New York: Friends, guns and relatives

Recently we took a trip to New York. We went there for a relative's wedding and also so we could visit some friends and relatives of ours. We had a great time, as you may be able to tell from the photos...

Here we are, all dressed up for the wedding.

Our friends let us use their guns for target practice after they showed us how to use them.

About half way through our shooting, the sheriff from the next county came. As he was walking toward us, he said "NOW I've found them!". :-) Turns out one of the neighbors from across the town line had contacted the station letting them know that there was a lot of shooting going on nearby. They had a lot of trouble with poachers (people that hunt out of season) in the area. But we were doing everything above board, so the sheriff was reassured, and chatted with us for a little while. Then we went back to our shooting.

We were in the countryside of New York, and there were farms all around us. The view from our friend's yard is very nice. There was also a lot of haying going on!

We took a walk around our friend's property.

Mom and Dad found one of their deer hunting stands!

When we got back to the house, we had a nice bonfire, and Jessica and I played our instruments around it. It was a nice ending to a wonderful visit. :-)

Poison and Opinions

This is a short movie made by some of the attendees of BUCKIT Week '09.

The month of July... it flew right by!

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that July slipped away so fast! It's been a busy month for all of us!

One thing that kept us busy was packing and moving. As of August 1, we are officially moved to Green Gambrels! After all the driving we've been doing recently, it's a relief to stay put in one place finally.

July 16-19 was the Follow-Me conference, held in New Hampshire. It was a great time of fellowship and challenges to follow Christ and be obedient to Him, no matter what the cost. There were three main speakers who spoke during the sessions. Jesse G. did a series on Spiritual Gifts, Jeremiah M. spoke on different New Testament principles, and Roy W. spoke on the role of works in the lives of believers, and how truth and love go together.
In between times we enjoyed talking, singing, and playing Pass the Story. The last evening several of us went door to door, inviting the neighbors to a gospel meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Two days of the conference, during the lunch break (which was about 2 hours!) a bunch of people from the conference took a walk up the road. When I say up, I mean literally! The house the conference was at was located on a road that was pretty much a hill from beginning to end. However, the view the top was well worth the walk!


We brought a friend with us from Follow-Me, and she spent a few days in Maine with us. It was so much fun having her here. She jumped right in and helped with chores - mowing a considerable part of the lawn the first day she was here! It was a fun but short visit - you'll have to come again soon, Sarah!

Then Mom took Julia, Sarah and I to the K's house, where we spent the remainder of the week. Mrs. K kept us busy with gardening and cooking. We weeded almost all of their large garden - it took all day, but we felt quite a sense of accomplishment when we finished!

The week after that we joined a bunch of friends from the New England area and traveled to Maryland in a 15-passenger van to attend BUCKIT week. BUCKIT stands for Bible University Christian Knowledge Intensive Training, and is a week-long classroom style conference that lives up to its name. This is its third year; I've been to all three BUCKIT weeks, and this was Julia's first.

The teaching was excellent. Craig S. took us through John 11-21 (we covered the previous chapters last year), shared some tips for better speaking, gave us a few illustrations to use when sharing the gospel, and numerous other things.
Jabe N. spoke on a variety of things. He gave us a tour of the continents during which we learned a lot about the countries in them, and the gospel work going on and the needs in each country. We also learned what Jesus thinks of our $tuff, and what He says about forgiveness. We were challenged to take the Lord at His word, and decide whether we'll follow Him whole-heartedly or not.

There was plenty of time for fellowship during the breaks and meal times. We met new friends, and got to see people we haven't seen in a while. One afternoon several of us BUCKITeers went to a park and played Ultimate Frisbee! That was a lot of fun.

The week seemed to go by too fast! The last day of BUCKIT week was Friday the 31st. We had our last session, had a late lunch as a group for the last time and then left.

Since then we've been slowly unpacking in Maine. Finding places to put things in our limited living space is a challenge, but Mom is doing a great job. Of course we're helping too, but Mom has a special talent with that.

Dad has been working on clearing out a spot in our backyard where he hopes to plant apple trees. He's been using his Kubota to pull out stumps and roots. We had quite a pile of them, so Mom got a 3 day burn permit from the town so we could get rid of it all.

Before:

During:

After:

The flowers are looking very nice! Mom and Mrs. H have painstakingly watered, weeded, pruned (and picked!) all the flowers in the garden.

Also, there has been a new arrival in the barnyard! The Japanese bantam, Poquito, and the brown bantam, Brownie, have a chick! The chick doesn't have a name yet, since we don't know its gender yet. But right now its unofficial name is "Chickie".

It's been getting bigger and bigger every day! Chickie follows Brownie everywhere she goes, and Poquito can often be found nearby, keeping an eye on his family.


Well, that's all from Green Gambrels for now!

The Kentucky Surge, Part 2

Where to begin?! Our two weeks in Kentucky were very busy, but it was a great time. Julia wrote about about our first couple days already. She was hoping to post as things happened, but time and energy did not allow for that! Here's an overview of what went on during the outreach. More pictures will come in future posts!

Believers came from around the country (and other countries!) to help the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship in Richmond, Kentucky. The Good News on the Move (GNOM) team was there also. The team had been on the road for about 9 months traveling to different assemblies around the US helping with more localized gospel outreaches.

Well, it was a great blessing being able to go to this outreach. Working together with other believers, especially sharing the gospel, is a great thing. I'm sure you're dying to know what happened, so I'll leave off the sentiments and begin reminiscing...

This outreach was divided into three weeks. During the first week, the materials were prepared and packets were hung on the doors of homes throughout Richmond.

Over 100 people traveled to Kentucky for Week 2 of the outreach. This week's activities included going back to the houses that had packets hung on the doors last week, and seeing if the residents had a chance to look through them and find out what they thought of them. Many times this led into an opportunity to talk with them further about the gospel, and many people wanted some of the believers from Bluegrass Bible Fellowship to come back and have a Bible study or talk with them more.

There were a series of gospel meetings held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night on the topic of "Peace in the Eye of the Storm". Several unbelievers came, including two young ladies who were spiritually awakened during the last few days, and recognized that God was trying to get their attention. They both were very interested and took some literature with them. They proved to be very good contacts, and are excited about starting a Bible study with some of the local believers.

There were also four kids clubs going on every day in different locations. During a couple days, two of the clubs didn't get any kids, and some days only two or three came. I helped at one kids club for a couple days. The gospel was clearly presented in a memorable way through paintboards, Bible stories, verses, and songs, and the kids listened very well. One girl seems like she is saved, and one of the boys was asking questions about salvation and eternal security. Please pray that all the kids would remember what they heard and not just forget about it, that they would understand salvation, and that they would be able to keep in contact with the local believers. They plan on having once-a-week kids clubs as a follow-up.

About 50 people, including folks from Bluegrass Bible Chapel, remained for the third week of the
the outreach. This week we mostly followed up with contacts from the previous two weeks, going back to their houses and seeing if they really were interested in someone coming back. Some wanted more visits, others wanted a Bible study, and some were not interested in further contact. We also did a little more door to door, as we didn't finish it all last week, and we had one kids club on Thursday morning. The two afternoon kids clubs got rained out.

We really enjoyed spending time with all the people there. We played lots of volleyball, had impromptu Bible studies, sang, talked, played games, laughed a lot... it was fun. You really get to know people when you work (and play!) with them for two weeks!

Well, it's kind of hard to sum up everything that went on during those two weeks, but I think that about covers the main events. Christ was proclaimed, people were reached, lessons were learned, friendships were made, and fellowship was enjoyed. All in all, a great and profitable time. Please remember to keep the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship and the others still working with them in your prayers, as well as the people they are still reaching with the gospel. It's exciting to see how the Lord has been working in Richmond!

The Kentucky Surge, Part 1

Well, we are here in Kentucky at last!

Friday the 19th and Saturday the 30th
On Friday we drove down to the K's house. We were going to take Mr. Mrs. K and Rachel. On Saturday, at about 6:10 AM we left to go to Kentucky. We had a nice, uneventful trip. The scenery was beautiful! We listened to music and a few songs on our way down, and of course, we visited a lot.

We dropped off Mr. and Mrs. K at their host home, and then we went to the hotel where we were going to stay. We got to the hotel around 8:00. We visited with some of the other people that arrived from Connecticut. Then we all went into out hotel room and unpacked. We met a few people that we had met at a previous outreach in the hotel, and it was nice to see them again.

Sunday, the 31st
On Sunday we slept in a little bit. Then we got up and Rachel, Jessica and I went down to the breakfast nook. We were joined by another Rachel and two of her friends, Jessica and Michelle. Then we finished breakfast and went to the room where we were going to have the church meeting. The meeting began at 9:30.

The Lord's Supper meeting was very nice! There was a lot of nice sharing from the men and singing. There was a half-hour break where we were able to see people that we hadn't seen in a while and meet new people. After the break Mr. N gave the message. It was on different objections that people have to the gospel. The verse he preached from was John 3:16.

After the church meeting, most people headed over to the home of one of the local believers. They lived about 8 minutes from the hotel. We had great fellowship with the people there. We also played from volleyball and a little soccer. It was a lot of fun! We stayed there for most of the aftenoon. At that time most people were leaving to go out to eat. We went back to the hotel and ate a light supper. We visited with out friends until 7:00 when the evening church meeting began. Mr. H brought a stirring message about just going out and reaching the lost.

After the meeting we visited. A bunch of the young people started up a game of mafia. I didn't play, but I took some pictures instead. It was fun watching! The circle gradually got smaller and smaller, and I left as it went down from about 15 people to 6. I later heard that they had played another game after that one was over, and that some people got to bed around 3:15 AM! I went to bed before the first game was over, though.

Then, needless to say, we went to bed!

More updates from the Kentucky outreach should be up sometime in the near future.

Please keep this outreach in prayer!

You can sign up to the Good New Now mailing list and get updates from this outreach and others by going to Uplook.org.

Good News Kentucky, Coming Up!

From May 23rd to June 12th a major gospel outreach will be taking place in Richmond, Kentucky. The Good News on the Move 4 team (GNOM IV) will be finishing up about 9 months of traveling around the U.S. helping assemblies organize gospel outreaches in their local areas. The Kentucky outreach will be a larger town-wide outreach. There are generally more people involved during the outreach at the end of the year, as well, both on the giving and receiving end of the Gospel.

You can find out more information about the Richmond outreach by going to http://GoodNewsOutreach.info. Mom, Jess and I plan on going down for the second and third weeks (May 30th through June 11th). We're pretty excited! We were able to go last year's major outreach (Surge) in Waterbury, CT (which you can read about here) and it was a good time of fellowship, encouragement and witnessing (both giving people the gospel and seeing the neat things that God did throughout the week!).

Please keep this outreach in prayer!

The Signature

Spring is here!

And so is Buckwheat, Ruger, Remington, Daisy and Lady Eleanor (Ellie for short). In case you're wondering who these names belong to, they belong to a batch of kids! Goat kids, of course.

We stayed up in Maine in April from the 3rd to the 13th. Three out of Arielle's five goats were pregnant. Two of them were due on Thursday the 9th, and one of them was due on Saturday the 11th.

Touche was due on Thursday, and she was very much on schedule! Arielle and Mrs. H assisted her, and she had a varied audience; from grandparents to a 3-month old!
Touche had Buckwheat and Spring, a buck and a due. Both of them are very fluffy! Buckwheat is more of a cuddler, while Spring certainly lives up to her name. She is one of the most energetic and adventurous kids.

Buckwheat soon after his arrival:

He has such a pink nose!
Spring just after her arrival:
Touche was a very good mamma goat, and licked off both her kids until they were both fluffed up.
Wales and Showgirl both had their kids on Saturday. The H's were using three stalls in the barn for the goats; Touche and her kids were in one stall, Tatty and Meggy (the two goats that weren't pregnant) were in another stall, and Wales and Showgirl were in the same stall.

Wales had her babies first. She had triplets!

Ruger was the first one. He was about the funniest looking kid that we or the H's had ever seen! He was weighed in at about 13 pounds, setting the record for the largest kid in their herd.

Daisy came next, and she was, in contrast, the smallest kid in this year's batch!

And then came Remington, who was a medium size kid.

And little while after the triplets were born, Ellie arrived! She is a really pretty little goat. She has a very independent personality, so we call her 'Independent Ellie' .

Arielle uses the goat milk for her soap (and the H's use it for drinking, cooking etc.) so the kids didn't nurse from their mothers for very long. The kids were separated from their mothers a day or two after birth. They still drank the milk from their mothers via bottle feeding. Bottle feeding gets the kids used to being around people, making them friendly, and they also follow people, so we can take them on walks!
For the first few days the kids got fed every 4 hours, with the amount of milk slowly being increased. Now the kids get fed 4 times a day, but soon it'll be shortened to 3 times.

Buckwheat and Spring:
The kids snuggling and sleeping...
Ruger and Daisy...

Up and about!
More playing, with Spring about to make a leap!
There will probably be more photos of the baby goats in the future, so keep checking back! :o)

Winter Adventures

Two weekends ago (Saturday the 17^th) we went for a walk down the road with about a dozen people and five goats. It was a lot of fun! In this photo there are only a few of us, but that’s because everyone else was behind us.

That was an adventure in itself. But, our property is in the process of being logged (actually, they’re finished cutting and stripping, and now they’re driving the logs away). So, to make things more interesting for our walk, a fully loaded logger truck was headed down the road as we were all headed up it! The driver obviously saw us. He was going a little fast, however, and when he pulled to the side of the road, the truck got stuck in the snow bank. A logging machine came out of the woods to pull it out. But first, the other machine had to clear the phone lines that were about 3 inches too low. So, after much maneuvering, the machine got through.

It was neat watching the machine pull the truck out of the snowbank.

Last Saturday we didn’t have time to do much around Green Gambrels, because we (Jess, Mom and I) went out to the fabric store with a few other young ladies. We left at about 10:00 and got back at about 3:30! Our family had been invited to supper by a couple that we’d met recently in our area. They lived about a half-hour away, so shortly after we got back from our first outing, we changed into church clothes and headed over to their house. We had an enjoyable visit and supper before going to the silo for church.

On Sunday we went for the walk with the H’s to their property (also known as ‘the property’). It was a nice walk.

When we got there, we visited with Sarah and some of us got to hold baby Wilder! The guys were hungry for lunch, so they all walked back ahead of us. Mrs. H and Jessica and I stayed for a little while longer. But then we decided that we should head back. Isaac met us about half-way down the road in the mini van and drove us back home.

When we got back to Green Gambrels, we all had a late but nice lunch together. After playing a game or two of ping-pong with Josh and Mr. H, we packed our bags, and the car, and left to return to our apartment in NH.

It is snowing right now, and the weather forecast says we’ll get a snow and sleet accumulation of 10 to 14 inches. Here are some photos of the snow up in Maine.

Green Gambrels

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! We had a good visit and meal with relatives in CT. On our way back we visited the K family. They wanted to see pictures of our Maine house, but we didn't have any with us. They said, "You really should put some on your blog." So, K's and all our friends who want to see the house and haven't visited us yet (hint, hint...), this post is for you!

the front of the house

the addition (the office is on the left, garage is on the right, and the apartment is on top)

from the distance (when we were moving in)

the side of the house

looking down the driveway at our neighbors' field

the playhouse

the barn

the riding arena (the tarps were an attempt to kill the weeds)

the equipment shed (it's much fuller now!)

the tool shed

Enjoying our new tractor - a Kubota!

digging out a fire pit in the backyard

the fire pit completed

the fire pit loaded

the fire pit doing its job


the ping-pong table in the garage

apples from one of our apples trees

a familiar sight


Mom and Mrs. H spreading leaves on the garden


A couple more recent pics: