Jesus, You’re Beautiful!

I’m re-posting these two videos from IHOP-KC because these songs express so well how I feel about Jesus!

Enjoy!

Confirmed by two witnesses. You know it’s true!

And Anna is working on one of them for her next recording for YouTube. Stay tuned.

Water Play Without Water

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This is our first attempt at a Small World.

We did a pond theme.

We went to Hobby Lobby and got:

A container

Blue glass beads (2 bags of dark blue and 1 bag of light blue)

A Toob that had lots of frogs and turtles in it

Seashells

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The little girls have played with it like crazy, and the twins have played with it when they get the chance, too. Definitely worth the investment. And I love to see their creative play stir their imaginations!

I’ve been looking for some fish but surprisingly haven’t found any. In the future we will make a Small World for the ocean. We already bought some little starfish and sand dollars at Hobby Lobby for that one. The little girls are excited to put that one together next week.

Eating in Style – Thanks to Our Offspring

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Having older children who want to be home with their family is a great blessing. These young people wanted to take a picnic lunch to the park and share it with our whole family. They packed everything. They helped us gather the whole family together.

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They are not running off by themselves. They are sticking around, spending time with their parents and their little brothers and sisters.

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The littles went and played on the playground.

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Gary enjoyed himself.

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Patrick enjoyed himself. He didn’t eat the whole time. We just took lots of pictures of him eating for some reason.

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On another day, Kelsey made pot pie cupcakes. They were delicious!

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She also made homemade chicken and noodles. She took over lots of the cooking while I helped with Grandma’s care.

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Kelsey kept asking me about my favorite things in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. Then as the day approached, she started providing those things to the best of her ability.

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Like Brownie Pie!

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And Chocolate Truffles, rolled in chopped walnut.

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And Snow Balls

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And Brownie Pie with ice cream and homemade Fudge Sauce. It tasted like the dessert they used to serve at Red Lobster called Fudge Overboard. It was one of my favorite things about eating there. I always used to save room for it.

These grown children who stay home with the family and live their lives with us are such a huge blessing to this mama. I’m so thankful that they choose to serve their family and share their lives with us instead of rushing off and trying to find their own lives with strangers or trying to grow up too soon.

We are all learning and growing together. And eating well!

Flat Travelers Return!

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We sent two Flat Travelers to Dayton, OH, since that’s where we’re from. Garrett and Fiona made two paper dolls that we downloaded from MakingFriends.com. We sent them to Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. You can find out how to do this here at this website.

They came home with all kinds of fun info about Dayton’s Aviation history, mostly about the Wright Brothers, and other significant parts of Dayton’s history, including the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, who was from Dayton, OH. The people from the Historical Park made a neat little book and included pictures of our Flat Travelers in it.

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Notice our little people included in the photos inside the book!

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The twins were very excited about all of the neat materials that the Historical Park sent with their Flat Travelers.

They also read the book, Flat Stanley, to see where the idea of Flat Travelers originated from.

I just checked on this at Amazon and found out that the author has written several other books about Flat Stanley. It seems that he has gone on many more adventures since his original one recorded in the book entitled Flat Stanley. And they teach some geography!

I will have to check out these new adventures!

Mother’s Day 2013

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Kelsey and Morgan made a delicious, sumptuous feast for me this morning.

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She used a scalloped heart cookie cutter to cut out a heart-shaped piece of toast and then made egg-in-a-basket.

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It tasted delicious, and I was so touched by their efforts. Kelsey woke Morgan up at 6:00 to make the bacon. Kelsey worked very hard to provide this wonderful breakfast for me and to make a beautiful card with a lovely poem.

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And if that wasn’t enough, she gave me a necklace made by my favorite jeweler, James Avery. It is sterling silver and cost her the money her Grandma gave her to buy herself some shoes. I am so grateful and humbled by her giving and loving heart.  This pendant is called Mother’s Love.  I love it because it looks like a mother holding a baby, yet it also looks like a heart with an elongated side.

My heart is full this Mother’s Day. God has given me too many blessings to count.

Ephesians 3
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”