Church Work Day

Today, we had our church work day to do a bit of spring cleaning and such. We didn't get everything on our list done (not they we even could have in only one day) but we did get some things done. For me, the best thing we did today is clean, organize, and label the kitchen. It looks so nice! All the counters are clear, the oven is spotless, and all the cupboards are organized and labeled.

Before

During

After

Passover Seder

I am teaching a class at our co-op called "Growing Up Where Jesus Lived". It is based on a book I used with the boys, and my mom used with my sister, in the past. The class, and the book, is about what life was like when Jesus was a little boy. It is a really fun class!

This week was the lesson about celebrating the Passover. Even though it is a week early, we had a Passover seder for the families in the class. I got on-line for information and borrowed a wonderful video (which I highly recommend!) from my uncle, called "Christ in the Passover". It is a video produced by Jews for Jesus and explains all about how the entire celebration of Passover points to Jesus as our Messiah.

My mom came and helped set up. And the boys worked hard setting and moving tables. It looked so nice!

We watched the video and then went down to the Fellowhip Hall for our seder. It was really fun and a great way to prepare for Holy Week and Easter.

Thank God for His love and for redeeming us from the bondage of sin, and sending Jesus, the perfect Passover lamb, to pay the price for our freedom! "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

The Dump Truck's Here!

As you can see from our latest project picture, we have quite a long ditch running through the middle of our backyard. We dug it shortly after moving in but still have yet to finish it. Our back patio was flooding every time it rained so we dug the French drain to channel the water to the stream behind our fence.

Today, the dirt came so we could get it all filled in. The boys were so excited when the truck got here! I don't know if they were more excited by the dump truck or by the fact that they got to take a break from their school work to watch. Probably the latter.

Chris and the boys spent the afternoon taking loads of dirt back to fill in the ditch. It's just about full, but the dirt is gone. We're hoping it won't settle too much and it will be enough. They had lots of fun doing it and are looking forward to playing tag in the yard without having the fear of falling in the ditch and breaking their leg. Okay, maybe I'm more the one afraid of them breaking bones than they are. :0)

I am hopeful that we will be posting a picture in our "projects" that will show an all-green lawn soon.

It's Done!

I finished it tonight! I am so glad to be done. I made this quilt for a friend who had her baby 2 months ago. It took me a lot longer than I thoughtbut I had so much fun with it!

There was a lot of hand work that took longer than I had hoped and I had a couple of scares while making this one. I ran out of fabric and went back to buy more and they were out! I had just bought it the day before. I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, before I gave up all hope I checked the remnants bin and there it was. Just enough, with a little extra. I also had no idea of what it would look like until I had it all cut out and laying on the floor. I have to admit that it turned out pretty good though. I hope she likes it. :o)

Weekend Warriors

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. A perfect day for going outside and shooting one another with little plastic BBs. The boys were so excited that they got to use their new goggles right away! They got changed as soon as we were done eating lunch and headed up the hill ready for battle. With all the rain we had on Saturday, they were a muddy mess when they were done. But they had a great time! I asked if it hurt to get shot and the response was, "Yeah, but you get used to it after a while." It must be a boy thing because I just don't get it. :o)

A Day of Meetings

This morning I had a meeting for the planning commitee for our PNW Women's Retreat this fall. We got some decisions made and we are making progress.


But the fun "meeting" was getting able to see my cousin and her family. They are in town for a wedding and we got to meet their new little daughter. She is so cute! I had so much fun having my "baby fix". Their three boys are just adorable, too. We even got to help celebrate the twins 2nd birthday. I am so glad we got to see them again!

Me and my mom with Baby C

Blowing out birthday candles

Playing cars with the big boys

To top off the day, we went shopping for air-soft goggles so we can have air-soft wars, and went out for supper. We had an awesome meal at a Mexican restaurant we hadn't eaten at in 7 or 8 years. Now that we are back in the NW, we will go back.

It was a wonderful day! The best days are spent with family and friends!

I'm Glad It Was Only A Field Trip

Yesterday we went on a field trip to an auto body shop. A family in our co-op owns the shop and let us all come in for a tour. We got to see all the fancy, expensive machines and how they work. They showed us how they pull out dents, replace parts, and re-paint cars to match. It was pretty cool! We learned all kinds of things we didn't know. For instance, I didn't know they pulled out dents. I guess I thought they pounded out dents from the other side with a rubber mallet or something. Shows what I know. We also learned how relatively minor $8,000 of damage is. That was kind of scary!

I am not sure if any of the boys want to go into auto body repair (Well, unless it was for Ferraris. Z is really into those right now.) but we had lots of fun!

It's Not Even Christmas

Usually we only decorate sugar cookies at Christmas. But I just bought this really cool set of icing bottles from a Pampered Chef party that Sonja did for me and I had to try them. They work really well! I just wish I had another set so we could have more colors to use. The are really easy and the boys had lots of fun with them!

This is how they turned out... They look GREAT!!!

At Least It's Better Than What We Have

Today we went and picked up some new carpet that was donated to the church. We have three rooms, the youth room, classroom, and pastor's office, that desperately need new carpet. You can see why.

The new carpet is red, but at least it is so much better than what we have. The office carpet looks like it has moles from all the bumps in it.

Hopefully, we will be able to get it laid before Easter!

Fort Clatsop

I am W, and I am going to do the blog today. Yesterday, we want to Fort Clatsop with a class from my mom's class in friday school. It was cool! We picked a friend and got a sheet of paper with questions. We got most of the questions done.Then we got to go to Fort Clatsop and on the way we got more paper.There were some signs on the way with clues. So we wrote the names of plants on the paper. When we got there, we made a human gun. Then they shot a paper ball with a short rifle. Then we went into the fort and then we went to the visitor center.

After that we went to a park and met a famly there. Me and my brothers played with their kids. We threw sticks and rocks into the water. Then we played with some catails and made them look like fur. Then we drove to a pizza place and played chess while we were waiting for the pizza. It was a fun day!

Just Don't Play William Tell

While going through the family garage sale from my parents' attic, the boys chose a bow and arrow set. Last night, they took it to the sporting goods store and bought a bow string. So, first thing this morning, Z made a target and practiced shooting. The boys are all excited and are in the process of planning a big archery range for the backyard. I love it when they get interested in a new hobby, but I think it will be a while before they get metal tips!

The 4 L's of the Cross

This weekend my hubby and I went to a leadership retreat for the NW district of our church. It was fun to see people and have some time away. The speaker for the retreat was a professor from the seminary. The topic of the retreat was speaking the message of the cross to the post-modern world. While we are aware of the fact that we are indeed living in a post-modern world, it was quite sobering to hear what our world is becoming.

In a post-modern world, all authority is to be questioned. History (ancient or recent) is not to be trusted. Everything is merely a matter of perspective, it cannot be taken as fact. There is no absolute truth. Everyone has their own truth. Absolute truth means that someone else's perception is wrong and their's is right. That leads to oppression and a lack of freedom. In a post-modern world, there is an emphasis on experience and relationship. And that is where we have hope.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God "has set eternity in the hearts of men..." The post-modern lives in hopelessness and eventually they will come to see the emptiness of their way of thinking. This is because God has made a "God-shaped hole" in their hearts that only He can fill, and has made us with a need for relationships with others.

As Christians, we hold the key to that hole. It is the message of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." But how do we get them to listen and believe what we are telling them? It is a long, slow process that has it's foundations in time and relationship. It is done by the 4 L's of the cross. They are:

1. Cross living: living our lives so that Christ shines in all that we do. Matthew 5:16

2. Cross loving: this is loving others with the same sacrificial love that Christ has for us.

1 John 4:9-12

3. Cross listening: this is the part that takes the most time but communicates love to the post-modern. Really listen to them, they won't listen to you until you have listened to them.

James 1:19

4. Cross language: this part has to come last and has to be spoken with love and truth.

Ephesians 4:15

We cannot save anyone, only God can do that. But we need to be praying for relationships with those who need the Lord and asking Him for His help. It is only through His power that we can live out the 4 L's of the cross.

On a lighter note, what do you do during your free time when the weather on the coast is rainy, windy, and cold? You shop and play mini-golf! By the way, I made my first hole-in-one (sad isn't it?) and I beat my hubby! We had a great time and can't wait until next year!

Enjoy It While It's Here

It's hard to believe that a week ago it was snowing! Yesterday was a perfect spring day! It was 67 and sunny! We went to the park to drive RC cars, cleaned out the boat, and washed the van (Z took that picture). The bulbs are coming up in the flower beds, too. I just had to take a picture of the cute little thing all alone in the flower bed. It's kind of pathetic, but it made me smile.

As much as I love the snow and winter, I think that is what makes spring so wonderful. The warm weather has gotten us excited for playing outside, riding bikes, camping, backpacking, and building our fort in the woods behind the house. I can't believe it is going to start raining again tonight! :o(

Mini Scrap and Stamp Retreat

Yesterday, our church hosted an all-day scrap and stamp retreat for the homeschooling moms in our group. We brought our own lunches and salads for a potluck supper. It was so much fun! We had about 15 moms there and we packed the church basement. Everybody brought all of their stuff and worked and talked. It was great! It made me really miss the retreats we had at the camp in MN while we were in seminary. Another woman in our church and I are planning a similar thing for our church in April. I can't wait! I think I will quilt some and stamp some, too.

I wanted to have pictures to share, but I forgot my camera. I did however make a few cards for my stash and thought I would share some of them with you. It was a wonderful day filled with fellowship, fun, and prayer. I feel so blessed by the moms in my homeschool group and am so grateful to be a part of it!

Snow Again

We woke up to snow this morning. There was only about an inch (which is pathetic but pretty good for here in the NW) and it's already almost all gone. Wait, that seems oddly familiar. That would be because this morning was just like yesterday morning except that the pile of clothes were wetter and muddier. Today they went straight into the washer.

They say "March comes in like a lion..." and I would say that is true this year. Our family has a "if it snows in April we go out to ice cream" rule from when we lived in MN. The boys want to change it to March instead. They know that it will never snow in April and it snowed today, meaning that we could go get ice cream this afternoon if the rule changes. I'm not sure that it's looking very promising, but they can always hope.