God Provides

This past weekend we had the amazing opportunity to have communion in our home with several men, women and children from our church. We started our evening with prayer, celebrated with communion and ended with dinner and a great time of laughter and conversation. The day before the kids and I headed to Target to pick up some last minute items we needed for the gathering. I was serving a few different kinds of soup and others were bringing bread and salad. I realized that I was going to be short both bowls and salad plates and prayed before we left that I would be wise with my purchases and that God would provide what we needed. Provide He did and these are the little things that I want to remember when the days are rocky and He seems distant.

We found exactly the type of dishes I had pictured. They were simple and colorful and would serve the purpose perfectly. Imagine my amazement when I found they were all marked as clearance items. (Please excuse the messy kitchen. Although it often looks this way, I usually try not to preserve that in pictures. :))

Thank you Lord for your provision even in the small things that are necessary for our survival.

Future Carpenter

Little by little we are getting closer to painting and reworking the rooms upstairs. Isaac needed a bookshelf and some rearranging before paint colors and new bedding could be picked out, ordered and purchased. He announced that he would build the shelf and assured me that he didn't need any help. He was right and was so proud of the end product. Next up...getting rid of that terrible trim color and moving the car carpet to another room.

Neena Box

The excitement upon the arrival of a Neena box can hardly be contained. Periodically, my mom sends the kids a box with various things she thinks the kids will like and can use. She even puts a few things in for Dean and I. Thanks for making us feel special and loved Neena! We love you too!

Waiting not so patiently to open the box while Mom takes a picture.

The loved everything, but decided to hold their favorites.

Somehow Kate commandeered one of Isaac's favorites and Isabelle got a hold of one of mine.

The toothpaste was a huge hit!!

These were hidden away and made it into the candy jar a few days later. Admittedly, there are only a few left in the bottom of the candy jar.

Who knew that small packages of kleenex and toothpaste could be at the center of a high drama story that Isabelle created.

Snow Updates

For all of our friends and family who live far away, I thought I would post lots of pictures from the last week so you can see how our landscape has changed and how truly amazing the snow and ice have been this year. I know that lots of you have had crazy weather this winter too!! The kids have had a blast and I have been having fun taking pictures and staying inside where it is warm and cozy. :) Next year will be my year to buy snow gear. Little by little Kate is willing to venture outside, so my days of staying in and waiting to serve hot cocoa may be over. I will no longer have an excuse and can imagine myself giving in to the pleas of my children to come and play. :)

All of the above pictures were taken last Thursday when we got an amazing amount of snow (can't remember the exact numbers) on top of the already amazing amount of snow we received.

Wednesday of this week we managed to add some ice to top off that snow. The ice storm from the midwest hit us pretty hard. Thankfully we had no power outages and enjoyed having Dean work from home for a couple of days!

This morning I was on my way to our homeschool co-op when I got stuck in the driveway. The pictures don't really do it justice, but I was wedged in between rock hard snow and rock hard snow. The temps were in single digits last night and everything was still quite frozen bright and early this morning. Kevin, the wonderful man who plows our driveway, had warned me that they were having a difficult time finding places to put the snow and that they might have to bring up a loader at some point in time. Evidently, the difficulty has reached the point that I am going to have to be very, very careful as I leave my driveway each day. This afternoon, with the help of warmer temps, ice melt, a shovel and an ice chipper, I was able to get the car moving and parked in a better place. Why do these things always happen when Dean is traveling? Thankfully, he arrived home tonight and I was able to get it taken care of so he didn't have to manage it in the dark.

These pictures were taken today and I tried to capture how amazingly deep the snow is. Because the top layer is frozen, the kids are able to walk around most of the yard without sinking. Isaac's head is not typically at the same height as the bird feeders and Isabelle could step right over the baby swing if she wanted too. Truly amazing!!

Bird Watching

So much fun to see this Pileated woodpecker and the Northern Flicker woodpecker just outside our dining room window yesterday. We saw the Pileated woodpecker once last year and have been on lookout since then. He spent so much time on the cedar tree closest to the house and we were able to get some great shots. The Northern Flicker joined him at the end, but only for a short time. They were both so beautiful and fun to watch!!