PICTURES

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks and a few from the baby shower today.
You know the drill, click on each thumbnail to view the picture in a much larger size.

the miss playing during the Earth Day cleanup.






The miss and a day care kiddo after snack time



Look G.G., The miss is wearing the dress you got her. It sure is adorable.



The miss looking at the fish during the baby shower for Kellee.



getting tickled



Miss and Ginger



Okay, these are not thumbnails, but just the pictures themselves.
And they are the belly shots. That is me with Kate's sister, Kellee. She is due June 9th.






Don't you just love hideous maternity pants? My other pair don't cover up my belly and I would never have done a shot with my belly like that in the other pants. So, I guess it's your lucky day. (I don't like that picture though!)

No habla espanol

Well, it was almost in the 80's this past weekend and tonight it is snowing. Yep, snowing. And it is 28 degrees. I tell you this place is random. I know I have said that often, but it amazes me each time.
So, tonight I went out to Safeway to get some travel items for DH to take with him on his trip. I then thought I'd be a sweetie and get him some magazines to read on the plane. Now there were like three guys in the magazine aisle, so I was trying to look at the magazines while trying to also look around them. This is my excuse...don't know how good it is. Anyway, I grabbed an astronomy magazine and a Sports Illustrated for DH. So, he was just finishing his packing and was grabbing stuff for his carry on bag, when he came downstairs...magazine in hand...to ask me if this was some kind of joke. He holds up the Sports Illustrated. I said....um...is it not a good issue or something. He was like, you really can't tell? Look! So, I looked and still saw nothing wrong. Then I looked again and saw that it was all in Spanish. I had gotten him the Latino issue of Sports Illustrated. I started cracking up. I told him that he could take a Spanish English dictionary with him on the plane and translate the issue. That would definitely help time to go quickly. Oh well. It's funny though. Well, it's late and I need some sleep. Good night all.

Today

Well, I just took my final for my Bible class and I ended up with an 86% on it, so I guess that's not too bad. I think I have a 95% in the class as my overall grade. But there are still some assignments for him to grade.
The miss has had fun today. She's had so much energy today and has been running around a lot. Her and DH also had some light saber fights today, it was cute. When she'd hit him with the light saber, she'd say Hiiiiii Yaaaa. It was funny.
Church was nice today and we went out to eat afterwards, which was nice. When we got home, I ended up taking almost as long of a nap as the miss. It seems the hotter the weather out here, the more tired I am. I feel drained lately. It could also be due to being in my third trimester also, but I just feel so tired all of the time. Only 10 more weeks left though.


Oh and here is a little something from one of the Proverbs 31 Ministries radio bits they do. I liked the perspective that it gives. So, enjoy.
Do you sometimes get tired of the endless hours of housework? The washing…the ironing…the cooking… the washing again? Hi, I'm Sharon Jaynes with Proverbs 31 Ministries and I'll admit that sometimes I complain about keeping the castle clean. I often think, does anyone even notice all my hard work? Then one day, I was mopping the kitchen floor and I had a thought. Suppose I was blind and I couldn't see the crumbs under the chair, or I was deaf, and couldn't hear the sound of the mop moving back and forth. Suppose I didn't have a home or a family to clean up after.

So instead of complaining, I started to pray.
"Thank you God for the privilege of mopping this dirty floor, for the health and strength to hold this mop, for the sight to see the crumbs and the dirt. Thank you for the many precious feet that will walk through this room and dirty it up again."

The Power of A Good Example

An article by Pastor Greg Laurie

A man who had been looking for work for a long time decided to inquire at the local zoo. He told the zookeeper, “I would like a job. I will clean cages. I will do whatever you need.”

The zookeeper said, “I’m sorry. We would love to hire you, but there just aren’t any openings right now.” Noticing how big and burly the man was, the zookeeper had an idea. He said, “This is crazy, and you don’t have to agree to it, but would you be willing to put on a costume and pretend to be a gorilla? Our gorilla died last week. He was our most popular exhibit. If you will be the gorilla, we will have a suit custom-made for you. We’ll pay you really well.”

Desperate for work, the man took the job. Feeling a little apprehensive on his first day, he put on the gorilla suit and climbed into the cage. He made a few gorilla moves and beat his chest a little. The people loved it. The next day, he tried shaking the bars, screaming, and running around. The crowds started growing. By the third day, he was really enjoying his job and began swinging on the vines. But he swung too far, went over the wall, and landed in the middle of the lion’s cage.

The lion turned and walked toward him rather quickly. The man knew that if he called for help, people would discover he wasn’t really a gorilla. But if he kept quiet, he would be the lion’s lunch. So he screamed, “Help!”

“Shut up, Stupid!” the lion whispered back. “You’ll get us both fired!”

There are a lot of people like this in the church today. They are putting on a show. They are pretending to be something they are really not.

You may be a good representative of Jesus Christ, or you may be a bad one. Either way, you are His representative. Some people may never open the Bible and read John 3:16. They may never look to see what the Scriptures say to them. But they will watch you. They will take note of the way you live, the way you treat your family, the way you do your job, and the way you function as a follower of Jesus Christ. And they will make their evaluation about God accordingly.

Philippians 2 presents a powerful portion of Scripture that shows us how important a good example really is:


Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (verses 12–13 NKJV)
There was a special bond between Paul and the believers in Philippi. They were in great agony over the fact that Paul was in prison and could not be with them. So Paul was saying, “I don’t want you to lower your guard spiritually, even if I am not around. I don’t want you go into some kind of a spiritual cruise control and not continue to move forward.” Paul wanted the believers to stand on their own two feet spiritually. How were they to do this? We see the answer in verse 12: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

This doesn’t say to work for your own salvation. It says to work out your own salvation. This phrase, “work out,” means, “to carry it to the goal and fully complete it.” In the original language, the phrase also could be translated to mean working a mine, as in mining for gold.

God wants us to carry to the goal and fully complete our own salvation. In recognition of what God has done for us, we have to realize that He has placed the mother lode of His grace and forgiveness in our lives. We need to mine it. We need to discover it. We need to appropriate it. We need to carry it to the goal.

That may seem like a tall order. It is. But let’s not forget verse 13: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Remember, the calling of God is the enabling of God. If God asks you to do something, then He will give you the power to do it.

Glucose

Well, I had my glucose test today to test for gestational diabetes. I had to fast last night, so I couldn't eat after 7:30 P.M., which I hated. Anyway, the stuff you have to drink for the test never bothered me when I was pregnant with the miss, but DH's boss who is also pregnant and due close to when I am, got sick from it and felt loopy afterwards. So, because of that, she told DH to go with me and stay at the lab with me and then take me home. So we and the little miss went to the lab bright and early this morning. We were there for an hour and a half. Because, after you drink the stuff, you have to sit for an hour before your blood can be drawn. I brought a huge bag though of stuff for the miss and she was very very well behaved. The only time she got upset was when I grabbed one of the six books I had brought and gave it to a mom sitting by me with a two year old who didn't want to sit still. She was trying to entertain him, but he was bored. The moment I handed it over, the miss started crying and saying mine. So, we gave it back to Aher. Of course she held onto it the rest of the time. She wasn't using the book before that point. But that is her age right now. She is starting to learn about sharing, but right now in her development, she is concerned about her own needs and that is normal.
Anyway, she was really good at the lab with us and I was very impressed.
She is starting to really get into letters. She pointed to a D on one of my day care kid's shirts and said, "D". So, I think that is great.

I've decided that it is time to start sharing Bible stories with the miss. I think she is at a good age for it. I was watching my Psychology lecture last night and the professor had a 2 1/2 year old with her for the first few minutes of the lecture and was just showing us some of her development. Anyway, the little girl must have been a daughter of a friend or family member. But she asked the girl if they could talk about the story of the hurt man. She of course meant the story of the Good Samaritan. So the professor started saying how a poor man was laying on the side of the rode hurt. she said that a Priest walked by. Then she asked the little girl, "Did the Priest help the hurt man?" And the little girl said, "No." Then the prof. said that "the Levite walked by next and did he help the hurt man?" And the little girl again said no. So then the professor asked the girl, "then another man came and who was he?" And the girl said, "I don't know." Then my professor said, "Oh, yes, you do. you like to pretend to be him." And the little girl said, "Oh the samaritan." The way she said it was soooo cute. Then the professor said that the samaritan put the hurt man on his donkey. Anyway, after they finished the story, the professor asked the little girl if she likes to help people. Then she asked the little girl, "What would you do if your sister was hurt?" The little girl said, "I'll put her on my donkey." It made me chuckle and I realized that it's time for the miss to learn about the Bible. I mean we pray and talk about Jesus, but it's time for the Bible stories. :o)

Pictures

Click the thumbnails below to view the picture in full size.

Happy Easter

Well, it is Easter Sunday today. I hope that you all have time and make time today to reflect on all that Jesus did for us. I hope that your day is filled with a reflection of His amazing love for us. May conversations during Easter meal with families reflect upon why it is you are celebrating today and may you be a witness today for those who do not know of this amazing and life changing love.

Pine Tree Crosses

I found this on another site and wanted to share it with you.

Easter Pine Tree Crosses

"Last April on a Sunday we took one of our “nowhere” drives, my husband was quietly driving a back road. I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching the scenery. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was straining to look out my window. This startled me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out the windows, and he quietly replied, “Nothing.” His eyes went back to the road in front of him.

After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told me, “I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told me.” Of course, because it had to do with his Pop I wanted to know the story, so I asked him to share it with me.

He said, “When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing and that’s when he told me that the Pine trees know when it is Easter.”

I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information. He continued on… “The Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter — if you look at the tops of the Pine trees two weeks before, you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the Pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots.”

I turned to look out the window and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all of the trees with the tall yellow shoots stretching to Heaven. The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses."

The miss yapping

The miss was so cute today and she just filled me with so much laughter today. She had DH and I cracking up most of the night also. I was outside with the kiddos today and instead of playing, she stood by me and just talked to me for ten minutes. She was very into what she was talking about..she moved her hands and everything. Every now and then I'd pick up a few words. She kept talking about a blue butterfly in the sky. She also mentioned her head and feet a lot. She even talked about herself, she starts those sentences with her name. She was so animated in what she was talking about though, and it was so cute. I wanted to hold her in my arms and give her kisses, but every time I asked her for a kiss, she'd turn me down and continue to babble.

The weather has been beautiful. It's been in the upper seventies and sunny, but with just enough breeze to let you sit outside and go, ahhhhhhhhh. Gotta love it.

Well, it's time for me to get some sleep. But, I wanted to share an article with you that I came across on a website devoted to women and being a Proverbs 31 woman. Anyway, it's a great article all about the return of Christ and our attitude about it.
View Article.