April 2022 ~

 This is the month that really makes Spring come true!  The trees are starting to bud and bloom!  The lilac bush is shooting green leaves!  The grass is turning green and growing!  I mowed it twice already.  The garden hasn't been tended too much at all since I planted the lettuce because it's been cold and wet and just not good gardening weather the past two weeks!  I did notice the radishes are coming through the soil but we need lots of sunshine to make them grow!  

We've had a really busy month in March and now Ashlyn is finished with her short basketball season!  Austin had his first baseball practice scheduled for Monday night but he got hit with the stomach bug over the weekend and couldn't attend.  He woke up Sunday morning with a belly ache and throwing up.  He's been lying around for three days now.  He's not in school yet but we are finally on the mend!  He needs to eat, prove it can stay in his body for some time and regain some energy before getting back in the classroom.  I've been his caring nurse and mother the past days and I'm ready to see him back to good health!  He's so tender hearted when he doesn't feel well!  He asked A LOT for us to pray for him!  He knows that Jesus can heal his bellyache and he asked for healing a lot the past few days!  I'm happy to serve him some toast and hot chocolate this morning!  We are improving!!!!

Crazy hair day last week at school was fun for these cousins!

Because of Ashlyn's super busy basketball schedule last week, we decided to wait to celebrate her birthday dinner with the family till this week!  She gets to pick out a restaurant to eat and we can't wait to celebrate her again!  She loved her party and her school friends are her favorite!

Matthew hasn't been too bored with basketball now over.  He had a very fun weekend with his classmates at the cabin last weekend but he came home with a sore throat and terrible cold.  We all had a touch of sickness last week and now with Austin having the stomach bug ... I am REALLY ready for everyone to be healthy and have the sun shine again!!!!  Sunshine just seems to add instant health when we don't feel well!  He's on the mend too and there's not a whole lot that keeps a sixteen year old boy down.  Matthew is playing some volleyball at school and seems to be liking this!  His intern at JR's Auto Body has been something he is enjoying as well!

Mike is busy but really does a wonderful job at handing off his work load to others that can help if needed!  Lapp's are doing a remodel at the shop right now and that had the entire office staff move out and go across the street to work.  There's a lot happening but Mike doesn't use that ever as an excuse for being late for dinner or away evenings!  He also just finished up a project upstairs here at home.  We finished some space up there and the carpet got laid last week.  The kids are excited to add some exercise equipment and use the golf net more in this space!  Mike also just taught his very first class at school!  😃  Pastor Merv Charles at Honeybrook Community Church asked Mike to fill in for him yesterday and teach a class on decision making.  Mike was nervous and made a comment that he would rather speak to a group of billionaires.  I laughed because Mike loves young people!  I was surprised he was even nervous but when he texted yesterday saying that he's not afraid or scared of the Junior High School Class, he just wanted to make a big impact on them in this one class!  Matthew sat under his dad's class and said he did good!  I'm sure he did!  Mike is a good speaker and always makes learning fun!  I'm proud of how Mike says yes to hard things like this!

Jeremiah and Hadassah are doing well!  She is healed up from a terrible kidney infection a few weeks ago and her goal was to be in complete health for Jess's wedding!  We celebrated Jordan and Jessica last weekend at their beautiful wedding!  There's so much fun watching a young couple in love and having a good time on their wedding day!  I helped with wedding coordinations and was tired at the end of the day!  Jer and Das had a fun day and I was touched to see Hadassah cry happy tears with her best friend on this important day!  I was so happy that Hadassah felt well!  Congratulations Jordan and Jess!  Love you guys!

Last night, we attend the Spring Banquet at school and was again reminded by watching the movie "Like" just how important it is to stay engaged with our children.  To lay down our gadgets and get into our kids emotions and hearts!  So much knowledge was shared last night and it's exciting to have a fresh reminder to be aware of what's out there on social media and to keep persuing the lives of our children!  A quote that I really liked from last night was "Let's raise young people up to become old people for Jesus!"  In other words, we need a generation today of young kids living and loving the Lord but to then stay on the right course and fight for righteousness as they grow older!  America needs young and old people living for Jesus and with that we can impact the world around us for good!!!!

Well, it's April and it's raining and wet outside today.  We all know the saying, "April showers bring May flowers."  As much I do love spring and all the pretty it brings out in nature, I'm usually ready to have the rainy days go by quickly!  Looking ahead, Easter is just around the corner!  It's the best holiday for Christians and we are excited to celebrate the death, resurrection and life that JESUS offers to everyone!  I'm excited to watch Austin start baseball!  We are more than ready to start up the moped rides and campfire nights!  Spring time is so beautiful!

Happy April!  

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!

 We celebrated the birthday girl the other day and Ashlyn in now eleven!

I remember so well how we prayed and waited and prayed for another baby!  We had Hadassah and Matthew and they were two healthy children and thriving!  We prayed for God to give us another baby and when Matthew started kindergarten, I told Mike that I would else need to get a job outside of the house or get pregnant!  God answered our prayers and Ashlyn was born that next Spring!  

Ashlyn was born and was so cute!  Something I will never forget is how many times Mike said in the hospital while holding her tiny body, "She is so cute!  She is just so so cute!"  We adored her!  Ashlyn grew up petite!  She is the child with a strong will and I had many of days when I wanted to lift up my hands and say, "I'm so tired!"  She pushed my buttons and when you have a child that says the opposite of everything you say, it's gets emotionally tiring.  I say this with much grace though because it did only last for a season!  Ashlyn grew out of that stage and after realizing some tips on how to steer her in a better direction, it made every day life with a three year old better!  Like ... in the morning, I would help her get dressed for the day.  It didn't matter what I picked out for her to wear that day, I just knew she wasn't going to want it.  She wanted to be in charge.  She wanted to be boss.  So, I decided to pick out two outfits and then let her chose.  It helped!  Big time!!!!  She didn't know she was still only choosing from two outfits and so I really did have the authority but it gave her the freedom to chose and decide what she wanted to wear!

Ashlyn is now growing up into a young lady and she's sweet and still sassy at times!  She loves babies!  Zayla stole her heart from day one and they both love to hang out and she's only 1 1/2 old!  Just the other night, we were with them and Zayla wanted ONLY ASHLYN!!!  

Ashlyn is also doing well in school.  She's loving her teacher Mrs. Felter!  She's nervous and excited to think about Upper School next year.  She's my biggest mess maker but my best cleaner upper!  She's creative and loves crafts.  She likes to be in the kitchen and mix things and actually bake something!  The other week, she mashed up some strawberries and added sugar and flour and then after looking over a recipe for strawberry bars, we popped it in the oven and she made up her own recipe and food.  It looked OK but was really gummy.  Not sure why?  She's not afraid to try new things, new foods and loves watermelon!

Ashlyn loves to plan parties and every year I need to remind her that I'm not going to discuss her birthday party plans until March!  She makes lists.  She likes details.  She's a lot like me.

We invited some girls over after school for a short party and they blessed her with fun gifts and she had a great celebration.  Normally, we let the birthday person in our family pick out a place to eat dinner and then we go as a family and celebrate but we had a meeting that night and Ashlyn is fine with doing this another day.  

We began with an ice cream cake and strawberry lemonade refreshers!

Then the girls blessed her with fun gifts!

We gave her a jewelry box that you hang on the wall.  On the way to church on Sunday I was trying to untangle a necklace she wanted to wear!  Maybe this organizer will help us with no more tangled jewelry!

She loves to be with all these girls!

Meg and Mel face timed her and I found this photo on my phone!  Shakia was here the other day and hung out with Ashlyn!  Cousins are such great friendships!

We love you Ashlyn!!!!  You are such a blessing to our family!  I love watching you turn into a young lady and your heart for Jesus is a direct gift from the Lord!  Keep Jesus number one always!

Happy birthday, Ashlyn!!!!

It's freezing outside!

 Wow!!!  Two weeks ago we welcomed Spring with warm temperatures and I planted pansies and lettuce and mowed the yard!  Today, we are back to feeling like winter outside!  As we were leaving church on Sunday, it was snowing!  Snowing ... Oh my!  It's not what we really want to see but that's what it is.

The weekend was mostly spent inside because the weather turned so cold!  Like freezing cold and in the 20's!!!!  Crazy!  Ashlyn was so happy with how her over light egg turned out and she very much enjoyed her avocado toast!  She's a lot like me and healthy choices are high on her priorities.  Mostly though, she's not afraid to try new foods.  Many times she ends up really liking them!  Like avocados!  She raved about her toast, avocado mash and egg that she made the second one and ate it!  She's good in the kitchen!

Friday night Ashlyn played well at her basketball game and scored a basket!  This is a blast to watch!

And this Little Man was all about visiting Bird-in-Hand Market on Saturday.  Meleah was staying at our house and the girls were begging to go to Target.  I wasn't really into that route but I knew the market sold cinnamon swirl bread and and so Ashlyn, Meleah and Austin went with me to the market and we strolled the isles!  Look what Austin tried on!!!  We bought some bread, the kids picked out some candy and we watched fudge being made!  

And then we came home and I covered up my lettuce plants!  The radishes are just popping through and I hope they will be ok with this cold weather!  When the label says "cold tolerant" does that mean freezing cold????

Last week, we planned a sisters day out and I always look forward to these days!  They are fun, we eat, we shop and we laugh!  The main purpose was to celebrate Jody and Fannie because they had March birthdays but Jody ended up having a funeral to attend and Fannie had to work because her house cleaning driver was sick.  We decided to still go and have fun!  First stop was at The Daily Grind.  We grabbed warm drinks and breakfast there!  Then we visited Hill Top Nursery in Quarryville!  They have such beautiful plants!  I loved these geraniums!!!!

Saturday morning, Matt called Mike and said that he has his boys out fishing and there's no one around.  He invited Matthew, Austin and Mike to join them!  It didn't take long for the boys to jump out of bed and grab their fishing gear and lunch and head to the pond and streams!  It was so cute to see Mike hop in Matthew's truck and drive the boys off to fish!  Mike likes to drive Matthew's truck now and then because it's stick shift and fun to drive.

They caught their limit.  They filleted the fish right on the spot and cooked in over Matt's tiny grill he had along.  Making memories like this are awesome!  Mike does such a good job at dropping his Saturday plans to have fun with the boys!  They all had a blast!

Ashlyn and I were watching it snow while Mike and Austin ran in for some pizza after church.  Let's have the warm tempts come back soon!!!!

We ate pizza and then wrapped up in blankets for a Sunday afternoon nap.  I always grab a cookbook and my calendar on Sunday afternoons because that's when I plan out my dinner menu for the upcoming week.  There's no pressure to follow my meal planning every day but I use it for guide.  I grocery shop every Monday and buy the things I need for our meals. Sometimes, if the weather is really cold and I had soup written down for Wednesday, maybe Ill switch it to Monday if I'm thinking soup would taste good.  I love to have my menus written out so I'm not wondering at 4 PM what I am making for supper that night!  It's a great way to actually try new recipes too because I jot down the things I need, grocery shop on Monday and then follow through the meal plans!  

We are so into March Madness right now too!  Basketball has really taken on a higher level in our family since the Warriors played so well this year!  Watching college basketball is now so fun!!!!  Usually it's Mike and I watching and then Matthew and the littles join our little party!  We play word scapes in between periods and half time.  Even though we are all ready for warmer weather and for winter tempts to be over with, there's something relaxing about a cold Sunday afternoon being all wrapped up in a blanket and being with your family!  I love it!!!!  We did end up visiting Matt and Lena and playing two rounds of Rummy O!  The kids always have fun when we go to their house!

Monday came around and Austin asked me to stick his school clothes in the dryer for a few minutes to warm them up before he gets dressed into them!  Spoiled kid!!!!  The kids are back in school and Austin can't wait for chapel on Wednesday because first grade is in charge.  I'm sure it will be inspiring!  Linville has the best chapel services!!!  Ashlyn has basketball games this week and a birthday!  We will be celebrating her special day!  And even though basketball is over for this season, Matthew and his friends are still meeting to shot around a lot!!!!  

The sun is shining.  It's freezing outside and we are blessed!  So very blessed!

Have a good week friends! 

IT'S SPRING!!!!

 We made it through Winter and entered lovely Spring!!!!  I absolutely love Spring time ... seeing all the new sprouts, tulips pushing through the ground and planting the garden!!!!

We had the WARRIORS basketball banquet Thursday night and now we enter the Junior League!!!!  😂. This is a much shorter season and Ashlyn was nervous and excited!!!!  I just love to see how families come out and cheer for their kids!  The gym was packed and older and younger siblings were there to watch and cheer.

The first game was against Veritas and Linville did really well and scored a lot more!!!!  We are feeling it this year aren't we???!!!!!

It's now Spring and we celebrated at Ritas!!!!

And we had beautiful weather last week!  It's so hard to believe that when Mike left for Arizona, we ended up having six inches of snow blow through our town and give us one last winter day.  Then the weather went from snow to 70 degrees!  The gardens dried out nice and we got seeds and some plants in the ground!!!!  Ashlyn helped me plant carrots, sugar peas, onions and red beets!

And it's time to start swinging bats for these two now that basketball is over for this season!  

With Mike being out of town all last week, and having a lot planned each day, the weather was too nice to get some projects done around here!  Matthew helped me trim the roses and some shrubs!  I did a lot of raking and blowing!  The flower beds all got cleaned up and I even hopped on the mower on Saturday!  I put it down one notch and even though it didn't cut much grass, it's amazing how it cleans up the winter look in the lawn and it put fresh marks in the grass!  All the tiny sticks, pieces of corn husks from the fields and just yuk from the past few months that lay on the grass, all got mowed over and it now just needs to turn green and grow!

We were SO VERY HAPPY to have Mike back home safe and sound Saturday night!!!!  He had a great time golfing and came home with a fresh new tan!  I missed him SO MUCH!!!  We love you BABE!!!!

HAPPY SPRING!

Basketball Banquet ~ 2022

We had a crazy busy week with Mike leaving on Saturday to go on his week long golf trip to Arizona, a bridal shower to attend Sunday, another away game on Tuesday night, meetings and then the basketball banquet Thursday night.  Mike was again so bummed to miss this event but I had him on FaceTime for over an hour so he could watch the awards and hear the speeches!!!

The banquet started with some good food and then awards.  The girls basketball team also joined the banquet and awards and they went first.

So much could be said about the Warriors this year!  The girls did a lot better than last year!  And the boys team was incredible!!!!  Here are the accomplishments they brought to Linville Hill Christian School this year:

They had one win after the next in the season and took us to our first ever to the CCAC Basketball Championship!!!!  Our family was in Florida on vacation, except for Matthew.  He stayed home and focused on basketball!  Mike flew home for this game and won't have missed it for nothing!  Even though the Warriors lost this game, they finished in second place in the CCAC!!!  That's to be celebrated!

Then they qualified for the Districts 3 Playoffs as the second seed.  We hosted this game in our home gym and packed the house out!  This win took us to HERSHEY, PA!!!!

At the Giant Center, the Warriors won again and it was our first District 111 Championship for Linville Hill!!!!  This was such a fun day!  To play at the Giant Center is a huge honor and the boys did so well!  Plus we got some Hershey chocolate and hung out with the team all day long!

After the District 111 wins, the Warriors were not finished yet!  No, no!  We moved further in the States Tournament and faced the Quarter Finals, securing a position in the elite 8!!!  This topped us within the top eight 1A schools in Pennsylvania!  We lost playing in the Martz Hall Gymnasium and it was another HUGE honor to play here and met our match!  The Warriors were voted as Best Sportsmanship within the CCAC East!

Look how proud these boys are!!!!  Tim Fisher, Matthew Lapp and Jesse Landis all received team awards. Matthew got the MVP!

And one thing the coaches all said was how it takes a whole team of boys to get where they did this year!!!!  Such a good group of young men and Waltz said, "There are two words to finish this season with .. UNFINISHED BUISNESS!!!"  We will be back next year, ready and strong to play again!

Matthew and Tim both gave speeches and expressed their appreciation to the coaches and all those who made this possible for the team!  I love this kid so much!!!!

GOOD JOB MATTHEW!!!

Every coach shed tears at one point in their speeches.  I was touched by that!  They really did come to be like a family during this season!  They had practices almost every day!  They all worked so hard!  They have so much good to say about the boys and vice versa!  We are incredibly blessed to have these good, Godly leaders in our boys lives!

After the banquet, guess what the team did???  They all went back to Main Campus and played basketball!!!!  I'm telling you ... these boys are family!  

We are blessed!  I love this school, this community and all the good people that we are surrounded with so many of our days!

SO PROUD OF YOU WARRIORS!!!

Lost in the third round of States Basketball.

 What a rush!!!!  The Warriors went from one win after the next this entire season and we couldn't be more proud of how they respresented our school and the team!!!  These young men ALL deserve metals and trophies and a round of applause!!!!

Matthew and Tim were the team captains.  I loved watching them play the game together!  They really passed and shot well!

Mike was out of town all last week and he was so disappointed about having to miss this game!!!  We have learned to not plan any vacations during the month of February and March!!!!  The two months we have always loved to go south and get away from the winter cold.  Basketball has stolen our hearts though and we were at every game possible!!!!

Matthew made the newspaper a few times now.  The first time with golf.  And now basketball!  What a great athlete!!!!

This was the third round of STATES!!!!  We drove to Martz Hall in Pottsville to watch and cheer our little hearts out for the Warriors!  It was a heartbreaker when the game began and St. John Neumann scored right away and it took us a little bit to get a score on the board but the boys played so well!!!

They played such good defense!!!!  This opposing team was good and we were showing them just how good we were too!!!!

And the little fans joined the party once again!!!!  What a ride they will remember!

Love these little people!!!!

We caught up and the gymnasium went crazy!!!!  It was so loud in the there with the fans cheering so much!!!!

Matthew had a blast playing and he was really feeling the rush here when they took the lead!

So much pressure to play their best.  To play hard defense!!!  Every shot mattered at this point!!!!

Coach did so good with these boys and they learned a whole lot under his program!

Look at all the fans!!!!!

We lost the game at 60-50.  Only by ten points and even though we would have loved to win again and move on to the next two games, the boys were so proud of how far they got!!!!  This St. John Neumann is a fantastic team and they are fast, have energy to the end and we met our match!!!!

Good job Warriors!!!  I will forever be your fan!!!!!!

Such good spirit!!!  Our last two games were 1 1/2 hours away and both games were filled with fans!!!!

Hadassah and Jer gave Matthew a hockey jersey and he was so happy for it!  Matthew has had an incredible year of basketball and played really good!!!!  

We are so proud of you Matt!!!!

GO WARRIORS!!!!

See you all next year!