Hello From Eastern Michigan

[kathy]

Hello From Eastern Michigan,

We are Tom and Kathy Lotter and children Lauren 13, Seth 9, Levi 7 and Lydia 4 We are in rural Silverwood MI.

We are dairy farmers and also have dairy goats, meat sheep and laying hens. We also own an Auction Company.

We are Baptist and after one year of study on the topic of the Head covering, we began to cover in November of 2001.

We find ourselves in very close agreement with the statements made by Bro. Ben as far as lifestyle, doctrinally and practice, although we have not arrived at our own ideal in each of these areas.

We have really enjoyed reading the posts on this site. It would be very nice to be able to fellowship with others who share the same ideals to encourage us in our walk.

[benshelpmeet]

Greetings Sister Kathy (and Bro Tom)! We are so glad to have you both on board, we hope you will be blessed and find like minded fellowship here. Thats why we started this site is to find like minded fellowship, over the years we have met some dear friends.

Do you have a good church to go to or to yall home church? We have our services in our home because there are no like minded churches in our area, we travel to other churches for fellowship.

We have moved to a new area far away from where we were, we know no one in our area and we do not have any extended family, we get pretty lonely for fellowship and we go to churches we know about for fellowship. We are praying for the Lord to send us like minded christians to fellowship with. Please keep us in your prayers.

We know the Lord led us to buy this property and to build a house here, so we wait on the Lord.

We raise a small herd of Boar goats that we milk, we love their milk it taste so good, we find these goats will keep good weight all year around and are not picky eaters, and we can use them for meat too.

We had about 50 chickens and roosters, but since we had our chicken coop built this summer something is getting in through cracks in the barn and eating mostly my precious hens. I'm down to 10 roosters and 10 or 11 hens. (our chicken coop is built up against our barn, the barn wall is the inside wall of our coop.) We use to keep them in chicken tractors (movable chicken house) in the yard and nothing could get them not even dogs.

May the Lord greatly bless your sweet family as you serve Him there in MI.

~ sister Darlene ~

[kathy]

Hello Sister Darlene,

What a nice welcome you gave to Tom and me

It seems you and I could sit with a cup of tea and talk for a good long time on family and animals. What are the ages of your children? I would assume you homeschool as we do. My daughter wondered if you had a girl near her age (13).

It must be hard being away from family and friends. My in-laws live across the road and Aunt and Brother in-law just around the corner. And other family within ½ hour. Mostly Tom’s family as this is the family farm that was started by his grandpa in 1951 and we are 3rd generation to dairy on this farm. My sister is just 5 miles away, right in town, so that is nice since the rest of my family is 1-3 hours away and even some in Canada and New Mexico.

We are also alone here. We also visit Churches between home-churching but this is so un-settling, especially to the children who make friends and then we are gone from that church. We are also hungry for like minded fellowship on a regular basis.
We have never heard of other believers who don’t celebrate Christmas and Easter. Some with no celebration of Christmas but still celebrate Easter. That was very refreshing.

My goats, sheep and chickens are my hobby. At this busy point in my life, crafts and other interests that I have had to be put on the back burner but the animals are my relief and I love baby time which we are into now. We also have one old pony that the children adore and having 320 acres to ride on makes it such a pleasure for them to take him out. We have had chicken coop trouble too, the biggest culprit being opossum, next being coon and lastly and occasion weasel or chicken hawk.

We have 2 border collies that I love to have to work the animals. My husband is a deary, not being fond of dogs, to have let us get a new puppy in Jan. She is a smart little gal and I think she will work out well here. We lost our old, experienced fellow in Sept.
My husband knew my daughter and I would love the chatting in the recipe section….. we too collect cookbooks. My husband says he doesn’t mind if we collect them as long as we use them once in awhile With being busy, I usually make the old standbys I can whip up quickly.

Thanks again for welcoming us and May the Lord Bless,
Kathy

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sister Kathy,

What a blessing to live around family. I think? Sometimes it is not so good. In our case we are glad to live far from our kinfolk. We do miss them though because we do love them.

Your farm and acreage sounds great! You are a very blessed lady.

We are looking for another farm dog. Please pray we find a good one.

We will pray yo find like minded fellowship as well.

May the Lord bless your time here on this site!

I love recipes of all kinds except ''weird'' gourmet cooking and Vegetarian, some of both are good, but I have a hard time finding much that I like in those categories.

My children's ages are Benjamin 22, Bonnie 17, Amie 15, Emilie 12, Bethany 10, Dorthy Darlene (about to turn 9 on Sunday March 1 , which is both of our Birthday I'll be 43 this year, she was born on my 34th birthday.) Katy 7, Caleb 5 (God gave us another son.)

Would your little girl like to pen pal with Emilie? If so here is her address...

Emilie Smith
Po Box 100792
Nashville Tn 37224

Emilie would love a new pen pal, it is a good avenue for fellowship for the girls.Many Blessings to you and your sweet family sister.

Bro Ben will enjoy talking with Bro Tom. He likes when Brothers join our site here.

Love, ~ sister Darlene ~

[kathy]

Hello Sister Darlene,
Lauren is very excited to have Emilie as a pen pal and a letter should be out soon. I also included our family update letter, that I send out yearly, as well as our family photo.
For the most part, it is a blessing to live so near family. Thankfully they are Christians. My side of the family is not saved though they are VERY respectful of us and try very hard not to offend.
The farm here is still owned by Tom's dad. We rent the home and all the animal facilities as well as the crop ground. Grandpa is here daily at chore times and does a lot to help and spends hours in the fields at crop time. I pack a lunch and cool ice tea and he's happy
We have prayed for you to find a good farm dog. They are so nice when they can be of help with the livestock, but even better as a companion and protector.
We have a busy week as we prepare for our Auction this Sat. Tom is always finding ways to streamline the process of putting auctions together, but this one got away from us and we still have much work to do to get it finalized.
Tom is really enjoying the site and will be posting too. He does hope more of the fellows post for the spiritual challenge.
If you could pray for my sister who has cancer and is not saved. I will be able to let her go, with comfort, if I knew I'd see her again.
I saw that you also get the Keepers At Home publication, Lauren and I really like it too.
I'd best get out to my animals, it is only 6' and they need some hay in their bellies to warm them up. Only a high of 17 today. I am a true snow bird and like the cold.

Have a Blessed Day,
Kathy

[benshelpmeet]

Dear sister Kathy,

Emilie will enjoy writing to Lauren, she just started writing to pen- pals last year.

We are looking for a Blue Heeler pup. Pray we can find one (around 6-8 weeks old) from and individual.

Boy it sure is cold there...burr. I love the cold too. I like it much better than hot weather.

I will keep your sister in my prayers that she will be saved before she passes on, and that the Lord will comfort you dear sister as you have to watch your sister suffer and try to minister to her.

Your father in law sounds sweet! I do not know what it is like to have in laws because Ben's parents died before we met. His mama died when he was 16 and his daddy died when he was 22 just three months before we met. I miss not having them around and my children sure would have liked to have grand parents.

My mama has lived a wild life until the year 2000, she never had time for me, or my family, but ever since 2000 she has tried to at least send birthday cards and if I call her she is pleasant, and our conversations are sweet.

My daddy is consumed with his own family and his own life he never calls the children, and never sends birthday cards.

Neither of my parents are a real part of our life, when we can we try to go visit them and it is uncomfortable.

One lives in Ga and the other in Fl. We have a 15 passenger van and it is costly to travel, they do not help with the cost.

Ben has two brothers left, he had three one died at 43 years old (massive heart attack, he died unsaved...it broke our hearts and still does we were very close to this brother, his name was Alan). The two brothers that are left...they never call... we never see them either unless we make the effort to go visit them, one lives in Oh, and the other in Fl. It is very uncomfortable visiting with them.

I have no brothers or sisters, just the ones born to my dads 2nd and 3rd marriage.

Ben and I are making our own family, the one we always wish we had. We are trying to instill the values, and family togetherness we long for in our own families. One day we will be the grandparents to our grandchildren that we wish our children had, and we try to be the parents to our children we wish we would have had.

We have had no example of how to be good parents, or to have a good marriage except the examples we have sought out in books, and the example of other christians. The Lord has been faithful and He does guide His dear children.

Oh I wanted to tell you something funny. ;D We have a long haired tea cup Chihuahua ( 4 1/2 lbs), and she thinks shes big ;D, she use to round up my horses, and the cow we use to have, and she herds our goats, it's the funniest thing...shes good at it, and fearless. ;D Shes not a dainty, wimpy, pampered tea cup dog, shes a farm dog and boy does she try to protect, she couldn't hurt a flee though. She loves to go hiking too. Her name is Penny. She's a sweetie! We all love her, she loves children.

Well I'd better go, talk with you again later sister, Have a great day!

Love, ~ sister Darlene ~

[Sister Penny]

Welcome to the group!
I am Sister Penny, 49, wife to Brother Jeffrey, 53, we have 5 children, only one is home now...she's 16 and the busiest one! We are Christians, we homechurch for now, but do have one we enjoy visiting about 30 some miles from us here.

We live north of Muskegon up in the woods and are slowly taming the land here, trying to turn beach sand into useable soil...

I am modest dressing and will soon be sewing all of my cape dresses, I am switching from jumpers and skirts to those, just for the ease of it...

I am a soapmaker, candlemaker, quilter, love to spend time with my family and the woods and beach...

I also enjoy writing to like minded sisters the old fashioned way, or email..

We are hoping in time to buy a small farm further out but right now I have much going on with dealing with my Dad's estate...

Again..welcome and God bless you both!
Sister Penny

[kathy]

Hello Again Darlene,

We are now enjoying 60 degrees today and loving it!

How funny about your little Penny, it is funny that those little one’s always think they are Great Danes! Blue Heelers are wonderful dogs. They are so devoted to their families.

Thank You so much for prayer for my sister…..oh I am so burdened for my whole family….they are all wonderful and sweet, just not saved.

I guess all of us have something we could call dysfunctional about our families, even when our children grow up and remember our failures, but Thank The Lord, as adults we can make changes for the better like you and Bro. Ben are doing for your family!!
It is so nice to have all these nice folks on the site to lift up and encourage each other.

I know too, that it is so hard to visit far away family for the sake of time and money. It is so wonderful that when God prompts you to visit your far away family, He wonderfully provides the means. He is really watching us all the time.

Have a Blessed Day,
Sister Kathy

[kathy]

Hello Sister Penny,

My Parents live on the Huron Lake side and I love to go visit and go to the water, but I would agree…beach sand is not usable for gardening.

My Nigerian dwarf and Nubian goats have very creamy milk and are great for making the cheeses and soaps. I haven’t done the soap yet but a friend in Vestaburg has a great business with soaps and lotions from the goat’s milk.
Another friend has just started into the candle making. We have bee hives on the farm that are managed by a elderly man and we bought 12 pounds of wax from him last year to make candles with, we just haven’t had the time yet.

I wear vest dresses because we have a large Mennonite community near us that wears cape dresses and though we love them as friends, because of our doctrinal differences, I just didn’t want to look so much like them. Our coverings are different, with ours being hanging down cloth and they wear the white cap.

My daughter and I taught ourselves tatting, which is old fashion lace making. It is a bit different from crochet and I like it because it is unique. I don’t have much time for it lately but do enjoy it.

Thank You for the Wonderful Welcome,

Sister Kathy

[benshelpmeet]

Hello sister Kathy!

Another funny thing about our tea cup Penny, when our cat died she took up nursing her kittens! She had never even had puppies before, she was only 10 months old. Her milk came in and she kept those kittens alive and well, she raised a batch of healthy kittens. Funny little dog. Who needs another dog... ;D

We are looking and praying for the Lord to provide us a female, 6-8 week old, Australian Cattle Dog ( Blue Heeler;))puppy.

We had a Blue Heeler pup back in when we lived in Texas, we had to sell her when we went to work out of Longview Baptist Temple in Longview Tx, we moved into a small duplex. We sold her to an old cattle farmer that used Collies to round up and keep his herd in tact.

We loved our pup , she was about 5 months old and she was real funny too, Benjamin now 22 was about 7 years old...he would run as fast as he could past our pup on a chain, she would bolt after him grab him by the cuff of his blue jeans and whip him to the ground. She didn't hurt him but she got him down every time. We were young all three of us, and we just thought that was the funniest thing. Benjamin would do it time and time again...wewould say go Benji and he would do it again, he got the biggest kick out of playing with that pup. She was something else. ;D It came natural to her, for her to bring down her calf Benji. Busting her calf before he could run away. I wish we still had that dog, she was a sweet, smart dog.

We also wear dresses with a vest, and a hanging veil. We just want to be modest and simple. We do not want to be Charity, Mennonite, or Amish...(though we do have dresses that one might could think we are with this group or that.) I am glad those groups dress modestly, but you are right, we can not get a peace in joining with them, there are to many issues.

When people ask what we are we say, '' Christians. '' People want to categorize you to put you in a christian ''religious box'', but a christian who has separated himself unto God and His bible teachings cannot truly be put in a box.

We want to start making soap too.

I did not know you could milk Dwarf goats??? How much milk do they give?

We really like Boar milk though they do not give tons, but we do not need that much milk for our family.

We are still looking for and praying for the Lord to provide us a Buck to breed our Does with.

I hope your week is going well, with the Auction and all. Praying for you dear sister.

Love, ~ Darlene ~

[Tammy]

A belated Welcome to the board, Kathy!

[kathy]

Hello to All,

Thank you all so much for the wonderful birthday wishes (and a belated Happy Birthday to Darlene and her daughter).
My Tom made sure to be the first to post the greeting to me so he didn’t have to hit himself on the head with a hammer like Bro. Ben. ;D

Happy Birthday today to whoever is having a birthday in the Centex Family.

Thank You Darlene also, for the prayers for our Auction, it went very well.
May you all have a Blessed Day,

Sister Kathy

[Sister Penny]

Dear Sister Kathy,
Belated Birthday Wishes, I have been gone for a couple of weeks almost...between trips to Kalamazoo and then back home, about a 2 hour drive one way, I have been meeting myself coming and going.

I wish I had a local source for goatsmilk, I don't like to purchase it from the local health food store as they have New Age items and inappropriate things there, so I tend to skip it.

My special soap is a combination of 6 oils and butters, I also only make a Vegan soap as I just find my skin does better, I am one of those hyper sensitive skin folks...and with my RA and Fibro, the more emollient the soap is the better off I am.

I was just given bodice patterns for a gathered and also an elastic waisted cape dress in larger sizes, this will be my next step, to sew up a few dresses in that style, we have many plain sisters in the area, Old Order Amish, Reformed Mennonite and Also Old German Baptists, and of course us "few" folks who practice modest dress and are not members of any of their churches...

I do wear some vest type dresses also, but after you put on an apron, it is pretty warm for me.

God bless and if you are ever over in the West here...please let me know and we can meet.

Sister Penny in Montague