The week that was...

I posted earlier that it would be a wacky week with all the holiday celebrations including 2 birthdays. Well it lived up to every expectation ... and then some.

We enjoyed our St. Patty's day meal a day early - and with some friends around the table... there wasn't much corned beef left after we devoured it... but it sure was yummy.

Thursday was delightfully spent at a dear friends home - we haven't been able to spend much time together since we both have 3 lovelies... but we're going to spend more time in the coming year... Then Thursday night, we enjoyed a great Seder dinner complete with 15 lbs of carrots that we donated to the cause - they were peeled and preped for cooking in less than 45 minutes! WOW... Steve surprised me with dessert out after the kids were in bed for my birthday.

Friday we helped to set up a Holy Week walkthrough experience at church. It was really meaningful to many who attended. And, it was fun to spend time with another family friend setting up together. It snowed a great deal on Friday - and was pretty messy getting home. But well worth the wait and work to present it.

Saturday was a lot of prep time - easter eggs to dye, an Easter Eggstravaganza to help out with and a birthday cake to make for Simi... he did manage to make it to 4!

Since it was his birthday - we had gone shopping the week before and found some more Thomas the Train pieces... Daddy spent a bit of time making all the pieces fit and be able run the track! We've had a lot of fun with Thomas - all of us! Happy Birthday my son! I'm proud of the little man that you are becoming!

Happy Easter...

Well, Daddy left at 7 am on Easter morning and that meant that we had to have lunch preparations under way for after we returned from celebrating Easter Morning Resurrection at church and be ready to leave in a few without Daddy's help! My children did a great job being helpers and getting ready to have breakfast at church - that's where daddy was - flippin flapjacks and makin bacon!

My sister-in-law...

My sister-in-law is one "sold out babe." She is a full-time missionary to college kids that are in training at New Tribes Bible School. She is a full time mommy of 3 (yep I said 3...) girls and a really great wife to my "little" brother. And, she's brave ! In this world where we are worn down to accept what we see in print and to accept "bad choice" behavior, she is not one of "those" ladies. Here's a for instance... (yes, I did get her permission. She's the "chic" in brown! How about the pic? I didn't have a good recent one of you ... but you did... so?! )

I read something on your blog this morning that made me a little concerned. You had said “God is working in our lives and so that's a lot to celebrate - it means that He loves us after all.” I think it was the “after all” part that concerned me.

Should we respond only when He seems to be doing what we want Him to? Isn’t this
“self-love”? Such a mindset is a love that is all about self getting what it wants, but in reality Biblical love trusts Him and lets Him be God even when He doesn’t seem to be answering. We think that God should jump through hoops for us, but in reality we have to trust that His wisdom and working is superior to ours no matter what the circumstance.

God doesn’t work according to our thinking, but according to what is best. In the end, we will see that His doing was much better than what we wanted. So even though we don’t sense His working (according to what we want) we should never
assume it means He doesn’t love us. In fact, that is the completely wrong
starting point. It is all about self. We truly are self-focused creatures.

In 1 Thess. 1:4 Paul calls the believers “Beloved of God,” which is exactly what is true of you.

Romans 5:3-9 is a great passage. In hard times we can persevere in hope because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Spirit. If you do not
believe God loves you, you are walking in unbelief. Even the Spirit is testifying in your life that He does. The passage goes on to show that the ultimate demonstration of God’s love was the sacrifice of His Son. Even for believers this can’t be forgotten.

**Romans 8:35-39 nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Really- nothing. Even in our unbelief we are still loved. If we don’t believe God we will not
experience it. It is impossible to separate a believer from the love of God. It doesn’t matter how we feel. Feelings aren’t the right measurement.

Ephesians 1 is pretty amazing for a believer. The point is- look at all that God has done for you by His grace, yet you are so focused on little circumstances that these things don’t matter anymore. Let us not forget all that He has done.

I hope some of this can be encouraging. I am praying for you…always. I am so excited about Shipshewana!!! Love always,

Thanks for encouraging me to measure the meaning of my words before I just "spew" them for anyone to read. You are very important to me and to many around you. Happy 1st Day of Spring!

Lost week...

I'm not sure what this week will look like ...

I looked it up, and in 2228 is the next time that Palm Sunday, St. Patricks Day, (my birthday), Good Friday, Simeon's Birthday and Easter will ALL take place in the same week... Gee, Chris, bet even you can't top that one! So, I'm trying to not set too high of an expectation for the week - knowing that someone's day will have to be set by the wayside... I'm just tired thinking about it!

Update on Life

Hey nothing special really going on here... just wanted to take a moment to post.

The kids are doing great - no real big changes for any of them - really.

Olivia is beginning to make her letters more clearly - and she has asked to be baptized!
Simeon is looking forward to his birthday - being 4 seems to look better than being 3. Not sure why... but hey a year older means that school is shortly around the corner - something that we all look forward to when your dad is a teacher and you've heard that mommy was too!
Sophie is into climbing on EVERYTHING - and trying out some of the tricks that looked pretty cool when Simi did them.

I've been preparing for a HUGE meeting this evening about Child Sexual Abuse - and how to prevent it ... YUCK!!! But I'm ready for it... got my power point project done and some sweets to give before talking about it. Hoping that it will "sweeten" the deal!

God is working in our lives and so that's a lot to celebrate - it means that He loves us after all.

Have gotten a lot of "rejection" letters in our hunt. But, we are NOT defeated - nor depressed.

It's looking more like spring here today especially. We might even walk to get Olivia... that would be fun! OK so maybe there are a lot of special things going on here... :-)

TTFN

SNOW DAY!!

Happy Birthday Poppy

Happy Birthday to our daddy -
we hope this year is as fun as all the years past.
We love you -
Simeon, Sophie and Livvie

Olivia's Valentine Party

Olivia wanted to have a Valentine decorating party...
so the week before we asked seven 5 year olds to come...
thankfully only 2 showed up - that was enough!
We had a blast making decoratings and gluing, pasting, and eating sugar cookies with chocolate milk.
Here are a few samples!

A care package from Grandma...

Thanks Grandma, we love our aprons!!!