Weekend Pictures

I was blessed to be able to go along on our church's Middle School retreat this weekend. We went up to the Mountain near us and had an awesome time meeting with God. We had a great speaker who explained the love of Jesus to the kids in really concrete ways and also explained how to be contagious for God (there were a few germs flying around so we were trying to be ONLY contagious for Jesus and not germs!). God cultivated some hearts and the speaker planted the seeds. I can't wait to see what God grows in these hearts!

Here are some pictures of our sledding day. It was so beautiful up there! The sun shined the WHOLE day and we even had to take our jackets off at different times because we got so warm! It still amazes me how you can be on snow but be hot and have to take your coat off! The kids had a great time and there were no serious injuries - just some bumps and bruises.

SPRING - not yet!

So, being that is February 25th and a few of my little flowers are poking through the ground, I was hoping that spring was JUST around the corner. Did the groundhog see his shadow this year? I never pay attention since God does have it all under control - shadow or not! BUT I was sure that spring and the warm summer sun rays were close in coming.

That is until today! We now have 3 inches of snow on the ground! This morning it rained HARD and I continued thinking "Yep! It's spring!" Then there were the few RANDOM snowflakes, THEN it started snowing instead of raining but it wasn't sticking....YET! I took a bit of a nap - I know, I know, I know.....but I am still recovering from a weekend with 48 middle schoolers at a church retreat! SO.....when I woke up around 5ish I could see NO grass! We shall see if this lasts or is gone in the morning! Here is what it looked like outside our back door! It was snowing so hard I couldn't even see the hill behind our house!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised (whoever invented Global Warming is crazy!) at the snow since last spring one of the boys soccer games was cancelled due to snow and then it SNOWED again on the make-up game! I am thinking it is more Global Cooling in this part of the country but I am no scientist - just an observer of actual happenings!

Jacob's Biggest eBay Find!

Here is Jacob with the lot of 19 Star Wars action figures he found on eBay.

Josh was just beside himself since he didn't have enough money to purchase this set and Jacob did. Now, Jacob has come close to catching up with Josh on the number of action figures he owns. They had to name each one for me and explain who it was. Hmmm....they keep forgetting that I DON'T REALLY CARE about Star Wars people. THEY AREN'T REAL!!!!!!!! If only they would remember the mulitplication facts as well as Star Wars facts, my life would be complete (well, not really, but it would be closer!).

Scriptures that spoke to me today

We are taking a 12 Step Spiritual Journey class at church and it is a bit hard to look at all the yucky things in our lives. As I was doing my Esther Bible Study homework today I came across these scriptures and am going to apply them to my 12 Step Class as well. No, I don't have any "major" addictions but if we are honest, we all have "stuff" to deal with. This class is a great eye opener for me and lets God open the door to the places I haven't wanted to look. But it is ugly in those dark places and then I get discouraged thinking that I will never meet the mark. Which is true, I won't on my own but that is the best part of the story! The Holy Spirit will never leave me and this is proof to me today! These scriptures show God's grace and mercy even when I feel I don't deserve it.

Joel 2:13
He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 56:3-4
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

Acts 3:19-20
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you - even Jesus.

Favorite Quotes from The Old Schoolhouse magazine

"I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but if I had to choose, I would prefer that to their being educated by the state." - Max Victor Belz

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". . . the measure of your life's accomplishments is not in the number of failures but the tenacity of your spirit . . . Your distinction is not in the fact that you have failed. Most, if not all, people fail at some point. The distinction will be when you get back up . . ." - David Shibley

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"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pinecones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries, and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education." - Luther Burbank