Christmas 08

Hi everyone,

It is hard to believe that Chrismas is once again here. We have had our fair share of snow and cold. It is hard on those of us who have been spoiled going down south. We are expecting even more snow this evening. It never reached zero today.

Yesterday was awesome for Charlotte and I. Our kids were involved in the music and skit at church. The morning service featured a typical nativity kids skit. Our 3 little ones were so cute and well behaved. Rosa was Mary, and at age 2.5 anything is possible. She behaved perfectly and even tried to sing "Go tell it on the mountain" It was too cute!

Brian, Joshua, and Samuel played in the worship band. It was a nice time.

We are getting close to finishing Nathan and Amanda's house, today we installed the kitchen cabinets.

Thanks for checking in, we will post a bunch of pics soon.

Remember to keep Christ in your Christmas, He is the reason we celebrate this season!

In Christ,

The Haines family

Back to work at home

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not updating for a while.

We have returned safely home. Our trip to Lake Ozark, MO was nice. It is a tourist area, but we were in the off season. It was amazing how completely shut down the area was. We were blessed by a very nice mechanic shop who helped us with our vehicle issues. They were competent and honest. Our van ran perfect all the way home.

We returned Friday evening about 10:00 P.M. On Saturday Brian sprayed primer at Nathan and Amanda's. On Saturday evening we had worship band practice, as Brian, Nicholas, Joshua, and Samuel were all involved on Sunday.

We are working hard on Nathan and Amanda's house. We are finished with the drywall and spraying of texture, primer, and ceiling paint. We have most of the hardwood floor in and most of the windows are trimmed.

Tomorrow, we close on a house we are purchasing in Abbotsford. It will be rented to Pastor John and Rosangela, and family, our Brazilian missionary family.

We have received commitment from our church regarding remodeling. Brian will be a contractor involved in the updating of our new building. He will be doing the bathrooms and entrance and perhaps more. This commitment will delay our return to Mississippi for a while. We still plan to return there after the work is complete.

This Sunday will be a bit interesting, we will be playing three different music sets, 2 at Colby Sunday morning and a joint service at Abbotsford at 5:30. If you are interested in attending, contact us.

Thanks for checking in, we love hearing from each of you.

In Christ

The Haines Family

Ha Ha Tonka State Park

Hi everyone,

We made it to Lake Ozark, MO Friday evening.

It has been refreshing getting away. Today was particularly enjoyable. We had very nice weather, with the day highs in the 50's and tonights low is 48. We went to a Missouri State Park called Ha Ha Tonka State Park. It was a great outing, it featured a castle ruin, a huge spring fed stream, great hiking and a huge natural bridge.

The weather will take a turn for the worse by tomorrow.

We have our 22 year old van on the trip, we had a bit of trouble with it running poorly. The area is mountainous, so it was not a good situation. We were able to do some tune up basics on Saturday and had it looked at by a mechanic on Saturday, but on Monday the same mechanic worked on it again. It turns out that we probably got some bad gas. We cleaned the carburator and it corrected our problem. The van ran fine on most of the trip down before the difficulties began.

We are staying at a very nice resort. We have a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom condo. The unit has lakeside view and is situated on a steep hill. There are 44,ooo boat docks in the area. It is a slow time of the year, obviously, but the benefit to us is no crowding. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub yesterday, and had the place to ourselves.

We do not have many crazy plans for the week, mostly to enjoy the time as a family. Last evening we watched the movie "Winter Wonderland" in the resort's own theatre. We enjoy showing the kids about the past times when life was a little more simple.

We just wanted to touch base, hope all is well with each of you.

In Christ,

The Haines family

Waterpark fun

Hi everyone, We had a blast as a family today. We spent the day at the Cedar Creek Lodge waterpark.

Being a Tuesday, the crowds were small, so we had no waiting and tons of fun. I think Ethan must have went down the mid size slide several hundred times. It was very refreshing as the recent months have been intense with everything going on.






We are purchasing a house in Abbotsford which will be occupied by Pastor John and Roseangela, along with Jr, and Ricardo. This is our missionary family from Brazil. They needed a bigger house, and found this. It was for sale for a low price and is fundamentally sound and has a good floor plan and a new funace. Its needs are more the cosmetic type, and they along with volunteers from the church and the hispanic church will spruce it up a bit.

We really appreciate the prayers of those around us. We are often told that people regularly pray for us. I (Brian) have had a couple of close calls with accidents recently. A couple of weeks ago after spraying sealer in Nathan and Amanda's house, I had an accident with my new airless sprayer. During the cleaning of the tool, I was using denatured alcohol solvent, which was necessary. I released a hose that was under 3000 psi. ( a car tire is 40 psi) The solvent sprayed in my face, mostly my left eye. We contacted the poison center and followed their instructions. I am O.K. praise be to God.

My other blunder/accident happened Monday afternoon. I had a low tire on my truck, so we changed it with the spare. I failed to remember to retighten the nuts after setting it off of the jack. We proceeded to our jobsite in Hewitt, completed the project, and towed the jobtrailer homeward. We got about 2 miles north of Spencer when suddenly my left rear tire and wheel suddenly fell off the axle, and we were dragging on the concrete. I was easily able to handle the rig and got off well onto the shoulder. Nicholas and I looked for the tire for a half hour, then I started to jack up the truck. Nicholas looked for another 15 minutes and finally found it. The wheel crossed the oncoming lane of traffic. This is a busy highway. We contacted Decker Automotive who had our repaired wheel and they came to help. We were only able to get 3 of 8 nuts on the wheel, but were able to get home safely. The truck has sustained damage only to a wheel part, it will cost little to repair. Once again, praise God! There was plenty of opportunity for a worse outcome.

We will be back to working on Nathan and Amanda's house full throttle. We hope to be complete about Christmas time. The hardwood floor is shipped, and will be gorgeous!




We are looking forward to the holidays, and hope you are too.

In Christ

The Haines family

A historic service

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to give a praise report about today's service. We held a preconstruction service in the new building in Abbotsford. We had a great turnout of over 140 and it was a great time of ministry, worship, fellowship and eating. It really seems God's hand is on this work as He is blessing and increasing every week.

We will be meeting at Colby High for a time to allow for construction in the new building. Once again we invite anyone to be a part of this exciting season in the life of this church.

We worked a hard week, including Saturday to allow us to take a day off this Tuesday. We have had some passes for the Cedar Creek Lodge waterpark and will enjoy the day as a mini vacation.
We are happy that the colder weather has moderated a bit.

We will be back to work on Nathan and Amanda's house most of the week and will be working on the bathroom and drywall.

Things will be a bit less crazy as things slow down at Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving plans include serving our community at the annual Colby thanksgiving meal and hosting the Thanksgiving meal at our house with Charlotte's parents, Michael and Peggy, Nathan and Amanda, and Becky.

Thanks for checking on the blog, we will hopefully update often over the next couple of weeks.

In Christ,

The Haines family

A pre construction service

Hi everyone,

It has been been super crazy again this week.

We have been hard at it at Nathan and Amanda's house. As of yesterday we have the new drywall in all rooms except the bathroom, which was not ready.

We have pulled out of this job to complete a project promised before the fire.
It is a flooring project in Hewitt.

We want to invite you to be a part of history. We will have a pre construction service in our new building in Abbotsford this Sunday, at 11:00 A.M. It will be a combined service with the hispanic church. A meal will follow. Brian, Charlotte, Joshua, Nicholas, and Samuel will all be involved in the worship team.

We are also dealing with cold weather, it is going to be less than 10 degrees tonight.

Nicholas and Joshua have completed their driving school and have passed their written tests.

We are in the process of buying a house in Abbotsford.

Thanks for checking our blog. Sorry it is so brief. Keep in touch.

In Christ,

The Haines family

Hearts at home conference

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since the last update.

The last two weeks have been a juggling match of Nightmare, worship band, meetings with insurance adjusters, gutting a house and finding time to submit a proposal to the insurance company.

For those of you who are not in the know, Nathan and Amanda had a house fire in their house, which was rented out. Pictures and info are in the last post.
At this time, the entire house is completely gutted to the studs with the exception of one small bedroom and a pantry closet, which were the only salvagable spaces. The adjuster and cleaning contractor thought that the master bedroom could be saved, but when they came this Friday, we discovered that the heat released the paper from the drywall. Service Master says this was a very hot interior fire. All plastics were melted in every room.
The bedroom was saved because the door was shut.

For those of you in the south, we are also dealing with cold weather. This past week we had 3 days of record highs, reaching in the 70's, but now we are in the low 20's at night. We have had a bit of snow.

We are excited for Charlotte, she headed off to Rochester MN, Friday afternoon for a Hearts at Home conference. She went alone, however ran into a couple of ladies that she knew. It featured nationally known speakers and parenting experts. Her life as a stay at home homeschooling mom is not always an easy one, and this was a great opportunity for her to get her battery charged. She returned refreshed. This was the first time she went anywhere alone in nearly 10 years. She would recommend this conference to all moms and is inviting you to join her next year. The conference is in Rochester, MN on November 6-7, 2009. Just contact her and we will start planning.

This afternoon we were so blessed to be special guests at the Dorchester Peace United Church of Christ Harvest Dinner. We were invited to the first event in their newly remodeled hall. They were so gracious to us. They served us a great meal and were so thankful for the work that was completed. They are truly a great congregation of believers.

Our church will likely close on the building in the next week or two and plans on holding one service there the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It will be a joint service with the Hispanic church at 11:00. You are invited. The building is the old Christ Lutheran and Cornerstone Baptist, across the street from the Abbotsford post office, or just north and west of the junction of 13 and Bus. 29 in Abbotsford.

We will be working hard on Nathan and Amanda's house, we need to get it closed in before seriously cold weather. Fortunately, they had a good insurance policy and should have everything taken care of.

Our plan to return to Mississippi will likely be altered a bit as we deal with this house fire and church move and likely remodel. We plan to head out when these 2 issues are under control. As you all know how we feel about winter, you can be assured we will be doing our best.

Thanks for checking in.

In Christ,

The Haines family

A building for our church

Hi everyone,
Wow it has been crazy this week.
We just returned from church. The Marshfield church has unanimously approved the purchase and remodeling of the Abbotsford building. In fact, pastor Gayland is considering starting another church plant. Planting churches is the most effective means of evangelism and is the reason missions efforts go on all over the world.

We had 68 in the hispanic service, the most ever.

We just finished our first two weekends of Nightmare, with the biggest night being last night. We had 2100 in attendance, running us at full capacity until 1:45 A.M. Everything is going great. Thank you for your prayers.

We are finishing a project for Peace United Church of Christ in Dorchester. We did a new ceiling for them. It turned out well. We have a few small jobs to do and hope to get started on Nathan and Amanda's house fire late in the week.

It is very possible that we may be involved in the church remodel. Brian has some proposal drawn up and we anticipate being involved.

The church is moving out of the strip mall spot, the Gathering Place. The neighbor store has subleased the space.

We have spent the weekend with Nathan, Amanda, Peggy, Michael and Becky.
They all helped with Nightmare and we have been emptying and planning for the house rebuild.

Between all of these activities plus the regular stuff, we have been passing like ships in the night and trying to get a normal nights sleep.

Thanks for catching up with our blog. Consider yourself personally invited to the Nightmare or to the church. The Nightmare will have it's final weekend this week on the 30th, 31st and 1st. If you come, ask for Brian and he will give you a tour. You will not be disappointed.

In Christ

The Haines family

Another fire!

Hi everyone,

We had another neighborhood fire last night. Just yesterday, the Hanson's three story house was torn down by a backhoe from their recent fire.

Last night, Nathan and Amanda's house was gutted by fire. This is the house that we took a lot of effort restoring last summer for them to move into after their wedding. It appears to be that smoking materials were probably the cause of the fire. It was very heartbreaking for them as the renters agreed not to smoke in the house.

We met with the insurance adjuster and we will likely be the restoration contractor. The damage is serious. We are thankful that no one was hurt in this incident.

In Christ

the Haines family

Nightmare Opening Week

Hi everyone

Things have been crazy.

We have had 2 Nightmare rehearsals, and tonight is our opener.

Brian is the Special effects director, now in the 11th year. Nicholas will be under him as a trainer and supervisor. Joshua will also work with him on the hands on aspects of the job as his direct assistant. Samuel will serve his first year as a tech. We will be responsible for all of the special effects. These include fog, rain, snow, smells, and our flying person stunt. We are looking forward to serving in this amazing outreach. This picture has nothing to do with Nightmare - except that this is what Rosa does with her sparetime and a bottle of lotion. So I guess it can be a Nightmare to clean.

Charlotte is leading the cub scout tiger den, with weekly meetings and outings. They recently toured the Medford radio station.

Nicholas, Joshua, and Samuel will be attending youth camp with the Colby and Marshfield youth groups in Lacrosse the last weekend of the month. (They will skip the last two nights of Nightmare.)

We are still rehearsing for the worship team every Tue and Wed.

We continue to be blessed with great instruction from Ricardo. He continues to stretch our skills and it has been great to watch the boys grow. We are also playing every week for the hispanic service. This also stretches us as we read the sheet music in Spanish, and learn to play the Latino rhythms.

Our church has put in a full price offer on the Abbotsford building and it has been accepted. Financing for the purchase and remodeling is also approved. The only thing that needs to happen is for the Marshfield church to approve the purchase by a vote. Marshfield's pastor and board all agree that we should make this a reality.

Brian will be submitting bids on some of the proposed projects.

We plan to do the improvements immediately after closing and before moving in.

Our other facility, the Gathering Place will be subleased and used by the neighbor store, Mix and Match.

We found a little time to go to a corn maze near Wausau. It was a good time. We went on Brian's Birthday, last Friday night.

Rosa has pretty much potty trained. We will finally have no kids in diapers after 17 years of diapering kids!! YEAH!

Thanks for checking in. Keep in touch.

In Christ

The Haines family

Mark Schultz in Concert

Hi everyone,

We have had a very interesting and busy week.

The highlight of the week was a suprise for Brian. We had our church services on Sunday and our Court of honor for the Boy Scouts on Sunday. We decided to go on a ride, maybe to enjoy the tree colors. What Brian did not know, was that he was being tricked into a birthday suprise!

One of his favorite artists at this time is Mark Schultz. He was hoping for a C.D. for his birthday. He was able to pick a couple of them up at a concert in Minneapolis at Bethel College.

Unfortunately, the whole weekend was very hindered by sickness. Brian, Rosa and Samuel were sick pretty much the whole trip.

We dropped the kids off at Peggy and Amanda's apartment, and they moved them to a hotel while we were at the concert. Charlotte worked so hard on the weekend and was so disappointed how it all turned out. We stayed Monday and visited the Como Zoo, but Brian and Samuel needed to rest in the van and missed out on the whole thing.

Work has been very busy. We have a roof ready to shingle in Abbotsford. We did the tearoff and preparation last week and had a rooftop delivery today. We are also doing a renovation in a church hall in Dorchester and have the framing done and a start on the new lighting.

We had a flood in one of our rentals and need to change a furnace as a result of the damage.

Our church is putting in a offer on the old Christ Lutheran Building in Abbotsford at this time. It will be interesting to see what happens. The congregation has been praying for God's will.
We will post pic's soon. We have many taken, just need to upload them.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad Haines!

Thanks for checking in, everyone.

In Christ,

The Haines family

The movie Fireproof

Hi everyone,

We have been busy doing life. We finished the Colby house and garage roofing project. We finished the Marshfield deck project and the Stratford floor/patio door project.

We will be doing another roof this week in Abbotsford.

We are in preparation for our annual Nightmare project at Believer's church in Marshfield. Brian is still the special effects director, now in the 11th year. We have seen over 100,000 people see the production and are preparing for large crowds again this year. Brian is excited for his part of the production this year. We have finally found a smarter way to produce our low fog. It will be easier, safer, less expensive and will require less man power.

If anyone reading this would like to be involved this year, contact us and we will get you involved. It is an awesome opportunity for influencing the younger generation with a strong positive message. We have many testimonies every year of changed lives.

On Friday, Charlotte, Brian and Andrew went to the just released film Fireproof. It is the second film made by a Baptist church in Georgia. It is a volunteer effort and the results are amazing. The other movie was Facing the Giants. It was being shown in select theatres. We went to Chippewa Falls. We wanted to support it on opening weekend as it affects how it is marketed.
It turns out that in 839 theatres, it was like one of the very highest opening box office movies!

The movie is about a married couple that was in serious trouble in their relationship, but by turning to God and learning some things about sacrifice and selflessness could turn it around. We will not share more, because we hope you will go see it. This movie shares values not like movies that we are so used to seeing. It makes you wonder if movie producers would notice that millions of people would come out to see movies that would help the world's problems rather than help cause the problems. The movie stars Kirk Cameron as the lead actor. It is intense, funny at times and definitely well done.

Nicholas, Joshua, and Samuel camped with the Boy Scouts this weekend at Perkinstown.
The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are selling popcorn. Even Ethan is joining Cub Scouts. He is so excited!

Thanks for checking in.

Keep in touch.

In Christ

The Haines family

A busy September

Hi everyone,

I know we always say this, but once again, everything has been crazy. The boys are in school full swing, and the business is very busy.

Last week we built a deck in Marshfield and we are doing roofing and siding work on another hail damaged house and garage in Colby.

In addition to these projects, we needed to service a regular customer who had water damage to a kitchen floor. On Saturday, Brian and Andrew did subfloor and vinyl flooring in a large kitchen, hall, and bathroom. They also installed a patio door. They needed to remove and replace trim and bathroom fixtures.

The weather has been great. Our September has been dry and warm. It has been good work weather.

We are excited about progress at the church. The Hispanic church has needed to move into the school as they have outgrown the Gathering Place. Our service is at 9:00 and theirs is at 11:00. This creates new opportunities. For the last two services, our worship band has been able to participate in the Hispanic service, coming aside with Ricardo in providing a more established service. It is exciting to see what God is doing.


Nicholas, Joshua and Samuel will be going to a Fall camporee with their scout troop this weekend.

The church is also praying about the purchase of a church building in Abbotsford. The building is a traditional building, 10000 square feet and in good structural condition. It will need some updating including roof repairs, main floor bathrooms, handicap access, carpet and paint and possibly much more.

We are still planning to escape winter. We are planning on returning to south MS after Christmas, but are also praying on possibly going to Galveston, TX. We want to be in God's will, we do not care if we are in Biloxi, Galveston, Colby, or Africa as long as God is with us. It seems to make sense for us to return to south MS, as we have a network of relationships there. The needs are still high there.

We are also excited to be planning a vacation to Lake of the Ozarks MO from Dec. 5 to Dec 12. We were able to book a very nice condo. We feel very blessed.

We were declined on the offer we placed on a house in Colby last week. We did not accept their counteroffer.

We had visits from Peggy and Michael, Nathan and Amanda, Uncle Bill and Carol this weekend.

Thanks for checking in on us.

In Christ

The Haines family

Roofing Charlotte's parents house

Hi everyone,

We have been keeping very busy.

We spent this week putting a new roof on the house occupied by Charlotte's parents. It needed a bit of extra TLC as it was rather poor work last time. It has a pitched roof built over a flat roof. It turned out nice this time, we are so glad it is finished.

Charlotte has been busy with cub scout recruiting. She did recruitment outings in the schools and at a rally at the Lions shelter. It was a bit of work.

We put in an offer on a very distressed house in our neighborhood today. We figure it is a 50/50 on getting it. We would like to have control of the improvements. It would also give us a large job so close to home.

Charlotte and the boys have been hitting school hard this week.

We have received great news from Peggy and Michael, and Nathan and Amanda. The engineering firm that Michael was hoping to get into actually made a position for him and he will start working there on the 29th. The firm is expanding into Menomonee, Wi and Eau Claire, and Wausau. After he gets the next licence, it is very possible he could be running a branch in one of these areas. The offer meets his salary expectations. Peggy and Amanda have both been hired by the same company. They are collection positions. They will be able to carpool. It just seems as they are in the center of God's will. Everything is falling into place so beautifully.

Last weekend, we had a family reunion organized by Charlotte. It was attended by about 50 people. Rather than just sit and talk, we organized a murder mystery skit with 10 of us in full character and costume. It was a lot of fun. ( I, Brian was an Indian!!)

This week our work will take us to Marshfield to build a deck, then to Colby for a house and garage roof, also siding repair. This project is another hail damage project.

This week, our Hispanic church will move to the High School. They have outgrown the Gathering Place.

Thanks for checking in.

In Christ,

The Haines family

Reunion plans

Hi everyone,

It has been a busy and productive week. We have finished the Marshfield roof project. It was a blessing. Our customer just located here from Shreveport, LA. They were pleased and are offering us another project.

We are working on the family reunion for Charlotte's family. It will be this weekend at Medford's Mill Pond park.

We will be putting a roof one of our own buildings next week. It is the one occupied by Charlotte's parents. The roof was tired when we bought the house in 2003. We do not think it can handle another hard winter.

Our church is gaining momentum every week. The worship band gets better every week. It is exciting to see each musician gaining skill. Samuel and Joshua are playing with increasing skill and confidence. Ricardo is doing so much to teach them.

Next week the Hispanic church will move to the High School on Sundays as they have already outgrown the Gathering Place. Praise God!!

Peggy and Michael, and Nathan and Amanda are moving into their apartment in Minneapolis.

We will keep you all posted. Thank you for checking our page.

In Christ

The Haines family

Andrew is 10!

Hi everyone,

I am writing on the 29th, Andrew's 10th birthday and the 3rd anniversary of hurricane Katrina.

We are waiting to celebrate Andrew's birthday, as we have been on a large roof project in Marshfield and we are waiting for Peggy, Michael, Nathan and Amanda to make it home this weekend.


Brian, Nicholas, Joshua, Samuel, and Andrew have been working on the roof. This is the first roof project that Andrew has used a roof nailer.

Peggy and Michael have arrived in Minneapolis.

We have been busy with all of our normal activities. Charlotte is heading up cub scout recruiting. She is recruiting at our local public and Catholic schools.

Brian and Charlotte sang their first ever public duet this Sunday. You can hear it at northridgefamily.org Hit the link to the Colby/Abby church and hit This week's message.

Thank you to Mary for your visit!

Charlotte is very busy organizing a family reunion for next week. We are holding it at the Medford City Park and are planning to camp there for the weekend.

As the days pass, we are realizing how serious the hailstorm was here a few weeks ago. The damage in the city was serious. We have received a settlement offer on one of our duplexes. Brian is receiving numerous offers to repair damaged roofs and siding. We had golf ball size hail horizontally wind driven.

We are keeping the Gulf Coast in our prayers as Gustav threatens the coast.

Our Wisconsin time is half used up. In 4 months we plan to return to Mississippi.

Thank you all for reading our blog. Feel free to respond. It is easy.

In Christ,

The Haines family

Joshua is 15

Hi everyone,

Wow, it has been hard finding time to do the blog. It has been so busy. The summer is full of birthdays. 4 of 6 of our children have birthdays in July and August. Joshua turned 15 on the 14th. Andrew will be 10 on the 29th.

The big news around here is that Michael and Peggy, and Nathan and Amanda are moving to Minneapolis this week. Michael and Peggy are looking forward to a cleaner environment. Bakersfield, CA is one of America's most polluted cities. Nathan is going to school in MN to study marketing.

We have been busy with all of the regular activities. Church, scouts, neighbors, friends and more keep us busy full time. Brian will be the worship leader at church this week. Joshua and Samuel will play. Brian and Charlotte will do their first ever public duet. You are all invited.

Services are at Colby High at 9:00 a.m. Sunday.

We reconditioned the front of a small car dealership in Colby. We also just completed a full bathroom remodel. We are now doing a large flooring project.

We recently discovered our R.V was damaged in our hailstorm. It has hundreds of dents and a beat up air conditioner. We received a settlement for damage. The storm also damaged one of our buildings and caused damage all over Colby.

Thank you for checking up on our site.

In Christ

The Haines family