Stelzl Family

Last weekend we had the privilege of attending a bridal shower for our dear friend Amanda Neely! The four of us Stelzl girls were able to drive to Andrews NC for a special time of celebrating with friends, fellowship/catching up, and a short but very sweet visit!

We arrived in the late afternoon, and went along to help set things up at a nearby hotel where the party was held (the Neelys are friends with the owner of the the nearby Hampton Inn!). It was nice to see familiar faces as the guests arrived, and also to make new friends!

Jessica Neely hosted the party for her sister, and did a wonderful job (with the help of all her wonderful family members ) decorating and putting all the details together. Everything was lovely .

Kathryn made the cake – it was orange flavored, with pink frosting. Didn’t she do a beautiful job!?

We played a fun guessing game, involving 20 mysterious brown packages. Each person had an opportunity to feel, smell, and write down what they thought was in the bag. There were three prizes, for those who had the highest number of correct guesses.

It was a joy to see many younger girls and even babies attend with their mothers and older sisters. We live in a day when children are thought of as a nuisance and a burden. How encouraging it is to see mothers who fear the Lord and His calling for their lives; mothers who love children for the blessing that they are, and devote their lives to loving and raising their little ones to become mighty warriors for the Lord.

Jessica asked my mom to prepare a devotional, some thoughts/testimonies from her marriage, and a charge for Amanda as she prepares to be a helpmeet to Matthew. I was reminded how often and easily I take for granted the blessing of a wise and Godly mother. She challenged us all to see marriage from God’s perspective, and to be serving-loving-giving partners/future partners .

What a BLESSING it is to celebrate with the Wilkes and Neely families! The pure, true love of Christ is so evident in their lives – through Matthew and Amanda’s commitment to save their hearts for “the one” (each other), through the way they  waited patiently on the Lord and then received their parent’s blessings to enter into courtship, through the way they interacted and went about growing their relationship – first spiritually, then emotionally, and later physically (after marriage)… these are two families, and two young people committed to the Lord first, and then to each other. Their relationship is truly a beautiful shining example of what true love looks like (not what our world has made it up to be) – Christ-like love. We are excited about all that the Lord will do through these two, as they enter into marriage and continue to serve the Lord and others – together!

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her…she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life…favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised…” (Proverbs 31)

“That…the young women…be sober…love their husbands…love their children…discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise…sober-minded. In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of a contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you…” (Titus 2)

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Happy 50th birthday to our very special-incredible-wise-loving-giving-serving-leading-understanding-faithful-devoted husband/father! You are a true and faithful example to us as you seek to honor the Lord in all that you do! You are a wonderful leader, a patient teacher, a humble man of prayer and of the Word. We love you so much!

Handmade cards, designed with much thoughtfulness

Gifts from the family

A family trip to the Lansford Canal State Park, to picnic and spend time together in the lovely spring weather!

Fishing, football, photography…

A power nap

Psalm 112 ~ A passage of Scripture we pray every day:

“Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is our Daddy who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. Daddy’s seed shall be mighty upon earth: his generation shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in daddy’s house: and his righteousness shall endure forever. Unto daddy there arises light in the darkness; he is gracious and full of compassion, and righteous. Daddy shows favor and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely daddy shall not be moved forever: he shall be in everlasting remembrance. Daddy will not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Daddy’s heart is established, he shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies. Daddy has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn shall be exalted with honor. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.”

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Anticipation was growing…excitement filled the air…we tried to act as though nothing was out of the ordinary. We had been waiting, planning, working on every last detail of this day for weeks.

It was March 9th, the day we had marked for a special surprise party for Daddy in honor of his 50th birthday. He had asked to invite some couples over for dinner and dessert on the day of his birthday (March 16th), but we had been working on so much more! His travel schedule had been unusually busy, and while he marked his calendar, hopped on planes, and traveled to various states on business, we pulled out our planners and notebooks and thought up big ideas.

So…we ordered pizza…cleaned the house…baked dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies… emailed guests, and arranged to host out-of-town friends… all behind his back.

Then the big day came. It started off with school planning. After that we were off to take a car-load of desserts samples to restaurants all over town (The Sugar Nook is branching out to restaurants now). The girls left for a baby shower at noon, and all the guys went to a local park to do some mountain biking. The girls returned around 3:00PM with a car full of balloons…and we discovered that the guys had just arrived home from biking and were unloading the van. We waited for a phone call from the house saying we were clear to enter with the balloons.

With just 1 1/2 hours left to work with, Daddy decided to leave the house and deliver the remaining desserts in town. Bethany managed to keep him home by pulling out some math problems for review/help, and others went to deliver the desserts. We rushed around cleaning up the kitchen, setting things up, and preparing food. The guests slipped in quietly, having been directed through the woods by Jonathan who was stationed at the road.

Word came from upstairs that Bethany had finished all the math she could find to get help with. David was next with calculus, but then someone announced that Daddy had decided to take a power nap instead. We stationed David in the foyer with his calculus, to wait. We still had 30 minutes to go, and power naps usually last 10-15. By 5:15PM all the guests were waiting in the kitchen trying to keep quiet. We tried to talk about normal things – dinner, restaurant selling adventures, the daily happenings, etc. Then we called him down for dinner, and…

SURPRISE!

Yes. He was VERY surprised.

We love you!

It is hard to surprise this man . VERY hard.

Part of our planning involved hours of brainstorming for words to replace the usual R.I.P. We came up with lots of things that describe Daddy!

We served his favorite – pizza, and some other Italian dishes brought by our guests.

Hannah put together a slideshow of pictures, and we had a time of testimony/blessing/story sharing.

One of the gifts we gave to Daddy, was a set of signs to hang on his office door – a replacement for the little paper slips he tapes up when he is taking a power nap, doing math class, on a webinar, etc.

And just because he loves pizza so much, we bought him some pizza carriers…something we will be using for our future conferences, where we bring our favorite pizza home for our guests . You can tell by his face that he liked this!

And…his very favorite dessert = chocolate chip cookies with ice cream and hot fudge!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you so much . We’re glad you were surprised

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“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”(2Tim. 4:8)

This year’s theme for the FEW (Family Encouragement Weekend) is Loving the Lord’s Appearing. What a glorious and refreshing weekend it was, as we gathered with other believers to exhort and encourage one another, to be blessed and to be a blessing!

March 1st and 2nd we attended the NC Family Encouragement Weekend, hosted by our dear friends the Neelys. We are always so blessed as a family to take this time away each year for some spiritual refreshment, and fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord

Throughout the week we heard special music from various families. The Neelys have done several CDs, and we are always encouraged by their lovely singing!

There was a special session for the children, during a time when mothers and fathers could pray together in a quiet place. The Wilkes, Staddon, and Neely families put together a neat skit and teaching time where they exhorted us to love our siblings and find creatives ways to serve our families.

We enjoyed hearing a courtship testimony from Amanda Neely and Matthew Wilkes, and a very convicting exhortation from Josh and Lisa Wilkes on pressing on toward the vision – despite the trials we will encounter in life.

On Saturday there was a time for the young people to play discipleship games and work together as teams, while the fathers prayed and the mothers prepared lunch.

We heard testimonies from several of the young people from the hosting families.

We were encouraged to be energy givers, to be content, to choose an attitude of gratitude, to live life by faith, to share the gospel boldly with every opportunity, and to fear God and search His Word for treasures.

We were blessed to meet new friends, and reunite with those we had not seen in many months.

Above photo – courtesy of Rachel C and family

At the close of the conference we were blessed by an hour of singing – special music done by the Neely family, and a closing song by all three hosting families.

On Sunday we joined several of the families at a small church in the area, before heading off toward home.

We look forward to future FEW Conferences, and would love to encourage you to come to one as well! The next conference will be held in August (Culpeper, VA).

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Last week we hosted our second Business Owner’s Strategy and Planning Workshop, here in our home. We had a small group of five, which created a nice setting for one-on-one business planning and discussion. It was great to hear about all the different businesses being represented, and to get everyone’s perspectives. We discussed important principles relating to all our businesses – whether land developing, coaching, agriculture and beekeeping, photography, computers, and baking…

We discussed people groups, determined how to differentiate between and identify  mission/vision, and learned key principles to building a successful purpose-filled business. We talked about why what we sell is never enough to keep us going strong. We had fun working through some exercises and strategy sessions to effectively make decisions and improve our businesses.

Most of all, we learned to look at business through the light of God’s Word, and to search Scripture for God’s methods vs. man’s ways. We laid out our ideas and lined them up with truth, to see how they fit, what needed to be changed, and where we could expand/broaden to do much more than just make a living.

Tiny Tim attended parts of the workshop – a young entrepreneur in training, with big goals!

Two of the fathers who attended, brought their wives and sons along to tour some sights in the area during the workshop! We enjoyed getting to know them over fellowship and delicious meals!

It was a neat time of growth and learning for all of us. We had experienced fathers, as well as young men looking to start something more substantial. We shared testimonies of lessons we’ve learned over the years, and talked about the goodness of God and the success He brings to those who fear His name/follow His ways.

We love opportunities like this to gather together with other believers and study God’s principles together. It’s a special time to evaluate where we are headed, what goals we have set/need to set, and where the Lord is taking us in the businesses He has provided.

We look forward to doing many more workshops in the future. For now, we are excited about our upcoming Raising Entrepreneurs Family Conferences in NH, OH, and NC! The numbers are growing daily, and we would like to invite you, and encourage you to join us too!

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CHRISTIAN BUSINESS OWNER’S PLANNING/STRATEGY WORKSHOP

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE, NEW HAMPSHIRE

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE, OHIO

RAISING ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE, NORTH CAROLINA

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