Paul and Gena Suarez
Hello, again! We’re Paul and Gena Suarez. It’s spring!! We hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather. Here in California we’d better enjoy it now. Soon it will be hot tamales, and this vibrant green will begin to fade. But, hey! It’s all God’s creation—His beautiful plan! We’ll just break out that sprinklers and ice cream!
TOS Magazine is pleased to announce that Senior Editor Jenefer Igarashi recently won an exciting award from Writers’ Digest. In her category (children’s fiction), she came up number 15. You would be amazed at the numbers who enter these writing contests; we were shocked (and thrilled!) that she came up so high on the list. We are very proud of her. In even “funner” news, Jen and her dear husband, Geoff, are expecting baby number six! Send them a congratulatory email, if you will.
Other “Suarez family” news is that our dad died (Paul’s father) this last month. Pablo was 75 and very ill with lung cancer. Although witnessed to a number of times throughout his adult life, Pablo did not turn his life over to Christ. One week before he died, while in the hospital, my mom and I shared the gospel with him again. We spoke of Christ’s love, His forgiveness, His peace. We said, “Dad, you can have peace. Christ died for you. He loves you.” My mom lovingly whispered words of kindness to him. She bathed him in Christ’s love. During that time, my father looked at me and said, “Praise be to God. I am forgiven.” One week later, he went home to be with his Lord, who had mercy on him in those last days. This has been a trying time for us, but we praise God for the glorious outcome. A week after Dad’s passing, Ken Ham, a godly man and friend, sent us a book he co-wrote with Carl Wieland as a gift to us during this time of grieving for our father. We so appreciate this act of kindness. The book is called Walking Through the Shadows: Finding Hope in a World of Pain (Master Books). The foreword was written by John MacArthur, another man we greatly respect. Ken sent us two copies of the book as a gift, and while Gena and I are sharing the one, we’d like to offer the other copy to a reader. If you know someone who has recently lost a family member, or experiencing grief, let us know. We’ll send the book out to the first person who needs it. There is such hope in Christ.
This issue is packed out with some really fun guests. Diane Wheeler interviewed the greatest couple — Michael and Susan Card (so down to earth!). Harvest House Books was generous enough to send us several copies of Michael’s new hardbound book Sleep Sound in Jesus. It is just gorgeous. We have four of those for you to win! Companies such as Alpha Omega, Baker Book House, BJUP, Saxon, and several others sent you things to win, as well. Take a look in the back pages (Lab) and try for these contests. You have a chance, so come on!
Other neat guests here to see you this issue include Peacemaker Ministries’ Home School Specialist, Annette Friesen. Her article is excellent! Also visiting are artist Barry Stebbing teaching art concepts and Sandi Rebert talking about the intriguing subject of drama! We did a tribute interview to Dr. Raymond Moore. He and wife Dorothy have given so much of themselves, and in many ways were major players in launching this movement. A number of individuals in the homeschool community had thoughts of their own to share about Dr. Moore. We wanted to make this a true tribute, so we asked a few people to give us statements about the Moores and their enormous contribution to homeschool families everywhere. Focus on the Family is back this issue with guest writer Chris Jeub. Focus is another excellent contributing organization to homeschooling’s beginnings. Plan on seeing more of Focus on the Family here at TOS Magazine!
We interviewed Jessie Wise this issue as well. What a lovely, peaceful woman. Pam Maxey is here once again, which thrills us. She completes her final article in her three-part series this issue on learning styles. Don’t worry: she’ll be back again! Christine Field, our special needs columnist, interviewed NATHHAN’s Tom and Sherry Bushnell. They have the most beautiful family and are doing some incredible things for special needs homeschoolers and their parents. Michael Maloney and Michael Daniel are with us this issue just for our little ones! You’ll be seeing a lot of them. Diana Waring is a treasured name in the community. She’s smart, humorous, and a GREAT writer. Mark Hamby is here, as well. This guy has a heart after God’s own heart. Rhonda Barfield is with us in our new Home Ec column. Top Hats and Parasols is back with the beautiful Jubilee Barker, and Kim Wright (alWRIGHT Publishing) recently came on staff for two columns. This woman is a gem. She’s been in the community for years and years. Remember when “that homeschooler became Miss Georgia”? It was the talk of the town—another example of homeschoolers influencing the mainstream. “That homeschooler” was her daughter Chantelle Wright. Kym has written for a number of publications, but, even better, she’s the author of Learn & Do Unit Studies. We’ve seen her stuff—it’s awesome! So she’ll be sharing a “snap unit” with you each issue. Kym is also taking our Homeschool Nation column. She launches it this very issue with a great interview introducing World Net Daily’s David Kupelian, the senior editor of Whistleblower magazine. Homeschool Nation will attempt to bring homeschooling more into the mainstream. It’s not “weird” to homeschool anymore. Families from all over the world are jumping on the bandwagon so fast it makes your head spin. You’ll meet politicians, news correspondents and a number of mainstream thinkers who have something to say about home education. You’ll discover just how homeschooling is affecting our society—for the better. We desire to make friends across new lines.
Our winners! Note the Winners’ Circle with the 2002 TOS Magazine EE Awards emblem. These companies strive to make homeschooling as fun and effective for families as possible. Congratulate them! They earned their spot in the circle. Speaking of winners, we have just begun something new called “vendor contests.” See our site for details. Many people, mostly company reps or owners, are beginning to showcase TOS Magazine at their speaking engagements and seminars. We provide the subscription cards with vendor identifications so we can keep everyone straight. Maggie Hogan of Bright Ideas Press happened to spread the cards far and wide last season and actually brought in a good number of new subscribers! She won this issue’s contest! Maggie Hogan and Terri Camp are doing something new and fresh, called Talk a Latte. Just eh name of that sounds inviting! Combine coffee (or herbal tea!) with chatting and you’ve got a piece of heaven! It turns out they’re drawing some large crowds with these encouragement seminars nationwide, and Maggie managed to share this magazine with so many people at the grassroots level that she won the contest. We’re very thankful, and her reward is a half page color ad for her great company. Be sure to check her out. And—if you are interested in winning that ad space next issue, contact us and we’ll get you set up with your cards! Each issue, SOMEONE is supposed to win!
Well, we could go on and on, but we won’t. There are far better speakers here than we are, so let’s give them the floor. Enjoy your homeschools. Enjoy your children. Be encouraged that you are not alone. If there were ever a place to build friendships and find support, it’s the homeschool community. Bless your families in Christ. Hey, drop us a line sometime. We love meeting new friends.
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