Ryken Family Report
Dear Tenth Family,
It has been an eventful 2 ½ weeks, but we are doing well. On Monday the 28th the movers packed two trucks (they could not get a full-sized truck down our street, so they had to pack two, take them back to the warehouse and re-pack everything into one truck). The one little glitch was that they messed up our delivery date and came on the 2nd rather than the 6th, as planned. That actually turned out to be a blessing, though. Phil and I flew to Illinois on Wednesday the 30th.
At 7:00 am on July 1st Phil started his first day of work with a prayer time in Pierce Chapel on campus. About 120 fellow believers came and we had a wonderful time of prayer for the College, for Phil’s tenure at Wheaton, for the family, and for Tenth. It was a sweet time which I would have missed out on had the movers scheduled the delivery as we had planned. The truck arrived on Friday morning and we had a hard-working crew who spent the day getting the house to the point where we could live. On Saturday morning I flew back to Philadelphia to pick up our van and our kids.
After a final picnic dinner with the Wynnes and friends we loaded the car and set off Sunday morning. The highlight of the trip, aside from the remarkably short time (door-to-door in 12 ½ hours!), was Josh rigging his phone, his computer, and our car stereo so that we were able to stream the Tenth service live while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. How wonderful it was to hear Carroll pray for us as we drove!
Since we have been here we’ve spent most of our time unpacking and getting the house settled. Phil has been getting used to a new routine, which has included 6:00 am basketball in the gym, and doing department visits to get to know the staff. Tomorrow he leaves for new president’s school (or is it camp?) at Harvard. Josh will meet the Northern Ireland team at O’Hare on Saturday, and Kirsten leaves for camp on Monday.
We had our first dinner guests last Thursday, a fun evening with Andrew and Rebecca Canavan and Chad, Jamie, and Milo Fenley, followed by a brutal game of Trivial Pursuit. Last night we celebrated Phil’s mom’s birthday. We think it was the first time that Phil and his sisters were all together for Mary’s birthday since Phil was in high school. We have an unfinished room above the garage that is full of empty boxes, so ten of the grandchildren had a great time building a huge fort with the boxes. They also quite enjoyed the inferno that was created by putting the correct number of candles on two cakes and watching their grandmother struggle to blow them all out.
We haven’t had a lot of time to sit and reflect on all that has happened, but we continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude to God and to our dear family at Tenth who have blessed us so abundantly. The painting and our memory book will always remind us of the privilege we had in living and working with such a faithful and loving part of God’s family.
Some special words of thanks need to be said to people who went out of their way to help us in our last week there (I know this is risky—I’m sure I will forget someone. Please forgive me when I do!) So, in no particular order, our thanks to: Cheryl Brubaker, Sarah Brubaker, Liz Mosebrook, Anne Budd, Lynda Webber (our cleaning crew extraordinaire!), Sylvia and Paul Duggan, Seth and Anne Cohen, Cathy and Bob Kempf, Brooke McDowell, Luella Tripp, Jonny and Laura McGreevy, Greg and Mary Berzinsky, Marion and Ginger Clark, Paul Jones, Emilie Park, Carroll and Kimberly Wynne, Rose and Brian Esterly, Steve and Terri Taylor (if you ever need help packing a minivan call the Taylors!), and Jonathan Wynne.
We continue to pray for God’s care for and blessings on Tenth.
Much love to you all!
Lisa, for the whole Ryken family
It has been an eventful 2 ½ weeks, but we are doing well. On Monday the 28th the movers packed two trucks (they could not get a full-sized truck down our street, so they had to pack two, take them back to the warehouse and re-pack everything into one truck). The one little glitch was that they messed up our delivery date and came on the 2nd rather than the 6th, as planned. That actually turned out to be a blessing, though. Phil and I flew to Illinois on Wednesday the 30th.
At 7:00 am on July 1st Phil started his first day of work with a prayer time in Pierce Chapel on campus. About 120 fellow believers came and we had a wonderful time of prayer for the College, for Phil’s tenure at Wheaton, for the family, and for Tenth. It was a sweet time which I would have missed out on had the movers scheduled the delivery as we had planned. The truck arrived on Friday morning and we had a hard-working crew who spent the day getting the house to the point where we could live. On Saturday morning I flew back to Philadelphia to pick up our van and our kids.
After a final picnic dinner with the Wynnes and friends we loaded the car and set off Sunday morning. The highlight of the trip, aside from the remarkably short time (door-to-door in 12 ½ hours!), was Josh rigging his phone, his computer, and our car stereo so that we were able to stream the Tenth service live while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. How wonderful it was to hear Carroll pray for us as we drove!
Since we have been here we’ve spent most of our time unpacking and getting the house settled. Phil has been getting used to a new routine, which has included 6:00 am basketball in the gym, and doing department visits to get to know the staff. Tomorrow he leaves for new president’s school (or is it camp?) at Harvard. Josh will meet the Northern Ireland team at O’Hare on Saturday, and Kirsten leaves for camp on Monday.
We had our first dinner guests last Thursday, a fun evening with Andrew and Rebecca Canavan and Chad, Jamie, and Milo Fenley, followed by a brutal game of Trivial Pursuit. Last night we celebrated Phil’s mom’s birthday. We think it was the first time that Phil and his sisters were all together for Mary’s birthday since Phil was in high school. We have an unfinished room above the garage that is full of empty boxes, so ten of the grandchildren had a great time building a huge fort with the boxes. They also quite enjoyed the inferno that was created by putting the correct number of candles on two cakes and watching their grandmother struggle to blow them all out.
We haven’t had a lot of time to sit and reflect on all that has happened, but we continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude to God and to our dear family at Tenth who have blessed us so abundantly. The painting and our memory book will always remind us of the privilege we had in living and working with such a faithful and loving part of God’s family.
Some special words of thanks need to be said to people who went out of their way to help us in our last week there (I know this is risky—I’m sure I will forget someone. Please forgive me when I do!) So, in no particular order, our thanks to: Cheryl Brubaker, Sarah Brubaker, Liz Mosebrook, Anne Budd, Lynda Webber (our cleaning crew extraordinaire!), Sylvia and Paul Duggan, Seth and Anne Cohen, Cathy and Bob Kempf, Brooke McDowell, Luella Tripp, Jonny and Laura McGreevy, Greg and Mary Berzinsky, Marion and Ginger Clark, Paul Jones, Emilie Park, Carroll and Kimberly Wynne, Rose and Brian Esterly, Steve and Terri Taylor (if you ever need help packing a minivan call the Taylors!), and Jonathan Wynne.
We continue to pray for God’s care for and blessings on Tenth.
Much love to you all!
Lisa, for the whole Ryken family
posted by M Clark at 7/16/2010 10:19:00 AM
6 Comments:
Thank you SO much for this continued connection. I rejoice with you all. You all have a special claim on my prayers. Heartfelt love sent.
Can't wait to hear ALL about "new President's week"...
Will continue to pray and watch as the LORD blesses you and the family as you serve Him where He has placed you.
We were also wondering if the Swedish shells and Jonah in the Whale arrived safely each in one piece?
So VERY glad to hear such a good report! We miss you all very much but are thankful that you're settling in well. :-) Many blessings!
What is "The Northern Ireland Team"?
The N. Ireland team is a group of Maranatha leaders and students from Tenth doing outreach.
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