God is Love

From today's Our Daily Bread:

1 John 4:1-8

A farmer had a weather vane on his barn, on which was written "God is love." When friends asked why, the farmer said, "This is to remind me that no matter which way the wind blows, God is love."

When the warm "south wind" with its soothing and balmy breezes brings showers of blessing, God is love. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17).

When the cold "north wind" of trial and testing sweeps down upon you, God is love. "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).

When the "west wind" blows hard upon you with its punishing intent, God is love. "Whom the Lord loves He chastens" (Hebrews 12:6).

When the "east wind" threatens to sweep away all that you have, God is love. "God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory" (Philippians 4:19).

Perhaps you are discouraged and downhearted. If so, remember, God still cares for you. What you are experiencing has either been sent or it has been allowed by Him for your good.

Yes, no matter which way the wind is blowing, God is love. —Richard De Haan

More flowers!

Because we have small group tonight, we celebrated my birthday yesterday. My absolutely WONDERFUL husband was very busy yesterday! He took me to work so he could have the car (we haven't found him a new one yet), then cleaned the whole house, got a haircut, picked up our new glasses and my birthday present, baked a cake (complete with white chocolate-covered strawberries as garnish), and then came back to pick me up and take me dinner. THEN, as if that wasn't enough, he had planned a surprise party for when we got home. My family and a few friends came over to help us eat the cake. I think I'll keep him. :)
We went to for dinner, and it was SOOOO good, but I ate way too much! SlimFast for lunch today. :)

Robert got me Lady & The Tramp and a tree for my birthday! We have been wanting to plant another tree in the backyard. It is an October Glory Maple, and will look something like this...

Arin, Ashlie, Bri, Nicole and my Aunt Wendy went in together and got me some more flowers for my garden, some pink gardening gloves, a big bag of potting soil and a really pretty hanging plant. The flowers are carnations, geraniums and bleeding hearts.

I also got these flowers from my boss today. I love flowers!! :)

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! We were busy this weekend. Saturday we had our big church Easter outreach event... It went great! It was kinda cold, but the rain held off!! The Easter egg hunt was crazy... so many kids!! Then Robert and I ran the ring toss game, which was really fun.
The pictures below are Jonas, Elyssa, Isaak, and Robert, Jonas and Tausha helping Jarrod with the ring toss.


On Saturday night, Robert and I dyed easter eggs, and I accidentally dropped one, which landed on Bailey! His nose was pink for the rest of the night. Woops! :)
The purple, cracked egg in the middle is the one I dropped.

Robert and I did easter baskets for each other, so I got a pink watering can (I had really been wanting one!), some more lily bulbs, and, of course, yummy candy, among other things. :)
Church on Sunday was awesome, and over the two days, 19 people gave their lives to the Lord!! After the service Sunday morning, we released some doves outside. It was symbolizing our freedom in Christ and the new life he gave. It was pretty cool, even though my pictures aren't great.

We had an Easter barbeque at my parents' house, and watched The Chronicles of Narnia. Most of us had seen it, but my dad and Jonas watched it for the first time. Jonas sat by me and I talked him through the scary parts, and he had no trouble seeing (and explaining) the similarities in the movie and the Easter story. Smart kid! My mom had 3 dozen eggs that had been decorated, emptied and filled with confetti, so we took those outside and hit them with baseball bats. Everyone seemed to agree we have a new family Easter tradition. :)

Flowers

Yesterday was so beautiful here! It was sunny and bright and about 71 degrees! And our server crashed at work, so I was able to leave early (about 1:30). I was SOOOO happy! We were able to get some work done in the yard, which I have been wanting to do forever! We cleared out an area in the backyard where I will put some flowers and my strawberries. We picked a spot for the vegetable garden, killed some weeds, and planted some bulbs in the front yard. Today I get off early too. :) It is a little overcast and not quite as warm, but it is still pretty nice out. I have SPRING FEVER bad! Haha! This weekend will be busy for us. Our friends Matt & Hannah are coming over for dinner tonight. Tomorrow our church is putting on a HUGE Easter event for the community. Easter egg hunt, live band, big inflatable toys, carnival games, all kinds of prizes, a basketball tournament.... It should be a lot of fun! Then Sunday, we have church of course, and Easter dinner at my parents' house. I hope everyone has a great weekend! HAPPY EASTER!

Here are some sample pictures of the flowers we will have in the yard when we are done.


Bachelor Buttons /Cosmos /Asters


Forget-me-nots / Lilies / Narcissus

Rose Mallow / Tulips

SPRING!

Spring is here! YAY! I am so ready for warm weather! I miss taking walks on the greenbelt and going to the park. So does Bailey!! And I am really looking forward to planting some flowers and a vegetable garden. We are going to plant carrots, peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, pumpkins, basil, mint and chives.

This weekend was great! The weather was beautiful! We went to Audrey's softball game (they won 1-0 in extra innings!) on Friday, then to dinner for Ashlie's birthday. Saturday, we both had appointments at the eye doctor, and in about a week we'll have new glasses. :) We got to Jonas's soccer game at the very end, then went to Isaak's birthday party. Sunday after church, Jonas came to hang out with us and we got those seeds planted. It was a really great weekend! I took a few pictures of the various blooming things in our yard this weekend because I was so excited!!

Hanging Out with Jonas

On Sunday after church, Jonas came to our house to hang out with us. He helped Uncle Bob clean out the stinky garbage cans (I was thankful - I didn't have to help!). We had lunch, and then we planted our flower and vegetable seeds. We are starting them inside and will move them outside in a couple of weeks. He was a huge help... He filled the planters with dirt and then watered them all when we were done. I am really excited about starting a garden this year... it will be my first! After that, we watched Tarzan (the Disney version) and then played a game and did a puzzle before Jonas went home.

Isaak's Birthday

Isaak's 3rd birthday party was Saturday. He had a candy party (he LOVES candy!). His actual birthday is today - Happy Birthday Isaak! They got to frost and decorate their own cupcakes, and they had a pinata. The kids went crazy! Their poor parents.... :)

Grandma's Birthday

We had a good weekend. Saturday we just spent time at home together, and I got a lot of cleaning done (probably too much... I was pretty sore the next day!). It was nice to relax and spend some time with just us.

On Sunday, Arin, Ashlie and I drove to Twin Falls together for our great-grandma Eunice's birthday. She is 85! We all left our husbands at home (for various reasons) but it was really fun to spend some time with just the three of us and get to talk. We've all had so much going on lately! We laughed a lot. :) The party was a lot of fun too. We got to visit with family we don't see very often, and my I think Grandma really enjoyed all the company. The party was at her nursing home. She got a DVD player, a lot of DVDs and several great pictures (She loves family pictures!) Here is a picture of her blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. I took it with my camera phone... sorry for the poor quality!