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posted by Robert on 06/7/10

Sometimes in life you have to take a leap of faith …

… just make sure it’s a well-calculated leap!

Two of our friends were recently moving a large stack of mattresses and decided to have some fun…

Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

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posted by Donald on 05/16/10

Three recent events reminding us of God’s perfect timing …

May 10—The Bates family exemplified orderliness and obedience when their dad said that it was time to go. Less than an hour later, around 1:15, James and Daniel also left for their trip back to Illinois. They however soon returned. A new house-building project was blocking our road and a bypass route had to be found. Then we began to wonder: “How did the Bates make it through?” The only thing we could figure was that the men working on the house had been on a lunch break between 12:00 and 1:00, leaving the road passable at that time. If the Bateses hadn’t left in the time God gave them, getting new directions would have been, for them, time-consuming, not to mention presenting the possibility of getting lost in the-middle-of-nowhere West Virginia. Honoring and obeying authority is God’s way of helping us “bypass” a host of unforeseen roadblocks. 

May 11—Voting Day. Almost everyone remaining at home came down with flu-like symptoms to one degree or another. It was terrible! But on the previous Sunday evening, Dad had given a message from James 1 about sharing Christ’s joy as we weather the trials. Now was our chance to “rejoice … knowing this, that the trying of [our] faith worketh patience … that [we] may be [mature and complete, lacking] nothing”! David’s broken arm also needed to be set that day. There is no doubt that the enemy was doing whatever he could to keep us from casting our vote. With that perspective and much grace from God, all of us were able to vote and after returning from town my queasiness never seriously bothered me again. We were also tremendously grateful that James and Daniel had left soon enough not to be effected.

May 14—it was supposed to rain in the afternoon so we went to mow the lower section of our property in the morning. After I took care of the area around the pond and trimmed the rest, Jonathan took over, finishing before lunch. Still the sun was shining. As a matter of fact it didn’t even sprinkle until 6:40. I began to think I could have done “more important things” and maybe even put off the mowing altogether until Saturday. When morning dawned, my doubtful thoughts quickly vanished. From our dining room window we saw that in the night a tree had blown down right across the lawn. I looked at Jonathan. The surprise on his face mirrored my own. Both of us were glad we didn’t put off the job that Dad said was important.

Don’t worry too much about finding the perfect time to do a job. Stay in touch with authority. Do the most important things first.

3 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by Donald on 01/15/10

As time goes by, the web site has grown into a kind of album. Since there were so many pictures from our trip that still didn’t make it into our posts we decided to devote one more post to pictures! We hope you will share in our joy both for what the Lord has done in our families and for the promise of what He has yet to do this year developing the character of Jesus Christ in us.

5 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by Daniel on 01/4/10

I don’t think our family has ever had a more exciting New Years celebration! Nearing the end of our Florida trip, December 31 found us at the Neely household – experienced hosts indeed! You should have been there. We fit everything you can think of into that all-too-short two-night stay: Dutch Blitz, Settlers of Catan, Kings and Peasants, Occupations, pruning trees, transplanting blueberries, jumping on the trampoline, singing and making music together, and taking the infamous ride down their front hill in the “Red Mule.” Even Duck Duck Goose! We also had a great time laughing around their dinner table, sharing life’s most embarrassing moments , and enjoying their constant supply of delectable food.

Perhaps the most memorable event of all was blowing up their gingerbread house. Wild? Maybe. But a blast none the less! The pyrotechnicians in the family had discovered that you could create quite an explosion by combining balls  of foil with a special cleaning agent in a plastic bottle. All we had to do was take the experiment one step farther – why not place the bottle inside the gingerbread house! (It was no longer edible anyway. Otherwise it probably would have met a different fate… ) I personally was rather skeptical, thinking it would probably give a little pop and roll over. No way! It shot gingerbread, icing, and candy over 10 feet away!

Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our visit. Thank you Neely Team for opening up your home and taking the time out of your full schedule to  encourage us with your gracious southern hospitality! You launched 2010 off to a thrilling beginning!

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posted by Daniel on 12/28/09

You know something’s wrong when everyone walking to the beach has their hands in their pockets wishing they had umbrellas. It was also a little disconcerting when we suddenly realized we were the only ones headed TO the beach – everyone else was going the opposite way! (We passed one lady wearing shorts, a  t-shirt, and a scarf!) But determined we were. Finally we got to the almost-vacant beach, only to find out a Nurse Shark (the kind that bite and suck) had been spotted just a few feet out from the shore! After a good laugh at ourselves, Dad suggested trying a different beach.

Later we saw how God was working it all out for good. Because we began swimming after it had started to sprinkle, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Then the sun came out, we had a blast riding the waves, and we were ready to head home just as all the crowds started pouring onto the  beach. And now we can all say we went swimming—on Christmas Day!

4 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side