Hooray for Clay!!

This post is for our male readers! Clay, Brady's best friend since college, came to see us again this year! As soon as he got here he and Brady started on my "honey-do" list! It was wonderful!! For some strange reason Brady seems to think doing my list is more fun with Clay? Clay was amazing he got the previously mentioned marker stains out of the couch, he fixed the ice maker, fixed some trim about the house and the girls bunkbeds. I could go on and on... They did manage to squeeze in a couple afternoons of prairie-dog slaughtering, I mean hunting! Most of the pictures they took were too graphic for my younger readers! We had so much fun, thank you soooo much for coming to see us "Uncle Tommy." The kids LOVE the wii game! We LOVE you, you're the best! Next time bring Anita and your cuties!!

Short stick, belly fat, Mr. 5 wears a hat!

I haven't written a humorous post in quite sometime. If I don't laugh about this one, I'll cry...

"Short stick, belly fat, Mr. five wears a hat." That is how I have taught four out of our five cuties how to draw a "5." Little did I know Jay was going to be practicing this technique by scratching his fives on to the leather couch! They actually compliment the dry erase marks Charlie added at Easter. Three separate but equal cushions. You can't really notice it, if the lights are off and it's night time or if you are blind and I bet you couldn't see it from Google Map's Satellite. Charlie made a "V" on one cushion, an "O" on another and a "snake" with three polka dots. I am seriously considering giving all the kids a black marker and letting them try to turn it into a work of art? If this happens I will post pics!

Friends! Food! Fun!

The Hospital has a fundraiser every Spring and for the past two years Brady has bought a Cooking class. It is so fun having a party and not cooking a thing until the guests arrive! This year Brady invited his great friend Jon.
My sweet friend Esther, she and her husband are moving this summer. We are so sad. Anyone know an Internist who wants to move to our town?
We had Cheesecake stuffed Strawberries, YUMMM. Brady Joe, I LOVE cooking with you! Did I mention, ALL the kids spent the night with Mimi, thank you Mimi!
Jon and Adrian enjoy eating as much as we do. No wonder we are such good friends!
Our Apron Picture, Riley made the one I was wearing!
Thank you Dave and Deb Schwarz! The food was fabulous, we loved all your recipes!
Here is what we helped them make.....

Pinot Gris - Prickly Pear Sorbet
Crab Cakes with a Remoulade Sauce
Ribs with Black Vinegar Sauce
Thai Curry Chicken Salad in Phyllo Cups
Asparagus with Lemon-Tarragon Dipping Sauce (can't wait to try this with our wild Asparagus)
Marinated Shrimp
Cucumbers with Salmon Mousse
Ham, Gruyre, and Dijon Palmiers

Playgroup Birthday Party!

I think I'm getting lazy in my old age, at least I'm not the only one. My playgroup decided to have a "Spring" birthday party for our four four-year-old boys turning five. We all had a great time! One set of cupcakes, one set of hats, one party, four birthdays - DONE!
This is the best picture our playgroup has ever taken!! Don't worry I had a hair appointment that afternoon and got bangs! For some reason this group of moms cannot take a cute picture! Maybe it is because the photographer is four!

Here is a small part of the big whole! Collectively, we have fifteen kids and two more on the way!

Frayed!

I have been listening to The Fray's new CD "The Fray" lately. I think it defines how I am feeling right now. Frayed! Things feel as if they are unraveling. I know that God has a plan for me and my family and our future. I know He has carried me through the past 36 and a half years. But, I can't help but feel like times are a changin.' Will my eyes see what my grandparents eyes saw? "The Depression" I'm not sure when the turning point came. Maybe it was when we started paying $3.50 for a cup of coffee, maybe it was when we started watching reality TV. Maybe it was when we started watching TV?!? Have we become such a spoiled, self-indulgent nation that God will eventually say - ENOUGH!!!!

I am not afrayed, just frayed. The small things are getting to me but, there have been some big things as well. Yesterday we found out that one of Riley's classmates was killed in a suicidal car wreck. At the beginning of this year another one of her classmates shot herself. It has been extremely difficult trying to explain these things when I don't fully understand them myself. Please keep this eighth grade class in your prayers. I prayed with Riley last night that they would know their value. That they would stop believing the lies the enemy tells them. I also pray that God would do a mighty work in the lives of this class, bringing many more to a saving faith because of these attacks.

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8 and 9

Valentines from God

I believe God sends me Valentines all year long! Yes, they come in the shape of a heart but, HE is extremely creative! He uses the most unusual mediums. The first Valentine I received from HIM and realized was from HIM was made out of a snow covered plateau in the fly-over region somewhere between Nevada and Montana. I was sitting in my window seat, Brady on my left, flying to Montana. I looked out my window and there it was a perfectly obvious white heart that appeared to be in 3-D because it was atop a plateau. My own heart quickened as I realized just exactly what it was. It was... my creator taking a moment of HIS time to tell me HE loves me. I couldn't take my eyes off of it because I didn't want it to go away. It happened to be a few days before Valentine's Day so I had already been thinking about hearts and love. HIS timing couldn't have been better for a very simple girl to "get it." To understand what HE was trying to tell me. What HE so desperately wants us all to know! HE LOVES us.

Since that first most memorable Valentine the girls and I get them from Him often. HE sent one to Riley in the form of a 20 foot fully grown green (her favorite color is green) heart-shaped tree. It shades a yard we pass everyday en route to pick up Hallie and Bailee after school. It was like HE was telling her HE loves her at the end of every Junior High day. Which, we all know how difficult those days can be.

I hesitated to share this secret at first because, I felt that it was just something between God and me (plus I thought people might think I was crazy.) Then, Hallie showed me a heart-shaped rock she found, I knew it was time to share this precious secret with my children. And now I share it with you because I know HE is sending them to you, too. You might not have noticed them yet or knew they were from HIM. But you need to know HE loves you sooo much everyday! Not just on Valentine's Day or Sundays when you go to church. HE loves us on our worst days when we fail HIM and fail others and when we fail ourselves. He loves us with a perfect love.

God is LOVE! What is LOVE? We live in a world where we have distorted it, tainted it, abused it, commercialized it and sensationalized it. We have made it conditional and temporary and convenient. We have sold it and bought it and tried to return it. It is easy to be confused on what LOVE really means. "LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I Corinthians 13:4-7

Knowing that HE loves me this way makes me want to please HIM. He doesn't love us how we define love or how we love or by how we've been loved. HIS love is forgiving and flawless and forever. "For God so LOVED the world that HE gave his one and only SON, that whosoever believes in HIM will not perish but have eternal life!" John 3:16 That is why I am a Christian. I want to follow HIS LOVING ways. I hope you will let me know when you get a Valentine from HIM.

Winter Break

Up here they don't take a Spring Break! However, this year we did get a four day weekend called Winter Break. The snow fell right on time!
We had a big sleep over, the girls each invited a sweet friend. Our day included making snow ice cream.
So the boys wouldn't feel too left out, they got turned into robots!
Hallie and Brittany
Bailee and Ellie
Savannah and Riley - They got to go snowboarding/skiing with our youth group!

I can't leave out Molly! She had her first birthday last week. I'm just glad someone is wearing our Birthday Princess Hat! I drug it out for the girl's birthdays this past year and they wouldn't wear it! Sunrise, Sunset, Where is the little girl.....