Encouraging Deep Roots

For those of you praying for our church plant we got the word from our district office and they said, "No." to the garage. They didn't have a peace about it after praying and discussing it. This is totally fine because our board had the same feeling. It was going to require quite a bit of money to renovate something that didn't belong to us. Also, we have been growing so much lately that we may outgrow the place before we even get in. So we are back to praying and looking for a new place to meet. Please keep this matter in your prayers as well. We are totally trusting the Lord in this. The buyer of the building where we meet now will let us stay for a few more months but he definitely is going to need the place so we do have to be on the look out. Thank you for your faithful prayers!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and the skies were a brilliant blue. What a wonderful day to be out and about. Look at that sky! There was even a bald eagle flying above the house. Just beautiful. A wonderful day to go out and enjoy the weather. Then I happened to go look at the thermometer out the kitchen window. Brrrr! 34 degrees and very windy. We ended up staying inside and enjoying the view from the windows.

Dan & I were asked to speak at our homeschool support group last Tuesday night. The subject was preparing our children for life. This is a scary topic! The reason we were asked was the leader happens to teach the boys at their homeschool co-op finance class and she noted their maturity compared to some of the other children. She also commented on the fact that the children seem to have a vision for church planting and we are unified as a family in this area. I would love to take total credit for this but I'm afraid Dan & I can't take it all. I believe that much of my children's maturity comes from the fact that they deal with so many things that most kids never have to. Nathan is severely learning disabled, has short stature, and Tourette's Syndrome. Stephen has generalized anxiety disorder. Emily has severe food and environmental allergies. Those are some heavy duty things for children to deal with. The very fact that they have to deal with these issue...

In an effort to continue my previous post about presenting ourselves honestly, I thought I'd show you just how perfect I am NOT!!! Here are a few hot spots around my house today. Computer desk. Yes, there are dust bunnies under the monitor! Believe it or not, I actually decluttered quite a bit in this spot today. Upstairs landing. I keep a table up there where I can put a child to work independently. However, as you can see, there is not much room to work. Kitchen counter. Basket of clothes and slippers that have been sitting in the same spot for the past 2 days. Counter top. This is the worse spot for clutter in the whole house. This is my number one goal for the week. Clean up this mess! I have a shelf for piano books. I have a shelf for regular books. But somehow they always manage to be left right where you see them. Living room. Now, I can say that this is NOT my mess. Guess who is going to clean this one up? All I can say is that her name is ...

My children love pizza and I make it every few weeks or so. I thought I'd share my recipe with you all. Pizza Dough 1 Tbsp. yeast 2 cups, luke warm water 3 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. sugar 4 Tbsp. olive oil 6 1/4 cups, flour I make my dough in my Kitchen Aid mixer. These keeps me from having to knead the dough since the dough hook and the mixer does the job for you. If you don't have a mixer, just turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead until elastic. In the mixer, place the yeast and warm water. I whisk them together until the yeast is dissolved and foamy. Whisk in salt, sugar and olive oil. Add the flour a bit at a time and mix on a low speed until well combined. Mix on medium for 5 minutes until the dough is elastic. Cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Your dough will look like this when done. Grease two cookie sheets and divide the dough in two. Spread out on the cookie sheets with your hands. Pour and spread pizza sauce ...

Yesterday was a down sort of day. Mondays tend to be like that after the busyness of Sunday but I didn't feel well at all either. So after school was over, I sent the kids outside and I went myself to try and get some fresh air. It didn't help me feel better but the kids enjoyed themselves. I realize that I've had a lot of outdoor pictures lately. To be honest, we are developing cabin fever so we are living outdoors as much as possible. Buds on the magnolia tree. A sure sign of spring. Emily & I walked up through the woods. I have lived here for 4 years and had no idea at the top of the woods I would come upon this! I've never gone all the way to the top. Beautiful views. The creek has receded. Aren't they silly? Later on Emily played chess with Dan. Overall, it was a quiet day. I still have a major headache this morning so I'm hoping today goes better.

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!!!