Weather update.

Since we got all that snow last Saturday, there is still a lot out there!  It melts little by little each day.  It's at the 'not so pretty' stage right now.  The roads are cleared off but our drive way remains a mess!  As it melts, then it freezes at night.  The kids had off of school Monday and Tuesday and then had a two hour delay yesterday.  It was a fun snow in but it was also fun to see the bus pull up and take them back to school!  The kids like snow but they were also ready to get back to a routine and school. 

 

When Matt Lapps came over Sunday night, Ashlyn and Colson were outside playing for awhile.  Here is one friend that Ashlyn always plays with so well!  Her and Colson have so much fun together!  How cute!

 

Matthew and Ashlyn are big buds in the snow too!!!  Matthew helps Ashlyn get her warm clothes on and they head outside!

They were throwing snow balls at each other.  And then eat some!

This was the sunrise the other morning!!!  How pretty!!!  I love how God wakes me up to such gorgeousness!!!

It is so bright outside from the sun shining on the white snow!

It's winter ... let there be snow!!!

15 years of marriage!!!

Mike and I just celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary and we are looking forward to one hundred more!!!  We love each other so much!  And looking back, we reflected on how much the past 15 years brought us!  It all went by so fast!

When we got married on that snowy January day, that started our family and God blessed us with four totally adorable children along the years!!!  We love each one of them deeply and count them blessings.  It really is a privilege to be their parents! 

We were so young back in the first years of marriage!  It makes me giggle when I think of how young and carefree we lived!  (I texted Mike yesterday and said that I feel like a teenager again with pumping gas at $1.98 a gallon!!!)  :)))  Living in a small rancher house on a one acre lot and with lots of potential ... it sure looks different today!  We loved it then and we love it now!!!  Our home is where we made/make tons of memories.  We raised all our babies here on the property.  We cried here and laughed here.  We sweat bullets while we worked outside and added some sheds, a gazebo, a swing, a small garden = and now we just remodeled our house!  The outside is a whole new project come Spring time but it will be so much fun to design and plant flowers and start a brand new, fresh garden.  To set up Ashlyn's little play house and make a small garden for her will bring many more new memories!  The list just grows when we look ahead at the next fifteen PLUS years!!!

Yesterday, to celebrate this special day, Mike and I dropped the children off at moms (thanks again) and went to Cheesecake Factory to eat.  I've been there a few times but this was Mike's first time.  He loved it!  I loved it!  I wish we had one of these restaurants in Lancaster County.  I know ... we have so many options here and choices but it's OK to wish, right?  :)  They have such a big menu that when the waitress came to get our order we said that we were down to three options.  And because Mike wanted to try all three he suggested that I order one of his wishes.  Nope.  I just couldn't turn down that herb crusted salmon with asparagus and mashers!!!  Both of our foods were so yummy!  Then we had to finish with some cheesecake!  There were over twenty different kinds to chose from!  Again ... hard choice here!  Mike mentioned something to our waitress about it being our anniversary!  He went with the Salted Caramel Cheesecake and I went with Lemon Raspberry!!!  Cheesecake never disappoints us!  With some hot coffee and cream, we were VERY satisfied and enjoyed the time together in our little booth as we ate and reflected and talked about our future!  We talked about going on an anniversary trip since we said on our tenth that we would ... and now its already our fifteenth and we still didn't go!  But we were invited to go along with our "football crew" to some warm island later this Spring, so we might do that as our "trip"!?!  It will be so much fun!

How thoughtful from our waitress!  Perfect!!!

 

Since the Cheesecake Factory is at King of Prussia Mall, we did some shopping after our meal.  Mike and I are still so different when it comes to shopping!  When we first got married, I didn't like shopping with Mike!  He wanted to just walk around and watch people and look.  If I was going to be out, in a mall, and spending time there ... I WAS GONNA SHOP!!!  Do I have a hearty amen here???  :)  So, last night, we walked into a shoe store and I stayed right beside Mike while he looked at the men's shoes.  If I stayed there, I knew I wouldn't find a buy for me.  Hee hee!!!  He needed a shoe size looked up and so I finally made my way over to the ladies side.  :)  Then I remembered that I needed (or rather have been wanting) a pair of heels.  It's been so long since I wore heels but every now and then when we do something "dressy", I wish I had a comfortable pair!  I found some!  :)  Mike gladly added them to his dressy pair!  Then I said that before I ever buy shoes, I first check the clearance isles.  He grinned and said, "Oh, yeah.  I do too."  :)  We laughed and both looked through the cheaper selections and Mike found himself another nice pair of shoes!  50% off.  We were pleased with our buys!!!  For the next hour or so, we strolled the mall holding hands and enjoying our time together.  Then it was time to go pick up the kids and get them to bed.

Mike and I had many, many dates together and love every single one!  To take time out for a night of just him and I sparks our love flame just a bit brighter!!!  Thank you Michael for the wonderful night out!!!  I love you so much and I can't wait to see what God has for our many more years together!!!!!!

I love you,
Lori 

Hadassah turns 14!!!

How can this be that our oldest is fourteen years old already???  I remember so well the day she was born!!!  It was one of the most exciting days of my life!  Mike and I were together holding our first baby and loving every single thing about her!  She had such a sweet adorable face!  Her 7 lb. 15 oz. little body needed all our care and love and nurturing and we were the proud parents to give these to her! 

Hadassah was a cutie pie growing into our toddler years!  Everyone commented on how cute she was!  She was a pleasant, calm baby!  When she moved into her three, four and five years of life, she loved to have one on one time.  She still likes this!  "Quality Time" is her love language!  We played lots of baby, kitchen and memory together!  Then it came the day for her first day of school!  I cried when she got on that bus and drove away to school.  I wasn't sad to see her grow.  I was happy to have her go to a Christian school.  I was excited to see her get to know her school friends.  BUT, I cried because I was no longer the only person that watched her each day.  Or cared for her every hour of the day.  Or helped her with her lunch.  Now, it was someone else too.  Her teachers.  Hadassah would have to defend herself if she got hurt.  She would be responsible to get her own jacket and back pack on.  She was growing up!!!  I needed to let that happen!

She made great friends at school!  They are still some of her best friends today!!!  She entered into her teenage years so fast and middle school made her be even more responsible for her work!  She loves to be with people.  She loves to hang out with friends.  She loves sports ... especially volleyball and basketball!  She loves her family and honors us as parents.  She is maturing in her spiritual life and watching this part of her life blossom has been such a joy!  I love when she is the one suggesting family devotions.  Sometimes us parents need that!!!  I love when she reads her Bible before heading off to school or going to bed at night.  I like that she takes prayer seriously.  She is all the teeny bopper stage and jams out on music while she gets herself all dolled up for school or events.  But I like that too because it reminds me of how I used to do!  I just need to remind her every now and then that she needs to turn down the music a tad so we can talk or get ready just a bit faster so she will be ready for the bus.  :)

We have a family tradition to do something special on our birthdays!  Hadassah has been planning for weeks already all these events and happenings that she wanted to do for her birthday.  Me, I am much more a day by day person.  Not one to fill my calendar up with all her wishes and dreams because we have three other children to care for too!  :)  It changed all the time.  She went from maybe renting a gym to play volleyball to inviting all kinds of friends over to going out shopping to eating out!  I nicely reminded her that she is turning 14 not 16!!!  :)))  Oh, how she wishes at times!  Wink!  We did take the opportunity of a 'snow day' and a day off of school to go shopping for new sports shoes, grab lunch together ... just her and I, and shop at a volleyball store for new knee pads and shirts.  She loved the time out together!!!  Thanks to mom for staying here with the other children so we could do this!!!  She also chose to eat at Texas Roadhouse last night.  She even sat on the "saddle" as the whole restaurant focused on her!  :)  We all shouted "yee haw"!  She loved the moment and laughed!  She wanted us to video it so Courtney could see how it all went!  :) 

We came home and watched a movie together yet because we knew that school already was on a two hour delay for the next morning.  Getting to bed a little bit later was fine.  She loved the movie "Max".

Mike and I are excited about how Hadassah views life and her enthusiasm to have fun!  She adds so much spice and character to our family!  To say that we love her seems like such simple words but we truly do love this pretty, teenage, bubbly gal so much!!!

Happy Birthday, Hadassah!!!

Here she is right before we left for supper!

 

She loves her new volleyball shirt!!!

Her and Matthew love Texas Roadhouse!  Such great friends.  We asked for some crackers for Ashlyn because she was having some belly issues and Austin loved them!  We finally found something he likes to eat!

 

We love you Hadassah!!!

Snowed in ... blizzard style!

The snow arrived!!!  And it's deep!  We are snowed in!

Looking out the back door!

Looking out the front door!

My way of getting snowed in ~ staying home!!!  For isn't that really when you are snowed in???  Well, getting snowed in for Mike is totally different.  It is SO hard for him to get snowed in.  He probably wouldn't admit that.  I tend to think it's true!  (Wink!!!)

Friday night, we went to LaVern's for a birthday party for Olivia.  It started to snow while we were there and so we didn't stay late.  We drove home safe and sound and VERY happy and blessed to pull into our warm garage and not have to go the basement steps anymore!!!  Garages are such blessings ESPECIALLY much in the deep snow and fierce wind!  We all snuggled together in the basement as we watched some TV before getting to bed.

We woke up Saturday morning early.  Early ... not our choice but our little man was up at 6 AM and so we were too.  We looked at the inches and inches of snow and it was STILL snowing like crazy outside!!!  Mike suddenly said that he was going to check on the warehouse doors and make sure they are all closed!  WHAT???  Why would you go out in blizzard conditions if you didn't have too?  Especially just to check on a door?  If it is open, it snowed in it already right?  I wasn't too impressed that he thought he had to go out in the blizzard but whatever.  Go and come back!  Well, it wasn't no couple of minutes later when he came back inside and said that he can't even make it out of the driveway!  My thoughts ... "exactly"!!!  :)  He stayed up with Austin while I went back to bed!  Thanks Hun!

Our plans were for Matt Lapps to come over and hang out and drink coffee and play "Settlers" but they couldn't either get out!!!  By afternoon, the snow was just getting deeper!  Matt and Hunter did manage to get over to our house and picked up Mike and Ashlyn.  They had to meet them out by the road though because there was no way he could come in the drive!  By now we had 2 feet of snow!  They tried to drive to the shop but had to turn around and come back.  I'm telling you, they should just be happy right inside but no ... men love the adventure of getting out.  Meanwhile, I was here, inside and dry and warm.  Listening to Pandora Radio.  In my pjs!  But, I did decide to get to unpacking a few more boxes downstairs.  I wiped away more dirt.  Swept out the new, unfinished part of the basement.  I unpacked a few more boxes.  It was such a good feeling to get these things unpacked and cleaned.  The washer and dryer were going all afternoon!  Austin had a long nap!  That helped me stick to my project!  :)

The kids kept going outside and playing in the heaps and mounds of falling snow!  When Mike and Ashlyn got back home, Matt and Lena and the boys came too.  They ended up staying all night!  They had their neighbor man come over and plow our driveway open for us!  Thanks Doug!!!  We played games and then later we watched some basketball together.  Ashlyn and Hunter played well!  After some hot ham and mashed potatoes we left Mike inside with Austin and Adrian while we went out in the snow.  I would much rather stay inside dry and warm but it was fun to get some fresh air and watch the kids jump and trudge in the snow!  They made some tunnels and Matthew got buried in snow up to his chin! 

These two love the snow!!!

 Really???  Going somewhere???

I didn't think so!  :)

The plow trucks were out and plowing!  We even saw the rescue truck come out and help someone just down the street.  Someone was stuck and needed help!

She was so excited to see the snow!!!

 Matthew is covered in snow!  Matt and Lena tried to roll Hadassah in the snow but then she decided to come outside for awhile and see the winter wonderland herself!!!  :)

They absolutely love the snow!

Our back yard and it still coming down hard!!!

Lena gets all excited about going out in the snow too!

It's as cold as it looks but they enjoyed it so!  I think the snow was blowing in Hunter's eyes! 

Mike took this picture from the back door while he was caring for the babies! 

Lena, Hadassah, Me, Matthew, Matt, Hunter and Ashlyn!!!  :)  See the small tunnels?

 Thanks Matt and Lena for coming over!!!  What fun!!!

I was constantly cleaning and wiping down the floor because even though we have a mudroom area, snow gets tracked in and makes a real mess!!!  Adrian got all wet once from crawling through Matthew's tracks.  We had our rack out to dry clothes! 

Having a blizzard is such fun once again!  Matt and Lena ended up staying overnight because by midnight, the roads (and again our drive way) were still a total mess!  It took a little to get all the kids tucked in together and in different spots to give Matt's a room but it all worked out fine!  :) 

We woke up this morning with the sun shining bright!  The snow stopping falling but now we have tons and tons of snow outside!  :)  We made a big breakfast and ate together.  Ashlyn and Hunter went outside again and went down the swing slide and landed in the deep snow!  They have such a blast!  All the churches were canceled and it's going to take a lot of snow scraping and shoveling to get the roads back open! 

Warming up!

Hadassah was itching to get together with her friends!  She's at a fun age where sometimes she thinks she needs more than just family to hang out with.  :)  Mike took her over to Courtney's house but we couldn't help but tease her before they left.  She didn't seem interested to go outside and play in the snow with Matthew but as soon as she found out that Courtney was outside in the snow ... she wanted  to join the fun!  :)  Theses two girls have such fun together and I can't blame her for wanting to be with her friends!  The Zooks are a fun family!!!  :)  Thanks for letting her come over Court!!!

Matt and Marlene are going to try to come over now this afternoon and tonight!  We hope to play some Settlers and laugh and maybe go out in the snow!!!  We have yet to build a snow man because it is so deep out there!!!  :)

Stay warm!  Stay safe!  We are so blessed to have our electric on and hot water and a warm house to hang out in!!!

Thank you Jesus!!!

Exciting!!!

There are a few things in life right now that are exciting!!!  Let me share!

One:  This is spiritual life week at school!  A dynamite speaker, Brian Holmquist, is the speaker each morning.  I know how well he speaks because we have heard him a few times share about their family being missionaries.  He can hold your attention well!!!  So, when I heard he was the speaker for the week, I told Hadassah that's its going to be good!!!  :)

She's been challenged and stretched!  She is growing into such a young lady inside and out!  I love to see her bloom into a teeny booper.  :)  In our time of age, things are not always easy for our teenagers and youth.  They sure have tons more pressures than I think we did back in the day.  That is why this is so very exciting!!!

Yesterday, Hadassah came home from school her normal happy self.  Soon she asked if she can talk to me?  Sure.  We went back to our bedroom, for quite and a place to talk.  She told me how she was being challenged spiritually and how that she would like to rededicate her life to the Lord!  She said that she knows when she was really little she asked Jesus into her heart.  Then again, in fifth grade, she asked for Him to forgive her of her sins.  But this time she wants to do it on her own will.  Her choice.  To have a specific day that she can look back and say that "this day, January 20, 2016" she rededicated her life to Jesus!!!  We talked a bit more and she decided that when Mike gets home from work, we would do this together.  After supper, I told Mike that Hadassah wanted to talk to us.  Again, we went make to the bedroom to keep from distractions and Hadassah shared her heart to us.  We, as parents, were so proud!!!  From the very beginning of marriage, our prayer has been that all our children would make a personal choice to have Jesus come into their hearts and have a personal relationship with Him!  As part of this life journey, this is exciting for us!!!

Hadassah prayed.  Prayed with tears and happiness.  She wrote the date down in her Bible and felt cleansed and renewed after her sincere prayer!  We sat together and chatted about how Satan hates when we make good choices like this.  BUT, we are the winners!  With Jesus in our hearts and souls, we fight back.  Harder than before!  We fight for victory and believe that Jesus paid the price for all our sins and won the battle between good and evil.  Does that take away the tough times?  No.  Does that mean we will never mess up?  Nope.  Does it mean that things will always be easy and the way we want them?  For sure not!  BUT, it does mean that we keep praying!  Praying through the trials and pains.  Repenting when we do mess up.  Rejoice that we are forgiven and not lost in darkness!!!

It will be a privilege to see Hadassah spread this joy to her friends and class mates!  I am confident that she will "let her little light shine"!!!

Amen!!!

Two:  We are also very excited about the snow forecast!!!  They are predicting 12 - 18 inches of snow by Saturday!  Bring.  It.  On!!!  :)  We went through the Christmas season without snow.  And it's nearing the end of January and still only a few flurries now and then.  This is gonna be a biggie!!! 

The house is clean and ready for any entertaining that this snow storm may bring!  We have a birthday party to attend, Matt Lapps are coming over, church and more friends stopping in!  It's going to be fun to see what the weather will bring us!!!  The winter clothes got organized and are ready to be worn! 

Three:  With the snow coming, I made some foods to go with the occasion.   Mike asked for some Nature Valley Bars.  I made a batch from scratch.  I also made a batch of biscotties.  With snow coming, I'm sure we will drink plenty of coffee and play lots of games!!!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

This is us today.  Staying indoors and out of the cold. 

Ashlyn painted a picture.  She loves to play toys but begs all day long for me to play too!  I do.  A lot.  But I still feel like I say no often.  She will be ready for kindergarten when the new school term starts.  And for that reason, we play together.  I know the day is drawing nigh when she will be in school and not with me all the time.

 I found a Nature Valley Bar recipe on Pinterest and it really does taste like the same thing!

The biscotties are being baked.

 Now they just need dipped in chocolate!

 

Austin was at the doctor this week.  He had just a baby check up and some immunizations.  He weighs 16 lbs.  He is doing great!!!  She was impressed with his growth chart and how he looks!

 

We are trying some new foods.  Baby foods.  To put it simple, he is not enjoying the new tastes.  He spits it out as fast as I put it in.  He does eat some graham crackers and makes a total mess!  Ashlyn is right beside me when I feed him and wants any left overs that he won't eat!  :/  Silly girl. 

 



 

At the doctors office.  Ashlyn wore her Doc McStuffins outfit!  :)  And yes, the doctor did notice!!!  Wink!

 

 

Have fun in the snow if it arrives at your house!!!  I'm off to dip the biscotties in chocolate!!!