Fall is in the air...

So September is here and summer has once again managed to race by us.  We had a wonderful three months of ministry here at Camp Forest Springs, along with plenty of summer fun with the girls!!  Today I look outside and it is gray and a chill is definitely in the air.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh....Autumn...with it comes football, back to school, warm soups, and of course lots of cozy sweaters!! :-)

For those of you who have been wondering, Ryan and I are still working on our support raising.  We are praising God as we are at 71% of our needed funds.  We look forward to finishing this process, as we walk in faith with the Lord.  Along with our support raising you will find us helping out as needed at Camp, volunteering in the girls' classrooms, and of course...cheering on the the Rib Lake Redman football and volleyball teams!! :-)

Zoe and Maia are excited to be back in school.  Maia is in 4th grade this year and thinks her teacher, Mr.Mayer, is SO funny!!  Zoe is now in 7th grade and is playing Jr.High Volleyball.  They both are doing very well!

We thank you all for your continued prayers and support and hope that you are enjoying God's glory in your life this fall...however He reveals it to you!

Where have they gone?...

That's the question on your minds, isn't it?  It may seem that the Reissners have disappeared, but take heart...we are still alive.  June was a blur for us.  We have moved into our new (rental) house, with the help of several friends  We now live about 6 miles from camp.  We are loving having a house to "tend to" again!  Maia went to Juniors Plus camp for the week shortly after we moved in and had a blast!  Ryan and I facilitated our First Adventure Day Camp for ages 5 to 8 during that same week.  We had 44 kids learning about God's wonders.  It was amazing to see young hearts hungry for the Truth.  Zoe went to camp the next week and as usual wanted to stay longer!   Ryan has also been busy facilitating groups on the High Ropes course most days since Take 7 camp.

So, that was June.  July brings support raising.  We are trying to be finished by Sept. 1st.  God has been good to us in the past 9 months.  We are currently at 64% of our goal, and are working hard to be able to be on staff full-time.  We thank you for your prayers.  We could not be on this journey without people praying for strength and wisdom for us.  God is good...ALL THE TIME!!!  

Summers COMING!!...

So...it finally stopped raining after a week of much needed moisture. We had a beautiful weekend with  temperatures in the seventies.  We spent much of the weekend playing softball and volleyball outside.  After church on Sunday the girls came out of their bedrooms in full beach gear!  I believe the summer bug has bit them already!!...I'll let you see for yourselves what happened!! :)

Time Flies...

This past weekend was graduation for the LTD class of 2009-2010. It is so hard to believe that it is already a year since we graduated for this same exact internship!! The graduation ceremony was very nice...Ryan was able to help lead worship... our president, Dick Angelo, gave a great talk of encouragement... and many of us were able to pray over the students that we had been mentoring to over the year. Ryan and I have been blessed to come alongside a wonderful young couple, Abby Gustafson and Joe Beard, who are going to be getting married this May. What fun it has been to share with them....and to get filled up in the process!! All of these wonderful men and women have been a blessing in our lives in so many ways over the last year and it will be sad to see them go. God bless you all on your journeys!

Mother/Daughter Retreat

This past weekend was Mother/Daughter Retreat at Camp Forest Springs. Friends of ours from Hayward have been coming to this retreat for many, many years. This year they asked us to be "campers" and join them in their cabin. So Friday night the girls and I headed down to camp and stayed in Spruce cabin with them! What a wonderful time we had. Even though we could only stay through Saturday afternoon, we were able to enjoy MANY wonderful activities!! We sat in on Friday night and Saturday morning sessions. We made aprons during morning free time and watched the young ladies from Hayward do the high ropes course in the afternoon...facilitated by none other than Ryan!! :) It is truly amazing to share the ministry you work in with the friends you love!

Missions Expo 2010

Last weekend marked our annual Missions Expo at Hayward Wesleyan. What a wonderful event!! Our entire church was set up room by room with different missionaries and small groups representing different missions and countries. You entered the church by getting your "passport" and "shots" and then went on a tour of the world!! What fun for everyone!! We set up in the gym with a tent, a "fire", camp chairs, and of course smores and gorp for snacks! Sunday morning we spoke at all three services. Pastor Mark asked the people in the service to stand up if they made a life changing spiritual decision at a bible camp. I was humbled and amazed as person after person stood up...including our featured speakers and our head pastor himself. God is so good and simply amazing!

God Bless the U.S.A....

This past Sunday we were privileged to be part of the send off celebration for an army unit leaving out of Hayward going to Iraq. Josh Zimmerman, a good friend of ours and the son of one of our small group members, is part of that unit. Sitting through that ceremony on Sunday made me really take a hard look at how much the men and women of our armed forces do to protect OUR FREEDOM. Sometimes, much like we forget the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, I think we forget the sacrifice our soldiers make for our freedom. Hats off to you! May God's hands guide your way and bless you as you go...

Read Across America...

Last week they celebrated Dr.Suess's birthday at Maia's school. They did everything from eat "green eggs and ham" cookies to dress up as their favorite Dr.Suess character. Maia was little Cindy Lou Who!! Thursday they invited us parents into the classrooms to help "Read Across America"!! Ryan brought in his favorite two Suess books...Green Eggs and Ham and The Grinch That Stole Christmas...accompanied with all of his favorite voices and faces of course!! It was quite a show and all of the kids...and her teacher, enjoyed it a lot!! :)

Lesson Time!!

Well tonight we were home alone with just Maia. So, Maia decided to cash in on two of her Christmas presents...guitar lessons from dad and cooking lessons from mom!! What fun we had. It was really touching for me to watch Ryan sit patiently and teach Maia how to hold her guitar, count beats, and strum out her first chords!! :) After her lesson Maia bounced over to me and thought it would be great to cook her daddy and I dinner...so, lesson number two! After looking at all the ingredients in the fridge we decided on omelets. Daddy got the special one...buffalo chicken and cheese omelet!

WHOOSH...and that was Christmas break!!

Christmas break started at the Reissner household on December 23rd and finishes tonight...none too early!! We all had SO much fun and saw SO many of the people we loved!! We spent Christmas at Ryan's mom and dads. Christmas Eve service at our home church was so beautiful! On Christmas afternoon we were all SO excited to get together with our small group for our traditional time of game playing and food grazing! :) The day after Christmas we returned to Camp for the beginning of Wintertainmet, which is our five day winter camp for senior high students. It is without a doubt our most high energy week of the year!! There was plenty of skiing, snowboarding, and lots of great connection time with the youth. To top it all off we had some of our favorite people staying with us for the week....Ben, Jess, Eric, Beaner, and Sarah. Plenty of wackiness in the Reissner apartment!! :) Last, but certainly not least, we celebrated Maia's 9th Birthday with an afternoon of tubing and skating with five of her friends!!