Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe that yet another year is coming to an end. As I reflect upon the past year, I realize just how amazingly blessed we are, and how exciting it’s been to watch God work in our lives.
The biggest news from our family this past year is that God blessed us with a daughter. Olivia Jo Griepenstroh was born on October 27th, weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Despite the many challenges that come with having a new baby and two kids, we are very happy to have her and the joy that she brings. Judah has been a great big brother, and he’s very good at being gentle with her. One of our biggest concerns with having another baby was how Judah would adjust, and so far he’s done as good as we could have hoped for.
In addition to adjusting to life as a big brother, Judah learned how to walk in early August. Not only can he walk like a champ now, but he can also run, which means that Lindsay and I find ourselves chasing him all over the place. Judah can also talk a little bit. His widening vocabulary includes bye, see ya, Judah, hi, outside (kind of), num num (when he’s hungry), Dada, night, and he can even make the puppy sound! He loves to go outside whenever we give him the chance, and his favorite toys seem to be the ones that make music. He also likes kicking a football and wrestling around in the living room.
Lindsay is primarily a stay at home mom, but she is also managing a website for a yarn shop in Minneapolis. It’s a great side job for her because it doesn’t demand too much time and she can work on it when Judah and Olivia are taking naps.
The media department at Maranatha continues to grow and reach new heights. My job is to promote Maranatha through the many different forms of media, and God uses that to bring people to camp to hear about Him and/or grow as Christians. Over this past year I’ve grown into my position a little more, and now I am comfortable knowing what needs done and how to do it. Getting to that point has allowed me to think outside the box more and expand on what camp has done before.
Outside of work, I usually stay somewhat busy with wedding videos. This year I did three weddings, and next year I already have two booked. Once again I played flag football in the North Platte city league in the fall and coached Junior High wrestling for Maxwell. I also tried a basketball league, but that was just okay for me. I think it’s pretty obvious that God didn’t create me to play basketball competitively. Getting involved in those things has given me the opportunity to get out into the local communities and meet people outside of camp that I wouldn’t have otherwise met.
We are certain that 2012 will bring just as much as excitement as 2011 did. We’d like to thank those of you who have supported us through prayer or finances over this past year. Without you we wouldn’t be able to keep serving God at Maranatha Bible Camp.
We hope that all of you have a great Holiday season, and we are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends.
With love,
Bill, Lindsay, Judah, and Olivia
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Winter 2011 update (from Bill)
So here's what's been happening in me and my family's life as of late:
My job.
I'm still serving God at Maranatha Bible Camp, and it looks like I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future. I have a good job here. My official title is "Manager of Publications and Media", which is basically the type of job that I went to school to get. There are days where I'm super busy, and there are other days where I have to come up with something to do to fill the time. Since I've been here for a couple years, I'm to the point where I really know exactly what needs done, so it's not hard to find something to do. In the winter time at camp, we also do a lot of planning for summer. Summer time is our harvest, and the rest of the year we plan for summer while taking care of weekend groups and various other winter events. You can always check to see what's going on at camp (as well as see my work) at http://www.maranathacamp.org .
It's been a great environment to learn and grow in as far as media stuff goes. When I came here I wasn't very comfortable with graphic design or web design, and I knew nothing about publications. Video was the only job I thought I'd be doing when I got here, but ironically video is actually the smallest part of my job. But the good thing is that I have definitely expanded what I can do in Media in the past year, and now I would say I am fully capable of graphic design, web design, and publication...although I still wouldn't consider myself an expert at any of those.
As I said, it's a pretty good environment, and sometimes if I'm not too busy I just work on expanding what I can do. Yesterday for instance, I decided I wanted to learn to make reflections in photoshop. A couple quick tutorials and an hour later, here's what I came up with.
Now I know how to do that, and I can do it for some graphic design project in the future.
Although I don't consider myself an expert in video, I supposed my credentials in that area are fairly decent. I've been doing it almost non-stop for about 4 years now, and I've done it recreationally and professionally over that time. A few weeks ago I was given a unique opportunity to do a workshop about video editing at a conference here at camp. At first I was intimidated by it, and I spent a couple weeks fretting about it. I put together a pretty comprehensive power point, and I also made a video specifically for the workshop so I could edit it right in front of everyone who came. I also had some other shots to demonstrate certain filming techniques. It got more stressful when my HV40 decided to break a week before the conference. Luckily, my good friends came to the rescue and Drew loaned me his HV20, and Micah drove out to camp to deliver it.
When it came time for the workshop, I was pretty nervous. Only 5 people came and 2 of them knew me previously, and in a way that added to the pressure. After a bit of a shaky start, I got comfortable and for the rest of the time did fairly well. In all it was an hour and half. I hope I get to do it again next year, and I hope that I can divide it up into a beginner's workshop and an advanced workshop. Since I only had 1 session this year, I had to cover a much more broad area so that I could help people who knew nothing about video while keeping it interesting for those who already had experience.
On the home front.
Judah is growing up so fast. He's going to be 9 months old pretty soon, and I have a feeling he will be walking very soon. We've had to start spanking him for climbing up on stuff he's not supposed to climb up on and for constantly trying to touch expensive electronics or the cords surrounding it, and that's been pretty hard for me to do to be honest because I'm not sure if he understands what the word "No" means, even though Lindsay seems sure that he does. Either way, he will soon, and if he's anything like his mother and father, he'll be a very stubborn child.
Lindsay stays pretty busy at home and she loves being a mom. She has also picked up knitting as a hobby lately. It's so great to have her at home. She keeps the house clean and cooks great food! I'm a lucky guy. She also does random projects for camp, and that can also keep her fairly busy at times.
As far as support goes, some months we have our full support and others we are still a little short, but either way God has been faithful in providing us what we need when we need it. Recently, God has also blessed us with a nice tax return. I had 2 student loans coming out of college, and with this tax return we were able to completely finish paying off one of them. What initially looked like a debt that would take at least 5 years to pay, is now starting to look like it could be payed in 2 1/2, possibly less. We did the responsible thing first, but then we decided to have a little fun with what was left! =] We are considering getting internet at our house, and for the first time since being here, we will be able to afford to do that because the only provider of internet out here isn't cheap! It won't be cheap, but the advantages of having internet definitely make it worth it. Especially for Lindsay, because she would be able to work from home.
After school debt gets paid off, we are going to need a new car. My 1997 Nissan Maxima seems to have this terminal illness that requires some sort of expensive repair every 3 months to keep it alive. You fix one thing on that car only to find that something else is wrong. It can be frustrating at times, but as I told Lindsay yesterday, we should be thankful that we even have a car. It's one of those things that's easy to take for granted.
That's all for now, hopefully we'll have another update out soon.
-Bill
My job.
I'm still serving God at Maranatha Bible Camp, and it looks like I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future. I have a good job here. My official title is "Manager of Publications and Media", which is basically the type of job that I went to school to get. There are days where I'm super busy, and there are other days where I have to come up with something to do to fill the time. Since I've been here for a couple years, I'm to the point where I really know exactly what needs done, so it's not hard to find something to do. In the winter time at camp, we also do a lot of planning for summer. Summer time is our harvest, and the rest of the year we plan for summer while taking care of weekend groups and various other winter events. You can always check to see what's going on at camp (as well as see my work) at http://www.maranathacamp.org .
It's been a great environment to learn and grow in as far as media stuff goes. When I came here I wasn't very comfortable with graphic design or web design, and I knew nothing about publications. Video was the only job I thought I'd be doing when I got here, but ironically video is actually the smallest part of my job. But the good thing is that I have definitely expanded what I can do in Media in the past year, and now I would say I am fully capable of graphic design, web design, and publication...although I still wouldn't consider myself an expert at any of those.
As I said, it's a pretty good environment, and sometimes if I'm not too busy I just work on expanding what I can do. Yesterday for instance, I decided I wanted to learn to make reflections in photoshop. A couple quick tutorials and an hour later, here's what I came up with.
Now I know how to do that, and I can do it for some graphic design project in the future.
Although I don't consider myself an expert in video, I supposed my credentials in that area are fairly decent. I've been doing it almost non-stop for about 4 years now, and I've done it recreationally and professionally over that time. A few weeks ago I was given a unique opportunity to do a workshop about video editing at a conference here at camp. At first I was intimidated by it, and I spent a couple weeks fretting about it. I put together a pretty comprehensive power point, and I also made a video specifically for the workshop so I could edit it right in front of everyone who came. I also had some other shots to demonstrate certain filming techniques. It got more stressful when my HV40 decided to break a week before the conference. Luckily, my good friends came to the rescue and Drew loaned me his HV20, and Micah drove out to camp to deliver it.
When it came time for the workshop, I was pretty nervous. Only 5 people came and 2 of them knew me previously, and in a way that added to the pressure. After a bit of a shaky start, I got comfortable and for the rest of the time did fairly well. In all it was an hour and half. I hope I get to do it again next year, and I hope that I can divide it up into a beginner's workshop and an advanced workshop. Since I only had 1 session this year, I had to cover a much more broad area so that I could help people who knew nothing about video while keeping it interesting for those who already had experience.
On the home front.
Judah is growing up so fast. He's going to be 9 months old pretty soon, and I have a feeling he will be walking very soon. We've had to start spanking him for climbing up on stuff he's not supposed to climb up on and for constantly trying to touch expensive electronics or the cords surrounding it, and that's been pretty hard for me to do to be honest because I'm not sure if he understands what the word "No" means, even though Lindsay seems sure that he does. Either way, he will soon, and if he's anything like his mother and father, he'll be a very stubborn child.
Lindsay stays pretty busy at home and she loves being a mom. She has also picked up knitting as a hobby lately. It's so great to have her at home. She keeps the house clean and cooks great food! I'm a lucky guy. She also does random projects for camp, and that can also keep her fairly busy at times.
As far as support goes, some months we have our full support and others we are still a little short, but either way God has been faithful in providing us what we need when we need it. Recently, God has also blessed us with a nice tax return. I had 2 student loans coming out of college, and with this tax return we were able to completely finish paying off one of them. What initially looked like a debt that would take at least 5 years to pay, is now starting to look like it could be payed in 2 1/2, possibly less. We did the responsible thing first, but then we decided to have a little fun with what was left! =] We are considering getting internet at our house, and for the first time since being here, we will be able to afford to do that because the only provider of internet out here isn't cheap! It won't be cheap, but the advantages of having internet definitely make it worth it. Especially for Lindsay, because she would be able to work from home.
After school debt gets paid off, we are going to need a new car. My 1997 Nissan Maxima seems to have this terminal illness that requires some sort of expensive repair every 3 months to keep it alive. You fix one thing on that car only to find that something else is wrong. It can be frustrating at times, but as I told Lindsay yesterday, we should be thankful that we even have a car. It's one of those things that's easy to take for granted.
That's all for now, hopefully we'll have another update out soon.
-Bill
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