Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful Resurrection Day! We went to the Sunrise service that our chapel had, it was short, but beautiful. We were able to come home and immediately Chad hid eggs out in the backyard and the kids had fun finding eggs, even sweet Noah joined in! The night before after we dyed them both of the older boys drew pictures of the 3 crosses on Good Friday. Let me tell you how blessed it is to see your children shining the TRUTH, knowing the TRUTH, knowing and loving Jesus. We had a couple friends over for dinner and dinner was so good! :) I made a turkey, ham, dressing, homemade noodles, mashed potatoes and gravy (from the turkey broth..yum!), and veggies. Our friend M made baked beans which were seriously awesome and I'm not normally a fan of them! Our other friend A brought cupcakes, and Chad and M made deviled eggs! Dinner was awesome!


The day was truly blessed as we thanked the Lord for his sacrifice and for his fulfillment of the scriptures. It's truly so humbling to think of all he went through for me and for you to be allowed to enter the Kingdom of HEAVEN. On Friday (Good Friday that is) our chapel did a short service, dinner, and then showed The Passion of the Christ. We own the movie, but the last time we watched it was 7 years ago. I remember sobbing and hiding my face through a good portion of it. I've felt the Lord whispering that it was time that I was reminded just what he went through for me. It's not a movie that can be taken lightly. It's not a movie that just anyone can watch, and I think you need to be prepared. There's no way to prepare your heart, but be prepared to have your heart moved beyond measure when you see exactly what he went through for you. It's humbling and heartbreaking. If you've never seen it, I urge you to watch it. If you've not watched it in a while...I encourage you to pray and see if the Lord is calling you to watch it once again. Jacob wants to watch it, but I just don't feel like he's quite ready for it. It's so graphic and although it's true, I just want him to be mature enough and truly ready to watch it. I think in a couple more years he'll be ready, but we'll keep seeking God's wisdom on when to expose him to this harsh reality.
With that, I'm ending with pictures that I've taken over the last couple of weeks. Lots of Noah and quite a few from Easter. Be blessed.



Emma with our friend "M"'s dog, Skittle...taking her for a little bike ride


Emma getting her nails painted by her big brother, Jacob




Emma decorating a cookie

Jacob and Jackson...my handsome boys

My world

Excited to see their Easter baskets!!!

This is my favorite photo of Noah and Chad!

My sweet Noah

Loving swinging

Noah and his big brother, Jacob

Getting some loving from Jackson

Tired!!

I'm wiped out and I wish I could say that I'll get some downtime soon, but that's not going to happen until we're done with school. We have daily school of course....and well let me just lay it out for you! Sunday's: Church and AWANA (normally we come home from church, have a simple lunch, go over the kids AWANA verses, let the kids play outside for about 30 minutes to an hour and then it's time to leave). Home and dinner and then time for bed for the kids. Monday: School, Jacob has Cub Scouts, Jack has baseball practice, Emma has ballet, and I go to Zumba in the evening, so I leave Noah and Emma with Chad and Jacob (Chad's the coach for Jackson's team) Tuesday: School, Praise Team Practice, Jacob baseball practice, and I have Zumba Wednesday: PWOC, (the boys do school during PWOC) come home have lunch and finish up any school that wasn't finished during the morning, Jackson has cub scouts, I have Zumba Thursday: School and Jacob has baseball practice, Jackson's baseball games Friday: School and Hospitality House Saturday: Finish any school work that was not finished (yes even school on Saturday's if necessary) Jacob's baseball games. Of course we have to squeeze in errands, shopping, and various other things. I do NOT like this schedule at all. I honestly can't stand it. I do not like being on the go constantly. I do not like feeling like we're over taxed. I do not like having no down time and right now we have NONE...oh wait we do have Saturday evenings! LOL So want to pray for me? Seriously I absolutely COVET any and all prayers you'll be saying for me. Life's not bad, oh no not at all...just exceptionally busy. I do think praying for each other is vital and when we're seeking the Lord in all steps of our life, we'll feel him every step of the way. So yes, as you can see though...I'm tired! I'm a bit wiped out! Oh and lets not forget I have a 10 month old thrown into this mix, who's hobby is nursing! LOL I joke, but I'm pretty serious about that! Somewhere in all of this, I've been working hard on laundry and working hard to trying to keep up on housework, although I'm not doing the best job there. All my floors except the kitchen have been swept and mopped between yesterday and today (tomorrow is the kitchen and will do the bathroom's, again). You know though, through all this busyness....I'm relying on God to get me through it that much more. I'm thankful for this time in our lives. I'm thankful we're able to enjoy watching our boys play baseball and seeing them enjoy themselves. I'm thankful that Emma gets to do ballet and the best part, it's not breaking the bank! (Come on, can't I get a whoot-whoot out of THAT one?!!!). I'm loving my time with Noah. He's such a happy boy. He's a laid back little guy. He enjoys his siblings so much, loves his Daddy, and is in love with me. He smiles so easily and laughs often. He's showing a bit of ornryness in his personality, and there's just such joy in his heart!!!! With that, my bed is calling my name. I have to be up early for PWOC in the morning. I love this midweek special time with our Lord and fellowship with sisters in Christ. I'm not thrilled about the early wake up! LOL No really I don't mind it too much, most Wednesday mornings. Next year I will Not be on the board and well honestly I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful that God's preparing a quieter time for me. I will say though, that I enjoy my position on the board this year. I'm the Prayer Coordinator, and love it. I have a heart for prayer and believe that it's absolutely necessary. Without prayer we have no communication with the Lord. We should be talking to him constantly, we don't have to get down on our knees to communicate with God. We can be driving and talking to him, doing dishes, taking a shower, laying in bed, sitting on the computer, sitting at baseball practice.....we can talk out loud or in our heads. We can pray with others or alone. There's no right or wrong with to pray, when you're truly going to Jesus....fully and completely. So now is time to go spend with the Lord as he helps me drift off to sleep. We're blessed my friends. We have a Savior who loved us so much that he died for us. Oh how blessed we are. Here's to sweet dreams! (PS if I am all over in this, please accept my apologies...I've struggled to keep my eyes open writing this)

My God!!

My God is the same whether the government pays us or not. My God is the same whether the Government shuts down or keeps going. My God is the same. He never changes. He loves me unconditionally. He's the great physician. He's my Father. He's my hope through today and for tomorrow. He loved me the moment I was formed in my mothers womb, and he'll love me the day I join him in Heaven. My God is the same and nothing can change that. He is the ONE consistent in this life. We only have to start talking/praying to him. We only have to open our bibles and read his promises. Sometimes we ask him something and his answer is no and sometimes it is yes, while other times it's simply "not yet". Through it all though, my GOD is the same! He loves me more passionately than I could ever imagine loving another, and that includes my own children. He wants the best for me. He'll never forsake me or leave me. How thankful I am that through all the turmoil that's happening in our nation, I have the hope and promise of my Lord, My Savior!

Ultimate Blog Party (a little late)

So I'm late to the party! I'd like to say Fashionably late, but well I'm not the most fashionable girl, so I'll just say I'm late, I have kids, a hubby, homeschool, bible study, ballet class (for Emma), baseball practices, cleaning a house, taking care of a dog (that I only sort of like), oh and lets not get started on the stinking laundry (it IS my nemesis). So a little about myself for those who are new here, I guess read the above and you'll get a good portion of who I am! Lets start with the absolute, positively most important thing about me....I am a Christian! I believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord, he's my Savior, and I am absolutely nothing without him. I believe that unless you believe in him you will NOT be going to Heaven. I believe that if you have any other "ideas" of him you're wrong, you're not going to Heaven, and my heart truly aches for you. Next.....I'm the wife of Chad who happens to be a Soldier in the US ARMY. We just celebrated 14 years of marriage. We've had all sorts of ups and downs. We are about to go through our 6th Deployment. He was in an awful accident this past August, is truly blessed to have survived, it's amazing that he's walking, etc. He broke his left clavicle bone, tore his 7-11th vertabrae's, and fractured his sternum. He had surgery 3 days after the accident, they placed a titanium rod in his shoulder and one in his back, (sternum healed on its own). We went to see his surgeon almost 2 weeks ago and praise the LORD he's completely healed!!!! With that healing means he'll join his unit, which is already deployed here shortly. (I will not post the date for his safety). We have been blessed with 5 children so far! Jordyn would have turned 13 on March 30, yes would have is correct. When she was 2 years old she went home to Heaven. She was diagnosed with AML leukemia when she was 6 days from turning 1 year old. She fought so hard, but ultimately the Lord declared that her work was finished and she was mercifully taken home on May 8, 2000. We of course miss her, wonder what she'd be like, what she'd look like, etc but oh to know my sweet little girl is safe in the arms of Jesus, there's nothing more reassuring! We also have: Jacob:10, Jackson:7, Emma: 3, and Noah who's 10 months old (not sure how that's possible, because he was JUST born!! No seriously he was!). We homeschool our children. The Lord called our family to it and although it can be absolutely challenging, it's also a blessing! We have been homeschooling since Jacob was in kindergarten (so from the beginning). This year instead of me piecing their curc. I decided to go with Alpha Omega's Life Pac's! We love it! God is in everything, every subject from the beginning of time to now! Oh I guess I forgot to tell you where we're blessed to live. Germany! We have been here for almost 6 years and LOVE it! I truly feel so at home here. I can't describe it in words how much I love it here. I feel like this is where GOD wants us. We have been blessed to travel and see so many amazing places and hope to see many more before we're forced to move back stateside. My interests....PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel....aka Women's bible study that was started 56 years ago in Germany from some Army spouses who wanted fellowship time with fellow spouses). Reading (my favorites are Christian Fiction and Nonfiction, Nonfiction in General, History, travel books, and my favorite: The Bible...truly the greatest book ever written!). I love taking pictures of my children, although I would love to learn more in photography! I love antiques and have acquired a few beautiful pieces since living in Germany. I've become a lover of Zumba and working on getting healthier and thinner this year! Traveling, I love it and thrive on it! I can't wait for our next adventure and discovery! My favorite place so far is hands down: Ireland! So very beautiful, amazing, and just a striking country! So leave me a comment, and I look forward to getting to know you! God's Blessings