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At St. Michaelsberg, Bamberg, Germany, 2013 |
Christmas Newsyletter, 2013
Christmas Greetings to our Dear Family and Friends!
As always during our Christmas greeting, we hope all of
you are well. And, as seems to happen
when I sit down to prepare my thoughts for sharing in our annual newsletter, I
look back in amazement at how quickly the year has flown by. I wonder, sometimes, if that’s part and
parcel of the aging process; the time that seemed at to march on
slowly now races by like an Olympic sprinter.
And, of course, once the years pass 60, one thing rings true,
and that is that there is more time behind us than before us. But, be that as it may…life is still good and
God is better.
I do hope your year has gone well, dear friends, even if
it hasn’t been a year you had hoped or planned for. That’s another thing that seems to happen,
isn’t it? One of the things that God has
shown me this year is that His plans are not always the ones I would have
chosen; not always the ones I had hoped for; but, they are always divinely
ordained, and when all else in life is uncertain, that is the one thing I can
be certain of and for that, I am grateful.
No matter what you have been going through, and I know from many of you
that you have gone through a lot, you
can know that if Jesus Christ is the Love and Lord of your life and rules your
heart, then He also holds your life, your circumstances and all contained
therein securely in the palm of His hand.
So, on to how our year has been. It’s been a good and busy year for us, as
always. There have been some challenges
along the way, and, as I’m sure as it has been for you as well; things that went
really well, some things that didn’t, and much in
the way of change. And, change is hard,
isn’t it? It requires us to leave our
comfort zones and often be stretched and pulled. But, in the end, even though we come out differently
in various ways, the experience reminds us to be flexible and yielded to the
Lord in all things; depending on Him to direct and lead, which is a good thing.
One of those things for us this year was the culmination
of Michael’s decision to pass the ‘mantle of leadership’ of his business on to
Jon. So, at the end of April, Jon
became the new business owner and Michael became his employee. Basically, they switched positions. And, now that the transition
is final and the dust has settled and we see life’s experiences through new
eyes, it was a good decision. Jon will
take the business to a new level and I believe that will be a good thing. It’s been a rather dramatic and major change
for Michael, but it’s also
been a good thing in many ways. We are
pleased to see how well Jon has done as he has faced many challenges of his own
and as he has faced the multitudes of decisions and the demands of his time
that accompany business ownership. It’s
been a learning experience for him, but, he has done very well with it and we
know that he will continue to do so.
So, as you can imagine, going through all that pretty
well encompassed the majority of our time during the first half of the year,
and we were sure ready for a break when it was all completed! It was a LOT of work and we were sure glad
when it was over. And, of course, being
over wasn’t really over even when the sale was final. There were myriad details that had to be worked
through on a continual basis, although I can finally say six months later, that
we seem to have nailed them all down. Whew!
One other major
change was my decision to retire from the business. I originally planned to retire when the
transfer of ownership was competed in April.
However, in discussions with Jon, it looked like he really needed me to
stay involved longer, and I agreed to stay for another six months. Well, as we were nearing the end of that
time, it became clear that I needed to stay on until the end of the year. And, now that we are almost at that point,
it’s looking like I may need to stay on for a bit longer than that. So, I can say that I plan to retire, but, I’m
just not sure the actual date of my exit.
So much for a retirement party! I
will continue to be involved in the business as the
Bookkeeper, but, the rest of my time will hopefully be freed up to do some of
the things I’ve been wanting to have more time to do for years.
And, lets’ see…there have been other new things in our
lives as well. One of the most fun ones
for me is that, after asking Michael for 16 years, he finally acquiesced and we
now have chickens again! This is solely
my project. In the beginning I planned
to only have maybe 6. But, the more I
looked into breeds available these days, the more excited I got and the next
thing I knew, I had 15! I have room for
one more and plan to add one or maybe two more next year and that will be it. The breeds are too many to take up room in
this newsletter to list, but, suffice it to say that I have a great selection
of egg colors and sizes. My two
blue/green layers will probably not be laying until Spring at this point, but
the rest are. I love ‘the girls’ and
they are little pets to me; beautiful, and so much fun. We got a really neat chicken house for them
and Michael and Tim built me a great chicken yard. I’m just loving having them and having eggs
that are so yummy, and organic because that’s what I feed them. And, I’m selling my extra eggs which helps
cover the cost of the more expensive food.
Haven’t gotten to the point of being able to view them as meat chickens
and don’t know if I ever will!
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Chicken House and Yard |
Another major change in my life was the weight loss I
have been working on with the Lord’s help.
My goals was to lose 100 lbs. and I accomplished that towards the end of
Fall. And, that has been a very good
thing. It’s not without challenges of
its own, but, necessary. Through that
process I discovered a wonderful book called “Made to Crave” written by Lysa
Terkeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries and I recommend it very highly. I have led two groups of ladies through the
study and that was a true blessing.
One of the most enjoyable things we did this year was
return to Germany for the Christmas Markets.
We left the day before Thanksgiving and returned the first Saturday in
December. Our travels took us to Frankfurt, Munich, Bamberg (where Michael's mom is from) and Nuremberg as well as little places along the way. We went to many Christmas markets, spent just
about all day every day walking, visited many cathedrals and other sights,
revisited old memories and made some wonderful new ones. We ate well, did the majority of our Christmas
shopping, and just had a wonderful time.
The weather was cold, but, very tolerable. The people we met were wonderful. Everything was so beautifully decorated and I
came home with lots of ideas…lots of ideas and fabric!
One thing I determined to do differently this time was to
explore the world of quilting in Germany and I found a few quilting stores with
good selections of fabric not American- made and that was fun. Quilting is becoming more popular in Germany
and the last store I found in Frankfurt was such a joy because the owner spoke
English so well and we talked for quite awhile about quilting and
crafting. I came away with many
ideas. Her store was small and is in a
shared space with their other business which is selling motorcycles and parts
so, that was really different. If you
want to learn more about our trip and see the many photos I posted, just go to
my Facebook page which is listed under Jan Rogers.
We have had many other fun experiences this year; time
with family, trips to North Carolina to see Michael’s family and even a short,
but wonderful and refreshing trip to Hemet, CA to see our dear friends, Layne
and Kristy Livingston. That trip was
taken because of another change that happened in our family and that change
involves our son, Tim.
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Michael, Jan and Tim in Hemet, Aug., 2013 |
Earlier this year, Tim took a look at his life and
circumstances and decided he needed to make some changes. In order to do that, he determined his best
opportunity would be to become involved with Liberty Ranch in Hemet, which is a
wonderful men’s discipleship ministry.
Tim saw it as an opportunity to renew his relationship with the Lord and
be in the midst of godly people who would love and care for him and help him
achieve that goal. So, last Spring, he
moved out to California with an undetermined time goal and, while he was there,
he did just as he has purposed to do. My
birthday present was a trip out to see him and our dear friends and what a
great present it was! We had a blast and
it was great to see Tim. After many
months there, Tim decided to return to this area and has been staying with us
temporarily while he makes other life decisions. We are very proud of the man he has become
and the courage he has shown to make these wonderful changes in his life. Please pray for him as he seeks the Lord and
His guidance and direction as to his future.
And, of course, our newsletter wouldn’t be complete
without sharing how Jon and Kara and the Grandkiddlins are doing and they are
doing really well. Along with the new
business ownership for Jon also came the joy and challenge of buying another
home. This one was a good and solid home, but a real
‘fixer-upper’. They had it almost
completely remodeled and moved in this Fall, and Kara did a great job selecting
colors and textures. The house is
beautiful and sits on almost an acre with a huge yard and even a creek running
through the yard. It’s just the perfect
house for them and is only about a 2 minute drive from the office. It’s in the school district where the kids
already go, so, it just worked out perfectly for them. Now, if their old house would only sell! That’s another prayer request.
Asher is now 8 and just as smart as a whip. He’s a much focused, routine-based child and
loves to read. In fact, he won the prize
for reading the most books of anyone in his school during the Fall
Read-a-Thon. Sensitive, articulate,
cautious and very literal is our Asher; very much like his Dad was growing
up. Asher is going through many changes,
but, I’ll wager a bet that the person he is now will be the person he will be
as an adult. He loves to construct
things from legos and just about anything he can put together and is quite
accomplished at it. He has an almost
unquenchable thirst for learning, just like Jon did, and loves math and
science; really just about anything. We
took him to a regional university last month to see a planetarium show because
he’s always been interested in space and he really enjoyed that. I love having Asher around because he reminds
me of the fun of learning and experimenting with new things.
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Asher and Sadie after Sweet Potato Harvest in November, 2013 |
Sadie, now 6, has gone through the most changes of any of
them in the past year. She has blossomed
into the sweetest, cuddliest darling little girl with huge blue eyes. Sadie is so interesting: she can be such a ‘girly girl’ but when she
comes here, she’s all about the things that Grandma likes. We go out into the garden because, like me,
she loves to be outdoors, and looks for something to pick, dig up, etc., and
never minds getting her hands dirty.
She loves the chickens and helping feed them and bring in the eggs. In fact, she and Asher have each claimed one
as their own, even giving them a name.
She has no qualms about picking up bugs, sea creatures or even reptiles. I have the privilege of helping in her
classroom and she is so obviously the teacher’s pet. Smart, precocious, and outgoing, Sadie loves
being on stage and I see performing in her future. She’s growing in just about every learning
area in leaps and bounds and every moment I spend with her is precious.
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Elsie |
Elsie turned 2 in October, and may end up being the
smartest of all of them! Even though her
vocabulary is still growing, I have been amazed at her level of comprehension
even for the last year or so. She is a
mixed bag of personality traits with none emerging dominantly that I can see
yet. She can be fearful, especially in
new environments, and then turn around
and throw caution to the wind. Elsie is
even more of a ‘girly girl’ than Sadie.
She loves dolls and purses and all things feminine, and even loves to
shop. That, she gets from Kara! She speaks in pretty complete sentences even
when it can be a bit hard to understand her.
The one thing I see in Elsie is that she likes to be in control of her
environment and when she is not, that insecurity is obvious. She comes by that honestly from just about
every adult she’s related to, so, it comes as no surprise. Cute as a button, and lively as can be, she
keeps Kara very busy. She’s a true joy
to be around and I so look forward to the time I get to spend with her.
Besides owning a business which takes up a lot of his
time, Jon still manages to find time to play adult soccer and be involved in
the worship ministry at the church. Kara
stays really busy taking care of all things on the home front as well as trying
to get some time in to sew. Since Elsie
has a tendency to get into all sorts of things and a propensity for making
important things disappear (some turn up later in trash cans), she is pretty
labor-intensive. And, their new house is
much larger, so, staying on top of that is almost a full time job! Despite doing all that, Kara somehow manages
to find time to help Jon with some things related to the office and do all the
fantastic baking she does. Truly
amazing!
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Kara and one of her delicious goodies |
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Jon and Elsie at Funville |
As you’ve already seen, Michael has had a busy year. Now that he has the freedom from business
ownership, he has a bit more time on his hands.
He plays bass for our church worship team, and still enjoys the outdoors
and spending time with our dog, Polly, and the Grandkiddlins. He loves going over to see his family, so, we
try to get over there once a month, and when we do, we try to fit in a dinner
at our favorite, national-prize-winning German restaurant, The Schnitzel Haus
in Hickory, NC. He so often comes in
from outside with a handful of flowers he has picked from our garden or from
the fields around us and is my biggest cheerleader in life. You just have to love a man like that!
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Michael, the love of my life |
So, what am I doing?
Well, I still teach Sunday school, direct our church ESL program, am
involved with our church and Gideons
local jail ministry, and try to
be involved in the choir when I have extra time which hasn’t been much
lately. Working at the office, taking
care of the home, garden and animals proves to be much more than a couple of
fulltime jobs and I don’t have much in the way of extra time. But, I expect that to change next year when I
finally do retire and I have many plans.
One of my plans is to have another bigger garden next year as I did this
year. With more time to manage it, it
will be more productive and I plan to sell produce and eggs as well as homemade
items at local Farmer’s Markets. I also
plan to start up an Etsy store and sell through a website the various hand
crafted and quilted items I make. I
already have orders from people who are gracious to wait until I can get
started for things like purses, wall hangings, breads, and even most recently,
a Christmas tree skirt. All that will
take time to develop, but, I’m hoping to have that up and running by
summer.
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Baked goods entered in County Fair |
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Easter Wall Hanging |
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One of the little custom bags I make |
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Fun little Valentine's Day Wall Hanging |
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Apples from our Winesap-First pick; one of many pickings! |
Our garden did well this year. Our apple trees produced like crazy; we got
hundreds of pounds from each one of them and it seemed like all I did for a
month was process apples! I grew broom
corn for crafts this year and am going to do that again next year, as well as
expand to a beautiful form of Indian corn from a native American Indian source I purchased seeds from
this year. Just for fun this year I entered a number of
things both baked and grown, in our local County Fair and won a bunch of prizes which was rewarding.
I also love to write and am considering seeing how I can
develop and possibly market that next year.
I’m praying about a number of different things along those lines;
everything from Bible Studies to devotionals and possibly even a fiction book. We’ll see how the Lord leads and what doors
He opens.
So, that’s been our year this year. Other things we are simply putting out before
the Lord. I believe one of the most
important things the Lord has challenged us with this year has been truth. What truth?
Just this: will you trust Me? When circumstances seem bleak; when you are
walking through the valleys instead of the mountain tops, will you still believe
that I AM in control; that I AM on the throne; that I AM still worthy of your
worship? When life isn’t going the way
you want it to go, will you still trust ME?
Isaiah 14:27 says, "For the LORD of
hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand,
who can turn it back?" And, Jeremiah
29:11-14 also encourages us: “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares
the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future
and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you
seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes
and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,
declares the Lord, and I will
bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
What these verses tell me is that trusting
God and His sovereign purpose for our lives requires action on our part. It requires first faith and belief that God
is who He says He is and that His promises are based on that fact and that fact
alone. Secondly, it requires a heart
fully surrendered to Him. That’s where
the challenge is, isn’t it? It’s not
always easy to have an undivided heart.
Life is fraught with distractions; desires; situations where we would
much rather be in control because we think God needs our help or we think we
can do a better job. Oh, how I wish I
could consistently hold that message in my heart! But, alas…no. In my humanness it isn’t always
that way. And, when it’s not, I feel
further away from the Lord and God effects circumstances to pull me back into
sync with His will for my life. The
passage in Jeremiah makes one thing very clear, though and that is that God
will be found when and if we seek Him with all our heart. And, when we do that, I love the further
encouragement we get from Hebrews 4:16 which says, “Therefore let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.” Ahhhh.
That’s where the sigh of resting in Him begins. Mercy and grace; help in time of need. Isn’t that a basic requirement? It sure is for me.
So, precious ones; rest and trust. Seek God with all your heart; a heart that is
fully yielded to His divine will and purpose in your lives. God doesn’t promise us, as that old song
goes, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden”. He does promise that when we prick our finger
on a thorn, He is right there, catching that drop of blood, purifying it and
using it for His higher purposes. I find
great encouragement in that. It’s what
keeps me going, and my earnest prayer is that you know that truth; that knowing
that truth has set you free; and that freedom is wherein lies your hope.
Please keep in touch.
We love to hear from you. We wish
you a wonderful 2014, and, until next year’s newsletter, as always, you are in
our hearts, ever near and ever dear.
With love,
Michael and Jan