Meet Our Family

The Forsters at Daniel & Katelyn's wedding, June 2008. Left to right: Johanna (now a Conser!), Susannah, Bethany, Pam, Katelyn & Daniel, John, Joseph, Benjamin, and John Conser (Johanna's husband).

John and Pam – John and I met at a Bible study. I was teaching school and living in the town where I had attended college. John was taking some classes at the college. A mutual friend led a Bible study in my apartment, and when John attended it he noticed a lot of books on my bookshelf that were also on his bookshelf, and a jar of alfalfa sprouts growing in the windowsill. We both liked playing Boggle, and we both delighted in God’s Word.

Almost thirty years later I still beat him at Boggle, and we have lots more shelves full of books. We live about an hour from downtown Portland, Oregon, and about an hour the other direction to the beach. The perfect location! It’s beautiful here!

I enjoy gardening, and I’m exploring new methods now since all my weeders are growing up and taking on their own responsibilities. I also enjoy scrapbooking, occasional watercoloring and calligraphy, music and concert-going, and I enjoy writing, once all the torture of actually doing it is finished!

John enjoys helping with the animals we have, puttering with computer-related things, and attempting to kill the gophers that make a mess of our yard and gardens. He works for a computer software support company.

On June 28, 2008, Daniel became a married man! He and his new bride Katelyn live about 10 minutes away, and he is the general manager and president of Doorposts! God gave him just the right interests and skills to run our business, and he is doing a great job of organizing us and being patient with our household’s flexible schedule. We've posted Daniel and Katelyn's courtship story and wedding pictures here.

Daniel plays the fiddle and often performs with his brothers at rest homes and for dances. He has led the huge project of building a rustic log cabin on my dad’s property, all with period tools and building methods. Progress is slow, now that our "arrows" have launched out from the home. We have to work harder to find the times when everyone can go over to work. But there’s only one more row of shingles to put up, and we’ll be ready to chink in the cracks between the logs. Check out the pictures here!

Everyone seems to have a special passion in our family. Joseph’s passion is definitely music! He’ll be a junior at George Fox University this fall where he delights in singing, playing the piano and recorder, directing an early music ensemble, and studying in his spare time. He also does music-related work for our church, teaches piano and guitar, and hammer-dulcimer lessons, leads his brothers’ old-time music band (playing guitar, hammer dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, pennywhistle, recorder, cello, piano, and anything else he can get his hands on) writes and arranges music, and is organizing a church music history course for me to teach the girls this next year.

Joseph also has more talent in art than he has time to cultivate, and he enjoys gardening and has filled our yard over the years with many beautiful flowers. He hopes to support his own family someday by tuning pianos, teaching lessons, and working to help the church mature in her music.

Benjamin will turn 21 this fall, and is also a junior at George Fox University, majoring in engineering. It’s amazing how little sleep he can survive on, especially with a few chocolate-covered espresso beans or a mocha to help. His school load is heavy and very foreign-looking to most of us non-scientific-minded onlookers.

Benjamin works part-time for Doorposts, plays the mandolin, likes to play softball and volleyball when given the opportunity, and has almost caught up reading a year’s worth of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. He’s learning patience as he blends his neat organized habits with his brother’s artistic, free-wheeling approach to bedroom decor. We miss both boys during the day after so many happy years with everyone at home together, but we’re proud of them, and delighted to see them working so hard to prepare for the callings God has given them.

Johanna’s passion has always been homekeeping activities and babies, so she’s one happy lady these days! She and her fine husband John just celebrated their first anniversary 5 days before Daniel and Katelyn’s wedding, and now they are expecting their first baby. This welcomed arrival will also be the first grandbaby for both sides of their family! (I’m going to be a grandma! J ) They live about two hours south of us, next door to John’s folks, and they’re working hard settling into a new home and raising Katahdin sheep. (See also John & Johanna's courtship story and wedding pictures.)

Bethany is the prime animal-lover of the family and has raised ducks, geese, goats, sheep, lizards, mice, hamsters, rabbits, and other assorted critters over the years. She is currently raising Holland Lop rabbits, and she also raises our milk goat, and several Boer goats and Katahdin sheep for meat. She has her own website for Drowsy Waters Farm, where you can see pictures of almost all the animals on our place.

Bethany also likes to write, makes really good bread and the best pizza for miles around, and she’s starting work on a Doorposts book for young ladies!  

Susannah, at 15, is the "baby" of the family, but she’s as tall as me now. She has always loved to read, and she enjoys writing as well. She raises some of her own bunnies, and she’s our egg collector and seller. She loves dancing, tigers, and strawberry jam, and she enjoys helping the mother of a family of seven boys. She’s a cheerful young lady that loves to laugh and make other people laugh.