Dan Schmoyer’s Blog

My website is now updated and running with some new additions and upgrades. One negative thing I lost during the transition was all of your email addresses! If you could go to the Subscribe section of the webpage (bottom right side) that would be great! Thanks!

Let me know your thoughts on how things look with the updates and upgrades. Thank you.

Dan

I have added a few hundred pictures to my album so if you are interested in seeing what has been going on at the Schmoyer Household over the past 7 months or so you can click on the “Photos” link on the right hand side of the webpage. A few of the new folders are “Summer 2007″, “Our House”, and “Radloff Visit- Easter 2008″. I have also added some pictures to some of the existing folders so check them out too!

Have a great day and I’ll talk with you all later!

Dan

So, over the past month and a half a lot of things have happened at TreeHouse and at home. I’ll start by updating you on what’s going on at home.

HOME: Both kids are getting really big! Maggie and I were looking though our pictures from this summer, fall, and winter and we were both shocked at how grown up Ruby looks. She is definitely becoming a little girl and not a baby/toddler. She’s 2 1/2 now and doesn’t miss anything we say! She always has a comment or question about our conversation and we’re starting to spell words so she doesn’t know what we’re saying. Unfortunately, I’m not a great speller so sometimes Maggie has to pause and unscramble or edit my attempted spelling Thankfully I have a wife who can spell. Every Thursday morning our whole family goes to the community center to swim. Ruby LOVES to swim and does really well playing in the shallow-end and is also pretty daring in the deeper end where she can barely touch (she tip toes around with her face looking up toward the ceiling). She is also our “gopher” when it comes to diapers, wipes, clothes, etc…

Titus is soooo cute! He loves to smile, laugh, and be tickled. He can sit up all by himself and can rock on his hands and knees like he’s preparing to crawl. He really enjoys his Johny-Jump-Up and is totally in love with Ruby! Every time she talks to him he smiles and laughs. He will watch her whenever she’s in the room and likes to listen to her read books. We have an appointment set up at the Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis to help us with his eating habits. Over the past few months he has totally refused to drink his milk from any bottle/cup possible. He does eat baby cereal with veggies so he’s getting food but he’s not getting the nutrition he needs. We’ll let you know what they have to say and what happens, but until then keep praying that he continues to stay healthy despite not getting all the vitamins and minerals he needs. Thanks!

Maggie is still working hard and being a great mom, wife, and friend. She is currently working every other Friday and Saturday night with one other shift between her weekends. She does a great job with both kids at home while I’m at work and continually does whatever is needed to help our family. Since the snow has started to melt Maggie has been hit pretty big with the spring/summer warm weather bug. I can’t blame her either because it will be so nice to let Ruby and Ti play outside in the backyard now that we have grass back there instead of a pool. We bought a little swing for Ruby and Ti and we can’t wait to get some use out of it. Maggie has been a huge encouragement to me lately and I am very thankful for her grace, forgiveness, and selflessness. Thanks Maggie!

WORK: Since I last blogged I have experienced a lot of great change at Chaska TreeHouse. We have been praying for new kids to come to TH (TreeHouse). A lot of the “core” kids at TH are in high school which is great for leadership, activities, and maturity. But, it is also very important to have a younger base of kids to grow, teach, and effect change in their lives. Typically we would have 5 to 10 middle school students attend program nights. Since we started praying we have seen incredible growth in the number of middle school students. For example, we had a Chaska TH Spring Retreat at Lake Owen Camp in Cable, WI and the number of middle school students who came was almost HALF of the total number of students attending. We are now noticing a shift from high school dominant to a good balance between the grades. Approximately 8-10 NEW middle school kids have been coming over the past few weeks. We are talking about splitting the group by high school and middle school so we can effectively reach each age group. It is exciting to see how God is bringing the right kids to TH and how they are beginning to positively impact the culture, atmosphere, and direction of TH. Continue to pray that God will bring us new kids who need to hear the truth of God’s Word. We have also been able to see some fruit from the work of God in the lives of some teens. A number of them read their Bible every day and are now going to local churches! So encouraging!

Well, I think this is long enough so I won’t make you waste any more of your time I will upload some new pictures pretty soon so you can see how big the kids are getting! When I do, I’ll let you know.

Thanks for your prayers, thoughts, and support! This year you all have blessed me and TH so much with your gifts. Right now I am approximately 10%-12% OVER my financial target! Thank you SOOO much. You don’t know how much of a blessing it is to have that much support. Some staff have to spend a lot of time and energy asking people to help them reach their target throughout the year and even more so at the end of the year. Thank you so much for letting me focus more on my ministry and less on continually raising support!

Dan, Maggie, Ruby, and Titus

I just added more pictures to my site so you can go to the “Photos” section and view the more recent pictures of Ruby, Titus, Maggie, and I. Enjoy!

Dan

I got this letter the other day and I thought you all might be interested in reading it. It is written by a co-worker’s wife, Sarah Metcalf, so please do not copy and re-use this without permission. You can email me and I can ask her if you can use it. Just let me know. It does not have a title yet because she just wrote it last week.

Okay, I have a question. Are adults supposed to say things like “that kid is a drugged up loser”? Aren’t adults supposed to see past all that to a hurting teen who has turned to drugs to escape from his life. Aren’t adults supposed to try to help the “losers” of this world, not leave them on the street corner to hang themselves by their shoelaces? Aren’t we as Christian adults called to reach out to those kids who seem beyond help? It makes me so mad that we would rather leave them to die and rot in hell than love on them. “Oh, those kids are undesirable!” we say. We tell our children not to go near them, and we walk on the other side of the street when we see them coming. Hmmm, kind of sounds like a parable Jesus told doesn’t it? Sure, these kids have made some really bad choices. And maybe they don’t want to give up those bad choices right now. Does that change how our attitude should be to them? Do we really leave them alone to wallow in their sin without ever showing them the love of Jesus? Any Christian would answer “well of course not!” but we do it all the time. We turn up our noses at the teens who dress in black and dye their hair purple. We shun the teens who sit on the couch all day playing video games and wishing someone would take the time of day for them. We shut our youth group doors to kids who cut themselves and don’t shower every day. They are undesirable to us. No one, not even the youth pastor wants them around. How tragic! I hope we are all happy in our plastic perfect lives. I hope that all of us who never have problems are encouraged when we hear of another tragic suicide. Good!! The world is rid of another trashy human being who apparently was not fit to live among US!!

HYPOCRITES!!! Wake up you white washed tombs!! I’m sick of your pharisaical tyranny over those who need Jesus the most!! I’m sick of watching another kid leave church never to come back because all of you act like you’re too perfect and too holy to interact with them. If not for the love of Jesus lavished on us, would we not be in the same place? How ugly we must look to God. How disappointed in us must the Lord of the universe be to see us deem another precious creation of His unworthy of our interaction! How about we let the Lord decide who will come into His presence. And since we do not know who that will be, it is our job, our RESPONSIBILITY to make sure EVERYONE has that chance, not just a select few that we think “make the grade.” Quit being Pharisees and try being followers of Christ. We can’t imagine the joy we’ll feel when one day that “drugged up loser” stands before Christ and says, “Lord, if not for your people I would have perished eternally, but they loved me like You and they showed me Your grace and here I stand in Your heaven today because of them!”

SARAH METCALF.