Opening Day!

Today was opening day of deer season and guess what...Grady got his first deer. Awesome. It's a nice sized 4 point. This will certainly get some meat in the freezer :) Way to go Grady!

Family Picture Time!

Last Friday we went out to take some family pictures. There is a great little park in Lyle, WA along the Klickitat River. I've posted them on our facebook page. Go here to see them.

Fall News from the Hallenbeck’s

October 2010

Greetings Family & Friends

Fall is definitely upon us. We have had freezing temperatures the last few nights then it warms up during the day into the 70's. It is time to clean out the flower beds for another season.

Life and ministry in Glenwood continue to move forward at an amazing pace! We continue to see growth in several individuals who have recently begun to seek in earnest a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Coming up is our Fall Women's Retreat in Corbett, OR. We are currently taking 23 ladies. Please pray that the ladies will be blessed as they explore what God's Word has to say about friendship.

Other ministries that have begun again with the arrival of fall are Men's and Women's Bible Studies and Youth Group. The Bible Studies have been well attended. As is usually the case in small churches, there are few workers to do all that needs to be done. Please pray that God would raise up individuals to help lead youth group, teach Sunday school and Children's Church, and be involved in music, women's ministry and various other areas of ministry.

There are many work projects needing completion around the church. Perhaps you would like to serve the Lord by coming out to help complete some of these projects. The youth from Lake Tapps came out last summer and built us a storage shed, (which we have worked diligently to fill up!). They also did a fantastic job rebuilding the white picket fence around the Parsonage. Currently the Parsonage is being re-sided and will be painted soon.

On a personal note, we are continuing to take classes from Summit Bible College. The kids are doing well at school for the most part. Spencer and Becca are struggling a little bit in Math, both are in Algebra 2 (together), but with a little extra time on homework they are getting it. Grady is beginning the process of college applications. George Fox and Whitworth are his first 2 choices. He plans to go to Baja Bible School in Tijuana, Mexico after college.

Prayer requests:

• An economical vehicle: this is our most pressing need. We would like to purchase a Suzuki Sidekick. Cost will be about $3000. We also need tires for the Yukon before the snow arrives.
  
• Praise the Lord for those who have helped us out with Grady's dental work. He had to have a root canal done by a specialist and needs to have a cap put on. Pray that God would provide the rest of the finances for this.
  
• Pray for each of the kids and their schooling. Pray that Grady would finish strong and complete his AA through Running Start. Pray that Spencer would apply himself more to the difficult classes, mainly Algebra 2. And pray that Becca would not get discouraged when she has to work harder than she is used to, mainly Algebra 2.
  
• Pray that each of us would be a witness for Christ through our daily lives and the choices we make, especially our children.
  
• Pray for Village Missions. There are several fields awaiting leadership.
  

We thank God for each of you. We know that you are praying for us as we continue on this journey that God has set us on. Without you we could not continue to serve the Lord here in Glenwood. Lately our financial support has been a little low. If you would like to know how to support us financially, please contact us or Village Missions. www,village-missons.org. We are praying for you as well.

Serving Him Together,
Pastor Butch & Jennifer Hallenbeck, Grady, Spencer, & Becca

Yummy Goodness

Well, the women's ministry is sponsoring a Fall Bazaar to offset the cost of our Women's Retreat and we are selling Chili in bread bowls and Cinnamon Rolls. So today I decided I'd better get busy and start making those cinnamon rolls! 2 batches done, 4 more to go!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart...

lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

I am reminding myself of this often. It seems unexpected expenses keep piling up. We don't know how we will take care of these needs but we do know that God knows. He is in control and will provide all that we need and more.

So we are asking that you pray for us. The three most urgent needs are, Grady needs extensive work done on one of his teeth, we need a more economical vehicle, and wisdom and finances to get the Yukon running before winter.

Otherwise, life is moving right along at it's usual rapid pace! Guitar lessons started again today. I love teaching kids how to play! Butch and I start classes again in a couple of weeks. Becca's first Volleyball game of the season is in a couple of weeks as well and then we'll have two games a week for awhile.

In the midst of everything we are diligent in taking time out for ourselves. Mondays are our day so last Monday we headed up to get more Huckleberries. They were more ripe this time but still on the small side. We're going one more time on Monday to see if we can get some more. Butch got a bear last week. It was a young one. We've already enjoyed one roast and some burger from it. I've been carving out time to scrapbook and make some cards. My goal is to get Grady's life scrapbooked before he graduates. We'll see how far I actually get!

So that is the latest from the Hallenbeck's. (I was waiting for Becca to finish homework and figured a quick update was in order) :D

Until next time...

The End of Summer

The end of summer is upon us and today at least, it most definitely feels like fall. Overcast, rainy, not very warm...so I'm trying a new meal in my crockpot. Potatoes, zucchini, carrots, onion, green pepper, sausage, and some broth. We'll see how it tastes in a little while :)

School started last week. Part of me was excited, but part of me wanted my kids home just a little longer. It seems as though we finally hit a point in our summer where we weren't running in all directions, and then the kids have to return to school. On the flip side, they'll be out June 3, 2011!

The end of summer also brings Huckleberries! We went out last week to "our spot" but the berries weren't ripe enough yet. We are trying to wait patiently to go back out and pick some, but that is so hard! Perhaps next Monday.

I want to try and make some Huckleberry jam this year, but that will depend on how much we can pick. It takes a lot of Huckleberries to make jam! I have been rationing the last of last year's berries so we don't run out before we can get some more.

The end of summer also means the beginning of new ministries at church. I am excited for that. Bible study always seems fresh when we've had the summer off, youth group does too! We are starting a new Youth Bible Study on Sunday mornings during the Sunday School hour. Hopefully the kids will grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus Christ through our study. Women's Ministries are getting ready to kick it into high gear as well.

I am praying that this will be a fruitful year in Glenwood!

Busy Summer

It's hard to believe it's the end of July already!. We have had a busy summer so far.

Father's Day Weekend in Glenwood is Rodeo weekend! Complete with Cowboy Church and a Parade. The church sponsored a Concert and BBQ in the private park in town that was well attended. The week after the Rodeo we had VBS.

We do our VBS in the afternoon, which is awesome! The kids have summer school in the morning, then come to the church and we feed them lunch (whether they attended summer school or not) and then we have VBS.

This year's theme was High Seas Expedition. We were praying for 40 kids and God brought 48! 3 of those prayed to receive Christ, that we know of. We serve an awesome God.

The week of VBS we also had an awesome group of teens from Lake Tapps. A few helped with VBS, but the majority built us a storage shed (no more bikes in the wood shed and camping stuff in the garage) and they also rebuilt our fence, which was falling over because the posts were rotting out. They got the fence painted too! They pulled weeds around the church and did some painting over there as well.

The next week was spent getting caught up on sleep!!!!!!

Butch and Spencer went on a trip to the Redwoods with Gear Up, a program at school to get kids ready for college. 2 other students and 2 staff went also. Grady, Becca and I went on some adventures of our own and celebrated Grady's 17th birthday.

We had our church camp out at Bird Creek with a few other families from church. The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm! Much better than last year when it poured down rain and I couldn't wait to get home!

We've been getting ready for our youth camps that are next week. It looks like we're taking about 15 kids to Junior camp and 8 to Teen camp. (3 of those are attending both camps) Pretty good for our little town! Butch is the speaker for teen camp and I am working in the kitchen.

After that we may get a little rest before we get our Fall ministries going again.

Out Exploring

We enjoyed a fairly busy week last week, but not as busy as the week before! Baccalaeureate was Tuesday. We have 8 graduates this year and a packed church at the service. Most in attendance do not come to church. We are praying that the message Butch shared will draw them to the Father.

We didn't do much for Memorial Weekend. No big camping trip like we used to do or even a BBQ. It was just another ordinary weekend except with the kids to tag along with us on our Monday off. We went geocaching up at the Natural Bridges and Peterson Prairie. Just out of Trout Lake.

We found all 3 we were looking for this time. Sometimes we are not always so lucky! It is a fun hobby that gets us outdoors and into some places we might not otherwise find.

After we found the third one we went back down the road a ways to the Ice Caves. We only had 2 lights and it was pretty slick in a lot of places so we didn't go clear through. Next time, maybe. We might just take our lantern next time, we saw some other people do that. Head lamps would be nice, we need a couple more anyway!!!

Then instead of heading home we drove west until we got the to snow. Not far... the Yukon was making a funny noise so we had to investigate, discovered the front fender is cracked. WE then decided it has been this way for a long time but the big hole Butch hit must have broke a little piece off which now allows the fender to move more, thus the reason we are hearing more noise.

We headed down a road towards Willard, had never been that way before and decided to check it out. We came upon a place called South Prairie which is a meadow when it is dry, but right now it is most definately more like a lake! I guess in the spring the rain and snow pool up in the meadow, flowing through lava tubes. Then as the weather warms, the ice plug in the lava tube melts and it drains like a bath tub! Will have to venture back up that way once it warms up a bit more.

We decided to call it a day after that and headed for home.

We had an impromptu game last night because the TV blew up. Literally! It has been acting up for quite a while, with lines across the top. We figured out yesterday morning that we could wiggle the cable in the back and it seemed to work fine, for a brief time. Well, Butch had it working momentarily last night, Grady came out and was going to watch something on History channel and the TV just shut off. When we got close to it we could smell it. Bummer.

With no money for a new one, we hooked up our old projector to the Dish Net box so we can at least watch the news and movies but that is only temporary. It won't be a bad thing to be limited on TV watching this summer, but it is still a bummer. I wonder how long the projector bulb will last? We used it in the church for 2 years in Nevada and the for the first several months here. I don't think it will have much life left :)

Well, that is a glimpse into our lives this past week. I'll post pictures once we get them downloaded! Have a blessed week.

Jackpot June

Jackpot June means daily deals on my Close to My Heart web site!

You won't want to miss out on this one!Everyday will be new deals for you, while supplies last. Goodie boxes containing tons of product at a super discounted price. Plus, some days will feature secret jackpot items, when you order a jackpot item you will receive free product with your order. How cool is that!

So check everyday at 8 AM to see what the deal is for that day. Then don't wait to order because when they're gone, that's it!

Happy Scrappin'

It's Been Awhile!

OK, so I haven't done a very good job of keeping the blog up to date. Most of you have probably given up on me, thinking I'm done with blogging.

Well, I'm not. It just hasn't been big on the priority list. To be honest, I can't even say that it's because I haven't had the time because I have. I just haven't felt much like blogging :)

We all get like that sometimes right? So since my birthday (haha) we've done quite a bit.

Butch and I got to go to a STEPS Ministry conference for Pastors (and their wives) in April. that was real nice. We felt refreshed and excited for ministry when we came home. We were challenged in some areas while were there and that has really energized us to minister here in Glenwood.

We've also gone back to school. We are taking classes from a Bible college in California, online of course, that would be a long commute! Butch is working on his Bachelors and looking ahead to possibly his Masters and I am completing my Associates degree and Bachelors at the same time. We both felt that God was leading us to do this and know that it will help us in our ministry here.

The kids are looking forward to school ending. 2 weeks for Spencer and Becca and three for Grady. We are looking forward to summer and being able to do things together as a family on our days off.

We have been Geocaching quite a bit and really enjoy it. We have been to some areas we might have missed if it weren't for geocaching. The kids are looking forward to doing more of that with us this summer.

Here are a few things you can pray for us:

• We need a more economical vehicle. Pray that God would provide the finances to purchase one.
• Grady needs braces and Becca is ready for the next phase of her treatment so we need God to provide a way for that to happen as well.
• We are always thankful for the people God has given us to share the gospel and pray for opportunities to continue to share.
• We are also thankful for all of those who support us and pray for us. We thank God for you.

Have a blessed week.

New Year's Goals

So it's 2010. Today is my birthday, number 38. I guess my birthday being so close to New Year's has me reflecting a bit on the past year and the year to come.

A few years ago I decided that it was no good to make New Year's Resolutions because they are easily broken or forgotten. Within a few months we go right back to where we were and feel like a total failure. So I started setting goals at New Year's. With goals you generally set acheivable steps to reach your goal. Ultimately you will set a time line to reach your goal but mine tend to be a bit more open ended, life goals I guess.

As I reflect on the goals I set for myself last year, I can see areas where I definitely need to continue to focus on, and other areas that went very well. In general my goal is to please God. (2 Cor. 5:9) If I focus on pleasing Him then I will attain all my other goals because that one encompasses all.

So when I think about the many different roles in my life, mom, wife, mentor and friend, I know that if in each area I strive to please God, then I will do well at each one.

So how do I do that? I need to make sure that God consumes my thoughts (Phil 4:8). I need to spend time in prayer and Bible study, and also spend time with fellow believers (Acts 2:42). When I put Jesus first in my life then the way I live my life will be a reflection of Him. In doing this I will acheive the goal of pleasing God.

Of course I still want to focus on eating healthier, exercising more, taking more pictures , spending time with my family, and blogging more often, but these are second to my relationship with God.

So have you set goals for the new year? Why not sit down right now and make a plan to please God in 2010.