Have a blessed Resurrection in our risen Lord and Savior!!!!

 (Thanks to the "Teach Them Diligently" Facebook page)

"At Calvary"...

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty—
At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned—
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty—
At Calvary.

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty—
At Calvary.

O the love that drew salvation’s plan!
O the grace that bro’t it down to man!
O the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary. 

"Greater love has no one than this, 

that one lay down his life for his friends."

                                                 ~John 15:13

Praise the Lord for his love for us, which led to such a great sacrifice, and for the hope we have that we will rise with Him by that sacrifice, if we receive that gift :)!

No matter what...

(Written last Friday, just not edited until now :P... It seems that all I ever do any more is short posts or just the rough draft. I have about ten in my drafts folder right now, haha ;)!)
It's 6:46. Supper is in the oven, and so are some muffins that I made impromptu while wearing the apron a friend blessed me with a couple of years ago. It was so fun to be baking again "just for fun". I haven't done a lot of that lately, we've just been making meals for the most part. It was wonderful... a counting lesson with the little girls, getting some more frozen fruit out of the freezer (less to move!), eating chocolate chips (chef's honors ;)...), coming a little closer to my goal of fifteen minutes from start to cleaned up (from eighteen minutes last time I timed myself, down to sixteen, haha :).).
The house is clean, and all the little ones are playing together. The Star-gazer lilies that our realtor blessed us with are sending their scent through the whole house. And we got a call not too long ago that we'll be having someone else come look at it tomorrow. We have one more load to throw in the washer tonight, and then we'll be almost caught up with the laundry. Bethi finished her hat this morning, and is extremely excited.
So many little things that make up a day.
So many blessings.
Yes, it can be harder at times. Instead of playing together, the little ones could be arguing. I could burn my muffins. The flowers will die; the house won't always be clean. Someone may become sick; things might not go as we would like. But even through these moments, the blessings still shine; God has given me the grace to get through those times. God has given me this life to live, these times to teach me lessons, and my family to learn these lessons with. The dishes may be piled; but we ate. The toddlers may be fussy; but we have them. The goals may not be met; but we can try again. Daddy may be in another state; but we are united in our love for Christ and each other, and God's plan for our lives, and we can trust him to bring us back together in his timing.
These past few months have been hard in many ways. They have been wonderful in many ways. I feel that we have learned a lot in many ways. But through it all, one thing is often thought of: God has a reason for this. We don't know what it is, but he does, and we know this is true. And, already, looking back, we can see that some of the things that didn't seem like something that we would pray for, have been used for good. Daddy being out of work and nobody answering his calls? I really think that that was preparing us for these months when we are having to go weeks with Daddy in VA.
It can be hard to keep seeing the blessings instead of focusing on the struggles. But when you really look for them, the blessings far outweigh, and are far more numerous, then you ever imagined. And I know, no matter what, I am truly blessed!

(And especially rejoicing today in the added awareness of my blessings as we rejoice in the celebration of our risen Savior's love for us!!!)

Thankful Monday... thankful thoughts for week 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 and sneaking in some extra for weeks 43 and 44...

I knew that I had missed a couple of Thursdays (and not caught up when I next posted one), but you would not believe how long it took to figure out which ones!!! From now on it must be a rule that the title includes the week number in the title if I decide that I still want to keep numbering them, because it is too difficult to find a post with a "week...." in the title, which usually ends up being three months old, and then finding out where I am at, especially since I rarely post on Thursday... But I really would like to keep numbering them, because I do want to write down thankful thoughts for each week, and I'd never know where I was at if I didn't number them... sigh. :) Go ahead, just tell me that I wouldn't have this problem if I posted "Thankful *Thursday*" posts on (every) Thursday. Heeheehee :)...
Without farther rambling ;), eight weeks worth of thankful thoughts...

~That our house is on the market!
~That we had someone come look at the house the first weekend! I don't think it is going anywhere on their part, but it was encouraging, haha...
~And that we had someone else after that.
~And that we're scheduled to have more tomorrow.
~Garlic presses.
~Knitting needles coupled with garlic presses.
~And homeschool opera coupled with that. (I still have to giggle every time I think off the Sunday we came home starved and decided to combine these last three things... but that is something that you just can't describe. Heehee ;)...)
~God's beautiful designs.
~Heirlooms.
~Grains of sand.
~Tori's microscope.
~That we are done with Tori's claymation... relief! Haha :)...
~Bible covers... maybe more later :).
~Being able to custom make items.
~The Hour Glass cable...
~That I think I have mastered said Hour Glass cable.
~God's grace in always extending sanctification to us. Even if it isn't given in the way we would choose as best, can you imagine if we always stayed in our current state?
~Peter's haircut.
~That nobody was seriously injured in the multiple car accidents that happened to members of our church over the last few weeks.
~For Miss Brenda's generosity and visit a couple weeks ago :).
~That my blog background came back... I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure how. I'm also not complaining ;). I just pulled it up and was scrolling through, and then thought "Wait a minute! wasn't that still missing last time I looked?" Haha :)... It does appear to have changed, though. I'm still trying to decide if I'll just try to get used to that, or go through the work of changing it again...)
~The teaching of my parents.
~The way the Lord has been working in our lives.
~The Hidden Treasures auctions, and the families that they help bring precious children into :)."A Trio of Heroes" opens up for bidding on the first of April!
~And that Chad, mentioned on theblessingofverity.com, has a family!
~Peter-bug's new trick... (will this count as that cruising video you have been at me to post for months now, K? I'm sorry it took me so long to fulfill my promise, haha :)...)

 ~Homemade ice cream.
~New pizza recipes.
~Cauliflower.
~Leaf bugs.
~Laughing...
~While learning with the four year old,
~While working,
~Or just because :)...
~The Englishman, St. Patrick, and his ministry through Christ to Ireland, which is the true reason that March 17th is celebrated :)...
~Cinnamon rolls... with green icing, heehee. We don't do to much on St. Patrick's day, but we eat cinnamon rolls while we watch a cartoon about his ministry.

~My little bed-buddy, Emmi,
~and her love to have me "read just one chapter of the bible. Please? Just one?"
~The many games that Tori and I have had time for together lately :).
~Games like "Life",
~"Deal",
~And chess... which it had been far to long since we had played... heeheehee! I never thought to dust the came boards...

~Being able to try new things.
~Which happened to be muffins, a couple weeks ago :). Cocoa banana muffins (with oatmeal in them :) ) are pretty good :).
~Ideas from my Grandma (Mommy's Mom) for a make-ahead breakfast that is tasty and filling- breakfast burritos. Believe me or not, we hadn't tasted these until earlier this year!
~And ideas from Gramma (Daddy's Mom) for yummy muffins :).
~Peter's love for stuffed animals- it is sooo sweet! I have never seen another eleven month old that loved (all!) stuffed animals like he does!
~Llamas.
~Family mottos ;)...
~Letters to write (I have one I should finish up and send tomorrow :)... Fun!).
~Having made a good start on organizing letters that I have meant to get to for forever. I'm about half done :P...
~Plain pre-cut cards.
~Fun decorating them.
~Creative craft ideas.
~Having lots of little odds and ends of yarn... I have decided that I really want to make a project that I have know of for a while, but haven't known just how to do... I'm pretty sure I know how now, so I want to try to figure that out with spare bits of yarn this week if I have time, test it out before I decide if I really want to do what I really have been thinking of.
~Inexpensive "just for fun"gift ideas.
~Downloadable conference sessions :).
~Online sermons.
~That it is not our working, but Christ's, that saves us.
~Our weekly hymns.
~Thunderstorms.
~Electricity.
~Little things...
~Spoons,
~Pencils,
~Scrap paper,
~Frog pictures from Gramma,
~Abbi's love for them,
~Special colored washcloths that are used for certain things... blue, green, and purple... perfect. Now where is the ice cream?... (Figure that one out ;).)
~Extra straws for our special cups... the straws aren't exactly free from being breakable, haha, and Peter has a strong grip...
~Larger things....
~Christ's love for us.
~My family.
~God's plan for our family, even if it is hard to go without knowing what that exactly is at times. ~Heaters. Especiallythe last day of winter (yup, it took SC that long to figure out it was winter... heeheehee ;).). It was sixty-two degrees. In South Carolina. Inside. And I was the only one complaining. I must be whiny, and the rest of our family must be crazy. Heeheehee ;).
~That our computer is working this week- hey, I had an excuse for my tardiness week before last for Thankful Thursday. Our computer wasn't working all day Thursday, haha... (sound familiar, Joy? Heehee... sadly, this is the first time I've had a real excuse other than being out of town, though, so the rest of the time I've just been lazy...)
~That we were able to finish organizing all our CD's with pictures on them.
~Spring!
~Pansies.
~Daffodils.
~Bunnies.
~Gardening.
~Hoes.
~Watering cans.

~Daddy's being home a couple weeks ago... can you tell that that always thrills us :)?
~And that he was back this weekend, also!!!!!!
~Emmi's little voice pronouncing words we didn't know she knew.
~Coupled with her awesome face expressions... she's adorable!
~Sweet sisterhood.

~Cheese. Which we usually have more of than this... needless to say, we took a shopping trip the next day ;).

~Laundry helpers.

~That, although the washer and dryer have given us many problems over the past few months, the repairs have all been fairly easy and haven't taken too long to fix. We are beginning to joke that they know when Daddy is coming home, though, because they have broken down mostly the day Daddy gets back to SC, regardless of when that is :P...
~Oh, but they didn't break down this weekend!
That it does look like I might be making a good start to memorizing Romans 1-8 through reading it so many times :). I am so thankful that Katie took me on and decided to do this with me, and that she suggested memorizing it :).
~That I am also done writing out the first eight chapters, that was so fun!
~And that I didn't have to totally re-memorize Philippians 1:27-3:3. I was afraid I hadn't worked on solidifying that passage long enough, especially since I never meant to take a break from memorizing it :P. I'm happy that it did seem to stick, and I am looking forward to getting back into the habit :).
~Sneaking this in just for fun, because I heard that Daddy laughed at me because of how many times I mentioned a variation of chocolate in my thankful thoughts for Christmas... Chocolate.
~Caramel with chocolate.
~Chocolate sauce.
~Anything chocolate. (Shall I go on? ;)...)
~Ohhh, I know! Healthy, good for you coconut chocolate!
~Or a chocolate smoothie?
~Cucumbers. Eating something healthy before the chocolate makes it okay, right ;)? (Shhh... I know it doesn't, don't burst my bubble ;). Does it count that I love dark chocolate ;)?)
~Little brooms...
~...and dust pans.
~That are just the right size for this little helper :)...

~Memory games... played wrong, but, hey, Abbi got a kick out of it, haha! So did I ;)...
~Christ's resurrection.
~Biblical documentaries on aspects of Christ's resurrection.
~Fun examples of Christ's resurrection...

~Marshmallows. (You put the marshmallows inside the sweet roll, and it melts, signifying the empty tomb :).)
~"The Ben Carson Story". This was a wonderful movie on Dr. Ben Carson...
~Who happened to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast.
~With a Bible. There is a video online. It was wonderful :)!
~Also, if you want to hear a little background before you listen to those, and don't have the movie, you can listen to this...
~Peter's first independent steps this Monday afternoon... Stinker. He missed walking while Daddy was home by about twelve hours... And, of course, he hasn't even taken any since then... double stinker :P...
~Star-gazer lilies.

~Cameras (which I wished I had had last Wednesday...).
~Pleasant days.
~Parks.
~Slides.
~Strollers.
~Sticks :)...
~Rocks :) :)...
~Which bring such delight to little ones :).
~Creeks.
~"Poohsticks". It works better in water that actually runs though ;).
~Binoculars.
~Special vases.
~Lessons from flowers (you can see a review I wrote on a book with a lot of lessons from flowers here.)
~Opening blossoms.
~Miss Roberta's generosity in leaving us a meal the other day :).
~Nap times :)...
~Wood...
~Marbles...
~...and Andrew's "inventions" :)...

~Mechanical pencils, haha...
~Sewing coming up.
~A study on economics.
~Ducks. (There are some in the retention pond "next door", although they will probably move to the big  pond about a mile away once warmer weather hits and the retention pond dries up. But they are fun to have here for now :).)
~Poems.
~Tori's wonderful drawing :).

~Fresh bread (Thanks Tori :)!).
~History.
~Theology books.
~Being able to read the revised "Summer with the Moodys".
~Bethani's diligence at knitting a hat for Peter's birthday this afternoon. Five inches down, three more to go :)!

Taken this afternoon (Friday...), after she

 finished it in only two days :)!

~Little reminders from God to "take time"... To say a prayer, talk to a sibling,  help with a project, count my blessings, or any number of other things, I need to learn to slow down and enjoy my blessings.
~Thursdays.
~Life.
~Thankful thoughts.
~Abbi's grin.
~Peter's giggle, and
~Emmi's delight in his hugs.
~Tori's companionship.
~Andrew's detail in coloring, and
~Bethi's jokes.
~Hugs from Daddy, and
~Talks with Mommy.
~Joy.
~The color purple.
~Emmi's exclamation the other day that "Look Mommy! Two of my hairs went up when I bounced!" ( I told you her hair was short ;)...)
~Clementines.
 ~Lemons.

~Commentaries.
~Creative carrying systems, heeheehee...(he has the cup handle hooked to his shirt.)

~"Little Mother", reading to her babies...

~All that I have to be thankful for...
~And that I am caught up and finishing writing this post on Thursday!... Oh, wait. I am done writing it on Thursday... but it is 11:52 p.m. And I still have to edit it, add links, and pictures. Since there is still no way that you will read this on Thursday, as Friday comes in eight minutes... I'm going to go to bed and embellish it on Friday, when you may hopefully read it ;). I promise I was finished writing it on Thursday, though!

"Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, 

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"

                                                    ~Psalms 32:11

(And now here you really have it!)

Spring time...

I love spring time! I don't know that it is my favorite season... it is until another comes :). Fall and spring may be just a little tiny bit above summer and winter, but that may change once we live somewhere were the summer is cooler and the winter has some snow... and I never can really make up my mind anyway. But I do love spring regardless :). 

There are a (few ;)...) cool days. The grass starts turning green again (hey, I like mowing, too :). I'm just not sure if I will like it as much without Daddy to troubleshoot the mower, heehee :)...).  I love gardening. watering, and weeding. I love watching the flowers open, taking the little ones outside to play more often then in the winter months, finding the first butterfly of the year, and taking our first spring trip to the zoo, when we go all out and visit the Riverbanks gardens, too :) (that will be one of the things that we'll have to find a substitute for in Virginia!). I like drying flowers, to use for cards or trade with a friend :). I just really enjoy spring :).

We put in a new pansy garden down by the fence a couple weeks ago. Daddy told us to how to lay them out, and then let us older three girls go at it while he and Andrew grilled some hamburgers :). We had so much fun, and I think it looks pretty with the fence that we worked so long on last summer. That fence was on our list of improvements to make since we moved in three years ago. We finished it just in time to learn we were moving, haha :).

Tori and I put in the leftover pansy plants in the garden by the porch a few days later. Daddy had given us some pointers on how to lay this one out, but couldn't really tell us exactly how to place them, as there were some dead plants that needed to come out before we could really arrange it. I hope he likes it... (I hate making decisions about another person's property :P.)

We won't be doing too much gardening this year, since we're hoping we won't be here for much longer, but we'll still be able to do many of the other outdoors activities that we love so much, that we are greatly looking forward to doing soon... because it's spring :)! The pansies haven't died yet (oh, did I mention that was a worry of mine? Haha... can you tell I've never planted a garden from start to finish without Daddy before ;)?), new plants (okay... weeds) are coming up in the yard, the daffodils (one of my two favorite spring time flowers, the other being jasmine) bloomed a couple weeks ago, Tori saw a bunny the other day (so begins her summer ritual of calling me from the kitchen or library at about four o'clock in the afternoon "Bri! Get your shoes on! I see about four rabbits! You go out the back, I'll go out the front.". For background, Daddy told her if she ever caught a bunny, we could have a pet bunny. Heeheehee ;)...)...

They are easier to draw then get pictures of, haha.

Maybe I should gift wrap this for Tori ;).

Have a happy spring!

Leaf bugs

Abbi and I had quite the time the other day, Abbi watched a movie that had leaf bugs in it, and she was talking about them, and then she said something that made me think that she was under the impression that they weren't real. Sure enough, when I made note that she had seen a leaf bug before, she thought I was crazy, heehee.

Summer 2011

I assured her that she really had, and pulled up my blog to prove it to her with the picture. She still didn't believe me. That wasn't a leaf bug. She didn't know what it was, but it surely was not a leaf bug.

So, I tried looking them up online to see if I could find her a better picture then I had taken. I found this, but she didn't buy it. Okay, so I agree, it didn't look like any of the animated leaf bugs she had seen. 

I found this. Well, that was closer. At least it look like a leaf to her. Now we had a new problem, though. It looked too much like a leaf. She still didn't believe me. Mommy tried to back me up, and we eventually learned that she thought that we were saying that every leaf was a bug. Well, we were able to fix that, but I'm still not sure that she gets it yet, because I showed her that last picture one more time, and she gasped, and said "It has LEGS!!!"

But since she couldn't tell that the head was a head, I don't think realizing that helped much...

It was so funny! But, hey, I learned that leaf bugs and katydids are the exact same thing, not two different things in the same family (yes, it took me this long...), so maybe it was worth it... the laugh sure was ;).

Little snippets...

Just a few little things the last few days that have made me smile :)..
Emmi has developed this habit of asking me to read her "just one page of the bible" every night. It is sooo sweet. Most of the time, I answer "Yes, as soon as I set my alarm." Last night, I didn't set my alarm, so I read her "one chapter of the bible" right away. She said "Bri, I am so glad that you didn't have you alarm, because I wanted you to read the bible instead, and you always set your alarm". I thought it was sweet :).  
She was counting on her fingers this morning, and I asked me how many this two and this two made. After some prompting, she found that it was four, and I congratulated her, "Good job! You just did some math!" And she answered "Yes! And now I can watch my school movie and do my paper!" :). (We use Math-U-See.)
She was also reading a book this afternoon, all sprawled and chillin' on the couch, and I said "You need a hammock." She looked at me, and said"I do not! I already have a handbook! See?" As she shows me the board book in her little hands :).
Mommy made a chocolate smoothie about a week ago, and Abbi thought the taste she got was delicious. When Mommy was making it again this morning, Abbi got very excited. "Are you making that for me?" sh asked. Mommy decided that she was ;). We think, though, that Abbi just like the coffee that Mommy put in it the first time ;). Abbi is so funny... loved the drink only for the coffee, but she won't eat her cinnamon sugar-topped muffins with the sugar on them. I believe she has to also be the only four year old who cares whether she watches a movie full screen or wide screen, heehee ;)...
Oh, and Peter has an adorable new accomplishment :)... He has found a very ingenious idea for walking all over the house...
I also have a little bit about leaf bugs to share sometime soon :)... Curious?

*For those who saw the title (spelled wrong... haha!) posted earlier, I'm sorry :). I pressed the wrong button at some time while I was trying to save it, and didn't even notice until I went to save it again and saw that, instead of "Save", the button was "Revert to draft". I promise this is that former post that is now missing... I'm sure that snippet was too small to even see ;).

Just tidbits...

Last week was a week full of chores, school, a few tears, lots of smiles, and a whole lot of fun! Just home life ;). Tori and I played more card games and games of Life then I can count, and that was just during the little one's quiet times ;)...

 This picture wasn't taken last week, but this is Tori's car

from a game of Life we played last month. With seven 

children and an overflowing car, she was very blessed ;)... 

Love the pyramid!

We received news the other day that we'll be having a family come look at our house sometime this week. We are definitely praying about that!
I am still enjoying studying Romans extremely! I have the first eight chapters all copied out once, but I am making another copy to "scribble" on, as well as the one that I wanted to put up :). I need to hurry and finish the second copy, because I can't wait to start "scribbling", haha :). It has been wonderful to stay in one passage for so long. I feel that I had gained so much more insight than from reading almost half of the bible in this time like I have in the past. Not that I think the past readings were wasted! I also think it is wonderful to read large potions in a row to get the big picture of the book you are reading, and I may very well do it again :). I just like this, as well :).
We had a wonderful time of fellowship with Miss Brenda (a lady from church :)) yesterday in between services. She treated us to lunch, so sweet :). And the sermon yesterday I thought was wonderful. It was convicting, but also very encouraging :)!
We're now into a new week, and looking forward to how the Lord will use it :). I promise to do all in my power to post a Thankful Thursday catch-up this week :P.
I also wondered what those of you who read my blog would think of doing a recipe "contest" next week :)?...
(And, no, I'm not entirely sure why my blog background is missing... I'm working on it. I think it may be because the site I got it from is being up dated :).)

Abbi has been such a big help lately :)...

Among other things she has done, she made Mommy's big bed all by herself the other day :).

It's amazing how these little ones can sleep...

Peter is having some more of his fevers that seem linked to teething :(... If my memory is correct, nobody has had this hard a time with teeth. But he gives the best hugs :)...

She eats like a little pilgrim...

Heehee :). Abbi eats standing all the time (voluntarily)... I told you if she wasn't doing something that involved activity, you should worry ;).

Peter loves Emmi...

And I love them both... yummy babies...

It is really funny... Emmi was terrified every time Abbi fell asleep during bible time when Emmi was Peter's age (I personally think it was because that was the only time Emmi every saw Abbi asleep, as when we were in bed the light was off, and the sight of Abbi being still should cause fear to strike in the hearts of all who don't know the reason behind it ;)... it is just slightly sad that someone that young should have known that, too ;).). Anyway, Peter, on the other hand, just takes it as time to climb all over them and give them kisses :)...

Mommy did it :)!

Tori's blog is now here :)!!! I just figured out the last tiny detail (how come even things I have done before take my forever to figure out? I was just taking off "posted by Bri" from the footer... :)...), and now I think her blog is up and ready to be used :)! I just have to show her how to upload pictures while I post some on some of her old posts that I didn't do right on Homeschoolblogger :P, and the work on Tori's blog should be finish! But you can enjoy it now :)...

A picture and an update from last night's news...

 Just chillin'

(This was before the hair cut... haha :). I know he is fairly good at growing hair, but not that good ;).)

Now, as to Tori's blog, we may be importing it to Blogger. Maybe, maybe not. It may be quicker to copy and paste all her posts then to import them. Haha...
We left her blog "importing" all night. And it still isn't done. Sigh...
It looks like everything is going fine... until ten hours later when it is still "writing blog posts"! I shall try my best to move it :)... It may take a few weeks... months.... years... though :). Or, maybe, since I have stated the truth about the ridiculous time we're having, it will now work all of the sudden for some reason... it has happened before... twice, actually...

Get ready, get set, Tori's blog is going...

...to move to Blogger :).
I'm not positive this will be permanent, but, at least for now, I think it will cut down on a whole lot of confusion, and with that in mind, you may see her more often in the future, too :).
Since she is using the HomeschoolBlogger site, and I am using Blogger, I have problems helping her with uploading pictures/videos, finding gadgets, etc. Plus, you can't customize the background on that site, which is something she really wants, and Blogger has the fish gadget- another win for her ;).
It's not that HomeschoolBlogger is bad. It has served her good use :). But, for less trouble, it would be best if we were both using the same site so that we know where to find everything :). It will end up being on my account, at least for a few months, as we have tried to set her up her own Blogger account before, and it gave us it's own little fit of issues about adding her on, but she'll keep her old blog up, so that she is able to comment in her name, so that there won't be any confusion that way :).
I just wanted to give you all a heads up on why she won't be posting where you usually find her anymore :)...

Can you see the difference?

It is harder to tell in pictures than in person... But here is "Peter's" new accomplishment (maybe I should just say milestone...)
This is how much hair he had before...

...his haircut last Saturday. Kind of sad... but I love how his cheeks now look so much squishier :)...

And here he is afterwards :). Isn't he cute :)?...

This one is a before picture, but I just have to show you how hard he is working (just look at the tongue ;)!) at learning to stand by himself :). Precious little boy, handsome just like Daddy :)...

Our current team mascot... :)

(Pay good attention to his hair, even if that means you need to click on it and blow it up, or "nothing in the post to follow will seem miraculous". Haha :)...)

The rose didn't know if it's petals should face in or out...

...so, although she thought it was in, just to be safe, she told one to face out...
(Yes, that would be Abbi's rose...)

Little things...

We are enjoying our time with Daddy so much :)! It seems like it had been forever since we had last seen him... that has been the hardest part about this transition!
Tori has some new posts up on her blog... a post that we have been talking about for months, haha! Has anyone been interested in seeing what Tori's "claymation" and "video" are? Well, go check it out in this post! Finally! And enjoy her other posts since you have last checked up on her blog, while you are there, too :).
Oh, and watch for a post with pictures of a certain little boy's newest accomplishment... (does it count as his, though, if someone else did it for him? Hmm...)!
I'm going to go now and do some study in Romans, but I'll leave you with our hymn of the week, and the knowledge that this hymn by Charles Wesley originally had seventeen verses :)...

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
To spread thro’ all the earth abroad the honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease,
‘Tis music in the sinners’ ears; ‘tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and listening to His voice, new life the dead receive;
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice; the humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come; and leap, ye lame, for joy.

I saw this on our shelf the other day...

"February 32? Where have our lives gone?"
...which is why we usually don't have a clue what day it is ;).

"If I can not have a bookshelf in the living room, I shall find some other way to make a book display", thinks Emmi...

"Take a picture of me like this!" she begged...