Martin and Edwin are two great teens living at Casa Shalom. We just love spending time with them, and this weekend they came over to celebrate Martin’s 16th birthday. I’m excited to watch them grow and mature, and I’m excited to think that they’ll probably be here with us in the future.

We have a space on our land where we hope to build a second house as the ministry expands, and this year we planted corn in the space. I’m not much of a farmer, so it’s been a challenge to learn about all the different things needed to grow and protect the corn stalks.

They grow huge here! Some stalks are over 8 feet tall, and my neighbor’s corn is over 10 feet. Unfortunately we just had a big storm that knocked a lot of it down. The last picture is my neighbor’s field. He lost the majority of his crop from all the wind.

I’ve enjoyed the new experience, and it’s been a great way to build relationships with our new neighbors.