Falling into the school year

 I don't know where summer went but here comes October!  We have been running crazy the last 2 months and are hoping the pace slows down as we head into the fall and get into the routine of school.  Daraby has started kindergarten and so that has been a big step in her educational career.  Dakota started nursery school and is enjoying the fellowship of other 3 year old kids!

 I (Andrew) have been teaching two agriculture classes at SBA this year.  The title of the class is "Exploring South Dakota Agriculture" and that is exactly what we are doing.  In the above photo, Darcy and Dakota came with me and my class to a neighbor ranch where we studied/identified range grasses and plants.  Over the last couple of weeks we have had many opportunities to get out of the classroom and into some hands-on activities.  You may be interested to follow our class blog: exploresdag.blogspot.com

 Daraby and Dakota have been more adventurous in their bike riding experiences.  Now Darcy and I actually have to keep up with them instead of vice versa!

 We also still take family walks with the dogs.  The girls are getting along (at least for the moment) in this pic.

As many of you have probably seen from facebook, we were blessed to have our friend Chad Coppess from Grace Adventures out to our school last week.  He led our Spiritual Life Emphasis Week by using a horse that he was training to illustrate our relationship to God and others from Ephesians 5.  It was a wonderful week of seeing God work in the hearts of our students and staff at SBA.  An added bonus was that Chad used a colt from Darcy's dad that we will continue training with. We named him "Dandy" to keep up with the D tradition!
It has been way too long since we have been able to communicate with many of you.  We hope and pray that no matter what circumstances you are facing, you will put your hope in God and rest on his Word.  In short, the last 2 months have probably been some of the most intense times we have had in ministry.  However, we know that God is faithful and that he has called us to glorify him through the blessings and hard times.  Thanks for tuning in!