An orchestra of sounds.

This morning around 11:00 a.m. I found myself sitting on the couch just listening to life around me.   Each individual sound I heard brought comfort.  

Clothes tumbling in the dryer.

Pitter-pattering of rain.

Claps of thunder.

Selah babbling with a squeal here and there as she rolled on the floor.

Sofia singing and humming as she played in the toy room.

Together the sounds, underscored by the quietness of all else, created a music that was simply beautiful.

TAGGED...I'm it!

Mrs. Reynolds has tagged me.

(This has been updated as of 4/2; I got some of you on 4/1.  Ha!)

4 jobs I have had.

1.  Batting cage attendant

2.  Summer camp programmer

3  Director of Admissions

4. Director of Mobilization

4 movies I've watched more than once.

1.  Sliding Doors

2.  Beat Street 

3.  Field of Dreams

4.  Sound of Music

4 places I have lived.

1.  Mill Valley, CA

2.  Kingstown, St. Vincent

3.  Riverside, CA

4.  Istanbul, Turkey

4 things I look forward to in this coming year

1.  winter ending

2.  watching Selah and Sofia walk hand in hand

3.  walking barefoot in the sand

4.  reading through the O.T. and the Psalms

4 t.v. shows I watch/watched

1.  The Amazing Race

2.  Dora the Explorer

3.  Between the Lions

4.  American Idol

4 places I have been

1.  Tokyo, Japan

2.  Zanzibar, Africa

3.  Prague, Republic of Czech

4.  Fenway Park

4 people that e-mail me regularly

1.  my sister

2.  my brother

3.  my mom

4.  facebook

4 of my favourite foods

1.  french fries 

2.  anything Mexican

3.  grilled zucchini

4. coconut cream pie

4 places I would like to visit

1.  Beijing, China

2.  anywhere in South America

3.  Paris, France

4.  Yankee Stadium

And I now tag...

Stephanie Rogers

Tess Berry

A blessed Easter!

Easter morning we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior with our church family by eating brunch together then worshipping through song and the teaching of His Word. 

The afternoon was spent in the home of our dear friends, the Gosherts.  We ate a delicious Easter dinner then had a Easter Basket hunt down in the basement (the foot of snow on the ground dictated the necessity of being inside).  Each person (mommies and daddies were included) hunted for their basket full of goodies and a Bible verse.  Once everyone found their basket we sat together and from youngest to oldest each person read their Bible verse.  Strung together the verses shared the Easter story from Matthew 28.   It truly was a blessed Easter.

P.S.  Many of you wonder how the bow stays in Selah's hair.  Check out Brilliant Bows by my friend Stephanie.

White as Snow!

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool (Isaiah 1:18).

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Romans 3:23-25a).

Have a blessed Easter!  

 

It's a perk!

Being a stay-at-home mom has a lot of perks.  Of course, the obvious and the best is just being there moment by moment with my girls.  But one perk I didn't realize I would have is that I get to watch March Madness.  You got it!  March Madness.  It's great.  No more coming home from work and watching the highlights on the news.  No more toggling between my work on the computer and the NCAA website.  The t.v. is on, the channel is CBS, and me and the girls are enjoying some great basketball together.  

Family Time at Fairlanes

We had a great time as a family this weekend.  Uncle Kirk and Aunt Tamra flew in from SoCal.  Aunt Kelli, Uncle David, and cousins Caleb and Hannah drove over from Michigan.  For some good ole fashion fun we went to Fairlanes Bowling Alley Saturday afternoon.  We had a blast.  It was Sofia's first time bowling.  She enjoyed the first four frames then wanted to go play video games.  Selah, she cheered us all on from her carseat.    

Good Parenting Stuff

Here is a good resource for parents:  Between Two Worlds: Instructing a Child's Heart  O Lord, our plea is that you would give us the grace to train our kids well!

Rotteneth Exegesis Leadeth to Tearseth

Here's someone who seeketh to be "real" with himself, with others and with God, too bad he is "really" wrongeth in a number of ways.

And her eyes are blue!

Yesterday Selah turned six months old.   She hasn't quite mastered sitting up by herself so pillows around her are a must.  We began feeding her food a couple of weeks ago.   And her eyes, well, we think we can now say without a doubt she will be our blue-eyed daughter.  

Kids DO say the darndest things.

Any parent could simply blog all day long the millions of darndest things their kids say.  Here are a couple of Sofia's from this past week.

1.  "Hey mommy, CHUCK-A-JESUS!".  This was said as we were driving past a Chuck E. Cheese.  We have yet to visit one but it is familiar to Sofia because they sponsor PBSKids.  

2.  As we were walking through the mall, Sofia pointed to a store and said, "Look, that store is on t.v.  It's the necklace store."  Kay Jewelers marketing department seems to be doing their job.

3.  We were all sitting at the dinner table.  Kevin and I were having a conversation and he said, "Ain't that the truth."  Sofia piped in, "That's not the truth, daddy.  Jesus is the truth.  And hope, light, and love."   Now that makes a mommy proud.

This little light...

About a month ago I asked that you pray for Cyd Mizell.  Cyd was living in Afghanistan and shining the light of God while working for an NGO.  On January 26th she was kidnapped.  Today I received word that Cyd, along with her driver, were killed.  Details are currently not known.

What is known is that their families need our prayers.  Cyd's driver, Mohammed Hadi, leaves behind his wife and five children ages 6-15.   Cyd leaves behind her parents and family.

Cyd's light to the people of Afghanistan may have been snuffed out here on earth but the source of her light continues to shine bright so all peoples may know HIM!  

This little light of mine...I'm going to let it shine!

Be Staggered

Did you see it?  Last week we were treated to a fairly rare occurrence in the night sky.  On Wednesday evening there was a total lunar eclipse.  A total lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes into Earth's shadow and is blocked from the sun's rays that normally illuminate it.  

My family saw the end of the eclipse and we were all amazed.  After seeing the sight of the moon that evening, and the star Regulus and the planet Saturn which were noticeable too, I thought of Psalm 19:1-2, 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge."

God, in his greatness, displays his glory in the heavens.  Think of it, day after day, and night after night the heavens and the sky declare His beauty, His faithfulness, and many other awesome attributes.  God is staggering.

Is your God too small?  Are you too overly impressed with man?  I suggest taking a trip outside and look up to the heavens at God's handiwork.  By God's grace, it could be just what you need to magnify the Lord as He deserves.  

It's the thought, right?

Last week in celebration of Valentine's Day Kevin gave each of his girls a gift.  For Selah and Sofia --- a balloon.  For me, his wife --- 2 dozen beautiful roses.  The girls play with their balloons everyday.  My roses, well, they ended up in the laundry room.  Needless to say, my husband is very allergic to flowers.   

And now she's five!

Five months old that is.  We are so in love with our daughter, Selah.  She loves to laugh and is enamored by her big sister, Sofia.  A couple of weeks ago she began rolling from her back to her belly.  Yesterday she rolled from her belly to back...we'll see if that was just a fluke.   Selah loves to have conversations with daddy and mommy(there's a lot of babbling going on in this house) and enjoys hanging out in her exersaucer.

  

Here is a pic of Selah enjoying her toys on the play mat and a pic of Selah and Sofia.  Oh boy!  She's already mimicking her big sis.  Ha!

Sofia's snowman.

This afternoon Daddy and Sofia went out back and built themselves a snowman.  Sofia wants to make a "boy" one tomorrow.

Snow Day, part 2!

Kevin enjoys shoveling snow. And today he is doing plenty of it. He came home from work around 1 p.m. Before he could pull the car into the garage he had to shovel about a foot of snow.

Now 1.5 hours later he is out there shoveling again because another 3 inches has accumulated.


He also shoveled a path to our frontdoor. (By the way, he got that hat while in Russia for ISP '02. Who knew it would become more than a souvenir?)

Snow Day!

Okay, so my girls don't go to school but if they did today would be a snowday for them. We are expected by day's end to have an accumulation of 10 inches of snow to add to the 10 in. already on the ground. And this snow (wet and heavy) is "snowman making" snow. We may try to make one after the storm passes. In the meantime, we are having pajama day. Sofia wanted to be burrowed with her stuffed animals. Then, of course, she wanted to smother Selah with all kinds of stuff but I limited her on what she could lay on top of her.

(Please continue to uplift Cyd in your prayers. May the Lord use this event to "free" her captors.)

Quite a statement.

I met Cyd Mizell during my time in Turkey. To me, she was a very wise and caring person. After I received word of her kidnapping this past weekend, I, of course, was very troubled. At the same time, however, I have been able to pray for her with a confidence in knowing that God is with her.

News reports today stated that 500 Afghan women protested on the behalf of Cyd. The women, many clad in their burqas, were pleading to officials to make every effort to find and free Cyd. One news item reported how a woman got permission from her husband so she could join the protest. Obviously, Cyd was more than a teacher to these women. She was a friend and an advocate. You don't protest for just anything and anyone. Her impact on these women and to us all is quite a statement.

Keep praying!!!

PRAYER NEEDED!!!

This beautiful american woman inside and out has been abducted in Afghanistan. She has been working with an aid organization teaching english and embroidery to women. Please pray for her release.

Meanwhile Selah is...

So while Sofia and mama where outside in the snow (see below post) Selah was inside the nice warm house with daddy. A couple of weeks ago we introduced her to the exersaucer. She loves it!