Hearts in Service Blog

Normally our creek is a little stream that runs by the house. In the summer it provides hours of fun for the children. They play in the water and catch snakes, frogs, and all kind of water creepy-crawlies. However, during the spring when the snow melts it becomes a raging torrent. It poured all day on Saturday and this is a small example of what happens when the snow melts up on the mountain. You can hear it roaring inside the house even with the windows closed. The kids are not allowed to play near it when it is rising because it looks much worse than it does in these pictures. Today the sun was out and the water has receded back to it's normal stream. The children went out and had a blast playing in the sunshine! Also, our bald eagle was back and soaring over the house. It was a beautiful day today. Spring is on it's way. I saw the first robin yesterday. Whoo Hoo!!!

One of the reasons I started this blog was to keep friends and family in touch with what is going on with our church plant. It's hard to believe that on May 1st we will have been here for 5 years. Time has really zipped by. It has been so amazing to us to see how the church is suddenly taking off. We have limped along in the high 20s and low 30s for 4 1/2 years and in the last 6 months we have grown by leaps and bounds. We are averaging in the 50s and some Sundays have had as many as 70 people in attendance. More importantly than numbers we have seen people's lives change. We celebrated the baptism of 3 new believers in January. We see many others who have never stepped foot inside a church beginning to come and find Jesus Christ. The 3D Girl's club that I run every Thursday night has been a wonderful way to teach these little girls about Jesus but their parents are starting to come and learn about Him too. One major prayer concern we have right now is a place to mee...

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:19-20 Good morning! Do you have music in your heart this morning? Can you sing to the Lord even during difficult days? How do you do this? I think the key is givng thanks to God the Father for everything! It's hard to be joyful if you're not thankful. Do you make a habit of constantly lifting up thanks to God? I'm not just talking about the good things though often we forget to do that as well. Do you thank God for the trials he has brought into your life? Do you thank him for whatever it is that he wants you to learn from the struggle you are going through? If we are to sing and make music it requires us getting our eyes off the circumstances and onto God. LIft up praises of thanksgiving to him as you go about your day. Thank him in each and every cir...

I changed the music to all classical music. My mother mentioned to me, and I noticed it myself, that it's a bit difficult to read while listening to words of the songs. Besides, I look more cultured this way ;-)! Terri

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. The sun was out and it was near 50 degrees. So I told the children that when Dan & I went for our walk that they should ride their bikes. They've been cooped up in the house for much of the winter and were so happy to be out and about. Emily with Katie and Ringer, our landlord's dogs. The sun was so bright she couldn't keep her eyes open. Ready to go. They're off! Mr. Serious. Beautiful views. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine and fresh air. Spring is coming!!!

Okay, I don't want to go into too many details because it wouldn't be very edifying but Dan & I had the most bizarre afternoon. Ummmm, let's just say we were invited to dinner with a few people from church at someone's house. And then let's say when we got there it was a room full of people that we didn't know at all. And then let's say one of the women that was there and I just met, proceeded to tell me everything she thought was wrong with homeschooling. Did I say that I just met her? By the way, the people we knew did show up but the room was so packed that we couldn't speak to them. Then, let's say that after we sat around for an hour and a half waiting to eat when this very well-dressed lady showed up with these men in suits. The lady, who was not the hostess, started agressively introducing herself to everyone and then said we need to eat because the presentation lasts about 40 minutes!!!! Presentation? What presentation? Wasn't...

I added music to my blog so if you have speakers, listen away :-)! The only thing I can't figure out is how to keep it playing if you go to a different page on the blog. The music just starts all over again. If you go to the bottom of the page, you can click on the song you want to hear.