Behind the Scenes of the MWCFA

I am very excited to share a BTS video from the recent Midwest Christian Filmmakers Academy (www.mwcfa.org). It was a great experience being Assistant Director at the Academy and I really enjoyed creating this BTS video as well. We are excited to see where God takes the Academy in the future! Be sure to check out the website and get on our e-mail list to receive updates!

Midwest Christian Filmmakers Academy

I am SO excited to announce the first annual Midwest Christian Filmmakers Academy (MWCFA) to be held in Fargo, ND, Nov 6-8, 2014!

Up to 15 students (ages 14+) will receive hands-on training by experienced filmmakers John-Clay Burnett and Carol Kiemle to complete a high quality promotional film. 

Registration opens September 1st! Learn more at http://mwcfa.org/about/the-academy/

Check us out on . . . 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MidwestCFA?hc_location=timeline

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MidwestCFA

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/106953600677251691115/106953600677251691115/posts

March and April Picture Update

Wow, a lot has gone on since I last blogged!
I figured I would just do a quick picture update to catch up. :-)

Back in March, I traveled down to Texas for the first annual Christian Worldview Film Festival.
It was AMAZING!! I already can't wait for next year!

Here is a photo of the students at the guild, which had great speakers and workshop topics

Mr. Swingle performing one of the festival evenings

The Caswell Family performing

An In His Steps reunion photo!!!

The last night we all went to the Alamo to hang out - it was a blast!! The picture of the steeple is from the church where the festival was held.

 This is the group of awesome people that I hung out with at the hotel and riding back and forth to the festival:
Back row - Zack, Nate, Johnathan, Adam, Jonathan
Front row - Stacey, me, Rachel, Emily

Here is the group of us that went out to a Mexican restaurant on the Riverwalk at midnight!

Okay, so before the festival I had FOUR DAYS to hang out with my bosom friend Ethel . . . whoops, I mean Grace. ;-) We did a Lucy and Ethel photoshoot and had a blast!

And then we did an Elsa and Anna photoshoot (from Frozen) and had some more fun!!
Such great memories . . . 

My beautiful sister Lydia turned 16 in March - we are so thankful for her life!

Backing up a bit to February, I think . . . I had fun doing some nature photography at our house so I thought I'd share a few of those photos here, even though I'm sure you're all tired of the snow! :-)

And back to the present (okay, that sounds weird) - just last weekend I went up to Canada (where they still have tons of snow) to film a friend's beautiful wedding, and here are some pictures of the video team. These pictures were taken by my friend Loretta, and we sure had fun! ;-)

Clifford, Stanley, me, Delmar

So, that's my life over the past couple months, not including piano lessons, helping out at home, photographing the ND Homeschool Convention and lots more. I am SO glad that spring is here, and I'm looking forward to see what else God has in store for me this year!

Chicago Adventures

For those of you who haven't read this story yet on Facebook, here's my (rather long) story about what happened to my friends and I on our way back home from OH last October! I am so thankful to God for being with us and showing us His goodness and faithfulness! I'm hoping to post some pictures of our adventures soon!

It all started with leaving the Passion4Christ Summit in Ohio on Sunday afternoon - October 27th. After an AMAZING several days there (and I mean, amazing!!), it was sadly time to pack up and leave.  We had a few problems with the van, but eventually it seemed fine so we left. As we drove our new friend Cristi to her home in Indiana, we did see the battery light come on but we still weren't sure what the problem was. Having dropped her off successfully, we continued back onto the interstate. I drove until right before Chicago. We stopped at a gas station and I switched places with Rebekah. God knew that she needed to be the one driving when the van broke down, NOT me!!  We came up to a toll booth, paid our fee, and continued on. Not 2 seconds out of the toll booth, Rebekah noticed the headlights had no light at all . . . not a good sign! We all agreed to make it through Chicago and then we’d pull off the road later into a well-lit gas station and see if we could get it fixed. These words were barely out of our mouths, however, when the van suddenly died. Right there, on a 3-lane downtown Chicago freeway! 

Praise God we were, first of all, in the right lane, and second, the shoulder on the road became wide enough right where we needed to pull off! We sat there for around a half hour with huge semis and cars roaring past us at 70 miles an hour! The van shook as they went by. We prayed and read some verses and were so thankful that God calmed our hearts and the traffic diminished somewhat in the lane closest to us. As Rebekah was calling insurance to get a tow truck and shop lined up, a department of transportation truck pulled up behind us. He offered to push us up to the next exit to safely wait for our tow truck, and we gladly agreed!! So very carefully, with lights flashing, he pushed us in our van up the next exit. 

While Rebekah continued her phone calls, I contacted my family. They told me of some friends who had their supporting church in Chicago. Through a series of phone calls I got in touch with a family who graciously offered to pick us up. The funny thing was, us country girls had no clue where in Chicago we actually were, so we assumed we were in a part of town that someone told us was safe. So we didn't worry at all (God knew we didn't need to have something else to worry about).  It was only later that we found out we weren't where we thought we were! 

After a 2 1/2 hour wait (with one tow truck coming and going when he realized we had too many people to fit in his truck . . . and the taxi we called never showing up) we FINALLY were towed by someone else to a shop 2 miles away. Since it was a short drive, the man said two of us could stay in the van while it was towed. Hey, it may not have been legal, but in our situation it was the safest thing (and, might I add, a little bit fun!). 

When we arrived at the shop, we realized this was probably not a very good part of town. There were hardly any lights, it looked like it’d been closed for years, and there were fences with barbed wire on top guarding the few dark vehicles sitting in the shadows of the shop. The driver announced that this is the place, but Rebekah refused to get out. This was no place for 4 girls to stand out alone at 10pm waiting for our ride (especially because the tow truck driver himself didn’t seem to want to get out, and wouldn’t even venture down the road a few blocks in his truck)! So after some animated discussion, he finally took us to a dealership 4 miles away. On the way there we went through a rundown area with lots of shops and bars and such. One time, we were at a stop light and there were about 10 guys standing around near a shop talking. Rachel and I were in the middle of the van sitting as far back as we could in our seats. I whispered for her to cover her face with a pillow, but she said she wasn’t going to move! Which was a good thing because two of the guys walked not more than 2 feet away past our window . . . thankfully they didn’t see us. We later heard that this was a very dangerous part of Chicago, and that a lot of the murders or terrible crimes seen in the paper probably happened in or around this area! I think God had His angels with us the whole evening.  

Finally we made it to the dealership/shop, which was lit much better. We got out and right then our rescuers arrived - the Del Boccio’s had driven around 45 minutes just to pick us up! We grabbed only the essentials out of the van and then piled into their vehicle. We had a WONDERFUL night’s sleep in their comfortable beds. God totally worked it out for us to stay with them. We had so much in common - from eating healthy, to using non-allergenic cleaning products, to homeschooling, music and so much more! We had a wonderful time relaxing at their house the next day, but found out that the dealership had ship a new alternator overnight. There weren't any in all of Chicago?! *sigh* I’m sure they were taking advantage of us. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our restful time getting to know this wonderful family!  

To back up just a little, when Ruth and I were sitting the van waiting for the tow truck, we were talking about how neat it would be if we got stuck in Chicago for a couple days and were able to tour Pacific Garden Mission. We’d both wanted to go there for a LONG time! So when we finally found out the van would be fixed around 1pm on Tuesday, Mrs. Del Boccio said she’d take us out for lunch and we could visit Moody Bible Institute and Pacific Garden Mission like we wanted to! How EXCITING! We had a wonderful morning seeing the museum at Moody, eating at the Grand Lux Café (yum!) and then getting a tour of Pacific Garden Mission. What a wonderful place! Please be sure to check out the website. They serve so many homeless people in the name of Jesus! They also record a radio program every Saturday in front of a live audience. I’m going to have to go back on a Saturday sometime.  

“Throughout its long history, PGM has always stayed true to its mission statement - Sharing the word of God and winning souls for Christ! Everything else is secondary.” www.pgm.org 

After visiting these amazing places, we went to the dealership and got the van. The rest of the trip home was uneventful . . . although none of us really enjoyed getting home at 3:30-4:30 in the morning.  But I think we will all agree that it was an amazing adventure and we are SO thankful for God’s protection and guidance! It was really a faith and trust-building experience for me. Praise the Lord!

Family Christmas Letter

Here is our annual family Christmas letter, written by my mom. Enjoy!

Ecclesiastes 3:4 “A time to weep, and a time to laugh”

March 12th, 2013 was a day we’ll never forget - it was the day we found out that Lydia had a 4cm wide brain tumor in her right hemisphere. It came as a shock to all of us, and the news was so unexpected. Lydia began experiencing left-sided weakness in February, and with all of us having the flu that month, we really didn’t think much of it since she had been hit pretty hard. But after the weakness persisted, we took her to the Dr. and had an MRI. After hearing the bad news, we were sent immediately to the oncologist at Roger Maris Cancer Center. The first thing the doctor told her is that she could die from this. He said it was in a very difficult location and he felt it was inoperable. We were sent 2 days later to the neurosurgeon who did a biopsy, and he also said it was inoperable. We spent 2 weeks solid researching our treatment options, as we knew, that even though the tumor was benign, it was deadly due to it’s location. They were surprised she didn’t have more symptoms due to the size of it, and since it was slow-growing, it had most likely been growing for many years. On April 1st we got the call that we could come to Mayo Clinic for a 2nd opinion. The pediatric neurosurgeon said, yes, he could operate . . . and he could probably remove around 95% of it! So on April 12th, one month after finding out about the tumor, Lydia had brain surgery. And praise God it was a complete success! Lydia is 100% tumor-free with minimal side effects! We can’t say thank you enough for all of your prayers and support during this difficult time. God is so faithful through the good times and the bad, and we give HIM all the glory! We spent 2 weeks at St. Mary’s hospital in Rochester and Lydia subsequently got 3 months of therapy in Fargo, and she’s doing great! Praise God!

The rest of our year was pretty uneventful compared to our hectic spring. But we did have a life outside of the medical world! When we found out about Lydia’s tumor, it was the day before the ND homeschool convention, and it was to be my last one as the coordinator since I’d spent the year training in a new gal. So Lydia, Jeff and I missed the convention but Hannah, Daniel and Ethan got to experience it “for us” and help out in any way possible. Even though to us the timing was bad, God worked it out for good because everyone at the convention learned about Lydia’s condition and prayed for her! Thank you again!

         We took 2 more trips back to Mayo Clinic for check-ups in Rochester. On one of those trips we got to see family in the Lacrosse, WI area which was great fun! We also attended Family Fun Days in June in Ada and family camp over Labor Day weekend. Another highlight of our year was the annual family music festival near Itasca State Park. But our biggest trip was out to Washington state for my niece’s wedding in August. We enjoyed hanging out with family and seeing the beautiful bride and her handsome groom! On the way home we all enjoyed seeing the awesome beauty of Glacier National Park and we’d love to go back there again someday and spend longer exploring God’s creation.

       One more “first” for us this year was heading to another country - Canada! Six of us headed up there to visit some friends that live north of Winnipeg (Jeff had to work). It was quite the experience for us to all cross the border and say we were in another country. We had a fun time with the Penner family hiking, rappelling and fellowshipping!

Hannah, 23, is living at home, teaching 22 piano students, and continuing to pursue filmmaking. She was able to go to a 3 week film camp this spring in CO to help make a feature film (www.inhisstepsmovie.com). She also enjoyed working on several of her own projects and traveled to OH for a conference. Ask her about her adventures while getting stuck in Chicago!

Caleb, 20, has moved to an apartment in Hawley, and is currently looking for a job. We sure enjoy having him closer to home! He really had fun rappelling and spending time with his friend Clifford while we were in Canada.

Daniel, 17, is finishing up his senior year and has taken a break from his construction job so he can focus on school and household projects. He got his license and bought a car this year - some big changes for him! He was excited to shoot a doe on the first weekend of deer hunting.

Lydia, 15, is back doing school work after taking most of the spring off. She is in a drawing class and is still phenomenal at piano and drawing. She did awesome at her therapy and graduated with flying colors in July. She enjoys spending time with friends and is great with kids!

Ethan, 11, is loving the fact that now we have snow - and he can play outside in it. Summer went by way too fast...but it was filled with fun things like swimming, catching frogs and swimming at area lakes. He loves being a mommy’s helper in the kitchen any chance he gets!

Jeff and I celebrated 27 years of marriage and are grateful for the years we’ve had together. We hope as we age, we will have a more eternal focus - because we will all live eternally - some with Christ and some apart from Christ. Have you trusted Christ today as your personal Lord and Savior to live eternally with Him? :) He is the TRUE gift at Christmas!  

        

                 From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas! (2013)

Random Recent Happenings

Here are a few quick snapshots of what's been happening here lately!!

We really enjoyed a visit from David and Andrew Bartlett . . .



. . . and I went to a concert by The Garms Family at which I got to see my good friend Taylor!

Ethan had fun with one of his most recent "science experiments" - have you ever put fruit mentos in diet coke before? It's fun!! ;)

Daniel shot a nice-sized doe! I also went hunting, along with dad and Caleb, but none of us got anything this year.

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast with our Grandma Ruth and Caleb's friend Anthony. It was a good day filled with thankfullness, laughter, food and games!

And just this past weekend I played harp at the mall with my friend Joanna for the Salvation Army! If you're in town stop by and hear us play again on the 14th and 21st (roughly 5:30-8pm)!
Be sure to bring your quarters! ;)

 

So that's what I've been up to lately. :) How about you?

Cousin Weekend!

It was SO much fun to have Lauren and Stephen come stay with us for the weekend! They came all the way from the twin cities and took time out of their busy college schedules. I'm so glad it worked out!

(Can you find the third person in the picture below?)



We played volleyball . . .

 

 . . . did each other's hair (just the girls, of course!), visited, and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather . . .

 

 . . . bobbed for apples and played some "harvest party" games . . .

 . . . played telephone pictionary (what a hilariously fun game!) . . .

 . . . and tried star-tripping and painting with light (the latter is pictured below).

 

Cousins!

You are welcome again anytime, Lauren and Stephen! I hope that we get to see you again SOON! :-)