Summer Update

Homer Family Newsletter for May/June/July

When I began working on this newsletter, I would like to note that it was still June and I had all the intentions of getting our updates out to you before the end of the month. Obviously, that didn’t happen!

Let me start with the end of April and move forward.  First of all, the closing on our house in VA was April 27^th!!!!   We are so thankful that this particular detail of our move out here is finalized and although there were a number of hiccups at the end, God worked each one out and we are happy to give Him all the glory for taking care of it!  

Also at the end of April and during the first week of May, we were blessed by a visit from Amber and Elise Dean, Jess’s college roommate and her daughter. Shannan, Amberlyn, and Elizabeth were delighted to spend time with their Auntie and cousin.

That first week in May, during her visit, we spent a lot of time in prayer, first for a family who lost their young daughter to suicide, and then, just after Mother’s Day, several young men from the community went missing. One of the young men was a grandson/nephew to some ladies in our church. More than a week later, that search ended with the unhappy discovery of their car accident.  Josh and I have spent so much time talking about how precious life is, and cried for the families who had to unexpectedly say goodbye.  How often has that happened lately in our lives?  As I type this, the news headlines are covering the deaths of the officers in Dallas.  Life is not a guarantee and each moment is a gift.  In the book of James, our lives are referred to as a mist that appears for a time and then vanishes.   Life is beautiful and precious, and I know lately I’ve been thinking about making the most of the time that I am given.

Also in May, we were blessed with the news that our new little bundle is expected to be a boy! We are all so very excited to meet him in September.  The girls are all thrilled, but I think Shannan is especially. She has been praying for a baby brother for years (and yes, I have video to back it up) and her prayers have finally been answered.

During the last week of May, Josh took and passed his Praxis test that he needed in order for his teaching license to transfer officially to South Dakota. We greatly rejoiced at that, especially since his teaching contract for the fall was offered at the same time! Also, camp began that last week of May!  We knew that life would be busy, but it was hard to know what to expect ahead of time or how the days would be scheduled. That first week of camp (the last week in May) was a bit more awkward for me as Josh was still working at the school. Teachers were required to stay until June 3^rd.

On June 5^th, we were privileged to rejoice with a sweet friend at church as she and three of her sons were baptized!  Her youngest son and Shannan get along well and Shannan was super excited to witness this.  God is moving here, and witnessing the baptisms taking place at our church this Spring and Summer has brought great joy to our hearts.

June 5^th/6^th also began the second week of camp, and this time Josh joined us.  We also celebrated Elizabeth’s 2^nd birthday on the 6^th. 

Our routine began to fall into place and here is how a typical camp day now begins for us.  On Monday and Tuesday, Josh arrives around 7:30 to drive one of the camp vans and show the visiting church team where to pick up the kids. The other days of the week, the visiting church team usually supplies a driver. Each day, the girls and I arrive around 8:45 in anticipation of the kids’ arrival around 9am.  We help oversee the check-in and file any new registration forms while the day’s program begins around 9:30.  Shannan and Amberlyn participate in the camp program.  I leave with Elizabeth around 11am to take her home for a nap (and usually sneak in a load or two of laundry and dishes) and then return to camp between 1:30 and 2pm.  At 3pm we oversee the kids boarding the buses and vans for their ride home. Some evenings are spent at the camp with the visiting church teams, although Wednesday nights we still have service at the church.

Now to answer some questions you may have about camp.  Each week we have a different visiting church team (these can be anywhere from 12-60 people, depending on the church) and they supply the program content for the age groups.  Kids are usually divided by age:  6 and under, 7-10, 11-14, and 15+. That division can change slightly by week and we usually adjust it for numbers as they change from week to week.  Every day the kids are picked up and returned home.  The first week of camp, we averaged over 100 kids each day.  Since then, our numbers have stayed consistently in the 60s or 70s, which is still an increase from previous years.  Matt and Amanda, and Josh and I function like administrative staff, for lack of a better term. Our job is to make sure the day runs smoothly, filling in if there is a need, contacting parents as needed, assisting with injuries (unless a church team happens to bring a doctor or nurse), etc.  Josh and Matt take care of physical labor that needs to be done as well, like mowing or in the case of last week, dealing with the septic system.  Each day is packed from beginning to end.  Our kids (and we) go to bed exhausted at the end of the day.

In working with the food pantry ministry, some changes have been made over the past couple months. We changed a form that is filled out and now deliveries and pick-ups are being done the last Saturday of each month. There is the allowance, of course, for emergencies, but in general, for those who receive regular support from the church, we have agreed on a once-a-month delivery.  We first implemented this in May and it wound up being a really neat Saturday.  Some members from our church joined us to help fill the requested bags. We spent time praying for each recipient and the church members helped us deliver them.  It felt so good to work alongside others in our church as we worked to take care of one another.

Now we are into July.  As you can imagine, camp pretty much takes up most of the week. I am still squeezing in some schoolwork with Shannan each day in anticipation of needing a break after the baby arrives.

At the beginning of the year, we received a surprise phone call from Pastor Mike, letting us know that a supporter of the YES ministry would like to offer our family the use of their condo in Jackson Hole, WY,

for a week during the summer. He gave me the number to call and make arrangements with this couple for the use of their place. I’m happy to say that the arrangements worked out and I am typing up this newsletter from the condo!  We arrived here on the 2^nd and will be leaving on Sunday, the 10^th.  (There is no camp this week for the Independence Day holiday.)  Shannan has already begun her 4^th grade year, and we were able to make use of the Every Child in a Park program to gain free entrance to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks.  We watched fireworks from the back of the pickup truck, took the girls on a stagecoach ride through downtown Jackson Hole, played for hours in the river, and took at gondola ride to the top of the mountains in Teton Village.

  Today, the 8^th, we celebrated Amberlyn’s fourth birthday.  After a little more exploring tomorrow, we will head back home on Sunday and prepare to jump back into camp on Monday morning.  Camp ends after the first week of August. We will have a clean-up week, and then a week or so to breathe before Josh jumps back into teaching and I begin tutoring again for the Classical Conversations homeschool group that we are a part of.  This will be Shannan’s third year in the program, Amberlyn’s first year, and my second year tutoring.

As I close, please be praying for the kids that we work with at the camp. We have had several make decisions to follow Christ, and a couple express interest in baptism.  And in between, a whole lot of questions being asked by kids of all ages, asking how Jesus fits into their culture. 

We thank you for your prayers, and thank you for hanging in with my long update!

Much love, Jess and Family

March Update with Big News!

Homer Newsletter March 2016

March Greetings

This update is a little later than I intended it to be. So much this last month has had me running and scrambling to keep up.  So many good and wonderful things happening, and so much on my heart. Let me start with a few updates and then I’ll get to that last bit.

We began the month of March observing a lot of digging in front of our house as Matt Hadden and Jeremy Mouw worked to get the water lines hooked up to the church and our home.  Then, one magical weekend, we came home on a Saturday to having fresh, clean water running in our house!  That morning Matt had taken out and capped the 30 foot well in front of our house (we got to glimpse the nasty brown water pouring out) and by the end of the day, the pipes had been flushed and clean water was in.  The girls have been delighted to have baths again, and even better, for the first time in years, we were able to baptize people in the church on Easter Sunday. Seven people were baptized, including Matt and Amanda’s daughter, Leah. God is so good and we are so thankful to have good running water in the church and our house. It makes such a big difference!

Over this month, the church has also had quite a face-lift. For those who have been out here before, you would hardly recognize the inside!

Also at the beginning of this month, we were startled with the news that our hometown of Waverly, VA, had been hit by a tornado. That tornado passed maybe 100 yards behind our house, and yes, there was damage. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, but still a lot of clean up. We got word that the buyers still wanted to go through with the sale, for which we were very grateful.  Within hours, friends from MPBC (our church in VA) began arriving and assisting with the cleanup.  The tornado was Thursday, and by Monday all the debris had been removed and hauled away.  As of this past week, all other damage has been repaired. A new playset and shed are ordered to replace the ones that were destroyed and the insurance has finally kicked in so we can pay for all the repairs.  Josh and I have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of help from our VA church family. The body of Christ is an amazing family to be a part of! Final closing date is still April 26th, although may be moved sooner.

In March, the Adorned Campaign took off. This campaign is the vision of Amanda Hadden and focuses on teen girls’ depression, self-harm, and suicide, and teaches them about their self-worth.  Amanda has been working with local schools to get the message out, and three schools have already committed to working with the program. Girls will be reached by being able to meet with a peer who has struggled with the same thing and hear how she has received help. Girls will be given a special bracelet and a t-shirt with the message “You are more”.  There are other special events planned for them as well. As a part of this, I am joining ladies from our church and two other churches this weekend for a Ladies Retreat in Rapid City.  We will be packing boxes and preparing bracelets for the girls and praying over each one. There will be about 200 to pack right now.  I highly encourage you to take a few minutes and look at the website. There is so much that I simply don’t have the room for in this newsletter.  You can help by finding out more at their website and sponsoring a teen girl here.  

Our last bit of update news is very exciting for all of us. At the end of September, we are expecting an addition to our family!   Lizzy is pretty clueless in all the excitement, but Shannan and Amberlyn are thrilled are asking repeatedly if the baby is coming “soon.”

Before I close, I’d like to share some things that have been on my heart the last couple months but have really hit this past week.  At the beginning of the year, when many of us consider New Year’s resolutions, I decided that my personal one for the year would be finding joy, or maybe more specifically, paying attention to moments of joy in the midst of a chaotic day. Let’s face it, as mama with three girls and homeschooling our oldest, my day can look a little crazy and very often, I miss the fun moments amid trying to get my to-do list done. I know our God is the author of joy, and I found I was missing a lot of that in my task-oriented mentality. It’s something I often have to purposefully consider during the day and lately I find myself frequently stopping to enjoy things a lot more than I used to. This past week, I received news that a good friend of mine from college lost her husband. This couple is the same age as Josh and I and they have a little girl not even 2 years old.  In a few moments, my friend’s world changed and now she faces a future without the husband she loved so much. I prayed and cried a lot the first couple days after I found out. I squeezed my kids a little more tightly when I gave them a hug.  We have no guarantees in life, other than Jesus. He is the only constant.  He is the source of our hope and joy and the One who defines our worth.  Without Him, you can’t find those things. This is why we are here. This is behind the Adorned Campaign.  This is behind the ladies in our church who meet on Monday nights and we spend time praying for our families.  Where are you looking for joy? I pray you are looking to the Source!

Josh, Jess, Shannan, Amberlyn, and Elizabeth

Y.E.S.

HCR 49 Box 242, Porcupine, SD 57772

January/February 2016 Update

2016 Greetings!

The year has just begun and already things are changing around here quickly.

The above photo probably represents the biggest change going on around our home. This past week, Matt Hadden and Jeremy Mouw began digging the trench and laying the pipes that will bring clean, drinkable water to our home and the church. These two guys work quickly! They began work on Tuesday and by the weekend, much of the pipe was laid in the field and back underground. We do not have the entire cost for this project raised, so tying the pipe into our home will have to wait until we have the funds to replace the pipes inside our house along with the water heater, so as not to contaminate the clean water coming in. Progress is being made and we are grateful!

As if this news wasn’t exciting enough, an offer came in on our house in Virginia, and after a brief couple days of negotiation, I’m excited to report that it is under contract with an anticipated closing date of April 26th.  God is awesome, and when He moves, He clears the path in such a way that we can only give Him credit! And His timing?  Just wow!  I am so thankful to our dear friends in VA who have kept an eye on the house and are now organizing an effort to clean the house one more time before the sale.  Please continue to pray with us as we move toward the closing date.

All these exciting changes have come on the heels of a rough to the New Year. While we were delighted to spend the week after Christmas with Josh’s dad and his brother’s family in Utah, we came home feeling under the weather. Elizabeth developed pneumonia and I was off my feet for over a week, struggling with something similar.  It took until the end of January before we all began feeling normal again.

Despite that, Josh had a good start back to school, both in teaching and in the two classes on Lakota history that he is taking, as required by SD teaching standards.  He has been steadily ploughing through, and still balancing the time to work with the guys teen night and Wednesday night Bible study.

During these chilly winter months, we have been endeavoring to do more school activities with the Hadden and Mouw families. To celebrate accomplishing 100 days of school this year, we got together and had a fun craft day, thanks to Sarah Mouw and her awesome ideas for our kids. This is our little group, minus Elizabeth and the Hadden’s youngest boy, Noah.  We have a nice little herd of munchkins, no?

This past week we took our little homeschool group on a field trip to the SD Game, Fish, and Parks Outdoor Center.  The kids were able to study the different local animal habitats and take a nature walk on the property, and the best part for this mama is that it was free! I am so blessed that God has paved the way for us to continue on our homeschool journey while we are here. It is a joy to spend this time with my kids and not miss a thing as they grow up!

This month, please join us in prayer for the following:

• Funds for water coming into the house and church
• A smooth closing on our house in Virginia
• Continued health for all of us
• Josh’s classes

We love hearing from you all, and you have been so faithful to say hi via texts, Facebook, and snail mail. It brings so much encouragement, and I am constantly overwhelmed by the family that we have in the body of Christ.  Thank you, ever so much, for remembering our family in prayer. Love you all!

Josh, Jess, Shannan, Amberlyn, and Elizabeth

Y.E.S.

HCR 49 Box 242, Porcupine, SD 57772

Merry Christmas from SD

Merry Christmas! We pray this season finds you surrounded by joy as we take time to focus on the One who is the reason for both joy and hope!

These past couple days especially have been busy. We have a team here from Kentucky helping us organize blankets and hoodies/coats for a Christmas giveaway.  While they were working in the church building, one of our church families came over to the pantry and helped me (Jess) get some boxes organized. I can’t even describe how blessed I feel by the families in our church and community.  They pitch in to help out when we need it and so many have helped me start to figure out life here.  This past week I took the girls with me when I was visiting one of the ladies in our church and they were delighted by some puppies while this woman spent some time telling me about her family and some special Lakota events that were coming up. She often tries to teach me some Lakota words too. I say tries, because despite her being an excellent teacher and my background in language, I am having a harder time retaining what I hear. The Lakota language is very unique, and beautiful when spoken!  I am really hoping that I will improve with time.

The girls have greatly enjoyed going to their homeschool community group once a week and have made some good friends there. We are currently on a break from our weekly meetings, and they have commented on how much they miss going and are looking forward to resuming in January. They have been using a little of the extra free time to enjoy the snow, however, so a break isn’t really a bad thing and they are excited about all that white stuff.

An “attitude of gratitude” is something that we have been talking about with the girls a lot lately. Not just thankfulness for the things they have, but a gratefulness for the people and experiences that God has brought into our lives. It’s good to take a few moments each day to reflect on things you are thankful for. Every good and perfect gift is our Father, and I don’t believe in coincidences. I know I have discovered thankfulness for the unexpected: a phone call or text from a friend that has encouraged me, a conversation with a new acquaintance, the sun setting a beautiful pink across the snowy hills, my kids giggling together while simultaneously not getting into trouble, a surprise piece of mail (that’s not a bill), and a bit of excitement over finding a restaurant in Rapid that offers gluten free burger buns. In November, Y.E.S. was able to raise the money needed to pay off the camp property. We are all very excited and thankful about that!

Something I am hoping to report thankfulness on in the near future is our water situation. There is a discussion of being able to use a nearby well for the church and parsonage, and for that we would have to dig a trench to the well and install the proper piping, and then the owner of the well has requested that we pay the small monthly bill on it. The use of this well would enable us to have drinkable water at our home and at the church. The girls would be able to take baths (instead of showers, which is not so fun for an 18 month old).  We would be able to use the baptistry at the church, the showers for when we have teams stay there, and be able to wash dishes in the kitchen there after meals!  Right now the pipes over there are so clogged with sediment that the water barely comes through. This would be a HUGE answer to prayer, so please join us as we ask God to smooth this path for us.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!

With Love, The Homer Family

October Update

Greetings from South Dakota!

I don’t know about where you live, but the weather here has changed drastically over the past couple weeks!  Our afternoons are quite nice, but mornings and evenings are rather chilly and winter is yet to come!  Josh was blessed to be raised in NY and cold winters are familiar territory, but this Southern girl is going to have a lot to learn.  I remember wearing shorts and t-shirts on Christmas mornings some years and rarely seeing snow. The locals here have expressed surprise at not seeing any snow yet. Maybe I brought some warm weather with us?

So far the school year is going well for Josh.  He has been coaching football for the middle school grade levels and they are headed to play-offs next week. Coaching has been a valuable opportunity to get to know the kids better. He was able to play guitar at church a couple weeks ago. We hope that he will continue to do so in the future, especially as we learn the music.

The girls and I are continuing to homeschool, which keeps my days occupied along with the food pantry. As the cooler weather has arrived, we are helping to supply blankets and coats. I really enjoy the chance to get to know those who stop by, and the girls delight in greeting anyone who knocks on our door!  Some lucky folk have even left with artwork, courtesy of Amberlyn.

The Hadden family also serves out here with Y.E.S., and they live on the camp property with their three children (ages 8, 6, and 2).  Amanda Hadden and I are hosting a women’s Bible study on Monday nights at the church.  We are working our way through the book of John and memorizing a verse from each chapter as we go.  These past few weeks have had great discussions over cookies and brownies, talking both about what we are reading and sharing about life.  This Monday we had a good chat about the names ascribed to Jesus, like Son of Man, Lamb of God, and the Word, and how those apply to different characteristics of Him.

We have been so thankful and blessed by all our friends who keep in touch via Facebook, texts, calls, or writing letters and emails. It’s such an encouragement that I can’t even express my gratitude for. I even received a special box in the mail from my MOPS group back in VA, complete with notes from friends and handmade necklaces for our girls.

One challenge we have been facing that I would like to ask prayer for is general health for our family. Since arriving, we have struggled with allergies, colds, and finally some flu/stomach bug that attacked with a vengeance this week.  I think we have had about 1 week total where everyone was healthy.  My kids are rarely sick, and to have all of them struggling during the past two weeks especially has been a bit hard on this mama. The health insurance paperwork finally came through for the girls this week (an answer to prayer, hurray!) so now we can take them in to see a doctor as needed.

Our house in Virginia continues to have interest but no offers, so please continue in prayer for that as well!  

Thank you for hanging out and praying for us as we seek to follow our Lord’s leading.

~the Homer family~

Y.E.S.  

H C R 49 Box 242
Porcupine, SD 57772

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