An RGH Christmas

December 11, 2018 | Stacy

My friend Jamie encouraged me to bring the girls to RGH for the Christmas party.

Tab, Hanny, and Katriel joined me for pizza, air brushing, and Santa.

Jamie’s five and three of mine.

Mother’s Day

May 13, 2018 | Stacy

After church we dined on pizza and headed to the zoo.
I have no idea how many times we’ve been there… but in November, as I dropped Johanna off at a friend’s house, Katriel said to me, “Mom? Do you know where a zoo is?”
I was horrified!
”Um, yes, Katriel. There is one near where Mama works.”
Katriel gasped. “Can we see it someday?”

So, for Christmas, we gave Katriel and Johanna a pass to the zoo. We broke it in today.

Mother's Day

May 13, 2018 | Stacy

So, for Christmas, we gave Katriel and Johanna a pass to the zoo. We broke it in today.

Baptisms and Baskets

April 1, 2018 | Stacy

About two weeks ago our pastor left a message on our answering machine just asking us to give him a call back. When John talked with him, Tim had been calling to let us know they were having a baptism on Easter in case anyone in our family was interested. Tim was thinking maybe one of our teens was ready for that step. Weeellllll — it just so turns out that neither John nor I had ever been baptized (outside the infant baptism our parents had conferred upon us).

We quickly decided we both wanted to be baptized, and we mentioned it to the kids. Tabitha readily asked to join us, and Johanna asked if she, too, could be included. We ran it by the pastor and we agreed wholeheartedly with us that both girls were decidedly welcome. Over the next week or so, the Holy Spirit convicted each of the other three big kids, and on Easter Sunday we wore our bathing suits under our church clothes and headed to church.

We have it all on DVD, but I’m not sure how to just share the clips.
All in all there were 16 people baptized at PCC today, including my sister, Kelly. (Nan was baptized in 2001).

Pretty wonderful.

We had Easter activities before and after church, and enjoyed more sugar than we should have. Yum.

It was ridiculously cold. But we had a fast egg hunt after church.

Can you read Katriel’s card?

It says, “Happy Easter, Tabitha.”
HAPPE ESTR TABUSUH

Thanks-giving Day is everyday.

February 22, 2018 | Stacy

But the food is only once a year.

Er. Twice?

Happy Valentine’s Day~2018

February 14, 2018 | Stacy

When the bigger kids were littler, I made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day. The long winter would be getting to me/us and a mini-morning party was just what was called for. Since Katriel was born and offered us her February birthday, I’ve let Valentine’s Day sort of an afterthought. One of the kids mentioned some of their Valentine’s memories last night, however, and it made me up my game just a bit today.

They approved.

New Year’s Eve

January 1, 2018 | Stacy

Hmmmm – I can’t believe I only took one photo from New Year’s Eve.

Maybe it was because we were all a little on the Fooded-Out side.
Maybe it was because we couldn’t think of a movie for our “Second Feature.”
Maybe it was because I was scheduled to work a 12-hour shift the next morning.

But it came. And it went. And I am more than ready for 2018.
There was a lot of refining in 2017. And it wasn’t a wholly awful year. Looking through photos has helped me to remember the joy and the fun, along with the challenges and the growing pains.

Genesis 8:22
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

Christmas Eve 2017

December 24, 2017 | Stacy

This was the 11th year of gathering with the Brookses for Christmas Eve.
It’s hard to believe how much they have grown. We failed to get a photo that first year. And we have no proper pattern of collecting photos…

But here you go.