Refreshing weekend.

Wow, what a great weekend we just had!  It was busy and I felt like our things were all stacked up and every moment was going to count for something good and refreshing!

We started with a great message at church on Friday night.  A few weeks ago our church elders set this weekend aside for some extra church, a work day to help with the new church building project and then a full day of feet washing, communion and worship to our Lord and Savior!!!  The service on Friday night was about God's grace.  About how God sheds His grace on us humans that seem to mess up a lot.  Nothing is too much for God's grace to cover and give us a new refreshing start when we need it!!!

Honey Brook Community Church is in the first stages of building a church that was dreamt about for many years!!!  We've been having the church men come and help build the new church.  Lots has been done already but a day was set aside and stressed that we need everyone help on Saturday to help build, clean up around the project, mow, clean the Lydia house, clean bathrooms and kitchen and mulch, etc.!  So much was happening!!!  The day began with a prayer breakfast at 6 AM.  Mike was out of the house early and was one of the men in charge of the day.  He is doing such a great job and even though he came home that night so tired and with a sore leg because of a heavy board falling on him, the day went so well!!!  Lot's and lots of people came out to help serve!!! 

I started my day with going to some local yard sales right here in town.  Hadassah went with me and she drove her car as we made one yard sale stop after another.  It's so fun to see her excited about her car!!!  When we got back, she went to help Lena clean and I dropped the little ones off at Mom Lapps.  Then Matthew and I went to help at church.  Donuts and coffee were served for a snack and then lunch at noon.  So many people were helping!  Thank you everyone for making this such a great day!!!

I was able to leave around lunch and go to the Gospel Express Sale for a few hours.  I was excited to see that the large cheese board that I wished for for awhile was bought for me!!!  I now have this very beautiful cheese board that I know we will use lots of times when hosting this summer!!!  Ashlyn had a birthday party to go to later that afternoon.  Rain showers showed up in the evening and when Mike and Matthew came home from the work project, they were tired and in need of hot showers!!!  I put together some easy snacks and we all relaxed on the couch watching some Fixer Upper!  Hadassah went to Jess's house to sleep because they had a volleyball tournament to go to on Sunday.

Here's my new cheese board!!!

I also grabbed some delicious bread at the sale this weekend.  This is so beautiful and almost too pretty to eat but Mike and I love it dipped in olive oil and cracked pepper!!! 

Sunday morning we woke up to sunshine but cold!!!  It just feels like warmer weather is never going to come and stay!!!  We are super excited about the upcoming forecast though and seeing 80's will feel amazing to our very warm weather thirsty souls!!!  :)))  Hadassah and Jess left early to be at their all day volleyball tournament.  They got to the semi finals again but then lost.  She came home last night exhausted and so tired!!!  Meanwhile, the rest of us went to church for some great worship!  We split into our Small Groups and had feet washing.  We read how Jesus did this to his disciples long ago and how it showed his servants heart.  Today, even though we still wash each others feet, it is the servant heart that I want to show!!!  Back then, their feet were dirty and needed to be washed.  They wore sandals with walking on the dusty roads and it was the servants job to wash the feet of the guests.  Jesus bent down and washed the disciples feet for them!  What is it today for me to stoop down and do something humbling for others?  To serve others with a grateful heart?  We all gathered for more worship songs before the service ended.  It was so, so touching to have Damien help sing some songs!  We are good friends with John and Suz Smucker and four years ago their son Damien was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.  It was life threatening and after two back to back brain surgeries, many rounds of treatments, a hard fight for good health ... Damien was doing much better.  The surgeries did do permanent damage to his speech, motor skills and life in general.  John and Suz do not complain but I'm sure it takes a lot of patience and questions as to why this all has to happen to their dear family!!!  John and Damien have been to Germany TWICE to get treatments and other nurturing benefits for Damien.  Two weeks ago, Damien was scheduled to have another annual MRI done.  We always praise Jesus when the results come back good but this time it was once again not a good report.  Damien has a spot on the right side of his brain now.  Is it cancer?  Is it scar tissue?  Whenever there are new spots and questions, the doctors take a good look at the scans and then report to Johns.  The tears just spilled out of my eyes last week when they texted us asking us to pray, pray, pray for them once again as they have upcoming decisions to make.  This fight for life and against cancer is so sad!!!  We just went through it all with Dad Lapp about a year ago and we know a little on how rough it is on a family and watching someone fight, fight, fight to live is just SO DIFFICULT!!!  Please, please join our family as we pray for the Smucker family once more!!!  The past four years they have done so much to fight cancer!  They have cried buckets of tears and really need God's peace, healing and leading!!!  At the end of the church service yesterday, the worship team asked Damien to come help sing some closing songs.  Damien is limited with his speech and it's hard for him to express his feelings ever since brain surgery a few years ago.  But singing and quoting scripture is something he can still do from memory!!!  It's so amazing!!!  I cried as he sang!  We love you Damien!!!

I will never turn down tulips and Anna blessed me yesterday with a bouquet to bring along home from church!!! 

We ate lunch and took naps before heading for church again.  We had a great communion service last evening and read the scriptures of how Jesus was put on trial and then crucified for our sins!!!  Jesus died to take away the sins of the world!!!  To give us faulty humans another chance to live forever in eternity if we just believe in Him!!!  We sang songs of His death and victory over sin!!!  The evening finished with a fellowship meal and the fellowship with believers is something Mike and I both enjoy!!!  We had dropped the little ones off at Matt and Lena's before going to church and it was so wonderful to be able to sit, without distractions, and drink in the message and songs!!!  Thank you Jesus for saving my soul!!!  For dying for me!!!  Again, we all came home tired but refreshed!!!  It didn't take long for the children to fall asleep and after Matthew and Hadassah finished up some last minute homework, we all slept so good!!!

Our refreshing weekend was one we needed as a church body!!!  We've been though, and still walking though, some tough bumps at church but with many people coming together and work on the church project and then sit together in multiple services was uplifting!!!

This is the last day of April even though on the way to school this morning I was telling the children it was May 1!  Oops!!!  I thought it was until I sat down with my calendar and write down my weekly supper menu.  I then saw that today really is April 30!  May is just around the corner and it's one of my favorite months of the year!!!  We are excited to have lots of fun events in May coming up!!!

Cheer's to a better weather forecast for this week!!!  It's going to be lots of time outside and more dirty hands and feet!!!  We've got a big mulch pile waiting on us!  I'm going to hopefully make another trip to greenhouses and fill up the flower beds with some color!!!

Have a great week everyone!

Getting Dirty.

What a fun night it was for Mike to get the tractor out again and give the children rides while filling up my one last garden bed that he made for me!!!  Every year, I plan out how to plant my vegetables in the raised beds.  I usually need to wait until the "lettuce bed" is finished producing it's yummy, tender leaves and then I plant my string beans.  This time I planted everything at once and now my beds are packed full.  I still had a cucumber, zucchini and watermelon plant that I wanted to get in some dirt.  The way the raised beds are laid out, it will look perfect with one more.  That happened last night as Mike laid out some railroad ties and filled it with dirt.  We worked side by side and I love it when he helps me with these types of projects!!!  Thank you Babe!!!

 

And while we worked, the two Little's were playing right behind us.  Last week, I got Matthew to help me clean out the one garage.  Mike brought home the tractor and with it plus so many bikes, riding toys, battery run jeeps ... the garage was SO FULL!!!  We could barely walk in it.  Matthew helped me move all the bikes and smaller toys out to the garage.  It now looks so much better!!!  Anyway, I guess this is what happens when you move some older toys out of the corners.  Austin spied the Tonko truck in the barn and took it out to the field.  Him and Ashlyn were digging for worms and getting dirty.  They had a total blast!!!

And yes, he is still in his dinosaur PJ's.  :///  It was a day of being just at home and if Austin has a choice to get dressed or not get dressed ... he chooses to not get changed.  He loves, loves his dinosaur PJ's and I'm pretty sure he's getting the most use out of it as possible!!!

Before Mike had the tractor in park, I was planting my plants in the dirt!!!  I can't wait to watch them grow and produce lots of yummy foods!

Meet my happy place!  :)

We are having landscapers come out and put else pavers or brick or maybe some tiny pebbles in between the garden beds in a few (well, hopefully) weeks.  The mower doesn't fit in between these beds and taking the weed eater around each one gets to be a lot of trimming!  It's going to look much better when things are all finished up!!

"Mom, can I wear your gloves?"  - Austin

 

 

 "Are worms good for the ground?"  - Ashlyn

"Well, yes they actually are!"  Earthworms help increase the amount of air and water that gets into the soil.  They break down organic matter, like leaves and grass into things that plants can use!!!  Earthworms are important and welcome in our small gardens!

And as I walked back inside, dirty and ready for a hot shower, this is what I came too.  The kids also had all the croquet arches stuck in the ground.  Gardening tools were stuck in the grass.  Trikes and skateboards needed to be put away.  It's hard for me to not get a little frustrated at times with how things so quickly get turned upside down and dirty!!!  I just spent the morning hours cleaning the house.  I also went outside to work and mow because the weather forecast was saying cold and rainy most of the weekend.  The grass needed to be mowed and the outside work done today.  After mowing, I got out the blower and blew out the dirt on the garage floors and driveway!  But, now tonight, the sidewalk chalk container was spilled out in the garage.  Mulch and dirt were drug into the house.  Dirty finger prints were on the hallway wall because a certain little miss came running into the house with her dirty shoes and muddy fingers and went flying into the bathroom because she had to pee SO bad!!!  I tried to keep my cool.  After a few stern words, the toys got all put away, the dirty marks got wiped away and the dirty, little ones got bathed.  Baths are a necessity these days!  It does feel so good to have them playing outside though and enjoying the toys!!! 

After everyone was clean and in clean PJ's, Mike and I went to pick up a car we bought for Hadassah!  She had volleyball practice tonight and needed to be picked up at Jess's house.  The other week we noticed a car for sale and stopped by to gather the information.  We took Hadassah to see the car and even test drive it.  Any kind of car is going to seem a lot smaller to her because all she's driven so far is the Yukon.  We ended up buying the car and Mike got the title and things changed yesterday.  It was now officially ours.  So, picking the car up last night and then letting her drive it home from Jess's house, was a sweet treat!  When her and Mike got home, I asked her how she likes her car.  She said, "It's awesome!"  That was nice to hear her say that!!!

It's looking like a chilly, wet weekend in front of us but then more sunshine next week!!!  We've got lots of events happening all weekend long for our family, so be sure to check in again next week for another "real life" blog post!

It's warming up!!!

Our weekend weather was just gorgeous!!!  After a really cold couple of days last week, we were like little hibernators coming out of our hibernation!!!

Last week, we had some really cold days and after mowing the lawn on Thursday evening, I was chilled to the bone.  I had two jackets, gloves and my rain boots on to mow but when I went to jump off the mower, my feet hit the ground with nerves screaming!!!  My feet, my hands, my whole body was so cold.  For sure, the coldest I've been all winter!!!  I felt chilled to the bone.  I was even still shivering after a hot shower and just couldn't warm up fast enough!!!  But, the cold passed through and Friday and Saturday were a bit warmer!!!  And yesterday, was a gorgeous Spring day!!!

I decided to go buy more of my garden plants on Saturday.  It was sunny and I am so ready to get more things planted!  I bought tomato plants, peppers, basil, parsley and an egg plant.  I planted everything but the egg plant.  Mainly because my garden beds are full and I requested one more raised bed to be added to my collection!!!  Hopefully, Mike will get to that this week!!!  I did notice some growth from the seeds I planted a few weeks ago.  We really only had a few sunny, warmer days since then but the radishes and lettuce like it cooler.

We all woke up yesterday morning with sunshine beaming in our windows!!!  It feels so good to have the sun shine bright and the tempts were looking wonderful!!!  I had mentioned to the kids on Saturday about going to the park.  I thought that when Matthew cleans out the car wash vacuums we would get a chance to walk over to the park while he finishes up his job.  But, when I dropped Matthew off at the car wash, I then took lunch to the working men that are building our new church building in Honey Brook.  Our church has been dreaming and saving up to build a church house for years and it's finally all happening!!!  Mike is one of the men that are in charge of the project and even though this is requiring tons of his time, Mike is enjoying the project!!!  By the time I got back to pick up Matthew, he said he was already waiting for two hours.  :)))  I'm not really sure I'm believing that time judgment but by then I wasn't going to stroll the park with the little ones and make him wait more.  So, when I woke up Sunday morning and saw the sun rise and the temperatures rising outside, I mentioned to Mike that we should go to the park after lunch.  Everyone was into that!!!  Matthew wanted to hit balls with Mike at the park.  I grabbed my Bible, a few snacks, camera, water and some bread to feed the one lonely duck swimming at the park.  Mike loaded up Austin's hunting jeep on the back of his truck and the kids had a real blast riding on the park paths!!! 

Here's Austin at the church project!!!  He's glad to help in any way he can!  :)))

I sat on the park bench just enjoying the warm sunshine.  Somehow I already forgot how good the warmth feels and it reminded me of just how ready we all are for summer!  I sat there watching Ashlyn and Austin break off pieces of bread and throw it in the pond.  They gently said, "Here ducky, ducky!"  I wish more ducks would join this one lonely bird at the pond but finally Ashlyn ran over to the other side and threw in more bread pieces.  The duck swam to the bread and enjoyed it!  It did finally come over to where Austin was and the kids loved feeding it!!!

They jumped onto the jeep and rode over to the playground.  I threw a blanket on the ground and pulled out my Bible while watching them slide down the sliding boards and giggle and laugh and enjoy the outdoors.  We had a very touching message at church and a very inspiring Sunday School lesson!!!  Nelson Cobletz preached and Mike and I sat there drinking in every word spoken.  Both of us have made comments to Jesus while attending Nelson's crusades in years past and so hearing his voice preach the gospel was spiritual food!!!  Nelson had everyone's attention as he preached!!!  I tried to jot down some notes in between trying to keep Austin and Ashlyn sitting still and listening!  Some of the things I wrote down were this:  "There's no greater honor than to be workers for Jesus!"  I was challenged when Nelson asked, "Do you love to see God in your everyday life?"  Can God trust me with His "work" even if or when I am falsely accused, hurt or wounded?  God's perfect will is that we would be saved, filled with His Spirit and live with Him in eternally forever!!!  God also has a permissive will and this is the part of life when things happen that we don't understand.  Things God allows to prunes us, give us growth and make us stronger Christians.  Nelson preached on how Jesus was fully the Son of God, yet fully the Son of Man.  Yet without sin!!!  He read the scripture in the Bible that talks about Jesus praying in the garden but was sorrowful.  Why was he sorrowful?  A new perspective was explained.  Jesus knew he would make it through his upcoming crucifixion as the Son of God because of his deity!  But how about the Son of Man?  Jesus had never felt the rejection of his friends (his best friends/disciples) leave him.  He hadn't yet felt the spits in his face, the beatings, the mockery that was about to happen to him.  How would he bare that rejection?  He cried out for help and an angel came to strengthen him!!!

Jesus understands what we go through!  What we face.  Jesus can feel how I feel when I say, "I don't know what to do because I've never felt this pain before."  Oh glory ... thank you Jesus!!!  He felt the natural but stayed in the spiritual!!!  I was reminded to let God heal my pains!  Let the things that break Gods heart, break mine too!

Nelson shared some of his personal story but he never focused on his past mistakes but on Jesus brings healing and life and joy and peace!!!  He is an evangelist that goes to prisons to preach the gospel!  He talks to people all the time that have messed up big time and need encouragement.  He said, "Don't waste the pain of the past.  Let the pains of the past help heal others.  Let beauty come from ashes.  God uses people who fail because there isn't any other kind."

His whole message to us that morning was bold!  God knows that we humans mess up.  I fail.  I sin.  Satan wishes to sift Christians like wheat but Jesus told Peter, "I pray that your faith not fail you."  When I mess up in life, which I do and will, I need to cry out to God and ask for forgiveness.  Turn from sin and set my eyes on eternal goals.  I need to put my focus on Jesus and let Him use me today!!! 

When we got home for lunch, Mike and I were anxious to hear from the children on what was preached.  Hadassah and Jess were inspired and asked us what we thought about the preacher.  :)  I was eager to tell them that we listened to him preach many, many times!!!  As a young girl, my parents would often take our family to the Gospel Express Tent Crusade often!!!  Nelson's emotions come through his sermons and his way of evangelical messages are convicting!!!  Thank you so much for coming to preach at Honey Brook!!! 

Anyway, I laid on the grass at the park and opened my Bible to Revelations.  We just finished up a study on this book and never before was I enjoying this book more than now!!!  As we sat in a circle with our Sunday School class each week, I learned, studied, looked up verses, listened to other messages on this book and simply drank up all the things that are prophesied to still happen.  On Sunday, we finished with the last two chapters and I was awed as we read how the streets of heaven are made with pure gold, clear as glass.  Christians will be live together with Jesus and God forever and ever!  There will be no more need for a sun because God will be there!!!  The book of Revelation has a whole lot of information about what's still to happen to this world, good and bad.  It was so awesome to finish the book with promises of a new heaven and a new earth!  A world that us Christians will forever be without sin and pain and problems.  Forever with Jesus and in God's presence forever!  I wanted to reread these verses.  The sun felt warm on my back and as the children were enjoying the slides, I was refreshed too!!! 

Mike and Matthew were at another part of the park throwing and hitting softballs.  Matthew's ballgames have begun and so practice in now a most for him!!!  After a while, I saw them drive out of the park and they soon returned with Mike running and Matthew on roller blades.  It was then that I got up and started walking the park paths too!  I've been wanting to start up running or walking and now I had no excuses and wanted to get some calories burned too!!!  Ashlyn and Austin followed us around the paths on the jeep.  This day at the park was so fun and we hope to do this again soon!!!

Weekends are so fun for us!!!  Yard sales are beginning.  The kids can sleep in.  Mike is busy selling sheds!  Hadassah cleaned out the vehicles and washed them off!  Warm weekends that we just had are so wonderful!!! 

I found these shoes at a local consignment shop and I'm really enjoying them!!!  I looked up the normal store price online and it said, "$57.00!!!"  I paid $8 for my pair!!!  Score!!!  :)))

I had to chuckle when I looked up at the temperature gage in the Yukon yesterday!!!  Mommy D. has an outdoor thermometer hanging on the side wall of her Florida home.  Every time we call her during the winter months, I ask her how warm it is.  She walks over to the warmest spot on the property and reads the numbers.  I thought of her yesterday when I was parked in the sunshine at school and waiting for the children to come out.  Now, in reality it may have said 91 degrees but as soon as I put it in drive and drove away, it went right back to 70!  :)))

The Tigers won their game last night!!!  Way to go boys!!!

Looking ahead at our week it will be filled with school days.  Baseball games.  Community Clean Up Day at school.  Volleyball practises.  My life right now is very active with the children and sometimes I need to be reminded to stop and take it all in.  Like yesterday.  We needed groceries so I made a stop at Sharp Shopper and then Costco.  Austin is my little tag along and it's fun to have him with me.  We grabbed some lunch at home and then made a quick stop at a greenhouse.  I'm starting to buy some flowers and I'm soon ready to get some planted!  We then went to school to pick up kids.  Jess came along home and we dropped the girls off and then I took Matthew and Ashlyn around to some businesses to collect funds for our Community Clean Up school fundraiser!  It was then time to whip together some spaghetti for supper and off I went again to take the girls volleyball practice.  Dishes were done and baths were given and off we went one more time to go watch Matthew play ball!!!  All day long I felt like I was go, go, go.  The sun was shining and I would have had plenty to do at home all day long too but being a mom of four active, healthy kids, keeps me stepping!!!  I love it!!!

April is coming to a close in a few days and then it will be May!!!  Time has a way of just passing right along!  We are getting ready to start our "school days count down" and we look forward to summer time!!!

Enjoy the sunshine!!!  Get outside and feel it!!! 

God is so good!   

Volleyball tournament.

Well, the sunny, warm days are behind us now and Ashlyn was singing this morning, "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.  Little Austin wants to play. Rain, rain, go away!"  She grabbed her new umbrella that sister Jody gave her for her birthday before heading out the door for the school this morning.  After having such beautiful weather the end of last week and in the 80's on Saturday, yesterday didn't even seem like the same month.  We are back to rainy days and chilly.

Hadassah had a volleyball tournament this weekend and I try hard to make these priority.  I have found that it is sometimes hard to always be involved in her teenage events and even with her growing up with sports, I have tried to be there if possible!!!  It's a chance to be there with her.  I believe that it's important for us parents to be in the stands cheering if possible.  If we don't cheer for them, who will?  I LOVED to watch her play soccer and volleyball in middle school.  I cheered and even teared up when she was breaking long jump records in track and going to MACSA to compete.  And I love even more to now go to her games and cheer and see the higher competition!!!  And I might add that it is getting easier with the little ones too.  It is challenging to take a baby and little siblings along and have them entertained while trying to watch a sports game.  I've had comments like "the children need to stay on the bleachers".  Sometimes I have wondered why I even go if I have to keep one eye on the little ones and one eye on the game.  But with a few toys, a coloring book and crayons and a few snacks, we survived!  :)))  

Hadassah is playing for a Blast Team for the first time this Winter/Spring.  It's a club volleyball and open to girls that want to get more playing time and learn more skills.  She's been really enjoying this even though she had a set back in the very beginning with spraining her ankle.  Most of the girls on her team she didn't know before.  Most come from the public school system and it's an opportunity for her to show good sportsmanship and be a witness for Jesus.  This team of girls are all in high school so the level of playing is tough stuff.  There are hard serves and slams and great blocks all the time!!!  It's a "blast" to watch!!!

The tournament began on Saturday morning.  Honestly, I was hoping to go yard saling but Hadassah and Jess needed a ride to their games, so I willingly raised my hand!  :)  Mike would have loved to attend to but with the weather being SO nice, it was going to be a busy day at work!  I dropped my littles off at Jody's house (thanks so much again) and Matthew got to go to Madison's for the day and then the girls and I went to volleyball!!!  I had a little time to kill after dropping them off at a school in Lancaster, so I was off to go to a nearby development yard sale just a few miles away.  I strolled through the sales and then went back to the games to cheer!  They played well and started with some wins!  After lunch, I needed to pick up the children and then came home for a short time.  Ashlyn and Austin went right outside and rode their jeeps around the yard.  It was so warm outside.  We all went back to the games to cheer for the last of the volleyball games for Saturday.  On the way home, we picked up Matthew at Dutchies and he was soaking wet!  The boys decided to jump in Mike's pool ... green water and gross ... but they didn't care a bit.  Matthew was soaked and came home for a good shower!  :)  Thanks Rosa for letting Matthew come over!

 

Hadassah went home with Jess on Saturday night and the rest of us were ready to relax and enjoy some time at home.  We ordered pizza and wings and got to bed in good time!!!  Tomorrow will be another day of volleyball.

The volleyball tournament continued on Sunday.  Verna took the girls to their first game this time.  The games were in Millersville this time with their game beginning at 8!  Mike and I drank our coffee together, read some scripture and then got the kids up and dressed and off we were to cheer for Hadassah.  We made a quick stop to get the kids muffins and donuts at Dunkin Donuts on the way there.  It was much colder than yesterday and drizzling rain.  It didn't seem like the some month at all!!!  But it didn't dampin the girls playing!!!  They played well with some loses and some wins.  At lunch time, the team was scheduled to play at the Volleyball Corner and finish up the tournament there.  (This was a big tournament with multiple locations of playing.)  The kids were getting tired of sitting and watching, so Mike took them home and Gerald and Verna's children went to our house too.  There they played while us adults finished watching the volleyball games in ease.  :)  Hadassah's team made it to the Semifinals but ended up losing to their own sister team.  Blast has an A team (mostly Seniors) and they beat us in the semi's.  Hadassah was tired and ready for a shower and then chill out at home!!!

 I couldn't wait to get into our PJ's and wrap up in a blanket.  I was cold and tired too but after eating some soup and coloring with Ashlyn on the living room floor, we decided to go play some dice with Matt's.  The kids always cheer when we go to Matt and Lena's and this time was no different.  Mom Lapp was there too and the games of dice were fun! 

We are so blessed to have good health and warm, dry homes!!!  Hadassah played great all weekend and our warm beds felt wonderful last night!!!  I want to document weekends like these because I know that some day we will look back and say "yep, those were the good ol' days!!!"

It's looking like a rainy week ahead which probably means the ballgame that is scheduled for tonight will most likely be canceled.?.  The grass is loving this rain and the garden will be up and growing after the showers are passed and the sunshine returns!!!

I'm now off to fold the laundry and sweep my floors!  Have a great week everyone!!!