Let the blog resume...

Wow. The month of March came and went without a single blog post from me. It was cold. I was uninspired. But today is sunny and warm, the windows are wide open, and the girls and I took a walk this afternoon. If that's not inspiring, folks, I don't know what is.

Pa Pa and Grandma came up, and we took the kids to Disney on Ice last month. They LOVED it.

Did I mention that coupons are my new hobby? I got these items at Target, and after coupons I paid $0.52 out of my pocket. I love it.

it's monday all right

I just cleaned up overflowed pee water off of the bathroom floor. Yes, I got my feet wet in it. Yes, I already disinfected the floor. And my feet. The water has just finished dripping down from the toilet base into my empty laundry basket down in the laundry room. If I were you, I'd buy stock in Lysol wipes. (Not really. I buy the generic ones, of course.) This entitles me to ice cream today, right?

no, we're not getting a new pet

We went to check out one of the local Christian schools with Kaylee a couple weeks ago, and here's what happened in the science classroom:

Yeah - a snake. I'm not sure that kid's mine.

A Country In Need

Check out this article from the Kansas City Star newspaper. Dr. Jim & Sandy Wilkins left my home church in Kansas to move to Haiti and begin a medical mission there. Their daughter, Rachel, has been a good friend since high school. Please pray for the Wilkins's. They are safe, but supplies are minimal. They need food, water, clothing, and medical supplies to help those who are injured. To keep up with their situation, you can join the Facebook group called "Christianville Earthquake Updates." You can help them out financially by sending a donation to Haiti Health Ministries, PO Box 175, Girard, KS 66743. Also, here's a link to an interview with their daughter that aired on the news where my parents live. There is great need in Haiti. Continue to pray that people would turn to Jesus Christ in their time of sorrow.

Snow Daze

It's actually above 20* here, so it felt like summer heading outside to play in the snow today. Yesterday, Chris and Kaylee went sledding and dug a tunnel through one of the piles on our circle made by the snow plow. He's the fun one, you know. Today Kaylee played in what she calls "the cozy hole" and Lauryn was content just making "snow hands."

This is the sidewalk between our house and the neighbor's. (There really is concrete under there somewhere.) It's hard to tell, but the snow on either side is up to my knees!

2010 (sounds like a sci-fi movie or something)

Wow. The snow is piling up around here like it's the frozen tundras of Alaska. Good grief. Some of these piles may not be gone before June. We blazed a path on the sidewalk out front last night, and on either side the snow is higher than my knees. Pictures to come.

We had an excellent Christmas in KS and an excellent post-Christmas in IA. It was a fun time with family and friends. The weather was a little treacherous at times, but we made it both places and back without any trouble.

Not much exciting going on around here. I'm trying to get the house organized (somewhat) with all the new Christmas goodies we brought home. They are finally almost all put away! And we're trying to get back into a sense of normalcy after being gone most of the last week and a half. The cold weather has definitely made it difficult for Chris to work. I think the wind chill today is -20 or -30. Tomorrow's not going to be much better. Thankfully they're calling for better weather next week, so maybe these kids can get outdoors finally. Cabin fever is setting in.

Well, here's to 2010 - hopefully a great year is ahead of us all! We celebrate New Year's Eve with a group of friends, so here are pictures from this year's and last year's parties. (Thanks to my husband, the only picture I can post from this year is one where I'm not looking at the camera.)

The Pain of Loss

Please pray. On Friday, a friend from church delivered a stillborn baby. The baby, a precious little 8 lb. 8 oz. boy, was born on his due date with no previous indications that anything was wrong. I am struggling to understand why this would happen, but I trust that he is cradled in the arms of Jesus. The pain must be nearly unbearable. I've cried a thousand tears, and yet his parents surely have cried thousands more. Mothers,try to imagine having to leave the hospital without your baby and then to return home to his finished nursery without being able to lay him in his crib. Keep Ryan and Rachael in your prayers. They desperately need to feel the comfort and peace that only God can provide.