Happy Mother's Day 2011

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Combine it with celebrating Mother's Day with my 5 blessings and it is extra-special!

Tim was very proud of the flower he planted for me at Sunday School.

It was a beautiful warm day!

We finished the day with a special Children's Chorale and Bel Canto concert. Allie and Lindsay sang beautifully and provided the perfect ending to a great day!

A peek into the daily happenings

Tim and Savannah keep themselves entertained, both individually and by playing together.

Tim is getting his people and animals set up and ready for the battle. He is VERY meticulous with his line...and his little sister has been known to interfere every once in a while.

But, alas, they are close friends and know exactly how to stay cool-looking in the bright sun.

Savannah doesn't like to play pretend. She loves it! Heels go with any outfit and every basket, stroller, container needs to be overflowing with "stuff".

Having little ones in our home is so much fun!

A Singing Trip

Allie's Children's Chorale trip this year took her on a bus excursion through Western Wyoming and Salt Lake City, Utah. They sang at many schools along the way and performed several times in Salt Lake City.

She had a quick breakfast with Phil before getting dropped off for the 4 day bus trip.


This was the first year I did not chaperone the trip. But she was in great hands with Brenda! Due to some unforeseen circumstances with another singer not going on the trip, Allie and Aly ended up having a room together by themselves (with Brenda, of course).

I dropped her off and snapped a quick picture on the bus just before they pulled out of town for a singing adventure.

Allie forgot her camera, and some of Brenda's wouldn't format correctly for this blog...oh well. One exciting thing the kids did while they were there was to explore the Olympic Training Camp. Here are the girls in one of the sleds.

This coming year will be a big trip to either New York or California -- stay posted for details and pictures.

Sleepy Eyes

Now that Tim can read books to himself, he will lay in his bed at night with a stack of "Easy Readers." I went in to check on him one evening and this is how I found him.

Phil said he gets it honestly....from me :).

Happy Easter

Our beautiful children...Sarah, Lindsay, Timothy, Allie and Savannah.



Who is that TEENAGER in this photo?! Seriously...it's incredibly hard to believe how big our kiddos are getting.

Infant for a month

During the month of April, I helped out some friends that needed some temporary infant care. Check out this cute 6 week old baby boy...Griffin.










We all loved on him for 4 weeks. Getting used to having an infant around was tricky for a few days, but we adjusted quickly. The extra cash from this side job helped fund our trip to Maryland in June...more on that exciting adventure coming soon.

Workouts with Sarah

So far there is no need to enroll Tim or Savannah in gymnastic or dance classes. Sarah saves me $$ by hosting classes at home....For Fffrrreeeeee (think Bedtime Stories).

When small group goes on forever...

We host T Group (stands for Transformation) in our home every Friday night. It is something we look forward to each week. Being able to get together in a more inimate, relaxed setting with other like-minded families encourages our faith.

We begin at 7:00 pm with a study which is followed by prayer time. We try to wrap this portion up by 8:45 or 9:00 so that people can visit. Hosting T Group on Fridays makes late night gatherings possible. Some nights, everyone is gone by 9:30 pm. Other times it is well after 11:00 p.m.

One such late night, Tim and Savannah just couldn't stay up any longer. As I sat on the floor and talked with another gal from the group, they sat down also, but within minutes were fast asleep!

Praying for Life

April 1, 2011 ~~ For as long as I can remember, I would consider myself a "pro-life" person. For me, the issue is very black and white: God's Word says, "Thou shall not murder". Period.

However, until recently, I have only been involved in pro-life issues by financially donating to the local pregnancy crisis center. A "timely" incident that I will expand on in a later post led me to have a deeper concern and compassion for women that have been lied to and are being led to feel that their only option for their unplanned pregnancy is abortion.

Allie did a fantastic report on this subject during the spring and as part of her research, read the book UnPlanned by Abby Johnson. Read it. It's amazing.

My heart was moved and my spirit was ignited to get involved at a deeper level. I was realizing that while the desire to save babies from death was a great goal, an even more important burden was to pray for the souls of these women, which would lead them to Christ.

Providentially while Allie and I were reading this book and she was doing her research paper, the National 40 Days for Life was underway. We started getting the daily emails with the praise reports of babies being saved from death as Christians prayed outside of abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood. We decided that we wanted to participate in one of these vigils.

On Friday, April 1, three families from Casper traveled to Fort Collins, CO to intercede for babies scheduled to die in the womb on "abortion day". Thankfully there are no abortion performing facitlities in Casper but apparently a bus comes from Fort Collins to Laramie, WY periodically to pick up mostly college girls, take them back to Colorado to have an abortion performed and then transported back. This is a lucrative business; don't be fooled.

Sarah and Aly look up Bible verses and prayers for the mothers, fathers, babies and clinic workers.

We visited with the local organizer of 40 Days for Life. She had some amazing and also heart-breaking stories to tell us.

This was a peaceful, prayerful vigil but the director of the clinic was clearly bothered by the children praying and standing in front of the clinic. She came out twice with angry threats in her words and a look of hatred in her eyes that pierced to the core. Yet, we felt compassion for her. And more than compassion, we told her we would pray for her. As she walked away, I pleaded for God to break through her tough exterior and lead her to repentance just as he had previously done for many abortion clinic workers like Abby Johnson.

This was a special time for Kris, Brenda and me to experience.

In spite of the new vocabulary screamed from hateful mouths that our children heard on this day; in spite of the opposition from the church located to the rear of the clinic; in spite of the babies that died on this day....there was an incredible sense of God's presence as we stood in an invisible war and prayed the powerful, living, WORD OF GOD.

It may not have changed anything that we saw with our visible eyes, but it might have. One thing it did change was those of us who prayed and stood on behalf of lives that could not.

Our prayer for next time...more prayer warriors.

Going back in time a few months

Here it is June 11, and I have pictures still unposted from February. Fortunately for me, I haven't taken a ton of photos the last few months of winter, but summer looks to be busy, so a-posting-I-will-go!

February 27:

The Marler family lives up on top of Casper mountain and since we've been to see them last time several years ago, they have added 4 children and 15 dogs to their family! Our kids had such a fun time riding snowmobiles and sled dogs.

I have no idea why these pictures are posting over here....

Sarah was in heaven with all these dogs.

That's Tim and Spiderman

Off to the sled races.

Savannah was perfectly content to hang out inside with the 2 pups.

It's Friday...but Sunday's Coming

Reading and Baking

I know, it's been a long time again with no posts. But I have some really good reasons. (At least I will do my best to come up with some by my next post.)

While you wait for some pictures and news on my relatively unimportant blog, can I encourage you to take opportunities this week before Easter to focus on God's Word, specifically the gospel accounts of the days leading up to Easter. Here is a schedule I found that incorporates the accounts from all 4 Gospels.

Sunday
The Triumphal Entry; Jerusalem
Mt 21:1-17; Mk 11:1-19; Lk 19:29-48; Jn 12:12-50

Monday
Jesus curses the fig tree
Mt 21:18-21; Mk 11:20-26

Tuesday
The authority of Jesus questioned
Mt 21:23-27; Mk 11:27-33; Lk 20:1-8
Jesus teaches in the temple
Matt 21:28-25:46; Mk 12:1-13:37; Lk 20:9-21:38

Wednesday
Jesus anointed
Mt 26:1-13; Mk 14:1-9
The plot against Jesus
Mt 26:14-16; Mk 14:10-11; Lk 22:1-6

Thursday
The Last Supper
Mt 26:17-35; Mk 14:12-38; Lk 22:7-38; Jn 13:1-38
Jesus comforts the disciples
Jn 14:1-17:26
Gethsemane
Mt 26:36-46; Mk 14:39-42; Lk 22:39-46
Jesus' arrest and trial
Mt 26:47-75; Mk 14:43-15:15; Lk 22:47-23:25; Jn 18:1-19:16

Friday
Jesus' crucifixion and death
Mt 27:1-56; Mk 15:16-41; Lk 23:26-49; Jn 19:17-30
The burial of Jesus
Mt 27:57-66; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-56; Jn 19:31-42

Sunday
The empty tomb
Mt 28:1-15; Mk 16:1-8; Lk 24:1-12; Jn 20:1-10
Mary Magdalene sees Jesus in the garden
Mk 16:9-11; Jn 20:11-18
Jesus appears to the two going to Emmaus
Mk 16:12-13; Lk 24:13-35
Jesus appears to 10 disciples
Mk 16:14-20; Lk 24:36-53; Jn 20:19-23


Here is a great activity to do on Saturday -- make cookies that will allow you to act out and discuss the Easter story with children in your church, family, or any group.

Resurrection Cookies

More pictures from Grammy's visit

Grammy likes to take photos. The kids try to amuse her. But eventually the fake smiles come out....

The perfect little picture poser.

Savannah and Grammy enjoy a game of Trouble together.

A quick pose for Grammy.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Grammy took the little ones to the mall several times while I was doing school with the big ones. They were excited to bring balloons home this time.

An 80 degree temperature change!

In Wyoming, one day the temperature can be this.....

...and then the next day it can be this!!

I think this is the first time Timothy has celebrated his February 16th birthday with a picnic and sand castle making.

That's how old I am!

I have taught my son well! Vitamin D - it's so good for the soul :).


Yes, even a picnic...in FEBRUARY.


Savannah had a great time playing with bubbles. It is always amazing how fast she can empty a bottle.

Timothy's birthday fell on AWANA night.


He was the clubber of the night and got to talk about his favorite things.

Savannah was delighted to be able to stay in his class for the entire night.

She had no reservations about doing everything Timothy did, including the games.

Timothy takes the game time very seriously.

Timothy Turns 5

We celebrated Tim's birthday the Saturday prior to his actual birthday. He wanted things fairly simple. A batman cake and a specific list of friends.

Savannah and Uncle Jim. I am not sure how she ended up on his lap, because Tim is generally possessive of Jim.

The kids' parties are always a good excuse for us to visit with our friends.

David read Tim his card all by himself.

Avry and Savannah sat like little princesses as Tim opened a bunch of boy toys.

Grammy made it into town just in time to celebrate her first grandson's 5th birthday!

Timothy was super excited about his entire Bears outfit, especially the helmet.

This was taken immediately before the ridiculous tears by the birthday boy. Why? Because notice David's lips. He was helping Tim blow out his candles and according to Tim, that is absolutely, under no circumstances, acceptable, at any time, for any birthday.

I am sure that my son with remember to warn David of this when (if) he invites him next year.

That's real life, folks, and sometimes it's just not pretty.

Update: Tim walked by the computer right after I initially posted this, saw the photo of David blowing out his candles and said, "I should have told David you aren't supposed to blow out other people's candles."


Timothy writing his own "Thank You" notes. I think he had them written and delivered faster than any of the girls have so far!!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy. You have filled our house and lives with joy and laughter in more ways than you could ever know.