Maile Grace (Matt & Brittany's daughter) continues to grow healthy and beautiful. She is almost 5 months old now and brings us so much joy! Heather was able to go visit over the 4th of July, and Duane and Laurie saw her in PA at the family reunion in August. Plans to see her again are set for Thanksgiving where we will spend the holiday in Nashville, while at the same time celebrating our small family Christmas together. (Matt, Britt and Maile will be heading to Hawaii for Christmas... poor things. :P)June and July were busy months for Heather as she took a full load of summer courses at Mississippi State. She was supposed to go back to IPFW in Fort Wayne, but was disappointed to find out if she went back she would have to wait an extra year to graduate. She met with an advisor down here at MSU who arranged a schedule for her that would allow her to graduate in 2012 as she had hoped. So, she decided to stay. She has been taking classes at the community college across the street from MSU this semester, which has been a nice break financially, but just found out on Wednesday that the advisor who arranged her schedule missed two of the core social work classes. This means that she still cannot graduate until 2013. It was quite a blow to her, and she has decided for numerous reasons to take off next semester so that she can refocus, rejuvenate, and hopefully get excited about finishing school again. She still works at the cabinet shop, though her time there will be coming to a complete close at the end of the year because she has found a job closer to home (only about 5 minutes away!) at a new bowling alley/family fun center in town. She has already started there and will be the party planner for birthday parties and such that take place there. She is very excited about the possibilities and is glad for a job that is closer to home!
August brought on traveling for all of us as Heather's boyfriend, Dustin Glenn, came back for his 2 week leave from Iraq. Laurie and Duane met him for the first time and Heather was able to travel with him to go meet his family in Missouri. It was a wonderful time, and a much needed getaway. Dustin had to return to Iraq, but will be finished with his tour in early December, which means they will be able to spend Christmas together in Missouri. Plans also involve a trip to Indiana so Dustin can meet the rest of Heather's family there. Eventually they'll make it out to PA too... but there's only so much traveling they can do in a short time!Because Heather was in Missouri over the time of the reunion in PA, she was unable to attend. However, Laurie & Duane flew up there and
enjoyed seeing lots of relatives. Laurie's niece, Audrey, took family photos of Laurie, Duane, Matt, Brittany, and Maile. They were all happy to get away for a few days and re-energize for the start of a new year at church! September marked our 1 year anniversary here at Pearl River and we are continually challenged and blessed as we walk through life with these precious brothers and sisters in Christ.August also brought excitement as Duane and Laurie purchased a house about a mile from the one they were renting. A man had been working
for 3 years remodeling the inside of the house, and we are very blessed to live in such a modern and updated house! It has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms which is such a blessing considering the house we were renting only had 1 bathroom! It was a time of rejoicing as we moved in and unpacked our belongings. We realized as we were unpacking how much "stuff" we had and were able to have a yard sale in early September, bringing us a little extra income and helping us get rid of lots of stuff!The youth have been growing by leaps and bounds at Pearl River Mennonite this past year. It is amazing to see the ways that God has blessed our ministry to them. It is not at all uncommon to hear the youth kids call Duane "Dad" or "Uncle Duane". Father figures are so rare in their culture that they have all clung to him and claimed him as their own. It is a wonderful thing! During the summer Heather had a class on Wednesday nights, so another young adult from our conference, Tim Seibel, took over teaching. It was good for the youth to experience a different style of teaching, and they learned many basic Bible stories like the Prodigal Son. Heather is currently teaching them the books of the Bible and a story within each book so they are becoming more familiar with names of people in the Bible and with names of books. They are excited to learn, and even though the number of youth who regularly attend is sometimes as low as 2, the ones who are there are eager to learn and excited to talk about what God is doing in their lives.
Laurie started a women's ministry on Monday nights at the church that has had a fantastic turn-out week after week. The ladies take turns leading a short devotion and then they worked on Choctaw bead-work, making Christmas ornaments and such for Camp Sale, which raises money for Pine Lake Fellowship Camp. The ladies' next venture may be quilting. Never thought we'd see Laurie quilting, huh!? :)
Duane has started another Pastoral Care class in Jackson once a week. He enjoys the people he meets in those classes and the fellowship with other leaders. His teaching on Sunday mornings is going well and he is teaching the youth on Sunday mornings about dating and relationships. Last Sunday they talked about sex. At least someone is willing to teach them about it, considering sex outside of marriage is absolutely rampant on the reservation. Duane has also started running every day. Yesterday he ran about 2 miles... and then came home and ate bacon. :)
This past September was the fall youth rally at
Pine Lake. Heather led worship again and is really excited to see people getting used to her style of worship. She is seeing people being freed to raise their hands, close their eyes, and actually enter into the presence of God during the songs. The kids came up with a skit to do during the talent show and did great with it. We are so excited to see the kids continually coming out of their shells at youth rally! The next one is in March, which seems a ways off, but the time flies and it seems it's always time for yet another youth rally!Well, considering it is now 3:00 AM, I'd say I did a pretty good job remembering the happenings of the past few months! As the holidays are quickly approaching, we want to remind you that we would love to have visitors over your vacations! :) There is always a need for work teams and ministry teams, and there is always a need for encouragement and fellowship for Duane, Laurie and Heather. We hope you are all well and blessed!
