God is our Mighty Protector!

Well, yesterday and today have been eventful. Perhaps not in the way most people would categorize eventful, yet eventful nonetheless.

Yesterday Benn went down to the basement. He saw a rat near the freezer that we put down in the basement. I cannot tell you much about the rats because Benn is sparing me the details, which cannot be a good sign. If you only knew how much I dislike critters, especially in my house. You will be glad to know that the war has begun and we are exercising the dominion that God has given to all men over the earth and its critters. In five days or so, the poison should have done its work. Well, let me tell you what a blessing this has been. First of all, now we know who we are fighting against, but don't be tempted to think it is really the rats.

When Benn saw the rat near the freezer, it caused him to go and check things out, which is a really good thing because the rats had gotten into the back of the freezer and had their fun and now our freezer is not functioning. But the timing was good because the food was still frozen and we were able to salvage most of it. If Benn had not spotted the rat, who knows how long it would have been before we noticed the freezer wasn't working and would have lost all that food and would have needed to clean up a disgusting mess, so praise the Lord! As I was washing off everything from the freezer, God reminded me of something really sweet. He reminded me of when we moved from Lynchburg to Memphis that we didn't have a whole lot - all our belongings fit into one 17 foot truck. Our move from Memphis to Pennsylvania required a 26 foot truck and a 17 foot truck. God reminded me of all the times when he moved Abraham and how He always increased Abraham's wealth and it was so encouraging to know that the same God who guided and gave increase to Abraham is guiding and giving increase to our family. Not to mention the most precious - the three children that He added to us during our time in Memphis.

Well, the second thing that made the days eventful happened in the middle of the night. Grant, who is now 5 mos. old, was sleeping through the night at around 5 weeks of age. Unfortunately, he became sick about 2 mos. ago and it eventually went into pneumonia. Since he was sick, neither he nor his mother had been sleeping very well because of all the coughing and wheezing. Well, he has been improving over the last two weeks and had begun to sleep through the night again. So, last night when he woke up around 3 a.m. I wasn't too excited. So, I just nursed him, hoping that he would go back to sleep quickly, which he started to do. Then he started with this niggling little cough that just wouldn't seem to end, and finally even Benn woke up. So, we all made our visits to the restroom and got settled back in bed. Benn quickly returned to sleep, and I was trying to, but was feeling that the room was too bright. I sat up and quickly awakened Benn with the news that our ash heap outside was on fire. It isn't right next to the house or anything, but definitely too close for comfort when the flames are high and it is windy outside. So Benn had to dress and go be a firefighter. I felt very clearly that God was reminding me of two things: first, that we are in a spiritual battle here and that I cannot become too complacent in the midst of everyday life that I lose my vigilance in praying and fighting this battle that we are in; second, that He is our Protector and that we have nothing to fear as we lean on His everlasting arms. He used a crying baby in the middle of the night to alert us to the battle we are facing and to protect us from fire. I am thankful for the alarm in the night and, as He reminded me with the song, that I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. It is hard to be afraid of the circumstances around you when you are busy looking at Him.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

We remember the true passion this season in: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

Without the Love of God, we'd be nothing! We'd be destined for Hell and quickly! Thank God that He has provided a Way! Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 (NKJV)

Finally at 'Home'

Well, we're moved in and sleeping at the house full time now - Thanks again to those who helped us move on both ends - we could not have done it without each and every person's help!

We've been working on the radiant heater that Mom and Dad Gehman gave us for Christmas/Graduation, and it's going to be a huge blessing! Thanks to them for preparing alot of stuff ahead of time.

I'm not doing so well on the pictures front - we've all been working from dark to dark each day to get things put into place and out of boxes, and working at the Gehman's LLC and at Gehman's Iron. The computers should be here in a few days, and hopefully/prayerfully they will be a good source of revenue that will allow time to be with the kids and wifey!

Well, God is good - all the time! He certainly has blessed us since we've gotten here! Please continue to pray for us - I'm sure that the hard days are coming!

Let it SNOW!!

WOW! Weather forecast for today is 5-8" of snow - we've already gotten the 5", and we're probably going to get more than the 8"!

Thank God for a warm house! More pictures of the kids playing in the snow soon!

(these pictures were from Mom and Dad's house during lunch break 12/19/08)

Here in Knoxville!

Well, after about 16 hours of driving, and some rain and wet roads, we finally reached Knoxville around 7:30 tonight. We'll be unpacking tomorrow and I'm sure over the next few weeks in trying to get everything organized in the new house.

Praise God that we didn't have any of the tough weather that was coming through, and we didn't have any issues with the trucks (yes, plural! we had to get two to get all of our stuff up here). We took the kids to the house and they all had a good run around, and we'll staying at Mom and Dads for a few days until I can get the beds set up and the trucks returned. God has certainly been good to us for the trip. We're looking forward to great things from Him in the future!

You can check back here for new posts, or you can 'follow' our blog, and I think it emails you with new posts. Thanks again for those who helped us move via labor, prayers, and other means. We appreciate every one of you!!

Move day!!

Wow! what a day. After moving everything out into the yard, we're finally having everything moved into TWO moving trucks. Thought we might fit it all into one 26' truck, but after getting another truck, we realized that we were about 17' short - thus the second truck!

Many thanks to those who helped us move - they were such a blessing!! Matt Sanders; James Cheney; Brandon Pendleton; Roy Scorup; Dorothy Wilson; Matt and his wife; Grant and Marylou Gehman; the kind people at Penske and UHaul, and if I missed anyone, I'm sorry, I'll edit you in! We could not have done this without any one of you, or your help! It was such a blessing to us. Thank you!

Well, we're off tomorrow to Pennsylvania. We'll be driving three vehicles this trip, Mandy and Mom in the van w/kids, Grant and some kids in the Penske, and me and some kids in the UHaul. Should be an eventful trip, but we're praying and hoping for good events, and none that are detrimental. Please be in prayer for our trip - 1000 miles one way.

Graduation Day

Well, we're half way through graduation day - gotten some good food at the graduation luncheon, and practice is complete - just the ceremony tonight. Looking forward to that. If you are in town, come on out and participate with us!

Mandy already got her degree - she was given her Ph. T. this morning at the luncheon. For those of you who don't know, that means her Putting Hubby Through degree. So glad that God gave me such a wife for such a time as this has been. I would not have been able to do any of it without her.

So, still packing - pictures at 6pm tonight, and then graduation tonight. Looking forward to great things that God will do, and how we'll be used by Him in the coming days - please pray for us as we pack the truck tomorrow - not sure if it will all fit in the truck, but we'll see!! Dad is packing (he's expert at this!), so I'm hopeful!

Pray for our trip - Jason (my brother) said they got 8" of snow last night, and it'll be cold when we get there - 11 degrees this past week! The kids will be in heaven! for about 10 minutes when their noses freeze!!

Moving w/helpers

Well, we're thick into the moving. We're currently on box number 121 out of ??? Mandy has been keeping a very detailed listing of what is in each box:


I've had alot of help with this move from the family members. Josiah is especially wanting to help alot and Grey, though they aren't able to do much, though helping out is a big deal.

We've broken down the beds in the kids room, and that was a big deal, but again, I had a good bit of help, so I really appreciated that!!


The girls are very busy taking care of the little ones, and their help is very much apreciated as well. We couldn't do it with all of them running underfoot.


Not everyone is happy with all of the commotion going on around us, but we're working at it diligently. We hope to get the truck packed on Saturday (12/13/08 *hint hint*), so if you're available...

Please pray for the Gehmans

This format was Mandy's idea - quite cute if I do say so. We had a bunch printed out, and if you want one, they'll be available at church, or you can pick one up from shutterfly, or if you send your email or mailing address we'll send you one. We appreciate your prayers as we move, and as we minister in Pennsylvania. Thanks so much. Praise God for his blessings never fail!

Us and Moving!

Well, today is the start of a brand new blog for us Gehmans. We're the Benn Gehmans - From the Grant Gehmans, the Warren Gehmans, the (oh bother, don't have my Gehman's directory handy).

Well, here's a bit about us:
Benn - Age 34 - currently in the process of graduating from Seminary (MABTS) and working at moving to PA.
Mandy - Age ?? (year younger than Benn) - working at packing all of our stuff up into boxes and cleaning up 5 years of living in Memphis
Rachel - Age 9 - Loves to read, and have 'adventures'
Elisabeth - Age 8 - Loves to draw and loves horses
Charis - Age 5 - Is very dramatic and loves Lola!
Josiah - Age 3 - Is very much a boy and always wants to be the center of the party. He loves to tell you all about anything that he is thinking of right then, or the latest story!
Grey - Age 2 - Loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and sings many songs that we didn't even know he knew
Grant - Age 5 mos - Loves jumping in his bouncy chair, and is a cuddly baby and loves his family.

That's all that we know of - any others are forthcoming, or so we think.

Pictures are always located at benngehman.shutterfly.com, so you can check us out there!!

Emails are pretty much our first and last names (Benn and Mandy) and we use Google for our mail, so you can guess what that is.

We hope you enjoy our blog! Looking for great things that God will be doing as we go to Pennsylvania.