5th and 6th, 7th and 8th graders

These are the 7th and 8th Graders.....

And these are the 5th and 6th graders.....

Today we had the older groups for Promised Land. Once again everything went very good. Time flys when you're having fun and that hour really went fast. With the older groups it's harder to tell whether or not they enjoyed Promised Land.......you know.....they're at that "be cool" age. But we know they heard God's message because they were very attentive. Our message this week (and last week with the little ones) was based on Psalm 139: 14-15. And the Bible Verses were from Jeremiah. The K-4 had Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love. And the 5th - 8th had Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. We wanted the kids to know right away that they are unique and special to God.

It's really neat to have a young man sitting in the group who you know has no (or very little) knowledge of God...because his "mom" (she is actually an aunt but to this young man she is mom) sat down at Family Night and told us his story. Pray for this young man.....he seems to be a really nice kid but has had a tough life so far.

Thank you again for all of your support.

Gary and Barb

Another fun Saturday with 4 boys......

We headed out to Grass Mountain hoping to pick up the Gary boys...Joseph and Robert Gary. These boys don't have a phone at their house so we really can't plan ahead. Yes! we found them at home and they wanted to come along for another adventure and "could Shiloh and Lowel come along too". That was just what we wanted --- just 4 boys to build another catapult....a little bigger this time. Well, they got it a little bigger......but not necessarily better. They did get one good 50 foot shot but couldn't duplicate it again. By the way they are shooting zucchini (we are about sick of eating zucchini!!)

Gary said Joseph has "really got a head on his shoulders".....figuring out what had to happen right along side Gary. The other 3 boys grew tired of all the trying, I think, and they were in the house.......Robert asked if there was anything he could help with. So I asked if he wanted to help make pizza for supper..."Yes!" So while Gary and Joseph brainstormed....Robert, Shiloh and Lowel and I made pizza. They pressed the dough out and everything....did a great job and loved every minute of it.

We are finding out that these kids are really different when they come to our house....then what they are with all of their peers at camp. We are liking what we see.... REALLY nice kids!

Promised Land Kids

2nd, 3rd and 4th graders

Kindergarten and 1st grade

Promised Land has begun!!!! Hurrah!! We had a fun time with the kids. They are a sweet bunch. We don't work with Kindergarteners very often so we wondered how that would go. What fun!!! It went great. And the one we were told was trouble with a capital T was just as good as all the rest of them!

Thank you for all the prayers!!! Keep them coming. Next week we will have the 5-6 and 7-8. Many of these kids from K-8 come to Prairie Light Youth Camp and we all recognize each other. It's so neat to hear "hey, I know you."

Tonight the school is having a Family Night and we have been invited to the Sub Sandwich supper. We will be introduced and if there are any questions for us we can address them.

Gary and Barb

Sunday, September 14----a day full of kids

Charles, Clayton, Jeremy and Holly by the car looking at a photo album of her last year at camp.....

These are kids that came to camp several years ago...

Sunday morning we travel west toward Spring Creek and picked up 4 children for church..... Tyler, Clayton, Jayden, and Tillia Left Hand Bull. Tyler and Clayton have been coming to Lakeview CRC for the past year - enjoying Sunday School and now a little sister and brother came along. They went home full of smiles.

We don't have church in the evening because Lakeview is without a Pastor right now and so it makes for a long day. About 4:00 I called a young gal who had been in our camp group a year ago. She had called "Ms. Marlys" and said school was going good but the weekends were so boring. Marlys told Holly that we had been having kids over of and on and would she like to come some time. She said "Yes". I was thrilled to know that!!!! Holly and I hadn't gotten along very good at our last meeting (that's a long story)......and I was afraid she wouldn't want to see me........ Anyway, we decided to go to St. Francis and pick up her and her brother Clayton for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up with a car full. Another brother Jeremy came along and we then went to pick up Charles.

We had a FUN day. The boys built a catapult that threw a huge zucchini 35 feet across the yard. Holly and I hung out.....she made some flipflops and we went for a short quad ride and came upon 2 mule deer....we got so close you could see their eyelashes!!!! Holly really enjoyed the ride.

We ended the day with burgers on the grill. Jeremy is a young man full of questions.........He said he was stressed out at school and so we shared with all of them that if they have Christ in their hearts and put all their trust in him as their Savior that He will always be there for them. But they have to be willing to admit that they are sinners and come to Him to change them. He also asked...."is it OK to kiss before marriage"......WOW.....got into some real good discussions because of Jeremy. And because we were eating supper or driving in the car when he asked.......everyone heard our "advice".

Now we would ask that you put Promised Land in your prayers .....we will start tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. Thank you!!!

Gary and Barb

FINALLY "Promised Land" (Release Time) all set.....

We knew that Release Time had been approved by the school board, but still had not been contacted by anyone to begin Release Time. I decided that I should go to school around recess time and then maybe I could talk to the head teacher at Lakeview School. I know the secretary and so while I waited for recess she asked if I wanted to visit the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade room (all in the same room). "YES!" I recognized 5 of the kids from camp but 7 of them recognized me :-). It was a good experience for me to see how the teacher got them to respond to some of her rules....we will be able to use them at release time !!

Anyway......we had asked to have the kids released to us on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon......but there was a conflict on Thurs. because they have roving teachers for music, PE, and band and these activities have all been scheduled. That made it next to impossible to have the kids on Thursday. They didn't have anything extra on Tuesday so that was real good. We decided to have the K-1 and 2-4 on one week and then the following week we will have the 5-6 and 7-8. This will put a lighter load on us as far as the lesson preparation goes. And I think we will be more likely to keep up with our other activies with the older kids we have been meeting with because we shouldn't feel too much of an overload.

So you can all pray for us on Tuesday.......we have been told that one of the kindegarten kids is a REAL challenge.....temper tantrums and biting.....they have already decided to send the aid along for that hour. Thank you Lord :-)!!

And on another note............We went to my cousins football game. The other team drove 160 miles (one way) for this game. That tells you how sparsely populated this area is. The game started at 2:30 because Cody does not have lights. Disappointing game....our Cody/Kilgore team lost........

Thanks for the support.
Gary and Barb

GRASSHOPPERS EVERYWHERE...........

Our area was invaded by grasshoppers this year. As you walk on the grass hundreds of them hop out in front of you. This is a photo of the rascals at work and our rhubarb plant after they have been munching.........

We are sure that the cold weather will put an end to them this year........but what about all those eggs they have laid......will it be a repeat next year?? We are afraid so.

Gary tried some insect spray on some of the bushes....but we didn't find any dead ones so we figure they aren't afftected by the spray.

Barb

WEDDING NEWS

Our daughter Marti is engaged to a young man who came all the way out to South Dakota to ask our permission. We enjoyed his visit very much and feel he also enjoyed his time here. He even got in on a little bit of cattle chasing on the quads. Feels like he is part rancher already :-) He did do a bit of lieing.......He told Marti that he was in Kansas City on a conference....she knew nothing of his visit. But she has forgiven him...... :-)

We are very happy for both of them.

Gary and Barb