Corn Day!

Another corn day went down in Wissmann history! I don't know exactly how many quarts we froze because we did it in the middle of an extremely busy week, so it's all kind of a blur. But we are so grateful to have corn piled up in our freezer again. 

A huge thank you to our friend, Arnie, for all his work planting the corn. 

This is always a highlight of our year!

How many of you freeze your own sweet corn?

" I will give you rain in its season, 
the land shall yield its produce, 
and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."
Lev 26:4

Family Trip Day 3

A little music, a lot of food, a perfect start to day 3.

Morning smiles.

With 2 amazing photographers in the family we took a little time in the morning to get do a quick photo shoot for Alan & Rachel because they're going to have another baby!!!

Then we headed out for another hike.

Just the 27 of us (with 2 more on the way)

And back down the trail.

As a special treat Dad and Mom bought passes for us to enjoy some go-carts, bumper cars and bumper boats for a few hours. 

It was literally a blast!

Playing tag in bumper cars was seriously a highlight of the entire trip.

There may or may not have been a really competitive races on this course.

And we finished it off by getting soaked.

Talk about a perfect last day. God is so good. The couple days that we got to spend together singing, talking, and laughing was something we will all treasure forever. Our hearts are truly overflowing!

"This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord."
Psalms 102:18

Family Trip Day 2

Day 2 -- We spent another relaxing morning at the cabin. All of us girls got matching pj pants for the trip. It was so fun! 

Playing with the nieces and nephews... enjoying the view... catching up with different siblings...

Since our family is growing in size we tried to organize as much as we could. Each meal had a prep team and a clean up team. Some people were extra entertaining to have on the dishes crew. :)

After the rest of the family arrived we headed into town to explore. We created a scavenger hunt to complete around downtown Gatlinburg. We broke into teams of about 5 people, set a time limit, and headed out!  One of the things you had to do was get a picture of your entire team midair. 

Another scavenger hunt item-- a picture with a cowboy hat-- which was surprisingly harder to complete than we thought! Most teams were able to find all 18 things under the 2 hour time limit.

Then back to the cabin for game time! The game room was always full! 

Supper and evening devotions.

We had a bear break into our garbage one evening, so the guys bravely went out to clean up the mess.

More games...

A hot tub... And bed!

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together."

Psalms 34:3

Family Trip Day 1

We arrived Sunday morning and spent the next couple hours settling in, eating breakfast, exploring the cabin and talking together.

After we got everything cleaned up and the cabin set in order we found out that the rest of the crew were on their way and would arrive the next day. Hurray!!

One of the highlights of the trip was every morning and evening we would gather as a family for a time of worship and sharing. We would sing a couple of our favorite kids songs and hymns and then one of the men would lead in a time of Bible study. It was such a special way to open and close each day.

Then it was time for some adventure! 

We headed out to enjoy some of Tennessee's beautiful hiking trails. 

Hurrah for strong arms and baby carriers!

You can literally spend hours exploring this part of God's creation. It was beautiful!!

And so special to experience it as a family.

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, evenHis eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,"

Romans 1:20

A Crazy Week

*If you don't mind, the next couple of posts are going back to the beginning of May. It was a very momentous time for our family and I thought you would enjoy hearing the stories and seeing the pictures before we get back up to date.

As our family spreads out, we've found that the time we get to spend together is becoming more and more rare. So for Christmas us kids decided to give Dad and Mom (and ourselves) a weekend family trip to TN. Our entire family, in a cabin for about 4 days. Since there are so many different occupations in our family we finally found one weekend that would work for everyone. April 28th (Friday) - May 2nd (Tuesday). We were so excited! We planned the menus, daily activities, the dishes crew for each meal, transportation, we even got matching t-shirts for all of us! We couldn't wait!

Before we could go on the trip we had to get our work done and since April is a really busy month for several of us it made for some full days! During this time we knew that our Grandma Wissmann's health wasn't doing well but she went downhill faster than we expected. The week we were supposed to leave we got a call while working in the fields saying that she didn't have much time left. Dad quickly left the job site and drove the 2 1/2 hours down with Mom to say goodbye. A few hours later she was home.

As much as we were looking forward to all being together the decision was made to cancel the trip. Tears were shed as we headed to bed Monday night. The funeral was planned for Saturday morning when most of the cousins could be there. Wednesday we talked everything over  and long story short, we decided that we could possibly make the trip after all if we just postponed it a few days. A few phone calls later Dad put on our family group text that that trip was a go!!! With only a few days to be ready for the funeral and pack and get all the food ready for the trip we had a hectic couple of days.

Saturday morning we had a service honoring the life of a beautiful lady that we were privileged to call Grandma. She was extremely hard working, She was continually serving and had this quiet sweet smile that would make people feel special. All 6 of her children and 28 of her grandchildren were able to be there and celebrate her life.

We thought the rollercoaster ride was settling down but that wasn't the case. All day Dad wasn't feeling to well but after the funeral things just got worse. We were planning to head straight out to TN but Dad ended up in so much pain that we couldn't even start the bus because the vibration made it that much more painful. We brought him in to the Emergency Room and the Doctor said he needed to be transferred to Lincoln, potentially, for surgery. We prayed and made the decision to go ahead with the trip and ask God to work it out for Dad to join us. Mom, Ryan and Ruth went with him to the hospital in Lincoln and the rest of us headed to TN.

While Dad was riding in an ambulance the pain lessened and he became more comfortable. Long story shorter, Dad's small intestine was twisted and had become so swollen that it was bigger than his colon. When they reached the hospital the doctor came in ready for surgery but his intestine had untwisted and the pain was down and so they decided that he didn't need surgery after all.

After driving through the night the bus crew reached the cabin and while we were unpacking we got a text saying that Dad didn't need surgery and the Doctors were going to release him. Dad, Mom, Ryan and Ruth hit the road a few hours later and they were on their way to join us!!

We serve a wonderful God!!

"But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious,
Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." 
Psalms 85:15

4th of July

The Fourth of July is always a wonderful time of year for our family. Our hometown of Seward grows from 7,000 to around 50,000 people for a day filled with activities, craft booths, music, races, contests, and, of course, the usual parade and fireworks. 

This year was extra special because Seward's committee asked us if we would work up and perform the musical that we did several years ago, "Let Freedom Sing". Knowing how many people it takes to put it on we said we would pray about it. A couple of weeks (and many answered prayers) later we were scheduled to do it.

After weeks of practices, costumes, wigs, props and "to do" lists we were able to perform it twice, once on the 3rd and once on the 4th of July. God took the rain out of the forecast for Seward during our performances and everything went so smoothly. To God be the glory!

Here is a glimpse into this years performances.

"We're living in the promise land!"

America is the place to be... 

"When I was a boy..."

"We are the minute men..."

"The British are coming!!"

"Nooo..."

"What is this Freedom you died for?" 

Constitution Scene 

A massive "Thank You" to the 50+ cast and crew who made this possible.

"If My people who are called by My name

will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, 

and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven, 

and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

2 Chron. 7:14