Spring Break came and went! It flew by WAY too quickly, and we filled our week up with memories and moments. To be honest, I about got nothing done on my “to-do” list except I did clean a closet! It would be impossible to write about all our adventures from the past week, so I’ve decided to keep it to picture form mostly!
My sister, Hannah, and her husband, Josh, and their family came to visit, and we treasured those memories. They have three adorable foster children, and while we took a lot of pictures, we just can’t share those. However, they would absolutely appreciate your prayers as they continue to work with their foster children.
The Smith family, from Maine, stopped by on Friday afternoon. We treasured the few hours we had together, and it was so good to re-connect. We miss them all!
We went to the beach with Josh and Hannah on Thursday. It was a beautiful beach day. A few highlights would be that Travis rode with Hannah and Josh. One of their little ones got sick in the car at the exact moment that the car ran out of gas! There were a few moments of excitement as we figured out a plan, but God is good!
The boys had a baseball tournament on Monday and Tuesday (one game on each day). It wasn’t a very exciting time for them as they didn’t get very much playing time. However, it was a good time with friends afterwards and we are thankful for the memories.
We went strawberry picking on Saturday morning! The berries were beautiful, and it didn’t take us very long to pick a bunch of berries. We were blessed with some beautiful weather over this break week!
Is it even “Spring Break week” if we don’t go to the park to play ball and eat out?! :)
We ended up with 33 people at our house for Easter Dinner on Sunday afternoon! The last family we invited, I ran into them at Walmart on Saturday night. I found out that they didn’t have any Easter dinner plans, so I invited them to our house. When I called Roger, I said, “Babe, I found some people at Walmart and invited them to our house for lunch tomorrow.” Roger didn’t even miss a beat, “Okay,” he replied, “did the greeter not have a place for lunch tomorrow?” We got a chuckle out of it, but I’m so glad that Roger is always happy to have people at our house for a meal together. God is so good.
We are thankful for neighbors! We had a stray dog in our yard a few weeks ago, and while trying to find the owner, we met another neighbor. He told the boys that they could use his pond anytime, so the boys tried it out over spring break with their friends. They were happy to catch some fish!
He is Risen! Oh, how we are thrilled to celebrate Resurrection Sunday! It was a wonderful day celebrating Jesus’ Resurrection. We are so thankful that He is Risen Indeed! I know that my Redeemer lives!
We were blessed by a very full and busy week. We soaked up a lot of memories and ate a lot of food! Roger and I were counting up how many extra people we fed over the course of the week, and we fed 73 extra meals! (I’m not saying that to brag, but someday I’m going to get old and forget!) We are thankful to have a home in which we can be hospitable, and we love to have our family and freinds over. We had over several school friends and church friends, and family and friends from afar. We are so blessed! I hope that you had a wonderful week as well.
I know that I’ve probably sounded like a broken record, but it’s finally almost true! Spring break starts at 3:00pm on Thursday afternoon!! The kids (and I) can hardly wait for Thursday to get here! I have a very lengthy to-do list for break week, and I know that we probably won’t even make much of a dent. I want to wash and stain the deck, paint our bedroom, put up some trim, hang some curtains, spring clean my house, pick fresh strawberries, and read several books. Also, there is a Good Friday service, Easter on Sunday, dinner at our house with several families on Sunday afternoon, a baseball game, and my sister and her family are coming to visit for a few days! Check back with me next week on how I did on my to-do list. I’m guessing we will have made lots of memories but possibly not a huge dent in the list! Roger will be working every day except Tuesday next week, so that’s a bit of a bummer. However, last Easter we weren’t even in the same state on Easter Sunday, so we are making progress!
The past week has been busy with lots of baseball practices and games, Garett’s first date, a church out-reach event and life. Almost two weeks ago was Roger’s birthday. We didn’t really have a proper opportunity to celebrate his birthday as it was on a Wednesday, and he was working. However, I really do have reason to celebrate his birthday as he is such a blessing to me. Roger is a man of character and quiet integrity. He doesn’t talk a lot and does not like to be the center of attention, but he’s faithful and diligent in areas that matter. He helps with making school lunches almost every day, he works diligently to be available for our family, and he loves Jesus in a quiet consistent way. I am so blessed. We do hope to go out on a date to celebrate his birthday- some day.
Last Wednesday was a very special Wednesday night service for me. We spent the majority of the time praying for people and various ministries of the church. The pastor leading the service invited all the teens to stand in the front of the church, and parents and those involved in their lives surrounded them and prayed for them. Prayer is the greatest untapped resource that we have as Christians. I am convinced that if we spent as much time praying for our young people as we do complaining about them, we would see a change. God’s power hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. The same God that brought about revival during the Great Awakening is the same God at work today! He hasn’t changed! But I think that Christians have become lazy and indifferent in our prayer lives. I wish that we had far more services like last Wednesday night and that teens would see us praying over them and for them rather than just hearing us say, “we are praying for you.” There is power in the name of Jesus!
Last Thursday the boys had a baseball game- both the middle school and the varsity team. The middle school team has not yet won a game, but they continue to improve. The varsity team has only lost one game this season.
On Friday Garett had his first official date! How did this happen so quickly?! Anyone going to the Junior/Senior banquet was able to leave school at lunch time. Garett was a little confused about why the students got to leave at lunch and I told him it was because the girls needed to get ready. “What on earth can possibly take that long? I am glad that I am a boy!” Haha- well, it takes a bit of time for hair, makeup, nails and get dress up! Regardless, he was happy to get out of school at noon! I ran him home to our house and dropped him off. My friend, Laura, picked him up and brought him back to school for me around three as the students were meeting for pictures at four pm. He looked so handsome!
Garett was invited to the Junior/Senior banquet by his friend, Danni. Underclassmen can only go to the Junior/Senior banquet if they are invited by an upperclassman. Danni asked our permission to ask Garett to the Junior/Senior banquet, and we agreed. He looked so grown up in his new suit. Boy, he’s a good lookin kid! (I might be a bit biased, but he’s handsome!). I dropped him off in downtown so that he could get pictures taken with the other students attending the event. Garett said that there were “a lot of pictures taken”, but he’s a good sport, and I’m so thankful that Danni’s mom was willing to take all those pictures. When we get old, at least we will have pictures to look at and be reminded of the moments! Garett had a great time with his friend, and he came home with lots of stories and laughter. I still struggle to think that he is old enough to go to the junior/senior banquet, but we are so proud of him and thankful. We are still very much a work in progress, but we are endeavoring to raise this young man to love and serve Jesus with all of his heart and to be a man of character and integrity.
Saturday morning rolled around and found us at a church event on Saturday morning. Our church was hosting an out reach event in which they invited the church folks to come and pass our door hangers inviting people to Easter services. Roger had to work on Saturday, but the kids and I went to pass out door hangers. Both Garett and Chandler made the comment to me later that they were surprised that more people weren’t at the church event. It was a teaching opportunity that I pounced on. Yes, sometimes it’s a lot easier to get people to come out for food, fellowship and fun, but a lot harder when it involves work. (Hmm…sometimes that is evident in our family too, isn’t it?!) Actually, I think the boys and Emma had a lot of fun passing out door hangers. There were our five kids, Everett’s three, Hardison’s three, Carillo two, and the pastor’s son for kids in our group- we got a lot of flyers handed out! There were 22 people total in our group with adults, teens, and kids, and we covered a lot of houses in a short period of time. The kids all told me that it was fun for them, but it was probably mostly fun because of the people that hey were with. Usually work is a lot more fun with friends, and this was a good service opportunity for our kids to be involved in our community.
We picked up a tray of fresh strawberries on the way home from church on Saturday morning. It’s hard to believe but the strawberry season has started! We are looking forward to going to pick some fresh strawberries over spring break. The berries were delicious and five pounds of berries were gone by supper time!
We’ve had a busy and full week as we enter the final few days until spring break. I held a checkers and chess tournament for students that will be competing in a school event in a few weeks. I’ve been working with some elementary students in preparing them for a Bible Sword drill competition. I’ve been tutoring a few students, as well as all the other day to day school activities. I’ve needed a calendar on an hourly basis to remember where I’m supposed to be and when, but break is coming!
Last night, the middle school had their last official game. They did still lose, but they are improving. Then there was a JV game in which 9th and 10th graders got to play. This was a lot of fun for Garett and Chandler and their favorite game of the season by far. (It was also my favorite game to watch this season as the boys were playing!) Chandler got to play in center field and Garett was on first base. They had a lot of fun playing, and I was thankful that they had this opportunity. The bummer part was that Roger was working, and he wasn’t able to watch the boys play.
As I mentioned in my last post, Travis has had a bit of a rough school year. Part of it is academically, but part of it is just classroom dynamics. Many thanks to all of you that have been praying for him! My friend, Laura, gave him a little gift and note last night and that was a special encouragement to his heart. We are so blessed to have people that invest in the lives of our kids through prayer, notes, words of encouragement, speaking truth and pointing them to Jesus.
Thankful for this boy!
Lots of memories at baseball games!
We are looking forward to a few days off of school and visiting with friends and family. But more importantly, we are looking forward to Resurrection Sunday and celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. I am so glad that this world is not my final home. Because of His death and resurrection, my eternal life is secure. I rest in the fact that Jesus’s sinless blood was poured out for me, and He paid the penalty for my sin. My hope is in Jesus, and I rest in Him and Him alone. If you are unsure about where you will spend eternity, I implore you to get it settled today. Jesus loves you.
Here’s another favorite song of mine: Listen to the words.
