July 2010

Hey everyone!
We decided it is due time for an update about our lives. Shiloh is eight months old already! He has three teeth and is working in two more right now. He will probably start crawling any day now and we are sure walking will follow close behind. We have been enjoying summer in Minneapolis. The pictures are a sampling of the beautiful flowers all over our yard thanks to Sara's hard work.It has been a nice change of pace to spend so much time at our house and with family.







After a month of job searching, four interviews and two job offers, Tim has a job! He is a janitor at Sholom Community Alliance in St. Paul. Sholom started out as the House for the Jewish Aged in 1908 and has evolved into a very nice hospice, nursing home, assisted living, equal opportunity housing apartment facility. Right now Tim is working 25 hours a week and has night and weekends to be with the fam! Thanks for your prayers.

Dana will start her job the end of August. She will be watching our friends Josh and Courtney's daughter, Isabel Grace. We are excited for this season of life and thankful for God's provision of jobs.


In other exciting news, we are building a pottery studio on our front porch. The picture above is the wall and door Tim and Andrew framed and walled. When completed it will be home to a brand new pottery wheel that we are buying together with the Howards. The Howards will also be purchasing a used kiln so we will be able to throw, trim, glaze and fire in our house! There is a lot of work to be done but it is definitely worth it. We are dreaming together of doing a couple sales a year on our front porch. We would be selling pottery as well as other handmade goodies all from our housemates. Stay tuned!

This month we enjoyed visits from the two grandmas and great-grandma. We are looking forward to grandpa beaver being here next weekend as well! We also enjoyed a visit from our dear friend Lydia who is from Holland. Overall life is good.Below is a picture of 'the twins' Leif and Shiloh. Though Leif, Andrew and Sara's second son, is three months younger he is bigger than Shiloh! We love you all and welcome your calls, emails, letters or visits! Shalom!

Pilgrimage part 2

Midwest
After a lovely month in Albuquerque we headed to the Midwest to visit more family and friends. We brought with us several boxes of Tim's pottery. We unpacked the kiln Monday and left Wednesday evening. Whoo! To see pottery and read about the firing go to Tim's blog.

We stopped by Bartlesville, OK for a day of rest before heading to Southwest City, MO to camp with friends. We spend a rainy fun weekend in conversations, walks, fireside storytelling and a trade circle. Tim was able to trade some of his pottery for various things like homemade goat's milk soap, homespun yarn and handknit socks! We were refreshed in the fellowship, learned about some yummy edible wilds and even got some sassafras root for some homebrewed root beer!
We then spent a few days in Siloam Springs, Arkansas where we went to college. We had a great time visiting old friends and even a few professors. We had fun remember lots of dear memories from our years in Siloam.

We are now back in Bartlesville for a week and a half. We are getting more and more excited to be back in Minneapolis.

Shiloh
Believe it or not Shiloh is 6 months old already! He is sitting up pretty well, eating some solids and growing every day. Everywhere we go people are drawn to Shiloh like insects to light and comment on how adorable he is. We love being able to introduce him to friends and share him with family. He is a daily reminder of how many people have prayed for us.

Here are some pictures and videos of the little guy. Shalom!

First leg of our pilgrimage

Lincoln, Denver and Woodland Park

We have had a great pilgrimage so far. We have been very encouraged and blessed by God's presence each part of our journey. Shiloh has been a traveling champion though he has let us know when he is tired of being in the car.

Our first stop was in Lincoln, Nebraska to visit Dana's grandma and grandpa. Shiloh is the first grandchild on both sides. We had a wonderful visit and Shiloh really enjoyed being with his great grandparents as well as lunch with his great uncle and aunt.

From Lincoln we drove to Littleton, Colorado for a day. We stayed with our friends from JBU and had fun reminiscing about the 'good old days.' We enjoyed a warm sunny day and even got a little sun burn! They say we are closer to the sun because of the altitude.

After a short visit in Littleton we headed to Woodland Park, Colorado, where we stayed for 3 days. We stayed at our friend's mountain home but missed him because he was on tour in Iowa! We had a very restful time at his house even though the altitude seemed to really bother Shiloh a lot. On Friday, we spent the day with Ben and Robin Pasley. They are part of Enter the Worship Circle and Churchthink. The retreat was canceled but they were gracious enough to share most of a day with us. We hungout, ate lunch, had great conversations, Tim had male bonding time in the garage and even got prayed for! It was a very encouraging day and helped us process our time at Source.

On Saturday we spend the day together as a family. Hard to believe this was the first time we had a whole day just as a family! We played, went on a hike in the beautiful Colorado high country, took naps and packed up our things. Our souls were refreshed and encouraged greatly in Woodland Park. We headed down to Albuquerque Sunday morning. We will be in Albuquerque for a month. Look for an update in that time about our time in Albquerque. Thanks for your prayers!

kramertribe happenins

Well, hard to believe but it is almost April already. Equally hard to believe is that we have had Spring like weather for weeks in Minneapolis!

We are just one week away from the beginning of our two month road trip. Unfortunately, the trip has changed significantly. Fortunately, we have learned to be flexible and trust that God is orchestrating all things.
The churchthink retreat has been canceled but we are still going to spend a few days in Colorado with Ben and Robin. We will then head to Albuquerque to be with Tim's parents. Tim's dad has been looking for work for months and recently acquired two jobs. This is wonderful but unfortunately means he will have much less time to teach Tim pottery. The 24-7 prayer gathering will not be in Tulsa so we will not be attending that either! God certainly has something different in mind for this trip.
We recently celebrated the marriage of our friends Levi and Becky in Kansas City. We got to see lots of friends and had a wonderful time. Tim was able to give away some of his first pieces of pottery as wedding gifts!

Shiloh is growing and doing great. He weighed in at 15 pounds 1 ounce at his four month check up. He has been slobbering all over and gnawing on his hands for weeks-teething! Every week he seems to be even more alert, vocal and expressive. He recently started rolling over from his tummy to his back! Here are some pictures of the little one and a video of him rolling over fresh from today!

Kramertribe News

Hello there everyone. It has been a while since we have posted anything on here. As you know, from the previous post, we are no longer on staff with Source.

"So, what are you doing then?"

Here is a bit of what we have been up to lately. We spent 2 1/2 weeks on the road for Christmas and returned home New Year's Day. It was lovely to spend time with both of our families and to introduce Shiloh to family and friends. The picture is Shiloh with his three uncles on Dana's side. We had safe travels and Shiloh did really well for a one-month old baby in the car!

Upon returning to Minneapolis we have been settling in as new parents, adjusting to three (now four-Andrew and Sara had their second son, Leif Justice Howard on Feb. 17) new housemates at our house, resting, spending lots of time together as a family, learning pottery, creating things, connecting with friends, shoveling lots of snow and waiting on God. We have been able to do a lot of things that we just did not have time for before. It has been such a rich time of bonding with Shiloh, who is three months old already!

Though we are still not certain of long-term plans we do have some idea of more 'immediate' things. As of right now we are planning on a wee pilgrimage in April and May. The first 'stop' will hopefully be a retreat in Colorado called 'Churchthink.' You can read more at churchthink.com. The retreat will be a weekend of exploring the kingdom of God and church as the family of God in the Colorado Rockies. From here we hope to go to Albuquerque to spend a month with Tim's parents. Tim is doing a pottery 'internship' right now (some of his first bowls are in the picture to the right) and hopes to continue this with his dad who is a potter. Read more about Tim's pottery endeavors on his blog. We then hope to venture on to Oklahoma to see Dana's family as well as attend the national 24-7 prayer gathering in Tulsa mid-May. From there we would head home to Minneapolis and see what adventures await us there. Most likely the adventures will consist of part-time work, gardening, parenting, pottery, prayer and life!

So, there you have it folks, the latest Krametribe news. Please keep us in prayer as well as our future plans. We are still processing a lot of the last two years with Source as well as waiting on God in regards to the 'next step.' We love you all and hope you are well. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, prayers, things you are hearing from God, etc. Peace be with you.


Kramertribe

Closing of Chapter.

Dear Friends and Family,

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father through his Son.

We hope you are blessed this New Year. We are writing to give you an update about the life of Kramertribe. First of all, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude for all of your loving support through prayer and finances! As you all know we have been living in Minneapolis for the last two years and working at Source Ministries. Over the past two years we have grown in many ways and have seen God at work in many ways. We have developed as leaders, friends and now parents. We have had many hardships as well as many joys.

Over the course of the past year and especially the last few months we have been in conversation with Peter and Jessica about where Source is and is heading. Through these conversations and much prayer we have made a decision to transition out of Source. There are many reasons but mainly it is us being well differentiated from Source. It has been a heart-wrenching decision but we are confident and at peace with our decision. We know that God called us to Source and Minneapolis. We fulfilled our two year commitment in October and have been asking God what the next step ought to be.

We are not entirely sure what our next step will be. For now we will remain in Minneapolis. We are hoping to spend the next season resting, focusing on our new family, being restored and receiving inner healing. We are very blessed to have deep friendships with several folks in Minneapolis who are a source of great strength and encouragement. No matter what our hearts will always be for intimacy with the Father and his Son, for 24/7 prayer, for mercy, for justice, for the kingdom of God to come here now, for the growth and health of the Church, and for friendship with the poor and downcast. These are the things we will be pursuing in the next step and for the rest of our lives.

We cannot state enough our appreciation for each one of you who has prayed, given finances, spoken encouragement and in other ways have journeyed with us over these last 2 years. Thank you! It has been such a joy to partner with you in the work of his kingdom in Minneapolis. Logistically, we will be handing things over in January as we transition out of Source. We will be able to receive support through March 15th as we pursue what God has for us next. If you have any questions about support please contact us.

We would love to hear from any of you with any questions concerning this letter. We would also love to talk with you about supporting us in the future in whatever God leads us to next. We will continue to post on our blog so please check that out periodically. We would ask you to pray for our family in this next season as we wait on God. We would also ask you to pray for Peter and Jessica as well as the Source community in this next season. Thank you all once again for being such amazing friends and family. May you grow daily in a knowledge of the Father’s unending love for you and for all of creation. Peace be with you in Christ.

Love,
Tim, Dana and Shiloh Kramer
kramertribe@gmail.com
kramertribe.blogspot.com
3756 5^th Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55409

Special Kramertribe update

He’s here!!!

Introducing Shiloh Isaac Kramer! Shiloh arrived Friday November 20, 2009 at 4:13pm. He was 7lbs. 4oz. and 20 inches long. He is absolutely wonderful and adjusting very well to life outside the womb. Dana is a champ! She endured 36 hours of intense labor with only 2 ½ hours of sleep in 2 days. She is recovering well.

Shiloh means long awaited one and God’s gift. Shiloh is also the first place that was set aside as a dwelling place for God’s name. It was at Shiloh that Hannah dedicated her promised child Samuel to the Lord.

Isaac means laughter. Isaac was the promised child of Abraham and Sarah who believed in God’s promise though they had to wait so long to receive it. Together Shiloh Isaac means the long awaited gift of God’s laughter. Hallelu Yah!

As most of you know we have been on quite the journey the last 2 years. Being parents has been such a desire of our hearts but it was delayed in being fulfilled. Through all the trials we have held on to God’s promises. One passage of encouragement has been Psalm 126. Verses 5 and 6 say, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”

Here are some pictures of the little fella for you all to enjoy. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to life together. We love you and all and rejoice with you in this great gift.

Kramertribe