The Riplinger Roof

Hi everyone

We thought you would enjoy these pictures. When Charlotte shot these pictures it was 12 degrees with a 20 MPH wind.

Enjoy.

The Haines family.

We give thanks

Hi everyone,

Wow it has been 2 weeks since we updated. The last couple of weeks have been stuffed with activity.

We were able to complete the project in Unity. We worked for a really nice family and really enjoyed the whole process.

We have started a difficult project as of Friday. In 1990 we bought a house 10 miles away at Riplinger in the Town of Unity. This is the house that Charlotte's parents and sisters lived in for about 12 years. The house had a poor roof then already. We have not been able to replace it yet
(had to use that word Susan). Our renters Dean and Martha have reported to us lately that it finally has started to leak. They have had to use buckets on a couple of occasions.

This house has one of those steep 4 sided hip roofs. It has a dormer in the front. It's pitch is 12/12 which is steeper than our house. For those of you who know, our house is a 10/12 pitch.

On Friday we were able to tear off and prepare the first side and start the second side.
Nicholas, Joshua and Samuel were all in the activity. We are praying for safety and good weather. Yes, we are working safely and using safety precautions. We will do other projects when the weather turns bad.

We have been working very hard improving the worship band. This Sunday we played some difficult songs including 3 awesome songs we brought home from the church we attend in Mississippi. The congregation has been supportive and appreciates the effort. It is amazing how Joshua and Samuel are improving every week. I invite each of you to come and see for yourself.
Nicholas is in the action as well, he is helping with the sound and computer work. Our regular sound and computer people were out for hunting these last 2 weeks and his help was valuable.

We have an interesting situation with this family band. It seems as we have grown working together over the last number of years, we have an offer to record a CD from a friend from our old church. Steve makes his living providing recording services in a studio he owns in Marshfield. He has offered us to record this work at 10% of his normal fee to bless us as his friends. We are considering and praying about this opportunity. We would want to do this before we leave for MS and before Peggy leaves for CA.

We have had a lot of time with Charlotte's side of the family over the last week. We were all able to be together for Thanksgiving . Becky came down from Duluth from Wed through Sunday and stayed with Nathan and Amanda. Michael flew here from Bakersfield, CA and stayed in our home from Thursday through Sunday. We are excited to get to know him better and all enjoy him.

We decided as family to participate with the community Thanksgiving dinner. It truly was an awesome time as we partnered with our local VFW, Chamber of Commerce, and Smith Brothers Catering. Our whole family along
with Peggy and Michael,
 Nathan and Amanda, and Becky served meals to those who came. 
 Our group was 13 volunteers and we know that we made a big difference. People who were in need or lonely came to this event. 
What a blessing to serve those whom Christ loves. I think it helped make it our best Thanksgiving ever. We were able to serve almost 100 people. It is so true that it is more blessed to give than to receive!

Nathan and Amanda are so excited as Nathan has landed a first shift job at Welcome Dairy in their Lab. Nathan and Amanda both worked third shift at Marathon Cheese for the extra dollars to pay for their wedding. They will now enjoy a more "normal" life.

We wanted to share a profound thought we picked up from a Point of Grace song that applies this Thanksgiving. A key to happiness and joy is to have what you want, but want what you have. We encourage each of you to be thankful for all the blessings we take for granted.
Remember, all of us in America, even the poorest among us are actually in the very top percentage on the wealthiest people who have ever lived on this planet. The scripture reminds us that to whom much is given, much is required. Praise God for his goodness!!

The latest update regarding us going to Mississippi is the same. We plan on spending Jan, Feb, and March in the Katrina disaster. After finishing the roof project, We will have had a great plenty of winter.

This past Wednesday night Amanda and Brian had the honor of providing music for a most sad occasion. A friend of Amanda's named Allison and her boyfriend both lost their lives in a vehicle accident in Upper Michigan. Allison is from Colby and in fact her family lived 2 houses from us when we first moved to our house in 1987. We did the funeral service at the funeral home in Abbotsford with Pastor Mark from Zion Lutheran in Colby. It was an awesome time and our prayers continue to go out to these families.

We did find some time to have a bit of fun together. On Saturday, We went bowling. We will not share the scores, but we did have fun and plenty of gutter balls. On Saturday evening, we went to a large light display in Marshfield sponsored by their Rotary Club. If you have not seen this display, please do. It is very nice. It is at Wildwood Park.

We are introducing Charlotte's parents to the world of E-mail and blogs so they can keep up with all of you knowing what is going on and staing in touch in this busy world. With Peggy also leaving town, 3 of the 4 girls will be out of town at times.

Keep in touch.

The Haines Family

November Update

Hi everyone,

It has been a week since we updated you.  It has been a busy but relatively ordinary week.

Last Sunday afternoon,  we enjoyed the nice weather and did some yard catchup work.
The older kids had youth group Sunday evening. They watched "The Ultimate Gift". Once again we recommend that everyone see this great movie.

We worked on our jobsite project this week. Work included installing and cladding doors and windows and installing cement board siding.

The weather did not cooperate quite so well this week. We had 2 days with temps in the 30's and winds gusting to 45 mph at times. This makes the jobsite less than fun. It has remained mostly cold with lows in the 20's and highs in the 30's or 40's.

Charlotte had a very unusual day of being sick on Thursday but has rebounded nicely.

On Thursday, Brian and Peggy picked up a refrigerator for Peggy's apartment. Her older refrigerator was one of those that needed to be thawed from time to time. I have never seen anything like it, but her freezer would literally completely fill with ice in a short time.
We were able to purchase a very good used one for a good deal.

Saturday was spent doing oil changes and Brian spent 5 hours mowing our 2 largest lawns. Brrrr it was only 36 degrees.
Charlotte and the boys picked up Boy Scout popcorn and did housework catchup.

On Saturday evening, we spent the evening with the Nightmare leadership team for our annual celebration party. It was held at the director's home.

This Sunday morning we once again put together a full worship band. We worked hard on some new and more difficult songs. Once again we had Samuel play bass. He is really learning quickly. He has been a great 
addition to the team.
Next weekend may be a little more difficult as a fair amount of our team will be participating in the Wisconsin holiday known as the gun deer hunting season.

Today, this Sunday we are having a mini birthday party for Rosa. We were in MS when she turned 1. We spent the day with Peggy, Amanda, Nate and Charlotte's parents. My parents were unable to make it as they were in Illinois today. She is actually 1.5 years old now.

Thanks for spending the time to check in.

Contact us anytime.

Harvest party and fall camping

Hi everyone,

We had a busy week (nothing new).

Early in the week we spent time getting ready for our halloween alternative party.  We held this at the Gathering Place. This harvest party gave the children a safe and fun option for halloween.

I am not sure who had more fun, the adults or the kids. Next year we plan on a huge harvest party and partnering with all of the churches in the community.


We are doing a garage remodel in Unity.  Work will include roof, cement board siding, soffit, gutters, leaf caps, windows, overhead doors and openers.

We worked together on tearoff and Brian was able to get the new roofing installed by Thursday afternoon.

 With an unusually nice early November forecast, we decided to go camping at one of our favorite sites, Brunet Island State park at Cornell, WI. We camped from Thursday night to Sat. morning


The weather held up to expectations and we had a real nice time. We did some hiking, had a campfire, and just plain relaxed. It is hard to beat a camping outing with kids.  

On Friday night we watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift". We had seen this movie in MS, but Nicholas won a DVD copy on 89Q. Do not miss this one, it is a GREAT movie.

For those of you watching the Katrina disaster with us, south MS got a huge blessing. The Biloxi Bay bridge was opened from Biloxi to Ocean Springs. This bridge will allow traffic to resume to normal on US 90 which is the primary economic route connecting the entire beach areas.

We returned from camping to participate in a cub scout function which was to a local farm. 
This gave the kids a great opportunity to get personal with the farm life. They got to see cattle, pigs, a horse, chickens, dogs and cats. Our kids love animals.



Samuel recently purchased a bass guitar and amp. Joshua has been telling us that he is playing well. They finally persuaded Brian to work with him. Joshua was right, he has progressed so well that we able to add him to the church band today.
We had a full worship band today. Brian was on guitar, Joshua on drums, Jesse on congas, Duane on keyboard, Samuel on bass. Vocals were provided by Peggy, Amanda A., Lori and Brian. Kevin is doing a great job for us helping with the sound.

We recently received news that Charlotte's sister Peggy will move to California. She is in a relationship with a wonderful guy named Michael. Peggy gave a 4 month notice at her job and plans to move in late February. It is bittersweet for us because we are happy for her but know that we will miss her here. We spend a lot of time together and have always been very close.

The Colby youth group will be raking leaves this afternoon, and we are showing "The Ultimate Gift" tonight.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. We do this for you so you can know what is going on in our world. You may share this site with people who would be interested.

Let us know what is going on in your world.

In His Service,
The Haines Family

The Nightmare and One Accord

Hi everyone,

Wow, we survived the Nightmare. Last night was our last performance. We ran capacity crowds with most ticket holders waiting 3-4 hours to experience the Nightmare.

Brian served in the capacity of Special Effects director. He has held this position since the beginning of this outreach. He has not missed a performance in 10 years. We have seen over 110,000 people come to the Nightmare in 10 years.
Nicholas served on the tech crew this year. Joshua served on the parking crew. Brrrrr. it was 24 degrees at 2:00 a.m. when we were able to close.

Brian gave a 2 hour VIP backstage tour to a pastor from Virginia who hopes to duplicate the production in his home city.

With our busy lives, Brian has planned for 6 months to resign his position following this year's production. After the 2nd week, he knew in his heart that it was not possible for him to resign .

We know that many lives are touched at this event. Let us share a tesimony.

Last year a 18 year old girl came to Nightmare. She explained that she and her friends love drinking. They have used drugs. She has never been to a church. She has a 16 year old sister who has gotten into a bad crowd. In her school they call her a "bang hoe". She will sleep with all of the guys in the gang to be a part of the gang. She entered a group in the Nightmare. A girl in her group looked just like her sister. They walked through the scenes in the production making fun of the actors and actresses. They walked through the car accident scene, the drug room scene and then entered the gang shooting scene. She did say they were impressed with the reality of it all. The girl who looked just like her sister was emotionally engaged through these scenes, almost crying and clinging to people in the group.

It was at this time that an actor in the gang scene grabbed the girl in her group that looked like her sister and threw her to the ground and kicked and punched her. She wanted to help the girl, but the security guard instructed her to leave the girl and to get moving.

At the end of the production she prayed to accept Jesus. She has been connected to a church in her home town and has been helping restore her family to Godly living.

She visited Nightmare this year and learned the girl in the gang scene was an actress. She said this actress caused her to evaluate her life and turn to God.

We know this outreach touches people who would normally not attend a church. Brian and the boys will continue to serve. Where else can you have an opportunity to introduce over 10,000 people to the Jesus of the Bible?


If this was not enough excitement for 1 week, we also had a guest ministry at North Ridge. We had One Accord from North Central University in Minneapolis. We set up the sound gear at 7:30 A.M. and Brian mixed the sound. It was a great time. Yes, Sunday afternoon included naps, but this was after the Boy Scout Court of Honor.
At this ceremony, awards and rank advancements are presented.

Charlotte, Nicholas, Joshua and Samuel attended youth group Sunday night. The upcoming week will be busy as usual.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. God bless each of you!!

In His service,

The Haines Family

The nightmare and much more

Hi everyone,

It has once again been a completely consuming week.

We have had a mixed bag of weather with cold and warm and a lot of rain.
Brian's work had to be mixed up because his main project is outdoors.

We picked up our "new" travel trailer on Tuesday. We are very excited as the new one will meet our needs much better this winter
.


We spent Friday night camping with Nathan, Amanda and Peggy.  The campground we stayed at had us enter from the back emergency exit since the main entrance was flooded by The Yellow River, which very, very high.  

This camping excursion overlapped the Nightmare and Andrew's Cub Scout Chuck Wagon event. It gave us all a chance to spend the day together as well as try out the R.V. We wanted to use everything before setting out on the major winter trip.


The Nightmare has been very good. Brian, Nicholas and Joshua are serving this year. Brian had seriously considered turning in a resignation after this year's production but after being involved again, the motives for being involved have not changed. What an opportunity to bring approximately 10,000 people to the foot of the cross to examine their lives and to seriously consider what Jesus did for them. The production has remained potent and powerful as in the past and we know many lives will never be the same. This weekend, the middle weekend is usually the busiest, and once again we had over 2000 people per night. We, the leadership underestimated the potential of this outreach from the start 10 years ago planning for 5000 per year. We are limited by our own lack of capacity to 18 people to enter every 3 minutes. This causes long waiting lines and our having to work long hours. Last night we got the last group through at 2:00 A. M. Most attendees wait 3-4 hours for their chance to see the Nightmare.

We were at North Ridge Colby at 7:30 A.M. We set up and led the church in worship. We had a great service. We believe we had the most powerful worship service so far. This is so much fun!!!

On Sunday night, the Colby youth met for their fall festival. Much fun was had with costumes, pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, music, contests, games, food and more.

Thank you for checking out the blog. We invite everyone to The Nightmare this last weekend. If you come, ask for Brian and he will treat you to special VIP priveleges. We also invite everyone to North Ridge Colby 9:00 A.M. at the Colby High theatre.

In His service,
The Haines family

The Nightmare and Packer party

 
Ethan & Peggy

Hi everyone,

Of course, it is nothing new that this week has been very busy. In addition to all the normal activity, we have
been helping Believer's Church with the annual production of The Nightmare.

Brian has served as the Special Effects director for 10 years. The Nightmare is a virtual reality haunted house that depicts the top 4 killers of our teens. It also introduces the attendees to the Jesus Christ of the Bible who suffered a horrific death on a cross to save sinners from eternal punishment.

We are proud to serve the public in this capacity and have seen 2000 people see this production this weekend alone. At this time now over 102,000 people have seen the production. Two of our local T.V. stations featured the production on their 10:00 
P.M. news.

After serving at the Nightmare this weekend, Brian, Nicholas and Joshua were serving at Colby North Ridge Church at 7:30 A.M. preparing for our weekly worship service. We had our largest worship team so far, and had a great time in worship.

After church, we set up for our Packer Party at The Gathering Place. The party was well attended, in fact we consumed 24 large Pizza Hut pizzas. Fortunately, the Packers managed to pull off a win today. 
They are now 5 wins, 1 loss.
Peggy, Amanda & Nathan 
Peggy & Nathan
  
Amanda & Andrew
At this time , our storefront spot will now be open regular hours every day. The atmosphere will be like a coffee shop. Visitors will be able to come in and relax and have a cup of coffee or use free wireless internet. We have many scheduled  activities including Bible studies, ladies activities, youth activities and childrens activities. We are excited to see growth every week. We are trying very hard to reach our community, particularly completely unchurched families.

We were able to buy and sell travel trailers this week, it will make us more comfortable for our return to Mississippi this winter.

We have been working hard at the daily things like work and school. It has been plenty cool and wet this week. We have had frost and several rainy days. Only a week ago we had record highs in the 80's. We are needing to use heat to stay comfortable.
 
Thank you for taking the time to check our blog. We love all of you who are a part of our lives. May you all be richly blessed this week.

The Haines Family