Greetings from Maugenhard! We are enjoying our gorgeous surroundings everyday and really marvel at God's creation. Sometimes it feels like we're living in a storybook…castles, hazy mornings that turn into sunny, warm days, forests and meadows, rolling hills and green pastures. I went for a walk with Tiera, Connor and Caleb last night as the sun was going down and we were walking through the corn fields.



Well…I guess it's been awhile since we have connected with you all. Our life here has his the fast track and it's been described as drinking from a fire hose! It felt like that at times during our orientation meetings and dorm staff meetings. Information overload. Funny how you look at all the surroundings and it's so calm and peaceful. Then you step in the dorm! We LOVE our staff and the guys. We have been so overloaded with work because the last of our staff arrived on Friday and Saturday of last week. Students arrived on Sunday. So we had little time to formulate the structure of the dorm schedule, staff schedule, expectations, gratis jobs for students, etc.. This year, adding the middle schoolers to the dorm, has also made the dorm take on a new look. But it's been amazing to see it all come together. Our staff consists of 2 single RA's…Rachel, who worked here last year, and Byron. Our 2 couples are: Amy and Ben and Liz and Andrew. Liz and Andrew are more responsible for the Middle Schoolers. We all eat, do gratises, activities, etc, together. They will do their homework and sleep in the separate area which is still in the same building, just one floor down and over. All of our staff do not come straight out of school. They have all had management training, or leadership in areas of their lives before coming here. They are mature and responsible and it's been amazing to see them just step in and do stuff without having to be told what to do. We are of like mind and we are excited at how God has put together this group. We will get pictures on the blogspot as soon as we get to school to do it. You can check out: markandcyndy.blogspot.com We got through all the registration and first week with the guys. So many new faces to learn. There are 45 of us all together. We've had long hours of just baking, trying to feed all these people. Thank goodness for the meals we get each supper during the week. This coming week we expect things to slow down a little for us as we won't have quite so much organizing of beginning year stuff. We're supposed to take time off every afternoon. So far we haven't had any time off. We’ve been going to bed around 1:30am and getting up around 7am. We have a great bunch of guys though. It's kind of neat when you pull up in the van filled with big heavy groceries, and a bunch of guys come out and unload it all for you. Our kids are doing well. Tiera is in most of the classes that she wanted. She may be trying out for the drama, but she wanted to read the play first. She'll be taking piano lessons, working in AWANA and teaching a Sunday school class. Jacob didn't get all the classes he wanted and was really disappointed that he couldn't get into the choir class due to a conflict in the schedule. He has immersed himself in dorm life and we hardly see him. He has made great friends already and was even invited to play guitar in the praise and worship team on the first chapel at school. This is a big honor to be asked to join them. So he was pretty excited. He is trying out for the volleyball team as well. Caleb came home from school so excited as he will be learning 4 languages (Spanish, French, German and Korean), learning to play the trumpet and is running for class president. I think most of the class is running for president, but he was excited about it. One of the guys in our dorm who is on the student council and is the Senior Rep offered to help Caleb write his speech. Connor is struggling…missing the farm incredibly. Crys sometimes at bedtime as he wishes he could go back to the farm. He is struggling with the idea of never having the farm to come back to. He has also had a bit of a harder time adjusting to some of the rules…NO talking on the buses…he got yelled at by the German busdriver on both buses (they drive on one bus from Maugenhard to the highschool and then they get on another bus that takes them to the elementary school), he got scolded by the principal for chewing gum, and then got in trouble for not raising his hand when answering a question in class. So he had a tough first day. There are so many people praying for him. ON Friday when he came home from school it was the first time that he said school had been good. It's been very hard for us to see him struggling. Our hearts break and I've spent time in tears about it along with him. It's been neat to hear our other kids praying for him. I even found Jake coming out of Connor's room while Connor was sleeping and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was in there praying for Connor. Please continue to pray for him as he adjusts. Well, this has become so long. We want to thank you all for praying for us, for your support both financially and prayerfully. We covet your prayers. We know we are living in a battleground. We've been experiencing it through a number of different situations. Please pray · for much wisdom in knowing how to deal with people and different situations as they arise. · for Connor to adjust to the change of leaving the farm · we are VERY much in need of a van - we have not had enough spare moments to seriously search · for peace amidst the storm · to make time for our family and quiet time with the Lord each day Thankyou too for all who have been writing to us. We're sorry if we don't respond right aways. We're hoping to have some blocks of free time set up during the weeks from now on where we can communicate more effectively.