March & April 2010

My Three Beautiful Children

Happy Resurrection Day!! We had an awesome time of worship today!! Lauren was in adult worship for the first service and her most favorite worship song was sung,"Mighty to Save". It was a beautiful sunny day which is so symbolic of celebrating Christ's Resurrection!! Thank you Jesus for the Cross and Your sacrifice for each of us!! I haven't blogged in a while, so sorry this will be long!! I usually don't write too much, but this is our journey and I want my kid's to remember and me as well, so there is a lot I want to write. A lot has gone on this past month as you'll see in the pictures below. Some photos are just random ones. I am so thankful to the Lord for so many things, and the picture above of my little ones is what I want to write about. They are each so different and so special!! I thank God for each of them!! There are days where it is so hard raising kids, exhausting and draining at times. But praise God for the small glimpses into their lives that awe me and inspire me to not give up as a Mom!! It hasn't been the easiest year and a half since I started homeschooling. I don't know how long I will continue, but I have seen so many rewards lately!! God has truly been working in their hearts!! Josh has grown so much in his faith!! Both Josh and Caleb have been witnessing to kids so much!! I have to share this neat little story. There was a boy from Josh's baseball team that came over to play and while they were on the trampoline, they asked him if he knew Jesus. They talked about what it meant to be a follower of Christ and prayed a prayer with him to receive Jesus into his heart. They didn't run in and tell me right then and there, but they told me later after he left. Wow, I thought, they are more brave to share their faith sometimes then I am to share my faith. It has been cool to hear Caleb share a Bible verse with Josh while I was in another room, they didn't even know I was listening in. And to hear them share things about God with Lauren is even more precious. Lauren has been asking so many questions about heaven and Jesus, which as been so sweet. Thank you Lord for these times!! Now, it's not always this way. There are days where there is fighting, time-outs and all that fun stuff, but I guess God knows what we need and He blessed me during those precious moments!!

Lauren still using this wagon that Mimi found for her (in someones garbage pile) the week she was born. Toby still lets her baby him. Lauren has grown so much as well. She is a little artist and dancer!! I can't believe she is almost 4!!

This was our homeschool Easter party. We had the coolest missionary share his ministry. He goes to countries where people have never heard the name Jesus and tells them Bible stories in a really cool and exciting way. God has used him to reach people groups who are starting churches in places where they can be put to death if they believe in Jesus!!

Josh got to dress up in some of the clothing he used while in some country. He has been to 5 continents, and 25 countries. My boys loved it and were ready to go on a Missions trip after his presentation.

Josh's travel baseball team, "61's"! He's become quite the pitcher!!

Lauren sporting my shades.

WinterJam

Josh, Logan & Caleb. We got to sit very close to the stage, thanks to a family in our church who gave us VIP passes to WinterJam. The boys brought their buddy Logan, from our neighborhood. We all had a blast watching Kutless, Sidewalk Prophets, Tenth Avenue North, and Newsboys!!

These balloons were huge!!

Kutless

Love to see the drummer praising the Lord!! He was awesome!!

Not sure if this video works, but I took this of Kutless changing up an old hymn "It is Well", love this one!!

Our Church Building

This was our church building back in the summer, now look how far it has come!!

Hopefully we will be in here at the end of April.

Worship area a few weeks ago.

Kid's Area a few weeks ago, it is now painted. Thanks to so many faithful Coastal members who have helped to paint, clean and finish our building!!

Josh, Caleb & Lauren have been helping a ton with painting and cleaning!! We've been up there on weekends and weeknights.

This is the worship area as of Friday night. Shaun and the boys were painting the trim for most of the building.

Worship area!

This is the foyer/welcome area. The cabinets were put in and this will be a little cafe area. If you notice in this picture the post where I was taking the picture from that leads into the worship area. There are verses written on these posts, prayers and many names of people who are lost and we pray will find Jesus here!! God is so good and we can't thank Him enough for providing a permanent place for Coastal to meet and do lots more ministry!!

Our CRAZY trip to Deep Creek, Maryland

We decided to take a mini-ski trip to Deep Creek, Maryland, since Shaun's sister has a home up there. Well, it was an adventure to say the least. We got there and first of all couldn't believe all the snow that was on the ground, it was piled up so high that most driveways were not visible. We ended up on a wrong road going up a side of a mountain, ended up sliding down half of it because of the ice and got stuck in a snow drift. It was very scary! Thankfully God was protecting us. It took us over 20 minutes to get out thanks to the boy's & Dad pushing the car out, while I was burning rubber. We finally found the right road/hill to go up in order to arrive at my sister-in-law's home, but it was also a complete sheet of ice and after several attempts to make it up we just slid back down. We were all tired and bummed but a very sweet, helpful man told us of a great Motel that was cheap and very clean! Thanks to him we saved lots of money and were able to stay and ski. We thought we were going to have to head home after a 6 hour drive.

Wisp Ski Resort.


Shaun, Josh & Caleb sporting their ski's. It was an beautiful day to ski the sun was shining and it was 32 out and at night it started to flurry. Shaun said it was the best skiing he's done on the east coast, especially since they had so much snow. We were told that this winter they have had over 200 inches and when we left it started snowing again. They had another snowstorm, so we got out right in time before we got "snowed in" there.

Caleb ventured out to a hill by himself. It made me sad, he is getting so big.



This is a monster truck buried in the snow, you couldn't even see the huge tires.




Snow was piled so high you couldn't even see this driveway!




This is the most snow I've ever seen and Shaun as well!!

Ballet Class

It was a COLD day and since Lauren's ballet class is in Miss Ahna's garage, we kept her sweats on and notice her tutu as well.

I had to take video of their "free dance" time. This is at the end of class, they all get to do what they want and show Miss Ahna what they have learned. It is too cute and usually brings lots of smiles and laughs to me and the boys' faces. Most of the time they just walk around looking at each other and in the beginning this is what Lauren did, but then she warmed up and did many, many twirls. You'll notice how she stops to talk to the boys because they are telling her to dance.

More Snow as Mimi visits

Will the snow ever end?? Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and the boys always want snow, but I think we are snowed out!! Another weekend of church being canceled, it was a bummer. At least Mimi was hear to have fun with us!! She got in right before the snow started!!




It's snowed most of the day on Saturday. While it was snowing we all went outside to play in it. Lauren helped Mimi clean off the cars.



The boys were having fun playing "star wars" in the snow and then a snowball fight with Mimi. Thankfully Sunday warmed up and the roads ended up being fine by the time Mimi left. Sorry Mom, I know you didn't want me to take your picture with your hair like that, but I don't always remember to take pictures while you are here. Thanks for coming all the way up in yucky weather to visit us!! We love you!! Like I said, after you left the boys said, "It's not the same in our house without Mimi!"

Playing in the snow with friends

The next day after the snowstorm all weekend, (Monday) February 1, we went sled ridding with our great friends. Robin, Leigha, Aaron and Zack Kempf. Lauren and Leigha loved swinging in the snow.




Robin, Leigha and Aaron.




Aaron kept scaring Robin, the hills were pretty steep and we didn't want the boys crashing into the homes and pond nearby. It actually warmed up this day and the boys all took off their jackets because they were sweating. I have to brag which I hope I don't do too much. Josh was talking with some boys and I wasn't sure what was going on, so like a protective mother that I am, I asked, "Josh what's going on" and he said "Mom, I'm just asking them if they know Jesus!" I was proud but taken back a bit, since Josh isn't always my outspoken one. I just pray that as they grow up to be teenagers this will still be heavy on their hearts, and they will have the courage to witness and not be ashamed of Christ!!





It was a fun day and a fun time with great godly friends!! I'm so thankful that the Lord allowed Robin and my path to cross. We met at the boys Christian school years ago, when Zack & Josh were in K-4 together. Robin and I were both pregnant at the same time with girls. Zack & Josh were in the same K-5 class the next year. They now attend our church and homeschool just like we do. Just wish they lived right around the corner!!

Snow...

Josh trying to shoot hoops in the snow.

Our first snow storm that we've had in years. We got 8" and the kids played in it all weekend. It started on Saturday and didn't stop snowing until Sunday morning. We had to cancel church, which I hate to miss church, but it sure was nice to be "snowed in" and slow down our pace of life. We had fun playing in the snow with our kids, sleigh ridding, sitting by the fire, and just having some quiet. When snow falls it reminds me of what a GREAT God we serve that creates such amazing beauty. It also reminds me how God has made us white as the snow (cleansed us from our sins) by His blood. Thank you Lord for your beauty that you've given us through your creation and through your Son, Jesus Christ.

Lauren got out for a few minutes with her brothers to play in the snow. And then she was done, but the boys were in it all day!!




Shaun got out to shovel our driveway while it was still snowing. Good idea but wrong time, it snowed more and covered our driveway again.

Caleb and Lauren.

Lauren loved playing on the playground in the snow. She wasn't up for sled ridding much. She went down once and she was done.

The boys had fun sled ridding down some pretty good size hills with their friends, Jesse and Logan. We didn't realize that a golf course in our area has some pretty good sledding hills.

The boys were sled ridding for two hours and went back again after a break for another two hours.