Chatter :)

Wow, it's amazing that today is May 1st. I love May--spring *really* arrives this month. :) Also, Jim's birthday is this month, so I better get planning something for that!

After a weekend of rain, it was nice to see the sun today. The kids got some outside play time, and I had lots of cleaning energy and motivation.

We received the news this weekend that our pastor is resigning and moving on to a new ministry as the president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Boy, will we miss him!!! We have only been going to Trinity for a little over 2 years, but we have so enjoyed and been blessed by his ministry. It will be exciting to see who God will bring along to be our next pastor, in His perfect time. Please pray for our church and the Phelps family over the next months of transition!

Julia had her 1 year checkup yesterday. She is up to 19 lbs, 12.5 oz. and 28" long. She had fun "flirting" with the other people in the waiting room and the doctor. :) She is quite the people person, sometimes!

Sam and Julia are doing really well playing together lately . . . well, some of the time, anyway. :) Other times, they are at each other's throats, being typical siblings. But it makes me smile when I hear them giggling and chattering together, during the times that they're playing nicely. It will be really fun to see them become better playmates and friends in the years ahead--at least that is what we will be working toward! I know it doesn't usually come naturally. :)

I really love where we live. I know that God may have us move on somewhere, sometime in the future, but I am thankful that right now He has allowed us to live here. We love the privacy and quiet of our few acres. Tonight I went outside to take some clothes off the line, and it was so nice to hear the sound of our brook in the midst of the stillness of the evening. And we can always hear birds and small animals chattering, and sometimes see deer or foxes, and the occasional coyote or bear (still no moose yet, though!). I'm so happy that we can raise our children here. Before we moved over here from a more populated area, I thought I might get a little lonely out in the sticks. But that's never been the case. Now, my plan for this summer is to brighten up our dirt and rocks a little bit. :) That is a little frustrating--we still have more dirt work to do in the yard, so it is not the time to landscape or plan a lawn or anything, yet. Our yard is so bare and ugly (at least until the mid-end of summer, when there are plenty of weeds and blackberry bushes. :) Anyway, I've decided to buy a bunch of packets of wildflower seeds and scatter them all over the place, and see what happens. Hopefully we will get some color and a little bit of beauty on our rock pile. We also plan to plant a smallish garden toward the end of May. And I've already started a few pots of herbs inside--basil and cilantro, the 2 that I use a lot--so I will probably move some of them outside eventually, too. I would love to have a little herb garden that includes a few more varieties. What fun! I'm really looking forward to summer. :)