End of Activities

Yesterday was my last MOPS meeting for this school year. The ending day brunch is actually next Tues., but I will be gone and won't be able to attend it. Tonight is our last Breakout class until fall, so that is 2 activities that I'm involved in that are finshed for a few months. I always have mixed feelings about the end of these activities. On the one hand, it is always nice to take a break and have some extra time to get caught up with outside chores, etc. On the other hand, I miss the MOPS Moms and our Breakout kids when I don't see them each week. Some of them end up leaving the groups for one reason or another, so I don't ever see them again, and that makes me feel sad. I just pray the time I've had with them has been helpful in some way and has strengthened them in their walk with the Lord. I sometimes wonder if what I do or say in MOPS especially, helps anyone. Every once in awhile someone will give me some positive feedback, so that encourages me to keep plugging away. Are there people in my life that I don't give positive feedback to that could use an encouraging word? That sounds like something for me to work on.

Trying to get a good picture of 2 kids and Grandma

Wednesday I decided to have Ken take a picture of me with the 2 grandkids. It's a lot more difficult than it sounds!


Take 1, It's time to wiggle and squirm.


Take 2, Let's make a face and look down.


Take 3, Open your eyes Grandma


Take 4, Getting closer with a fake smile, but not too bad of Annika and Grandma.


Take 5, This is getting boring and I'm ready for a nap!


Finally a good one, thanks to photo shop!

Memorizing Verses

I realized one night during our breakout class that I have parts of Bible verses in my head, but have fogotten the whole thing and where it is found in the Bible. So, I decided to work on getting some more verses in my head and reviewing some I learned many years ago. (I came to this conclusion when all the kids we teach recited the fruits of the Spirit, while Ken and I stumbled along.) Naturally, I started with Galations 5:22-23, which is the list of the fruits of the Spirit. I decided it might be good to add a few verse beyond the list, so I went ahead and memorized Gal. 5:22-26. I felt sucessful enough in that project, that I proceeded on to another list, the one on what things to think about in Philippians 4:8-9. This time I added a few verse before and after, so that when I am finished I will have almost the whole chapter memorized (Phil. 4:4-13). I am still working on the last couple of these verses, but am feeling good that I am close to attaining my goal. Several of the verses in this passage just needed to be refreshed in my memory, so that made it easier. An added benefit is that when I am facing a frustrating delay or other situation, if I start reciting those verse, they help me calm down and I can handle the situation in the way I know God wants me to.

Bumper Bowling

For those who don't know, Ken and I teach a discipleship class on Wed. nights for 3rd graders. It is a 3 year program and ends with a short missions trip after they complete all 3 years and are in 5th grade. As we go through the year, the kids earn points and we take them to do some fun activities as a reward for all their hard work. Sat. was one of those activity days and we went bowling as a group. When you go bowling with kids, you get to have bumpers put up on your bowling lanes so you don't spend the whole day rolling gutter balls. I bowled with 4 girls and the first game we bowled in a normal manner. As we started the second game however, the girls were talking about the speed of the ball, which is displayed on the scoreboard overhead each time you bowl. They decided to see who could get the highest speed out of their ball. Most of them got between 5 and 7 miles per hour, I was able to get over 7, since I am older. Then we decided to see who could get the most hits on the bumpers as the ball traveled down the lane. I have to admit that I did the best on that also, although one of the girls tied me the second time we tried it. We sent the ball down twice each turn, then added the number of hits together. I was able to hit the bumpers 10 times in my 2 rolls and had a speed of .3 mph. I wasn't sure the ball was going to make it all the way down to the pins that time. We also did one round of standing backwards and rolling the ball between the legs. It was a lot of fun and the funny thing was that we still did pretty good on getting the pins down.

Spring is here??

We woke up this morning to snow on the ground, again. This is the second time in April that it has snowed enough that it has accumulated on the ground. We have lived in Washington for 25 years now and this is the first time that we have ever had snow in April, let alone twice. It does make for a pretty picture however! Last Saturday, while we were out of town, we had record breaking high temperatures, now in less than a week we've gone the other way. Since everything lately is blamed on global warming, I figure that must be what's causing this too.

Clever grandson

I was at Kari's house playing with Saben on Monday, when he all of a sudden started talking about the fact that they didn't have a honey bear at their house. (I do have one that he has used to put honey on his peanut butter and honey sandwich. That was actually one of the things he said he wanted for his birthday.) I told him that maybe Mommy would buy him one when she needed to get more honey, then I said that he was a honey bear. He promptly responded saying that I was a sugar shack. It cracked me up! I don't know where he heard that phrase, but it was such a quick and appropriate response to go with honey bear, that I was also amazed. Grandkids are such fun!

First Blog

I decided to try blogging since I enjoy reading the blogs of my children and nieces, and learning more about what is going on in their lives. I'm feeling a little nervous about whether I'll have enough to say, but I'm willing to give it a try. Hopefully, those who read my blog will learn more about me. But now I need to eat the bowl of ice cream that my wonderful husband just brought me.