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Marlin Joe
Birthday: March 30, 1967
Musically: sings lead. works with the sound equipment.
Marlin is
“Daddy” to 9 arrows, husband to “Mommy”, the leader of the
Bontrager Family Singers, and the owner of Shema Holsteins,
our dairy. We always say we have the best dad…..ever! He keeps
very busy with planting in the spring, combining in the fall,
running the farm, milking the cows, and running the family
music ministry. He is passionate about encouraging fathers to
develop a purpose for their families, leading his family in
ministry to others, and studying God’s Word. He enjoys
activities that involve the family, such as: trapping and
hunting with his children in the fall, taking them out on a
“date with daddy”, and practicing music together |
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Rebecca (Becky) Marie
Birthday: October 14, 1967
Musically: plays guitar. Sings lead, alto, and tenor.
Best known as “Mommy”, she is truly a wonderful helpmeet,
mother, and teacher to her family. She enjoys studying
nutrition, reading good books, going on dates with Daddy,
scrapbooking, meditating on God’s Word, working in the garden,
and early morning walks. Her days stay busy (you can imagine!)
but she still finds time to read to her children, host
company, cook wonderful meals, and keep a household of 11
running efficiently! We love her dearly and couldn’t do
without her! |
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Chelsy Renee
Birthday: January 29, 1991
Musically: plays piano and mandolin. Sings lead, alto, and
high tenor.
Chelsy’s hobbies are photography, reading old books, shopping,
listening to and playing music (classical and bluegrass),
spending time outdoors, writing, poetry, sewing, and stamping.
Currently, school work takes up a large amount of her time,
but she plans to graduate in spring of ‘08 and is looking
forward to being done! She blesses her family by cooking
wonderful food, (her specialty is Italian) folding countless
loads of laundry, organizing, and helping her father with
ministry related work. She has enjoyed the privilege of
teaching piano students in her home one day a week, and
helping busy young mothers. She treasures her daily quiet time
with Jesus, and spending time with family and friends. |
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Mitchell Joe
Birthday: July 2, 1992
Musically: plays banjo and bass guitar. Sings lead and
baritone.
Gentle, caring, responsible, patient…….Mitchell is a wonderful
big brother and his little brothers absolutely adore him! He
is Dad’s right hand man when it comes to farm work and he does
a great job, keeping everything running smoothly even when Dad
is gone. Mitchell enjoys bluegrass music, basketball and
football, reading, hunting (he got his first doe fall of
2006!) and his most recent love is driving with his new
permit! He is currently working, along with 4 of his siblings,
on memorizing the book of Jonah. Whenever any of us has a
Bible related question, we ask Mitchell! He is in 9th
grade and leaves his older sister in the dust when it comes to
Algebra |
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Allison Nicole
Birthday: May 13, 1994
Musically: plays violin and piano. Sings lead and high tenor.
Meet the lively social girl…who loves anything
people-related!! Her interests are reading, sewing, arranging
flowers, baking, horses, and being with her many friends.
Allison is saving her money for a horse, and has dreams of
turning one of our barns into horse stables so she can house
other people’s horses. She is a big help with the little ones,
and a great teacher to her little brothers whenever Mommy
needs a fill-in! She and Chelsy love doing outdoor activities
together, such as playing football with the boys, taking
walks, or choring. She diligently reads and memorizes
Scripture, and hopes to someday be a missionary to India. |
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Carson
Wayne
Birthday: November 5, 1995
Musically: plays bass guitar and piano. Sings melody.
Carson is the particular, observant, and hard working man in
our family. This past year he learned how to milk the cows,
and now at least 2 mornings a week you can find him out in the
barn milking. He loves getting up early, and earning money,
so it is a good arrangement for both him and Dad! Dad gets
much needed sleep and Carson is earning money! He plays
football and basketball, reads Trailblazers, works on new
creations in the wood-working room, and plays with his
brothers in his free time. |
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Joshua Maxwell
Birthday: March 24, 1997
Musically: plays piano. Sings lead.
The animal lover, early riser, and math wiz is Joshua! He
nearly always beats everyone else to the living room for
devotions in the morning, and occasionally gets up early to
get his school work done before breakfast! He read the Bible
through twice in 2006, and he has memorized many chapters from
Psalms, James, Romans, Jonah, and Matthew. He is a man of few
words, and loves a wide variety of activities. He is in charge
of the calf chores in the evenings (with Denver and Taylor as
assistants) and he does a great job. When he is not choring
and doing school work, he like puzzles, playing with the many
farm cats, LEGOS, practicing piano, wrestling with his
brothers, and reading. He has a goal of reading 20 G.A. Henty
books before his 10th birthday, and so far he is
right on track! He truly redefines the definition for
“bookworm”! He is always a great help taking care of Hudson,
and dearly loves his baby brother! |
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Denver
Elliot
Birthday: December 5, 1999
Musically: sings lead.
The other social half in our family is Denver. He is learning
to read and loves math, continually amazing us with some of
the difficult problems he figures out! He is eagerly looking
forward to getting and learning to read his own Bible, and
getting up early for personal devotions along with his older
siblings. He loves talking to anyone who will listen to him,
and telling stories of “western hunting trips” he dreams of
taking with his brothers. Denver loves anything in the
cougar/bobcat/wolf line, and wild animal movies are his
favorites! Denver likes playing LEGOS and farm with Joshua and
Taylor, putting puzzles together, playing with the kittens,
and listening to someone read to him. He says chores are okay,
but definitely not his favorite activity! |
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Lincoln “Taylor”
Birthday: January 13, 2002
Musically: sings lead.
Taylor is our little teddy bear, cuddly and giggly. He loves
snuggling up with an older sibling for a long story time! He
spends his days playing farm, LEGOS, trains, games with his
big brothers (actually anything with his brothers!), playing
house with Liz, and playing outside. He loves singing, and is
learning to read with Denver. He loves memorizing the phonics
songs Mommy teaches him. In the fall, he is Dads constant
companion in the combine. He’s definitely a “farmer boy”, and
copies everything his Daddy does! He regularly calls up his
“hired men” on his cell phone (one of Daddy’s old ones ), and
gives them directions for all the “work” he wants them to do
each day! |
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Elizabeth (Liz) Caresse
Birthday: December 18, 2003
Musically: loves to sing, and wants to play every instrument
her siblings play!
We call Liz “little Allison’ because they are so much alike!
She is a cheerful little sunbeam, always singing or talking,
and is nearly always moving and “on-the-go”! Liz loves her
babies, and is a very faithful mommy to them, spending most of
her time nursing, changing diapers, giving tea parties,
bathing, or singing to them. She also has a “cell phone” and
has many imaginary conversations with her grandma, little
cousins, and friends. Liz and Taylor also love to put on
little concerts for anyone who will listen, using a wide
variety of sticks, toys, and ropes for their “instruments”!
Whenever Daddy asks who wants to go with him to run errands,
Liz is the first to volunteer! She’s Daddy’s little farmer
girl, and spends many happy hours with him. |
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Hudson
Reed
Birthday: October 16, 2005
Musically: “in training”
J
Hudson is the baby in our family, even though he is definitely
out of the baby stage! Mommy got what she prayed for when
Hudson was born —a happy, contented, cheerful baby! He is a
blessing to our whole family and we love him so much! He
currently has won the position of “entertainer” (unknowingly)
and his funny expressions, words, giggles, and actions keep us
laughing! He just started talking, and his vocabulary grows
more every day! When asked “how does the tractor go??”, he
gets a huge grin on his face and says, in his loudest voice,
“vroom vroom!!” He enjoys balls, going to Liz’ tea parties
(that’s without an invite!), exploring the kitchen cupboards,
climbing on top of the banjo and bass cases (much to his older
brothers’ consternation) and holding Liz’ dolls. We are so
thankful God gave him to us! |
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Rebecca Shania
Birthday: September 9, 2007
Musically: “in training”
J
Rebecca Shania ~
(Rebecca - "beautiful, captivating"
/ Shania - "Favor, grace, blessed by God").
Our beautiful little blessing arrived on
September 9, 2007, at 9:22 pm. She was 21 inches long and
weighed in at 7lb 12oz.
"To everything
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
heaven......He hath made everything beautiful in His
time."
Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 11a
Visit our blog for more
family photos! |
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