This is a busy season for my family. For the next couple of weeks, things will be pretty quiet around JeffRandleman.com. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, this weekend is packed with lots of activities. My oldest daughter turns 18 today, we are holding a graduation reception for her tomorrow, and she graduates from high school on Sunday. The last few days have been hectic, and the next few will be even more so.

Second, the following Sunday is Mother’s Day. Our school district typically holds graduation on Mother’s Day, but this year they separated the two. We have plans to make Mother’s Day special, both at church for all of the mothers represented there, and for my wife, in our own family.

Because of those major events, I will have very little time to write much at all. Things will pick back up after these couple of weeks wind down. Thanks for your understanding. I appreciate each of you who are a part of my little community here.

I hope you are having a great spring! See you in a few days!

The post Graduation Is Here! Congrats Class of 2017! appeared first on JeffRandleman.com.

I’ve started a new site for the Randleman family. I’ve been trying to refine the scope and direction of my writing, and determined that family updates really fall outside of my purpose for this site. So I’ve developed another site that is completely dedicated to the Randleman family news and events.

If you are interested in keeping up with the news in our little corner of the world, or seeing photos and videos of the kids, then check it out at family.jeffrandleman.com.

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And in the end, they find the pirate ship, complete with treasure, and even One-Eyed Willie himself.

I enjoy movies that tell the story of someone finding a treasure worth millions. What a happy ending.

You may know that I enjoy the hobby of numismatics, coin collecting.

After we moved from Branson West to Mountain View a couple of weeks ago, we needed to go back to clean up the house and make sure it was ready to be shown to potential buyers.

As we were cleaning, I decided that I had better check the tops of all the cabinets to make sure we hadn’t missed packing anything. The tops of the cabinets had a little ridge along the top, so things could have been up there and out of sight.

So I grabbed the step-stool and went to work. I checked the cabinets in the bathrooms. And I found little more that dust, and the container that holds the pads for my massage mouse. Oops… Can’t leave that behind.

So I went to the kitchen to check on top of those cabinets, not expecting to find much there either.

On top of the first cabinet I looked, I found a box full of old coins! It was a plastic container, the kind with adjustable compartments, like you can find at Wal-Mart, near the tackle boxes, or in the craft section. And it had dozens of old American and Canadian coins in it.

It was on top of the cabinet, and a piece of plywood was over it, resting on the ridged edge of the cabinet. We had even used the plywood to display some of Heather’s decorations in the kitchen. The board held the decorations, in this case,a brass tea kettle, up high enough to be seen easily.

We had lived there for four years and never had the slightest idea that it was there! It had belonged to the previous owner, and even had her hand-written notes, detailing what coins were there and what she thought of them.

I was ecstatic. After getting it back home and looking through it, I discovered that it wasn’t a very valuable collection, nothing like One-Eyed Willie’s treasure. But it had a few 1964 Kennedy half dollars, and a few from later in the 60s as well. And I found several silver Jefferson war nickels from the 1940s. And there were a lot of other various quarters, dimes, nickels and cents as well.

While it wasn’t a valuable find, the excitement of finding a treasure under (or over, in this case) our very noses was incredibly fun.

Now I take those buried treasure stories a little more seriously…

The post Finding Hidden Treasure appeared first on JeffRandleman.com.

After our upcoming position with Creation Truth Foundation disappeared, we were at a complete loss as to where God was leading, or even what God was doing. But that confusion has finally passed.

Several weeks ago, while we were still trying to raise support for CTF, I decided to send out a few resumes… just in case our support needs didn’t reach the level we needed by the time we needed that support in place. It was a moment of incredible foresight, which I’m not sure I can really take credit for.

I sent resumes to about fifteen different churches, from California to Ohio to Florida, and several places in between.

One after another, God closed the door to most of those opportunities. We had some good discussion with a couple, but they decided to move in a different direction. Most simply thanked us and told us they were hiring someone already. And a couple more were interested, but they were not exactly what we though we needed at this point in our lives.

One of those resumes went to Mountain View, Missouri. And right in the middle of our job-loss crisis with CTF, we received a phone call asking for more information.

That phone conversation led to a lunch with the Senior Minister and the Worship Minister from the church. Shortly after that, we drove to Mountain View and met with their search team. This interview was scheduled for the day after we made a public announcement that CTF was no longer in our plans. God’s timing was incredible through all of this.

After a great evening with their search team, we headed back home to pray about this opportunity. Was this where God planned to send us? How would we know?

In the meantime, we were in the process of contacting all of our supporters, letting them know that we were no longer headed to CTF. One couple, who have worked with Show-Me Christian Youth Home for many years, suggested that we meet with them and consider becoming house parents at their main unit in LaMonte, MO.

This was an appealing idea, and so we added that to our prayers. It soon became apparent, however, that God was not leading us in that direction. Heather didn’t feel comfortable taking a position like that at this point in our lives. She felt it wold be “too overwhelming.” I agreed.

And then Mountain View called back. They were excited about our interview, so much, in fact, that they decided to forego any further interviews and offer me the Associate/Youth position. And they invited us back to meet with the full church board and the teens on a Wednesday night.

After that evening, we continued to pray for several more days.

I called them back on Saturday, May 2nd, and officially accepted their offer. We are planning to move to Mountain View and begin our ministry there in early June.

An added benefit is the fact that my (step) sister and her family live in Mountain View. It will be good to have family so close.

Boreas Pass, CO

Looking back at the past several months, we can now see more clearly how God was leading us. It was a very dark time for our family, but we were certain, and still are, that God was in control, and still is, and was working out his plan for our family. We feel that now, we are starting to see the mountaintop in the distance. This image conveys how I feel. I took this photo on top of Boreas Pass, near Breckenridge, Colorado, last summer. We are on the pathway, still in the shadows, and yet the destination is in view.

As Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14:

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s a bittersweet time for us right now. We are very excited to start down this new path and see where God leads. But it will be difficult for us to leave First Christian Church in Kimberling City. This church has defined clearly for us the meaning of family. They have walked with us through some difficult times in our lives, like the death of my brother, Mike. And they have rejoiced with us at other times, such as the birth of our son Jadon. We have been so blessed to be a part of this body.

And that may be part of the reason we had to travel through such a dark period. We have been very happy and content at FCC, so much so that we may not have heard or listened to God’s call to Mountain View. He needed to use something big, like my passion for Creation and our desire to serve in a role at Creation Truth Foundation, to get our attention. He has big plans for FCC, and he has called another man to lead FCC to the next level. And he has big plans for the Randleman family and Mountain View Christian Church. We anticipate eagerly the next phase of our family’s life and journey, and our personal lives as well, in Mountain View.

It has been a dark journey over the past few months. But finally, we are breaking free of the darkness, and we can see a little more of the path before us. We’ve learned that we like it better when the path is lit. But our faith is increased more when the path is darker. May God shed just enough light into my spiritual journey that my faith continues to grow because I must truth him to lead me safely. And may my family grow because they see me grow.

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It’s going to be tough to leave First Christian Church.  We came here after a bad ministry experience.  And shortly after we got here, my brother, Mike, passed away.  FCC has truly been a place of healing for us, in numerous ways.  This body has become family.  So much so, in fact, that I have about a half a dozen “Moms” here.  Not to mention sisters, brothers, and close friends. 

And while we are feeling sadness, there’s also an exhileration.  We know that God has great things in store for our future.  So that leaves us with a bitter sweet taste in our mouths. 

And so we are packing up the house.  We don’t know where we are going to put it all until we find another place to live.  Right now, it’s going into a storage unit owned by a family here in the church.  They donated a storage unit to us until June.  But they received word recently that they are losing that property, and will have to find another source of income.  I wonder if their bank will continue to donate a unit to us… Probably not.  So, either we have to fit that expense into our budget, or we will have to find another location to stash all of our stuff.  And both of those options are pale in comparison to the change that family is going to have to make as they find work.  My prayer are with them… 

And so, June 1 approaches.  And with it, our sanity disappears…

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But, as usual, Jadon’s birth didn’t happen without the crazy Randleman drama that is so typical of our family.  Here’s the story.

Since Heather was still three weeks away from her due date, and since none of the rest of our kids came earlier than the projected due date, I assumed that it was safe for me to take a weekend trip to Tulsa, OK.  The National Missionary Convention was going on that weekend, and Creation Truth Foundation had a booth there.  Dr. Sharp was teaching a couple of classes, and I was to be there to help out, since we will be joining the staff at CTF in June.  You can read all about that here.

So, Thursday morning, November 20, I got up around 4:00 am, showered and got dressed and packed and headed for Tulsa.  I arrived at the Convention Center around 9:00 am.  I hadn’t been there for more than an hour when Heather called me, letting me know that her water had just broken, although she didn’t loose all of the fluid until about 3:00 that afternoon.

I left Tulsa before 10:00 am and headed home.  I stopped in Joplin for gas, and since the gas station had a Wendy’s inside, I ran in for a burger to eat in the car.  I reached the beginning of the line at the same moment as another family reached it.  And, being the nice guy that I am, I allowed them to go before me.  They really took their time deciding what to order, to my frustration and impatience.  But finally, I had my bacon cheeseburger, and was out the door.

Just before I reached Mount Vernon, MO, traffic slowed almost to a stop.  There was an eighteen wheeler on the side of the road ahead, broken down.  Cars were trickling past one at a time.  I was four vehicles away from passing this when a highway patrolman pulled into traffic and blocked anyone else from going by.  It was a good thing, too.  Moments later, the cab of the truck was consumed by flames, fuel was running across the highway and into the median, and fire was raging everywhere.  I was four vehicles away from being past this and on my way.  If I just hadn’t let that family in front of me at Wendy’s… Oh, well.

So, I sat there for over an hour, watching them battle the flames consuming that truck.  And all the while, my wife is in the hospital, in labor, in Branson.  It’s only because of our good friends Henry and Trisha that she wasn’t still at home waiting on me.  Heather’s van had just had a new battery put in (by Wal-Mart; another story), and it was dead.  So she was at home with no way to get to the hospital on her own.  I called Trisha, who came and took Heather to Skaggs Hospital, while Henry took the kids and delivered them to the places they were staying, after feeding them lunch.  It’s good to have great friends.

Finally, the fire was under control, and traffic started to roll again.  I made it to Branson, and to the hospital.  It was now 3:00 pm.  It had been a full day already.  Immediately after I got there, Heather stood up, and the rest of her water spilled and labor began in earnest.  I believe that Jadon was waiting for me to get there before he came.

Jadon and Heather

Heather’s contractions started happening more frequently, and at 1:04 am, November 21st, Jadon Philip entered into our world.  At 7 pounds, 14 ounces, he is our smallest child.  All three of the others were larger.  Hannah was 9 pounds, 6 ounces; Lydia was 9 pounds, 12 ounces; and Titus was 8 pounds, 8 ounces.  And Heather is rather petite…

Our family has adjusted well to our newest addition.  Our only difficulty has been in getting Jadon to stay awake more during the day.  Instead, he sleeps all day, and then is awake most of the night, especially in the early morning.  I think he’s doing it on purpose…

But we are thankful for the gift of new life.  We are excited to see what kind of person Jadon grows to be.  And we are thankful for our great friendships; people like Henry and Trisha, who dropped everything to help, are priceless.  And there are other friends as well, people who permitted Hannah, Lydia and Titus to invade their homes and lives for a few days.  We cannot express our appreciation enough to people like that.  We just continually thank God that we have people in our lives who are the church;  people who’s friendships we value above practically anything else.  Those people we are proud to call family.

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