Nathan’s Notebook
Here’s a peek into Nathan’s sermon notebook (he has to draw at least 2 pictures during the sermon every week)
The Golden Calf
Being in the world but not of the world
The Light of the World
What worship is
He doesn’t always think very hard or take much time, but it is still interesting to get a glimpse at what he hears and what sticks in his mind.
What to Do with a Cupcake Holder…
For Valentine’s Day, one of my gifts was a cute wire cupcake holder. It has been fun to discover different things that fit in the spaces. Here are a few ways I’ve used it since then…
Cupcakes, of course!
Truffles
Meringue cookies
Fruit
Easter eggs
Any more ideas I could try?
Botanic Gardens
A few more photos from our Easter weekend visit to the Botanic Gardens.
Nathan was in a photographic mood, so he kept choosing places that would be “good for a picture” and then posing until the shutter clicked. Silly guy!
Of course spring flowers were everywhere and it is fun to have kids who are old enough to enjoy them somewhat too!
Another thing our kids are old enough to do is go ahead a bit on their own. Than and I shared lots of smiles as we eavesdropped on their conversations and watched them race along, sometimes hand in hand. They are learning to enjoy each other’s company!
Easter
What a joy to celebrate Christ’s resurrection! New life, bright colors, flowers springing into bloom–God’s handiwork evident in the world around and hopefully in the hearts at our table as well.
Than worked very hard on the Good Friday events at church. SGC did lots of new things this year including some very artistic, interactive prayer environments, an all-church family meal at the conclusion of the Good Friday service, and an attempt at making the Easter egg hunt intergenerational. Good stuff! Our family didn’t see much of Than, but we enjoyed sharing the evening with Than’s parents and other church friends.
Saturday involved some housework, some preparations for Sunday, a 4-year-old birthday tea party with friends, and a family trip to the Botanic Gardens. We also dyed our Easter eggs (and I was left wondering when my kids will be old enough to do it without me worrying about cracked eggs and the threat of dye splattering all over something!)
Sunday I got to play with the church orchestra, always a treat. Easter music stirs the soul! After lunch the kids went to “nap” while I prepared dinner and Than hid our Easter suprises around the yard. It was hard for them to wait for our dinner guests, so they each hid 10 eggs in their rooms and then traded rooms for a warm-up hunt.
Finally the grandparents and great-grandparents arrived and we set the kids loose to race around the yard and fill their baskets. The weather was beautiful and the grown-ups enjoyed talking in the sunshine while the kids brought back their treasures. We enjoyed grilled chicken, salad, sourdough bread, grilled pineapple and asparagus for dinner and strawberry shortcakes and coconut macaroon nests for dessert.
In some ways, the highlight of the day happened at bedtime. After everyone was tucked in, I heard Nathan crying and went in to see what was wrong. He was sad because Easter was over and he loves Jesus rising from the dead and the Easter egg hunt. In my mind, that means we’ve succeeded at least this year in making this holy time of year an important event in our children’s lives.
Houston 3
The final segment in my Houston postings (now that we’ve been back nearly two weeks!) is for the time we spent with our good friends. We enjoyed…
…playing in fountains at a nearby park and at the Woodlands Waterway.
…walking along the waterway in the day and at night.
…a delicious authentic Cajun crawfish dinner, heads and claws and all!!
…a hostess kind enough to make grilled cheese for my children who were highly skeptical of the crawfish.
…several chances to play at the park.
…frozen yogurt with yummy toppings, twice!
…sweet Calvin willing to share his toys and his home with two big noisy kids.
…Nathan embracing his “big brother” role, taking great delight in figuring out how to play with Calvin and make him laugh.
…astronomy lessons for my son from the best science teacher around.
…checking out the planets with the telescope.
…time for the adults to talk together, eat together, play games, and catch up on our friendship.
…a chance to babysit for a while and to hear good news about upcoming baby #2.
…a trip to the Houston zoo where the highlights were two baby elephants playing in the pool, eating our picnic in a warm rain shower, and seeing the sea turtle at the end.
Of course there are other things that I am forgetting at the moment, but I figured since I finally finished unpacking it was long past time to get this posted!! Once more, thanks to all our gracious Houston hosts. We’ll be back…
Houston 2
The first half of our Houston vacation was spent with my sister and her family. I have missed her, and it was great to see all the cool things she has done with her house as well as spend time with my nephews. They are great boys!
I was having too much fun to take pictures of everything, so the majority of these photos are from the day we spent at the beach in Galveston. I’ll just intersperse random photos with my list of good times we had…
…meeting Ben, the backyard turtle, and a highlight of the kids’ visit
…Kaye’s very thoughtful preparations with a special space for each of my kids–presents and even new coordinating sheets and blankets to make their beds cozy! (Nope, I didn’t get forgotten either–she is very thoughtful!)
…lots of backyard “soccer” games in spite of the mosquitos
…our glorious day at the beach with kids playing together, daddies venturing way out into the water, a slightly sandy lunch, surf, sand, shells, sunscreen, silliness–sublime!
…dinner out for just the grown ups at a cozy local Italian place with live music and a yummy bacon salad prepared tableside, followed by dessert at a cute coffee shop.
…worshipping together on Sunday morning, rejoicing in our kids singing beside us and in hearing the familiar voice of our pastor from growing up in Idaho, now leading this church in TX.
…my husband being silly with my brother-in-law, laughing with my sister–I loved the company!
…helping Kaye get ready for her fabulous dinner party
..the dinner party itself–a rainbow theme with specially made decorations, rainbow party gifts for each guest, even rainbow sherbet in chocolate bowls for dessert! The party also featured one more celebration of Katya’s birthday, delicious dinner, our old pastor and his wife and old family friends as guests, and talking and laughing until late.
…one last outing to the botanic gardens before it was time to say goodbye.
Surely I’m missing a few things, but that seems like a pretty long list! Our whole family is grateful for the warm hospitality we received, the good memories we shared, and the time to be together with loved ones.
Houston 1
Back from our spring break trip to Houston and a busy Easter week, with lots of photos to share! Today’s post–THE DRIVE.
We drove to Houston for spring break to visit my sister’s family and some very close friends. I was a bit skeptical about the huge car ride, but we knew we had to give it a try and see if it can be done. The good news–it can!! The even better news–we can do it in one REALLY long day if we want to, or break it up into 2 pretty easy days. Hooray for more trips to Texas!
A few things that made our trip enjoyable…
…my bulging backpack with WAY too many things to do. I only used about 20 of my ideas on the way there, and probably another 30 or so on the way back, with 25 more left for our next car trip.
…plenty of fun snacks and food stops.
…Adventures in Odyssey on CD from the library.
…a new car stereo to play our CDs, books on CD, and even Than’s iTouch. It can also charge our phones, a handy bonus.
…kids who are older and can interact well with each other.
…lots of new country to see from the window.
We spent the night at a hotel in Amarillo (hamburgers and a banana split for dinner, waffles in the shape of TX at the hotel breakfast bar!) and arrived at my sister’s around 4:00 the next day. On the way home, we left super early and were back to Denver by 7:30! Phew!
Overheard
Two funny kid stories, one from each of my little ones…
Katya was very busy in her room at naptime one day. She had requested a notepad from me and was using her pen to write all the letters she knows as well as “write” in cursive to fill the pages. At the end of nap, she presented one note to me and informed me that the others were posted on Facebook!
On the way home from school one afternoon, Nathan was talking about who he plays with at recess. He said that sometimes he plays with the boys, but if they are busy he can play with the girls and the boys won’t notice. When the boys do notice, they ask him “Why are you playing with the girls?” and Nathan replies, “Someday you’re going to marry one, so you might as well get used to them now when you have the chance!”
Random Quote
“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in words alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” –Martin Luther
I know, two quotes in a row, but my Easter decorations make me think about spring and new life and Resurrection!! I love the way spring helps me feel the joy of resurrection, just as reading the story helps me know the joy of resurrection. God is restoring the world to the way He designed it, made possible by the sacrifice of His Son.
Random Quote
“Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.” –Virgil A. Kraft
If he can do all these beautiful things with the world around me, think what He is doing to transform my heart!
