StaddonFamily.com

posted by Esther on 04/20/08

What a fun, full, action-packed week! It has been a blessing to have the four Altizer boys, Joshua (7), Caleb (4), Jonathan (3) and David (3) come for a visit. This time for 12 days; a little longer than their first visit

Each morning we have spent some time memorizing Psalm 100. What an uplifting chapter it is! It is a true inspiration to get my focus back on glorifying the Lord!

Here is the verse visual for Psalm 100:1 "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands."

 Join us by coming to visit our blog  to see the rest of the verse visuals

along with more pictures of what the boys are doing at our house.

Our goal is to have 100 people join us in memorizing or reviewing Psalm 100!

We would like to invite you! Just leave us a comment something like this: "Yes! I am one of the hundred to accept the Psalm 100 Challenge!" If more than one from your family plan to participate please include the exact number. So far there are 6 participants.

12 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Donald on 04/17/08

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13, 14).

This verse was a particular encouragement to me years ago when I first began to study God’s design for time. Otto Koning’s testimony was a great encouragement also. Giving God the first day of the week however is only a way of telling Him that my whole life is His and that I seek to live for no one else but Him.

One part of His reward is that we would be able to ride, so to speak, on the high places of the earth, not caught up in distractions that can quickly become a burden. One way this was fulfilled recently was when a few of us had the opportunity to go hiking in Yu Shan National Park. It is one of Taiwan’s six National Parks and encompasses Jade Mountain, Taiwan’s (and in fact one of Asia’s) highest points. It was a short visit. We did not even see Jade mountain. But on the Walami Trail we got as far as the “beware of bears” sign and enjoyed each other’s company! May we learn as early as possible to enjoy the path of the One Who said “Follow Me”.

4 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by Jonathan on 04/14/08

I really like mushrooms so one day I decided to grow them. First we decided where to buy them. We bought them from Jung Seed And Nursery in Michigan. When they first came we watered them and made sure all the soil was wet. After that we set them in a warm dark closet for about ten days until a gray mold had covered most of the top. Then we watered them a lot more and put it in a cooler dark place. If they are ripe, the bottom opens up and you can see ridges. This is at the peek of their freshness. Ten days after the mold had mostly covered the dirt, we where able to pick two mushrooms. They tasted really fresh for dinner. The next day we picked nine more! The following day we picked more than we had ever pick before – 20! That made a total of 31! This was our first big harvest. A couple of weeks later we got another big harvest. In all we harvested around 50 mushrooms. We also dried them so we could put them on pizza and in other foods. I always am amazed as I examine the small works of God’s hands.

Psalm 143:5 “…I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”

5 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by James on 04/13/08

Swallow Falls State Park, famous for it’s ancient hemlock forest and spectacular waterfalls, is an unbelievably picturesque park situated deep in the mountains of northwestern Maryland. As I photographed the emotive scenery, I found that including people in a composition helped to express the thrilling atmosphere of the park. This photo of our family at the trail head uses different elements like the hemlock, fence and van to suggest the transition from every-day travel to on-foot adventure.

The first falls we visited in the park was Muddy Creek Falls. At 53 feet, it is the tallest waterfall in Maryland. For this picture, I could have easily cropped out Daniel and the boardwalk,  but having someone just standing there gazing at the falls helped to evoke a feeling of remote seclusion and aural amazement. Technically, this picture was hard to capture. To make the water look like it was flowing, I needed to use a shutter speed slower than 1/15th of a second. This almost allowed too much light for an aperture of f/29 to compensate for. But thankfully the sun was still deeply shrouded in clouds and there wasn’t an overabundance of light to hinder capturing the desired effect.

I was laying flat out on the rock on top of Swallow Falls trying to get a dynamic shot of the the twisting valley below. Well, Michael just so happened to be standing in my way and as I waited for him to move, I couldn’t help but snap a few shots.
If you ask me, I think the picture turned out better than if he would have moved. Now it doesn’t just speak of beauty, it speaks of determination and durability as well.

While we were at such a beautiful park, we figured that while we were at it, we might as well try to get a good senior portrait of Daniel.
I wasn’t exactly prepared to do this but we
took a shot at it anyway. One interesting thing I remember about taking this picture was that to get the right perspective, I precariously positioned myself and the tripod on a few rocks half off the shore of the Youghiogheny River. We also had to wait patiently for the harsh sunlight to be defused by the thick clouds which rolled quickly by.

I liked this candid photo of the family just standing in awe of the mighty power and overwhelming beauty of the sight and sound of a rushing waterfall. The only thing I regret is the fact that you can’t see what they are looking at too well. It could have been a more dynamical image if I had heightened my angle of view or even completely changed my viewpoint to be looking up at them from somewhere in the canyon below.

Even though this composition doesn’t include any people, it might look appealing to the next one who goes hiking by. It’s just a simple, moss covered log sitting next to the trail, waiting for the next weary hiker to sit down for a rest. In this case,  I was glad for the sun to be shining
as it added depth and texture to the image.

As a family, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and recommend you stop there on your next visit to the Appalachian Mountains.

6 Comments » | posted in Photography

posted by Michael on 04/6/08

Family unity seems to be in danger of extinction in American culture. Almost everywhere you look older siblings are tearing down their younger brothers and sisters. Leaving home is the escape that young people long for. Obviously, the reason that family discord is so wide spread is because the root causes for it are accepted as normal in our culture. The only way to avoid normal problems is to avoid the normal causes. The result is raising a family in a very abnormal way. My words can not express how grateful I am that my parents had the gumption to do what seemed radical. The farther that “normal” degenerates, the more radical simple common sense goodness appears to be. But the fruit of their efforts and the efforts of other faithful parents glowed in an awesome way last weekend as we gathered together with a number of other “out-of-the-ordinary” families in joyous, holy, unified fellowship.

On Sunday, April 6, eight families (Butlers, Campbells, Hynes, Mattiches, Staddons, Thrashes, Voells, and Wilkes) gathered together at Cacapon State Park, WV, despite chilly, drizzly weather. Soon a cheerful fire was cracking in the cozy pavilion and the peaceful melody of hymns echoed out through the trees. Following came the secret to our fellowship: the Word of Truth. We heard fresh insights into the Biblical significance of hope and what it means to us. No one cared about the amount of time that passed as we fed on the green pastures of God’s holy, unchanging Word. Afterwards we openly confessed our sins to God and one another in prayer and proceeded to renew our covenant together in the blood of Christ (Mark 14:24).  Each of the men aged 13 and older gathered and shared the parts of the message that were most meaningful as well as additional insights and admonitions. Meanwhile, the ladies had prepared a scrumptious feast around which we got to know new friends.

A much-anticipated highlight of our time was a new kind of sport:

(more…)

8 Comments » | posted in Ministry Reports