The state of your counters

There are so many wonderful things about a clean house and ESPECIALLY a clean and managed kitchen. This one is filled with all sorts of sweet treats and beautiful things that are both needed and glorious. Jars filled with coffee, beans and flour. How thorough is that? Cutting boards Espresso machine, springy towel ~ All the things needed to run a a home cheerfully with your family in mind :) What do you have on your counters? Are your counters piled high with dirty dishes or food that needs a home or papers from school or things that just need to be thrown away or put away? Mine are, and I also have the Vita-mix to think about. I love having it and would love to use it more, so I keep it out. Because, frankly if I leave it in the cabinet I will readily forget about it and then one day proclaim, "Oh! Yea, the Vita-mix!" Then It becomes a new day :) *sigh* I once heard in a sermon the preacher proclaim that the state of your room reflects the state of your heart. Then as a side thought say, " Now I know all of you stay-at-home-moms with preschoolers will want to immediately run home and clean your rooms, but this is not for you. " I can say that the state of your kitchen does reflect how you're doing. It does me. I LOVE the look of bare clean counters, but wonder why mine are always full and crum-filled. Each day is new and there is grace to start again. So I'm off to clear the counters and fill them with what will bless me as well as my family, sweet, beautiful and useful hopefully they will stay that way for longer than a day :)

Come to this amazing event :)

CHORAL EVENSONG

April 17, 2010, 7PM

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Grace Lutheran Church

1408 Washington St.

Wenatchee, WA

7pm

Join us for

Evensong as the joint

choirs of Trinity Reformed

Church, Moscow, ID and

Trinity Church, Wenatchee,

WA sing works by Thomas

Tomkins, James McMillen,

and Herbert Howells

accompanied by Erich Knapp,

organist.

Meet the choristers and

others from the community at

a Light Reception immediately

following the service

Twins for the day :)

My dear daughters were waiting for this day for a long time :) They talked and talked about how on Easter they would be twins for the day!! Everything had to be the same, dress, sweater, tights, shoes, hair, clippies the whole nine yards. They hoped people would forget they were 2 years apart (almost exactly) and think they were twins, not be able to tell them apart. They were gorgeous and it was a sweet and joyful day. They hunted for eggs and shouted at the top of their lungs, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!". They were mixed up almost every time and they had huge smiles and knowing glances were shot back and forth to each other all morning and afternoon. I loved it, too. I always wished that I had a sister that I was so close to , who could dress the same and confuse people. I always wanted a twin, truth be told ( and curly red hair and blazing green eyes, but that's another story :). Another sweet day for the memory. God is good.

Can't wait for these days!

Nolen and Mia at our favorite spot in Wenatchee. Pleanty for sand soft grass, water and a beautiful view of East Wenatchee across the river :)

Mr. Ty puffed up and feelin' manly

Emma is trying to grow her hair out, but amybe I can convince her to get it this short again. I just love little girls with cute pixie cuts :)

The weather is finally moving out of the realm of freezing and into nice yet untrustworthy. Last week it rained like there was no tomorrow, then it warmed up the sun cam out and it was one of the best days we've had in a long time. It did snow on Easter, but only a few flakes that didn't stick. Fleeces with Easter dresses?! Wrong . . .

I have been reading a great book on the Christian home and making it a place of respit and repose for your family as well as a ministry tool to your friends and neighborhood. Some of my favorite parts so far:

p.8 ". . .can't (our homes) be places where our children feel as though they're in another world where dreams and hard facts are celebrated? Who wants to be normal? Everyone else is normal. This knid of different is good."

p.9 " The hour glass has been upended. You have one chance at this... the message here is not shame and blame. But it is urgency. Focus. Purposefulness. Intentionality. Care.

p. 10 In a grace-filled Christian home there is salvation. There is frogiveness. There is hope. Genuine happiness. There is purpose there. Powere there - for parents as well as children. This kind of grace affects everything that goes on inside this home.

p. 15 "Culture friendly" can't be on our family's priority list. That builds nothing in our homes and takes us nowhere. "Different" schould be on that list.

p. 53 The most important people in your world come through thah door and when they 're inside your home, it's your job to surround them with love.

p.56 And remember you goal as a parent isn't perfection. It's transparency.

p.63 This parenting thing is serious business, and there's no one on Earth in a better position - or better qualified than you nad me to do it right.

Pre-Valentines date

Hubby and I went out with some wonderful and hilarious friends last weekend and had so much fun. Scott and Corey solved all the worlds problems (and in one night, too!) and Noelle and I shopped :) I came away with a book by Thomas a Kempis (SIGH), it had to be a book, right? It is great, a bit too convicing and evcouraging to be bought on a date night, but oh well. We went up to Leavenworth and had dinner at Visconti's. It was really relaxing, and I found myself wondering how much we were missing out on by not inviting more of our friends out on double dates with us .. .

Mia, Ty and Nadia

Mia Elaine at her BEST!

Sweet Nadia

She just loves this kitty shirt. It looks a lot better outside in this picture then it does in reality. She loves to stand on the window bench and look out the window for puppies at the park across the street. When she actually see's one she gets REALLY excited :)

Here's Ty with his Big Thumbs Up (or BTU as Scott calls it.)

Our 2010 started out pretty slow. We have been really healthy (except for a few sick days for hubby) and have been deep in the trenches of Mock Trial season. This simply put means we don't see Scott as much, and I spend a lot more time at the school picking the children up.
Nadia and Ty have become such great buddies lately and can't bare to be separated. Each Wednesday and Thursday morning we go to a bible study and afterwards when I pick them up from their classes it's like a big family reunion! With shouts of, " Titus!!" and "Nadia!! I missed you!!". You'd think they never saw each other, rather that just a mere 2 hour separation. It honestly brings tears of joy to my eyes every time. It really is nice to know that your children really do love each other :)
Nolen, Emma and Mia are plugging away at school. Time is here to gear up for the Elementary speech meet. So we've been choosing between poems, scriptures and fables. Emma always wants to do the poem that Nolen did last year, which she does well, but each year we try to get her to be excited about something else (to no avail). Why ruin a good thing, eh?
The top picture of Mia is so her! She is always the one to bring that spontaneous smile to our gloomy days and is always ready with the big hug to cheer you up. She will be the one volunteering to help no matter what the problem is :) Love that sweet girl!

Prayers of an Excellent Wife

There are few books that I would buy after knowing about them for less that a minute, and this one definitely fits within that category. I was brought to tears by some of the prayers that I read and encouraged by the small sections that I read out of the introduction. There is an explanation of why the author wrote it in the beginning that was amazing, one that shuffled the deck and landed the aces on top. The prayers are just what I was looking for for my hubby. They are precise and full. If you LOVE, respect and truly want to help your husband on the level that only prayer can then this book definitely belongs on your bedside table. You can download it for free or you can order your own copy for under $5. Mine is in the mail :)