Twiggy is Six!

Six years ago today this crazy, beautiful, sweet little girl was born into the world.
This girl keeps us in stitches with all the funny things she says and does
(like yesterday during school when she slapped her hand on her forehead and exclaimed,
"Mama, I'm trying to think but nothing is coming out!"--she's a lot like her mama).



We are thanking the Lord that He is giving us the honor of raising this one!

Happy Birthday, Twiggy!
We love you so much!

Psalm 8:3-4

"When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have set in place,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the Son of man that You care for Him?"

Moving

It's official--I can now tell the world that we are moving to Texas in the fall. The main reason we went to Texas on vacation was to check out To Every Tribe Ministries, a mission board that specializes in church planting to unreached tribes. Though we do not know specifically where the Lord is directing us, we are going to be training at the school there in Texas. This has been mulling around in our heads for over a year now and today it became official (well, public anyways). I would love to share with you how the Lord brought us to this point, which I think I will save for another post.

Now the kids are in bed, Paul is at Applebee's with a good friend of his and as I sit here in the silence of our house my heart sinks. I don't know if it's just the release of finally making all of these plans public, or even what it is exactly, but the tears just will not stop. I have no doubt of my Lord's leading thus far and I am so very excited about this next step but I think tonight it really became a reality as we shared the ministry with our home church; we are moving from the place that has been my home for the last 28 years--my parents, my sisters, my grandparents, and the church that I grew up in, all these people that I love so greatly--everything that is so familiar to me will change in a matter of months. I am going to miss everyone so much that my heart aches already. Why is it that sometimes doing what the Lord wants you to do has to be so hard? I hate change! In my flesh I want to stay here and have life continue on as it has been...

...but then my all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God reminds me that He is never going to change. It is He who brought me out of the pit in the first place and He is not going to leave me. He will be with us in Texas and wherever He sends us after that. The very same God that is in Wisconsin as I type this is also in Texas ( not to mention North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, South Dakota...). I don't really know what else to say except that I love all of you that I dread leaving and I love my never-changing GOD!

"I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10:23

Our Little Princess

Yesterday Daisy was in her first wedding. She was very nervous but did an excellent job for an almost 4-year-old. During the rehearsal she was instructed to throw the petals, but instead would squat down, place a petal on the floor, stand up, take another couple of steps, and do the whole process over again. She was then shown how to throw the petals. So when the next practice came and she was told to throw three petals, she walked about halfway to the front of the church, squatted down, placed three petals on the floor, stood up and walked the rest of the way (she makes her mama smile). Here are a few pictures of the little princess:

Daisy with her "dashing" young escort, Dash.

Just minutes before the wedding, Daisy was getting very nervous, but Twiggy was right by her side to reassure her.

I love this picture of Daisy with the bride, Becca.

Happy Easter!

We serve an awesome God who not only will be victorious in the end, but already has the victory! Death has been defeated because Christ is alive! What a cause for celebration!

San Antonio, Texas

Well, we did make it to San Antonio last night, but the drive took a good 6 hours instead of the 4 we thought it would take. Between potty breaks, a Wal-Mart run, potty breaks, stopping for food, and potty breaks, the trip took a little longer (I'm thinking that having everyone wear diapers would not have been a bad idea after all, ha ha).

A little back-tracking...

In Dallas we went to The Sixth Floor, the JFK assasination museum. "Why," you might be asking, "would you take your children to a place like that?" Well, I must admit, the museum was a little bit over their heads, and maybe a little sobering, but it was still very interesting to see the place where JFK was shot and to learn a little more history on the subject.

Though this looks like just a picture of a street, the "X" you see in the middle of the street is where JFK was shot. The two handome men in the background (the one in the blue shirt who's holding the one in the green shirt) are my huband and son.

Here are Daisy and Twiggy sitting on "The Grassy Knoll".

Fast forwarding...

Today in San Antonio, we went to see the Alamo. Is that where Custard had his last stand? I think I learned too much of my history from Patch the Pirate. : ) No, seriously, another interesting landmark in our nation's history that if you are ever in the San Antonio area I would highly recommend visiting...or if you are homeschooling your children (Froggy) and would like to take a little field trip during your study of the Alamo ; ). Call me really dumb, but I did not know that Davey Crockett was killed at the seige of the Alamo...guess I should have paid more attention in my history classes.

Well, so far it may seem like we've had a kind of morbid vacation (at least the sight-seeing part), but we are hoping to take the kids to the zoo and the gulf on Thursday and Friday. They were very excited to get to our final destination, Los Fresnos, this afternoon, where we will be spending the next three days...a few days of not riding in the car is always a good thing for small children, a pregnant woman...and her husband. I'll close with a few pictures of the kids during their favorite pasttime:

I forgot to tell you...

We do have pictures of the Alamo, but we'll have to post them when we get back. I did not have the memory card in the camera and forgot the connecting cable at home. Oops!

We Made It

We arrived in Dallas, Texas yesterday afternoon at about 3:30. The trip couldn't have gone better. The kids did great and Paul and I stayed awake when we needed to. Thanks to the Lord, I had no trouble with my restless legs while I was driving and that was a huge answer to prayer!

Today we are going to do a little sight-seeing here in Dallas and then drive the 4 hours to San Antonio where we will be spending a day or so. We miss you all there in Chetek! Twiggy sends her love to Mimi and Papa. She has already said through tears that she misses you, Papa and Mimi! Stay tuned...

Here's To 78-degree Weather...In March!

Bird, Twiggy, and Daisy in the mud puddle.
Bird, Daisy, Twiggy, and an orange in the mud puddle.
I think Bird may have sat in the mud puddle.
Beautiful Bird!

Thawed mud...and my sweet Twiggy!

Rocky sporting his brand new DQ hat from Papa and Mimi!

"Baby" Rocky

Rocky wanted to be swaddled tonight like "Ikie". He loves his little cousin so much!

He looked pretty funny, being so much bigger than a normal swaddled baby, however, as you can see from the picture below he looks pretty content (especially for a kid who did not like being swaddled as an infant).

I love how they notice things about other kids at such a young age (which means they probably notice things about parents at a young age too...scary).

Deep Thoughts in the Night

"You know you can see if you're blinded"

I had a dream last night that I walked outside on a sunny day just after a snowfall and was blinded by it's brightness.

Does anyone else think strange things during the middle of the night? Should I be worried? I think pregnancy is taking it's toll on me.

The Story of Three Sisters

Once there were three sisters who decided to go out for the eldest sister's birthday.

These sisters were of rare beauty...very rare.

The eldest sister anxiously awaited the arrival of her tasty delicacy of mild boneless buffalo wings (for 1/2price, mind you).

But the youngest was slightly miffed, for how could she partake in mild buffalo wings--despite the "mild" name, they were still quite spicy. "The honey BBQ would have been a much better choice," she murmered to herself.

The middle sister, however, was just happy to be out with no children.

While waiting for her food, Melinda (that's what we'll call the eldest daughter) said, "I'm parched," and took a drink of her strawberry lemonade...

...but as she did, a lemon fell out right into her mouth. She made an awful face (as one can imagine she would).

Suddenly she thought to herself, "When life hands me lemons, why not make lemonade" and gracefully smiled.

But the youngest sister did not think it was something to smile about.

Just then, two young gentlemen approached the table where the three were sitting and asked if they could join "such lovely beauties..."

...these lovely beauties (don't they look thinner?).

But after discussing it amongst themselves, Felicity (the second sister) kindly stated that they would sooner eat with a wombat than with the two gentlemen standing before them...

...and sent them on their way.

At last their food arrived and Felicity promptly "dug in".

She thought the food was delicious and was so overjoyed that she smiled.

But Tiffany (the youngest) was not amused.

Finally, the bill was brought to the table. Tiffany grabbed the bill and sweetly exclaimed, "I'll pay for it!"

"Why would she be so excited to pay for the food?" Felicity inquired of Melinda, then looking closer noticed that in Tiffany's hand was the credit card her husband had left in her purse.

Felcity and Melinda nodded knowingly.

And that is the end of the story...

...or is it?

Appy Birthday, Froggy!

Here is a picture of my dear sissy who turns a year older today. Though the quality of the picture is not the best, I'm sure you can still tell just how good-looking she is *wink, wink*.

Believe it or not this next picture is not a picture of this same sissy. In fact it's not a picture of any of my siblings nor does it have anything to do with birthdays (although I've heard it resembles very much the birthday girl's husband when he first wakes up in the morning). Twiggy has an interest in Wombats lately and we got a kick out of this picture we found.

Isn't it cute!?!



Appy Birthday Froggy! I love you!

In like a lion...

Winter has come to Wisconsin!

The girls attempted to go outside and play with Daddy, but almost as soon as they got outdoors the wind picked up along with the snow. The girls lasted about 10 minutes (which is about 10 minutes longer than I would've lasted) and then left Daddy to play outside by himself. Daddy may have to get used to the gals abandoning him on days like today, but he has high hopes that Rocky will stick by him through thick and thin.

Baby #4

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, but I think the point comes across pretty clearly.

Twiggy saw the picture and exclaimed in horror, "She looks like a duck!"

The Power of the Cross

I have been coveting a certain CD ever since it came out, which wasn't really very long ago, but thanks to Jason and Andrea (thank you!) I now have it. I love the words one song in particular, but by the looks of it, all the songs are wonderful. Enough of my typing, I'll let their words speak for themselves:

The Power of the Cross by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

(Refrain)
This, the power of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath--
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Every bitter thought,
Every evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees:
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life:
"Finished!" the victory cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

(Final refrain)
This, the power of the cross:
Son of God--slain for us
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross!

God In Good and Bad

Many of you "Camp Chetekies" may remember Pastor Leigh Crockett from camp, and I'm sure that many of you have also heard this story. I love stories like this where even doctors will say that this is nothing short of a miracle. One thing is for sure, we have an amazing Creator! I pray that I will continue to praise Him, not only on the mountain tops, but also in the valleys.

"...but He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Fot the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

We love you, Daddy!

Okay, I know their season is long past, but I had to post this while Paul was unsuspecting.



Just for the record, Twiggy said, "Let's take a picture for Daddy!"

We love you, Daddy!