March

It's hard to believe that in a little over a week now March has come and gone. We started off with a bang of some crazy weather around here---all those awful storms, and some terrible tornado damage in some areas not far from us at all. I don't usually do well with the watches and the warnings......in all honestly I really tend to completely freak out! They really were making it sound so alarming and deadly......I was packing up stashes of food and such thinking we'd be stuck in our basement. But as I watched news reports of others who had complete house destruction, who am to think my "stash" of food and water for my family would be kept from destructive winds?!

But we were thankful and so greatly blessed that the Lord had His hand upon not only our family but our city as well. No major action here as they were telling us all morning. Now we are on our way to Easter preparation and truly spring time weather! This week was beautiful and so wonderful to keep the little ones outside most of the week! And we can feel it as well as all our allergies are running strong around here!

We've done lots of the above (& bike riding, walking/running, chasing, etc.). The scooter above caused our first big accident of the season. As Reed hit a crack on the sidewalk and slide right onto the pavement. Ouch for sure! He still has a nice, big scab healing to show for it! Our sweet neighbors across the street have 2 small children as well (a 5 year old and almost 3 year old). So they all are ecstatic when they see each other outside! So they've had so much fun playing this week together! My neighbor and I joke saying we need an underground tunnel for them all to run back and forth between our houses!

Fun at the park earlier this week with sweet friends! John looks so happy I am taking his picture!

Emery-Claire enjoys lunch with sweet little Charlotte at the park.

We were excited to see sweet Eden this week! It's been too long since these two have played together.

Practicing our plies and jumps for the big recital next weekend.

We were very giddy that Daddy came to watch her practice at class today; so so so excited!

Finally a true snow day!

So finally (in March of course--and days after those dreadful storms and tornados!) we had a true/real snow day....and now it's melted and 65 today! But it was fun for while it lasted! It was

even a wet snow so it would stick together and form a real snowman! They had so much fun, so he is our creation......not as pretty as some I saw around here, but gosh it's been I don't know how long since I've done something like this?!!

They loved the snowman; and were so sad to see him melt away today

Mercy

Mercy.....Webster's defines mercy as "compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; also : lenient or compassionate treatment"

Not all that long ago I remember hearing what a picture of the Gospel to our children to have the occasional "mercy" given in place of discipline for disobedience. So somewhere between 2-3 years of age Casey & I would occasionally tell Reed he was going to receive "mercy" in place of his deserved consequence.....then also explaining the Gospel and how God has mercy on us, not giving us what we deserve for our sins because of Jesus and His perfect righteousness in our place! And not that he really "grasped" all of these beautiful truths, but he did quickly catch on that "mercy" meant no spanking. And of course he began to often began to ask for mercy every time he disobeyed---but who wouldn't, right?!

Well, now at almost 5 1/2 years old this continues to be a beautiful theme and vision we desire for our children to grasp. We long for them to understand, believe, and hope that Jesus is our only hope of being with our perfect and heavenly Father for all of eternity! One of the first verses they all have memorized is from Acts 16:31 (as it's on our "Hide Em' in Your Heart" CD) "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

So this morning when Casey took Reed to school his teacher shared a sweet conversation she had with him earlier this week. Reed had apparently done something he shouldn't have (actually later today I found out he ran across the room, jumped up on a table and then onto the floor?! Oh my I can't believe my sweet, timid, so not rebellious child did something so boldly in a classroom?!) But anyways, they talked to him, and he was remorseful and acknowledged his actions were wrong and inappropriate for inside the classroom. Then following the incident they went out to the playground; the teachers determined he understood what he had done and he knew it was wrong. So they felt it was fine for him to play and enjoy the beautiful day rather than face some sort of consequence for his actions. So after playing a few minutes he came up to one of the teachers and asked her if he was in trouble. She told him, that it was over and they forgave him. He then preceded to tell her "Ms. Donna you gave me mercy." He continued to tell her "I know all about mercy because my daddy gives me mercy. God gives us mercy and forgives our sins in Jesus." (I didn't get the conversation word for word but it was something like that). She then told Casey that it just really touched her heart and blessed her so much to have Reed share all about God's mercy and forgiveness to her.

So today my heart bursts with praise and thanksgiving... that our sweet boy is hearing these truths and they are beginning to penetrate his little heart--to the point that he can verbalize and share them with others. I too am in awe of God's mercy and grace in my heart---how undeserving I am of Jesus perfect righteousness. I am grateful and know what a privilege that it is to be watching first hand the Lord at work in all of our children's lives. May I continue to be guided in His wisdom as day after day I have the blessing of sharing what is eternal and our everlasting hope with them all!

Embrace the Camera: 3/1/12

So I think in this new year I've yet to "embrace the camera"........so here is the most recent pic from maybe 2 sundays ago. motivation to take more pictures with my little people!