We have moved to the lush Willamette Valley area in Oregon,  from the Plains state of Kansas. This journey began in October of 1999...

The Lord gave Ernie a dream and a vision, about moving out here. It's really neat to see God's Hand moving since we did.  The Lord has confirmed His Will, concerning this very planned and prayerful move, many times.  We felt like the Pioneers, that came out here on the Oregon Trail.  We actually did follow the Oregon Trail for most of the way out here!  We rented a Ryder truck and loaded everything that we owned, including our Pick-up truck (on a trailer, behind the Ryder) and we headed for Oregon.

God had plans for us.  Ernie "just happened" to get a job back in Kansas at a computer company, that "just happened" to have a branch in Oregon, that needed a Lead Tech (we already knew that God called us out to Oregon, so that was a total miracle)!  So not only did God provide the means for us to relocate here, He also provided a better job for us, until we can get our computer business up and running. We were pregnant with our child and we had her in May of 2000.  So we moved out here, pregnant, totally on faith, totally expecting our God to do what He said that He would do and He has.

We had no idea of where we were going to live.  We had the Ryder truck for just a couple of days (here) and we had to figure out where we were going to live and quickly. We were staying at a motel, with the Ryder parked, taking up more space than we were supposed to be taking up, at the motel.  But, not one person complained about it. Normally, you cannot just waltz into a new state and town and just move right into a house.  You have to fill out credit apps and wait for weeks sometimes, to get the place that you really want.

But we were trusting God to find our home for us.  We were walking by Faith, not logic.  Logic would have told us that we were whacked and should have never left Kansas. But, we were trusting and following God and He never fails! So the first day we went out looking for a house, we went to the first small town that we came to, because Salem was just TOO big for us and we knew that wasn't where God wanted us.  It didn't feel like home and it was way too 'busy'.

Off we drove, in our red truck, praying and looking at houses and buying newspapers, in these small towns.  Looking and looking some more and filling out applications.  Getting a little concerned, as we were running out of time. Yet still walking by Faith. Still trusting in our God. 

Then we saw an obscure ad in a little newspaper, for a house in a little town south of Ernie's job.  The only town with a Wal-Mart (meant something to Sharlene), so we called about the house. The rent was cheaper than the rest of them that we had been looking at.  We loved the town.  So we went to look at it (the outside), before we called the Landlord back.  

As soon as we stepped out of our truck and walked around to the back of the house, we looked at each other and said, "this feels right".  We called him back and looked at the inside and loved it!  It was huge inside, 1800 sq. ft. (from the outside it looks like a really small bungalow house) and it was really nice.  It even had a Fireplace in it.  He said that he had another couple coming to look at it, but if they didn't take it (they had called first), that we could have it!  That day! Needless to say, the other couple didn't take it, but we sure did!

Here is the house:

He was really nice.  We told him why we had moved out here and explained our situation to him.  He didn't even have us fill out an application and he let us move right in.  He even took $200 off of the rent, since we agreed to clean it up for him (it had been remodeled and had just gotten a new roof put on it and had been sitting empty for a few months and it was dusty inside! 
That was miracle #1.

Then he told us that we'd have to get a refrigerator.  So we drove around town and looked around and we saw a furniture store and saw that they were having a mattress sale (we needed 3 beds, too). So we stopped and went inside. The man was really nice and we told him our story.  That we were new here, what we were doing and that we needed a fridge and 3 beds.  We asked him about financing, just out of curiosity and he said to us, "you looked me right in the eye and I like that, get what you want and pay me when you can"!!!

We had the money to buy it outright, but we wanted to save as much of our money as we could, for any unexpected expenses, until we got settled in here. Here we were, from out of state and he didn't know us from beans, yet he sold us all of that furniture and a fridge, on our word! 

Miracle #2

They delivered the furniture and fridge, that night.  We had arrived in Oregon 2 days before and we had a job, house, fridge, beds and our utilities were even turned on, right away.  Everything fell into place like a well oiled machine!  When God institutes something, it works that way. We paid them for everything that we had bought from them within 2 months, as God blessed us with the finances to do so.

Then we found out that there was no other computer store in the town that God had chosen for us live, when we first moved here! 

Miracle #3 

We can tell you that God has been moving, on our behalf ever since we've been here. We could fill page after page, telling you the glorious things that He's done, just since November of 1999 but we won't put it in this original article. We WILL have periodic updates, below. Suffice it to say that you CAN live by Faith.  You CAN trust God to meet your needs. You CAN live a life pleasing to God and it's wonderful!

 We've had to sacrifice time with 3 of our children and a grandchild, as well as other extended family and friends back in the Midwest, to do what God has called us out here to do.  Yes, that is a sacrifice. But we will follow Him, wherever He leads us. Just step out when He tells you to and you cannot lose.
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Well we figured that we'd give you our first update on what has been going on with our family.  

November of 1999
(these few updates are written in '05, as I didn't want these points to go unnoticed. They were instrumental times in our lives in Oregon and needed to be included here)

We went to get groceries at an IGA store in the town where we got the house at.  And we got TWO small plastic bags of groceries and it cost us $100!  And we only bought hamburger and a few "staples". So Sharlene was really upset about it and cried and we felt that the Lord was really going to have to do some fancy providing for us there. Because we were pregnant and had two teenagers in the house. Plus visits with our other children and we needed to have food in the house.

So almost immediately there was a leak under our sink and we called the landlord and he sent a plumber over. I asked him if he had children and he said that he did.  I asked him how they can afford to feed them, jokingly and he said that they shopped at this other store in town.  He recommended that WE try it, too. We did and they were almost as cheap as our Aldi's back in the Midwest. So we considered that a total providential meeting and blessing from God and we were able to survive there and buy groceries.

January of 2000
Ernie needed a haircut.  We saw a barber/beauty shop and Ernie went in there to get his haircut.  Immediately the woman there started talking about a computer problem that she was having!  And THAT meeting was the vehicle that God used to get us connected to MOST of the town that we lived in, then.  We joined the networking club and SHE ended up becoming their secretary and treasurer and is to this day.  Her name is Patti and she helped us SO much.  God has used this woman in our lives in so many wonderful ways.  She has been a blessing to us for years.  Because of her, we were able to survive, financially our first year+, in Oregon.  She helped us make some connections there, that we couldn't have made on our own.  We still struggled some but we survived.

May of 2000
We had our baby girl then.  Patti had our baby shower for us and it was SO precious.  She knows many people from her hair salon and she invited them and she just made this experience wonderful for us.  We almost lost our baby (she was bleeding back into me via the placenta and she almost died) and Patti helped us out and the whole thing went much more smoothly because of her.

God is good!

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Today (9-28-2000)
We looked at our finances and said, "We can't make the rent this month. Let alone buy groceries, utilities and gas." So in the natural, we started coming up with ways to 'help God out', with our finances. We prayed first and asked for supernatural faith.  Then not even an hour later, we got a phone call from a man who wanted a computer from us.  The money that we are going to make from that computer, plus 2 service calls, is going to make up the difference, that we are short!  Praise God for His Faithfulness! He came thru, just like He always does. It is SO hard to trust sometimes, but He's never let us down and He certainly isn't going to start now, amen?

Not too long after that, we realized that we were still going to be a little short and instead of trusting God to meet the need what did we do?  Started worrying and thinking of ways to help God out again.  My goodness what a hard headed bunch we are.  HELLO!!!!!  Once again despite all of our worry, (which did no good) God came through.  Not only that, but had a lesson for us as well.  Ernie heard about a play in Sweet Home, called Heaven's Gate, Hell's Flames and asked the Lord (even with our finances in the condition that they were in) if He would provide a way for us to go.  But we could only go, IF He supplied the need.  And by God's Grace, $250 showed up in our account.  A blessing from the Lord, through Ernie's brother Tim.  And we can only stand in awe of God's power, mercy & grace!  Wow!

What we tend to forget is, that we are not out here on our own, but we are out here doing the best that we can, to follow God's Will in our lives.  Staying open and listening to what He wants us to do.  In doing this, God will not let us fall on our faces. 

Another update
 (10-23-2000) Well now we know without a doubt, where God wants us to go and what He wants us to be involved with.  We just stand in awe of God's Glory and Providence!  There is a town, south of where we are now, that is in the beginning stages of something grand.  The people there are truly onfire for God and they are doing what the Church is supposed to be doing.  We knew within 5 minutes of speaking with the Pastor of the Church that hosted that play that we went to, that he is involved in the very things that God is calling us to do, in that area of Oregon.  Now we are just watching God's Hand move.  We will be moving down there soon, as we are anxious to get started with our ministry, doing what God has called us to do out here.  

Later we'll give you more updates on what is happening here with us, in our beautiful Promised Land, better known as Oregon.

Well here it is 11/04/00
And a lot has gone on. Whew! We are proud grandparents of a brand new baby boy from Ernie's oldest daughter (Rebecca) in Wichita, Ks.  Devin Dakota born 11/01/00.  There is even a story here.  Do we have a book going on? Ernie got a call from his daughter Becca on 10/31/00 saying that she had gone into the hospital at 4:00 a.m. and that she was in labor.  Ernie called later that morning. Oh no, the baby was going to be born on Halloween! We decided to pray about it and you guessed it, the baby was born at 2:55 a.m. on 11/01/00! What an Awesome God we serve!

On apprx. 10/30/2000 Sharlene wrote to a ministry that helps people who are in ministry, that are in need.  They wrote us back and said that they would send us $85 dollars!  We were going to be short on our rent and groceries, etc.  Praise God for His people!

11/4/2000 
We were going to be short by $335.00 for rent plus we had to have money for groceries and Gas. God allowed Faithful Stewards Ministries to help us with part of it and we praise Him for that. That still left us $250 short for rent so as I believe we are supposed to do, we started making sure that we had done everything that we could, to get the money in here.  It came to mind that we had some people who wanted us to put up a business web page.  So we called them and told them that if they wanted us to, since we needed the money, that we would do it for a $250 flat fee, if they paid us by the weekend. That was on Friday.  Well it is Saturday evening and we are praising God for meeting the needs we had one more time.  I wonder how we can ever question God when we are in need, when we've seen His miracles day after day.

Well today is 1/12/2001
And God has been hard at work in our lives, as usual!  We never want to take Him for granted and we always want to thank and praise Him for all of His mercy, provision and grace.  Well, we had been getting kind of anxious about moving, after God showed us where we are to go.  But we have been waiting on Him to reveal the how and where, exactly.  There is a computer store in that area, who Ernie knows the owner's from his workplace.  They are customers there and the man that is partner's in that store, had asked Ernie a few times if he was interested in being involved there.  

His partner is a Spirit-filled woman who is truly walking with God and totally sold-out to Him.  The store doesn't make enough money now, to support all of us.  The man decided that he wants to leave the store and asked us if we wanted to be full partners with her!  We are excited, because this will be the way that God has for us, to live where He wants us to.  He is not a Christian and he wants her to have Christian partners. We appreciate all of the prayer that is going up from our Friend's and other Loved Ones.  We thank and praise Him, for you.

Oh, our present business has picked up to the point that we are actually getting caught up on our bills!  And ever since we have been faithfully tithing (we believe that is the reason why) God has opened up Heaven's doors and is pouring out His blessings upon us.  Just as He says in His Word, that He will do.  He said to "try Him" on this and He will show you and He surely has with us!

Before we didn't have enough money to even pay our bills, so we felt that God wouldn't have us tithe and not pay our bills.  Then we really felt a release to tithe a couple of months ago and ever since then, (whew) well, you get the picture!

We will give more updates later.  God bless!

Update time again It is 2/4/2001 and the Lord has been blessing us, big time!  We went to a really neat Healing Service at a little country Church that we've been going to.  It was so nice and such a breath of fresh air, since what he does is done decently and in order.  He didn't try to "conjure up" the "healing anointing" or act unbecomingly.  He simply called the people out and they came forward and God healed them.  It was really neat.  And our finances are looking WAY up.  We even bought Nicole a new Car Seat and a High Chair! We appreciate all of the prayers and the love from you all.  God bless you and yours and we'll update again, soon.

Hi again!  It's April 10, 2001 and we are in another transition period. God is directing us to move south of here and we are in the process, as I write this to you.  We gave our notice to our Landlord yesterday and now we are locked into moving for sure!  I had already sent a legal notice that I had to send out, the week before last, but we still could've backed out at that point.   Now we have to move and we are excited.  God has given us our dream of owning our own Computer Store and to watch Him move, is just incredible!  He gave us a partner who is a Spirit Filled woman, who through Providence, had her partner approach us with this proposition!  We didn't go looking for this, it came to us.  God is SO cool! So now we are moving south of where we live now, to go into business with a really neat Christian grandma, into an established Computer Store.  God has promised us that He would bless everything that we put our hand to and He has thus far and this will be no different. We just wanted to testify and to catch everyone up on what is happening with our little family,  here in Oregon!

Well it is May 31st of the year 2001!  We move tomorrow into our new life that God has called us to.  It is scary and exciting at the same time. We will keep you updated.  God bless you!

Today is July 2, 2001!  We are in our new place and all settled in.  Right after we got moved, Sharlene had to fly to Missouri for Court.  Had we not had the money, right at the very moment that we did, she could not have gone.  Well the Lord came through, again.  We did not have the money for Caleb's plane ticket on such short of notice, but Skip and Dolores GAVE us the money for his ticket AND for Krystal's ticket.  Had it not been for God's Grace and Mercy, we would not have been able to get the tickets to see our children for their summer visits!   Praise God!! And thank you Dolores and Skip for your faithfulness and generosity! Here is the Apartment Complex that we moved into from the other house.  It is REALLY nice.  It is right next to a beautiful park, right ON the Santiam River.  There is also a really nice playground area here, too.  A HUGE apartment and we love our neighbors.  Normally we wouldn't pick an apartment but we decided that it would be ok in THIS case, since we were trying to cut down on expenses and the apartment was SO large and the area was so nice.

Today is July 24th, 2001 Boy has the enemy been busy trying to discourage and destroy what God has in store for us!  But it will not work, because no weapon formed against us shall prosper and God's plans are bigger then the enemy, amen? We have been thru the ringer and back since we've written last, but praise God, He is always faithful and after the dust clears, we will still be standing firm on the Rock of Ages! Thank you for your love and prayers!  God bless you friends and family.

Today is October 11th And after the September 11th tragedy I think we have all changed. It appears that most of us have rethought what we stand for and how we feel about our Country. The Patriotism that we are now seeing, is a good thing. We are seeing that as a country, we have taken inventory concerning our spirituality and our values and that is always good. As a family things have changed since we last updated.  We are not going to merge with the computer business that we had planned to.  The woman that we had planned to go into business with decided to become a Missionary to the Philippines and we will not be partners with her partner (even though that was offered), as he is not a Christian.  He is a nice man, but still not a Christian and we will not go against the Biblical mandate not to "yoke together with an unbeliever".  So we are still trusting God to bring us to the place in Him, where He wants us to be.  We are waiting and praying and we are available for the Ministry that God has called us to. For now Ernie is commuting quite a distance, but we believe it will be for a short time.  We still hope to open a Computer Store in the same town that we had felt that God had called us to.  We believe that He will open the doors when the timing is right. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God called us to this state and to this area within this state, to live.  We love it here and we will blossom where we are planted. We will update again later.

Well we have another Grandson!  Stephanie (Sharlene's oldest daughter) gave birth to our second Grandchild.  She had an easy labor and delivery.  A few complications afterward, but they are doing really well. She is married and they are sure a cute little family.

Well here it is December 5th, 2001 Just 2 weeks and 6 days until Christmas!  We are basically ready.  We have our decorations up and most of our presents bought. The neatest present of all is this;  God has revealed to us, what His plan has been all along.  It was somewhat different than what we had thought it would be.  But the essence of it is just how He revealed it to us. We found the Church that we are to be involved with.  It is a brand new work and they are totally open to everything that God wants and it is great.  They appreciate all of the work that we are doing there and plan to do there and they are open to anything that God wants from them. It is a Church of God (affiliated with the Cleveland, Tn. branch), which is cool, because both Ernie and Sharlene have COG backgrounds and we basically agree with their doctrinal views.   We will give more details as they become available.  We just don't want to speak too soon about things that God has shown us.   We are to have wisdom and patience! God bless you all and have a great Christmas season!

Happy New Year!  It is 1-3-2002 and we are excited! The longer we go to Church there, the more we see that this was totally God.  All of the people there "have a mind to work" and they all have the same vision that we do.   Here is a picture of that Church: We are looking forward to God blessing us (and He has been), so that we can bless the Church and others.  God is a God of action, folks.  If you aren't moving on with God, then you are going backward!  There is an entire world out there, that is in need. There are prisons and homeless shelters that need YOUR help, not someone else's. Jesus said if we give even one of these people a cup of water, then we have done it for Him. Always remember the "sheep and the goats" because on Judgment Day, God sure will. Amen? Our Christian walk is like an escalator that is going down and we are going up.  If you stop moving forward, you go down, quickly. We have to keep moving and always bear in mind, the one theme throughout the entire New Testament, is to go outside of your own life, to help others. Are you?  Let's get on the stick!  Amen? The world is watching 'the Church' just lay back and soak it up!  Freely we have received, freely we are to give! Sorry to seem so intense this update, but can't you feel it in the spiritual realm?  Can't you see the need and the world watching the Church get fat and staying lazy? If we would just get off of our pews and get out there, as the Church is supposed to be doing, then we could turn this world upside down! Amen?????? Let's get busy!  It takes each one of us to do what God wants and let it start with YOU.  If you start, then your friends will start.  And then your Pastor might grab hold of this very OLD concept that has gotten lost in the Church.  And then if we all get ahold of this, then we can spread the Gospel like nobody's business. Let's get moving while there is still time.

Well, it is June 10th, of 2002! We opened our own computer store on the 1st of June. We are really excited and God is all in this venture.  We have prayed about everything to do with this venture. We want to make sure that we are not doing this on our own. In fact, we are just managers of this store.  It belongs to Him  We are really busy and it's a good busy. God has already promised us that He would bless us and prosper us, if we will serve Him with our whole heart and that is what we are trying to do. God bless you and yours! Here are a few pictures of the store when we first opened it: Here is Ernie working on his workbench in the Service Area of our Store

July, 2002 Ernie put a fleece before the Lord (which he never does) to make sure that it was time for him to quit his job.  He did not even let me know what it was about, (until after the fact) but God met it in a miraculous way and he put in his notice at his job. Ernie is in the store full time now and is going about handing out folders with a description of our business and what we do.  We are doing all that we can do bring in business into the store.  Business is slow right now but we are trusting our God.  We are praying daily, over the store.

August 2002  Whew, Thank God last month is over.  We were really concerned and our lack of trust really showed because we were basically freaking out about our bills, when we should have known that God was in control.  Caleb is here and it's been intense with our lack of finances.  But through all of that, Caleb told us that he wants to stay with us for 6 months of the year.   Now it's a couple of days before our rent is due and our trust level is right where it should be.  We are not stressed, even though we know that we need $1500 to pay our bills, just to keep the doors open.

It is September 5, 2002 Well this is intense!  We do not have the money to make our bills.  So we have been thinking about what the Lord is trying to tell us.  We cannot stay here without money to pay the bills but all we want is what God wants for us.  God brought us out here and what have we accomplished?            1. Obedience to the Lord's calling.            2. Learned to hear God's voice better            3. Trust            4. Learn things in depth about the business aspect of things.            5. Positive influence on those around us.            6. Touched a few lives for God in the process This will be our last "Oregon" update!  We are moving back to the Midwest.  We were obedient by going to Oregon, then by doing what we were called out here to do.  We fulfilled our calling and now we are released to go back home. God bless you and we hope that you have seen what God can do in someone's life when you let Him.  We've never been sorry that we followed Him out here and did what we were called to do. God is always faithful!