This weather is strange...

....well, not that strange being that we live in the Midwest.  It's part of life.

A week ago Sunday (April 11) we had a freaky warm day of 85 degrees.  The next day it dropped to a high of 55 degrees.  But being that we've had a long, cold winter, that still seems warm to us.

While Sofia was at school, I took Selah and Isaiah to a local park.  It was so nice to be in the sunshine.  Note Selah's flipflops.:)

But here we are one week later and this is what we woke up to this morning.  Two and half inches of snow.  It was a real wet snow so it stuck to the trees making for a beautiful scene.

Selah was ready to go out and play at 7:00 a.m.  I made her wait until 9:00 a.m.  She really does love the snow.  Maybe she's the one praying for summer to be delayed?

Sofia Makes Breakfast

You've got to love a servant's heart. And I love how this little girl desires to have a servant's heart.

Last week she woke up before anyone else in the family which is something considering we are talking about Sofia. She is usually the last one to sleep and the last one to wake. I thought I heard someone about in the kitchen so when I got up it was so sweet to find that she had made breakfast for the family.

The above picture shows the breakfast she made for mommy and daddy. The green bowl had daddy's multigrain cheerios with a banana, and the white bowl had mommy's raisin bran with an apple.

The below picture shows the breakfast she made for Selah. Knowing that you eat pancakes hot, Sofia put some on a plate for Selah then left them in the freezer ready to go for her.

She helped me make the coffee then I sat down with my daughter and had a lovely breakfast.

The Butterfly Exhibit

As I shared in my previous post, last Friday I took the girls and their cousin to visit the Butterly Exhibit at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.

 

 

 

 

After learning how God designed the lifecycle of eggs to caterpillars to chrysalides to butterflies, it was time to enjoy the butterflies.  And butterflies there were.  The exhibit volunteers told me that this year is one of the best.  It was amazing walking through the tropical conservatory with the butterflies freely flying around.

The girls were determined to have a butterly land on them.

Finally one landed on Stella.

They loved Stella.  She had about four land on her at different times.
Selah had one land on her finger...she was in awe!

Sadly Sofia never had one land on her (it may be due to her jumpiness every time one flew by) but Stella was sweet enough to share this one until security came and shook it off of them.

It was quite warm inside the conservatory so we took a break outside.  The girls loved going through the butterfly maze, running around the treehouse, and climbing the statues.

It really was a great time with only one incident.  And what an incident it was.  Selah (surprise!) was getting quite tired and the heat didn't help.  When she was ready to go, she was ready to go.  We were sticking around trying to wait for a butterfly to land on Sofia.  So when Selah saw a door and mommy wasn't looking, she went for it.  Then everyone knew Selah was ready to go because it was an emergency door that she opened.  The sirens went off, security came running, and the butterfly staff came to make sure no butterflies had escaped.  All the commotion overwhelmed Selah, she began to cry, and meltdown mode was in fullswing.  Definitely time to go.  



 
Thankfully we still had some smiles left for Stella to capture of mommy and her girls.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for Sofia.   Because of rain, cold temperatures, and daddy working it probably wasn't the most exciting one but it was a good one.  One of the most exciting things we did was visit the Butterfly Exhibit at Meijer Gardens in GR.  I'll write a post on just that visit next.

Monday and Tuesday were spent doing mundane things like cleaning and organizing.  Believe it or not, but Sofia loves to organize so she enjoyed being able to get her winter clothes put away and preparing her Spring and Summer clothes.  On Tuesday we tried to go to the library in the afternoon but it was so crowded that there wasn't even a parking space available.  Instead we called up some friends and they met us at the mall where the kids played on the indoor playarea.  That evening we went back to the library when it was much less crowded.

Wednesday our dear friend Krista came over and watched the kids while I did some errands.  The weather warmed up a bit that day so Krista took them on a walk which was a HUGE treat (and they wore their new flip flops with their coats)!!!  Later in the afternoon, Sofia's friend from her class, Bree, came over to play.  Bree's mommy and sisters also came. 

Thursday late afternoon we as a family headed over to Michigan to visit Grandpa Sheck and the rest of the Sheckler gang.

On Friday, 12 of the Shecklers met up at The Cottage Bar (Kevin's brother, Glen, is the manager) for lunch.  They were voted by USA Today as having the best burger in Michigan.  After lunch, I took the girls and their cousin, Stella, to the Gardens. 

Stella, Sofia and Selah

The girls being silly.

Isaiah hung out with Grandpa and daddy and watched the Cubs opener on t.v.

 

Isaiah loved hanging out with Grandpa Sheck

 That night more family got together and headed to the local fish fry for dinner.  Afterwards we all just hung out at Grandpa's house. 

Sofia and Selah with cousins Hayley and Jordyn

 Saturday afternoon we headed back home. 

Sunday evening Aunt Kelli arrived with cousins Caleb and Hannah along with their friends Kim and Eric.  Their Spring Break was just beginning.  We played charades and a mean couple of games of Sequence.

Caleb and Aunt Kelli are on the right of the pic

Cousin Hannah

Now it is back to school.  The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and flowers are beginning to bloom.  Maybe Spring is finally here to stay. 

Parent/Student/Teacher Conference

A couple of weeks ago we had Sofia's second semester parent-teacher conference.  This time the students were active participants.  Sofia gave us (mommy, daddy, Selah and Isaiah all attended) a hands on look at what she does at school.

First up was for her to read to us from her journal. 

The next station was math.   I found it so interesting how they are taught to "read the story" of math.  (You can tell I'm not a teacher.)

Unfortunately I did not take a picture of her at the Smart Board.  Now that is amazing.  No more chalkboards or wipeboards.  At the Smart Board station Sofia stood at the screen and did a reading game using her fingers as the mouse.

After the stations we sat down with Mrs. Jones.  We have really appreciated her being Sofia's teacher this first year of school.  She really desires for Sofia to be a life-long learner.

(pic by Selah)

At this point in time, Sofia is above grade-level reading, needs to work on her spelling, and Mrs. Jones would like her to remember that it's okay to not always be the one to answer the questions.

We are very proud of Sofia.  We are very thankful that she does love to go to school.  And we do pray that she will be a life-long learner.   

Sofia's letter to God

This morning Sofia came downstairs with a letter in her hand.  She wrote it last night after being put to bed.  Kevin and I were pretty blown away by the depth of her words.  This is the letter (She had to read it to me and show me where her sentences were.)

I love you God.  I know you are watching me.  I'm doing stuff wrong like right now.

Do you really love me?  God it is hard to listen.  I'm a Christian.

Give me wisdom.  I want to be like you but I know I need your help.

That is why you are here.

The Park

Ahhhhh....the park.  Last week we visited one of our favourite parks with some of our favourite playmates.  It was so wonderful to be outside playing without snowjackets and snowboots.

Isaiah went in a swing for the first time.

The girls played and played and played with their friends then enjoyed have their snack at the park

We look forward to so many more play times at the park.

The Alarm

After a very cold and snowy winter, last week we enjoyed some relatively warm temperatures.  There were a couple of days when the temps reached into the 50s.  This meant lots of OUTSIDE PLAY!!!  

We don't, however, have windows in the front of our house.  So when the girls go out to ride their bikes or scooters, I am needing to check on them every few minutes. To help with the check-in process, I give Sofia the alarm clock in the above picture.  When the alarm goes off, she checks in with me, I reset the alarm (usually for 10 minutes) and off she goes.  This has been very helpful especially if Isaiah is napping or I'm in the kitchen making dinner.

Signs it's ALMOST Spring!

Today the sun is shining and the temperature has made its way to the high 50s.  AHHHH!!!

Spring doesn't officially begin until March 20 but I thought I would share how in our neck of the woods we know that Spring is almost here.

Small patches of snow instead of a blanket of snow covers our grass
The lake water looks like one big slushy instead of a frozen tundra
Tastee Freeze, Dairy Queen, and the local hot dog stand have re-opened

We hear birds singing

We hear the rev of motorcycles
Road construction is in fullswing

Getting ready to go out takes less time (no more jacket, hat, gloves, scarf, boots)

The girls are actually playing outdoors

 

Believe me, we are ready for Spring.  We look forward to the trees sprouting buds, flowers blooming, and the grass turning green.  We are excited about birds nesting in the backyard trees, the bumblebees flying around, ladybugs landing on our hands and chasing butterflies.  Oh Spring is a most wonderful time to not only appreciate creation but to praise the CREATOR!!!

Encouraging Trip

Last Monday I (along with Isaiah) left on a trip to California.  It was a quick trip but a very encouraging trip.  It was encouraging physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Isaiah enjoying his first plane ride.  He was a great traveler.

The first encouragement came to me physically through the WEATHER.  That Monday morning when we left for the airport the temperature was around 35 degrees.  Thankfully it was a clear, non-windy day so I didn't wear a jacket.  We arrived in Ontario, CA at 3 p.m.  My dad had warned me that they were experiencing cooler temperatures that day but it would warm up.  Well, what one thinks is "cool" is all relative to our known norms because I was very thankful I was not wearing my jacket upon arrival.  As Isaiah and I were standing curbside waiting for my dad to pick us up, I couldn't help but giggle when I heard more than one person "complaining" about how cold it was.  You see it was maybe 62 degrees.:)  A couple hours later I was meeting with a couple of people.  One stated she needed to get some hot tea because she was cold.  The funny thing was at that same moment I was stating I needed to get a smoothie because I was so warm. 

And no doubt I was LOVING the weather that Tuesday and Wednesday when the temps were 72 and 79 respectively.  Isaiah enjoyed not wearing socks and booties, and especially seemed to enjoy roaming around the guest apt. in just his diaper whenever possible.  Isaiah was also introduced to grass.  He loved the feeling of his bare feet being tickled by the blades.

Ahhhh...grass!

Isaiah hanging with Uncle Kirk on his Harley

The second encouragement I had was emotionally through FAMILY.  I am so thankful for a family that loves each other.  We don't need to see each other every day (even though we would like to) and we have a most amazing bond not only by blood but in Jesus Christ.  On Tuesday evening we gathered as many of the So Cal family members as we could at our favourite Mexican restaurant, Olivia's.  My dad, step mom Leesa, and foster brother Manny were there.  Kirk, Tamra and Kyle were also there along with Uncle Galen, Aunt Sondra, Uncle David, Uncle Roger, Aunt Julie, cousin Melissa, cousin David and Charity and their three boys Hayden, Gideon and Josiah.  And my dear friend Wendy, her husband Kevin and sweet kids Kendra and Oliver.  Lots of good eating, story telling, and catching up.  A family love fest!

Lastly, I was encouraged spiritually through CBU.  I was blessed to have been invited by the Office of Mobilization (thanks Tiffany, Kristen and Jared) to take part in the Nations Chapel on that Wednesday.  the Nations Chapel focuses on the commissioning of the Service Project teams going to share Jesus with the nations here in the US and internationally. 

They flew me out on Monday which provided me opportunity to meet with the team coming to Chicago in June, attend a couple of training events, interact with current students and catch up with staff, faculty, and some former students. 

CBU will always hold a special place in my heart.  Mostly because when I was a student back in the early 90s, this is when I realized that my relationship with Jesus Christ was more than having fire insurance from hell.  My relationship with Jesus became one of acknowledging Him as my Lord! 

Over the years my role at CBU has gone from being a student to an entry level staff worker to being in a role of management and now an alumna who lives a good distance away.   I've been blessed to have received recognitions through the years (most talented senior, employee of the year, and alumni service award of the year) but speaking at chapel last week meant the world to me.  Why?  Because it provided me opportunity to share what God has done in me and through me.   I was offered opportunity to share Scripture to 2400 students who are at a time in their lives when they too are needing to make that crucial decision in how they are going to live their life.  And I was encouraged by hearing from the students and how God is at work in them. 

CBU chapel.

PopO. taking care of Isaiah during chapel.

ENCOURAGEMENT is a need of the soul.   Thank you, Lord for the encouragement I received last week!  And thank you to my sweet husband for taking care of the girls and home on top of his work and school load while I was away.