Kurt & Janet (Burmeister) Stabler
Trout Run, Pennsylvania
Kurt Stabler employed at Reed Hann Litho as the Production Manager; loves being in the country and developing our homestead, gardening, raising layers and broilers; would like to add a couple of beef, a milk cow, and some pigs for help with composting in the future.
Janet Stabler is a stay-at-home mom; homeschooled the two older guys through high school, and continues doing so with the four younger children; weaves baskets for sale, and also makes whole wheat bread with freshly ground flour to sell at the Farmers' Markets; involved with homeschool group.
Erik Burmeister, 26 years old; has his own business as an organic vegetable grower, owning half of our 23 acres; is enjoying serving in his church in several areas, most recently learning to work the sound board and projection system.
Jon Burmeister, 24 years old; pursuing a history degree with a minor in philosophy; loves the Christian atmosphere at Asbury College; traveled to China to teach English one summer; is contemplating getting his masters; wants to teach in high school or college.
Andrew Stabler, 14 years old; loves science and history; reads lots; is learning computers; hunts.
Daniel Stabler, 12 years old; best friends with Andrew; shares all the same interests; also is a handyman.
Abigail Stabler, 10 years old; our only girl and has as much femininity as a girl can muster; sketches, plays piano, writes stories, does cross-stitch and calligraphy, crochets, sews...
Timothy Stabler, 6 years old; was born after we left LDM; is a builder of cardboard or Duplo creations; lover of Winnie the Pooh "anything" (all LDMers were taught this love, so we passed it on to him)
We lived in New Albany, IN for six years after leaving LDM. We then moved to Pennsylvania, to the area where Kurt had grown up, to be in the state we all love and to be near many relatives. We bought 23 acres of land in the country (about half fields and half woods) with Erik paying for half. For approximately a year and a half, Kurt kept a grueling schedule of working on building a house on our acreage from about 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM and then working 2nd shift from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM. (This was before his promotion and being moved to first shift). Having had several years' carpentry experience, Erik offered to build it with Kurt. Erik worked full-time on it except for taking about six months out to apprentice with an organic farming business. We were able to move into our home two years ago, fulfilling our dream to do so while remaining debt-free. While our home is very livable, we still need to finish it. We also are putting much time into the use of our land. We have chickens for eggs, and also grew broilers for all our own pasture-fed chicken meat. We also have a large garden, in addition to helping Erik with the large variety and amounts of vegetables and fruits that he produces. Each of our children have begun small businesses. Andrew and Daniel have a strawberry business with 5,000 plants. They sell retail at the Farmers' Markets and also through our U-Pick. Abigail has a flourishing flower business, selling at the Farmers' Markets. Timothy will begin his own pumpkin and gourd business this year. We work hard, so we also have a lot of fun when it comes time to play. Our primary goal with our children is to teach them to live by Biblical principles and to develop good character qualities...hopefully Kurt and I are growing right along with them.
Marnie (Brown) and Bill Thomas
Sacramento, California
I left LDM in early 1987 and soon returned to college. I moved from Long Beach, CA to Sacramento, CA to finish up my degree in history. I met my knight in shining armor, Bill Thomas, at the church I began attending in Sacramento. I graduated from college in December 1990 and Bill and I were married the following spring. We celebrate our 9th anniversary in May.
A couple years later, I went back to school to get a masters in School Psychology which trained me to assess children for learning disabilities in the school setting.
The joy of our lives are our two daughters, Cassidy Hope and Abi Grace, who just turned 4 and 3 this past March. Yes, only 12 months apart! Unplanned by us, but planned by God! We had given up on conceiving after 3 years, adopted and then you guessed it, became pregnant a couple months later. We are thrilled to be expecting baby #3 at the end of May.
Bill has his masters in counseling and works in the field of children's mental health. I work in a school district two mornings a month when Bill is off. Otherwise I stay home with our daughters, and we plan to homeschool. We reside in Sacramento and attend a nondenominational church called Hope Chapel. We thank our precious Savior for His abundant provision throughout the years...
God bless you all!