Thanking God for the blessing of this impromptu photo,
suggested and offered by a dear friend that stopped by the tulip field at the same time as we were there! :-)
An adorable little 2 year-old daughter/sister dressed in her pretty Easter dress
posing amongst the beauty of a colorful tulip field.
An energetic four year-old son/brother,
enjoying all things "boy"!!!
Watching the delight in Joe's countenance when he gets his wish to go to a science fair!
And then, the double blessing of watching his excitement over
seeing this really cool SWAT vehicle in the parking lot,
and a video-camera-robot demo by the SWAT team guys!
Watching Timmy enjoy playing baseball,
and all the while, learning and growing lots in many different ways.
Being so very blessed by the 2-day Christian Heritage annual homeschool convention.
The teenage/young adult choir was an especially awesome blessing!!!
So amazing to hear over 200+ young people beautifully sing praises to the Lord.
We always feel so encouraged to learn and fellowship with so many homeschooling
families from many different states, and even Canada!
I think I heard there were 4,000+ in attendance this year!
Listening to Caroline's lovely music as she played at a nearby restaurant as part of a team of pianists that helped raise funds for the local piano teacher's association and future students.
Pure Joy Labrador's Snowberry is being a super good mom to her 13 babies!
So thankful to the Lord that they are all thriving well!
Timmy and Joe are also so happy that Carrot has five healthy baby bunnies!
In the midst of all this blessed, abundant life,
God has granted us a special blessing in finding out that once the quads turned 18,
they are no longer counted by the state in the "no-more-than-six-kids-in-a-home" rule.
Another blessing is that Antioch Adoptions, the Christian private agency that we have partnered with from the beginning of our adoption journey, is now able to do the foster licensing.
(With the state's approval.)
So, though I can't really say that the near 6-month process of updating paperwork, all getting flu shots in mid-April, and going through another home inspection has been a blessing :-( ,
the outcome of adding (Lord willing) more blessings by-way-of-2-more-orphans-in-need-of-a-forever-family surely will be!
One of the last little hurdles . . .
testing our water temperature and then taking a picture of it to send to the licensor! :-)
As I sit down to finish this up during a little break from my packing for our upcoming family vacation, my heart rejoices in the blessing all our children are to us daily, and to each other. The quads have just left to go over to help Richie and Lydia with some cleaning projects, as they move back to their family farm from about a year of house/farm sitting for relatives just down the road.
Thank you, thank you, Lord, for each and every blessing!
We hope you all had a wonderful Resurrection Day,
reflecting on and celebrating all that Jesus has done for us!
We sure did!
We are so blessed with this abundant life,
all BECAUSE HE LIVES!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We were so grateful that our special friend, Carolyn, could meet us for worship!
(See a picture of all of the kids below!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On a side note, I recently started in on a BIG project that is long overdue.
And that is . . .
putting every picture we've ever taken of the quadruplets,
since their birth, into photo albums for each of them!
I've been rejoicing,
as I take this walk down memory lane,
remembering once again how the Lord so faithfully brought us through those years!!!
Thought I'd share an Easter photo from when the quadruplets were just about five months old,
and then one from yesterday!
This was then . . . . (1997)
Can you name the quadruplets? (Kyle is a give-away!)
This is now . . . .
(Lydia is in the photo above, and, of course, we've gained our awesome son-in-law, Richie!)
Were you involved in the giving or receiving of any April Fool's pranks?
In a surprising sort of way, our house was actually quite quiet in this regard this year. :-)
I think it snuck up on all of us!
This past week has been a busy one for us with Timmy's baseball season starting up.
They kicked things off with a 5 game weekend tournament.
The weather was fairly good, but unfortunately, his team was not off to the best start!
Here he is, #24, with his team, getting the instructions before the tournament began.
He loved having lots of time on the mound!
The picture below was of Timmy on the mound in the second game.
First up-to-bat was a good one!
It was almost a home run!
There are always lots of good skills and character traits to learn
and build upon when you're part of a team, huh?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On Saturday evening, Victoria and Valerie were very blessed to be able to go to the Keith and Kristyn Getty concert in Mount Vernon, WA with our beloved Pastor Dean and his super sweet wife, Linda.
(Pastor Dean took this photo below.)
Pastor Dean showed this picture to the congregation on Sunday,
and said something like,
"Here, Keith is gesturing over our way and saying 'We'd particularly like to thank Valerie, Victoria, Dean and Linda, who drove all the way up here from Mossyrock.' "
Oh, how we love our Pastor Dean for SO many reasons . . . . .
his sense of humor being one of them!!! :-)
They all said it was very amazing to hear them in person!!!
Among many of the awesome songs they played was a song so perfect for this season of celebrating Jesus' resurrection. It's called "Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!"
Valerie and Victoria were especially grateful to hear this song as the girls prepare to play it this Sunday at church!
Thought ya'll might enjoy listening to it!
(This is a video of them signing it, but not from this Saturday night's concert.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, back at home,
the young ones are keeping us quite busy, and are growing in every way each day.
The boys are working hard at their schoolwork,
and are currently fascinated with their latest catch-and-release victim pet
that Kyle brought home for them.
So far, it hasn't escaped its enclosure yet, so that's good! :-)
