Family Happenings

What a beautiful Saturday morning to watch a soccer game! The fog lifted, and the sun emerged to warm our bones. I enjoyed a very nice conversation with a friend I hadn't seen for a couple months, while our sons played a pretty good game of soccer. Ty's rec team won 4 - 1; Ty had two of the goals, while David had the other two, and no, they aren't ball hogs. : ) It was great to watch a game of soccer again. Tuesday and Friday nights just haven't seemed the same this year.

Michigan Sugar is up and running as of yesterday. Joel's plant was the first plant of the four to get going, after some minor difficulties. The start-up day is rarely without a few mechanical surprises. The sugar beet crop appears to really good, so maybe the company will exceed the nearly 1 billion pounds of sugar produced last year. Just think of what we can do with all that sugar!

What about Ashlea? Well, she participated her church's neighborhood gospel outreach this morning. She was thankful the Lord gave her boldness to share the gospel with several people, and she also had the opportunity to tell a Jehovah's Witness they teach heresy (they don't believe that Jesus is God). I'm sure that interchange didn't take any extra boldness (flashback to debate days). Ashlea is also trying to minister to a homeless lady in her neighborhood. I gave her some advice earlier in the week about safety precautions in dealing with homeless people, and she thought I was just being an overly-protective mom. The funny thing is that someone else later gave her the same counsel, and all of a sudden, I became a wise woman. Wow.

I am going to be leading the ladies' Bible study at church this year. I'm rather excited about the opportunity, because It's been over ten years since I've lead one. We'll be studying Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges. I pray that I made a good book choice, one that will really minister to the spiritual needs of the ladies. Those of you that know me well, know that I detest fluffy women's Bible study books, and there are so many out there. Remember The Friendships of Women that was all the rage several years ago? Aaargh! To end on a happy note, I'm very thankful for the women in our church; they are such a blessing, because they are well-grounded in Scripture.