The Fiscus Buzz 2008

Since 2004 our family has put together a Christmas newsletter, "The Fiscus Buzz," and included it with Christmas cards sent. This year we thought we'd also post it. Below is a summary of the Fiscus family's most memorable events of 2008. If you have followed our blog over the past year, many of these events will sound familiar.

January

• We learn that a church in Texas who had been considering Mitch as pastor moves in another direction. Two days after, we get an initial call from Berean Baptist Church in Pioche, Nevada.

February

• Berean Baptist Church flies us to Pioche for seven days. Mitch preaches in view of a call and the church unanimously calls him as their pastor.

March

• We sell our mobile home at the seminary and prepare to move to Nevada.
• Nicole completes her last day at Seminary Hills Park Elementary in Fort Worth and Jane completes her last day at work at the seminary.
• Our seminary and church friends send us off for Pioche.
• Mitch preaches as Pastor of Berean Baptist Church on Easter Sunday.
• Nicole becomes a 2nd grader at Pioche Elementary and begins softball.

April

• Nicole is baptized by Pastor Dad on Sunday, April 6.
• Mom goes on a field trip with Nicole’s class to Zion National Park in Utah.

May

• Jane’s parents arrive in Pioche with their 5th wheel and stay the month. They get to see Nicole’s first hit on her baseball team.
• Jane subs for the first time at Pioche Elementary.

June

• Berean has a great VBS that ends with the kids water-ballooning Pastor Mitch on Family Night. More importantly, several kids accept Christ as their Savior.
• Nicole begins 4-H cooking club and swim lessons.

July

• Mitch’s dad and step-mother arrive in Pioche and bring with them an adorable three-month-old black lab pup for Nicole. We name Nicole’s first dog Jake.
• Jane’s parents return to Pioche—this time for a two-month visit.
• Mitch baptizes four and we have a high attendance of 81.

August

• Nicole starts 3rd grade at Pioche Elementary.
• Nicole wins 1st place for her banana bread at the county’s 4-H fair.

September

• We attend Pioche’s Labor Day celebration (“the” big deal for Pioche) and wear Berean t-shirts with service times to advertise the church.

October

• Mitch’s Grandpa Dierks passes away in Wyoming. Mitch drives to Wyoming to attend the funeral.
• We get our first snow of the season on October 11.

November

• Jane’s Grandpa Charley passes away in Indiana. Nicole and Jane fly to Indiana to be with him before he dies.

December

• Nicole turns 9.

This year has been an incredible year with profound life changes for us all! However, the most profound life change one can ever experience is knowing Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior. Our prayer for all our friends and family is that you would know Jesus as your Lord and Savior as well. If Jesus isn’t your Lord and Savior, He certainly can be. To find out how, click here.

Thanks for your prayers for us. We love and miss you!

Dancing Fools

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Nicole's 9th birthday

We celebrated Nicole's 9th birthday this week. On Wednesday (her actual birthday) she enjoyed cupcakes with her classmates on the school lawn. That evening we enjoyed an Olive Garden meal (made-at-home fettuccine alfredo, salad, and breadsticks) and opened presents. She was excited to open a Wii. We all enjoyed playing with it afterwards. Dad especially enjoyed beating Nicole and Mom in Wii bowling. On Saturday seven of Nicole's friends came to the house to celebrate. It's been a good week to celebrate our precious daughter and thank the Lord for the way He brought her into our lives. "For this child I prayed. . ." (1 Sam. 1:27).

Thank you for your prayers for us.

Grandpa Charley

Jane's beloved Grandpa Charley passed away on November 26. He was 92. It was a blessing that Jane and Nicole could fly back to Indiana to be with him a couple of days before he died. Grandpa's last days were lived like his others--praising God and loving on his family. Many tears were shed but we do not grieve as those who are without hope (1 Thess. 4:13-18) for we know that Grandpa is now with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers for the family, especially for precious Grandma Freda who remains.

An earlier picture of Grandpa Charley & Grandma Freda

For Rachel S.

At Rachel S.'s request, here's a larger picture of me (Jane) as spaghetti and meatballs. Ingredients for this recipe: colander, mop head taped or hot glued to colander, meatball-colored poms sewn to "noodle" strands here and there, spaghetti spoon, and a piece of french bread. Optional: Take another mop head apart and attach to red shirt with more poms. Hungry?

Halloween and other fun

Halloween brought a lot of fun for the Fiscus Family. Nicole dressed up as Bat Girl, Mitch was a "quarter" back, and Jane was spaghetti & meatballs. We thought it would be fun to dress Jake up too, but he was not cooperative. (It's really no fun to simply wear a t-shirt or bandana when you can have more fun trying to chew it off!) Nicole enjoyed the school's Halloween carnival and later that evening our church participated in its first trunk-or-treat. Several of our members decorated their vehicles and passed out goodies (see pictures on our church blog). We also gave each trick-or-treater a gospel tract. Our family finished the evening eating pizza and watching a movie with church friends. The next day we gave Jake the smallest jack-o-lantern to see what he would do. He enjoyed rolling it around and then he devoured most of it. (It was nice of him to save us the trouble of discarding it!)

In other news, we are excited about the opening of a grocery store in Pioche. Miner's Market opened its doors on October 31. Our first shopping experience was nothing short of exhilarating. In church news, Mitch is continuing his sermon series through the book of John. And next week church and community ladies will begin a walking workout at the church two days a week.

Thanks for your prayers for us. God has blessed us with tremendous joy in serving Him here.

Busy, busy, busy!

So much has occurred since our last post. Here's a summary of the many things that have kept the Fiscus Family busy the last few weeks:

• Subbing - Jane has subbed four times since the last post: once in Kindergarten, twice in 2nd, and once in 6th. The 2nd grade has been by far the most challenging but it is in this class where God has revealed Himself the most. He is our strength and an ever-present help in time of need!


• Ladies' Bible study - This daytime study taking place in our home is drawing to a close. Fifteen ladies will finish this in-depth study of the book of Luke in two weeks. The ladies have grown in the Lord, in the knowledge of His Word, and enjoyed the fellowship. The ladies are already talking about a new study after the first of the year!


• Wednesday night studies - Adults are enjoying learning the key events, people, and places of Scripture. Some adults have even memorized the books of the Bible using a few of Mitch's memory techniques. Kids have enjoyed learning more about God's character and have already studied that He is our Provider, Battle Fighter, and our Peace.


• Homecoming - The county high school celebrated its homecoming a couple of weeks ago in typical small school style. Nicole's school took part in the homecoming parade and she enjoyed riding on a float for the first time ever. (See if you can find her in the picture below. She's sitting behind and to the right of the blond on the end of the trailer.) Jane enjoyed the opportunity to line judge during the high school volleyball games. (The picture below is blurry but you can tell she's determined to make the right call.)

• Missionaries - We took the opportunity to share the Truth in love with missionaries of another religion who came to our home recently. We invited them back but we'll see what develops. It is our prayer that the Scriptures we shared and the questions we asked (during this two hour visit!) will be seeds well-planted.
  
• Jake the Destroyer - This is our new nickname for Jake the dog. We love him but he chews EVERYTHING. His most recent adventure was with a UPS box left on the porch by an unsuspecting driver while we were gone. Jake was kind enough to help us by shredding the box and opening several of the inner packages! In addition to the cabbage experience (see last post), this has prompted the posting of a sign on our door: Please leave any item/package outside of fence or dog will chew it up.
  
• Projects - Having the parsonage's septic pumped, changing a water heater thermostat, buying a church laptop, patching a leaky church roof, and preparing for a concrete pad to be poured for handicap parking are just a few of the projects Mitch has been involved in recently.
  
• "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" - Mitch and Jane recently had opportunity to see this incredible documentary about the suppression of Intelligent Design in the scientific community. If you haven't seen this yet, do so. Learn more about it and sign an academic freedom petition at expelledthemovie.com.

Well, that's about it. We'll try not to wait so long between posts but perhaps you can see that the things summarized above have kept us pretty busy. Thanks for taking time in your busy lives to keep in touch with us and to pray for the ministry here. We love and miss you.

Having a ball with cabbage!

On Monday a thoughtful, anonymous church member brought us a head of cabbage the size of a beach ball and a huge turnip grown from his/her garden. No one was home at the time. . .except Jake the dog. When Jane got home later in the day cabbage was strewn all over the porch. Jake must have had a ball rolling the cabbage head all over the porch, chewing pieces off as he went. Jane found the gnawed-on turnip sometime later in the yard. Was there more? Maybe a carrot or two? What about a note? Who knows! We can only guess that if there was, Jake devoured any evidence of either. It's kind of funny unless you think about the time (and Miracle Grow!) the church member spent to grow these vegetables and the joy he/she may have had in sharing them with the Pastor and his family only to have all of it fall into the hands (or rather, paws) of a playful pup. Moral of the story for Mitch and Jane: Warn people not to leave things on the porch unattended. Moral of the story for Jake: Have a ball with whatever you're given!