Silver Status

Dear Heavenly Father, 

We thank You for the grace and blessings You have given us during the past 25 years of marriage.  We celebrate and recall the day when we joined together as partners in life and we thank You for being with us on our daily journey together through life's ups and downs.  

Increase our sense of belonging to each other, as reflected in Jesus' statements in Matthew 19:5-6, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh".

We thank You that You have freely given us Your presence, strength, help, and hope.  We pray that we will continue to grow in our ability to work together for the good of our family and for the good of the world.

 Fill us with love, forgiveness, patience, and trust.  

Guide us with the light of Your word and help us to grow in Your love so that we can better reflect it to each other as it is defined in 1Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails".

Increase our sense of companionship and friendship.  Grant us the ability to laugh at our mistakes and the means to share the simple pleasures of life together.  

Enable us to speak the truth in love.  Help us to be good listeners.  Grant us wisdom and a spirit of cooperation as we seek to follow Your good plans for us in the tough issues and challenges we face.  

Surround us with good friends and neighbors.  Protect our home.  Care for our family,  Provide for our needs.  Guard our health.  Bless our marriage and may we enjoy many more anniversaries together.  

In the name of Christ we pray, 

Amen.

We've reached silver status!  Not only in our grey hairs but also in our years of marriage.  :-)  We celebrated this week and reflected on this very noteworthy milestone.   God, in His providence, continues to stretch and sustain us both individually and together while He guides us through this journey we call life, in a partnership we call marriage.  It's been quite the roller coaster!  Multiple hills and valleys create the topography of our road.  Our journey has included numerous mountain top celebrations to enjoy and just as many--if not more--significant spaces of muddy waters to wade through and deep pits to dig out of.  Our life together has been anything but boring!  But by the grace of God, truly, we are here, together.  As we take the next steps on the rest of our journey together, we pray God's blessing over us as He blessed Abraham and we lean into Him for all things and the way in which we should go for If God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8:31 :-) <3

We Had a Blast

Connor turned 15 at the beginning of the month and we had a blast celebrating him.  We started the day with an acai bowl before going out to the park to launch rockets.  John and Jozsef were both able to attend but Nikolas was at work.  

We had six rockets to play with.  We lost two due to wind current and one broke apart mid-flight but all take offs were a success.  It was a lot of fun to shoot them so high us that we could barely trace them and then to see the children take off running to catch and retrieve them.  

The day was beautiful and cooperated fully--the rain moved in right after we packed up our rockets and went to our next activity--bowling.  While we were there, it straight dumped rain.  It's a good thing that bowling is played indoors!  :-)  We also shot some pool while we were there.  Connor's love of science helps him understand angles enough to be a decent shot.  ;-)  

After being at the bowling alley, we went home for dinner. We were happy that by then Nikolas could join us.  Connor chose artichoke chicken as his meal--it's a family favorite and it was great for a rainy evening.  Cake and gifts followed before we called it a night.  

Fifteen years sure has come and gone quickly.  Connor is such a joy with his quick wit and creative/inventive mind.  I can't wait to see where God places him and how Connor will use the gifts God has given him.  We sure are blessed to have been gifted Connor in our family.  Happy Birthday Connor!  We love you!   

Bees Arrive

We've missed our bees.  Moving across country like we did necessitated that we rehome our hives.  We've been without bees now for about four years.  Thankfully the time has come that we have the space to adequately keep hives again.  Though conditions in this state (specifically weather wise) are significantly different from any other place we've kept bees, we feel like we've reached a point in life where we can bring them back into our lifestyle.  They arrived yesterday--cue celebration music!  

Bringing the bees into the yard from the truck--they still have the box over the crate

It was a beautiful day to welcome bees.  The children and I watched as John brought them in and transferred them from the shipping crate into the hive.  In the past, we've picked up our new bees, so it was quite a new experience to have them shipped to us.  They arrived in a crate that was familiar, but because they had been in transit for a couple of days, some of the bees had chewed their way out of the box--much to the postmaster's dismay.  

Bees in the shipping crate.  It's amazing to me that they send them through the postal system like this!

Thankfully, the desire to stay near the queen was enough to keep them from leaving the crate.  And even though they traveled, the death count was rather minimal--another thing to be thankful for as they had left their point of origin on Thursday and did not arrive at our house until Monday.  

Slowly and carefully, John moved to uncrate them and to introduce them to their new home. 

It took several "dumps" to get the bees out of the crate and into the hive box

With enough of the bees out of the crate, you can now see the cannister of sugar water that kept them well during transit and you can see the queen's carriage

The queen's carriage keeps her safe and her scent is so attractive that the other bees stay in one place so that we were assured to receive a complete starter hive

It doesn't look like much, but that's the beginning of a beautiful new era

Everything went very well.  Now just wait for them to settle in and begin to make honey,  :-)  We are very excited to have tiny animals to watch over again.  There are so many benefits to keeping bees.  We are happy stewards. :-) 

Welcome to your new hive!  Settle in and thrive! 

Bees in our garden

Resurrection Sunday

Easter Sunday is a historical celebration.  It's the one day that is the pinnacle of proof for the Christian faith--Christ was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead--Halleluiah! Which, of course, is cause for much joy, rejoicing, and fun festivities.  In our house, that includes a church service, great food, friends, movies (like Risen or the Passion of Christ), and games.  

Church was a great time of worship and it was fun to see everyone all dressed up (our church is a relaxed environment but we dress up occasionally).  After church we enjoyed a charcuterie spread and stuffed eggs before our first friend arrived.  

A good charcuterie board is worth having any day!  

Levi joined us for Resurrection eggs (a dozen eggs that each holds an item that together tell the story of Jesus' sacrifice and glorious return to life).  

The conversations that these eggs bring to the table is excellent--especially these days when the children are not so little and increasingly know their bible history, and Jozsef is in seminary bringing us new looks on "old" information--what a joy!

Confetti eggs followed.  We began with a simple egg toss and then livened up the scene with an all out egg war--kind of like a water balloon fight, but with confetti eggs. 

These eggs are super favorites in our family!

Levi had never done this with us before, but was eager to jump in--and he played hard just like the rest of us.  It was great fun!  

Our eggstravaganza was slowed down by a movie and then topped off by a fish dinner accompanied by another guest, our friend Denver.  Once dinner was complete, the children headed back out to enjoy the setting sun and a couple of rounds of corn hole.  It was a beautiful day!  Sadly, I didn't get pictures of the evening festivities, but I did capture the Hummingbird cake that we had for the first time.  By all accounts it was very good--we'll have it again.  Maybe it'll even become an Easter tradition.  :-) 

Denver had to go home after corn hole, but Levi stayed to watch Risen with us (an account of the Resurrection as told by one of the Roman soldiers--a great movie) before we all called it a night.  

What a wonderful day to spend with family and friends!  He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Halleluiah! 

Equine Education

 A friend of ours has horses and a passion for teaching people about them.  She invited us out to the barn for a field trip on the basics of horse care and riding.  The excitement was high as we drove out to visit on a beautiful spring day.  Our friend, AnnMarie, is an excellent and patient teacher.  She introduced the horses, Sunshine and Steel, to us and then brought out grooming supplies and treats (for the horses). 

Everyone got their hands dirty in the good work of grooming the horses while we learned about horse ownership in general and the individual characteristics and personalities of each horse.  

Connor enjoyed exploring the barn and being a go-fer of sorts :-) 

When grooming was complete, the saddling lesson commenced as each horse was geared up and the rides began.  Sonja was, not surprisingly, the first to jump on.  :-)  The girl was a confident natural and I bet she could've ridden all day but she was good to trade out with Riley.  

Connor and then Hannah followed.  Hannah wasn't absolutely ready to be completely on her own, but Sunshine is an easy ride and just having AnnMarie close was enough for Hannah to enjoy her time. 

When the horses were all tired out, cleaned up, fed, and set out to pasture, the children enjoyed trampoline jumping while I chatted with the ladies (AnnMarie's sister, Aliana also joined us).  It was a wonderful first experience for the children and was a huge blessing for us all.  AnnMarie invited us back--the children are already counting down the days.  Thank you so much AnnMarie!