Dankeschoen!

We're half way to Christmas already folks!! :) Which reminds me of Thanksgiving! And how much there is to be thankful for here and now. On that note I'll list six things we're thankful for here at Timberline and as a family:

1. The staff made it through (and thrived through!) the first two weeks of summer guest group season! Praise the Lord for Wooddale - what a wonderful group of 9th graders from Minneapolis, MN! They are always a blessing to the staff as well - this time they washed our cars and baby sat our kids again etc!

2.  Thanks to her little friend Niah, Jenna learned to ride a bike this week! ("and it only took Niah ten minutes Mom!!") I'm also deeply thankful for fellow staff members and staff moms and friends who

are just as excited as I am about Jenna learning to ride a bike! You, dear friends, are such a blessing to me! You know who you are!

3. Vacation Bible School at Winter Park Christian Church - the kids LOVE it. Ian really got to help out this year and was a part of the play (he is a robot and loving every minute of his time on stage and with the kids!).

4. Affordable summer sports activities! Julie-Joy has joined the swim team for the summer, Jenna is taking swimming lessons to improve and Ian is taking some golfing lessons.

5. Lillian's first birthday is this Saturday! What a joy she is to our family! Someone recently told me I must be completely stressed out adding a little one to our family after these years.  They could not have been more wrong! She has fit in to the family so easily and given all of us so much joy and laughter! One concern we have had is her growth. Unlike the other three Dale kiddos, she is on the smaller side (5th % for weight, can you even believe that? Unheard of for a Dale! :). It seems though that she is starting to pick up weight again and we'll know for sure at her check-up next week.

6. A friend who gave countless hours of his time and helped us fix the dent in our truck (and taught Ian some body-shop lessons in the process!). Something we were not planning to be able to fix! That


same friend got us set up with another friend who tuned our piano for free! And that same friend is giving our kids free guitar lessons! I don't know that I've encountered many people as generous with their time as this friend and his wife! What a blessing! I have been praying for that piano to get tuned for several years now! Thankful that the Lord cares about the "little" things!!

Life in full-time ministry can get really discouraging. Ask any pastor or missionary or even anyone volunteering at church in any capacity. It's good to remind ourselves of the MANY reasons we have to be grateful and to thank the Lord! Our cup truly does overflow!

(the snow pictures were taken in January - didn't want to confuse anyone! :) I need to make a mental note to take some more recent pictures of Reid! :) We do still have some snow left on the mountain peaks but spring has definitely arrived in Colorado! Thankful for the beautiful weather!!)

Where to live....that is the question

I (Jen) am heading to Denver this Thursday for the annual Classical Conversations Tutor training so this week's update will be short - a prayer request for Timberline!

We are once again in a staff housing dilemma.  Rent in this area is, to put it quite frankly, atrocious. And at this point there are two families who are looking for housing by the end of July. Would you pray with us that the Lord would provide a good, affordable solution that is close to Timberline? Where we as staff live determines the amount of ministry and involvement at Timberline that we can have - the further away we are, the fewer opportunities for discipleship and hospitality etc.

Thank you for joining us in prayer over this as it, once again, weighs heavily on all of our hearts!

TL Kids

TL kids - That's what we call the staff children around here. Life is not always easy for them ... sometimes it feels like they have to share their parents 24/7 with the community and for those who live on campus it's not always easy, not having a quiet place to call your home. Doors slam during nap time, doorbells may ring during a family movie night, and anyone can knock on your door at any time to want to talk with your Dad, or your Mom. Visitors don't necessarily know it's a family birthday celebration or that you're wrestling with something you really need your parent's full attention.

On the other hand, there are some pretty neat things about growing up in community. Most days, you have a group of friends within walking distance (and that's a great opportunity at a young age to learn to communicate well and work out your differences).  And the staff and students are a blessing to the children! E.g. a few weeks ago we had a talent show evening. Ian made the comment to our friends and fellow staff members, Pete and Beth, on the ride to school, that he had no "talientos" and the only

thing he could do was memorize license plates (it's just something he does for fun). They all got excited and thought that was a wonderful idea! So Pete and Beth took the time to put together a slide show with photographs of all the license plates in the parking lot - Ian stood with his back to the slide show and Pete would ask him what "so-and-so's" license plate number was - he had almost all of them down perfectly!!  Reid and I were floored - and so blessed by Pete and Beth's creativity and encouragement for Ian (he does have many other "talientos" but in the teenage years it can be hard for kids to see them on their own).

We've had staff friends like Steph or Kim and others invite the girls over to paint their nails, make Christmas cards, or do an arts/crafts project (something I'm particularly thankful for as that's not so much my gifting! :)

Students are a blessing also - Julie-Joy and Jenna will come home excited to tell me that they "saw Julia and gave her a hug" - and during the school year they would get so excited when students like Lena and Sarah would stay with them and play a game for an hour while I ran into town for an errand.

Ian has been mowing the yard at Timberline and he gets to interact with Rob and the other maintenance staff as he learns about the practical side of running a ministry (skills for life!).

I have a sweet memory of our staff friend Christine sitting at the morning campfire at the sand dunes last year, sharing  and discussing with Jenna what the Lord had shown her in her
devotions that morning.

What a blessing for the kids to get to observe others walking with the Lord! It just reinforces what Reid and I are trying to show and teach them at home.


Prayer Requests:
- please pray for the TL kids (their names are Jeremiah, Kayla, Emily, Gretchen, Nathan, Elizabeth, David, Noelle, Claire, Keelan, Niah, Judah, William (still to be born), Elle-Jay (and a sibling still to be born), as well as our four kids) - most of all that each one of them would have a personal relationship with Jesus

- Wooddale, the largest group of the year, arrives this Sunday and stays for 2 weeks - please pray for our staff and our volunteers as they prepare for the guest group season that starts this weekend

Count-Down to Summer Guest Season Launch

Life is picking back up again at Timberline. The Summer Staff have arrived and are in full-on training. In fact, Reid informed me he won't be home until 10:00 as the staff has a long day of training today for various state requirements.

When we had our staff meeting on Monday, the most common concern was the business of the summer. In fact it looks like it's going to be the busiest summer at Timberline to date. Would you pray that all of us as staff would find many days for good personal refreshment and also extended husband/wife/family time? We can't pour out if we're not being poured into. And it's so easy to be distracted by the needs of the moment and by what is urgent, that we loose sight of what is important for longevity.

We start off with close to 100 High school Freshmen from Wooddale Church in Minnesota. They are here for two weeks doing service projects as well as whole host of fun activities. It's always a highlight of Timberline's summer when Wooddale arrives.

At Home:

We've stayed busy at the Dale house with our summer schedule. I've found that unless I have a plan, things fall apart, so the kids have daily chores and homework activities that they have to check off (laundry, dishes, reading (our summer library reading program has some great incentives for kids!!), spelling, phonics, math, daily running/exercise, guitar practice, minimum amount of outdoor play time etc.). So far so good! :) My prayer is that I'll be able to remain consistent throughout the summer for all of our sake.  We often get started well but then things kind of go downhill....and I'd love for the kids to finish this summer well prepared and ready for the new school year! Without a check-sheet we get aimless and bored - and I've found that if the kids stay busy, even with things they don't particularly like, their free time is all the more fun and special!

We had an interesting meeting in Denver this past week for one of our children and are waiting

on a full report to know what specific steps to take.  We would covet your prayers as we decide if this dear one needs to be homeschooled or continue at WPCS. We have meetings coming up with teachers and school administrators to help determine the best course of action.

Lillian is into a major furniture cruising phase and will be walking in no time, no doubt! :)
Ian has officially reached 6ft 1 in and wears shoe size 13!!  Julie-Joy isn't too far behind as she has shot up also and will surpass her Mom this year. We knew these days would come - and in the blink of an eye, well, here they are! :) Jenna's 9th birthday is coming up in just a couple of days and she couldn't be more excited!

Well that's all for this week and as always - we love hearing from you so leave a comment or send us an email to let us know how you are doing!