I was just reading through our last blog posting. Wow! I can't believe it's been a year! I hadn't really realized that I left that post in draft rather than getting it on here, but at least it's up now. :) We have been able to observe the full annual cycle of seasons here, and as I write this, I am looking out of my second-story window to a yet unplanted field across the road, bordered at the not-too-distant far side by the beautiful conifers that gave us something green to look at all winter long, but also the new leaves that have been growing and greening up to cover the skinny, bare branches we have seen for months. Closer to the house and entering my vision out the window from the right are the wonderfully green leaves bouncing in the breeze, dangling from the second tallest tree in our yard. I've got the window half open and the happy voices of the birds carry through to my spring-starved ears. Such beauty I see and hear outside, even though today is a rainy, cool, overcast day. Oh! Did I mention it's Sabbath? :)

It's been a wonderful experience to be here in Michigan and in ministry for this particular church for the past year. To say we've learned a lot would be an understatement! We have made so very many close friends here, so of course, it will be incredibly hard to leave them. Tim and I are learning that when it comes time to leave, you worry over the contacts you've made much like one would worry about a child going off for their first sleepover or to camp for the first time... Who will take care of them? Who will see to their spiritual needs? Will they stay in touch with them? Will they be able to relate to them the way we have and help them along the way when they stumble or get discouraged? We have no choice but to leave them in God's care and in His hands and pray that the people He calls to nurture them will answer that call faithfully and lovingly.

Our family has had the privilege to see a few baptisms here in the past 365+ days, for which we give great thanks. We feel sure that there will be more to come as well. Tim preached his first evangelistic series in April, just before his contract ended. He put so much time and effort and study into each presentation, trying to make sure it was just right. As I sat in the second row that very first night, I was so happy to see him doing something that he loves - sharing the message of hope, trust, and salvation. I don't remember whether it was 5 minutes after he started preaching or 15, but I honestly sat there stunned. I've been hearing my husband preach the Word for 13 years, but as I listened that night the thought ran through my mind several times, "Wow! I've NEVER heard my husband preach like THIS!" The Lord added such power to and really blessed in great measure the hard work Tim had put into it. While I didn't reveal it to him until two weeks later, that was the first night it occurred to me that maybe the Lord will someday call him to be an evangelist. And, to surprise myself more, I found my heart willing if that should be the case.

We don't know as yet where we will be going next other than that we cannot stay here if Tim is not working, so waiting on the Lord is the name of the game. There was a call extended to us in Northern Minnesota, but we felt that God was not leading us in that particular direction. Things are uncertain, but in a peculiar way, I'm starting to get accustomed to the uncertainty that our lives have been filled with since late 2008 when this journey started. We have a couple of leads on different positions and are just praying for direction. (By the way, we always appreciate having others join us in that prayer.) It's getting difficult to envision moving every year or so, and so the desire of my own heart is for something a little more long-term. Nevertheless, we will follow where God wants us to be.

As a side note to our fellow Adventists, if your church (or one you know of) is looking for a Bible worker, lay pastor, or evangelist, please prayerfully consider contacting us. You never know from which direction the Lord will open up a new door. You can contact him through this blog or also through Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism, care of Don Mackintosh, who will get the message to Tim.

As always, God bless!
Shannon

Michigan!

Well, friends, by the title of this post you can see that the next phase of our adventure is taking place in Michigan! After arriving home from California in November, we really weren't sure how to go about finding a job in ministry and how hard to chase after it, other than just going off of the leads Tim was given by the director of AFCOE. Apparently we needed to learn some patience or something, because it took a while for things to fall in place. I was still working, but things were tight while we were waiting, so Tim went back to Walmart, though a different one than before. Whatever the reason for the delay, we tried to make use of it in our daily contacts. We had a few different ministries in different states that were interested, but for one reason or another usually unknown to us they either decided not to hire anyone, or went with someone else. Then, some friends of ours from Illinois were talking with their family in Michigan. That church had been in the process of hiring a Bible worker, but it didn't work out for them. Our friends hadn't said anything about us until then because they hadn't wanted to interfere with the church's plans to hire this other man. When our friend heard it hadn't gone through, however, she mentioned us and gave our contact information to them. It wasn't long (hours I believe) before we heard from someone at the church and Tim sent his resume to them right away.



Well, after some waiting and some praying, Tim and I traveled to Michigan for his interview. A few weeks later, Tim and Ethan came so Tim could sign his contract. Then, at the very end of April, we made the move to Hope, Michigan. So, we've been here for just over a month now. Tim is working as the Bible worker for the Edenville Adventist Church. We are settling in, though things have been a little hard financially with no paycheck for Tim in a month and a half (due any day now thank the Lord!), but we love the house that we're in. A church member is giving us a discount on an old farm house that was just renovated. It's in the country, but there's a park right across the street, and we're only 13 miles away from all the big stores to do our shopping. For the first time in our married life, we even have a guest room! It has no bed yet, but the room is there, haha!



Ethan is thrilled beyond thrilled to have a decent-sized room again, and frankly so am I! The main thing that is missing is our dogs. Ethan got to name them when we got back from California and it took quite a while, but their names are Brindie and Samson. He had to choose to keep just one of Sadie's puppies and it was a very hard decision for him, but he picked Samson. If you're wondering about his name, it's because he was over 40 pounds before he was four months old! The vet says he will top 100 pounds and he may be there already! He's a huge dog. Unfortunately, he and Sadie had to stay in Illinois for now because we had no way to transport them when we moved and also because we didn't have a pen or anything for them to be in up here in Michigan. We hope to be able to get them here in a couple of months and then our family will be together once again. Oh, if you're wondering what happened to Brindie (so named because of her beautiful brindle-colored fur), she is a permanent resident at Grandma Opal's house! We had hoped a family member would take her so that Ethan could see her when he visits, and what could be better?! Sadie won't be having any more pups; we had she and Brindie spayed and Samson neutered. That was sad, too, but while Sadie had beautiful babies, we couldn't afford more and it can be hard to find a good home for animals.



I apologize for the length of this post, but when you only get around to blogging about every 3-4 months, you have a lot to catch people up on, haha! Until next time, though, God bless you, friends!

All our love,

Shannon

Home!

I know it's been a long time, but for those of you whom we don't see very often, we are back home in Illinois. We got back at the end of November, and safely. I (Shannon) am currently working on a post and hope to get it up soon. Thanks for your patience, and check back! I hope to get it done this week, but should have something finished and up by early next week for sure. Blessings!

Our apologies that it's been so long since our last post... Tim has been exceptionally busy with outreach and classwork on top of that. Ethan has been doing schoolwork... and a lot of playing with the other children! I have been working away at my regular job, plus doing all the cooking and housework that Tim and I usually share at home. Oh, and I started taking piano lessons - a daunting task at my age! Mom and Dad (Elaine and Franz) have visited here since our last post also. They were here in September for just over a week, and Mom and I celebrated our birthday together, as usual. While they were here, we went to Yosemite National Park, which is where the pictures in this post came from. Tim couldn't go with us, of course, because of classes, and we missed his presence, but still had a good time. I also took them, mainly for Dad's pleasure, to the highest bridge in California - the Foresthill Bridge at the Auburn Ravine. It stands over 700 feet above the American River at the bottom. I think he enjoyed seeing the construct of it and we walked across on the sidewalks they have on each side, so that was another of his pleasures - being high in the air. The van was having issues just after their arrival, so we had to rent a car just to go to Yosemite, but other than that, didn't go far because of travel troubles with the van. Mom enjoyed the property here at Weimar Inst., especially the farm and the view from the water tanks (the highest point on the property I believe). Ethan and Mom went on a walk on one of the trails and saw Moses Rock together. Dad and I also went on one of the trails because I wanted to show Dad the flume, and he also got to see Moses Rock. I'd forgotten that I wanted to take them to Auburn to watch a glassblower and so I still need to set that up to do with Ethan, but I wish I'd remembered when they were here. Oh, and we also went to the Empire Mine, the oldest and largest gold mine in California. I hope to post pictures of some of that here, but our internet is so slow that it's difficult to do much of that sort of thing.

The prophecy series that Tim and the other AFCOE students have been doing outreach for is starting tonight. It will go five nights a week for several weeks. This has been a hard area to work in as far as the Lord's work is concerned. Apparently there is a lot of the occult here and also much in the way of drugs (especially marijuana growing), even though it's a somewhat affluent area.

Well, I should go and get ready. I really don't want to dress up to go, but since the AFCOE students are required to wear at least khaki's and polos for the guys and dresses/skirts for the gals, my husband didn't think it would look very good if he was wearing dress pants and a button-down shirt and I was in jeans and a t-shirt. I tried to persuade him that someone needs to make the general public that comes to this feel comfortable and that it could be my ministry, but he wasn't convinced!! Ha ha!

Love to you all,

Shannon

Puppy Pictures!!!

We finally got pictures of the new puppies a few days ago! Tim's mom took some polaroid pictures and sent them to us, so I took digital pictures of the polaroids to show here. They're not very clear as they're pictures of pictures, but they're good enough to see what they look like. The girl is on the left and is brindle-colored. The boy is the light tan one on the right. They do not have names yet because Ethan will name them when we get back home, so they are just called "Girl" and "Boy" for now. They are eating a lot of dog food, but will still be nursing for a few more weeks. Sadie's being a great mom we hear, and everyone enjoys the puppies when they visit Tim's parents every Sunday. We just can't wait to cuddle them, though I'm sure they won't hold still for that any more than they did for the pictures. The only way they could get them to be sort-of still was to put them on the picnic table. But aren't they CUTE?!!!

Blessed Rest

A second full week of classes has past. This entire week has been Personal Evangelism training as they want to really prepare us for the door to door work to come in a couple of weeks. We actually got our feet wet in that this last wednesday. We were given maps with a specific area assignment and asked if we would go door to door asking people if they would like any yard work, cleaning or painting done for free as we are trying to make a list of things we can do to be good neighbors to the surrounding area. The scripture states "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", but I may now include the phrase "as long as I take dog treats". One house had dogs coming out of two different places. There were six total and each was followed by a larger, madder dog. We fended them off well enough to get back in the van and then a young man came out and corraled the dogs and talked to us, he didn't need any work done but thanked us for the offer.

We saw some houses that a neighbor down the road called "starter castles" and I kid you not, they were more castle than home.

Finances are very tight, we miss friends and family back home, and especially miss getting to see the newborn puppies (hoping to get pics sent from someone,...hint, hint). Though we miss everyone, I already would not trade this experience for the world. God has reaffirmed that this was where we needed to be and I can honestly say that after only two weeks, I know life will never be the same as it was. God has a call and purpose for each one of us, and my family and I intend to follow His call wherever it may lead us. If it is back home or far away, we know the Lord will not leave us or forsake us if we follow His will for our lives. We look forward to working for Him in whatever capacity and whatever manner He presents for us.

We get Fridays off as well as Sabbath, so that means back to work tomorrow. So I had better get some sleep.

Seek His face, follow His call, Live the adventure.

God bless

New Puppies!!!

New Mama Sadie

We have new puppies!!! Our dog, Sadie, whom we found out was greatly pregnant the day we left Illinois, had her puppies on Friday, July 31. Thankfully there are just two of them. Tim's mom, who is taking care of Sadie and her pups, tells us they are cute and that Sadie is being a good mama so far. There is a male that is all brown and a female that is black with a white ring all the way around her neck like a necklace. Their eyes are not open yet and they aren't moving around much yet either, but she said their legs look short and their bodies big and round (roly-poly in other words!). We are thankful and happy for the new puppies, even though we can't be there to see them. Hopefully someone will take pictures and send to us and we will post them when we get some. They will be almost four months old by the time we get back, which disappoints Ethan, and me too I have to admit. I guess they will have to wait to get their names. That should be Ethan's joy.

Well, I just wanted to share our glad news with you. As always, Tim and I covet your prayers for our adventure in following God's will, and now we ask for prayers for healthy puppies so we can enjoy them when we return home. God bless!!!