HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDY

Happy Birthday to the best wife and friend a man could ask for. Candy turns 3X today.

LIFE time

What a great son we have. Last night (August 25), Jacob had his first go at being Senior Patrol Leader for Troop 85. That means that he basically runs the troop. Of course, the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters are over him, but the SPL mainly is in charge.

Jacob also got to advance in rank and has acheived the rank of Life Scout. Six down and only one more to go! If he does it right, he can be an EAGLE before his sixteenth birthday. I for one know he can do it.

WAY TO GO AND CONGRATULATIONS JACOB!!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 40th Kermit!

What's Been Happening?

Just a few quick updates on happenings in the Ruoss household.

Jacob went to freshman orientation this week. His freshman class has over 700! He is looking forward to starting a new year with a new principal and teachers. He attended wrestling camp and is thinking about joining the team. Oh, and this week he was voted Senior Patrol Leader for his scout troop. This is the lead position for the troop so he is both excited and nervous!

Hannah is getting ready for a weekend retreat in Lake Geneva, WI. She is terribly excited to be able to get away with some of her youth group friends. She has been a little lonely this summer since none of her friends live close enough to see on a regular basis. She is getting very excited for school to start in a few weeks. She is also excited that she will be playing piano in her first wedding next month.

Lily is gearing up for school, too. She is very excited to be in the first grade. She is even more excited that she is going to be in before and after school care. It ought to be interesting as she has never been in a daycare setting before. She has spent the summer charming the neighborhood boys (no girls on our block) and fighting with her sister.

Kermit enjoyed his week with World Changers and is already gearing up for next year's trip. He is getting back into the swing of things at work and finishing up the last small details on the church remodel.

I have been steady holding everything together as everyone goes here, there and everywhere. Not that I do it alone...Kermit is a pretty good holder-togetherer, too : ) I'm looking forward to a new women's bible study we are starting since it has been WAY too long since our old group used to meet. Also looking forward to a possible trip to MS in November.

Couple prayer requests:

Tina and Daniel Gallant - Daniel is still looking for permanent work and ministry opportunity. Please pray for finances and a clear line of sight to God's plan.

Amanda McGraw's mom Diane - she is still struggling physically and is currently in ICU and needs God's intervention. Pray for her healing as well as strength for Amanda and her brother and for Brian as he tries to handle the family affairs while she is away.

My sister Elizabeth and her husband Doug - Doug is in desperate need of a job!

Buffalo Update

I talked to the guys for a few minutes today. They are having a blast in Buffalo! They spent today cleaning up a garden/sitting area at a school. It was right up Kermit's alley since he loves yard work. He said he had to keep making himself stop working since he is supposed to be supervising the kids doing the work.

They also were talking about the amazing worship times they are having and how great the overall experience is.

The rest of the week should be more of the same with a break on Wednesday afternoon to go to Niagra falls. FUN (I'm totally jealous)!!

Busy as a Bee

Well, I just thought that I would share a little of what's been going on.
Saturday afternoon saw the return of Jacob from a week of Boy Scout camp. He was soooo excited that he told us everything that happened and I think that during the conversation, he forgot to breathe. He passed all the Merit Badges that he was going for including Rifle. He wanted to earn that one so that (when things finally settle down) I can take him to the range at Bass Pro Shop. He also passed enough that he will be able to request a Scoutmaster's Conference and Board of Review so that he can advance to Life Scout. As I posted on Facebook on Friday the 17th, that means that he will be just one step below Eagle. I don't think I can say enough how extrememly PROUD I am of him for kicking it in and sticking with it.

Jake will only have a few days at home to rest up and get ready for a week of work in Buffalo, NY, as he and I will leave on Friday night the 24th heading out with the rest of the World Changers crew from our church. If you would like to follow our adventures for send Jake an encouraging note, just go to World-Changers.net. Once there, select the "Work With Us" tab. There will be a link on the left side that says "E-couragegram". Click on that and then scroll down until you find the listing for Buffalo under the New York state listing.

The remodel project at church is winding down and I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel. I only pray that the light is not a freight train coming this way. This past Thursday saw the installation of our new sound system which sounds WAY better than the old one. Comparing the two would be like comparing an early model VW Beetle (the ones with no heat), to a 1964 Shelby Mustang GT 500 (Elenore). You just cannot do that. We had an unexpected trial run of the whole system on Sunday the 19th when the Korean mission church that we sponsored had their Constitution services at our church. The PowerPoint presentation shown through our new projection system went well, but the Worship time was UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Thanks to the hard work of a lot of people in the church, everything looks and is working great. However, I have to mention that Mr. E.K. Lash has made the biggest difference because he built the new sound booth and installed three regular doors and replaced the double doors for the Sanctuary. These doors were HEAVY and not easy to deal with. E.K. did a fantastic job and I thank him bunches for his willingness to use the gifts and talents that God gave him.

Oh well, enough rambling and time for work.

What a Great Weekend!

We just got back from a great weekend camping at Camp Timber-Lee in East Troy, WI. It's only about an hour and a half away from home so it is far enough to seem like a vacation but not so far that we all dread the ride home. Timber-Lee has both a Christian youth camp (i.e. week long sleep away camp for kids)and also a family campground for RVs and tents. I used to go to camp there with my church youth group when I was a kid (before we moved to Mississippi)and Jacob and Hannah have both gone a few times. This was the first time we ever went camping there as a family. We arrived on Friday afternoon found our campsite. We actually got the best site, but that comes with a price to pay....it overlooked the lake and the beautiful sunsets but was also up a pretty steep hill. Kermit and Jake were gracious enough to do most of the heavy carrying (I love my men!). We set up camp and started making plans for the rest of the weekend. One nice thing about camping at a youth camp is all of the fun activities you can sign up for. Before the weekend was over, at least part of us had gone horseback ridding, gone boating, done leather crafting, played tether ball & volleyball, built sand cakes and pies (Lily's version of sand castles)and done the other normal camping stuff like making smores and playing Uno by the light of a tiny, tiny lantern. The only disappointment of the weekend was that we could not go swimming or kayaking due to them finding "blue algae" in the lake the morning we arrived. Evidently it is toxic to some degree and they didn't want anyone getting sick. Oh, and the hayride was full before we were able to get on so we had to go on a family hike, instead. This wasn't a bad thing, just a change of plans.

Jacob was only partially looking forward to the trip. He has reached that age where he could not imagine the entire weekend without his friends and could not imagine actually enjoying an entire weekend with the family. He was sure he would not have any fun. Well, needless to say he was able to find plenty to do. He really enjoyed horseback riding and boating but was very sad that he could not go kayaking (one of his favorite things to do). But he did enjoy pouring water all over our plastic Uno cards to see if they were really waterproof. Believe me when I tell you that plastic Uno cards stick together when they are wet. In the end he had to admit that he had a lot fun (but it would have been better if he had brought a friend)... good grief!

Hannah had a blast! She loved the giant slip and slide (made out of two full size billboard vinyls) and also enjoyed leather shop where she made a musical note key chain and a coin purse. Her favorite activity was also horseback riding. She is very sore and bruised today from the slip and slide. Her poor hip bones are scraped and blue. She really had fun winning at Uno and canoeing with Jake.

Lily spent the entire weekend on the go. She did not want to stay in camp for more than a minute (we could barely even get her to eat!). Our campsite was close to the playground so when we were not doing everything else, she was down at the playground burying her feet in sand and making friends with everyone she could. Her favorite part was...you guessed it...riding the horse, although she was not old enough to go on the trail ride. She just got to ride the horse as it was led by a farm hand. She also made a pink bracelet at the leather shop and spent hours on the slip and slide.

Kermit had a weekend of relaxation...well, almost. With any camping trip comes work, but I have to say that he has camped enough that he has it down to a science. He and Jake had tents up and down in a flash and fires built from scratch in minutes. Poor Kermit had an earache most of the weekend but was still able to be a enjoy all of the activities. He said his favorite part of the weekend was spending time with the family (but we all know he really enjoyed the horseback riding).

This was the first time that we actually camped as a family alone, without the scouts. It was my first time packing for the trip and then cooking, keeping everything organized, etc. I had such a great time watching the kids play together (without fussing and fighting)and just spending time outside in God's amazing creation(the weather was gorgeous - 80 degrees, light breeze and zero humidity). We saw beautiful sunsets and heard dozens of different birds including loons and wild turkeys. Once again, I just took time to soak it all in and hide it away realizing that times like this with the entire family will be gone before we know it. Below are some pictures of our fun and a video or two.