King Jesus

This is the week leading up to Easter Sunday: our celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Some refer to it as Passion Week. What a wonderful opportunity to reflect on each of the days that led up to the ultimate sacrifice, the cross; and that awesome miracle, the resurrection.

Jesus willingly left the perfection of heaven, to come to earth as a baby, taking on flesh. He lived here without committing a single sin for 33 years and spent the last 3 of those years ministering to those who would hear the Truth. He knew the whole time that he would have to suffer a terrible death in order to pay the penalty for each of our sins so that those who accept Him as Lord and Savior may have eternal life with God the Father! An old hymn I love says it best; " What wondrous love is this, O my soul!"

Here are the main events of Jesus' week of passion (see Mark 11-16):
Sunday: Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
Monday: Jesus cleansed the temple of immoral practices and cursed the fig tree
Tuesday: Jesus taught on several subjects pertaining to godly living
Wednesday: a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head with oil and Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus
Thursday: Jesus shared the last supper with the disciples, Jesus prayed in the garden at Gethsemane, He was betrayed and arrested
Friday: Jesus stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, before Pilate, and before the people; the people called for Him to be crucified, Jesus was tortured, Jesus walked to Golgotha carrying the cross, Jesus was crucified, died, was laid in a heavily guarded tomb, and it was sealed shut. Then it was quiet.
Saturday: (still quiet)
Sunday: Jesus rose from the grave! He's Alive! Praise the Lord!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16

from the mission field

(the kids with our friend Kokeh)

Our dear friend Kokeh came to visit Thursday morning. He, his wife Nancy, and their four kids live in Monrovia, Liberia where Kokeh ministers to several hundred pastors, teaching and directing them in theology, pastoral care, and evangelism. Kokeh is in town for a few weeks to visit the churches and ministries that support their ministry in Liberia, giving updates and explaining current needs.

PT and I first met Kokeh while we were attending Dallas Seminary. He and PT were good friends during that time. It was wonderful just to see his smiling face and spend a little time catching up on family and ministry details. The last time Kokeh saw any of the kids in person, there was only N and he was a baby. All three thought he was wonderful! :0) They showed him their favorite things, gave high-5's, climbed on his lap, B played catch with him, and they all talked non-stop about whatever they could think to tell him. When he left, they recounted the whole visit while we ate lunch, "Uncle Kokeh said..." "Uncle Kokeh did..." It was a special time.

Please join us in ongoing prayer for Kokeh and Nancy Kotee. They are just one of several missionary families our church helps to support. They are also dear friends. Pray for their ministry to the people of Liberia, Africa. Pray for the pastors Kokeh teaches, many of whom walk or ride bikes for days to attend the seminars he leads so that they can be better equipped as pastors in remote areas. Pray for the Kotee's children as the oldest nears college and will have to decide whether to leave home in order to attend. Pray for their ministry to continue to be blessed and for financial provision for both their personal and ministry needs as they equip these pastors and touch the lives of so many Africans with the life saving, life changing message of Jesus Christ.

wedding fancy

We went to a wedding last Saturday. The kids were welcome, so we all dressed up and headed to the 10am wedding service. It was a beautiful wedding and the bride and groom had such evident love and JOY coming from every pore! I love that! It's so exciting to watch a couple unite in marriage, when they intend to keep God at the center of their life together!

We typically ask someone to watch the kids when we attend weddings so that we don't have to worry about loudly whispered questions throughout the ceremony or quiet, but paper rattly, disputes over the Bibles and hymnals in the backs of pews (which wouldn't be nearly so exciting if we had them at our church, but we don't). But, no one was really available and the bride and groom had made it very clear that they'd love for the kids to attend too, so we complied. Since it was a breezy day, we dressed everyone up! The boys looked sooooo adorable in their suits! J' looked lovely in her velvety lavender dress. N' called it his tuxedo even though we explained several times that it's called a suit. He finally said, "I want to call my suit, my tuxedo." He was tickled to dress up "just like daddy!"




PT did a lovely job marrying the couple, and the kids and I sat in the back row of the small, but gorgeous, wedding chapel so that we wouldn't risk being a distraction. The only challenge I had was right at the beginning of the ceremony, when B' called out "Daddy! Daddy talking!" It sounded soooo loud to me, but no one seemed to hear him except the lady sitting directly in front of us :0)

What a fun day! J' and PT danced at the wedding reception -- I wish I had a pic of that to show you, but I didn't have the camera with me. These are a few shots we took when we arrived back at home.

and week 38...

We've begun week 38 of this pregnancy. I've never had this much baby belly! :0)

My hips are all out-of-whack, uninterrupted sleep is a distant memory, and I have no lap when I sit down but PRAISE THE LORD there's an end -- sweet baby will surely decide to come out and meet us any day now.

Thursday night my mom came by and gave me a much needed haircut! YAY! I hadn't felt that pretty in a couple of months! It was sad to say goodbye to three inches of hair, but since it was only growing that fast in two places, it was much nicer to welcome a style with some shape.


Here are a few little arrow updates:

The kids ask daily when babynew will be out of mommy's tummy and we just keep saying, "soon."

N' is all about spelling right now. He really wants to be able to read. He's constantly asking us what some set of letters spells when he spots something on a box, book, flier, etc. He loves spelling words on the fridge with the magnetic alphabet and proudly announcing that he's spelled a word. I'm so excited for him. I LOVE to read -- we're talking serious addiction here -- so it's fabulous to watch N' grow more and more interested in making sense out of letters and words on a page.

J' is in a pouty phase the last couple of weeks that will prayerfully end super fast. Everything is worth wailing over: she brushed her elbow against the wall, B' looked at her and she didn't like it, there's a bird in the yard that she doesn't like (usually a crow), someone took the red block she wanted (even though there are 9 more red blocks exactly like it in the set of blocks)... You get the idea. We're working on talking her through it and helping her understand that the drama and false-cry are not effective. More important, they are not pleasing to God as they exhibit a lack of self-control. I can say she's at least trying: if you call her out when she starts faking a cry, she'll just stop and move on (provided that she isn't too far into her dramatic presentation to step out of it quickly) ;0) On the positive side, she's a great conversationalist. She'll come and sit down and just chat about whatever she can think of. We can't wait to see God's purposes in gifting her with such eloquence at such a young age. She loves to watch my belly for signs of action and then point out, "that baby is wiggling in your tummy mommy!" So sweet!

B' surprises us with new words and phrases everyday! We've also discovered that he's great at playing memory. We've been playing board games instead of doing more physical activities since mommy is sort of unable right now. I really didn't think he'd be able to play successfully at all, but he gets a huge kick out of matching up the pictures on the cards and telling you what they are. He's my best helper. If I declare it's time to clean up and say I need helpers, he comes right behind me saying, "I help." Now if only his attention span lasted as long as the average clean up at the end of the day requires :0)

36 weeks and counting

Here's a fresh pic. This is biggest pregnant belly I've ever had!

I know, yet another sad ponytail day... but the kids are all clean and dressed and the house is clean... there's only so much available energy these days ;0) This week marks 36 weeks so ANY DAY NOW! Please continue to join with us in prayer for a healthy baby and a smooth, natural delivery. We can't wait to post pics of babynew 4!

It's such a privilege and a blessing to be a mommy and have the opportunity to help teach our children about the wonderful love of our Savior Jesus Christ! I'm so excited about meeting this newest addition to our family, face-to-face. We're praising the Lord in advance!

she's 3

(THREE!)

J' turned three a couple of weeks ago. Sorry I'm just now posting pics of her special day. Her bday fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated right after church when we arrived home for lunch. We made a decision when N' was born that we didn't want to get into the expense and effort of party throwing until the kids were old enough to understand what was happening and that it was for them. We've attended so many parties where the honored guest was asleep and the grownups were entertaining one another. We decided that at age 5 they would clearly understand the concept of birthdays and celebrating AND be able to enjoy sharing it with some friends. Soooo, it was just a family party: our fam, my sister's 3 girls, and Nana (my mom).

(The cousins gave J a "flower hat" and sunglasses, among other fun things, in her bday bag!)

(B tried on J's new flower hat.)

(J opening gifts: she loves puzzles! This one was from Nana.)

We've been to a few kiddo bday parties lately and J asked if she could have a cake with a picture on it for her birthday -- it was the only thing she asked for. So, we skipped our normal muffin-cake, cornbread, or other healthy substitute and went for the standard sugar-rich cake.

I haven't decorated a cake since before we were married (that means over 8 years ago!). I dusted off my decorating supplies, covered the blender in a cloud of confectioner's sugar while making a mountain of buttercream frosting, and baked a box mix lemon supreme cake. J wanted a dinosaur cake and I wanted a girlie cake, so I tried to combine the two. It didnt' turn out quite like I pictured it, but at three, J is easily pleased so she was happy with it. The dinosaur is a pteranodon -- J's current favorite dinosaur.

(What? You can't hear everyone singing "Happy Birthday dear...")

We don't typically allow the kids to have sugar, so this was a special treat! When we cut the cake after singing happy birthday, she asked if she could eat the frosting too. She had tasted the frosting the night before while I was decorating, but that was just a tiny lick off the tip of one finger. About a fourth of the way through her piece of cake she said, "Mommy this frosting is yummy and then it's yucky. Can you take it off my cake part?" I was a proud, pleased, happy mommy. She had sugar available and didn't even want it all! YAY! No such luck with N, he ate every bite. I still took B's frosting off -- I felt scandalous enough giving him the cake! :0) Go ahead and call me crazy... I can take it!

I can't believe she's actually 3! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun and Miss J definitely brings us great JOY! Thank you Lord for another year of life for our precious little lady.

just like daddy's

N needed a haircut, so we asked him which he wanted this time: curly hair or short hair? He said he wanted it short like daddy's. Soooo, PT pulled out the clippers and in moments, our little boy looked like a bigger boy :0) So sweet! It's amazing how fast they grow up. N says it's not exactly like daddy's hair though. Something about the smooth space at the edge of PT's hairline :0) Now N says B wants his hair cut short too... but I want to hang on to B's baby-ness for a while longer even if it is more work to comb those curls out every morning.