Greetings
from the frozen wastelands of western New York State!
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| The view out our front door during the 2/16 winter storm |
Here’s the
happenings of me and mine since I last wrote:
Jemmie
officially became a teenager on 1/21. We waited until Sunday the 24th
when everyone was over after church to have her full party. Krista made
her an amazing chocolate cake (we got the idea from Cai’s girlfriend, Amy, when
she visited us over Christmas). Our local grocery store, Wegman’s, has
what they call an Ultimate Chocolate Cake. Well, this was better, and led
to a recent decision of mine to go on a protein diet to try to work off the
excellent cake and too much other good food. So far I’m down 10 pounds,
so that’s good!
I’m trying to
get both Amelia and Zach driving time and skills so they can get their
licenses. I should be really good at this now since I’m on my 8th and 9th
kid to teach to drive—“should” being the operative word there. It reminds
me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaUYQZR-y7I.
No, none of my kids were ever quite that bad, but some got close. In the
interest of family peace, I will not name names, but you know who
you are, kids.
I was pleased
that Denver won the Super Bowl, and Peyton got another championship. I
have no doubt Cam will get his soon, although I’m hoping for a Seahawks vs.
Bills Super Bowl 51. Don’t ask who I’d root for, because I’m not sure I
know myself. I’d probably wear my Steve Largent and Jim
Kelly jerseys and be conflicted the whole game. Maybe I shouldn’t wish
for that after all.
On 1/29 and
30, our church had a men’s retreat. The speaker was excellent, the food
was really good, and the fellowship and challenges were great. Zach and
Kevin got to go too, so that made it more special. We learned about our
identity in Christ—that He makes us the men He wants us to be. I’m now
reading a book we got there called “Manhood Restored” by Eric Mason. I’d
recommend it!
On 1/31, we
celebrated Abigail’s birthday (which is really on 2/2). That Sunday we
all got together at Hannah and Kevin’s house. Kevin made us flatbread
pizzas, and we brought over a Mississippi Mud Cake for her dessert.
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| I think Levi's afraid she's going to get burned with all those candles |
On 2/6, our
church hosted the regional Awana Truth & Training (3rd – 6th grade) Bible
Quiz. Levi is the only one of my kids left in that grade range (5th
grade), and he did really well, getting a perfect score. His team came in
2nd to another team from our church that all got perfect scores. Overall,
our church did very well, with 6 of our 8 kids that competed getting perfect
scores.
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| The left 6 kids are the ones from our church who got perfect scores (Levi is the 3rd from left) |
My
son-in-law, Cody’s, birthday was on 2/11. As usual, we saved our big
family party for a Sunday, so we celebrated on Valentine’s Day, 2/14, which is
also my brother, David’s, birthday. That was a full day. The
temperatures here that day were below zero, with wind chills making it feel
like 20 or 30 below. We decided to cancel Sunday School at church that
day (we just had our morning worship), and to encourage people to stay home if
it wasn’t safe for them to travel. We had a pretty small crowd at church,
but the service was really good. Our pastor is preaching through
Philippians, and God is using His Word to challenge and grow us in our faith
each week. He has encouraged us often through that book to find true JOY
by putting Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last.
It was my
turn to sing special music that morning, and in keeping with the theme of putting
ourselves last, I sang, “So Long Self” by MercyMe. You can listen to them
do it and read the lyrics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jUYQ71Uw0g.
Ella pointed out to me that I was singing a break-up song on Valentine’s Day,
but it was appropriate to the Bible passage we were studying, and I thought it
went well.
Today is
Caitlin’s birthday, so happy birthday to you, Caitlin. We are 2 weeks and
2 days away from her wedding day! So, now you know what I’ll be writing
about next month. Until then!
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| Hazel put the baby in the stroller by herself! |
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| This picture was after church back on 10/11/15 |
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| This one was just this past Sunday. Some things don't change, but they did trade sides |
