressed interest in being baptized!





This past Saturday, my friend Josh who helped with day camp this summer came to visit. We took the kids to Belle Isle for the day to hang out. This picture is of Ladesha and I on some infamous Belle Isle swings :o) They were all excited to have him back for the visit. And it was an amazing 85 degree day in October (perfect for a picnic!)