April.

 April showers bring May flowers!!!!  We are experiencing it already!  Lots of rain showers and last night during the night.  We even had lightning flashes through the night skies.  April is a full month of outside activities.  We are finally out of Winter and into Spring and it's time to get those gardening gloves on!  The tree are budding and some already have blooms!  Our fruit trees in the garden are looking healthy and we cannot wait for some fresh apples and peaches later this summer!  The daffodils are dancing in the wind and rain showers are here.  The garden seeds are through the ground and it won't be too long before we plant peppers and tomatoes.  The grass is getting mowed because it's a deep green color once again!  

We celebrate Easter in April!!!!  It's because of Jesus coming to this sinful earth, living among man and then dying willingly on a cruel cross that we have hope of eternal life!!!!!  We are forgiven for every single sin we have ever committed and will commit.  Jesus loves us and wishes that none of us perish.  So, let's turn our hearts to HIM this April as we go through the Easter season and give glory and honor to our Lord!  He is worthy!!!!  

We also anticipate the arrival of our first grand baby!  Oh, we just can't wait for his arrival!  I can't believe I am about to be a grandma! 

Baseball season begins, the oldest son is finishing up house renovations and wedding plans are being put in place!  Life is flying by and I want to treasure each moment in April!  Don't be fooled!  Happy April!

The garden has peas, radishes, carrots and lettuce growing in it!  The plants are still tiny but we hope to have some produce in a few weeks!

And I filled one of my garden beds with tulips and they are not blooming yet but also through the dirt!

I made another visit to see Mommy D and even though my visits are short, they are sweet.  It's just hard to hold a conversation with her so just to see her sweet face and hear her talk for a bit, makes every visit worth it!!!!

As I was cleaning the house yesterday, I was listening to WDAC.  I heard this quote and keep thinking about it.  It's powerful!

This is when Amazon gets me ... but when I saw that there's a bucket list calendar out there, I ordered it!  I love to see these on Pinterest and think it gives a cute goal for each month or little activities to do!  I love these and seeing it in a calendar form is just the cutest!!!!!

April is going to be packed full of baby snuggles!  Gardening gloves used for weeding and mulching!  More plants will be planted in the garden and flower pots!  The lawn will be mowed at least once a week from now on!  The count down for the end of school has begun.  Baseball games start next week for the big boy and Austin will be on the baseball diamond soon too!  The birds are chirping so much on the sunny and rainy days and I love it when I actually stop and pause and see the earth come out of winter and into blooms!!!!

Happy Spring friends!!!!

Happy Birthday, Ashlyn!

 We have another birthday in the house!!!!  Ashlyn is now 14 years old!  She's finishing up eighth grade.  She's got good friends!  Her eighty grade missions trip was the best week of her life she says!!!!  Ashlyn is sweet and spunky!  She sleeps in a messy room but really is a good cleaner.  I've learned to chose my battles and if she wants her room like that, it's OK.  She loves music and can't wait to get a phone to listen to her tunes on her own battery life.  She wanted crocs for her birthday and was gifted three pairs!  She's strong, a hard worker and she can't wait to help Hadassah when she has her baby!  We love you Ashlyn and cannot wait to see what God has in store for you this year!!!!

I bought a cake, topped it with Agape macarons, added flowers and candles and we sang happy birthday to her as she blew out the candles!!!!

Happy birthday!!!!!!

You are so sweet Ashlyn!  Go live life to your fullest!!!!!

High School Basketball comes to an end.

After a night of rest, my head was still so full the next morning.  There's just something that gets me after a very big day of cheering and adrenaline and wins!!!!  I woke up still tired.  But the day was a beautiful March day with high temperatures of 80 degrees.  We gathered with the team and parents and coaches Saturday night to finish out this wonderful basketball season! 

The banquet was another emotional time together.  They always are!  Coaches give speeches!  Athletes get awards!  Seniors give speeches.  Goodbyes are said to each other because the seniors will move in life and this will be the last of this season for them!

Mike Schatzmann has coached our basketball teams for the past five years and has radically changed our program for the good!  Many difficult practices brought our athletes to new levels!  Mike and Gloria have been a pillar and they are now passing on the coaching responsibilities to Coach Cunningham.  There is a lot of talent coming up and we hope to keep the trophies coming!

The team gave Schatzmann Tim Fisher's jersey, signed by the guys and we wiped tears and laughed all throughout the evening!  The food was excellent!  Both boys and girls should be so proud!!!

I looked around the gym and it struck me how some of these athletes have really been through some tough stuff in life already!!!!  These kids are still in high school but some have seen and been through very difficult events in their lives.  Two of the kids have already buried their moms after a hard fight of cancer.  Ellie said her goodbyes to mother last year and Emerson said goodbye to his mom just in December.  Stephen watched his older brother suffer from cancer and misses him a lot!  Desi and Peyton said sudden goodbyes to their sister as she was killed in a car accident.  Two brothers are watching their mom fight breast cancer and going through treatments this week.  Another senior has been strong as his mom also fights a hard battle of colon cancer.  Listen, our school is not a huge school and just in these few athletes, some have been through a lot!!!!!  I'm so proud of them!!!!  They are WARRIORS!!!!

Getting to know Mike and Gloria over the years has been a blessing!  They love teenagers and the kids love them!!!!  We will miss them like crazy but time goes on!  Thank you so much for all your fun, time dedicated to the teams over the years and may God bless you!!!!

And this was the crew that sat on the sidelines at the games this year.  Everyone has a rule to play and coach and what a ride it has been!!!!!  Good job guys!!!!

Congratulations to the basketball teams of 2025!!!!!

STATES FINAL GAME!!!!

 WE ARE EXCITED!!!!  We are very excited to ride along with the boys and girls basketball teams back to the Giant Center for States Final!!!  This is it!!!  This is what every team works so hard to get too!  Our school has never been this far before with the basketball team and we get to go with the BOYS AND GILRS TEAM!!!!  Both have made it to the final round!  We are so proud of them!!!!!

The newspaper has them on the front page!  The bus is loaded with much talent and we arrived at the Giant Center parking lot with a tailgate party rocking!!!!  Parents brought Blackstone grills and cooked up eggs, sausages, sausage gravy!  There was fruit and donuts and juice!  Everything was done so well and we were honored to be a part of it all!  Thank you to all those who worked hard to make food, make the signs and bring the music!!!!!

The parking lot in this area with full of Linville kids, families and parents making breakfast foods!  Bean bag toss was happening while the music got us rallied up!

Entering here never gets old!!!!!  It's a rush and we cannot wait to cheer our hearts out!

It's so fun having our kids experience these big events with us!!!!  Austin and his friends made it to the big screen and I spied Matthew and his basketball friends watching in the stands!  These boys were the first to get Linville to the Giant Stadium and to watch this team make it to the states was not a game they would miss!!!!

The girls played first!  They worked hard, we cheered loud and they came home with the silver trophies around their necks.

And then it was the boys turn to play!!!!  The arena was loud!  So many people came out for this big game!!!!  Linville Hill Christian VS Sewickly Academy - PIAA Class 2A boys basketball championship!!!!

This was a close game!  It came down to the last two seconds and we were up by only 1 point.  Sewickly had the ball and they went for a shot and did not make the basket.  WE WON!!!!  BY ONE POINT!!!!  55-54!!!!  Winning by one point felt amazing.  Loosing by one point must have felt awful!

We screamed and cheered and watched the boys receive gold around their necks as they are now the new STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!!

After the game, the Giant Center was hot pressing shirts with the winner on teeshirts!  The winner is Linville Hill!!!!!

SO VERY PROUD OF THEM!!!!

We really have no idea how much sweat and tears and effort that every single player puts into a basketball season.  The practices are hard and only the strong at heart can handle it!  It's what builds our boys in endurance and strength and even when they get tired, they never stop working hard until the final buzzer goes off!!!!!  Everyone matters!!!!!  I love how coach said that even if you didn't get to play on the big court this day, you matter!  It's the entire team that makes each other better at practices and on game days!  

THE LINVILLE HILL WARRIORS ARE STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!

Spring is here!

 Spring is here and we are enjoying the days outside!  Austin has been hitting so many baseballs and can't wait for his first ballgame!  Ashlyn's been going on walks outside and is excited for her birthday soon!  Matthew is working hard on the job while Daisy is planning their wedding!  Mike continues to work at Lapps and leading the crews to new heights!  Jeremiah and Hadassah are counting down the days for baby Petersheim to arrive!  And I'm over here trying to keep the laundry done, the fridge stocked and the house clean!

We have tons of birthdays in March and April between our extended families!  But when a friend from church asks if some ladies would celebrate her birthday with her, we sure did!  Hudson Botanical has the best foods!  

And I love fresh flowers or branches in the kitchen!

We had a lunch celebration at Agape for the March sisters birthday on the Riehl's side!  And I can't wait to read through these books!

FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!  I have been doing this with the kids for years now!  Ever since Rita's have been in our area.  

Going to State Finals!!!!

 Spring is giving us beautiful weather and gorgeous sunsets!  It feels amazing to be on the back porch once again during the evening hours!

The Phillies are back to playing baseball and we are here for it!!!  We watched the first game while eating stadium foods of hot dogs, Mac n cheese and veggies.  Go Phillies!!!!

Spring has very pretty flowers and these are stunning!

We got the back porch cleaned up, the wood boxes filled and we are ready to spend much time out here again!!!

Linville boys and girls basketball teams are still going strong!!!!  Both teams had back to back games at Martz Hall and many of us showed up to show our support!!!!

Both boys and girls won in the semi states games and are now going to STATE finals at the Giant Center!

WE CANNOT WAIT!!!!