We're still here and doing well, in case you all were wondering or anything! Twenty-ten has just flown by for us so far...we're barely keeping up. ;D In family news, we celebrated Stefanie's 20th birthday on the 14th, and little Becca turned three years old last Friday! One of Becca's birthday gifts was a new puppy, affectionately named Abby. =D Becca's not so sure about her yet though!

Becca and her new puppy.


More like, Anna's new puppy for Becca's birthday! ;D

Last week we hosted our dear friend Hannah from Oklahoma for a couple of days. She was with us on her birthday, so we were able to celebrate that with her too! It was so nice to have her be a part of our family for a short time.

And this week promises to be especially busy for us as we prepare for the IBLP Dad's Conference beginning on Thursday! A number of people are coming to help us with the conference, and we're especially looking forward to having the dear Ferraro family from Illinois join us this week to help--hopefully we'll get to have some extra time to spend with them! There will be over 350 people here for four days, so it's definitely going to be an exciting week for us!

Revival Conference

It was such a joy to serve our guests during the Revival Conference this past week! It had been seven months since our last conference, so we were all eagerly anticipating this event for quite some time. So many people expressed their gratefulness for our service in providing what they called a "sanctuary" for them during such a time, and we know that's most certainly the work of the Lord!

Our family's responsibilities were greatly varied this week, but they included over 15 hours of washing dishes, 60 hours of front desk work, 20 hours of dining room preparation, and...the list goes on! Although it was a lot of work for our small staff, we witnessed firsthand the Lord's compassionate faithfulness in sending so many dear friends to help during the conference and cleaning up afterwards, making it an almost-stress-free event for some of us. =) We're learning that when God plans events for us, He sufficiently provides for all of our needs! You can view some pictures of the Revival Conference here.

Yesterday we turned over nearly 80 rooms (I've never seen so many rooms cleaned in a single day!) in preparation for the National FFA Convention begining on Sunday. That means that directly after one event of 280 people, we're about to begin another event of 510! So we'll be just a little busy this weekend and the coming week. ;) We'll let you know how it goes!

God bless you all...

"...Showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments." Ps. 78:4,7

[We didn't want to forget to mention how grateful we are for our dear mother who, although not able to assist on the "front lines" during the conference because of other responsibilities, made it entirely possible for the rest of us to do so. And no one else could have provided such a place of rest for us after all of our long hours like our mother does in our home. Thank you Mommy.]

It's been a busy, busy week for our family! With two large banquets to prepare for and serve this week, we've spent a lot of time folding napkins, moving and setting tables, refilling pitchers, washing dishes, and so much more in between! Enough to rouse us from our sleep earlier than usual and keep us up way too late during the evenings. =D But that's what we find so fun about living and working here--being able to serve others, especially when it involves large banquets and conferences! And I might add that it certainly adds to the adventure when we work with people who have never done anything like this before...and we're still learning how to do it ourselves. =D

But anyway, if you're wondering why we've been so negligent in blogging about life, it's because we've been too busy living it. We do have some more pictures coming soon...but we're heading to Chicago this afternoon, then to Wisconsin for our dear friends' wedding, then Skyler heads up to the Northwoods for a week and I (Sara) will be going to Pennsylvania for 10 days....so it might be a little while again. Just in case you were wondering. =)

Have a happy Friday and a delightful weekend! We certainly will...

What we're up to...

Well, we haven’t been doing too good about letting you all see what we’re up to, have we? We don’t really have any good excuses this time either. So, before another month goes by, here’s just a li’l update about what we’re all doing as we head into the autumn season…

Shiloh will turn one year old in just a couple of weeks—wasn’t he born only a few days ago?—and he’s almost walking now! We can hardly believe it! He’s just as chubby as ever, and he’s by far the most talkative one in the family. =) And he has the cutest little grin you can imagine…

Savannah and Sophia are becoming more outgoing, energetic, and curious than ever before. And for two year olds, they’re pretty smart. They can count to twenty, say their ABCs, sing about a dozen songs that they’ve learned, quote Scripture, and read! Ok, so they can’t actually read, but if you didn’t know what the stories of Tom Kitten and The Flopsy Bunnies really said, you’d think that they were reading them. =) The Beatrix Potter stories are their favorite—“It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is soporific. I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuce, but then, I am not a rabbit.”

All of the boys have started school again in full swing. Since the ITC is super close to a community college our parking lot is used for student parking during the school year. We don’t mind it too much, but that means that there isn’t much to do outside anymore with vehicles covering every empty space, including our volleyball and basketball “courts.” So the boys have been trying to find productive things to amuse themselves with indoors. Like sparring—the newest craze among the guys here. =)

Stef has been busy with working in the ITC laundry room each day in addition to keeping up with responsibilities in the dining room. Within the next couple of weeks she’ll be working on creating a new dining room layout—from the current 39 tables to a much more practical 23 tables. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is to us, and we’re excited for the change! =)

And I (Sara) continue to work as front desk manager/receptionist about 45-50 hours a week. That’s pretty much my life right now. =) I also volunteer at a local detention center once a week where a friend and I teach anger resolution classes. And if anyone at all cares to read my thoughts, you can do that here.

Dad has been busy with never-ending maintenance projects and teaches English as a second language to Hispanic students on Friday evenings. And Mom continues to do what moms do best, only mothers themselves can really relate to, and we can never be grateful enough for—the countless things that keep our family functioning, our home orderly, and our hearts encouraged.

In August Anna turned four, Suzi turned twenty-four, and Samuel turned eleven. That leaves only nine more birthdays yet to go this year! We thought it might be nice to leave for the last 2 ½ weeks of November and save everyone the trouble of birthday nights for six of us Nelsons. =)

Ok, I feel like I just typed out our Christmas newsletter, but there’s a little bit about what we’ve been up to anyway. =)

Dishcloths! Something us girls have been working on crocheting recently.

A Delightful Ending

Ok, so I failed to take pictures of normal life as I promised to do...But here are some pictures of last Saturday's Hispanic Ministry--the last class until September. The children (and some of the adults too) had fun attempting to break this huge pinata. It weighed nearly 30 lbs!



Samaria


Monett, Tabi, Margie, and Alicia


Poor Ximena had her back to the pinata the entire time...she was mostly swinging at tree branches and people. ;-)


Muncie


Abby is Savannah's "favorite" =)


Monett


I'm surprised they got Daddy to take a turn ;-)


The pinata, finally beginning to break apart!


A mad rush for the candy




The little ones were a little frightened to take part of the "rush," but we were prepared for that and had bags of candy already made up to give to them. I think they ate it all that afternoon!

Our days are not empty. We somehow manage to fill them to the brim everyday with activities, work responsibilities and ministries--school work, stretching carpets, washing dishes, cleaning doors, laundry, teaching English, playing with children, setting tables, riding bikes, working at the front desk, cleaning bathrooms, baking cheesecakes, teaching crochet, reading books, shopping for groceries, talking with friends, assisting others with their work projects, playing volleyball (or attempting to play, for some of us), writing letters, playing games, eating ice cream, seeking the Lord... And those are just some of the things we've done as a family this week. ;-)

We've decided that we must either be an unusually boring family (Nate says we're not...thanks Nate =), or we just somehow fail to capture the "beauty and sweetness of everyday life" on camera. With six+ cameras in the home you would think someone would take pictures more often, but not so! We don't exactly like to rely on friends to take all of our pictures for us either (although we sincerely appreciate their willingness and skilled efforts). So we've planned a mission: we're going to see just how many normal, everyday moments we can capture of our work and daily life as a family at ITC...and then maybe we'll have a few worthy enough of sharing with you. ;-)

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the GOODNESS of the LORD in the land of the living." Ps. 27:13
"Oh how great is thy GOODNESS, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!" Ps. 31:19

Of Saturdays...

A portion of my Saturday Hispanic Childrens character and Bible class. I love these children (especially the blonde!), and love being with them on Saturday afternoons.