Please Join Me......

I've shared bits and pieces of my life and perspective here since October, 2006.

I've shared photos, challenges, joys, scrapbook layouts, the cry of my heart......

.......so many photos that I have exhausted my allowed space on this blog.

So.....I've moved.

I hope that you will join me at my new and improved Table Scraps blog.

A Friday Filled With.........

• Sleeping in.....it felt SO good after a long last week of classes
• Silly string (thanks to a trip to the dollar store in a lesson about computing sales tax)
• Softball pants and cleats (Thankfully, we found a pair of cleats for Kennedy, as well as sliding pants for both, so both kids are now outfitted and ready for Opening Day tomorrow).
• Grading (The kids were troopers as I had to work at CU for a couple of hours)
• Movies (We finished the book "Because of Winn Dixie" so tonight we're going to watch the movie, which is never as good as the book. Also on tap for the weekend......Slumdog Millionaire, Bride Wars, Tale of Despereux, and Swing Vote. They're calling for more rain, so we're prepared!
• Body Crayons (again, thanks to the dollar store)
• Scrapbooking.....I haven't done a layout in a while, but I'm hoping to finish one tonight to enter into my local store's Scrap Idol contest tomorrow in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day.

Happy Friday....what was your day filled with??

I Will Praise You in the Storm.

I feel like I'm in the midst of the storm right now. These days entail a lot of uncertainty. While I feel a deep sense of peace, I am also well aware of the storm raging in so many different ways around us.

The end of the semester brings so much grading, and student stress, which translates into professor stress.

Moving to a new place is exciting, but the process of moving is overwhelming to me right now.

I think that I am experiencing some delayed sadness over the events that are leading us to move from this place. We had believed that this was the place that we would settle, find community, raise our kids, serve God.....and sad that it is not turning out to be that for us.

Our community seems to be in a really dark place right now, with a lot of backbiting and gossip and blame. People's lives are being affected in lasting ways. With my husband being a school administrator, we are all too aware of very damaging choices that are being made and the consequences of those choices for so many. Satan is actively working in this place right now. Priorities are out of place. Pain is evident all around.

Some of our family members are in the midst of painful circumstances right now.....losing jobs, surgeries, illnesses, ongoing battles with infertility, financial uncertainty. The weight is big.

And yet, through it all, I sense His presence and peace, as He calls me to just rest in the midst of it all. It is so different than what this world says to do, and yet if I obey, I know He is faithful to do a work in all of these situations and to weave these things together for our good and His glory.
Thank you, Lord, for creating and controlling the storm. Thank you that the victory is already Yours and, thus, ours. And thank you for calming your child.

Friday at the Gardens.

With the sun shining brightly and the whole day on the horizon, the kids and I decided to head over to the Meijer Gardens. We have been studying butterflies and the metamorphosis process all week, so we wanted to see the butterflies before the leave at the end of the month. We thought that if we went in the afternoon it would be less busy, but we were WRONG! I think half of Grand Rapids had the same idea we did, included 4 buses chock-full of kids. But, we managed to find some less-populated areas of the gardens to enjoy and explore.
This photo that my daughter snapped cracks me up! This sculpture is entitled "Mad Mom." Enough said.

Due to the hoards of people there, the butterflies were not plentiful....I think they were hiding! But we did manage to see a few.

They have an amazing traveling exhibit of sculture right now....truly amazing and thought-provoking work filled with letters, icons and words. This letter sculpture is so fun....the kids enjoyed finding letters to spell words.

I have so many other cool photos to share today; however, Blogger is informing me that I have used up my alotted free memory space on this blog. So, decision time is here......I have been keeping this blog for over 620 posts, so I hate to move it to another site.....however, I don't like the idea of paying for additional space here, either, when there are so many other free venues. So, stay tuned for more information about the future of "Table Scraps" in the coming days. Until then, enjoy your weekend.....we are heading downtown GR to participate in the Rob Bliss Urban Experiment.....covering the city's sidewalks with chalk art....should be fun and interesting to observe and be a part of!! That, and pack more boxes.

What We've Been Up To........

Making colorful messes.........

Rocking out to music (our own American Idols)........

Doing math..............

And just enjoying all of the beautiful sunshine.

My Goal.

You can teach a student a lesson for a day.

But if you can teach him to learn

by creating curiosity,

he will continue the learning process

as long as he lives.

--Clay P. Bedford

Easter Blessings.

Our Easter celebration was blessed, just as every year, as we gathered with family to focus on Jesus, his amazing sacrifice, and his miraculous resurrection. We attended my parents' church in McBain, where we sang the old Easter hymns, which we love and miss now that we attend a more non-traditional church where not a lot of hymns are sung. I think it is so important to keep kids connected to those pillars of the Christian faith, and we really enjoyed that piece of tradition this Easter. Above, the kids opened their Easter baskets before church on Easter morning, along with special bunnies and candy bags from Grandma and Grandpa.

We enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with all the trimmings, followed by carrot cake. It is always so special when both Grandmas are able to join us for dinner, as they are in the 80s and 90s and are such special people to us.

Here is our family on Easter......I feel so blessed.

After church, we did an Easter egg hunt. We did a little bit of candy this year, but really wanted to stay away from the candy overload. Instead, some of the eggs held cash, while others were coupons for things like a movie rental of their choice, a family mini golfing and bowling outing, a trip to the store for a new pair of rollerblades, a lunch out at their restaurant of choice.....they had fun seeing what each egg held.

My sweet girl was looking extra-beautiful in her new pink Easter dress. Aunt Kendra painstakingly curled every tendril of her hair, and Kennedy just looked so beautiful on Easter morning. There are just so many things about this girl that make my heart melt.

Here is Hayden finding an egg in the windowwill of my parents' basement.....which is a very dark, spooky basement given that their house is over 100 years old. By the end of the egg hunt, these brand new Gap khaki pants were covered in mud and grass stains. Boys.

And then on to the next Grandma's, where we enjoyed another egg hunt with some of our cousins on the McDonald side. It felt so good to be outside, even though the wind was cold and the ground pretty muddy. We also flew kites and sat in the old rocking swing outside.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings of Easter and of every day. You are so, so good to us. Praise the Lord, He is Risen!