GOT JESUS?

The kids were thrilled when there was a package for them on our porch one day this week. Grandma and Grandpa Hintz sent these shirts for them. They immediately put them on and cruised around campus. It is so sweet to see the faith of a child. It is especially easy for all of us here because everyone living here is training to be a pastor. So it is a neat and unusual community to be living in. When will we ever be surrounded by a neighborhood of believers? I am amazed by my kids sometimes. They can remember Bible stories way better than I can. They can also memorize scripture more easily than me. I love the fact that they just can't see why someone wouldn't believe in our Savior. I know I already mentioned part of this in a previous post but when we were at the family reunion a few weeks ago my brother Mark gave testimony to God's faithfulness to him and his family during his liver illness right now. So there were 45 or so people surrounding the camp fire and we had just finished singing some praise songs. We then had a prayer time where everyone came around Mark and his family and prayed for them. It was awesome, but I was also touched by my Louis. He was not at all afraid but prayed right out loud for his uncle. I remember when I was pregnant with him and the others that I would pray for them, for their health, the delivery, for their future friends and spouses, but most of all I prayed that they would know Jesus as their Savior. That is the most important thing to me. I just love to see the faith of a child but wow, I thank God for the faith of my children and the Holy Spirit's work in their life.

SPECIAL TIMES WITH SPECIAL COUSINS

ANNA WITH HER BEST BUDDY SOPHIE MAE

JOJO AND TOBY

CALEB, GRACIE, ELLA, AND LOU

ANNA AND NEW BABY ISABELLA

These are pictures from the family reunion. The kids with a few of their cousins. They just love time with any of their 17 cousins. When we lived in Wisconsin we lived less than a mile away from 7 of their cousins. Our kids miss all of them. It sure was fun spending time with good buddies.

Not too much new here in St. Louis. We are still running around 95 degrees in the shade. Yikes. The kids are enjoying lots of Sprinkler time. The big boys might hit a water park tomorrow, we were blessed with some free tickets from a friend. Otherwise we are enjoying the last bits of summer before we all head back to school after Labor Day. As I get older the summers seem to fly by faster.

VACATION PHOTOS

ONE TIRED HIKER

MORE TIRED HIKERS

NOW A HAPPY, NOT SO TIRED HIKER :)

NORTHERN LIGHTS FAMILY REUNION 07

Family Reunion Fun

Uncle Thomas & Aunt Adrienne renewing their vows

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS FAMILY REUNION 2007

THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION, WHOM SHALL I FEAR?

PSALM 27:1

We were so fortunate to be able to head up to Wisconsin to be a part of the Going Family Reunion. This is my mom's side of the family. It is basically her and her 2 brothers and all of their kids and the kid's kids. Does that make sense? Basically, it was all of my aunts and uncles and my cousins. There were about 60 of us all together. We headed up to my parent's home on Fence Lake and rented the cabin next door. We had a wonderful time. The wonderful, special thing about it is the common bond we all share in Christ. The neighbor up there laughed saying, "You are going to spend 5 days together? My family couldn't spend more than 5 hours together." We did all have so much fun laughing, playing, singing by the fire, and catching up. We had a really special prayer time by the fire lifting up my brother Mark and his family and his liver disease. He gave a great, encouraging testimony of all God is doing in his life right now. He has a great attitude about it all and is certainly using it for God's glory. The verse above was our theme verse for the week, perfect for him and all of us.

Sunday we celebrated my aunt and uncles 50th wedding anniversary. He is a retired pastor. It was so special. We had an outdoor Sunday morning church service with their 6 kids and spouses all taking part in it somehow. During the service they renewed their wedding vows. Wow, what an example it was for all of us younger marrieds as well as all of the grandchildren. It is so neat to see people stick it out through all of the tough times and come through it loving each other more. They are such a special couple. We love them dearly.

The top picture is of some crazies :) on the raft my brothers John and Josh built. The funny thing was it was a total experiment. It was successful and actually floated. :) It took a little revising and it was a hit. The raft bit the dust after the contest to see how many people it could hold and still float. I think there had to be about 30 people on it when it broke apart. Thank the Lord no one was hurt at all. This was the year for my family to be the hosts. We had so much fun planning and doing it all. So three years from now it will be off to Montana for the next Going Reunion.

BACK IN THE HEAT OF ST. LOUIS

The Texas small group reunion

The south rim of the Grand Canyon

I am finally getting a chance to blog again. I wanted to get a picture up of our small group reunion in Arkansas. After we spent the weekend with those dear friends, we headed out towards the Grand Canyon. Along the way we stayed with friends and family. Once we arrived in Arizona we had the opportunity to camp for a bit. We had an absolute blast. It was such a treat to be able to get away from the seminary for a bit. It was even more of a treat to just spend time as a family. We really love it here, but with so many people living so close together sometimes family time is hard to come by, so we treasured just being together. It was incredibly hot during the day and we thankfully had good tent sleeping nights with cooler temperatures. (Speaking of temperatures it was forcasted to be 103 degrees here today in St. Louis, that is really hot for my Wisconsin blood.) The canyon was absolutely beautiful. We just kept saying as we looked out that it looked fake, like a back drop. The size and magnitude of that place is just amazing. We had a lot of fun doing some shorter hikes at the south and north rim of the canyon. We saw an amazing lighting storm come over the canyon. We were in a building right on the edge of the canyon and could just stay inside and watch it. It was really strange to actually see lightning striking below you in the canyon. We sat there for probably 40 minutes just watching. We watched a geology park ranger show there. It was great afterwards to be able to discuss the differences between how evolutionists believe the canyon was formed and how Christians do. The only disappointing thing was that there was evolution promoted everywhere there. We had a great book from Answers in Genesis about how the Grand Canyon was formed so we read some from that most days while we were there. We had a wonderful time. The kids did great with all of the driving. We saw 49 of the 50 states license plates along the way, everything but Rhode Island. The kids literally freaked when in one day we saw both Alaska and Hawaii. I will post more pictures of our trip in the future. We are thankful to be back at our home safe and sleeping in our own beds. Yeah! Staying cool here in the sprinklers in St. Louis :)