FROM OUR FAMILY…

    Greetings to you and your family!

God has blessed us in 2008. Our family has been drawing closer to our Lord Jesus Christ and to each other as we seek to glorify God through our lives. The Lord has been growing us in His ways and teaching us that "God gives grace to the humble" 1 Peter 5.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom... in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Colossians 3:16
For the past three years our family has been participating in a quarterly hymn sing. The hymn sings are organized and hosted by a family, who we've been homechurching with off and on for the past 9 years. We are so encouraged by the gathering of mostly homeschooled families from our current homechurch as well as other churches from different states. It is an evening for us to honor the Lord and edify the body of believers through music. With the encouragement of our oldest son, Niko (12), our family has started singing together as a family at the hymn sings.

"Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;" Psalm 135:3
In March, Niko started piano lessons. Michelle had been trying to teach Niko herself, but more and more God was making it clear to us that Niko would benefit from a piano teacher. We praise God for His perfect timing with our current homechurch. We approached the parents of a 21-year-old homeschooled young woman in our homechurch. She wasn't currently teaching piano lessons, but the Lord had given her the ability to do so. We were encouraged to see what God had planned for our families. Niko became her first student outside of her family of 8 siblings. It is such a joy to have a piano teacher who loves Jesus and encourages her student to pray before practice and to glorify and honor the Lord through His gift of music. We have been so encouraged by the gifting that God has given Niko in piano. Niko is able to play some hymns by ear as well as add notes to enhance the hymns. Many Sundays Niko has been able to play a hymn with group accompaniment during our testimony and praise and prayer time at our homechurch as well as during the last two hymn sings.

"not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" Hebrews 10:25
We have been attending our current homechurch for a year in November. Our homechurch is mainly made up of four homeschooling families from three different counties. We've also enjoyed worshipping and fellowshipping with visitors from different states that the Lord has brought our way. We usually meet at the same house every Sunday. We have a time of worship from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM. Afterwards, the men and young men (13 years old and older) meet to give feedback on the teaching and biblical accountability - while the women and younger children prepare lunch and fellowship. So far, Steve has had the opportunity to teach God's Word (the Bible) four times. After lunch and fellowship, then we gather again for the second teaching. The boys (9 years old and older)
and young men have been taking turns teaching one of the commands of Christ. Niko has had the opportunity to prepare and present God's Word four times thus far. After the second teaching, we have a testimony time, when anyone can share how God is working in their lives. We intersperse testimonies with hymns that either have been prepared for the week or played on the spot. Then, we have a time of prayer, when the heads of family pray for requests or as the Lord leads their hearts. Then, we have a time of "discipleship soccer" when the fathers and children (ages 3-23) play and learn how to play with younger ones at the same time. "And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the hearts of the children to their fathers." Malachi 4:6

Then, we gather together to eat dinner and fellowship. After dinner, we have been working on singing in four part harmony. In March, one of the families coordinated a ministry opportunity for our homechurch to visit a nursing home. We were able to sing hymns, share a teaching, and play music for the residents. Lord willing, in early 2009 our homechurch plans on ministering to another nursing home to sing.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4   The Lord has been answering our prayers for our family to be a blessing to others. God has given us circumstances (such as our first miscarriage in April and Michelle's Bell's Palsy for 3 weeks in July/August) for our family to be ministered to by our homechurch and Michelle's parents. In turn, God has given us opportunities as a family to serve the Lord by ministering (sharing the good news and love of Jesus, singing hymns as a family, providing meals, sharing hand-me-down clothing, and fellowship) to our family and friends in need during postpartum, miscarriage, surgery recovery, hospital stay, or loss of a loved one.

"He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake." Psalm 23:3   
In October, Steve and Niko took on the large task of fixing the roof of our shed/carport. It took them nine days to remove the old shingles and rotted plywood, create rake boards to extend the roof overhang, and re-shingle the repaired roof. Niko personally hammered in over 300 nails!

In November, on the way home from a hymn sing, we hit a deer at fairly high speed. By God's grace nobody was hurt (except for the deer), but our van was totalled and needed to be replaced. The Lord led us to a very reasonable priced replacement that was a little newer than our prior van. Our new van needed a little tender loving care as it had some various small issues which needed repair.

Both the roof and van made us think of how God is in the business of restoration with us. We humans make a mess of our lives through sin. Because of this, we all have earned eternal separation from Him (in Hell). God, through His grace, sent His Son (Jesus) to take the punishment in our place, for all those who place their trust in Jesus, and turn away from their sins. We thank God for the greatest gift of all - Jesus Christ!

For God's Glory,
  Thrash Family
    Steve & Michelle,
    Niko (12), Mia (8), Luke (6), and Ian (almost 4)