The Reason We Celebrate

I love bunnies and Easter eggs but most of all I love the cross and the fact that God loves us because He chooses to. This kind of love changes us forever once we come to know it. This Easter let us remember the reason we celebrate, the fact that Jesus gave His life for us so that we may have everything now and forever.


Look how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children.
1 John 3:1

Until next time...
Robin

The Day He Has Waited For...

Let me just say that this little fellow went to bed with much anticipation for March 25th. After all, he has been waiting for this day to arrive since December 25th!! Early that morning we woke him up, dressed him appropriately in a "Birthday Boy" shirt and immediately let him open a present. It was something that he and Clara Beth could do together so he was excited but anxious to know what would come next on this glorious day.

So we scooted off to the kitchen for Cinnamon rolls with a candle plucked in the center of his.

Then we were off to school to celebrate with all his "priends" as he calls them.

He got to pass out the cupcakes and had to do a little finger licking in between passes.

After school we headed home for one last hurrah with the family. Any of you who have followed my blog know that the birthday boys or girls at our house get to plan their menus for their birthday dinner. Let me just say that the older ones tend to go all out. You can read about those here and here
Emanuiel made it very easy. He was happy to have hot dogs and then we topped it off with cake and ice cream.

He wanted to help place the candles.

He even got a little shy when we all sang to him.

After the singing was over he licked all the candles nice and clean. Then it was time to dive into the presents.

Emanuiel was so sweet to let Clara Beth help him.

We all had a great time celebrating with this little fellow. He brings so much joy and laughter into our lives. Every day with him turns into a celebration!

Until next time...

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

Proverbs 25:25

We heard wonderful news from far away this week. Our dear friends that traveled with us to China on our first trip are in Kazakhstan. To say they have had a hard time with this adoption would be an understatement. You have to read their story to truly understand the heartache they have gone through. They traveled there to meet a daughter they were to call Faith and when they were finally able to see her they came to realize that it was not meant to be. They continued to pray and felt that they would be coming home without the child that they had prayed and longed for. God however, had a much different plan, one that included them having a son! His name is not Faith, but one day he will know about the faith that sustained his forever family as they journeyed to bring him home. If you have a chance visit their blog, you will be blessed.

Have a wonderful week,

Robin

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Best not to go through your day looking like this...
Instead do this...


Encourage one another and build each other up.
1 Thessalonians 5:11


Until next time...
Robin

(This is not a look we get often from this little one but when we do we better watch out!)

Enjoying The First Day of Spring

We had to get out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather today. The little ones were literally jumping for joy in the warm sunshine! Daddy put up the "jumping thing" in the yard and Clara Beth and Emanuiel jumped, climbed and giggled all over each other.

In case you are wondering she is waiting for me to throw the ball back into the jump-o-rama!

They climbed in and they climbed out about a hundred times. I think they should both sleep very well tonight.

After all that jumping they had to refresh themselves with a homemade juice pop.

Today was great and we are all looking forward to more wonderful spring days ahead!

Until next time...

Remember the One that blesses us through all the seasons:

Joel 2:23 NIV
Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

Robin

Little Changes and 2 Big Wins

Over the past few months I have been making little decorating changes here and there around our house. I am not anywhere near where I would like to be with this but I'm getting there slowly. Last spring we replaced the furniture in our living room, then we replaced the carpet with wood flooring. We had hardwood flooring installed in our dining room and hallway when we built our house(19 years ago) but no where else. I found a great rug for our living room and then went in search for one for the dining room to coordinate since the two rooms join. I found one while I was supposed to be Christmas shopping last November. It turned out to be one of my presents from Paul for Christmas. Then we moved on to recovering the dining room chairs. I still have one chair left to recover. If you look closely you can see it in the left corner of the dining room. This one is going to have to be done by a professional we are not tackling it ourselves. When that's done it will take care of all the changes for that room.

The living room is still a work in progress. The picture below is dark but you can see that I replaced the big Federal mirror over Paul's chair with a round espresso colored one. I had to put another mirror here because the little ones love to stand in daddy's chair and look at themselves.

In the next picture you can see that we finally upgraded to a flat screen TV. According to Land this was long overdue! He said he was glad we finally modernized. Leave it to a 13 year old to think his parents are so out of the loop. There was really no place to mount it on the wall and I did not want it over my fireplace because I have an antique mirror from my mother there so we went with an espresso colored media stand. I like it so much better than our old entertainment center. I still have a few pictures to replace in here but this room is also almost finished.

Now I can tell you about the two big wins. First of all I never win anything but on Monday this all changed! I love to look at decorating blogs when I have the time(which is hardly ever) but when I do one of my favorites is Much To Do With Nothing.
A few weeks ago she posted a give-away from a new decorating blog that had recently been launched. Of course I had to jump over and take a look. The blog is Erica Le Blanc Design
and she was giving away one of her design packages worth $275 and I won! Now Erica is going to help me make our bedroom over into a restful retreat. Believe me this is much needed with a teenager and two little ones running around! I can hardly wait to get started. Keep checking back and I will let everyone know how it is going. If you get a chance check out these two blogs. They are both beautiful and very creative when it comes to decorating.

Now on to the next big win. Our baseball player had a big night at his first home game last Tuesday. He played great and we were so proud of him. Here he is up to bat.

And here he is behind the plate doing a great job catching. We look forward to cheering this JV team on at the rest of their games.
Now I have to run because we are out of school today. The weather is beautiful and the outside is calling. Later I am off to look at new counter tops for my kitchen so I can work on another, much needed, little change.

Until next time...

Remember that when we work on little changes here and there it can make a big difference!

Help us not to forget though the best works of all!

Psalms 103:22 NIV
Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Fun Birthday At The Farm

To say that Emanuiel is excited about his birthday this year is an understatement. He has been counting down the months and days to his birthday since Christmas. I'm not kidding. His birthday is March 25th but we had his party this past weekend at a nearby farm. This is where we celebrated last year with the "Birthday Bash in the Barn" because of torrential down pours. Well this year we didn't have rain so we were able to take full advantage of all the farm had to offer. I went simple with the cake and "pupcakes" as Clara Beth calls them. I had the bakery pipe green icing on them to look like grass and then put little farm animals on top.

Red gingham on the tables with baskets filled with party favors.

A little thank you sticker on each bag from the birthday boy.

We started off the party with horse rides and of course Emanuiel was the first one to saddle up.

Even Clara Beth took a turn. I was so surprised because she would not even get on the horse last year.

One ride wasn't enough so she partnered up with Bekah Grace for a turn around the pasture.

Here's Emanuiel with one of his best buddies from school. He and Matthew look like real cow pokes don't they.

I love this picture of Clara Beth peeking over the fence at the horses.

After the little ones rode the horses we all boarded the wagon for a ride around the farm.

This is the view Emanuiel had from the front of the wagon. He was helping guide the horses.

After our ride around the farm our driver , Farmer Will, dropped us off by the goats for feeding time.

Everyone grabbed a handful of feed and watched the goats nibble away.

By this time Emanuiel had become an expert at feeding goats and llamas.

After all that hard work on the farm everyone enjoyed pizza and birthday cake!

Well, the party may be behind us but this little guy will have memories from his day on the farm for a long time to come.

Until next time...

I hope you and your family are finding ways to make lots of memories.

They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

Psalm 145:7

Robin

Look What's Here!!

After what seems like an eternity of cold and dreary wet weather a little sunshine has arrived in the form of daffodils! Their sweet little faces are popping up every where and looking at them just makes me feel happy. The ones in my yard are almost ready for picking and that means that I will soon be able to bring a little bit of sunshine right into my home like I did with the ones from my garden last year pictured below. What ever you do today I hope you spot a little bit of sunshine like this and I hope it makes you...


Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry.
Psalm 47:1

Until next time...

Robin
Also thanks to everyone that lifted my little ones up in prayer they are all better now!

Well...

Unfortunately "An apple a Day" did not keep the doctor away! At the beginning of the week Emanuiel was sick and now that he is feeling better the high fever, cough and yuckies are all over Clara Beth. I am so ready for both of them to be well. Please pray that they both are back to their cheerful little selves very soon. I want to see smiling faces like the ones below. Until next time.............



I am praying for the strength to take care of everyone.

"I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right
hand."
Isaiah 41:10

Robin