February Update

Greetings from the frozen wastelands of western New York State!

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.

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.

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!

Hazel put the baby in the stroller by herself!

This picture was after church back on 10/11/15

This one was just this past Sunday.  Some things don't change, but they did trade sides