Moving Day Approaches

In two weeks the halls of Timberline will once again be filled with the voices and laughter of students from all over the country, some even as far as England, Germany, Austria and Japan. And everything at Timberline is in high-gear for last minute preparations and everything that it takes to get ready for the new school year. We're excited about this year's yearunteers (volunteers for a year) as well as new staff members joining us. Will you join us in prayer for this coming school year!

Our family is in the process of moving and we would covet your prayers for this weekend as well.  We're all battling a cold that has been hanging on since staff retreat and are feeling weary and worn out. Just as the Lord usually acts, He came at the midnight hour, so-to-say, when some dear friends of ours from church made a home they are currently renovating available to us. It overlooks Lake Granby and has breathtaking views, especially at night, of the town of Grand Lake.

The down side is that it is 30-35 minutes from Timberline and that it will be in the renovation process
for quite some time. But when it is finished it will be a beautiful home - four bedrooms with a big kitchen/living/dining room all in one. We're so thankful for our friends, Dan and Renita McGrail, who have been a blessing to us countless times already. Our plan is that we would be at Timberline on Mondays and Wednesdays after I pick the kids up from school and through supper. So we may end up spending more time at Timberline than we did this past year. As you remember our family we would love your prayers, especially for the moving process, and also for stamina and to handle the school year and the traveling back and forth to Timberline well.  

So you see - moving day is fast approaching for a lot of people - for us, for the students, and many staff members have already moved and relocated to their new homes for this season as well. We trust that the Lord will bring forth His fruit out of all the changes He has orchestrated.

(Over the next few posts, I'll include some more pictures that our friends Michael and Meriah Mozingo took - Mozingo Photography - what a treat to catch up with them while they were here!! And so amazing to watch all that the Lord has done in their lives since we first new Meriah 15-20 years ago now!).

There's No Place Like Home

Ever notice how we seem to have to learn the same lessons over and over and over again? I have friends who have been through multiple job losses, others who have lost several loved ones, and still others who deal with several difficult close relationships.  The Lord repeats certain lessons in our life as well - one of them is the uncertainty of our home life. This seems to be a Timberline theme as staff housing has been an issue since it's conception back in 1995.

So here we are again! :) We have to move out fairly quickly, and to put it frankly, affordable housing in Grand County is very difficult to find. Would you join us in this urgent prayer? We're looking for a home for the family that would provide space to host our Family Group of students, covenant group, staff etc, out of town guests, is close enough to Timberline to allow us to be able to continue to serve the students and staff, and would also provide some stability if possible. The kids are entering their teenage years now and have not experienced much stability when it comes to our living accommodations. My Mom's heart longs for a place where we can stay a while, space for the kids to explore/run/be outside, room for a little self-expression (pictures etc.) in their little spaces etc.). But I also know that sometimes the Lord calls us to live more transient lives here on earth and not dig down our roots too deeply. So really, we just want what He wants for us.

Please also pray for our current landlords, the Mohrmann family (the picture above was taking from our drive way by our friends and Asheville, NC - based professional photographers - Meriah and Michael Mozingo!). The Mohrmann's really need to sell this house. We're all seeking the Lord together on direction and housing etc.

Celebrate Recovery

A brief note about Celebrate Recovery - we attended the Summit in California last week and left with information overload - as is often the case at these meetings. A few thoughts that have stuck with me....there are two kinds of people, those in recovery and those in denial.....therefore we should be mindful of thinking of people with addictions as "Those" people. I was struck by the attendees and the variety of walks of life and backgrounds. The Lord uses all kinds of people in His kingdom, rich, poor, those who seem to have it "together" (whatever that means) and those who absolutely don't! I was struck by the honesty that those in the recovery process live with. No hiding the ugly, no pretending, just "this is who I am apart from Jesus - and this is how Jesus has saved me." What freedom!

Anniversary

Reid and I celebrated our 16th anniversary while in CA. We spontaneously booked an Ueber car to Laguna Beach and enjoyed seeing the Pacific Ocean for a change! What an unexpected treat!

Staff Retreat

Our flight home was delayed and we had to catch another plane the next day. This meant we didn't get to say good-bye to my sister Julie who left early that morning.  We're super thankful for our friend Christine and the Hammond Family for keeping the kids after Julie had to head to the airport. Our late return  gave us only a few hours to pack and head back out to Mt. Elim Bible camp for our annual Timberline staff retreat.  The kids especially LOVE this retreat. Ian's favorite are all the games we play as a staff (Kubb tournaments, Settlers, Dominion  etc.), the girls love playing with the other staff kids. As a staff we get to reconnect on Walk-N-Talks, be encouraged in The Word (Dan shared on discipleship this time), and we find out who our covenant partners/students will be for the coming year and pray for all the students arriving in just a few weeks.

Well - signing off on this week's update. Thank you for your prayers!! Praying for our friends and family all around the globe as the sun sets this evening in CO. We love you!