2014 Update

Hello friends and family,

Like many blogs, this one has not been updated in many months. I hate that. No one can expect readers if a blog is not updated.  I make no promises to blog here more frequently, but here is an update at least. If you want more frequent blog posts from me, you will have to check out Reformingwv.blogspot.com.  These have been busy days, but I have mainly focused on other things.  "Like what" you ask?

• Fambily.  Kathi's PID is managed, thankfully, although her health does fluctuate within a wide, managed range.  Spencer is in 6th grade and always joyful, except when he is not.  Taylor is in 10th grade and reads fantasy books incessantly.  Josiah is a homeschooled junior but is taking most of his classes at the community college. He will probably enter Covenant College as a sophomore. He is very good at programming.  He cannot take the programming classes at the community college because his knowledge already exceeds them.  He has a working knowledge of about 7 or 9 different programming languages. 
• Doctoral Studies at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. I say doctoral studies, but that is just a way to gentrify a doctor of ministry, which we all know is not in the same category as a PhD, which I will never get.  I am working on my final project, which at this point is titled  Bonhoeffer's Predigerseminar: A Model and Inspiration for Building Community in a Fractured Presbytery.  I had hoped to graduate in 2014, but when your project depends upon the participation of dozens of other people, timeliness can not be predicted.  So I will graduate in 2015, as long as I keep plowing along, and as long as the presbytery continues to support my efforts. I have been very grateful for their support so far.
• Pastoring Trinity Presbyterian Church.   We are small.  But I love being here, and I love the people.  I am learning how powerless I am, and how much I need to pray. 
• Mediating for the Family Courts.  As a minister, I am there at the beginning of marriages, and, unfortunately, as a mediator for other families, I am there at the end, helping divorcing parents set up parenting plans for the children. 
• Working at West Virginia Northern Community College. This is my full-time job, but it is not the reason I moved to New Martinsville.  Some churches will never have pastors unless preachers are willing and qualified to work bi-vocationally. I wish more would. 
• Blogging at Reformingwv.blogspot.com.  I am less likely to blog here and more likely to blog there.  
• Starting a Bible Institute. Some Reformed guys in WV are getting together to start a Bible Institute in West Virginia by West Virginians, for West Virginians.  I have wanted something like this for a long long time, and now it seems it is coming to pass.  We will offer an initial Biblical Foundations Certificate this Fall.  More information on this will be coming soon.  
• There is always more, but this is all I can think of at the moment.  

Our New Chicken Coop

The family got the urge to keep chickens for eggs.  So I built a hen house and chicken run this past week using some store bought lumber and some scraps laying around.  Turned out fairly nice, but extremely heavy.  Hard to move, but my boys and one of the neighbor kids helped me drag it into place behind the garden.  It is not yet finished.  Need to cut more ventilation in the house, and probably will paint it red at some point. Since I built it without plans, it is basic but very sturdy.  I will probably modify it as I learn more about what will be best for the hens and convenient for us.

Inside the hen house, I built some nesting boxes in hopes that we will get some eggs. We only plan to keep hens.  Not interested in raising chicks right now, so no rooster.  Bought a couple of Barnevelder pullets and threw them into the coop, where they promptly made themselves at home. 

We will get a few more pullets this next week, and then I will probably post some more pics. Hope to have them ready to lay eggs by the middle of June. 

Homeschooling in the Bills Household

Kathi Jo spends several hours every day ensuring that the boys are getting a good education. Their curriculum is a modified classical curriculum based upon a program called Classical Conversations. They memorize a lot of facts in history, science, latin, grammar, and geography. They also do Abeka Grammar and Saxon Math. Later on the kids will take logic and composition courses and dive more deeply into these various subjects.

Taylor decided that he also wanted to take a cooking class that a wonderful lady in our church offers to kids in the youth group. Don't worry. We are working with him on how to use a knife.

Spencer Thomas (6) Reads Chapter Books Already! (Pics)

My wife, Kathi, began teaching Spencer Thomas, our home-schooled kindergartener, to read in October of this year. Three months later, he is reading Magic Tree House chapter books all on his own (2nd grade level books). Like his older brothers, he is passionate about reading. Tonight he refused to let me read to him before bedtime because he wanted to read on his own. The passing of an era. *sigh* Below, Spencer reads Dr. Suess while nestled between our living room furniture.



Both Kathi and I are certified to teach the very powerful Academic Associates Reading Program. Find out more at www.wvlearningcenter.com.

The Bills Blog at www.adoniram.net

It's beginning to look alot like . . .

Christmas in the Bills Family living room.

38th Birthday

Binoculars, a watch, Starbucks whole bean breakfast blend, and two deer. A good weekend! Taylor, Josiah, and Spencer are celebrating with me.