A Year Gone By

Hello, this is DL here again, the oldest kid in our family. Sorry that nobody’s been posting. It’s been very busy around here the past few weeks. Currently, Dad is on a trip to Wheaton College and Emmaus Bible College. Wheaton is in Illinois and Emmaus is in Iowa. So the rest of us are holding down the fort, so to speak. We celebrated being here a year at His Mansion on August 26th. I know that this is a little late but better late than never, right? Anyway, on August 26th, we have officially been here at His Mansion one whole year. It seems like it passed by quickly. It’s already fall again, the holidays are coming up. Where did the time go? Being here a year, we’ve experienced many things. Such as…

• The different seasons, the regular 4 seasons and 2 extra. Mud season and black fly season.
• A New Hampshire winter. Bitterly cold at times but we had fun. We got to learn how to cross-country ski, sort of at least. Go sledding, make snowmen, have snowball fights and just play in the snow.
• Seeing people come and go. Saying hello and goodbye to staff and residents alike. Short term staff as they finish their year of service here. Residents as they either choose to leave the program or they graduate from the program. Long term staff as they finish their time of service here and move on.
• Residents graduating from the program and some have come onto staff. Currently, we have seen 5 men and 2 women graduate and come onto short term staff. We have seen 4 graduations throughout our year here. And we have a graduation coming up soon in October.
• The cycles and changes of just being here at His Mansion. The residents going through the program, the work that goes on here and the fun parts too. Our family got to help in the canning room, kitchen and wood lot.
• Celebrating the holidays such as Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Labor Day and Memorial Day, we have outdoor picnics for everyone on the hill who wishes to come. We get to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas together as one big family. It’s a lot of fun!
• Making new friends, getting involved in activities outside of the Mansion and taking time to explore the wilds of New Hampshire. We hiked up Mt. Monadnock last fall. Just a couple weeks ago, we visited Franconia Notch for the second time and we hiked the Flume Gorge. A few weeks ago, we met some new friends and went down to Portsmouth, NH and saw little fairy houses. [Fairy houses are little houses built for fairies made out of natural things i.e. moss, bark, shells etc. Very pretty and some were super creative]

We experienced lots of new things during this year here. The ups and downs of life. Hopefully our next year here at His Mansion will prove to be just as wonderful, fruitful and full of growth for our family and for the ministry. One frequent FAQ now that we have come to Sept-Oct.

-How is school going? School is going well. We started school the last week of August. All 4 of us kids are homeschooled. I’m a 13 year old 9th grader, Mei is in 5th grade, Di is in 3rd and G is in 1st. This year I have church history, physical science and algebra 2. It’s going okay. School is school. Mei and Di are taught together in one class, they’re doing history on the Eastern Hemisphere such as China, Japan, Australia, Russia, Mongolia etc. They’re also learning about how their body works, bones, digestion system etc. G is doing a world history, so a brief history of the whole world and his current science is learning about flowers, who visits the flowers, seeds etc. I teach G his science and history and Mom teaches him the rest. I do most of my school work on my own. Mom checks in with me a couple times a day, checking my math, reading poetry, going over my assignments for the day etc. So school is going okay for all of us.

That’s all for now. Hope you’re having a pretty fall! -Dog Lover