Saturday, April 30, 2011

Friends are fun!

Its pretty neat that you can have friends in different states that you have never met in person, yet feel you really know them!  Well that is the story of two great friends of ours.... by following each others blogs (links below if you want to "meet" them) they have gotten to know one another!  Now the could all meet each other in PERSON! It was fun for all!

Some friends from MI  came down to visit, and the Riefers came over to meet them.
We played outside for about an hour, we played signs, motions, ninja, and looked at the chicks.
the younger boys enjoyed playing too!
The Girls - these are the blogger girls - in age order





































































Tuesday, April 26, 2011

In the midst of life

How many times have I muttered "I if can just make it until tomorrow..."  I don't really mean to rush the day, or week or years!  In fact there are probably just as many times (or more) that I ponder "why does time have to fly by so quickly?"

So what does that have to do with our blog???  As you can tell from the incredible LACK of posting we have done ~ life has been busy with other things as of late!  So a quick update on what we are all up to!  Then off to the next thing :)

The little one is growing up so quickly!  The kids insisted she needed a potty seat and its amazing to me how ready she is!  (I am NOT convinced we are "potty training" yet but glad she is interested!) She is doing alot of signing which is so fun to see her be able to communicate.  She is very much loved by all the bigger ones and particularly favors the eldest :) We are excited to see how God is going to weave her into our family forever! 

almost 20 months old and cute as ever
The young boys are enjoying being boys! They have enjoyed the amount of snow we received this winter with lots of sledding enjoyed by all!  They are quick to work through school so they can play legos or playmobile or risk!  (Bernie has begun wearing glasses this spring for reading!)


 one final snow man

The girls are wonderful helpers and are enjoying a dance class as of late a real blessing after not doing that for a few years!  They have joined me in starting a home based business, Thirty-One, lots of great real life math, public speaking and just all around real life skills they are learning as we have fun at this together!  They are also BOTH wearing glasses now!  (Ria's are just for reading too) We were blessed to have 2 cousins get to visit with Grandpa and Grandma K they enjoyed having cousin time LOTS!
Raleigh, Ria and Brinley

And the eldest (who recently got his permit!) well he is enjoying the independence of high school!  He just completed another season of basketball, it was a blessing to see his improvement through another season! He is starting spring soccer and enjoy that alot as well. He and Tutu thoroughly enjoyed being in another fine linen drama production this spring, Seussical the Musical!  It was amazing!  Hopefully we will get some more photos of that posted soon!
Tutu ~ a who child and Chuck ~ a cadet

And the adults in the house.... keeping up with the schooling, cleaning, laundry, meals, appointments and ministry that is scheduled to happen every day!  We were so blessed to get away for a weekend what seems like forever ago already!  We have also begun a homegroup which has become a deep blessing already for all of us. And once again we have begun another travel season with My Father's World.  so far we have already done 3 conventions, ND, NE and MN, we have 7 more to go!  We go to Arlington, TX next week then AR mid May.  In June we head to KS, CO and Austin,TX and we head to TX the end of July and early Aug!  would be great in my mind to switch those TX ones with all the northern ones we did in March and April!!! but oh well!  We are very blessed by all the kind people we meet along the way.

I am treasuring the book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  Today's message was on keeping Jesus as our focal point - like a spinning ballerina we must keep a focal point in order to maintain balance.  May CHRIST be your focal point
  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12:2

Blessings!  

Preperations

Well, this lent has not gone exactly as I expected.  As a family we have often fasted from something together (as we shared last year in our posts much more faithfully than this year I sadly add), which is a great accountability factor! 
However this year we decided to each do our own fast, personally I didn't do so well!  However the whole point of fasting is in drawing nearer to God, putting aside our selfish desires to deepen our walk with Him in preparation for Easter.
  I have been blessed in  many little ways this lent season and look forward to Easter with a renewed awe and overwhelming peace in the incredible gift that has been give to us! 

A lovely spring has been refreshing after a long winter, seeing the NEW life spring up all around, reminding once again the old has gone the new is come!
We are thankful for visits from family, the blessing of extended family pouring out love amidst the miles is a treat!


Tonight we were blessed to take part in a demonstration seder Passover, with Jews for Jesus.  To see all the connections from the Old Testament ceremonies is just incredible!  the one that we had learned about before but once again reminded us how God works even the little things into a part of the whole plan has to do with the matzah bread tradition.   (for more information on that you can read about the 3 pieces of bread = the triune God here)

I pray that Jesus is your passover lamb and that this Easter you will be filled to overflowing in God's great love for each of US!