What can I say, there is no place like home. That's how we all felt upon returning from our trip to Southern Indiana in February. We were all so blessed by the love our family and friends showed us while we were there.


My heart truly breaks for those people in this world who doesn't know the Love of Christ. Our church family displayed the love of Christ to us and I can't imagine life without it! While we were thrilled with the outpouring of items that people donated, it did leave us with a dilemma on how to return with four people and two car loads off stuff – in just one car.

New Life allowed us to use the church van and what a blessing that was. Other than a flat tire and a near accident on the side of the road while we were changing the tire, all went well. The van seemed to enjoy being on the highway and stretching its legs. It did use more gas than our car would have, but it was certainly less expensive than any other option we would have chosen.

We were able to bless all the families and the children's home with some of the food items we received. The first week back we were trying to get back into the grove. I plan to blog more regularly, so while this one is very long, I am going to try to do less writing, more often.

I am picking this up Friday, March 5
Well today was a long busy day full of work. We woke up done our morning routine of coffee, reading the bible, Joey Farming (that's on facebook for all you older folks, lol). After the rituals, I started one of the tasks I had been dreading since we left Sean and Lana's house on March 1, taking Renee's room apart.

I spent the whole day cleaning and packing Renee and her family’s room up and taking the baby bed down and all of that sad stuff. I finally got all of our clothes put away, our room cleaned and organized again. Lil Joey proved to be quite the shrewd business man. When Renee moved down here with us, she offered Joey $200 to buy the bigger room. He accepted and now just a few months later, with the help of Elijah, the young boy who is staying at the children's home, moved his stuff back to the bigger room.

Elijah is staying with us at the Hogan. I was so excited to see him it had been about four weeks since I saw him last and I have to admit I missed him. He is 8 years old and he came right to me and gave me a big hug. Someone donated some big Lego blocks and he has had so much fun playing with those...he said those were his favorite of all the things we brought back.

Joey, Bo, and “Joey boy” worked in the gym for about 5 hours trying to fix the water problem. We really want and need to get this fixed so we can open the gym back up to the community. Every day it's not opened, is another day we are unable to build God's kingdom and share the message of Hope through Christ Jesus.

I also have news about Cari. She had just turned 18 when we headed back east for our visit. While we were away they were trying to find her mother and brothers. We learned when we got home that her mother is in prison and three of her brothers are also in jail. CPS said they would continue to support Cari here at NCF as long as she finished high school.

They also found her sister and she visited with her this past Tuesday and is away for the weekend at her house. We are praying everything works out with that relationship because we heard from Cari that it hasn’t always been a good one.

We finished the night with super and “Joey Boy” saying grace! It is so awesome seeing him grow in his walk with the Lord. He does really good!

The little things
Our disconnect with the world is one of the hardest things being out here. That's why happiness was seeing a white van with the word Dish written on the side. The cable man walked into our home and when he left, I had the news and more TV. No one was more excited than Elijah has his favorite program is Scooby Doo.

We decided to order a small package with just the basic channels. Renee and Carlos have agreed to pay half of our phone bill and the extra income opened the door to us getting at least a few channels on the TV. We were able to let Elijah enjoy a Saturday morning tradition shared in households across the country – watching cartoons.

Once we finished that we played a few video games. Joey Boy left and was gone most of the day rounding up cattle with James and Aaron. Besides that, we were able to start catching up on some rest by just hanging out with Elijah.

Dry times in the desert
Thoughts from Sunday – I am so proud of Elijah. He usually wets the bed but this weekend while staying with us he didn’t!!! He had a conversation with Big Joey the other day about being scared of the dark so we put him in the room across from the bathroom and left the light on.

I got up, fixed breakfast before church and helped Elijah with a bath and we all got ready and went to church. We sung a lot of old hymns and James Paddock gave the message. His message was about “Why Do Christians Have Problems?” I guess what I got out of it was that either we cause the problems or people and the circumstances around us cause the problems not God and that we need to grow up as Christians, we need to look out for one another, and help carry each other’s burdens.

After church we came home and had lunch, played a little wii together with Elijah and then we all went to open gym and played volleyball and basketball with our new brothers and sisters here in Dilkon. It was a lot of fun. By the time we came home there was snow covering the ground! Yes…while you guys were having 70 degree weather it was snowing and raining again in the dessert!!

Renee called me to tell me she had Baby Christian, at the park and he was swinging for the first time and this was really his first time being outdoors. She said he would jump and the different sounds he was hearing like motorcycles and kids yelling.

Joey and I are so going to miss all these first time adventures and we really have to rely on Gods strength to get us through these moments. It is hard sacrifices so please lift us up daily and when you see him, take and send lots of pictures.

When we got home I got Elijah’s things together to take him back to the boarding school and before we left Cari came over with her sister and introduced us to her. Cari then stayed with us until Carol and James returned.

She rode with me to take Elijah and during that 1 ½ hour drive she talked and talked to me about her visit with her sister and shared a lot more of her past and her present feelings.

About four years ago her father and this sister she recently visited with left her, her mother and three brothers because he could not put up with the alcohol, drugs, and the selling of drugs. So he just up and left. Cari was left looking out for them and keeping them in line the best she could.

This is why she is so upset with her sister and father. Now that she found out about her mother and brothers being all in jail she feels like it is her fault because she wasn’t there to look over them. She is worried about their home and what is going to happen to it while they are away.

She is just really having a hard time and it hurts her so bad because she just wants to fix it all and she can’t. Her sister gave her some advice that she was not happy with and it brought up those bad feelings with her. Cari's sister told her to move on with her life and not to worry about them. This really upset Cari because that is what her sister did to them. She is not sure about this new relationship and she is going to try and mend things. So we would like you to join us in prayer for her and her family.

That should catch you guys up for now. Like I said, I plan to be more faithful with my blogging. Sorry if the minor details bore you, but those details back home are the thing I miss most. I want to share all the times we see God moving in our lives, whether that's through my shy teenage son growing into a strong man of God, or the love this 8-year-old boy feels as he tries to adjust to life away from a mother he loves dearly.

We love and miss everyone dearly. Please continue to pray. I've gotten good news that some people are still sending $14 pledge challenges for “Kenzie's Challenge.” Thanks to everyone and stay tuned.

By the way, there may be something in the works that will allow us to participate in New Life Has Talent. But George made me take a vow of silence because he believes more people will come. Anyway, it should be “ENTERTAINING”

We Love you all!!!!
God Bless