Kimmi riding her new horse.
click on the picture to enlarge
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Monday, December 13, 2004
My Story
I was born August 8, 1974 in Joliet, IL. My life didn't start out picture perfect. My mom was 16 and my dad 19. I was a date gone bad. They married and divorced six years later, right after my brother was born. After that I lived with my mom and never really saw much of my dad. We kind of jumped around for awhile. I moved from one school to the next. It made it very hard to make friends and during this time I felt alone.
Then after my second grade year we moved to Coal City, IL. We lived in a duplex outside of town. One day, we had new neighbors move in next to us. It was another single mom with two kids; a girl a few years older than me and a son about the same age. His name was Mike. We became best friends. Mike and his family went to a church in the town next to us, and one Sunday my mom decided that we would go with them. It was not what I expected church to be like. This was my first time to church. It was in an old run down youth center building. It was ok. My mom, on the other hand, loved it. So, we went back the next week, and the next, and the next, and the...well you get the picture. I was pretty indifferent about going myself. But then, on a Wednesday night they had a special meeting about a organization called "Royal Rangers". It was like Boy Scouts except you also had bible studies. I loved to camp and fish and stuff so I joined up. Mike and I both got involved. We worked together on advancements. It was fun. Our first big camp out was the POW WOW. That's what they called it. It had a different theme each year. That year was "The Greatest Show On Earth". (a circus theme obviously) It was during one of the evening camp fire services that I met God. It was after the speaker was done talking; he asked if anyone wanted to except Christ as their savior. My heart was pounding. I wanted to go down but I was scared. Then my senior commander, Norm Turek, leaned over and asked if I wanted to go and that he would go with me. So, I went. I prayed that Jesus would forgive me of my sin and that we could enter into a relationship together. And He did! 6-5-86. To find out more for yourself click here.
It's been a long time since then and a lot has happened to me because of that decision. I felt called to leadership in the church and went to bible college, I met my wife in college, we have had two beautiful daughters, Rebecca and Kimberly, and I am now working as an Elder in my church; Cannon Valley Christian Church in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.