Merry Christmas

to all of my readers, friends and family!

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Mood:  a-ok

I'm not one to commercialize Christmas, but this video did bring back some good memories. Besides, Green Giant is a good brand. Enjoy!

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Mood:  a-ok

Sarah, my hard working wife, has just sent out another prayer letter about our ministry here in Tennessee. In the past, I have published our prayer letters on our prayer letter blog and just mentioned that there was a new one on this blog. Well, I've decided that I'm going to publish them on both blogs. Since most of my readers read this blog, then this is the most logical place to publish it. I'm going to continue putting it on the prayer letter blog so that anyone that wants to read all of our past prayer letters can do so without having to sort through all of my blog postings to find them. You can find my prayer letter blog link in the left column of this blog. Thanks and here's the new letter.

"The king will answer them, 'I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant [they seemed], you did for me.'        

                                                                                               Matthew 25:40 (God’s Word Translation)   (1995)

Greetings in Jesus,

Praying that this finds you being blessed and having a great day!! The Tinkels have been doing pretty good. It is hard to believe that another year is almost gone. When I think back over this past year I am amazed at all God has done for us and how big He has shown himself. It has been a great year of ministry. Our numbers have increased with new families and the spiritual growth of my ladies has blessed me in their understanding of who God is in their lives. This past weekend we had our Holiday Meal in which we served 210-230 individuals! When we delivered food to the shut ins the look on their faces made our day. We were so blessed to be able to be Jesus’ hands, feet and words. One of my ladies, who helped deliver the food, kept saying what a good time she was having and how she loved seeing the look on the people’s faces.  We want to say a special thank you to all of those who helped, donated, gave, etc. toward our Holiday Meal. God blessed it and He especially blessed Tim, me and my ladies. Thank you for co laboring with us in this endeavor. You reap the blessings as much as we do.

We have had a lot of health issues with Jacob over the last few months. We found out that he has a type of bone degeneration on the bone that fits into his hip socket and that one leg is longer than other (come to find out all three boys have one leg that is longer than the other). This is what is causing him to be in so much pain, especially at night.  We were supposed to go to Vanderbilt to see the orthopedic on the 14^th but a major snow storm came and we had to cancel. Our new appointment is 1/25/11. Please be in prayer with us that we can find out what needs to be done with Jacob to alleviate the pain that he is in. Pray that we can get in sooner to see the doctor and get something done quickly. John Allen and Joshua are getting excited about the new year of competitive BB gun shooting that will start in January. Tim and I are busy home schooling, Bible studies, running the Mission and taking kids to therapies. God is so good and faithful and we praise Him for allowing us to serve Him where He has placed us. We are greatly and richly blessed at what God is doing in our lives and the part you have in it.

Please be in prayer for our extended families. Tim’s mom has had some major health issues and at one point we thought we were going to have to take an emergency trip to New Jersey. She is doing better now and we pray that within the next month or two we will be able to go and visit with her. My mom has been in the hospital twice in the last month due to heart issues. I have had to make trips to Oak Ridge, TN in order to help her and my grandmother, who she takes care of. My sister and niece in the last year have gone through some major life changes that have been very difficult for both of them. With Tim and I being the “spiritual leaders” in our families, when things fall apart or go wrong, we are the ones that everyone calls. Not only do we have our ministries here in Livingston but our families are our ministries as well. We at times get overwhelmed and tired with so many pulling us in different directions but God has blessed our obedience and our faithfulness.

Please be in prayer for our support. Over the last year we have lost some supporters. We have also gained a few, but not enough to fill in the gap. Pray that God would raise up a remnant of faithful financial and prayer supporters in addition to the ones that He has already provided. We are in need of an extra $400+ a month. Any money that is sent in to BCM Intl. for us is tax deductible. If you would like to know more information about our ministries please contact us. We would love to share our hearts with you at what God is doing in our lives and different ministries. If you would like to know how you can become a prayer or financial supporter we would love to share that as well.

Thank you for your prayers, giving, encouragement etc. We are blessed and greatly appreciate what you do on our behalf. May God richly bless you this Christmas and in the New Year.

Hearts GREATLY blessed,

Sarah & Tim Tinkel

Sarah & Tim Tinkel                                               BCM International, Inc.

829 Hi Tech Drive                                                 201 Granite Run Drive Suite 260

Livingston, TN 38570                                           Lancaster, PA 17601

Tim – Tink38570@yahoo.com                           1-888-226-4685

Sarah – set1993@gmail.com                             bcmintl.org

931-823-9320

Account #0642

Tim's Blog - tink38570.angelfire.com/familiesagain

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Not a real goat...well, someone will get a real goat but not your friend...let me explain.

You know that I've been promoting Compassion International on my blog for some time now. I know that many of you would love to be involved, but just aren't able to financially support a child monthly. Well, here's a way that you can still help no matter what your budget is.

Compassion International has put out a catalog called the "Gifts of Compassion Catalog" where you can send a one time physical gift to a needy child or their family. They have items ranging from $10 to $5000. Like I said - they'll fit anyone's budget.

What did I mean about your friend getting a goat? Here's how it works. What you do is look through the Gifts of Compassion catalog by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links. Then you pick the item(s) that you would like to purchase. In return, Compassion will send you a gift card along with information on how your gift will be used. You give this card to your friend explaining what you did in their honor. What's really neat is that the Gifts of Compassion catalog has suggested gifts to give to your friend along with the card. For the goat, you might give your friend (or family member) some goat cheese, a cheese cutting knife and the card that explains that you've purchased a goat to give to a needy Compassion International child's family. Isn't that a neat idea?! Of course, you don't have to give the extra gift, but it is a cool thought.

Like I said, they have all kinds of gifts for any budget. You can buy mosquito netting for $10 to help a child in a malaria plagued country. You can give $150 to help a child's father open up a car mechanic business. You can spend $500 to give a computer to one of Compassion's child development centers. You can even donate $5000 to help cover the costs of major surgery that some of the Compassion kids need.

There are loads of other things that you can purchase as well from soccer balls to farm equipment. After your money has been spent, you will get a report explaining how your money was used. Just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to get to the Gifts of Compassion catalog. Thanks for caring and giving a Gift of Compassion this year.

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Mood:  a-ok

Occasionally the members of the TOS Homeschool Crew receive a product that is not exclusively an educational item. When that happens the kids are always excited. So far, each one of these items has been a hit with the family and this one is no different.

When I found out that I was going to be sent Wits & Wagers, a game by Dominic Crapuchettes and distributed by North Star Games, I wasn't sure what to think. You see, when I checked out the website, the only thing I could find was the Wits & Wagers Party Edition and I wondered how I was going to review a party game.

Well, God has a sense of humor. We weren't given the party edition, we were sent the new Wits & Wagers Family game! But, since an upcoming game night had been scheduled at the mission that we direct, we decided to use it with the folks that come to the mission. So, we received a family game that we decided to use at a party! Boy was it a hit!

It's hard to describe Wits & Wagers. It's kind of a trivia game, but you don't really have to know any trivia. The game begins by someone asking a question that has a number answer. For example: "What's the world record number o tennis balls a dog has held in its mouth?" The individual players or teams then write down there guesses on a wipe erase board, put them in order in the middle of the table. They then take their game pieces, called "Meeples" (one large and one small) and place them on the answers that they think are closest to the correct answer (without going over). The pieces don't have to be both put on the same answer, and they don't have to be put on their own answer. After that, the correct answer is read. The answer closest to the correct answer gets a point, if you put your large "Meeple" on the closest answer, you get two points, and if you put your small "Meeple" on the closest answer you get one point. That's it!

I know my brief explanation doesn't give it justice, but it really is simple and a lot of fun. We had folks of all ages playing and everyone thought it was great. How many times have you tried playing a game with a large group and everyone loved it? Well, in this case they did! Every single person gave it "two thumbs up". It is truly a game that the whole family can play and like. The rules are very easy (ignore my babble above), you don't have to know correct answer (just be a good guesser) and everything you need is included in the game (even the wipe erase marker and the reusable scoreboard). What more could you ask for? 

So, how can you get this fantastic game? Most online game sites sell North Star Games. After doing an online search the lowest prices I could find were for around $16. You can also go to the North Star Games website by clicking here or on any of the hi-lighted links above. They are working on a feature where you can find a store near you that sells their products.

If you want to know what the other TOS Homeschool Crew families thought about the Wits & Wagers Family game, click here.

Have fun!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent a free Wits & Wagers Family game in order to try out and review on my blog.

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