A boy in his father's house...

"When I was a boy in my father's house,
still tender, and an only child of my mother,

he taught me and said,
'Lay hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands and you will live.' "

Proverbs 4:3-4

Baptisms

Just within a few weeks Grace Baptist has had four people come to Christ! How wonderful our God is! We thank Him for working miracles in four people: Alexa Hartung, Spencer Parmelee, and Mr. and Mrs. Shock. (Please excuse me for any misspelled last names!) Then just Sunday the 21st, eight people got baptized at Eastside Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Larson, Cynthia Larson, Anika Larson, and the four newly saved people were of the eight. Congratulations to all of them for taking this step in presenting their testimony to everyone. They each expressed to the congregation that by being baptized was important to them and that it showed the world that they were God's people. Good job guys!
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Mrs. Shocker

Mr. Shocker

Alexa Hartung

Anika Larson

Spencer Parmelee

Mr. Larson

Mrs. Larson

Cynthia Larson

(Pictures by Hannah Hanson)

The Harvest Party!

Drumrole please!...... Finally! The next post is here! Sorry it took so long everybody. A big thank you to Hannah Hanson for the pictures!

Well, the pie contest was a big hit. About 20 pies were entered and our lovely photographer (Hannah Hanson) won first prize with her artistic idea: chocolate leaves! Not only did it taste awesome, it was ruly a gorgeous pie! Good job Hannah! Runners up were Elise Haugaard with 2nd place for her yummy apple pie (i think apple, right?), and Laura Dubs for 3rd with a blueberry pie. Good job you guys! I want those recipes! =) Thanks to Rachel Hanson who put together the pie contest, and Hannah Hanson who helped out! (and if you were wondering... no, as much as she begged, Melissa didn't get to eat all the pie... maybe next time 'Lissa)

As always, there were numerous games of volleyball and football. As to who won what... that's always to be debated. There was one game that was stunning victory for four guys against a whole team of girls... Oooh, ouch. Try as we might, we couldn't beat them. But that's probably just because we were all laughing too hard.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Hay Ride at the moment. So if any of you have any, please send me a few to post on my blog. The hay ride was packed even more than usual this year. We had people hanging off the side of the wagon holding onto aything they could find. There was a lot of singing and laughing. We didn't stay out in the field as long as usual, but it was fun to play tag...even if we were getting touched every other second! Then it was back again to warm up by the bonfire.

Thanks to the Haugaards for getting everything set up! Can't wait for next year!

Hold on! I'm working on it!

Hey guys! Sorry it's taking so long for the next post! It's coming soon! I decided to wait until after the Haugaards party. That way I wound have lots of pictures to post. Also talking about what a great time we had! So just hang on!

I missed everyone tonight! Please keep me and Josh in your prayers! We both got sick on Monday with some cold slash stomach thing. I REALLY don't want to be sick for Friday! So please pray that we'll get better by then. My throat isn't quite as sore.... so I'm hoping that's a good sign! =)

See ya'll Friday!

Congratulations to our friend!!

As I'm sure you've all heard (and read Emily's blog), Sarah Schuurmans is now being courted by John Paul Tate!! Blessings to her and John Paul! We all love you Sarah and are behind you 100%! Keep looking to the Lord for what will come next in life. He never fails to surprise us with blessings when we follow Him!

How good is our God. He is so great and wonderful! He knows all our needs and even our wants. He knows what our dreams are and is so gracious to us. We're wrong when we doubt Him or wonder why He's not answering our prayers. He does everything in His wonderful perfect time... not ours. Sometimes we forget that His timing is the best. He does everything in His perfect time. Learning to trust in God is a life long endevor. If we commit everything to Him and believe that whatever happens is His will, there's nothing to worry about. I'm glad God is always looking for my best interest. He cares about me and does those things He knows is right for me in my life.

Thank you, Lord, for such a blessing for our friend... Sarah.

(Photography by Carol Schuurmans)