Latest Happenings and Some Pics

Well Spring has finally sprung around here and life continues to be busy. Last weekend Kris was out of town to a conference in Grand Rapids. I took the girls to Cadillac last Sat. for Emma's Sparks-a-rama games that she was in. It was a gorgeous day, over 70 degrees! The team played well in the AWANA games and got 3rd place.

This weekend I will be the one gone. Our church's ladies retreat with Beth Lynch starts tomorrow and goes through Sat. I am looking forward to it. Unfortunately I will miss Emma playing in her first soccer game of the season. Speaking of her playing soccer. . . . She went to her first practice, and when the coach gathered all the girls together, Emma asked to say something. She told all of them that she wants them all to know Jesus and that Jesus is just so wonderful. The coach said, "Well we need to get started now," and I guess Emma asked, "Well you all want to go to Heaven don't you?" After she finished running laps (with the team, not for trying to witness ;-) ) She asked the coach if she could say something at the end of practice. He said she could if there was time. She informed us there wasn't time. Well, Kris had her at the practice but didn't know anything about this. It all came up when Emma said to me at breakfast the next morning, "Mamma, I told everyone on my team about Jesus yesterday!" I pray she will always have the desire for people around her to know Jesus and just how wonderful He really is! We will work with her on appropriateness and all, but really, how awesome is it that she had no reservations to tell others of our Lord?!? Due to rain today, practice was canceled, but they may meet tomorrow. Pray for opportunities we will have with the coach, families, and Emma this season.

Today Olivia took a nap. I don't know if she was extra tired because of it being a rainy day or what, but I tried waking her up when I realized it was after 5 PM. I walked in her room and saw her bundled up and looking angelic. I went to grab the camera, and then Emma came with me into Olivia's room. The same expression Olivia had when I first saw her was gone because she was "coming to," but I still got a sweet shot. The sweeter ones were when Emma asked if she could try waking Olivia up. Having the camera in my hand, I couldn't resist snapping a couple more pics. :-)

April Showers?

Well, I thought that little poem about April showers was referring to rain, not SNOW!!! Where did Spring go? I went to the school to work on the musical at 2 PM today. Snow had just started falling and wasn't even dusting anything. These pictures were taken around 5:30 PM when I got home. This is heavy wet snow too. We are supposed to be under an advisory until 2 AM. It will all melt soon though. I heard tomorrow is supposed to reach 41 degrees.

Here is the only Spring we have been seeing lately. :-) My friend makes these overalls and others like them for different holidays. Her daughter is a year older than Olivia, and she wore them last year. We have the privilege of having them loaned to us now. I just love them!

Snowy Easter?

Ah, yes, a snowy Easter it was. My husband looked out the window while we were getting ready for church, and he broke out into song:

"I'm dreaming of a white Easter, just like the ones I never knew. . . ."

In all serious though, it was a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. We needed to be at church early for me to rehearse with the children's choir. Probably the largest number of children sang yesterday than we have ever had. To watch and hear them sing "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" was very powerful and such a blessing. I had opportunity these last several weeks to teach the kids about what it means, or can mean, for us when we sing things like "But the pains which He endured, our salvation hath procured." It was so awesome to get them to talk about what that means to them and how the truth of Christ's suffering should change how we live our lives. God is so good, and I just long for these children to know Him and not just sing pretty songs to make their parents and others go "Awwww, how sweet!" We've claimed Col. 3:16 as our verse in King's Kids, and we talk about how they as children can be little ministers with a wonderful opportunity and responsibility to point others to God through song. By God's grace, they did a great job doing just that yesterday--praise the Lord!

We had our annual Easter breakfast as a church (instead of Sunday School) before the morning worship service. What a joy to celebrate what God has done and to be reminded that we come together every Sunday because Christ is risen! After the service we had a good time with three other families for Easter dinner. We went to the Singletary's home and enjoyed amazing food and fellowship. The husbands all went out to the front yard and hid a lot of Easter eggs for the kids, and the hunt was on. It was hilarious trying to get everyone's coats on and people out the door. It was freezing out there. I had not brought clothes for the girls to change into. Thankfully I had sweaters for them to wear with their dresses yesterday. We also had closed white shoes they could wear tights with to stay warm. Anyway, they had a blast! You can see the pictures below with the little bit of snow on the ground where they are picking up Easter eggs. Ha ha

Last night we had our Easter musical, and, thank the Lord, it all went very well. We had a multi-media type presentation on our big screen that played behind the choir. Clips of scenes from "Jesus" movies and religious art were used as we sang about Christ's last supper with his disciples, the garden, His suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection. We had one character on stage who portrayed Luke writing his gospel. The music and everything together was very powerful! I was once again greatly moved by what Jesus went through for me. When we came home, we decided to watch The Passion of the Christ, which Kris and I had never seen yet. I was moved even more after that. As Kris said this morning before he left for work, "Let's live today in light of the cross!" May that always be our prayer. Well, I hope you all had a blessed Easter as well, and that you too are excited about living for our Lord.

Olivia's Haircut

Well, it's happened. I thought only my first child would cut her own hair. No, Olivia has followed in Emma's footsteps. Her hair was one length all around her head until yesterday. . . .

Emma and I had scrapbooking stuff out on the dining room table recently, and Olivia wanted something to do. I gave her "kid scissors", construction paper, and some glue. She had fun making her own artwork, but Emma and I both were trying to help her hold her scissors better. Emma just happened to say, "Hey, Mom, remember when I cut Olivia's hair when she was a baby?" Of course I was just thrilled that she brought that up, and I said, "Uh, yes, and what happened when you did that?" We discussed the situation, and then Emma went on to inform her sister of how she also cut her own hair. I then made it clear that there were consequences to that incident as well. Thinking I should further discuss this topic, so that Olivia would never try this herself, I told her that we never ever cut anything but the paper Mommy gives her. "We don't cut anything else, especially not our hair," I informed her. I also asked her who does cut her hair, and she answered, "Miss Nikki does!" "That's right! Not even Mommy cuts your hair, because I want you to look pretty, and I don't know how to cut your hair well," I said.

I thought that was a good conversation, and she understood well. I had no fear that she would ever cut her hair. Hah! As my much wiser husband helped me remember, upon my being soooo shocked that Olivia would do this after just having the conversation a few days before, our human nature is to test out and/or try what we've just been told not to do. Hello??? I know this, have lived it, seen it in other areas with both my kids. . . .

Thankfully it was not any worse--it certainly could have been! I am grateful too that she did not cut her ear, as these scissors are rounded but not guarded like some. I was so glad that Miss Nikki could get us in that morning, and she was able to figure out a cute new look for Olivia. I sure am going to miss the pony tails for a while, but I do think her hair looks cute. Whew! It's just hair and it grows, right?

It's funny really, God has been allowing a lot of my plans/desires to be changed lately. Of course what happened yesterday was not something I wanted. I had just let Olivia get down from breakfast and was finishing mine when the haircut took place. We were going to get ready and head to Saginaw for the day. Well, that didn't happen. I found out later that what I thought I needed to get in Saginaw actually was taken care of, and it would've been a wasted trip anyway. :-) One of the things I have been studying in the Bible is I Peter, and I had just read in chapter 3 last week about a gentle and quiet spirit being precious in God's sight. I was convicted and told the Lord I needed to work in this area. I've struggled with this when it comes to the girls and trying to get places we need to be on time and things aren't going well--their being slow, juice spilling right before we leave, having to deal with a problem between them, etc. My reactions have not always been precious in God's sight, and I certainly am not being the right example and teacher to them if I raise my voice and act out of frustration. I definitely see that I have been given opportunities to practice recently, and I thank God that it is by His grace I can react rightly to undesirable circumstances. God has helped me to catch myself, like yesterday. May we moms seek to have a true beauty that comes from the heart, and may God see something precious in us as we live out our lives. It may not always be easy to speak calmly and lovingly when our kids do certain things, but Philipians 4 reminds us that we can do all things through Christ. And oh, don't we long for them to know Him!