Lakeside Community Church

So I've got the new website up for the church that had kept me a bit busy.  Here's some of the latest from us a bit late.  Our big news is that Kayle is marrying Angie, an outstanding young lady,  on June 14th.  Kayle graduated from the U of Michigan and is headed to Redmond, WA after the wedding which is after Angie graduates from Notre Dame.  Kayle will be working with Microsoft's C# compiler team.  Angie is graduating with BA's in Theology and Econ.   Check out one of her spare time projects at www.thepeacestar.org or her facebook www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5609200.

Cody has just returned from a tour of Isreal with Moody Bible Institute's orchestra.  Here's the trip's blog:   http://mbibandisraeltrip.blogspot.com.  He is Majoring in Hebrew and Greek and has been part of some great ministry work Moody does in Chicago.  He spent last summer working at Son Life camp as the ???camp nurse??? where his girlfriend Kelly was a cook.  Miriam and I spent our first summer together at camp where she was a cook.

Kristen is about to graduate from Caledonia High School.  She's figuring out what school she'd like to attend in the fall.  She spent spring break in Florida with all of her grandparents.  She's dual-enrolled at Calvin College and has another high school spring break coming where she will house sit.  Casey and Kristen help Miriam with a weekly Bible Club at the local Kettle Lake Elementary school.  Kristen still plays in the school orchestra and helps with powerpoints on the church praise team.  More info on her is at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=811210575.

Casey started high school, does marching band and is part of a very enjoyable 50 member percussion group called Strike.  Here is a write-up on their very active leader Don and the group (half way down this page):  www.uww.edu/conteduc/camps/percussion.php.  They have done concerts with www.loop243.com ("sounds" link has samples), a group from New York, and Alma College's large group which have all been very nice for our once a farm town school system.  Casey made profession of faith; quite a joy to have all our kids accept the Lord.  Her life is at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=619351971.

Miriam finished up as Deacon of Children's Ministries at church but leads the kids in singing still and is still very involved with the school Bible Clubs and Coffee Break, a women's outreach Bible study at church.  She's tiled the kitchen area and started on a bathroom.  Spring flower beds are just around the corner.

I started work at Foremost Insurance as an eBusiness manager.  We are owned by Farmers which is owned by Zurich.  My area handles much of the technology for Independent Agent Marketing including our websites and CRM tools for our sales people.  I'm still playing volleyball some, teaching high school catechism at church, checking out new technologies at local user groups and a regular with the local chapter of Reasons to Believe which follows scientific findings and how they declare the Glory of God.

The Lord has blessed us all in many ways and we are thankful for being able to help others grow together in knowing and trusting Him more.

Excerpt on Strike:

Ron Raaymakers

Director of Strike Percussion Ensemble, Don received his Music Education degree from Central Michigan University where he studied with the highly esteemed late Robert Hohner. Currently, Don is the band director at Duncan Lake Middle School in Caledonia, Mich. Don played with the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble for six years in which time he recorded three CD's, "Far More Drums" for Sony and DMP, "Third Wind" (independently released), and a third disc which has not yet been released. Don has also taught four years of the Central Michigan Percussion Workshop and eight years of marching band camps. Strike was created in the fall of 1996 with only a few members.

Now having grown close to fifty percussionists, Strike has played many venues such as the Grand Rapids Festival, Van Singel Museum, Michigan Youth Arts Festival, PASIC, and many more. Strike prides themselves on the many genres of music they play and the complexity of the music as well as the hours of dedication put forth. Strike continues to grow musically as they live by the philosophy of Don's late teacher, "Play beautiful music, become beautiful people."