Sweet Sisters!

I think a little cabin fever is setting in!

 

Brielle's birthday is this week!
Richie and Lydia gave her this adorable dress!
She doesn't look like a baby anymore! : -(
Sure wish we could show you her cuteness in all its entirety!
 
 

Great is the Lord, and Most Worthy of Praise!

"Within the temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love."

Psalm 48:9

 

We had such a blessed time at church this morning!

With the inclement weather and subsequent snowy/icy road conditions making travel difficult,

there were only about 55 brothers and sisters that were able to gather together this morning.

So Pastor Dean decided to hold off on continuing his series on the Holy Spirit,

until all are able to hear it.

The other good thing about Pastor Dean postponing his planned sermon was,

in its place,

he asked the congregation to share what the Lord has been showing us from God's word.

It was an awesome time of sharing together about God's unfailing love for His people!!

And, we had some extra time of singing with Monte and band, : -)

and that is always wonderful! 

On a side note,
we sure love our Pastor and his wonderful wife!
They are such a tremendous blessing to all of us!!
(He doesn't normally wear a hat at church ;-)
Today, he briefly slipped this Seahawks hat on as he walked up to the podium for a little fun!)

 

We opted to leave our van at home.
It needs the battery charged anyway!

 

We got to say hello to Kelley,
Sharaya and Zona on our way!
With the snow drifts as they were,
her driveway is a little more "snowed in"  than ours.

Oh yes, . . . and we had to get these special cookies to the church!

First challenge was making it down our hill,
without slamming into Kyle's car at the bottom!



This is the first road we came to.
Just went slow,
and all was fine!

We couldn't remember ever seeing Mayfield Lake frozen like this.
Lydia has a REALLY AWESOME picture of it on her blog.  : -)
Joyful Keeper at Home ~ Picture of Partially Frozen Mayfield Lake!



It is a always a beautiful drive to church,
but today was even more spectacular!



And back to our little neck-of-the-woods!

 And safely home!

 

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,

and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

Colossians 3:16

 

 

 



Such Excitement in the Air!

We all woke to the beauty of this winter wonderland  . . . .

 

 The boys were sooooooo excited! 

After scarfing down some warm oatmeal,

and getting all bundled up,

they headed straight for school their laboratory work. 

Yes, indeed, they DID learn a lot,

out in the "field" doing scientific experiments and such.

Like . . .what happens when you've finally packed down the powdery snow with your sled,

and you get going really fast and hit a tree?

What part of your body will take the hit, and how bad will the result be? 

 

Then, we began our first-aid studies. : -)   

(No worries, no bones broken or need for stitches, thankfully.)  

 

Can you see the GIANT snow angel?

 

 

 

Others of the family aren't exactly as excited as the boys.

There seems to be some debate going on over in the comments section on Kyle's blog about this very thing . 

(A little unfortunate for Kyle that there is a photographer milling about,

capturing who is doing what in the snow!  ;-)

 It's cccccolllllld out here!

Hard to tell, but we think we got about three inches or so.

There was a lot of wind last night,

so lots of snow swirling around and drifting off in other places.

 

 

Worship Practice

 

We're enjoying learning and playing this beautiful song by Keith and Kristyn Getty!

 

 

 



Update/Praise Report!

Kyle is back home already and doing well!  Surgery went great, and he is feeling good!  We can keep praying now for a smooth and speedy recovery!   Thanks so much!

Surgery

As I type this, Kyle should be going into surgery, any time now, for a repeat of the surgery he had in September.  We would be so grateful for your prayers for skilled hands for the surgeon, a very successful procedure and outcome, that Kyle would come through it all very well (and this time hopefully without passing out on the way out of the building!), and that he would have a smooth and rapid recovery!   Thank you sooo much! 

A Few Random Thoughts . . .

1.  Thoroughly enjoying all the various ages and stages of life around us!  So thankful for our super sweet, soon-to-be one year-old baby girl that is doing all sorts of cute "tricks" now; our adorable little still-working-on-potty-training, three year-old cowboy; our two full-of-life primary-age boys, busily learning their 3 R's at home; our four wonderfully-created and unique 17 year-olds that are desiring to follow God's narrow path and plan for their lives; and our lovely, loving married daughter and most awesome son-in-love that bring soooooo much fun and joy to us.  Thank you, Lord, for all these awesome blessings!

(No worries loved ones . . .  he would normally be wearing a helmet!

But for the purpose of making this film, he HAD to wear his cowboy hat!)

 



2.  Thanking God that He is El Roi - The God who sees.  This is one of those lessons that He has lovingly been showing me in various ways and means recently.   Starting from our family Bible reading in Genesis 16, as we read and discussed the story of Hagar; and then bringing it to my mind in other ways, this has been of great encouragement to me, and surely will be to others that are going through trying times.  God "sees" all that we are going through, and cares so much about us, that He intentionally reveals Himself in special ways to bring supernatural comfort, strength, and reassurance of His presence.  Even when we want to "run away" from a particular situation, it is often not within God's good and perfect plans to remove us from whatever difficulties we are experiencing. As He has us "go back" into difficult situations, relationships, etc. for our good and His sovereign purposes, He always wants to reassure us that He sees, He will never forsake us, He will always be there to quiet us with His love, and that He will deal justly with us. This has also encouraged me to study once again all of God's names.  Lovin' it!

3.  Feeling a little sad for Kyle, as we just found out today that he will need to have the procedure he had done in September re-done.  We so appreciate, and are very grateful for your prayers for Kyle!