Surprise

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.." Jeremiah 1:5





Yes, this is a baby...no, it's not actually my baby. But, I have been blessed to find out that we are going to be having another baby. This is what baby Rose looks like about now in my womb at 12 1/2 weeks. This pregnancy has brought lots of emotions: surprise, doubt, excitement, surprise, joy, surprise.....you get the point. I know that Brian and I really shouldn't be that surprised, when you practice natural family planning, you know that God's gift of life could always happen. I guess it has just been so long since our last pregnancy that we thought we were finished. But lo and behold, God had other exciting plans for our family. And that is exciting! Just as that verse promises, He knew this little one in my belly before He even formed him. Wow! Gives me goosebumps. Our kids are so excited, and that just makes this all the more exciting for us too. We are talking baby names at supper, lots of questions about what the baby is doing now in my stomach, how big is the baby, things like that. Beau believes that the baby has a diaper on now, no matter how much I try to convince him otherwise! So, as we embark on this next chapter in our family, we realize that we have to put our faith in God's hands as He gives us this blessing. In just 6 short weeks, we will find out the sex of the baby, so I will keep you posted!

My friend's Words

I have a friend Joni, well, I haven't met her yet, but she sure does feel like my friend. She is a sister in Christ, an encourager, a teacher, an artist, an evangelist, and a quadriplegic for the past 50 or so years. To say the least, she is an amazing woman. I receive her daily emails that begin with a scripture, then a small note from Joni. She has a way with words and, if you ever have the chance to hear her speak or read a book of hers, you should!! Anyway, today's email speaks of the volume of love that Christ has for us that is sometimes difficult to articulate, but yet so simple. I wanted to share it with you:

The Love of Christ

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

--Romans 8:38-39





The supreme reason that you can and should trust God through suffering is found at Calvary, for no better argument can be voiced apart from the cross. That He would endure the full fury of hell so you could escape it should tell you something as you face your own hellish circumstances.



The greatest love scene in the world happened when Christ hung and bled on the cross. It was God saying, "Look, see, this is how much I love you!" What's amazing is that He played out this love scene while we snubbed Him in cool, callous indifference. Who would want to escape that kind of love, or ignore or deny it? And what Christian could ever dare doubt it? Christ died for you. What love!



Sometimes after I've snapped at a friend or chipped in my two cents' worth of gossip, I catch myself thinking, "Oh, God, these are the things that nailed Jesus to the cross... I am so sorry." Human logic tells me that He should turn away from me. But nothing, absolutely nothing can separate me from His constant outpouring of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.



Often we twist God's arm for the "reasons why" before we decide to trust Him with our circumstances. We want the blueprint spread before us. But the bruised and battered apostle Paul who probably had every reason to wonder "why," never said, "I know why all these things are happening." Rather, he said, "I know in whom I have believed." The love of Christ was enough.



Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.





Bless you all!!

Field Day

The graduating Holy Cross Kindergarten girls. My niece, Ruthie, is the 3rd from the left.

Vann's class was taking a break after the water games.

Vann with his best buddies Ethan and Patton.

Maggie and Mitchell

Smile for the camera!

Maggie's besties!! I told them that we will recreate this pic when they are seniors.

Katie and the 4th grade class running from the squirt bottle.

Pre-K field trip to the Azalea Path

First, a picture of Vann, who lost his front tooth this week.

On our way to the field trip, we encountered several delays in the form of underwater roads. With all of this rain lately, it was awful difficult to get to the Azalea path. You can see where the road is supposed to be by following the telephone poles. Crazy isn't it?

Beau, Jack and his buddy Gabe(their holding hands) strolling along on the tour.

Their buddy Ashton

snack time!!

Some of the gorgeous azaleas still in bloom


The entire class with Mrs. Dana and Ms. Kara

Easter Egg Hunt at the Roses

Jack was excited to get his Easter eggs with his team.

Everyone lined up to start the chase...

I love this!! Look at my niece Sammy running wild to get an egg. The younger cousins got to start first, followed by the 4 older girls.

My niece Ruthie running in her prize:)

Here's Beau finishing hard!

My pretty girls

Sweetness

Brian patiently played Sequence with his boys tonight, it was sweet to watch them in action.

Vann's haircut

Here he is all long haired and hippy like(to some people)

A mid whacking picture. I cut first with scissors because it was so long, I thought it might break our clippers. A note to myself for next time, no need to cut it quite so short with the scissors!

As soon as I was done, he took off for a quick run to see if he was indeed faster. Yep, he was.

Piles of hair on our porch.

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The new and improved hair cut. I like it. I forgot what this little man looked like all buzzed. Or "bold", as Vann calls it.

Spring Fun and 1/2 Marathons

Sorry about the fuzzy pics, it's either b/c I had my camera in the wrong setting or just that the kids were moving that fast in the warm sun! Something we haven't gotten to do at our house in 5 months. Oh how much we love spring time:)

A little bit of this from Vann....

...and some of this from Mags......

Of course the scooters were out in full force

They had a bouncy ball that they were all playing catch with, it was fun to watch them all run all over to the erratic bounce of the ball and be the ONE to get it.

On Sunday, we headed down to the 4H fairgrounds to cheer in Brian and our friend Barry, who were finishing the 1/2 marathon. The kids finally caught of glimpse of their daddies.

About to run across the finish line!!!

Post race activities are never complete without a celebratory beer-at 10 in the morning no less!

The proud daddies with all of the kiddos!! Way to go Brian and Barry:)