Good gifts

We truly serve a God who delights in giving good gifts to His children! As we mentioned a few days ago, we've been praying about purchasing a van. We've been saving for quite a while, and for various reasons, it seemed to be the time to begin actively looking. By His grace, He provided a very good deal right within our budget on something far nicer and newer than we ever hoped for. Thank You, Lord!

And for those who sometimes wonder if He cares about the little things, the color of our van is testimony to the fact that He does. I try not to be overly picky about such things, but I simply do not prefer white vehicles, and at least 80% of the used vans we were finding were white. Now, if everything else about them had lined up with what we were looking for, I would have happily driven a white van, but I really wanted something (anything!) other than white. So I began praying about the color along with everything else . . . and as icing on the cake, God gave us a silver van! Praise Him even for the little things!

Here are a few pictures . . .

It even has Stow-n-Go seating which will be wonderful for times when there's larger items to carry home from grandparents'!

And this one is for our dads . . .

Think we should let Peter take it for a spin?

Thanks for rejoicing with us!

"MM, MM, good"

I have a new helper in the kitchen! Hannah's been doing it for so long that she actually is my little helper--I can let her stir and such without much supervision while I gather ingredients, etc. Peter, however, needs a quite a bit more help unless I want batter ALL over the kitchen.

Hannah tried instructing Peter in the best part of baking . . .

He didn't buy it for a minute! Batter is fine for you, but give me M&Ms!

Sometimes I think the economy of our household runs on M&Ms!

Happy Baking!

New wheels?

We have been praying about getting a larger vehicle. Our faithful Neon is starting to show it's age, and especially for long trips up north, it's rather small for all of us piled in along with our luggage. One of the men at work directed us to a good source for used vehicles. We gave him our specifications, and we are now test driving a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country LX. We must admit that it is very nice! But please pray with us that we will have wisdom to know whether this is the vehicle we should purchase. Especially pray that we will discover any potential mechanical issues.

Hannah's standard request after evening church services is, "Daddy, can we please do something special?" (Translation: "Can we please go to 'Old McDonalds' for french fries?") We decided to oblige tonight, since we also "needed" to test drive the van. AND since we couldn't eat in the van, we got to play at the playground, too! What a treat!

We're not having fun or anything, are we?

Down with the dust bunnies!

The reign of the dust bunnies in Chris' office came to an abrupt and sudden end last evening. After over seven years of service, his office mate Andrew has taken a new job. Therefore, Chris now wears the title of Senior Network Engineer. One perk of the increased responsibilities is a larger desk. However, before taking advantage of that, the office needed a good cleaning.

So after dinner, we gathered some toys and cleaning supplies and headed over to the office. The kids did great! They doodled around and had fun with a box of conference gadgets we found stored on one of the shelves.

The custodial crew was a bit suprised to find a little guy playing ball in the hallway though.

Three hours and three large trash bags later, things were in tip top shape!

A suggestion for those with kids--if you want to sleep in a bit in the morning, keep everyone up till midnight! Thankfully our two slept in till after 9:00 this morning!

God made everything.

Hannah definitely understands that God created the world and people and animals . . . but in her opinion He also made houses, cars, her dress, etc., making for some rather interesting conversations.

During devotions this week we were reading about Jesus' birth, and we talked about the fact that it wouldn't be very nice to be born in a barn. The illustration in her Bible shows a typical night scene in the stable with animals, open walls, and twinkling stars. Hannah concluded our conversation with, "but we're safe, Mommy, because God made our house with a roof and walls. We're safe. The 'aminals' and stars can't come inside our house."

What can you say to that?

Priceless expressions

Sometimes the camera clicks at just the right moment . . .

"Don't even think about intercepting the fork."

I want food.

I was struck by the reality that my little girl is growing up when after asking for a snack, she proceeded to the kitchen and pulled out the Cheerios and apple sauce herself. Considering that she was recovering from a stomach bug, it was especially encouraging to see her really wanting to eat.

An evening out . . .

One of our favorite family activities in the evening is taking a walk down at the track.

Hannah has gotten really good at riding her trike this summer. We're suspicious that next spring she'll be on a two-wheeler and the trike will get passed on to Peter.

Thankfully, he still enjoys the stroller though.

Windows in Progress!

Praise the Lord! Our windows arrived on Monday and we were able to start installing them!! (For various and sundry reasons, it has been a long wait since we first ordered them.) We hope to finish the process this weekend, weather permitting (and we're still waiting on the living room windows), so I'll post before and after photos once the project is complete.

"I've got the caulk, Daddy!"

No more nasty, peeling paint!

Good work, Daddy!

Conked Out!

For a Sunday afternoon snooze . . .

Simply Saturday

We enjoyed a quiet day today since our original plans to install windows got delayed. (Lord willing, that will happen early this week!) Just a glimpse of what such a day looks like around here . . .

Making breakfast with Daddy:

Playing outside:

House Projects:

"Lunch Train" - we do as much preparation as is possible for the upcoming week's lunches on Saturday to save time during the week and avoid having to make lunches on Sunday. Cheese and crackers, anyone?

We also made a special trip to Walmart to visit the "up stand." (I do NOT know where that particular designation came from.) Anyway, Walmart had a carnival stand selling funnel cakes, etc., in the parking lot when we went grocery shopping this week--Hannah was absolutely mesmerized by the "beyutiful" lights and colors. (Advertising at its best!) It was too expensive for an "after grocery shopping treat," but we talked to Daddy about going back on Saturday for a special "family treat." It was the highlight of the day! Hannah was so excited about it she drew a picture for the "up stand" and insisted on giving it to the man serving us. It turns out that he also has a little girl and took her "dinosaur" with great respect, including taping it to the window. :o)

Hope you enjoyed your day, too! Happy Saturday!

Flowers & a Date

Chris surprised Jenny with flowers Thursday evening. Aren't they beautiful?? It's funny, but Hannah gets just as excited about them as Jenny does, and she is much more vocal in voicing her opinion that Daddy needs to replace them when they reach end of life.

We also thoroughly enjoyed a date Friday evening! Hannah and Peter had fun with one of their favorite babysitters, and we took advantage of an Olive Garden gift card to enjoy a nice meal before attending a funny rendition of "The Tempest" at school. We actually had a bit of extra time between dinner and the play, so we were also able to pick up running shoes for Chris. Blessing upon blessing! It was wonderful to have some uninterrupted time together! We actually got asked if we were newlyweds, we talked so much!

You know you have a boy . . .

You know you have a boy when he repeatedly signs "please" begging you to "play drums" on his tummy. We're glad our little guy is back to himself again!

Geography 101 - A+

For all those who have bemoaned Jenny's lack of a sense of direction, you will be glad to know that Hannah is following in her Daddy's footsteps rather than her Mommy's. This afternoon she was playing with her puzzles and walked into the kitchen holding something small and blue. She asked, "Does Grandma H. live in here?" Not really seeing what she had, I said, "No, she doesn't live in there." (Who lives in a puzzle piece????) Well, she looked a little disappointed, but then she held up something purple and asked if Grandma M. lived in there. This time I walked over to look at what she was holding. I was wrong! You can live in a puzzle piece--if it's a map puzzle! She had correctly deduced that Grandma H. lived in the blue puzzle piece containing the state of Michigan and Grandma M. lived in the purple puzzle piece containing the state of New York. Good job, Hannah!

Just doodlin' around

Well, the verdict is still out concerning Peter's random tossing of his cookies, but he's been fine since Monday morning, so we're thankful for that. (We're suspecting a molar though, because he's also been just a bit fussy which is unusual for him.) However, in the meantime, we've enjoyed the last couple days at home.

Today while Peter napped, Hannah and I had "craft time." She absolutely loves cutting with her new scissors!

It's amazing to see how quickly they learn and grow! She did all of the cutting and wrote all of the words on the fronts by herself! (I drew lines for to cut on and had the words written on a separate sheet of paper for her to see and copy.)

Do you like her dinosaur?

We also enjoyed eating "real" tacos for the first time tonight.

Happy Tuesday!

A "Gabled Portico"

Well, our stoop is destined to no longer be a "stoop" but a "gabled portico." For various and sundry reasons, we're thinking of redesigning our entry way when we redo the roof for the addition. (Primary reason is because we're having some water leakage in the valley between the awning and the faux peak.) We really like the look of this one we see on our way to church. The gable in particular seems to have just the right peak.

Ours wouldn't be quite that big, but we'd like to expand it by about a foot on each side.

Use your imagination . . . can you see the gable and rounded steps, too?