September Update

Hello!

The fabulous news is that we have successfully moved into our new home in South Dakota! (Located just behind the church in this picture.) On our drive out, God provided us with a 2004 Chevy Silverado that has been very important to working with Y.E.S.  We are so thankful for this new tool that enables us to reach so many!  As of today, we still have a few boxes left to unpack, but almost everything is settled and we are finding a routine between school, homeschooling, and ministry.

Within days of moving in, we were able to jump into the ministry here. We have made numerous drives around the area, meeting community members in their homes and familiarizing ourselves with getting around. This is a very unique part in our country, where you can’t just look up an address on the GPS. First off, a GPS usually won’t work up here. And second, the addresses are more like knowing where to turn in relation to a particular landmark (water tower, power lines, turn in the road, etc). Other than the main highways, many of the roads aren’t paved!

Our official arrival date was August 14th, with our truck arriving from VA on the 17th. Josh began his job at the local school system on the 19th.  He is teaching health and P.E. for pre-K up through the 8th grade, as well as coaching football. This is a great opportunity for him to get to know the kids in our new community and connect with them in a good setting. His teaching license was granted for this year, with the stipulation that he needs to retake the Praxis tests for teaching (the Virginia one is different than the one accepted here), and take classes on Lakota history. He is hoping to begin those courses in the Spring.

In working with Y.E.S., we are settling into several roles. I am managing the food pantry and helping with Sunday School for the little ones. Josh is also working with the food pantry and preached this past Sunday. This upcoming year, one of our main goals is relationship building. We need to build familiarity and friendships with the families in our church and the area surrounding our new home.

Please continue to pray:

• For establishing relationships
• That the girls would continue adjusting to their new home.
• That our house in Virginia would sell (since this is where Josh’s school paycheck still goes)
• For the upcoming classes for Josh

Blessings,

Jess and Family

Updates/Progress/Preparation

Well, the last week has been eventful! H1 received the wonderful news that his 1 year South Dakota teaching license came through! Over this next year he will be taking a couple classes on the Lakota from an SD university and retaking the Praxis (teaching test).

In the meantime, as you can imagine, we have been doing a lot of organizing and packing! A precious friend from church has brought her kids over several times and helped me pack while the kids played. Or rather, the older ones play while the younger two discovered how much mischief they could create!

H4 loves playing in the clean clothes hamper.

My dining room.

A last trip on the ferry.

As of right now, we have a pod being dropped off on Tuesday. We have until Thursday to pack it and then it will be picked up and Upack takes care of transporting it out to SD.  While it is in transit, our family will drive north to NY to say goodbye to family there before stopping in OH to see H2's parents. Our planned arrival date in SD is August 13th. 

We will do our best to make regular updates as we know them. In the near future, we will also be designing a newsletter.

We thank you for your prayers and support!

-H2 and Family

Here's the Scoop

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s not every day that you get a phone call that changes the course of your life, but a few weeks ago, we did.

Let me back up a bit.  A few years ago we began attending a church in Colonial Heights, VA. Shortly after we began attending, I heard Mike Brennan talk about the Oglala-Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota.

• Unemployment rate of 80-90%
• Per capita income of $7,880.00
• Twice the rate of heart disease
• Alcoholism rate estimated as high as 80%
• 1 in 4 infants born with fetal alcohol syndrome or effects
• Suicide rate more than twice the national rate
• Teen suicide rate four times the national rate
• Infant mortality is three times the national rate

Additionally, the school dropout rate is around 70%.  While these statistics are sad and startling to think of here in our country, Josh did not feel that same tug at the time. Still, I cut out the name of the reservation from the church bulletin and stuck it to the fridge to remember them for prayer. Mike and his wife, Monica, started Youth Evangelism Strategies, a program that focuses on academics, computer comprehension, performing arts, and counseling for the youth on the reservation.

We heard Mike talk again a couple more times during the past few years. Each time, I would ask Josh about it, and still the answer was no.  A couple months ago, that changed. When Mike came to visit our church earlier this year, it was visible that God was speaking to Josh during the message and I told Josh that he needed to talk with Mike after the service.  So I left him in the church building and took the kids out to the van to get their lunch. Josh came out a bit later and I could tell it had been a good chat. He and Mike had talked about us joining their mission work on the reservation, not just as a short trip, but as a move. Mike initially suggested that Josh come up with one of our church’s summer missions trips, and so Josh signed up to go. We both agreed that it would be difficult to sell the house for this upcoming school year and try to find a new home in the middle of nowhere. Literally. There isn’t much around. The reservation is 2.7 million acres and home to roughly 40,000 people.

In the meantime, Josh has spent the past year feeling like his time working for Surry County Schools was coming to a close. For the first time since beginning work there, he started feeling antsy, and by December, it had become a full case of pursuing other avenues.  Even as we talked about the possibility of God calling us to work in South Dakota in the future, he began putting out job applications around VA and PA, seeing if that was a direction we were supposed to go for now. When you are in the middle of something without a clear answer, it can be hard to determine where exactly God is leading and what He is up to.

Here comes that phone call that I mentioned at the beginning. Josh was in the process of starting an application to a job in Richmond when Mike called. There was an opening at an elementary school on the reservation, and one of the other mission families was leaving to work on a reservation in New Mexico, leaving the parsonage open. Josh put in an application and an interview was set up with the principal. At the end of the interview, when Josh inquired about when he would hear back, the principal stated that as long as his background check went through, she planned to offer him the position.

Since that time, we have been in frequent prayer, asking for direction. At this time, we are very sure that God is asking us to go to South Dakota now, instead of waiting as we had initially discussed. We plan to leave Virginia during the first days of August and set up a new home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As our friends and family, we are asking for your prayers. We have many considerations as we prepare for this journey. Some are logistical for now and some are for our future ministry.

For this summer, please pray for:

• Moving details. We need roughly $4,000 to move our family to South Dakota
• Vehicle.  Josh's vehicle is 18+ years old and won't make the trip, and additionally, many roads are unpaved and we need something with 4 wheel drive.
• Selling our house. We put our home on the market on June 22nd and are praying to find to right person/family to fill our home.

For the future ministry, please pray for:

• A smooth transition for Josh into the school at the reservation.  As a teacher, he will have a point for breaking into a culture that is generally closed off to the outside world.
• Chanku Waste Ranch.  This is the summer ministry we will be heavily involved in.  
• Our precious daughters. Shannan, Amberlyn, and Elizabeth are about to experience a drastic change in their surroundings. Please pray that God will give them a love for the Oglala-Lakota people as well.
• Funding for health insurance. 

If you would like to be a part of this mission through financial support, checks can be mailed to

Y.E.S.  (Youth Evangelical Strategies)
H C R 49 Box 242
Porcupine, SD 57772

Please note “Homer support” in the memo line.

We are excited as we move forward and see where God is leading us!

The Homer Family

Baked Donuts

So, the picture below is the leftover remnants from this morning's breakfast. We got a couple inches of snow last night (literally around 2")  and school was canceled, so I got up and made vanilla cake donuts with a vanilla glaze. I don't eat gluten, so none for me, but H1 and the kiddos sure enjoyed them!

Vanilla Baked Donuts

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk (or I use 3/4 cup regular milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice and let it set for 5 minutes)

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp shortening

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and shortening. Mix until well combined.

Spray a donut pan with Pam or other cooking spray and bake at 325 for 8 - 10 minutes or until donuts spring back to the touch. Allow to cool for just a moment, then dip them in a glaze before serving.

Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp hot water

Mix well so lumps are in the glaze.

Enjoy!

~H2

Mothering Certain Children

These last few months have been complicated for us in regards to H3. She is such a unique kid that doesn't fit into any mold or ideal that you try to compare her with. I have struggled through many parenting books, frustrated because they did not address the issues that we have and the advice they gave was completely useless. Her teachers at school have repeatedly told me that they don't know what to do with her. She simply doesn't respond to anything they try, so I know it's not just me. I read a post this morning that was so helpful to this mother's heart. Maybe you are in a similar boat, trying to work through raising a kid who the titles of "strong willed" and "stubborn" don't even begin to describe her because there is so much more involved. Maybe you need this encouragment too. i hope you will find it.

http://www.itakejoy.com/

Blessings,

~H2

Visitors and Applesauce

During the third week of October, we had a delightful visit from my father-in-law and one of his former exchange students, Mathias.  Mathias is from Denmark and he was in the States three years ago as a student. This year, he came back to tour all the things he wanted to see and didn't have time to while he was here before. He and Dad H are off on a driving tour of the U.S. Can I just admit right now that I am slightly jealous?  How much fun that sounds!  We were so glad that they stopped here for a few days to say hello. I always love seeing Dad H and it was good to catch up some with Mathias. The girls loved him. Poor guy.  I think he hardly had a moment of peace while he was here. H4 wanted him to hold her constantly and H3 wanted him to explore the backyard with her. Fortunately, Mathias is a very gracious guy with younger siblings, and to my girls' joy, he indulged them quite a bit.

The following weekend, it was time to work on all those apples we'd picked on our camping trip. Do you like to make applesauce?  Or maybe tomato sauce? Or jams and jellies?  If so, I hope you have a Squeezo or something like it! We usually can a minimum of 40 quarts and 15 pints at a time. I would hate to not have this handy gadget through the process. I purchased ours a while back through ebay and I love it!

H3 helped out a lot this time

How does a  Squeezo work for applesauce?  Well, let me share our process.

1. Cut apples into quarters and add them to a pot of boiling water, peel, seeds, core, and all

2. When the apples are soft and tender, dump them into a colander to get the water out.

3. Add all apples and pieces into the top silver bowl of the Squeezo.

4. Crank the handle. Your fresh, ready-to-eat applesauce will pour down the chute and the peel, core, and seeds will go through a different end for you to either toss or process again, if you choose to squeeze a bit more sauce from them.

5. Flavor your applesauce if desired (we put brown sugar and cinnamon in some and others we leave plain).

6. Sometimes, you will need to reheat the applesauce before pouring in the cans, especially if you desire a thicker sauce. In the past few years, we have been able to skip this step.

7. Bathe in a hot water bath for 18-20 minutes.

That's really all there is to it!

~H2

A Snapshot of Our Camping Trip, October 2013

Once again, I'm a lot further behind than I meant to be on posting here.  We've had a packed few months, and it's continuing to chug along quickly.  Here's a few pictures from our family camping trip that we took at the beginning of October.  We go apple picking and camping every year near Crabtree Falls. This year, H3 hiked to the top for the first time.  The distance isn't far, but it is a steep hike!  We were very proud of her.

Blessings!

~H2