...feeling a bit "Anne"

"For a moment, Anne's heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert's gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. "Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart it's pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps... perhaps... love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

hhmm...

It is a wonder what God can do with a broken heart, if He gets all the pieces. -Samuel Chadwick

Luke's Injury

Luke had an accident yesterday. Laundry can be dangerous-Luke was helping me do the laundry yesterday and was celebrating a recent triumph (responding to Thank you with You're welcome) and then he fell into the banister upstairs and hit his head. There was a LOT of bleeding and it was very scary. But Luke was a trooper. Even said "thank you" to the doctor for his two stitches. :D 5 days of watching and healing, then stitches out and we get to see his first scar. (oh my gosh)

Amen!

Luke has a Changing pictures book about Jesus, just five or so Bible stories about Jesus and His time here on earth. The last one starts out looking at a tomb with two guards (one is eating a sandwich), and then you pull the tab and you see a different picture-Jesus talking to Mary with angels sitting inside the now empty tomb. Luke loves this book, and this picture...when he pulls the tab he says (usually very loudly),

"Jesus is Alive!"

I must say-this is very exciting to me! Jesus IS alive-my son who doesn't even understand what this means is excited about it-what an example.

Cars!

Today's excursion at the mall-Luke with all his cars!! Being a big boy walking next to his Daddy.

My sister Amanda's kid Tre: Pictures of his first haircut!

...you see...he had to get his hair cut because he isn't a baby anymore-he is a big boy. AND he is a big brother! My niece Adelaide Mackenzie Jenkins will be born this summer! Congratulations Mark, Amanda and Tre!

Our Most Recent Family Photo

This is our family picture from the Youth Group's Annual Valentine's Dinner we had a couple weekends ago. We had a great time and I should get some more pictures from that event up soon to share with you all, but for now, this is a pretty amazing picture of our family-ENJOY.

Goofing off

We are getting ready for "Crazy Hat Night" tonight at AWANA. I am wearing my dad's old cowboy hat so Luke is here wearing his "Pa's" hat:

Tagged

Shea "tagged" me, so here I go-
7 things about myself:

1) I am extremely afraid of the dark, not just the dark, but the absolute dark. When you close your eyes and then open them and you can't tell a difference-that dark. When you know there is furniture in the room, but you can't even see a hint of a shape-that dark. That is too dark.

2) I really love being online. It is almost a problem for me. I love keeping up with people through Facebook and blogs. I truly do. Show me your pictures! I will look at them. Tell me your funny story-I will read it. I think it is so cool to be able to be a part of your lives through this awesome tool. What I really like is being able to do it on my own time, or get up and come back. Much easier than phone calls or letter writing.

3) I have memorized more verses in AWANA this year then I ever did when I was a clubber! This is my first year as a Trek AWANA leader, that is the Junior High group. Aaron is the director and he "strongly encourages" (makes) his leaders learn the memory verses along with the clubbers-I am being so challenged by this. I really love it though-and the best part-I have to say my verses to the clubbers, I try to say them to the kids who just said their verses to me. It really reinforces to them that learning verses is important and I love the look on their faces when they tell me I didn't get it right :D.

4) One of the most triumphant moments of the day for me is right before Aaron comes home and I have created a place for him that helps make him immediately relax and smile. When I have dinner almost ready, table set, a clean(ish) house and a happy (recently changed) Luke. He can just come in, take off shoes and coat and sit on the couch with Luke and read until dinner is ready. Knowing I can do that for him makes me feel so important, and I hate it when I am not on top of things enough to be prepared for his coming home.

5) I am doing something I swore I would never do: every Monday night I lead a Jr. and Sr. High girls' Bible study. It scares me and intimidates me each week, but I have such an assurance that God wants me to do this right now that I just keep preparing and praying and so far-so good! We have met pretty much every Monday since November, and I am hoping I can go until the summer.

6) I like to cook. This is actually a bit surprising to even me. I like to make something, baking especially. To make something I like to eat is the best, but making something Aaron gets excited about, or Luke cleans his plate-that is actually fun for me now. Didn't used to be. I have even tried out new recipes I have never tasted before and they have usually turned out great. It is like creating something... This Saturday I am the Head Chef of a dinner party feeding over 30, and I get to help youth and younger get excited about creating! And that is almost more fun than doing it myself!

7) One day I would like to write a book. Not now-probably not even soon. But one day. I think that would be amazing. I don't even know what I would write about, but I hold on to that thought and test ideas and storylines in my head. I think that is way off, but hopefully it is in my future.

Okay, that is seven things about me. I tag....Lisa a.k.a. The Correspondent

Who is that?

Pictures we have recieved, from a few of our friends, of their children, are on our fridge and Luke just loves to look at the babies. His special friends :D He has learned all their names and Aaron has captured that on 'film' for you all to see:

Lots of snow

Yesterday we recieved in one snow fall-8 inches of snow!!

So of course, as you can see, we just had to go play in it!

This is our backyard, and Luke's first experience playing in the snow.

Our little snowman:

A few things we did learn:

-mittens are sometimes more annoying than anything else

-your hands can get very cold, even when you have mittens on

-getting a small snow ball to roll up into a big snow ball is more difficult than one might think

-as difficult as it is for an adult to walk in 8 inches of snow, it is impossible for a toddler

-a child inevitably will want to go inside before you do

Lol. But then again, we probably knew all that already. ;) But it was a fun afternoon!