1. We are in contract negotiations with the owner to secure the property here finally. God laid it on an investors heart to step forward and provide the initial funding, at least for the downpayment. Now we are just working out the details with the owners. What an answer to prayer! Keep praying though, the ink is not on the line yet.

2. The Spanish churches of the Treasure Valley continue to express interest in holding youth camps for their youth here. We are exploring this with them, and I believe God is in it. I speak Spanish so-so, but I guess I will be brushing it up and learning more over the weeks and months ahead. These churches, as minority churches, have in many ways been overlooked by many of the mainline churches in the area, and they also have very little access to the big established Christian camps and campgrounds around the area. So this is a good fit, as it has been one of my goals all along to provide camping opportunities to the youth of small churches (minority and white both) of the Treasure Valley and 5 county area (Ada, Canyon, Gem, Elmore, Boise) that have no other access to good local camping facilities or programs.

3. I found an awesome deal ($125) on some huge batteries (out of Railroad locomotives - used, but guaranteed good and already charged) to augment our power system here (we generate our own electricity). They will add over a thousand amp-hours (at 12 volts dc) worth of electricity storage to the system here. I would have picked them up already, but my 4-wheel drive truck's front wheel drive is not working and I can't get there. That's a prayer request, that I can get the truck running and go get the batteries (roughly 1800 lbs worth of high power deep-cycle batteries ). These batteries will be critical once we start running camps up here. God is totally preparing the place for ministry,

4. My existing battery bank here (about 200 amp hours in size) went down several weeks ago, as did both generators, and it took me some time to get the battery bank back up and operational, and then one of the generators back up in a limping fashion. God helped me on some of that by showing me how when I asked Him. I am thankful to Him. And to think that there are people out there that don't believe God exists or believe that He doesn't interact with us, or even with those that seek Him.... *sad head shaking*. I SOO desperately wish people knew Him like I do. He is soo cool! So real! He talks to me sometimes, and listens to me, and is my companion each day, when I remember to give Him time... I see hurting people all around me, and I know that if they only knew Jesus in a personal way like I do, He would help them deal with their stuff... I guess it's just hard to see people floundering and drowning, but refusing to talk to God in their pain, the one person in this universe that can truly help them. Anyway....

7. Several days before Christmas, a family that is building a youth ranch in Honduras (Refuge of the Pines) stopped by and spent the night. It was very cool to meet them finally, compare some notes, and talk about God, youth, family, and just cool things. They have already taken in like 20+ kids into their own home as they build conference and camp ground facilities, and an orphanage/youth ranch. Cool neat people. I respect a couple that can embrace troubled youth, take them in, and love them like their own. I met 8 of their kids (both natural and adopted and orphanage) that came with them, and I was impressed at what God is doing with/thru them, and also with their passion and their heart for wounded youth. At some point, I would like to take a work team down their ranch for a week or two and help them out with some of their stuff (they have been through the wringer in some ways, but God has also poured out blessing on them after they proved themselves faithful even in the hard times). It's very cool.

8. How about a miracle? Anyone for a miracle? Remember that cold snap here in Southwestern Idaho several weeks ago, where it got so cold for two weeks and stayed cold? Well, according to the local thermometers, it got down to almost 15 below zero in some places here (Fahrenheit) - that's almost 25 below for you metric people out there. And the community water supply froze up. And about a hundred feet of exposed plastic pipe feeding the ranch water supply also froze. Solid. Remember - plastic. Remember, between 10 and 15 below zero. I went to Oklahoma for Christmas, and without fires in the wood stove in the lodge here (although a neighbor did say that if it got too cold, he would come over and build a fire just to keep things from freezing), I also expected burst pipes in here as well. I figured the pipes would be cracked all the way down the line, and possibly all through the house, and that I was out of water till spring time when I could replace pipes in the house and deeply bury new line outside. Science and logic said they would burst (pipes have burst here in the past with temperatures warmer than this). But then remember how it warmed up for almost 2 weeks next (just after I left for Oklahoma - right when I was not here to keep the house warm)? Well the water lines all thawed out, and no cracks. No leaks. No burst pipes. I thought I had one leak, but I was mistaken. I have water in the house, everything works (aside from some sediment plugged pipes), and no broken pipes. Not one. Not even the plastic one outside, laying on top of the ground, that was frozen at temperatures below zero for several days. Isn't God cool?

9. This one is both ranch and personal.I bought an Ecoquest home air purifier for the ranch lodge here, hoping to not have a repeat of the horrible congestion and chronic sinus problems and infections that I dealt with all last winter. Let me tell you, it is such an answer to prayer. This unit keeps the smoke levels down (from the wood stoves I use for heat), the smells down, the mold down to zero, and I have not had either the chronic cough, the sinus infections, or the overall congestion that I suffered from for 6 months last year. Ask me if you need one too, and I will put you in touch with the Christian couple that sold me this one. Awesome little machine. It was spendy, but worth every penny. I am SOOO much healthier this winter than I was last year. And the lodge air here at the ranch is so much better too, and I don't worry about mold or smoke or people with asthma visiting the ranch, or anything like that like I worried about last year. God is so totally taking care of me.

1. God used an extraordinary set of circumstances to restore several friendships right before Christmas, the absence of which have been a source of pain and confusion to me for a long time. I had the chance to humble myself and apologize for some of my actions and miscommunications in a situation that had caused a rift between me and several close friends a long time ago. God is good.

2. I have good job, editing manuscripts over the internet for a literary agency in California, that is enabling me to pay off some debts and make ends meet finally, while still allowing me time to work on ranch stuff here. Am slowly starting to catch up with things in my life, and feel like a real human being again after the crushing divorce (to me anyway) that I went through several years ago. God is putting me back together again, and I am very thankful.

3. God worked it out that I got 4 like new snow/all-weather tires on my car, within my budget. Was kinda funny, because I called all over town and couldn't find what I was looking for, and was just driving down the road, frustrated, about to give up, and noticed one I hadn't called yet, and instantly prayed and asked if God could make just this one place have what I needed. They did, and put them on right there for me. I had to laugh.

4. I had the chance to drive to Oklahoma to spend Christmas with my family. What a good time it was too. But God's protective hand was on me the entire way. Time after time. First was just simply while driving across Wyoming and Colorado, and dealing with wind gusts up to 60mph. But in Kansas, my chronic lack of sleep (too many projects and things required to do) finally caught up with me. I was going down the road about an hour out of Salina, and I dozed off, apparently just as one of the aforementioned gusts of wind hit me. All I know is that one moment I was driving down the interstate at 75 mph, give or take, and the next moment, I was mud-surfing in the median (as a friend of mine so eloquently put it *chuckle*), still at 75 mph. But let me tell you, mud surfing in the median at 75mph is NOT for the faint of heart.

So I took my foot off the gas, spun the steering wheel this way and that as the car fishtailed several time quite badly and almost went sideways, and when I finally came to a stop a hundred yards later in 3 inches of water (snow-melt and rain) and another 4 inches of the slickest, gummiest, ickiest clay I have ever set foot in, I finally had a 4th thought --- "Tim, how stupid!" (that I fell asleep), and then a fifth "Thankyou GOD for protecting me!"

So I climbed out, got out my shovel (standard issue in any car trunk of someone living in the mountains in the snow), and started to dig myself out. But after only making about 4 feet of progress in about an hour, I gave up, swallowed my pride, and told God it was His turn. I asked Him to have someone stop to tow me out. Within 10 minutes, a Kansas State trooper and 2 different people had all stopped (though the trooper only wanted to run my license and was no more interested in pulling me out than the man in the moon.... He sat in his car and had a good laugh at the situation *aggravated frown* ANYWAY). It ended up being a little 4-cylinder 4-wheel drive Subaru sedan that pulled me out. Can you believe that? I think I'm going to get a Subaru next *chuckle*. But it was then that I noticed that I had originally slid to a stop in the median about 30 yards short of a rather large and nasty looking concrete culvert, dead center in my path of mud-surfing travel. If I had been blown off the high way just a quarter of a second later at 75mph, I would have smashed into that culvert and it truly would have been all over. Kinda wild...... I told God thank you again.....

Then coming back home to Idaho, I ran into a blinding snow storm coming across Wyoming (near white-out conditions). There were cars and trucks slid off the road, spun out, in the median, in the fence, on their sides, upside down, flipped around, you name it, it had happened. It was nasty. But I kept on praying, and inching along, and finally made it safely through the storm about 75 miles later.....

You see, I was trying desperately to get back before 2005 ended so I could file ranch incorporation papers. I get the idea that on the spiritual plane, there were forces in play that didn't want me to. I am SO glad God is my refuge, and that I have asked Him to forgive me my screwups and to just be in charge of my life. I figure that way, absolutely nothing will happen to me that He doesn't allow, because my life belongs to Him, and He is directing my steps, and He gives me what I need to be happy, content, and fulfilled in my life, and He protects me that way too. Why people wouldn't want to know Him for themselves is just beyond me. In my book, it's a win win situation no matter how you look at it, to give your life to Him. This thought has hit me very hard recently. Anyway...

6. While there, I was wishing that I could track down an old roommate that I have many happy memories of caving, exploring, rappelling, and doing other outdoor stuff with. But I had not talked to or seen him since early 1995 (I think?). I hadn't even voiced it as a prayer to God, it was just a yearning in my heart to find and talk to Steve again in the few short days I had in Oklahoma/Arkansas, and find out what he was up to. I hadn't even made plans yet to try to find him, because frankly, I didn't even know where to start and had a limited schedule. But I think God heard my heart, even though I never voiced it to Him. Me and one of my other friends (that I mentioned above) went out one afternoon to talk, catch up, shoot our guns at a target range near his home (not where I have ever lived), and lo and behold, as we are talking and blowing holes in targets at the range, in walks Steve. I had to laugh. This was not even the town we had lived in as roommates 11 years ago. And he hadn't been target shooting in quite some time apparently either. So it had to be a God thing. It was cool. I found out that Steve is married now too and also has a little girl.

7. Several months ago, I asked God for a dog to be a companion for my daughter when she comes up on weekends. So about a month ago, through an odd set of circumstances, I was given a Australian shepherd/black lab mix, full grown dog, that loves kids. Best dog I ever had. Has bonded with Vanya (my daughter) and goes everywhere with her (and me - including Oklahoma for Christmas). That was just the coolest answer to prayer....

(1) To build and operate Biblically based conference/retreat centers and youth camps,

(2) To build and operate Biblically based children92s homes and youth ranches for disadvantaged, foster, at-risk, troubled, or otherwise homeless and/or disenfranchised children and youth,

(3) To build and operate Biblically based crisis pregnancy homes and shelters for abused, unwed, and/or single mothers & women,

(6) To meet with government representatives and report to governmental committees, agencies and boards concerning the issues today92s youth face.

Yes, these are big dreams, and yes, I hear people all the time express doubt about the reality of them (and some go so far as to call me crazy and tell me that I am chasing rainbows in the sky), but I just remind them that this is a God thing, not a Tim thing, and He will make it happen, indeed, is ALREADY making it happen..... Just read back through some of my newsletters on the http://www.bighouseministries. com homepage and see what I mean. It's been a long slow road, and I am human, still making mistakes, but slowly and surely, this place is coming together and taking shape. It's very cool.

My job here, in some ways, is to just to help facilitate all the pieces coming together. Items numbered one and four above are already becoming a reality here at Thorn Creek where I am living. The other items will each fall into place in God's timing, and indeed, already many of the puzzle pieces for them are already waiting in the wings, ready to fall into place once all the pieces are ready and the whole picture is ready to be revealed.

But I am always open to questions, thoughts, input, help, feedback, and constructive criticisms. This is about God's people joining hands to make a difference in this world, not about Tim chasing rainbows in the sky. If you want to help, pray about it, and then tell me. I would love to hear from you.

And I also want to just say thankyou to all of those who have prayed for me and the ranch over the past year, and have helped out in various ways. It's been a good year.

And I am excited to see what the next year will bring, and what God has planned!