8 Ministries

We Can Be A Blessing To Others!

2012-02-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

"Just wanted to say thanks to the group of students that came by last evening and sang Christmas carols. My mom and I always enjoyed singing carols together even though she couldn’t hold a tune! She passed away in 1989 – she was only 66 years old. Every time I hear carols, sweet memories of my mom come rushing back. Last evening when I opened the door and you guys started the song, tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of my mom – thanks for stopping at our home, for the blessing of your friendships and for being here at NTBI. Merry Christmas!"

Robyn Henise

New Tribes Bible Institute

Happy Birthday To...

2012-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

We all share the same month for our birthdays, so it's no wonder that we use to get sick in Feb.
Happy birthday, mom. I'm glad that Fred and I were able to make it last Sat. to your birthday party. It was good seeing you again.

Happy birthday to you too dad. I look forward to seeing you again when I get to Heaven.

Happy Birthday, great grandma. I can't begin to tell you how much we all miss you!

Happy Birthday, Derek. Thank you for serving our country. Stay safe on your deployment.

Happy Birthday, great grandma. We sure do miss you!

Happy Birthday, grandma. Sorry I wasn't able to make it. Hope to see you soon.

Happy Birthday,Grandpa. Hope you'll have a wonderful day with family and friends.

Just a few things...

2011-12-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

What have I been doing when I'm not in classes and doing homework? Hanging out with my friends, of course!

A bunch of us went around to the different staff members house's and song them a few Christmas Chorales. We sounded so good together, I can't wait till we start working on our graduation songs together! It's going to be amazing!

Me, Hannah, and Michelle... in the back seat of Lee's car, on the way to Hannah's birthday party...

(Katie, me, Michelle, Jake, Ricky, Lee, Dan, Kyle, and Alex)
At Hannah's party... We ate out at a pizza place here in Jackson, then came back to the school and and played a really fun game.

Me and my two lovely room mates (Hannah and Jessica).

This Years Christmas Party at New Tribes Bible Institute... "Back Into The 40's"

2011-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

It was beautiful in the gym! Everyone did a really good job of decorating!

The cutest little guy ever!

Me and two of my new friends... Steph. and Sarah.

Yeah... umm, they got a hold of my camera, while I was gone...

Me and Sarah...

Too cute!

What beautiful smiles the girls have... Lee, on the other hand, looks rather mischievous at the moment.

We love all of the kids here! They're just so cute!

Totally 40's dress! I think everyone did a good job dressing in the 40's.

Kyle, Alex, and Colton are three very cool guys!

Staff members were hanging around too... you'd see them from time to time in the mix of students.

More of the guys just standing around...

Yep, that's right! Girls are hard workers too!

Who does Katie make you think of? Think movie star!

Anna and Savanna (staff kids) swing dancing.

I had a lot of fun swing dancing! I think I learned pretty fast too, but you'd have to ask my teachers/ partners that.

Another picture that someone took while I was dancing... I love these girls. They're both so sweet!

Me and Hannah... one of my three dorm mates. We've gotten quite close.

New Tribes Bible Institute's Teacher Quotes (2009)

2011-12-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Chris Darland (Evangelism Class)
• “The pictures aren’t straight! Oh wait, look at me… maybe I’m not straight.”
• “Right/ Wrong/ STDS” (written on the white board)
• “I know that we have a different healthier student teacher relationship here, but I still believe it is over stepping the bounds to ask a certain teacher if he has a ‘flat-bottom’!”
• “It’s too much rock for one hand.”

Scott Keen (Genesis Class)
• Lamech’s rap song: “Yo babes! Listen to me! This boy was dissing me!”
• Esau made his choice based on the moment vs. the big picture: “I don’t care about that other stuff! Give me some of that red stuff!”

Joel Potter (Prayer Practicum)
• “The laundry mat may not be the best place for a date.”
• To Chris Darland, “Chris, stop playing with your pen! It’s bugging me!”
• “… because we all know that a certain teacher isn’t straight.”

Rex Gutwein (Exodus)
• “I’m accused wrongly, I think, of taking rabbit trails.”
• “Dang it all girls! Have I not taught you well? When you find a man like that you don’t let him go! Come on women! Sink your hooks into him!”
• And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “The word ‘remembered’ doesn’t mean: Oh duh! Could have had a V8!”

Mike Sullivan (Proverbs Class)
• “Roses are red, violets are blue, horses that lose are turned into glow.”
“That’s what the jokey said to the horse and that’s why they won.”

Our "Professional" Pictures

2011-12-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Our Dorm Is Totally Ready 4 Christmas!

2011-12-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Jessi, Hannah, and I went shopping for some Christmas decorations to put up in our dorm. We found a lot of really neat things and decided to put it all up today so that Kate could join us.

So, today after supper, we turned up the Christmas music, danced around the room while putting up the decorations, drank hot apple cider, and came up with more ideas for the dorm then we had the day before.

(Jessi and Hannah... putting our stockings on our dorm door)

(Hannah... Adding the Christmas Bell to the door)

(Jessi... Working on the "Merry Christmas" to go on the dorm door)

The four of us agree that our dorm is the best dorm this semester and that it's also really warm and welcoming, but... of cause... we'll let you decide that for yourslef, so why don't you swing on by and let us know what you think!

Good Times With Some of My New Friends!

2011-12-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

Friends are blessings from God!

A walk to the train station proved to be a really good time... thanks for coming along on a walk with me Sarah!

"Hill Billy Swingin' Go Time"! I know I didn't really dress up for the auction, but I didn't really have anything... not that would be good in the cold anyways.

Our first snow this year came at the middle of last week. Really I can't believe we didn't have the normal deep snow for Thanksgiving! What's up with just now getting snow... not that I'm complaining any, I had a lot more snow this year than normal... seeing as how I went up into Canada, just 4 hours away from the Alaska border!

Only a week and a half left before Christmas brake! Time sure does fly! I can't believe I'll be staying at the school this Christmas brake either. It's going to be a quite place... though there will still be people around... just not as many.

"Happy Birthday, Lindsay! Hope you enjoyed your surprise birthday party!

My new dormmates!

2011-11-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hannah, Kate, and Jessie... These are some of the sweetest girls ever! I've only know them for two weeks now and I love them already! I'm so blessed to have them in my life right now! :)

Classes I took at New Tribes Bible Institute

2011-07-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our Freshman class (Before A Class Started)

Freshman- First Semester

Biblical Foundations
Bibliology
Evangelism in a Post-Modern World
Hermeneutics I
Old Testament History
Pentateuch
Proverbs

This is what our Sophomore and Junior class looked like (During Class)

Sophomore - Second Semester

1 Corinthians
Acts
Anthropology/Hamartiology
Bible Basis of Missions
Christology
Family Relationships
Hermeneutics II
Life of Christ
Prophets
Theology

Now here's where it gets a little tricky. We had a teacher leaving the school so my classes got all messed up so that this teacher could teach his classes before he left. Anyways, my Junior year I ended up taking some Senior classes and since I haven't been able to go back for my Senior year yet, I've decided to make the classes I haven't had yet Bold.

The Junior and Senior Classes Together (During A Class For The Sr/Jr Trip To Wayumi)

Junior - Third Semester

1 and 2 Peter
2 Corinthians
Angelology
Ephesians
Galatians
Hebrews
James/Jude
Pneumatology
Romans
Soteriology

Senior - Fourth Semester

1 and 2 Thessalonians
1, 2 and 3 John
Christian Life
Daniel/Revelation
Ecclesiology
Eschatology
Introduction to Tribal Missions
Oral Communications
Pastoral Epistles: 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus
Philippians/Colossians/Philemon

Electives (Afternoon Classes)

Psalms -(FR)
Ruth/Song of Solomon/Ecclesiastes -(SO)
Job -(SO)
Ezra/Nehemiah/Esther -(JR)
Missions in Church History -(JR)
World Religions -(JR)
Spiritual Disciplines -(JR)
Handling Conflict -(JR)
Partnership Development -(JR)

Excitement/Sadness

2011-07-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

So... I was talking to my family on the phone today and they were all excited because I'll be home next Saturday. I, on the other hand, am both excited and sad... but it's time to go back home and to get back to work. I'm hoping I'll be able to go back to New Tribes Bible Institute this coming semester, which will be my last semester there, so I can go on with the training at the Missions Training Center in Missouri. I can't wait!

What Do We Do For A Girls Day Out?

2011-06-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

We go hiking, of course! Not shopping, but hiking. Ok, so we do go shopping sometimes, but hiking is way better, in my option, anyways.

Crossing the wooden bridge. Let the adventure begin!

A picture of the wooden bridge from the other side of the river.

Rose

Shari

Going down (more like sliding down, at one point) the steep hillside.

Still hiking down to the rive...

We found tracks in the mud of the riverbank...

So, we decided to make tracks of our own...

From the looks of it this hike was going to be a peace of cake...

Rose trying to keep us all in line... Which I guess wasn't so easy, hints the stick. ;)

Sherrie

Amanda decided to see how cold the water was. Thankfully it wasn't to cold. To me it felt a lot like Lake Michigan.

Rose: "The swimming whole should be right around this bend."
Amanda: "You've said that for the last two bends, Rose."
Sherrie: "Maybe she doesn't know where she's going..."
Beth: "Hey, Rose! That little puddle back there wasn't it was it?"

Oh, yes. We took great delight in teasing Rose until we found the swimming whole, which we reached five bends latter. ;)

From here the trail got a little more difficult. The Rocks and stones were really lose so you had to be very careful about you're footing.

Hey, this part was really fun! We found that the wall broke off easily, so we ended up wading through the water and since I was wearing shoes I got to go barefoot through the water.

Once we were out of the water, we continued around the next three bends to the swimming whole.

Ok, you just can't go to a swimming whole (the calmest port of the river) and not go swimming! Good thing the water wasn't all that cold and it was a nice day out.

Rose: "Come on, Dorothy, you have to get completely wet! I did."

Now this is a water fight!

Going upstream to float back downstream... It was great fun!

Amanda and Rose floating downstream...

Dorothy and I saving Rose from the strong river current... Well, not really, but it made a fun picture. ;)

Heading back to the cars...

I like this picture of us on the bridge and the view behind us!

Me and all but one of the Loewen girls...

Prayer Request

2011-06-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Please pray for my Grandma Stockman. She developed a blood clot on her brain, the size of a lager sugar cookie, and had to have emergency surgery. I'll try to keep you all updated as best I can.

True Stories of Real Race Horses! (Movie Clips)

2011-06-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hidalgo

Seabiscuit

Phar Lap

Ruffian

Secretariat

Fun Times At NTBI!

2011-06-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

~Bible Caricature Day~

~Hillbilly Day~

~Hero/Heroine Day~

~Friday Night Skating~

~Hippy Vs. Formal Day~

~Sleepover (my dorm only)~

~Nerd Day~

~Culturelle Day~

~Ninja Vs. Pirate Day~

~Christmas Party~

~A Night Back Into Medieval Times~

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~Spirng Fling/No Talent Night~

~Dress Alike Day~

My Time In British Columbia Canada!

2011-06-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is a short movie of my time here in Fort St. John. Hope you enjoy it. :)

Skyping my family while I'm living in B.C. Canada!

2011-05-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

I love skyping my family! It's a good way to see how big the girls are getting and to talk to everyone at once. I'd say skype has come in very handy these days. I've been using it quite a bit, but not just with my family... with my friends, as well. ;)

Work we've done around the house...

2011-05-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

I changed up my style on this post so I hope you don't mind any. I thought it'd be fun to switch it up a bit. ;) So, here's the switch: One by one, before and after pictures (sometimes there's two before pictures).

Yard Work:

A New Look For The Upstairs Bathroom:

Of course, these pictures are all taken after James started tearing everything out of the bathroom. Sorry I don't have any pictures of what it looked like before all the work was started and finished, but believe me it looks a LOT better!

A big thank you to James for tearing everything out of the bathroom and to Uncle Bruce and Justin for putting the new stuff in. I'm so glad I got to help them, because I learned a lot! I'm just saddened that I didn't get any pictures of them working. :(

Context: Leadership

2011-05-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

"Don't imagine leaders to be something they aren't. They are servants of Christ, not His masters. They are guides into God's most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge...comments please. Tell me what you think."

Proud To Be An American!

2011-04-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Justin is in the Marines and Derek is in the Army now! They have both graduated from their basic training and are now a part of America's soldiers! We're so PROUD of you both! Love you guys!

I Have Some Awesome Cousins!

2011-04-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Justin and his sweet bike! He sure does save a lot on gas.

Justin's going to be graduating from the Marine basic training soon!

Derek graduated from the Army basic training last summer.

Derek runs in the cross country for his high school and he loves it!

David is getting so tall! He's taller then me now!

David loves playing soccer!

The things kids do when you're not looking!

2011-03-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you know how they say that a child will cut their hair at least once in their life time? Well, Abigail and Naomi decided last month that they needed a hair cut and, of course, they decided to do this while Sharon and the two youngest were taking a nap and James was in the office. James had put a movie in for Abigail and Naomi and was checking on them from time to time, but he totally missed them climbing up high to gut the scissors. These two pictures were taken the day before Abigail cut Naomi's hair and Naomi cut Abigail's hair.

(Naomi, Deborah, Abigail, and Melody)

(Melody, Abigail, and Naomi)

These three pictures was taken two days later (mom had rushed over to make their hair look better. I think she did an awesome job on it!)...

(Grandma Davis, Naomi, and Abigail)

LOL... needless to say, Abigail did more of a job on Naomi's hair then Naomi did to Abigail's hair... and it shows.

This is a short movie of Abigail and Naomi... and of the things those silly girls do!

Philippians 3:7-8... Made at New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, MI (Spirng 2010)...

2010-09-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

Fred and some of his classmates made this movie for one of their Philippians homework's last semester! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Hey, you all did an awesome job on it! Thanks for sharing it with all of us at New Tribes Bible Institute!

My Summer Begins...

2010-05-24T07:38:00.001-07:00

What a summer this has been so far! I've only been done with classes at New Tribes Bible Institute for almost a week and so far this summer has been crazy busy. Here's a look at what has gone on so far.

My friend Fred has now graduated from New Tribes Bible Institute and has plans of going on to the next step in his train as a Missionary with New Tribes Mission.

(L to R) John Mark, Becky (mom), Beth (me), and Fred...

The day after I got home from collage a bunch of us went to the John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids for the afternoon and enjoyed time with each other. It was fun to watch and look at all the big and small animals with the Abby, Naomi, and Melody. Backpacking Melody was a lot of fun, but she soon got to hot in the pack and was passed from person to person as we walked around. She soon fell asleep in my arms and stayed there till it was time to leave.

Naomi saw the bears...

Two lazy bears...

Melody and me...

Sharon had her 27th birthday on Friday and we had a cookout... sadly we had to cook the food outside and eat inside as it was raining out. We had a good time, however, and it was good to see James, Sharon, Abby, Naomi, and Melody again.

Sharon and Melody...

John Mark has been going to the hospital again, but this time is because his hip and back are giving him problems. Last night was the worst as he couldn't move anything, except to talk and to breath. Please be praying with us that he'll get better and that his pain will go away, if the Lord wills it.

My cousin Justin has now finished high school and is thinking about going into the Marines in the Fall.

(L to R) Aunt Renae, Justin, and Uncle Bruce...

Well, that's been the begging of my summer. How has your summer been going so far?

Butch Bennett homework... (Grade: 98)

2010-05-13T17:14:00.001-07:00

Galatians Homework #1
Chapters 1- 3
Beth Stockman Time spent: 7hrs.
#79 Date: 5-5-10
1. Yes I read all the assigned Bible readings
2. Yes I read the assigned papers 1-3
3. Yes I read the class notes (through chapter 3)
4. Read 1:1-10 and answer
a) In verses 6 & 7 Paul marveled that these believers were quickly turning away from the true gospel to a false gospel that somehow appeared to be true.
1) Explain what it is about a false gospel that is so appealing to a Christian that he is willing to abandon the true gospel for a false one.
The reason so many of us fall away from the true gospel is because all those false gospels (if you want to really call them a gospel) are so appealing to the flesh and to the desires of man’s heart. The world so often tells us the Christian life is boring and that we should be able to do anything that we want to do. Instead we have to obey the Bible and guide our life by it. Our flesh doesn’t like it when the Word of God challenges the wrong things we’re doing in our lives and it would much rather be free from all rules and just do what it wants and all false gospels allow you to do that as long as you do some things that are good.
“My friend, in our day we hear many speakers who are trying to give us another “gospel”. They may look like angels to you- after all, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, and his ministers are transformed as the ministers of righteousness.” – J. Vernon McGree

b) Read verses 6 through 9
1) How fussy was Paul concerning the issue of getting the gospel just right? What are some of the remarks he makes in these verses that reflect his attitude and thinking?
Getting the gospel right is very important. Paul remarks that anyone who preaches anything other than the truth (that he had been teaching them) than they should be cussed. Not the false speaker themselves, but the false message that they where teaching and also that anyone who accepts the false teaching, as well.
5. Read 1:11-24 and answer
a) In 1:11-12 Paul said that he received the gospel he preached by direct revelation from Jesus Christ himself. Does this mean that before Paul came along no one was preaching a true gospel?
1) What was the substance of Peter’s gospel?
Peter was teaching what he knew… which was: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom.
“Peter- Death, burial, resurrection (Acts 1 & 2)”-Butch Bennett
2) Explain what is the same between the gospel Paul preached and the gospel Peter preached.
Paul was also preaching what he knew… the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom. This part of his message was always the same as Peter’s was.
3) Explain what is different between the gospel Paul preached and the gospel Peter preached.
But there was one thing that was different from the two men’s messages and that was that Paul taught of the church (the body of Christ). When teaching he would add this in-between the death, barrel, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom. He didn’t learn about the church from any man, but it was a revelation from God Himself.
“… Paul speaks first of the gospel and the importance of the fact that it came to him through no human source (specifically not from the Jerusalem believers) but directly from Jesus Christ. Then he says something about his early acquaintance with the other apostles, making it clear that they had no doubts about the gospel he preached.”- Morris
b) Why do you suppose Paul spent chapter 1:13-24 explaining how little time he spent with the other apostles for the first 14 years after his salvation? What was Paul trying to prove to these Christians?
Paul is reminding them that he was against the religion of the Jews and that he had learned all that he knew from his hard studies, not the apostles. He was reminding them of the zeal he’d had against the Jews, but now he had just as much zeal, only for a different cause. Now he was preaching what he had once tried to destroy.
“Paul begins with his past conduct as an unconverted Jewish rabbi. In this flashback, Paul points out his relationship to the church and to the religion of the Jews. He was persecuting the church and profiting and progressing in the Jewish religion. Everything was “going his way” and he was rapidly being recognized as a spiritual leader in Israel.
… But if the amazing change in Paul was not caused by the Jews in the church, then who caused it? It had to come from God!”- Warren W. Wiersbe
6. Read 2:1-3 with Acts 16:1-3 and answer
a) Why did Paul refuse to allow Titus to be circumcised but wanted Timothy to be circumcised, when elsewhere Paul said that “for neither is circumcision anything, nor Uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15)… Explain Paul’s thinking.
Titus was not circumcised, because there were false teachers saying that in order to be a believer that you had to be circumcised. If Titus had been circumcised then everyone would have believed the false teachers, but instead Titus was a living example that circumcision was no longer needed for salvation. Timothy on the other hand was circumcised because his father was well known as a Greek and the Jews would have thrown a fit had he not been circumcised before going with Paul. Timothy was circumcised so that they could preach to the Jews as well as the Gentiles.
“… Paul was not trying to provoke anyone. He was letting people see by a practical example what the preaching of the gospel could do. It is important that Titus was not required to be circumcised.”- Morris
7. Read 2:11-21 and answer
a) Explain how Peter’s action of no longer wanting to eat with the gentile Christians somehow compromised the gospel.
I believe that once Peter would no longer eat with the gentiles, he was being a hypocrite and it was telling the gentiles that they weren’t as good as he was, because he was a Jew and that would greatly hinder his ministry with them.
“… Peter’s practice of eating with non-Jews in Antioch is making life more difficult for the Jerusalem church, which was a particular problem of coping with the fervor of Jewish nationalists’.”- Morris
8. Read 3:6-9 and answer
a) Explain in these verses how a Christian can be a ‘son of Abraham’ without being a Jew.
The Nation of Israel aren’t the “sons of Abraham” like they claim to be/believe they are. Abraham wasn’t even a Jew! He was a gentile. But there is one exception to what I just said. If a Jew is a believer, than he is a “son of Abraham”. It’s not the Jews, as a nation, that are the “sons of Abraham,” but all those who believe in Jesus Christ. This includes all gentiles who confess and believe, as well as any Jews that do the same.
“A son of Abraham is spiritual, not by heritage or blood in this context.”- Butch Bennett
b) What exactly was it (don’t just say the gospel) that Abraham believed that gave him a righteous standing before God?
Abraham believed that God was who He said that He was and he also had faith that God would do as He had promised. What more did he need?
“… Abraham’s faith must have come as a complete surprise to the Galatians. But there was no gainsaying the fact that when God called Abraham, no store of good deeds is recorded of him. He simply heard the call of God and responded to it in faith.”- Morris
“We shall never understand Paul and the dynamic behind his view of faith unless we can see how for him Jesus Christ his Lord filled out all those intimations of faith which are seen in Abraham…”- Warren W. Wiersbe

Meet The Junoir Class of 2010- New Tribes Bible Institute (Jackson, MI)

2010-05-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

(Back L to R) Beth (me), Michelle, Rachel, Matt, and Jamie.
(Front L to R) Alex, Kristy, Tayler and Abby (Nora & Anniston), Kayla, and Elizabeth.

Yes, our class is very small, but we love it!

The Sr. & Jr. Trip To Wayumi...

2010-05-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

The classes were amazing and I loved every moment of them. They were very challenging and jambed pack of information on what is would be like in a tribe, how to teach them, how to learn to speak like them, etc. It was one of my best weeks ever and now that I went there I'm even more excited about the next step in my training before I head out to a tribe (Lord willing).

This is mostly the Senior class. With the Junior class (my class) to added their class right now there's only 11 more people.

Fred and I reading "Building Firm Foundations" before class started. The book was the only thing everyone had for homework all week.

Stepping into a tribal setting... This is an Yanomamo woman in her hut. She was trying to help us learn a few words in her tribal tongue... It was hard because she couldn't understand us and we couldn't understand her, but it was an awesome time!

This Malaumanda tribal man really didn't understand us. Unlike the Yanomamo woman, he didn't understand our pointing to things... which we quickly learned.

The next day when we came back to see him we had to imagine that we'd be in his tribe for two months and we were now working on learning how to speak in a sentence. After we got those from him we translated it into English so that we'd know better what his words were. Here are two sentences we asked him:

We Asked him, "How do you say, I am eating sweet potato?" Then he answered, "Nambama anya nelewa."... which in English is, "I sweet potato eating am".

We asked him, "how do you say, Tomorrow he will catch fish upriver?" He replied, "Yabelewa mbalama laga ilo milaidya.".... which is "Tomorrow he fish upriver catch".

Not to different right? LOL... I beg to differ. We asked him a total of eighteen questions, then we had two more pages to look at for other sentences. I loved it and I can't wait to have a chance to do that again!

"Send Us Out!" - Missions Flame

The Northren Bells Dorm Movie #1 (Pictures)

2010-03-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

Pictures From our dorm movie...

We decided to make a movie while we were at our RA's house for a sleep over and what a time we had too! Good Times! ;)

This Was One Of My Hardest Homeworks I Had To Do Last Semester...

2010-03-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Beth Stockman
Song of Solomon Homework #3
Contentment in what God Gives and Takes Away
Time Spent: 3 hours
Mail Box #79
Date: 11-14-09

Contentment. Wow, this is one thing that God has been working on in my life for same
time now. The hardest thing right now to be content in is not having a dad here on earth. It’s
been hard without him in so many ways, but I know without a doubt that he’s in a better place
now and no longer in pain. The selfish part of me wants him back, but the loving part doesn’t.
Why would I want him back to this world when his in a way better place than this?

It wasn’t easy getting to this point of contentment about my dad, but I’m glad that I have.
What kind of steps did I take to get here? Glad you asked.

1. I talk about my dad. (Which I really didn’t like doing so much, because I couldn’t

talk about him without crying.)

So, how did I ever start talking about my dad if I didn’t do it much before? Well, I guess you
can say that a close friend of mine just wouldn’t stop asking me questions about him. Even
though it was hard and I cried all the time, I found that I loved telling him about my dad.

2. I began sharing stories of my life that my dad had a part in.

You may be thinking, “Isn’t this step the same as the first one?” Well, one might think so, but
its not. You see, by the time I started adding my life into the picture (the stories I was telling
him, because it had all been just about my dad before) a month had almost gone by… plus at this
time I was more willing to bring the topic up by myself. I didn’t need to be lead into it.

3. I started sharing and teaching my friend some of the things that my dad had taught

me.

Teaching my friend how to trim bushes was, by this time, a very easy thing to do. Things were
getting easier for me and yet there was still one thing I wouldn’t and couldn’t bring myself to do.
Something so little and yet so special to me that I hadn’t done it since 06-8-03. Little did I know
that the biggest hill to climb in all of these steps to being content of what God had taken away
from me was right around the corner.

4. I completely gave my dad over to God.

I must tell you that this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. And to think, all I did
was give in to God’s will and then sat down and played a game of Chess. What? That’s it? Yes,
it is. Bringing myself to play a game of Chess was next to impossible till four weeks ago when
my friend asked me to play a game with him. Why was it so hard till then? Because, my
dad had taught me to play and we use to play all the time, but then I made one wrong move
which cost me the game. Dad said I was getting to good for him to play me, so he’d just wait for
me to get rusty. Time went by and before we knew it, we hadn’t played a game of Chess in
years. But by the time either of us had realized it, my dad wasn’t doing the best and I was really
busy working. We never could find the time. Then one night he promised to play me the next
day. Little did we know what the next day would bring and little did we know that we’d never
get to play that game that was so special to the both of us. In fact, we’d never get to play another
Game of Chess again.
Summary: God’s unconditional love is key here, as well.

a. “He gives…”

• He gave me a loving dad who taught me many things in my life (I will miss him greatly

until I see him again in Heaven).

• He gave me a really close friend (to whom I will always be grateful) that helped me give

up to God what I didn’t want to let go of. This friend also didn’t make me talk about my

dad. If I didn’t want to talk then I didn’t have to. He was willing to listen and wait.

b. “He takes away”

• He called my dad home so that he would no longer suffer and because he had fought a

good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith.

It's about time I put this on here! ;)

2009-11-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

The "Fried Chicken" Song

2009-11-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

Rachel and I met here at NEW Tribes Bible Institute. In fact, we're class mates... close ones at that. ;)

Anyways, Rachel wrote this song for her youth group in her church back home and we sang it last semester for the Spring Fling Talent Show. Little did we now that everything around us (at the time of learning the song) would fit right in with the "fried" port of the song:

1. Rachel's printer fried and was no longer usable
2. A lot of people got fried with really bad sun burns that week
3. Our brains were past fried and now turning into mush from all the homework that week, but it was great to be able to study God's Word and to see how He was growing us while we were learning
4. My dorm's microwave fried, and although we still used it, it toasted everything in 5 sec. and burnt everything past 15 sec.

Anyways, we enjoyed the song so much and it had so much meaning to us that we decided to make a music video...

NOTE: This video was made in ("The Michigan Dorm") Rachel's dorm. They gave it that name, because everyone in there is from Michigan ;).

Check it out!

2009-09-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Change the World - Start at New Tribes Bible Institute (NTBI)
Source: www.youtube.com

This short movie will tell you more about what New Tribes Bible Institute is all about. So feel free to check it out!

Today is... the day for homework!

2009-09-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, today is a Holiday and I'm sitting here in the "Dungeon" (a girls dorm that has always been a guys dorm, up til this semester,that is) working on my homework with Michelle. Life has been full of homework this semester, but it's been so much better than last semester! I'm learning so much in classes and when I'm sitting down and spending time with God.

Classes right now are Theology and Prophets. At first it was hard to understand Isaiah, but after you get into it in depth it becomes so much more easy to understand. It's been my favorite class so far, but it may change... although I am really loving it. I'm even loving the homework!!!!
I'm also taking Job, Islam (which just ended last week), and The Love of God. These are my afternoon classes, for right now. I'll be taking others here soon. Not only will my afternoon classes be changing, but I'll be getting two different classes in the morning, as well. I'm looking forward to each of my classes and I'm praying to God to show me things in them that He wants me to see.

Well, I should really get back to my homework. I just thought you'd all enjoy an update... of any kind. Long or short. ;)

May GOD bless each and everyone of you and keep you safe in His arms. Til next time then,

Nacht (good night in German)

What Did the Mosaic Covenant Mean to Israel As A Nation?

2009-08-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Heart of the Law-

God gave Israel the Law so that they would know how to love.

They were to love God in everything they did.

God wanted their hearts to be right.

The Place of God and Idolatry

There would be no room for idolatry if they really loved God.

Because of their idolatry they will be kicked out of their land.

God is a jealous God.

Social Justice

Israel was to honest with the amount of food they gave to everyone.

Israel was to be kind to their slaves.

Israel was to take care of their widows, orphans, and poor.

Israel was to pay their workers the day they worked so that they could have money for food or whatever they needed.

Acceptable Sacrifices

The Animals could have nothing wrong with them.

God wanted Israel to give Him their best. Not because He told them to, but because they loved Him and they wanted Him to have the best of what they had.

Keeping the Sabbath

Israel was to keep the Sabbath set apart from the other days as a day for rest.

Israel was to give the land a brake ever seven years.

Israel was to give their slaves and servants a brake every seven years.

Intermarriage

Was a BIG no, no!

Israel would be lead astray if they intermarried with other nations.

Acting Like the Nations

God wanted Israel to be different in everything they did.

They were to be a set apart nation.

Result of Obedience

God will take care of them.

Favor/Love/Blessings will fall upon them from God.

Other nations will follow them in worshiping God.

The nation of Israel will grow and they'd get more land.

Result of Disobedience

Other nations will be over them.

What God did to other nations, He would do to Israel.

Food For Thought...

2009-08-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

How will they hear if I don't share Christ with them and how will they understand if I don't understand?

Yay!

2009-08-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Two things.

1st John Mark is now home from the hospital and has been doing well. Thankfully he hasn't been back to the hospital.

2nd I'm heading back to New Tribes Bible Institute tomorrow. I'm going to try and keep you all more up to date with how things are going this time.

God's speed to each and everyone of you. =)

Getting So Big...

2009-08-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

Abigail (3)

Naomi (1)

Melody (almost three months)

Will This Never End?

2009-07-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

John Mark is once again in the hospital. We're all hoping that he'll be out by Thursday at the latest.

It's past time!

2009-07-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

I know. I know. It's well past time to post another picture of the girls...

Naomi, Melody, and Abigail... aren't they growing so fast?! Abby is helping Melody look at the camera... "Typical big sister..." as mom has pointed out. ;)

Praise The LORD!

2009-07-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

After two or three weeks of being in the hospital, John Mark is finely coming home today! YAY! We're all greatful that he is doing so much better and is now able to come home.

We want to thank each and everyone of you that have been praying for our family at this time. It's been a blessing to hear from each of you that have called, sent a card, or have stopped by, as well. May God greatly bless you all.

Melody Christine Peckham

2009-05-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

There is a new member in the Peckham family now and here she is. Melody was born May 9, 2009 at 4:00am. She was 5lbs, 12oz, and 20in long. She is now home and being loved on be everyone.

I haven't been able to see her yet, because I've been here at NTBI... but I'll be seeing her really soon, as I'm going home today... for the summer.

The Parker's Farm... =)

2009-05-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening a group of us went out to Rachel Parker's house and had the most prefect time ever! It was so good to get out away from the town and into the country... and to meet her big family, as well. Let's take a small peak at some of the sneak peaks shall we?

Rachel, Anna, Cara, Febe, me, and Rebecca...

FREEDOM!!!!

Anna and me in the field...

Fred and Noah on the rope swing...

OK, so I caught the hen, but ummm... the rooster didn't like it so much. He quickly learned that I wasn't scared of him though. ;)

As you can see... the hen wasn't to happy to be caught either...

But she soon gave up, as well... and that made everyone happy, because they could now pet her. ;)

Febe and her dream come true... "Oh, to touch a horse again!"

Everyone had a wonderful time out at the the Parker's Farm. For many of us it brought back some old memories... All in all, it was a blessing and an awesome time of fellowship with the Parker family and the other students that came, as well.

NTBI's Spring Fling (2009)

2009-04-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Michelle and me...

Two of my dorm mates: Amie and Shannah...

Love the flowers...

There was a talent show as well, but I didn't get any pictures of it. Sorry.

Psalm 101:2a

2009-04-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

One of the afternoon classes I took this semester was Psalms and one of the things we did in this class was to memorize Psalm 100. Well, about two weeks ago, I started going over the verses, but instead of working on chapter 100, I started working on chapter 101:

"I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing."

Then I read the next verse and felt like someone slapped me across the back of the head:

"I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way."

I stopped right there, not even bothering to look at the rest of the verse. Yeah, it was rather convicting and I was going to be doing a lot of thinking and praying.

Well, it was soon supper time and I had things on my mind... which Hannah, Rachel, and Michelle soon heard about. You see, we were all sitting outside in the sunshine together... sharing what we had been learning in classes and just how convicting things were for each and everyone of us. It was a good conversation and we soon found ourselves answering hard question, getting convicted by the answers, and going deeper into our conversation then we ever had before... and we've had a lot of deep conversations, too.

We challenged each other and ourselves, but have we been taking the challenge to the next step? In some ways yes... in others... no. Please be praying for us as we keep growing and challenging each other. Please pray that we will all take that next step in all of the challenges we get from God's Word and each other.

Xtreme JaXson!

2009-03-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

We had a pep-rally the night before we went to play Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccor against Waukesha (our sister college in Wisconsin).

Xtreme JaXson...!!!!!

Two on one...

Three on one...

Glow sticks...

The Jackson and Waukesha Games... Bring it on!!!!

Womans Volleyball. "Mine!"

Mens Volleyball. "That ball isn't getting past us!"

Go X.J.N.!

Those guys played hard!

Womans Basketball...

Mens Basketball. That was a really extreme game!

Girls Soccor team. The girls won every game they played...

Ryan was the goalie for the guys soccor team...

The sidelines...

WE WON ALL BUT TWO GAMES!!!! Xtreme JaXson NOW HAS THE TROPHY!!!!

Days That Are Remebered At NTBI By One And All!

2009-03-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

My dorm mates
(RA) Rochelle, Amie, me, Brooke, and Shannah...

The kidnapping of Captain Hook
Fred and I did what?! Yeppers, we kidnapped a fish...
.
Amie's and my eyes..

Friday night, ice skating night
Shannah and Josh...

I had the time of my life...

Randomness
My three best friends...

Michelle is such a sweet friend...

Jamie is ready to go snowboarding...

Yeppers, we go for lots of walks. Both long and short ones... Front: (L to R) Me and Fred. Back: (L to R) Rachel and Jessie...

David Farynyk's first pear of blue jean pants...

Our Suprise Birthday Party at the Ice Cream Parlor for Michelle
Hahaha... You can tell that Cara and I have something up our sleeves...

Michelle and everyone at the birthday table...

Everyone that came...

Amie and I...

Branden,Jared, and Logan being themselves...

Spirit Week at NTBI
Biblical Characters day
Just a few of us that dressed up...

The two quiens...

A good angel and a fallen angel...

Super Hearo Day
G.I.Jane...

The rainbow and rain...

Check This Out!

2009-02-17T06:26:00.000-08:00

Lol. I love this one!

The Freshman Class and More...

2009-01-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been here at NTBI for ten days now and I'm loving every minute of it, except for the small fact that I have a cold right now. I can't say that I mind getting up every morning at 6:00, but there are times that I've wished that I could just take a short cat nap or something in the afternoons. As of right now, that hasn't happened yet.

By the way, if you ever call my dorm room and I'm not in, I'm most likely doing one of two things: studying with some other girls in my class or doing my Student Work Program.

Studying, Studying, Studying, and More Studying

Every day after lunch, if I'm not on the dish crew for the week, I get together with some of the other freshman girls and we all work on our homework. Right now it takes us almost all day to do our homework, but that's because we have to get back into the swing of studying again... as we haven't been in school for quite sometime.

Michelle looks like she's enjoying her reading...

We often move from the desks to the floor, because it's so much nicer to lay down and do our homework...

So needless to say, by the time supper rolls around, we're all thankful for a break from the books and the short time downstairs is greatly enjoyed.

"This is the way we do our chores..."

Every evening, sometime after supper is over and everyone is out of the dinning hall, Michelle and I start cleaning. It our job (Student Work Program) to clean half of the dinning hall. What all do we do? We:

Put all of the chairs unto the tables...

Sweep the floor with two brooms (one for the corners and one for the rest of the floor)...

Mop the floor...

Put the chairs back on the floor and then we spray the tables...

Meet Most of the Freshman Class

We (most of the freshman class) went out for ice cream today, which was so much fun! It was great to get to know everyone better... and not just in the classroom, like we had been, but more on a personal level.

(L to R) Kristi, Rachel, me, and Emily

(L to R) Abby, Nora, Taylor, Cody, and Tyler

(L to R) Jessie, David, Kayla, Karla, and Elizabeth

Yeah so, this is only two scoops of ice cream...

That might be the reason that none of us were very hungry for supper when we got back to NTBI. It wasn't like we had all that much time for the ice cream to settle either. It was time for supper the moment when we stepped in the door!

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I can get some class pictures, too. I hope you enjoyed stepping into my life as a college student. Have an awesome day and God bless.

What's Going To Work? Team Work!

2008-12-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

I was sound asleep, in my nice warm bed, when I suddenly heard John Mark calling my name! I looked at the clock, that's on my dresser, and moaned. It was 11:15pm! What on earth could he want at this time of the night?! I didn't have to wonder for long.

"Beth, come on get up! Mom got the car stuck!" he called as he pounded on my bedroom door.

I quickly got up, put on my snow pants, coat, hat, and two pairs of gloves and then joined mom out at the end of our driveway. It was only 15 degrees outside, but once we started digging and pushing out the car we would get warmer. I joined mom beside the car and looked down to see just how bad it was stuck. The snow was touching the bottom of the car, but the only thing that was buried were the front tires.

"It's about time you got up. Didn't you hear me calling for you?" mom asked as she dug some snow away from the left front tire.

I reached for the shovel and shook my head. I hadn't heard her at all. In fact, the only reason I had woken up was because John Mark had been pounding on my bedroom door. It's not often that I sleep like a rock, but when I do I'm a hard on to wake up.

"Mark hard me right away. You must have been sleeping hard." she said with frustration. She wasn't as frustrated with me as she was at getting the car stuck.

John Mark soon joined us with the other shovel, that we had just bought the day before. He and I dug around the front of the car and then looked at mom. She got behind the wheel and John Mark and I went to the front of the car to push. We were soon slipping and sliding around on the two inch thick ice that was under our feet and the snow. Neither one of us were able to get the grip with our feet that we needed to help rock the car out.

"I should have went with my gut feeling and shoveled out the driveway before I went to bed. This is crazy!" I exclaimed, noting that the snow was coming down fast and heavy. I soon went down on my knees, because I wasn't doing any good on my feet, and pushed as hard as I could, stopped pushing, and then pushed as hard as I could again. It wasn't easy to got the car to start rocking, but we had to get it moved.

"If it was in the driveway, I'd say to wait and get it out tomorrow, but since it's halfway in the driveway and halfway out of the driveway, we have to get it out tonight." John Mark said as he gave a really big push. "Ugh, this isn't working. Maybe it would be better to pushed the car forward."

We stopped and talked it over with mom then went to the back of the car and started pushing again. The ice was even worse behind the car then it was in front of the car and since we were on the road, which hadn't been plowed since the day before, we couldn't even push on our knees.

After sometime, mom got out of the car and went to get what little salt we had left, while John Mark dug under the car and some more behind the front tires. When mom came back with the salt, I saw that she had taken my advice and grabbed the kitty litter as well. She put the handful of salt down behind both front tires and then we went back to rocking the car. It helped but not much. I added the kitty litter behind both tires, traded places with mom, and we went back to work.

Not long after we had dug away more snow and put down the salt and the kitty litter, I could feel the car going back... like it should have done a long time ago... so I gave it more gas. Mom and John Mark kept pushing and, in no time at all, the car was free! It had only taken us 45 minutes to get the car out. I let mom get back behind the wheel and while she back down the road, John Mark and I got most of the driveway shoveled.

Needless to say, we all slept really good that night. ;)

Praise GOD!

2008-12-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

One month from today I'll be at New Tribes Bible Institute! Studying Bible and Missions.

Meet My Favorite Cousins...

2008-11-26T15:26:00.000-08:00

Of course, they're my only cousins... well, first cousins anyways. We won't even get into all the others right now... just because there's so many of them.

Justin (16) is now taller then John Mark, my brother. I'm sure he's quite pleased about it, although he never said so. He just glowed when someone noted that he was taller... ;) To bad we didn't get to go snowmobiling for Thanksgiving. It's always a blast doing stuff like that together.

Derek (15) and I are well known for our paper fights, but we decided to give Grandma Davis a brake this Thanksgiving... (your welcome, Grandma). The paper fights are really a lot of fun, although they don't sound like they would be, and they can get really competitive, too. We mostly use notepad paper... which cuts back the most on any paper cuts that we might receive from one another. ;)

Oh, and by the way, David (14) has now passed me up... which he's really ecstatic about right now. Yeah, I knew it would happen one of these days, but did I have to find it out over Thanksgiving? It was just one of the things he was thankful for... ;)

Abigail's Prayer

2008-11-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

I talked on the phone with Abigail the other day, which I greatly enjoyed. She told me that mommy and daddy had gone shopping and that Omi (Naomi) was taking a nap. Bear was outside and she was playing with Grandma's (which is what she calls mom). Then she said something that totally surprised me. She said, "Uncle Mark sick, Aunt Beth at work. Amen."

I had heard her pray lots of times before, but this was the first time I'd ever heard her pray while she was talking on the phone. I just about started crying when I realised what she had just done...

What more can I say to that? Have a great day and may God bless you all.

You Might Be From Michigan...

2008-11-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

~ If you define summer as three months of bad sledding.

~ If you think Alkaline batteries were named for a Tiger outfielder.

~ If you can identify an Indiana accent.

~ If owning a Japanese car is a hanging offense in your hometown.

~ If you know someone from Porch Yearn.

~ If you know how to play Euchre.

~ If the Big Mac is something you drive across.

~ If you believe that "down south" refers to South Bend.

~ If you bake with "soda" and drink "pop".

~ If you drive 75 on the highway and always pass on the right.

~ If your kid's soccer game has been snowed out.

~ If you know what pastie is.

~ If you know that Mackinac rhymes with Mackinaw.

~ If you occasionally cheer, "Go Lions, and take the Tigers with you."

~ If the word "thumb" brings to mind a geographical rather than anatomical definition.

~ If you have ever experienced sunburn and frostbite in the same week.

~ If you know that Kalamazoo actually exists and isn't too for from Hell.

~ If you know that Paradise is as far north as you can drive before going into Lake Superior.

~ If you favorite holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the opening of deer season.

~ If the local garbage dump is also the local zoo.

~ If your Mother and Father disown you for the week of the Michigan/Michigan State game.

~ If your year has two seasons- Winter and Construction.

~ If you know what a "millage" is.

~ If you know that clear rain water in Grand Rapids changes to chocolate brown in Grand Haven.

~ If traveling coast to coast means going from Porch Yearn to Muskegon.

~ If a ski rack is an accessory for a Fall golf trip.

AWANA!!!!

2008-11-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

What a blessing AWANA has been this year! I'm so thankful that I'm able to minister in AWANA, until I leave for college in January. Once I leave, mom will be taking over my spot as a Sparky leader. As you can tell from the picture, I'm working with the blue team this year. Some of the kids are quite the handfuls, but that's true about kids wherever you go or with whatever your doing.

I found out last week that one of the older boys had accepted Christ as his Savior during handbook time, which totally made my night. He's, believe it or not, one of the boys that goes to Johnson's Child Care, where I work, after he gets out of school for the day and in the summer time. I'm looking forward to watching him grow closer to God.

Well, I should be heading home now so, I'll be signing out. God bless and have an awesome day!

My Second Favorite Time of the Year ;)

2008-10-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

The tree in our back yard has nearly changed its color from green... to red, yellow, and orange. I just love all the colors mixed together!

We've been really busy this month: canning applesauce and drying apples, digging up free potatoes, which we got from a big field... near my sister's house, and raking an over abundance of leaves that always blow into our yard from the woods behind and beside our house. I'm not saying that we don't have any tree's of our own in our yard. We do... and, of course, we have leaves falling from them, as well. It's a really good thing that I love raking leaves! ;)

Well, that's all I have on fall right now. Thanks for stopping by.

Such Sweet Memories!

2008-10-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Our 2005 Missions Trip To Curtis, Michigan

We loaded into the church van, got gas, picked up Hannah and Micah at some other gas station, then head for the UP (the upper peninsula of Michigan). We were going there to teach the little kids of Curtis, how to play soccer and to tell them about Jesus. We were also going to be building a house for the church of Curtis. Well, as much of it as we could anyways. The church family was having a house built for their missionaries to stay in, when ever they came to their church.

Well, we finely made it to the lake that we would be staying near. We quickly unloaded the van then went to look at the park where we'd be having our soccer camp. After that, we went back to our cabins and got ready for our big day to start. It started at 7:00 in the morning and at 8:00 we we're having...

Soccer Camp...

So what do you do if you don't know what to do with a soccer ball? Act like you know what your doing and kick the ball around as much as you can. =D A lot of us had to do that for the first two days. By the end of the week an a half that we were in Curtis, we had all gotten pretty good with the soccer ball. ;)

These pictures were all taken during Bible/memory verse time. It was the slowest part of the whole three hours, that we had the kids for.

Hannah and her soccer team. She was the leader for the eleven and twelve year old kids.

Bekah and her soccer team. She was the leader for the nine and ten year old kids.

DJ and his soccer team. He was the leader for the seven and eight year old kids.

Me and my soccer team. I was the leader for the five and six year old kids.

After all of the kids got picked up, we found ourselves at the work sight and...

Working Hard...

Sam, Pastor Mike, me, and Tim cut the plywood for the wall frames. I think Pastor Mike was telling me were to put the wood... in this picture, but I'm not sure.

Sam, Darren, Jon, Tim, and Sue all worked on the wall frames for the missionary house.

DJ, me, Amber, Hannah, and Darren (who's not in this picture) all dug a ditch for the electric line. That was a lot of hard work because, half way down, the dirt turned into hard clay.

The ditch crew: (Back) DJ. (Front L to R) Hannah, me, Darren, and Amber. We're really happy because... (next picture)

The ditch was done at last! Then some guy come along, dropped the line into the ditch and said, "Now you guys can fill it back in." and then walked away.

While the others got the logs, from the clearing, and stacked them around me, I chopped away at them. DJ was glad that he got to stack the wood that I had split and that he didn't have to chop any of it himself. I was a little rusty at first, but I soon got the hang of it again. ;)

Around 1:30 we all went back to the cabins, for our lunch break, then made our way back to the work sight. When 5:30 rolled around, we headed back to the cabins again and...

Fished, Fished, Fished...

We went fishing just about every evening and we quickly found that the best bate to use was leaches, of all this. Of course, we had to catch them to use them. That's, believe it or not, what we're doing in this picture.

Look how many fish we caught for Sunday's supper! Quite the catch for just eight people, isn't it? There's only thirty five fish in that sink... which, you'll be happy to know, was in the skinning house.

Not all of us caught fish when we went fishing on Sunday afternoon. Drew caught a couple of seagulls, while he was whirling in his fish... which was near the suffice of the water... and Pastor Mike caught a grocery bag by the handles. It was full of water when he pulled it up. In fact, it was so full that Hannah and I had to help him. =D

Sunday wasn't our only day off of work. We had one other day of rest, before we went home. Of course, we took that time to go...

Sight Seeing

We went to this one place were they have nothing but a gift shop and bears... oh, and hounds to hunt down the bears that get loose. Isn't this cub just the cutest thing?

Well, we thought so. Which is why we're all petting him. He was sooo soft. I should tell you that this cub thought that Pastor Mike's head was one of his poles... and he stepped unto his head, from the pole he had already been on. =D

There were actually three cubs in that petting cage. One of them smelt the candy that David had in his Short's pocket and he tried to get it out. The other cub rubbed up against Darren's right leg and left him a little gift to remember him by. =D Darren was, from then on, known as Poo Bear... and the van smelt really, really bad for the rest of the trip!

Our last stop was Tahquamenon Falls. The water was really low at the time, but it was still a beautiful sight!

Our trip ended shortly after that. We all agreed that it had been the best way to get to know each other really well and that we had all had a blast serving God.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Bye for now. =)

I Just Can Keep It To Myself!!!!

2008-09-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

My sister (Sharon) called us last night and said that she's due sometime in the middle of May! Well, she gave us a date, but since Abigail and Naomi were both born early... I thought that I'd just put the middle of May down. ;)

Please be praying that everything will go well and all. I think most of us are hoping for a healthy boy, but we'll be very happy with a healthy girl, as well. Or for one of each. ;)

Please don't kill me for that, Sharon...

Day Care Cuteness

2008-09-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

The other day, Sandy was telling all of the kids about the craft that they were about to do for the day. "Beth drew some zeros for you. I'll give you all some glue and you can put the Cheerios on the paper... inside the zeros. Like this. You can eat them too, if you like."

With this said, Myra (one of the three year old girls) got a look of hoar on her face. It was soon replaced with a wrinkled up nose, however, as she said, "Cheerios with glue and paper? Yuck!"

Not long ago, I was changing Alan's diaper. He was moving around so much that I could barely get the clean diaper on him.

"Your a wiggle worm." I told him.

"No, I octopus." he replied, shaking his head.

"Nope. Your definitely a wiggle worm." I said, shaking my head as well.

"No. I octopus in the water." And with that, since I was done, he swam away. Octopus style.

Well, that's all that I can think of for now, but don't let that bother you. "Day Care Cuteness" is bound to show up quite a bit. ;)

Sunday 14, 2008 P.M. Notes

2008-09-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

"Creatures in Proverbs" Ten lessons from common critters.

One of God's purposes in Creation is to reveal His power and glory. We begin to recognize God for who He is when we see He has made.

A secondary purpose of the created order is educational. We can learn many lessons from the things that God has made. Remember what Jesus said about "bird lessons" and "flower lessons?"

In Solomon's better days he wrote down some lessons and illustrations for us from the common critters he saw. There are over 20 of these in Proverbs, today we'll take a glance at 10.

1. A lesson from a nursing fawn. (Proverbs 5:15-20)
A fawn goes to it's own mother for satisfaction. Be content with your spouse.

2. A lesson from a gazelle. (Proverbs 6:1-5)
Get out of an unhealthy alliance by humbling yourself and run like a gazelle.

3. A lesson from ants. (Proverbs 6:6-11)
The point is not "Hoard as much as you can", but that we should work and TRUST the Father! Laziness is not next to godliness.

4. A lesson from a pig. (Proverbs 11:22)
Beauty loses its luster when discernment is missing, 1 Peter 3:3-5- unfading beauty.

5. A lesson from an ox. (Proverbs 14:4)
Take away the ox and you'll have a clean manger and no increase.

6. A lesson from a lion. (Proverbs 19:12, 20:2)
Don't mess with the King! If you make the authorities angry, you do so at your own peril.

7. A lesson from an eagle. (Proverbs 23:5, Isa 40:31, Matthew 6)
Money can take wings and fly... do not trust in uncertain riches. Put your hope in God.

8. A lesson from a snake. (Proverbs 23, 29, 35)
They are sneaky and once you are bitten the trouble only gets worse.

9. A lesson from a horse and donkey.
Reasoning with a fool is like expecting long term changes from a horse or a donkey... woe to the one who is wise in his own eyes.

10. A lesson from a dog. (Proverbs 26:11)
Returning to foolish behavior is like a dog re-eating what didn't stay down the first time. It didn't work then, it probably won't work the second time either- or the 28th time.

The Ionia Free Fair & The Berrien County Youth Fair

2008-08-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Ionia Free Fair

It was so much fun going to the Ionia Free Fair with Sharon and the girls. We spent the afternoon there and had a pic-nic lunch, as well. Abby kept wanting to ride the horses and Naomi had to be bounced up and down the whole time she was in my arms. If I stopped bouncing her, she'd jerk up and down herself till I started bouncing her again. Boy, did I ever get a workout! ;)

Just a little warning. If you ever go on the Avalanche with Sharon (my sister), don't ride on the outside. Ever since I past her up in height, I've been the one riding on the outside, because I'm taller. You'd think that I would have learned a long time ago to ride on the inside and not on the outside! She just loves to give me an "Avalanche Sandwich"... for the whole ride!

Here's some pictures that we got of the girls:

Abby's first horse ride was at the Ionia Free Fair and boy did she ever love it!

Naomi enjoyed her first time to the fair. Her favorite parts were: petting all the animals and riding the carousel.

The Berrien County Youth Fair

We've been going to the Berrien County Youth Fair for as long as I can remember. It's become a family tradition. One we greatly enjoy.

When I was about 10, I started work as a helper for the one and only (in all of Michigan) Best Friends 4-H Club (for disabled kids and their dogs). I did that for 3 or 4 years (till we moved out to South Dakota) and got very close with the young man I worked with. Matt and Sam (the dog) won three years in a row and I'm still proud of what they accomplished together.

The 1997 Best Friends 4-H Club members. They all learned to work with their best friends. =)

Best in class, three years in running: Matt & Sam. And yes, that young girl is me (that's about the age I past Sharon up at).

This year we went again and spent a good part of the day there. The Berrien Fair is, by far, the largest fair I've ever been to. If your ever this way in Augaust, we'll have to take you there, as well...

Here's some pictures that we got, this time:

This was the only ride at the Berrien County Youth Fair that John Mark, mom, and I went on together. It's called the Fire Ball. Looks like fun doesn't it? John Mark and I sure thought it was.

OK, so I didn't really want to go on any of the rides by myself, but I quickly got over that. The Twister looked really fast, but after just being on the Fire Ball, it was kind of weak... if you know what I mean.

This is the other ride that John Mark and I went on together. The Glider was a very relaxing ride. Of course, we weren't locked in yet, when mom took this picture.

How many of you know what this family is doing or what it's called? And yes, the girl had to duck, so she wouldn't hit her head, when the guys went under the beams. ;)

Thank God!

2008-08-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

Both of these are such good news that I jumped up and down when I heard them. First, I was told last month that my knee should be better in two more months and that I had just bruised my knee really bad! YES!!!!!!! I was so glad to hear that news that I felt like running all over the place... I would have to, if my knee hadn't been hurting so much from all that binding and pushing, that the doctor did and had me do too. =)

Second, Eli is better. He'll always get MERSA when he gets a cut or something like that, but for now, he's doing just fine. =) Thankfully the other kids haven't gotten it from him yet. Please, keep praying that they won't.

Eli Needs Our Prayers

2008-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

The other day, one of the one and a half year old boys (Eli) that we watch at the day care, came with what his parents thought was a "bug bite" on his left arm. He had a bandaid on over it and Sandy and I checked it through out the day. At lunch time I saw that it was turning red and that it was getting hot, too. I carefully removed the bandaid and saw that there was a lot of pus coming out of the wound. I went and got a tissue and then got as much pus out as Sandy would allow. Sandy called his mom and she came and took him to the doctor.

Come to find out, Eli has MERSA (a antibiotic resistant staff infection) in the open wound on his arm.

Please pray for Eli to get healthy quickly and that others won't get this from him.

A New Roof

2008-07-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Thank God! We now have a new, non- leaking, roof on our house! We were bless to have some men from our church family come and tear off the old leaking roof and then replace it with the new roofing. It took eight days to replace it, because the weather was so hot and humid.

The guys would come at 5:30am to start working before it got to humid to do anymore work. By 9:30am it would be to humid and the guys would have to leave and come back at 5:30pm to start working again. When 9:30pm rolled around, the guys would have the tarp back on the roof, just in case it rained, and were on their way home.

I'm sorry to say that I wasn't able to get any pictures of the guys working on the roof. I was at work in the mornings and helping on the roof or picking up the shingles, tar paper, nails, and staples that were now on the ground, in the evenings. It was really cool to have the opportunity to help the guys on the roof and on the ground. I learned a lot helping them and I wouldn't trade the opportunity for anything.

Battle Creek Air Show & The U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds

2008-07-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

July 5th was a really hot day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so no matter how much sunblock we (Mom, John Mark, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Renae, Justin, Derek, John, and I) put on, we still ended up getting burned. We had a wonderful time at the Air Show though. Of course, the best thing was seeing the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds performance. We also seen a Wing Walker, The Alabama Boys, the old Air Force airplanes and the new Air Force airplanes (and a salute to our troops with both together). Of course, there were others, but I don't remember the names of them all.

After the Air Show in Battle Creek, we went back to the Battle Creek Campgrounds where my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Renae were staying for the 4th of July weekend. Of course, the boys... Justin, Derek, and David... along with one of Justin's friends (John), were there as well. It was kind of like our family "get together" for the 4th, since we hadn't seen them the day before.

John Mark dressed up in his "Blues" for the 4th of July... about a year ago. ;)
"God Bless The USA & Our Troops!" Please, don't forget to pray for our Nation & Troops.

Day Care

2008-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Praise God! I'm finely working again! Although, I'm only working one full day and one half day. You maybe wondering why I'm not working more hours then that, so I'll just tell you one of the reasons. I haven't been able to see an Orthopedic Doctor (bone doctor) yet and Sandy (my boss) doesn't want me doing anything to make my knee worse.

It felt really good to see all of those sweet kids again. I missed them so much! I guess that they had missed me too, because my first half day back to work, they all clung to me for five minutes before letting me go.

Left to right: (Back) Serena and Tru. (Front) Alex, Dakota, and Myra. The girls love playing dress up and getting their hair done. They brush it and I braid it. :)

This is Clay and John. The boys love playing under the tables. Most of the time, we'll push the two small tables together and then drape a blanket or two over them to make a really awesome fort. This time they were just under there playing with their cars.

The Kids also love playing outside as much as they can. This is Dakota and Tatum (just two of the four Johnson cousins). They're doing the "Spider Twist" Ride. ;)

Aren't They Just Adorable?

2008-06-09T16:18:00.001-07:00

OK, so I just have to show off my two adorable nieces. Abigail is two and Naomi is almost six months. They love playing together and Abby is definitely taking her role of being the bigger sister seriously.
I was watching them not that long ago when Abby made this very clear. I had moved Naomi a couple of times so that she wouldn't get herself in trouble, by kicking her feet into some wires (which weren't plugged into anything), but she always just rolled right back over to that same spot. Abby, who was helping me play a game on the computer; and was also helping me keep an eye on Naomi, hopped down from my lap and went over to tell Naomi, "No!". She was now kicking the books (Which mommy had told her not to do). At first Naomi wasn't doing as Abby said, but then Abby did the sign for 'no' and said, "Nine, Omi!" Nine is the German word for 'no' and when Abby says it, she means it! Naomi, who knows this, looked like she was about ready to cry. She did stop kicking the books and the wires, however, so it was all good.

Abby also loves helping mommy around the house. She does a really good job of getting the dishes dry too. ;)

There's hardly a moment when Naomi's not smiling or laughing. We call her "Happy Girl". =)

Trip To Mackinac Island

2008-05-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

OK, I know that I already had this on here, but I wanted to change it up a little bit. I added more pictures. Plus it has more info. for you to read about the trip.

This was for Laura's graduation trip. I had invited her to come to our house for her trip, so after sometime of talking about it, we both agreed on Mackinac Island. So here we go...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mrs. Brown and Laura met us at James and Sharon's (my brother-in-law & sister) church, where the CBI singers were to sing. We all enjoyed the concert and see the students that we already knew, again.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

We got everything together and headed for WalMart. He he, you thought I was going to say Mackinac Island, right? OK, we did head there, but we stopped at WalMart first... to get the oil changed in the car. =)

We played games, made movies, ate lunch, read jokes, and talked about almost everything, on the way up to Mackinac City. Hey, we had to pass the time in the car somehow. =)

In the long run, we decided that we couldn't go so close to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) without crossing the Mackinac Bridge. We caught the Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry on the other side and took it over to Mackinac Island, then went to find the Bed & Breakfast that we were to say at for the night. After that, we walked around in town and went for a long hike.

Friday, May 23, 2008

After breakfast, Laura and I went to see the inside of Fort Mackinac, while mom and Mrs. Brown went for a walk along the water front. We met up again and decided to take a buggy ride... since I couldn't bike, at the time. We all enjoyed the drive and I taught everyone how to drive the horse and buggy. They all did really good at it to. ;)

Well, our trip was fast coming to an end and there were still things in town that we wanted to do. Like more shopping. ;) We ate supper at a restaurant that was near the water front and we each enjoyed our very delicious meal.

All to soon we found ourselves running for the ferry (long story) and back in the our car... which got ran past, by another car full of teens (another long story). Those of us that know the stories behind both of these... experiences... can LOL, right about now. ;)

The ferry ride to Mackinac Island was both COLD and AWESOME!

We all went on a long hike and found ourselves looking at Arched Rock and the totally awesome view (the picture below). =)

While us girls were at the fort, the mothers went to the water front... which is were this picture was taken. I put this picture on here, because you can see Fort Mackinac up on the hillside.

This is one of the views form Fort Mackinac, of the town below. We could see almost all of the Island from the fort and it was just absolutely breath taking!

OK, I had to post some pictures on here from the buggy ride. Here I am Driving. ;)

Mrs. Brown and my mom got to enjoy the view while Laura and I drove.

Of course, we had to get a picture at the restaurant. The food was so good! =)

Back at the Stockman's

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Laura and I got unto the computer to checkout the times for Prince Caspian and it took me almost an hour just to get unto the Internet. The computer decided that it was going to act up for me again and, of course, once I got unto the Internet, the screen started going in and out. Yeah, that wasn't fun! That was down right annoying!

Anyways, later on that day, we went over to James and Sharon's house. Abby was a little shy at first, but she was soon playing, laughing, singing, and running all over the place. In other words, she was soon herself again. Naomi laughed, smiled, cooed, and stuck out her tongue (her new thing to do at the time) the whole time that we were there. =)

After that we went to see Prince Caspian. That was such a good movie!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Of course, we went to church. When we come home Laura and I worked on a story that we had started working on in Mackinac (more about that later). It was also nice to just lay there and talk.

Well, after the evening service we agreed that Prince Caspian was just so good that we had to go see it a second time. So we did. ;)

Monday, May 26, 2008

Laura, John Mark, and I got unto the computer again and watched some of the DHP Films. Thankfully, the computer was being good at the time. Around 11:00a.m. we went for a walk on one of the many trails in town. On the way back home, we stopped at Meijer... which was the first time that either Mrs. Brown or Laura had ever been
there. When we got home we played Dutch Blitz. It got really wild at times and we were all laughing so hard, that at times I was totally lightheaded!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Mrs. Brown and Laura were heading home. It was such a blessing to have them here and to be able to go with them to Mackinac Island, as well. We all enjoyed the time that we had with them and we were glad that they could come out... and up... to Michigan.

How do you like this tree? Did I mention that the trail is near the Flat River?

THE END

My Testimony

2008-05-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

When I was five years old, mom was telling us (the Junior Chruch Class) a story about a man that had been caught in a fire and as a result, had three degree burns all over his body. His doctor, who was a Christian, told him that he didn't have long to live and asked him if he had ever asked Jesus into his heart. When the man said that he hadn't, the doctor asked him if he could share what Jesus had done for him. The man said that he would like to hear what Jesus had done for him, so the doctor pulled a white crose (made of paper) out of one of his pockets and told him how Jesus had died on the cross for everyone that was to live on the Earth (to pay for ALL of their sins) and how He had risen from the dead on the third day. To make a long story short, the hurt man asked Jesus into his heart and died that ever night.

Mom then asked if there was anyone in our class that didn't have Jesus in their hearts yet and my brother (who had a burden for me) said, "Beth doesn't." Mom asked me if I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart and I tearfully said, "Yes."

I asked Jesus into my heart that hot Sunday morning and I'm thankful that He's there to stay.