What Christmas is really about...

I have heard a couple things lately...simple...yet true...having to do with the true meaning of Christmas Joy.

"The real gift was ON the tree, not UNDER it".
and
"The real source of joy is not a WHAT,  but a WHO".

If you read this and know of any other saying such as these, let me know.  I would love to hear them.

Hunting Season Continues w/ Zack's First Deer on Video...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words....well, this video link is worth more than that and tells the story of what happened here in the woods, in Michigan this past weekend.  Caution:  If you like BAMBI...please do not watch this video!  (live footage of the actual deer kill).  But, if you do watch it, be sure to have your volume up...it is not the same without the music...which starts soft...and builds.(and enjoy the ending...).
                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKqOldTPhmw

A Belated Birthday Present in the Woods...

They say that good things come to those who wait... I have wanted to be in the woods for the last 6 weeks, but have not been able to either make the time, muster up the energy, or get myself out there for whatever reasons. So, tonight, November 12, 2010, Caleb decided for me...that we needed to be in the woods. He got out about 2:30 or so...about the same time I was out posting the camp property, due to the upcoming firearm season opener on Monday. (I always try to post the property just before opening day). I had pretty much convinced myself that I was going to stick with the posting and once again just skip the woods...I mean it is short sleeve weather, too hot for the deer to be moving much, the wind is swirling in all directions, I won't see anything anyway and I'll just be sitting out there watching squirrels.

Well, most of that was indeed true, but nevertheless, after watching at least 142 squirrels and hearing all 142 of them scampering through the very crisp and crackling leaves, at just about one hour on the stand I heard some leaf noises that were just a little different than the squirrels. I'll let you also know that I was unprepared for hearing such noises, because I was actually getting very bored with the squirrels, the sun was shining and warm and I had just pulled my hat down to block the sun from my eyes and was just a few moments from drifting off into hunter's dream land. As I slowly came out of the near slumber to check out this leaf crackling back over my right shoulder, the first sign of movement I saw was his unique rack coming through the woods. At this point, I don't know where feelings of being tired go...but they are instantly gone. I had to move quick, but not too quick, because as I said, my bow is hanging on the tree next to me...and I still have to knock an arrow, get my release hooked on the string, get into position and hopefully not scare this buck coming right at me at about 25 yards away. He was coming up a trail that was wide open when I first saw him, but fortunately for me, unfortunate for him, as he got within about 15 yards he turned off the trail and into the brush. This gave me the cover I needed to make some movement with the bow and turn his way and get into a shooting position for the next opening he was headed towards, which was going to be almost directly behind my stand and the tree I was sitting in. (which is not good, if I can't get him before he gets to that point, due to having to then make a quick change over to the other side of the tree and all the movement it would require and noise it would make and possibly spooking him in the process). Well, the good news is that I was at full draw and ready for him when he hit the first opening. I was aiming at him even as he was walking through the brush, ready to "let ur fly" as he hit the opening, which is just what I did. To my surprise he dropped immediately, just like one other deer I got quite a few years ago that I hit high and in the spine. So, I figured that must be what I had done here...and then I even knew why. As I stood there and watched him laying on the ground, head up looking around, but obviously unable to run away, I realized that he had only been about 8 yards away and I had forgotten to compensate for the short distance (when they are that close, I have to aim at the bottom line of the body, instead of aiming straight on at the vitals as normal). He was in the brush again, so all I could see was his rack and just a few parts of his body. He continued to look around, and every now and then would make attempts to crawl or get up, but with no success and only getting a few feet further back down the same route he had just walked in on. About that same time, another deer, a little button buck showed up on the scene and made his way over to the downed buck. I found myself wondering just what both deer were thinking about each other and since not much was happening, I even found myself making imaginary deer conversation between them...which I won't bore you with...but you can imagine the scene. ("Hey little guy, wanna give me a hand ... I'm kinda in a bit of a jamb here". "What's happenin big brother?" "Yea, you're not lookin so good there") You know how it goes, I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I am now waiting for one deer to leave and wondering if the other one is going to die or if I'm going to have to shoot him again, and if I can even get another shot at him. Well, this went on for 15 or 20 minutes, and I just stood there watching and wondering, and he never did present another shot, but continued to stay in the brush and also continued to gradually scoot back down the same route he had walked in. It was going to be dark soon, so I decided to go ahead and take a chance at getting down from the stand and getting another shot at him while I could still see him. The little button buck decided things were not quite right, and moved along...so I started down my ladder stand. As I figured he would, as soon as I hit the leaves he found the energy to somehow move faster and began to crawl quickly towards what he hoped would be refuge in the thicker brush. I ran up ahead of him looking for a place to take another shot. I found one. The second shot was where the first should have been. It was time to take a picture and send out the news.

He is definitely the nicest buck I have harvested thus far, although, there are quite a few much nicer than him that I have had close encounters with, but they got away…which is exactly what keeps me going back into the woods.

This guy has a unique rack, with 9 points total. One side is a typical 5 point rack, but the other side has a split main beam, which makes it like two fork horns on the same side (2-2 points). I don’t know how much he weighs, but I would guess just a speck above average (probably around 135-145 lbs.). He is hanging in the front yard tree as I write this story, ready to head to the processor tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to me…one day belated.

Serious Firewood....

Each year we have a couple Saturdays in the fall dedicated to processing firewood for the coming year.  I spend quite a bit of time, ahead of time, getting logs and trees identified, hauled out of the woods or someway or another prepared for these two days...so we can make the most of the volunteers who come to help with the processing.  This year we had quite a bit of wood to process, for several reasons.  First, we sell and use quite a bit of firewood here at the camp...so, if the trees and logs do not present themselves in one way or another, then we have to go out and find appropriate trees or logs.  This year however, we had a lot of wood to work with, provided in a couple different ways.  Last winter we harvested some trees here on the grounds (see the separate story on this by looking at my Jan, 2010 blog entry).  As a result of this harvest, we had a lot of "tops" of trees to deal with, along with other trees that were damaged in the logging process.  In addition, we also had quite a few trees damaged by storms this past spring and summer, so as a result...a fair amount of wood was naturally provided for firewood. 

Nevertheless, on these two work days, the primary object of the day is to process firewood.  Whether cutting or splitting or hauling or whatever.   This year...splitting was the main thing, due to a fair amount of cutting that had been done ahead of time by my loyal volunteers, Walter Pettifor and Johnny Coontz.  The volunteers that showed up on the Oct 30 work day did a great job...and on the Nov 6 work day...well, a small army showed up.  Besides a hand full of the regular volunteers, we also had a group of 26 SAU guys come out and have a retreat on the Friday night before the work day, and then they all pitched in and helped create a small mountain of split firewood in the 4 hours they all spent working together.  Plus, several of our local firefighters and our local police chief all came out the same day too.  Needless to say, it was a great day!

GC Homecoming, 25th Class Reunion & Emily @ "The Turret Cafe"

Emily is working at "The Turret Cafe", owned by our friends Dave and Bernie Jack (whom I also worked for back when I was in college) and there is a whole room dedicated to Dad and his baseball history.  Here are a couple links to the Turret Cafe : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenville-IL/The-Turret-Cafe/141171705903662  or http://www.turretcafe.com/index.html

Class of 1985 - 25 Year Reunion

It was great seeing old friends at the GC 25 year reunion, and we all gathered at Tim & Lori Place's place at their newly restored home, formerly  Baker House, which they purchased and restored for their own kids to use for the next few years as they attend GC.   It was great to see their project and all the work they put into "this old house".

 

A Fun Weekend - Homecomings, Marching Band Festival, Date Night & a Buck!

We started this weekend off with the VCL Homecoming Parade, with Zack in the Vandy Marching Band, and Caleb was riding on the Cross Country Team "Pick-up Float".   The Homecoming football game itself was a bit depressing, with a big loss and several guys getting hurt.  I feel pretty bad for the team this year. 

Saturday morning brought a call from Caleb telling us he had shot a deer and was heading back out to track it with his cousin Scott.  (Caleb and Zack had spent the night at Grandpa & Grandma's house, so Caleb could get up and hunt and Zack could be taken early to Marching Band Festival).   By the time Rene' and I got over to the Osborne Ranch, Caleb and Scott had found the buck and were in the process of field dressing it.  Caleb had made a nice shot and the buck had only run about 70 yards. 

The Band Festival was a lot of fun, even with a light rain.  All the bands seem to want to make it fun and light hearted...which made it a lot of fun for everyone.

After the Band Festival, the boys hung out until their plans later in the evening, when they were both attending the Western High School Dance, as guests to some friends at Western.  Rene' and I were headed for a wedding at JFM and then a date night in Lansing, and a trip to one of our favorite restaurants, Cheddar's.

These guys are TOO MUCH!!!

Yes, there is a story about these guys and why they are "TOO MUCH", but it is too long to tell here...so you will have to ask me personally sometime.  Anyway, these guys (Brent Shaw, Dave Disch, Jeff Todd, Greg Groves, and myself)  comprise the "TOO MUCH CLUB", which has been our name for ourself since 1986 or so... when we first started getting together for reunion campouts every other year.  We all grew up together in Greenville, IL and are proud to have this longstanding history together as friends. We have met in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin at different state parks and private campgrounds over the past 25 years or so.  It is generally "too much" fun being with these guys as we tend to turn back into youngsters when we are together, and usually come away sore and tired as we have tried to do all the things we did when we were young, all in a 3-day period.   These activities include, but are not limited to the following:  hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, football, frisbee golf, TRIPOLEY that lasts all 3 days(a poker-type board game), camp fires, movies, EATING, SNACKING, exploring, broom ball, basketball, volleyball, carpetball and I am sure there are some I have forgotten...BUT, that's OK, because there is a HISTORY.  Greg has kept a history of our times together, down to the snacks we ate and other details we will want to know one of these days when we all have lost our memories and want to re-live our times together  (better get a copy for each of us soon). 

Needless to say, a good time is had by all, and we are blessed by our mutual friendships! Long live the TOO MUCH CLUB !!!

 

25th Wedding Anniversary!!

Rene' and I actually celebrated the actual day of our 25th Wedding Anniversary while we were up north camping with our family (what a great place to be).  We are planning a special trip for sometime in the winter to actually have a get-away celebration trip for the two of us.  But, while we were down in Greenville taking Em down to begin her second year at G.C., we were surprised by my parents to have several of our friends be at Mario's Pizza when we showed up there.   It was fun to see them there...and the pizza was good too!

A tiny crack...a day-long project

At 7:00 on this particular Thursday morning, I realize by a puddle and bubbling water out of the ground at the dump station, that it is going to be "one of those days"...but I did not expect it would take ALL day to fix it.  Actually, it took almost half the day just to find the crack...which ended up being 5 and half feet deep, when I expected it to be maybe 2 feet deep, since this is a seasonal dump station.  Rain also made this little project a little crazy, as if the ground was not already saturated enough from the leakage all night, but now it was super saturated with rain.  It made cave-ins and some serious mud to work in.  But, I do need to count my blessings because the timing was actually a good thing.  There were hardly any campers needing to use the dump station on this day, and had it been one day later, it would have been REALLY BAD...like lots of RV's rolling into the campground, as in the Friday of Labor Day Weekend.  So, I am very thankful for the timing.

Young State Park & Emily to GC

Our end-of-the-summer family vacation was once again at our ole stand-by campground up north, Young State Park, in Boyne City, MI, where we have been going for the last 12 or so years.  We love it up there, and this year was once again, very relaxing and a great time with my family.  Check out the video my kids made if you want to see the boys in action out on the hiking trail
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnrsndjzpU
As soon as we got home, we unpacked the camper and then immediately re-packed and left the next morning to take Emily down to GC for the start of her sophmore year.  We arrived in Greenville expecting to have Mario's pizza with Mom and Dad...and ended up having a surprise 25th Wedding Anniversary party for Rene' and I, with friends gathered to help celebrate.

West-Side Missions, Family and Family Camp, Kids in Honduras, and Septic Field Problems

The past few weeks have been the busiest of the summer.  Getting ready for Family Camp here at SBC is always a very busy time...and then getting through it is almost equally busy, although, it went fairly well, with only a couple glitches (one of which I will give a few details here soon).  But, at the same time, I was getting ready for Family Camp, Rene' and Zack were involved in a West-side of Michigan Missions experience at our very own Bangor Free Methodist Church.  This trip was primarily for those teens that were not able to be part of the Honduras trip, and it was a huge shot in the arm for the Bangor church, and a great way for our teens to be able to serve.  Rene' and Zack got home just in time for Family Camp to begin and my Mom and Dad, sister Cyndi, nephew Benton, neice Kayce, and her friend Shelby to come up from Greenville and Nashville to be with us for Family Camp!   It was great having all of them join us for an extended stay and made Family Camp even more special!  As soon as Family Camp was over, both Emily and Caleb took off with our JFM Youth Group to Honduras for their missions trip that was cancelled last year due to political unrest in Honduras...but which is currently happening as I write this and is going very well and God is working in hearts and lives in many ways! (I look forward to giving more updates on this when they get back with pics and stories to share).  And then the most recent happening on a more personal level, is our failing septic field here at the North Bath House, which Marv Fisher (an awesome volunteer) has been helping me try to fix.  We have put a couple days into the project, and feel we are making some progress, but still have a way to go yet.

Latest personal mishap

Thanks to an overworked guardian angel and parents that pray for my safety daily, I have been very fortunate to not have many serious mishaps.  But, they do occasionally still happen.   On this occasion, it happened very quickly while installing a new roof vent above the camp kitchen.  I was positioning the vent and all of a sudden the sheet metal cover for the vent sliced my hand like a knife.  I watched my blood actually gush out in a stream that was probably over 2 feet long (like in the movies)...and I knew it was time to get off the roof.   Rene' drove me into Jackson's Med Plus After Hours Clinic.  The slice was only about 1 and a half inches long, but it was deep, and after the Doctor cleaned it and numbed it (and also proceeded to spill an entire bottle of Betadine all over the floor too), I was able to watch my own tendon healthily sliding back and forth with no damage...for which I was extremely grateful...and also very entertained by. (it is not every day you get to watch your own tendon working as it makes your finger move back and forth...really rather amazing)  Nevertheless, the doctor got my hand put back together with 5 staples...and it has not given me any pain at all.   I can indeed praise the Lord, and have much to be thankful for!

Father's Day

Father's Day was a great time of being with family and relaxing.  With our first day of summer camps coming up on Monday, I made the most of this Sunday...especially after being up til 3:00 AM Saturday morning (Friday night), dealing with the storm power outage and hooking up generators.  I was also blessed by being able to hear 3 of the guys from our Men's Fraternity group share in the JFM Sunday services...and attributing Men's Fraternity as being a major contributor to their personal growth of becoming a better  father, husband or son!  That made my day...well, that and the Father's Day cards I got....

Storm Damage at SBC

This storm took us by surprise...80 mph winds, hail, and heavy rain.    Fortunately, thank the Lord, all the damage was only to "stuff" that was insured, and nobody was hurt...although, two of our SBC staff were sitting in a vehicle outside of their staff trailer and actually watched the large limb fall onto their trailer...only a few feet in front of them.  The storm happened Friday evening, June 18, and by mid day Saturday, almost all of the storm damage was cleaned up by staff and volunteers.   Lots of people pitched in and helped us clean up...it was awesome!   The mobile home in the picture, that we have called "The Palace"...although only being used for storage for the past couple of years, was the most extensive damage.  A large tree top fell on it and basically split the trailer in half.  We now have to figure out a way to scrap it out.
Another real "God Thing" was the fact that Dave had only 2 days before this storm, gone out and purchased a new generator that was big enough to provide enough power for the A-Frame and Trading Post electrical, which had refrigerators and freezers that were very full.  We would have had a very hard time keeping all of this food in good shape, without this new generator. 

My kids thought this storm was reason enough to have many of the staff over for a slumber party...so it was basically fun for them!  Just like snow days in the winter... fun for the kids... work for the dads.

Family Time

Emily came home from her first year down at Greenville College.  My parents graciously chose to bring her back to Michigan from Illinois, along with all of her stuff.  It also worked out great for celebrating birthday's for our May Birthday Boys, Dad (Robert Earl) and Caleb.  And, as an added bonus, Mom and Dad were able to see Caleb and Zack perform in their Band & Choir Concert.  All in all, another great weekend with FAMILY...and a big thanks to Mom and Dad for making the trip up here.  (Here we are on the back porch after  Sunday dinner meal)

Too Busy to Blog

It's THAT time of year...when life get's "more than a little busy"....

Over the past years, it has been busy this time of year, but now add the recent visits to a Chiropractor 3 times a week and having boys in both Middle School and High School Track with usually 3 or 4 meets a week.  There has also been a weekend Jr. High "BELIEVE Conference in Holland, MI one weekend...which was awesome, and the next weekend, a trip down to Greenville for the Agape Music Festival and a GC campus visit for 4 of our Michigan group and 4 of my sister's group from Tennessee.  Add to the above, the usual spring activity of trying to get the camp ready for the camping season and the grass that seems to actually grow before your very eyes.  By the time we get done mowing everything...it is just about time to start again.   For me, spring is "more than a little busy".  Here are a few pictures to represent the past month or so...

Top Picture - Caleb pole vaulting - His personal best for the year so far is 10' 6". He is getting points for the team by consistantly taking second place, next to his friend and mentor, Casey Gauss, who has also been fun to watch, as we await Casey's breaking of the school pole vault record of 13 foot.

(this link will bring you up to date on Casey and the school record)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA05enEPFZM

Second Picture - Zachary's Long Jump - He got his personal best of 16' 5-1/2" on the last meet of the season.  He has become quite a student of the long jump and hurdles by video taping and watching himself and others in these events, so we antincipate he will be having more success and fun in the future with these endeavors. 

Third Picture - Agape Music Festival in Greenville, IL - This has also become an annual event, where we fill our van and head south.  This year was extra special, with Emily already down there at Greenville College, so my niece, Grace, and her friend Caitlyn were able to stay in the dorm with Emily.  Combine that experience with a campus tour, and I think Grace and Caitlyn were able to get a good college experience.  Both Caleb and Zack took friends with them, Specer Hofer and Aaron Cryderman.  My sister Cyndi, and my niece, Kayce, and her three friends, Shelby, Savanah and Tori, all came up from Whitehouse, TN, which really added to the fun of the weekend. 

Bottom Picture - Our Jr. High group from JFM that went to Holland, MI to the BELIEVE Conference.  This is an awesome event put on just for Jr. Highers.  They do a great job of combining music, art and the spoken word to create an unforgetable worship and ministry opportunity for all of us, youth and adult leaders too.  If you are not familiar with the BELIEVE conferences, and you work with Jr. Highers, you should check out this link and see if there is an upcoming event in your area.  http://www.ciy.com/believe/

Spring Break 2010 - Sarasota, FL

Time flies when you're having fun...or just hanging out...or when you're not doing the usual day-to-day stuff. Seems like spring break just started, and I'm already back home and reflecting on the week down south. Of course, it was greatly improved by having Emily able to join us again, since we thought her college schedule was not going to allow her to be with us this year. As it worked out, she had an Easter break that turned into a 4 day weekend, and then took an additional day besides, so she was able to be with us almost half of our time in Florida. It was GREAT!
Sun-n-Fun Resort was where we stayed, but I really think we could stay any number of places and still have a great time. Although, we do enjoy a place that we have been able to get aquainted with and also know the general area of Florida too, so we have some regular places we frequent, like the beach (Siesta Key this year, with amazingly white sand), and Kilwins Ice Cream, and eating out at several of our favorite restaurants...but mostly just hanging out with family and friends. Bill and Joan Hofer and their gang (Jordan, Emma & Spencer) are a given. We have been spring breaking together for...???...quite a few years (maybe 8 or 10). This year we were able to also meet up with Scott and Sheri Harvey, Casey and Cody when they made a trip over to Sarasota from Davenport, FL where they were staying. We all went to Siesta Key beach together one day, then came back and watched the final game of March Madness. Lenn and Karen , Grace, Nathan and Laura were vacationing in Apollo Beach this year in a very nice rental home. We (Smiths & Hofers) went up to see them one night and had dinner with them and played games. Highlights of this Spring Break: Emily being there, Awesome weather the entire week, March Madness games, Puppies at PetLand and watching Zack enjoy them, Siesta Key beach, The Hippo Slide at Sun-n-fun pool, Roller Coasters at Busch Gardens and an impromptu african-american band at Busch Gardens that topped off the week!

Daddy-Daughter Time (catching up)

This was a real God-Thing. We had been working on how to get Emily home for Vandercook Lake Winterfest, where she was supposed to hand over her crown and crown the new 2010 Winterfest Queen. We had talked about several different options, but on the day before we were supposed to get her home, Emily texted me and just outright ask me to come down and get her. This ended up being an all around great decision. I drove down, had Mario's pizza with Emily, Mom and Dad; ended up helping Mom and Dad with water in their basement and fresh snow on their drive; had breakfast w/ my good friend Greg Groves; and then had several hours of quality time with my daughter on the way back home. It was GREAT!
The weekend was even better when Emily was able to crown one of her best friends, Kelsey Myers, as the new queen.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

After the cold of winter and the spring break planning, a beautiful sunny day is hard to not appreciate...so I have taken 3 pics out the front door to share. The pics don't really do the view justice...so come on out and see it for yourself sometime. I would love to see you. (during the summer, the rockers are fair game too, for any wanting to come and sit and rock and enjoy the view). Today, even though the pics don' show the activity when I took them, about 70 youth had been out on the ice doing "human curling"...kinda like human ice shuffleboard, as part of their "winter olympics" during the winter youth camp this weekend. There will probably be pics on the camp website after this weekend should you care to check them out(www.somersetbeach.org).

Logging at SBC (the long, not short... of it)

This is one of those situations that just kind of happened...and ended up being a real "God Thing"...so I decided to write about it. It all started back in the fall when we had our wood cutters work days here at SBC. I ask two of our regular volunteers if they would take on a special project of dropping some problem "poplar" (aspen) trees that border our Lease Campground. One of these trees had sheared off a few years back and speared right thru the roof of a lease trailer, and all the lease campers along the edge of that woods have not been sleeping well since then. Walter Pettifor has been coming out to assist us with tree situations for the past...I don't know how many years...because he has been coming out since before I was here (which is now 20 years). So Walter is my "go-to-guy" when I have trees that need dropping, that I don't want "just anybody" dealing with. So, he and his friend Johnny Coontz lit into these 6-8 problem aspen that I ask him to deal with on our first wood cutter's day. On our second wood cutter's day, we found a few more trees in this same grove of poplar that looked like they were soon to be causing us problems, so we decided to keep them on this same project again. Well, Walter and Johnny ended up coming out here at least 5 times in all...and ended up dropping over 50 aspen trees. This was really nice to have done...but now what do we do with all these trees?
This became the question and eventual mission that Walter continued to pursue. It was an awful lot of firewood to have to deal with, and poplar wood is really not all that great for firewood anyway, and will practically rot if you don't burn it within a year or so. With this in mind, and with the orchestration God worked out, Mert Arvidson and Walter sat at the same table at our donor appreciation dinner in November. In their conversation that night, they both decided to start a search for buyers of poplar wood...which incidentally, I had done a few years earlier with no success. I was not real hopeful, but really appreciated their interest in the project, and really hoped they might turn up a buyer.
After a couple weeks and no prospective buyers, enter the picture...Craig's List! I had just recently become aquainted with Craig's List as I started selling garage sale leftovers from our "Huge SBC Garage Sale". I decided to list our poplar logs and see if I got any bites...and what do you know...I did...from 2 separate parties. One guy was a smaller outfit and one guy was a buyer for a logging company. They both came out and looked at the logs, and gave me the exact same figure on what the camp could expect to make on these 50 logs...which of the 50, they would probably only be interested in about 35 or so. The figure was $200, after they paid for their loading and trucking and time. But, even at $200, that was worth it to me, just to have them out of here. The buyer from the logging company though, threw in a little more food for thought...which takes us to the rest of the story. He said that it would be much more worth his while, and much more profitable for both he and the camp if we could find some "money logs" in our woods to go along with these aspen. So...we went looking.
Initially, we found 13 trees in the same neck of the woods as the aspen...and they were all walnut. Come to find out...the price of walnut is really high right now and so they are much more in demand than the other hardwoods. This particular buyer was also very excited about having us sign a contract right then and there. That alone was somewhat "interesting", so we decided to wait...and also ask for references. This ended up being a very good decision especially since we had somebody within our own church and camp constituents that was into the logging business, and we didn't even know it.
Walter had contacted Todd Holton, knowing that Todd had been involved with logging efforts on his own property before...and maybe he could give us some wise advice. Todd not only had been involved with logging efforts, but he actually served as a middle man in logging efforts as somewhat of a side business. He agreed to come out and look things over and see what we had going. The timing here really ended up being another "God Thing", because Todd came along right at the perfect time, before we were able to make a deal with any other company.
Todd and his partner, Josh Morlock came out, along with Walter and Johnny,and we all spent several hours tramping through the woods looking for hardwoods. We learned that Josh had been in this business most of his life, and knew his trees pretty well. He and Todd sized up 28 walnut trees in all, and 3 additional hardwoods and said they would be calling us and letting us know what they thought we could expect to make out of the deal.
Their figure was significantly higher than the other bid we had received, and they would be making their share also, due to them doing the cutting and hauling out of the wood. We agreed to let them go for it. We were excited about the deal...and they were too, as they planned to use their cut of the money for an upcoming missions trip to Haiti.
Both Todd and Josh spent several days cutting and hauling logs out of the woods, and before long they had a rather impressive spread of logs laid out in our main field (see picture). Soon after that, they had arranged for 3 different buyers to come out and bid on all the logs. This is the best way to deal with logs, since you are then able to make the most by taking the highest bid.
In the end, our highest bidder came out and we signed a contract. We ended up making almost 3 times as much as we would have made...had we gone with the very first logging company to give us a bid. Obviously, we will be doing business with Todd Holton again when it comes time to sell some more logs...about 5 years from now or so. I just can't help but see God's hand in all of this...and hope you are able to also.

Christmas and New Year's

My family (Mom & Dad, Cyndi, Benton & Kayce)came to Michigan for a combination of celebrating Christmas and New Year's together. The kids enjoyed several episodes of sledding, especially Benton & Kayce, since Whitehouse, TN is not known for their wintery outdoor activities. (Benton enjoyed it a little too much his second time out, and was loaded up with Ibuprofen most of the time he was here, due to a bad hit on the ice). New Year's Eve included another night of sledding by the kids and some time back in the Field House playing dodge ball...and then kids and adults enjoyed ringing in the new year and decade playing table games right up til we all watched the ball drop. Welcome to 2010! May God Bless us all!