Missions Trip!

As some of you know, I will be headed on a missions trip in February. I have composed a letter that I will be mailing to friends/ family that explains it in more detail than this short post!

Lifest

Kathy and I recently attended Lifest in Oshkosh with some of our youth group. Lifest is a huge music festival (5 days). There are all sorts of bands that come, from "tame" Casting Crowns" to the more "invigorating" Skillet. Other bands that came were Newsboys, Switchfoot, Superchic(k), Lost and Found, August Burns Red, Seventh Day Slumber and many others that I can't remember! A lot of the bands were quite good and a few were quite poor. A few bands had great messages in between the songs... There also were some great speakers! I had the youth go to morning, afternoon, and evening seminars... I believe that they learned some things, as did I!
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I'm not much into music (being a bit of a sports follower, as you may have surmised), but Lifest was really great!

We tented the whole time, and I grilled a bunch of food... We had two colossal storms go through, but God spared our tent sites!

All-in-all I had a great time and would do it again!

June

June went by really quickly!

I helped a friend roof his house (28 square in 2 days!)
I stained the deck/ Josiah's fort.
Had a big b-day party.
Did a lot of other stuff.

May!

Nothing like posting a month late...

Our garage sale went off without a hitch...
I finished siding the East side of our house...
The squirrel is gone...
Esther has dispatched a few squirrels and groundhogs...
We (the family) go for a lot of walks...
Josiah got a new glove and enjoys wiffle ball very much.
Jacob has become quite a walker and only cries when he has to come inside!
Work went well (both jobs)

April

Greetings from the far North...

Things here in the Promised Land (Wisconsin) are going well. I have completed the deck out back. The primary deck is 14 x 20 and the lower deck (Kid's) is 7 x 14. I have finished the siding on the West side and most of the South side (deck side). That's a lot of ladder rungs when siding by yourself! I was hoping to have the South side done, but the rain has oft interfered with my plans. I will also side the East side (driveway).

Next weekend (May 9/10) we will be having a garage sale. We have all the stuff ready in our basement to sell! Neither Kathy or I are packrats, so we will be selling pretty much everything we haven't used recently!

Both jobs are going pretty well. We've had quite a bit of upheaval at the lumber yard... but sales are strong. Things at the youth group are going well.

Jacob gave us a bit of scare two weeks ago. His breathing had become really labored (like when LG really was a little guy). He ended up having to undergo breathing treatments... He has since recovered and is doing well.

Josiah had his first visit to the dentist and did fantastic. As you know, he's always had sensory issues, so I prepared him for the visit by pretending I was the dentist. When he got to the real dentist he sat extremely well and later described the visit as "a lot of fun!" There is one Mexican boy in Josiah's class at school, and Josiah has always said that he was his friend. Alex speaks only a little English, and his parents speak even less. Mrs Shrek (Josiah's teacher) has said that Josiah is the only one who consistently plays with Alex. Well, the other day Alex had an accident and had to go up to the office to call his parents. He was too scared to go by himself, so the teacher asked if anyone would go up with Alex. Only one of his 12 or so classmates raised their hand... Josiah offered to go with him. Alex said that it would be great and that Josiah was his best friend. It made me so proud that Josiah isn't afraid that Alex is very different and is so willing to be his friend. This may sound like a silly little "who cares" story... but it's not. It's so great to see Josiah putting into practice all the stories he hears about loving people and being kind.

In other news, while putting on soffit and fascia (over a 2 day period) Friend Squirrel has taken residence in part of our attic. I hope Friend Squirrel likes peanut butter. And a live trap. And being relocated.

And that was April.

New Blog... New Dog

Greetings...

The month of March passed by quickly... lots of snow up here... A few weeks ago we had about 2" of snow... nearby towns had 0". Hooray.

Lots of rain the last few days (@2"). And counting.

Well, as the title states, we have new dog! She is Josiah's dog, and he named her Esther, after the Bible story Esther.

Josiah is really doing well caring for his dog. He helped to build a kennel in our basement and a sweet doghouse with removable top. Esther is (so far) a great dog for our family dynamic. Being a beagle, she is quite a hunter when outdoors, but is very quiet while indoors. Even while outside, she rarely barks... merely a lot of sniffing! She is a purebred beagle given to us by friends who raise beagles for hunting. Esther is the runt and couldn't keep up with the training... so now she is ours. she is about 20" long and about 12" tall. She is already basically housebroken, with only a few mishaps.

In other news, I put a deck on last weekend (14' x 20'). However, due to all the rain I have been unable to put up the railing. Warmer weather is on tap for next week, so I hope to finish it up!

Youth Pastoring is going well. Our group keeps growing (up to about 28 kids). More importantly, the group seems to be headed in a great spiritual direction as well! The junior high has actually impressed me!

I had the opportunity to preach on Sunday morning a few weeks back. It went well, though that sort of responsibility is always energy draining.

I finished just out of 1,000 place on the brackets for March Madness on Yahoo. I had 7/8 Elite Eight, all 4 Final Four, the Champion game right, and the champion... I had 167 points, the winner had 175...

We had a nice visit with Jay and Nat and family. We had some fun at the Dubuque water park, ate some pizza and visited! I had work the next day, but the rest were able to enjoy some sledding on the hill in our backyard.

Josiah is doing super in school. His overall behavior has improved (especially interacting with others.) He is quite a talker (surprise, surprise), and loves to write/ color/ and look at books. He is usually a great helper. As the weather has "warmed" he has really taken to exploring. He enjoys searching for treasures in the "woods" behind our house. The other day he found some "plumps" (walnuts, w/ shells) and cooked them for me in a bucket of water. He found some coal one day, and he also found some shells one day (yes, actual coal and shells!).

Jacob is eating/ growing at an alarming rate!!! He is a great walker and a real toughie. He does not mind roughhousing (to an extent) and loves wrestling with his dad. He drools a lot. He has eight teeth, which he uses very well!

Kathy and I are both well, and all of us are sick free!


Anyhoo, that was late Feb, March, and early April.

Behind door #3... a NEEEEW BLOG!

Greetings... It has been some time since my last post.
Here's a quick list of major events that have transpired...

1. A lot of the addition has been finished!
2. Josiah is doing outstanding on the academic side of things
3. We took a trip to the Mall of America.
4. We're broke.
5. Just kidding!
6. Youth pastor work is going well.
7. I have been promoted to Yard Foreman (of all Yard Employees... the knuckleheads)
8. Most of the kitchen remodel is done.
9. The porch remodel is going well.
10. The beef we got from Dad is the best ever... Yummy!

I will update a few specifics of the above events soon!

Joe