New Friends

We had a lovely time with our new friends, a family from Bhutan and their two relatives last night. We had them over for dinner, which was a lot of fun. Since they've only recently arrived in country, we decided to make them something more akin to what they might normally eat. We settled for a brown rice, broccoli, and chicken dish as well as some chai mixed with practically half a gallon of milk and enough sugar to make you shutter. The children ate it up, which is always a good sign that they found it tasting alright, and after the meal they thanked us for it. By way of a compliment, they let us know that they really liked this new American dish they had just tried. So- point for it tasting good to their palette- and strike for it being nothing like what they consider their normal cuisine. Haha, next time will just go for pizza!

Tired.

I was falling asleep while I was doing yoga. No, not final relaxation but more like downward dog. It has been a really long week!

To the Next Quarter Century

A raised blog to...

* A deeper relationship with the LORD and a life that attempts to glorify HIM
* More humility, kindness, grace, and love
* A maturing love with Eric
* Children to bless- whether mine or others

Bring it on late 20's!!!

Because HE's Still Risen

Easter is a wonderful holiday to reflect upon God's love, Christ's sacrifice, and the Spirit's power that we have been blessed with beyond words. And, after Lent and the day have passed, it is easy to push aside the message of the Gospel in our daily lives until Ash Wednesday or Easter morn roll around again. I know this is true for me, as much as I desire to live my life in the reality of the Gospel day by day. We had a wonderful conversation with friends last night, about what it means to live in response to our salvation. Honest. Convicting. Real. I am so thankful for these friends that I not only celebrated Easter with *yay fun pictures below* but who are also in my lives the other 364 days of the year to strive alongside me this side of Heaven.

Egg Hunt!

My Masterpieces

Of course :)

For a picture taken by Ella my car, it wasn't too bad!

The event.

The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.

May be my favorite first line of a novel.

As a faithful Real Simple subscriber, this is the question that was asked and answered for May's magazine. I thought it was an excellent question. To me, a favorite first line has to do a couple of things.
1. It has to grab the reader's attention the first time read.
2. It has to be memorable, in that multiple people might recognize the book.
3. It has to be a good book.
(I guess it has to do a few things.)

There were some good choices in the magazine, and some I may not have liked as much. I truly wish To Kill a Mockingbird had a wonderful first line since it is absolutely my favorite book, but from the little we know of Harper Lee, I doubt that was a priority.

So, here are the questions.

#1- What book is referenced in my title? (aka Does my answer match criteria #2?)
#2- What is your favorite first line of a novel? Please share!

Cake and Community

I love our small group from church. I feel that it is always the highlight of my week. I may have to drag myself to gym classes or other weekly obligations/events... but I don't ever really feel that I have to drag myself to small group. It has been such a blessing to see our group draw closer together and to expand with two other couples joining us about six weeks ago (Has it really only been 6 weeks?!)

We've also had the expansion of our group with two of the cutest little boys ever! Baby E joined us with his rock-star baby hair last November, and Baby Andrew joined us a mere few weeks ago. We finally got around to celebrating Andrew at small group dinner night. This is a lovely event we had to add to our schedule since with all of our fellowshipping we were doing a horrible job of ending on time, ever. (We still could use some improvement.) The other 3 Mondays of the month, we try to do more Bible study/less talking... heh.

So since I had dessert duty, I wanted to make Baby Andrew a birthday cake... after all he just had one. Since my attempt to make my friend Susan a layered-cake that I lovingly refer to as the "Monstrosity" has scared me from any such thing in the near future, I chose to make him a Cupcake Cake in the shape of an A. It was a lot of fun planning it out and making it. I love celebrating people. (And special days.) (Or anything that can possibly be an excuse for a party!) Happy Birthday Baby Andrew! Welcome to the world!

Not crying... blowing out the candle!

He is Risen. He is Risen indeed!

Spring Break Review

I give Spring Break 10 out of 10 stars. Kinda cheesy, but seriously who doesn't love a break? The past many Spring Breaks, I have always spent at least a portion of the time travelling, but this year I mostly hung around Denver. I did make a brief trip up to some amazing natural hot springs in the mountains, which was as lovely and relaxing as it sounds. Other than that, I tried to hammer out some of the items on my to-do list and relax. Items completed on my to-do list were as follows:
1. Make bread using my new-to-me bread machine. It was a success I believe. Now that I've learned the ropes of the process I hope to use it more than once a lifetime.
2. Clean my curtains. They are currently in the dryer, so with my tall husband's help I'll give it a check.
3. Clean my blinds. (Notice a theme.) I'm currently only one room short.
4. Buy new bedding. Our old comforter ripped several months ago, and it's been driving me crazy to have a consistently less than put together bed. Eric graciously went on a breakfast date that also included a significant portion of time analyzing spreads in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We chose to go the duvet route, and I hope to make the bedding switch today.
5. Read. I am reading Too Small to Ignore by Wess Stafford (current President of Compassion International). This was an Eric recommendation, and I would recommend it as well. It gives some good insights, convicting thoughts, and new ideas on ministering to children.

And, I still have the weekend. We'll postpone the real world as long as possible.