Dear Friends,

Somewhat confident that our email system is working again and that you will
receive our emails, and we will receive yours, we can share our wonderful
news with so many of you who have prayed for our sweet kids and have been
asking us how they did at Nationals.

Unbelievably, Matthew, Joshua, and Anna's Mock Trial homeschool team won the
National Tournament for Tennessee for the second straight year! Along with
their teammates Amber, Beth and Tyler, the team set a lot of new records.
All forty-four teams had four trials, judged by three scoring judges (often
real judges, always at least lawyers). In the fifth, championship, round
against Colorado (the team that came in third last year) there were 7
scoring judges. Our team won all nineteen ballots and was the highest
scoring team that had ever competed. One of the trials was the highest
scored trial in history.  It was very, very exciting and the team gave God
all the glory.  Their team motto is "We give God the glory, our coaches the
credit, and we get the fun."  Their team verse is "The horse prepares for
the day of battle, but victory comes from the Lord." Proverbs 21:31 Their
picture taken at the banquet is attached.  From left to right: Tyler
Randolph (witness), Beth Coleman (attorney this year, witness last year),
Joshua Downer (attorney), Amber Gruber (witness this year, attorney last
year), Matthew Downer (attorney), Jeff Atherton (head coach), Matthew
Hargraves (assistant coach - was on Mr. A's first mock trial team 13 years
ago!), and Anna Downer (witness). We are very grateful to so many of you who
prayed for them.

The competition was in New Orleans, though no one saw much of it.  We were
only four blocks from the D Day Museum, and we didn't have time to go! The
team did five scrimmages against other teams before the real trials began
and worked 16 hours straight the day before the tournament started.  They
were focused! But each work session or trial was bathed in prayer.  There
were several teams from Christian schools.  We even had a prayer meeting
with the Delaware team one night.  It was awesome!

In his inimitable way, Joshua did a recap of the details of the tournament
which is attached and will be on our website. I know most of you won't have
time to read it, but remember where it is in your email file for the day you
need a good laugh.

We drove home on Sunday and arrived to local news TV cameras and a welcoming
crowd.  Twenty-four hours later we left for a 16-hour drive to Minneapolis.
We had the privilege of spending an evening with Bill Armstrong at the
pre-breakfast dinner for the Woodbury Mayor's Prayer Breakfast.  Bill did
his normal incredible job the next morning to a great crowd of about 600.
The wedding of our nephew that weekend was a great blessing as the Lord
joined together two of his precious ones.

Upon our return, the Chattanooga Bar had a reception to recognize the team
and then the Tennessee House and Senate invited them to Nashville to be
honored also.  Matthew was invited to speak to the Senate and, unbelievably,
yielded his time to his brother, Joshua, who was taking over as captain of
the mock trial team as Matthew goes to college.  It was pretty exciting as
Joshua spoke extemporaneously (he had no idea he would get that opportunity)
sharing a little about Mock Trial and thanking the legislature for the
opportunity to homeschool in our state.  This had a touch of irony to it as
the legislature had before it a very discriminatory bill against
homeschoolers and their potential ability to use lottery money for state
colleges.

Thank you for your prayers for the graduations, also.  Abigail's, of course,
was when we were at National's.  Phil's sister, Bonnie and my sister, Mary
came for the festivities and Phil, Paul, and Susanna cheered as she was
awarded her degree in Business, with Magna Cum Laude honors.  After a few
weeks of rest (she has worked four straight years, summers included) she
begins studying for the CPA exam which is in November.  She will then move
to Atlanta after Christmas to begin working with the wonderful firm of
Frazier & Deeter.

Matthew's graduation this last weekend was a blessing.  Fifty-four
homeschoolers from the area had a full-scale graduation on Saturday with an
excellent address by Kurt Wise, Ph.D. from Harvard, and professor of Bryan
College where Paul attends.  Kurt shared his four points very effectively:
Accept Your Faith, Show Your Faith, Live Your Faith, and Stick to Your
Faith.  He illustrated one of his points by sharing how, as a creationist,
but with a goal of getting his Ph.D. at Harvard, he chose to obey the Lord
when He told Kurt to share the gospel with a professor, rather than give in
to his concern about his grade in a class of a staunch evolutionist.

Matthew gave one of the two student addresses.  He challenged his class with
passion and power to recognize that we all have two callings from the Lord -
to follow Jesus and to make disciples. He emphasized that the degree to
which we pursue those callings will determine the impact of our lives.

At the Senior Banquet Friday night, his classmates did a hilarious six-scene
skit on Matthew's life.  Sunday afternoon at the Baccalaureate, it was Phil
and my privilege to pronounce the blessing upon Matthew.  I will eventually
get it in on the website for those of you who are interested.

We head to Knoxville tomorrow for our annual ATI homeschooling conference.
We are speaking as a family at one of the student tracks on letting God use
you wherever you find yourself.  We are excited the Truax family is coming
home for the weekend afterwards.

We are putting the finishing touches on two books that will come out this
summer: "Optimizing Your Marriage - How to Have an Eternal Impact on Your
Family and Friends" and also "Just an Ordinary Man: The Principles of Godly
Leadership".  More details to follow.  Please pray that these books will
have the impact He would desire.

I am also finishing the last changes to the reprint of "A Father's Reward"
(finally) and hope to have it out this summer too. When I get the books
behind me, it is time to turn to closets and drawers - ever heard of Fibber
McGee?

Phil begins quite a heavy travel schedule again next week.  I am trying to
keep the website up to date so you can see where he is speaking
(www.DNAministries.org).  We miss him so much while he is gone, but we are
so grateful God is using him so mightily.  I'm not going to say any more
about what he has been doing because his next email will do that

We love you dear, dear friends, and are so very grateful for your love, your
prayers, your financial support, and encouragement to us and to our family.
We are here to serve you and those you love, so please call on us.

In His gracious care,

Susy