Can You Read?

Visitors to our home, BEWARE, shortly after you sit down and make yourself at home, you can expect to get "the question"from all three of my children. Since this past weekend we have been blessed with three sets of visitors to our home. It doesn't matter if you stay the night, are just passing through, old, young, married, or single, they couldn't care less. That's the litmus test of our kids, whether or not you will read to them. They LOVE books, and we have lots of them. Usually I will try to save the guest after one or maybe two books, but if you stay a little while, you can expect to get asked again and again and again.

Caught them being good

No, not my two-legged children but my four legged ones. While I was enjoying a moment of nap-time peace as I wrote my last post, I turned around and saw this sight. How sweet! Meet Moose the dog and Pokey the cat. They've been buds for the last 10 years.

p.s. This is another reason why my couch cover is washable. They don't do pet beds.

Joy comes in the morning

There's no better way to say it, I LOVE SPRING! I love seeing flowers pushing up through the ground and the trees in full bloom. Winter left kicking and screaming and in her wake we have had amazing weather and all that brings with it. My front yard only gets morning sun, and although the cold weather hangs out a little longer in this part of the country, my flowers are one of the last to bloom (I just think of it as a way to prolong the celebration of spring.)

One of my favorite spring flowers are hyacinths because they are just so fragrant. These are just outside my front door and I could sit on my front steps and smell them all day long. Playing in my garden is therapeutic for me, and I hope to have many pictures to come.

This month has been one of highs and lows for us. Hubby is still home (I'm not complaining although I understand his desire to finish his work and we're still waiting on final answers) and the kids are healthy and growing like weeds. I finally finished my on-line course, and although it was a bit stressful towards the end, I did well and feel all the better for having taken it. My grey cells have been exercised and I have some new found knowledge I will apply in the future. We've had some trials that I will one day share but at this time I'm still processing, but through all of this I can say that God has been and is faithful. He's given us the strength we've needed for the giants we've faced, and while we don't understand all the whys I'm going to trust the Master Gardener's plans.

Something's Fishy

I really should be doing many other things, but I just had to share the quilt that I made for my daughter's pre-K class (I finished it while we were traveling with hubby.) I can't take credit for the idea. It came from Marcia Layton's book Handprint Quilts. Each child had their hands dipped in paint and then the teachers embellished the prints with "puffy" paints. Although it's hard to see, I sewed on sequins for bubbles and made little waves with a blue thread. I also added each child's picture and made it look like bubbles in the center of the quilt. It will be auctioned off to help raise money for the school, and I have to say that it's probably one of my favorite quilts- VERY easy to make. (But I won't be buying it back since the minimum bid is $200.)

Change of Plans

The latest word is... due to an unexpected illness, hubby will not be returning to Iraq. He's fine, but we need prayer for wisdom for those making decisions about his health and about his career.

While I'm more than happy to have him home, it's hard for him not being able to finish the job he started. Right now we're taking one day at a time, trusting God's will above our own.

A few more...

Here are some highlights.

My oldest turned FIVE!!! Where has the time gone?!?
The weather warmed up just enough for a bike ride.

And D finally got a haircut!
Before and... after- still curly.

Time flies

We had a wonderful three weeks. There's a lot to write about, but I'll do that later. Here are some of the highlights:

Daddy has cool gear!

We got stuck an extra night on the drive home due to a blizzard. Some areas near us had two feet. When the snow plows were clearing the parking lot the snow was piled as high as our van.

"The boys" chilled out together in the hotel.

It felt very good to finally make it home. Jerusalem's (from My Little Life) banner was a perfect welcome back.