Skateboarding!

So we were outside this morning and our neighbor and his friend came out to skateboard. They are such sweet boys. They are like 12 and 13. Anyway, they are always nice to Bella and Jack. They brought out a little Mickey Mouse skateboard for her to borrow. Bella loved it! She didn't do too bad for a 3 year old. Finally she sat down and just started riding it. She would jump off and pretend she was doing tricks like the older boys were doing. It was so fun to watch. Jack mostly played with the rocks and dirt. But he did like the Mickey Mouse and got excited when he saw that. The boys were talking to each other and saying, "Hey, if she becomes a famous skateboarder we can say that we taught her." It was so fun!

Fellowship and Crafts

Today we had a nice relaxing day. We went to church in the morning. It was really good. They are going through the book of Romans and we're in chapter 12. Today we were talking about the church and the different members and each member is important and has a place they are needed. Not just needed, a specific function and gift that they get to be a part of the body with. The teaching is really good. In two weeks they have a membership class, so we will look forward to going and checking it out. I so want to plug in with other believers. When he was talking about believer's each coming together with their own gift and serving, it made me think of Living Hope. What a beautiful picture of people using what the Lord has given them and serving to reach others for Christ.

We have seen here the many ways you can let the Lord use you in your own neighborhood. It has been awesome to get to know our neighbors and spend time getting to know them better. But there is something about serving along side other believers that I miss. I guess it takes time to build relationships. Once they start the community groups (hope groups) again we'll get to meet some new people and get to join in the awesome stuff that happens in a small group again. I can't wait!!!! We have so many sweet friends we miss and miss getting to share our lives closely with. I'm excited about the new friends we'll get to meet here though.

Okay, so yesterday I got to go to Micheal's all by myself. Micheal's is like a hobby lobby. Very big, many crafty things to do. I love doing crafty things. I don't do them as much as I used to, but it is so fun for me. I went in there to look for stuff for a door hanger for my mother-in-law. She saw our welcome sign on our door when they were here and said she liked it and wouldn't mind having one like it. That was a nice compliment. So here I go to Micheal's with a purpose of creating a door hanger. It was so much fun! Overwhelming, but fun. I stood there and was like where do I even start. Thankfully what I needed was not far from the entrance. I thought about calling Josh and telling him I was lost in the store and needed help to get out. They had so many fun things, and inexpensive stuff. A lot of their kid's crafts were on sale. It was very hard to get out of that store. I saw scrapbooking stuff, fun things for my sister's baby shower coming up, plenty of fun things for the welcome sign. It was a nice trip to a fun store. I got to come home and once the kids were in bed and things were settled, I got to work on the welcome sign. It was nice. And it didn't turn out too bad.

I love living in a neighborhood where you get to meet and know your neighbors. We spent some time outside this evening and it is was nice. I'm finding my neighbor across the street and I have a lot of interests in common. We will hopefully start walking together soon. Not that I really like exercise or anything, but it is much easier to be committed to it with someone else. Then there is a little girl down the street who comes to visit her grandparents and she always wants to play with Bella and Jack. Also there is a boy across the street who has been coming over to play, he doesn't speak English. Guess we need to start learning Spanish.

Well, my husband is almost finished with his new Harry Potter book. I haven't ever read them, but I would like to know what happens to Harry Potter. Does he live or die? That seems to be the big question. So, I guess I'll go find out.

It's been a while

So, we've had the internet now for almost a month and this is my first post. Pretty sad I know. My husband was right in his post. I was kind of afraid of just complaing about all the many adventures we have had since we moved here. See, now they are adventures, not all the things that have gone wrong. Thankfully the mice are gone. Except the many that live out in the woods right next to our lot. Our hot water heater got fixed, which we totally saw the Lord's hand in. Our neighbor, another believer, helped Josh fix it for free! That's a lot cheaper than the $800 labor charges from other plumbers.

We like the church we have been going to and are looking forward to plugging in. They have a membership class, but the next one is not until August. I miss Living Hope like crazy. Let me just say worship at Living Hope is amazing and so beautiful! The worship at our new church is different, but the Lord is teaching me a large part of worship is where your heart is. The first Sunday that we were there they were sitting down and singing the songs on the screen. (That doesn't happen every Sunday.) I was like what is up with this! How in the world are you supposed to get into worship like this? Aren't we supposed to be standing at least? During my time of grumbling and complaining about not standing up to worship the Lord quitely spoke to my heart and said, "You can worship me whether you are sitting or standing. But right now your attitude does not reflect worship at all." That was pretty humbling. But it helped me to see all the other amazing things about this church and not get hung up on one little thing. The next Sunday they had everyone stand and worship :)

I am so longing to get plugged in with other believers. Their community groups start up in the fall and I'm excited about that. And Bella will get to go to AWANA in the fall. I am super exited about that. It's funny, I always looked forward to her getting to go to AWANA, but with the awesome Mr. Ken and Mrs Cindy and all her little friends from the nursery. Will there really be people as amazing as them loving on our three year old? I know there will be, but we'll miss ya'll.

Today was my first time to babysit some kids down the street. It was a little rough. The baby is only a year old and has never been with anyone except his mom and dad. So, he cried most of the time, except for when he finally fell asleep. I felt so helpless. There is another three year old boy and a five year old. Oh, and they don't speak English. Their mom rarely speaks to them in English, but the oldest boy can understand it. So, that made things interesting. I really wish I would have taken that Spanish class when it was offered. You never know when the Lord might have you use it. I will be watching them for about a month to two months til they can put them in child care. I am so nervous and am not sure I can do it everyday. I prayed a lot thoughout the day. The kids were really pretty good together for the most part. Maybe after a while the baby will get adjusted. I've never done this, so I'm not really sure what is normal and what to do. I would welcome any suggestions. I want to be able to help this family, but at the same time I don't know if I could do this everyday. I know that the Lord could stretch me and grow me through this. Maybe that's what He might be doing. In light of eternity, what is a couple of months. And, I'm not sure if they are believers or not, so it would be cool to get to share Jesus with them. The oldest boy is so sweet and helpful, and funny. Him and Bella get along pretty well. I told them earlier when they were playing with playdough they were being silly, silly, silly. The next thing the little boy says is silly, silly, silly. Then, Bella started calling me what they call me. It's a name in Spanish that their mom said means Mrs. It was pretty funny. Oh, I found out part of the reason the baby was so fussy is that he is majorly teething. So I guess after a while it will get better. But for now we all get to learn a new language. It is insane how fast kids pick up new languages.

It has been nice to be closer to our families. We have gotten to see them a whole lot more.
Well, now that I have written a book, I better go do something else. Hopefully, I'll blog again soon and it won't be quite so long.

My Daughter, The Evangelist

So we were playing down the street with the neighbors grandkids the other day. Isabella was jumping on the trampoline with them, being uncharacteristically quiet, when all of the sudden, this happened:

Isabella: Sit down everyone. I have to tell you a story.

(Amazingly enough, every kid on the trampoline sat down and gave her their full attention. She stood in front of them, poking her toe on the trampoline, and lookind down demurely. Then, she looked up at them and said:)

"Jesus died on the cross. And He wants to live in your heart."

She got really quiet, smiled, shrugged, and went back to jumping. The rest of the kids got up and started playing as well. It was like nothing happened.

I heard the other kids dad say something behind me to his dad. I turned around and said, "What was that?"

He looked me full in the eyes and replied, "My kids can come play with your kids anytime."

As if I wasn't proud enough...

You know, despite everything else that seems to be going on right now...at least that much is right.