Only God

 I can't help but look at this as a miracle.

Tiny shoots, perfectly shaped like rosebuds.

New life, and so beautiful!

Nature shows us who God is,

by creating life out of death. 

God's word tells us that, although we will die,

if we believe in Him, we will pass from death to life.

John 5:25

Simple theology, I can believe 

because God has proven His power over death,

not only in nature, but by raising Jesus.

Renowned singer, Andrea Bocelli,

shared in an interview that the reason he believes in God

is because he cannot attribute the miracle of life to chance.

This is what I see when I look at my beautiful sedum springing forth

or remember the joy of holding a newborn baby.

Life is a miracle,  the hand of God.

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not only in books alone,

but in every leaf in the spring-time." ~ Marting Luther

Marching On

And so quickly it's time to celebrate another run of birthdays!

You know that I love the sense of anticipation while setting tables!

We met at the bowling alley and formed our teams.

Here we have the Go Pros!

Shaun and Ben both have birthdays this month. 

Papa with the girls named their team "Pickle Bros" (Go figure!)

The birthday girl in this group being Natalie.

And me with the boys ... "the Strikers"

(which in reality did not describe us well)

The birthday boy is Landon.

After bowling, pizza and cake was the perfect reward for all! 

I love the interaction happening here.

When Natalie was little she often talked about her desire when she grows up, to be a princess.

Well, at 17, she's almost grown up and we can easily see her as being just that. 

Meanwhile, I have to insert a photo of our pretty birthday girl in Indonesia,

who turned 15 this week. She looks like she's in a movie! 

And zooming back home, Landon blowing out 15 candles as well.

He was born on March 17th - in case you are wondering about the bowtie. 

He grows every time I look away! Seriously, quite handsome too! 

I didn't get a photo of Shaun with a cake, but we didn't miss singing for him. =)

Now ... the one that has an extra tug at my heartstrings!

I think back to this day, 

March 3, 1983, when we welcomed our baby boy into our family,

and my heart just swells with joy at remembering the surprise and excitement all around.

I thought life with girls was perfect, but I didn't know it could get even better

experiencing life from a boy's perspective,

the curiosity, enthusiasm and taking risks.

I learned to love things, because he did. 

It was like observing a shadow of his daddy

and watching him grow.

So, with all of that in the distant past now,

 it is still hard to believe how days and seasons have flown by.

Ben, on this special day we give thanks for the memories

and for all that you are today,

a protector and lover of your family,

sensitive yet strong, and honoring  God with your life. 

May He shine His face on you and

protect and bless you as you enter a new decade. 

Love, Mom and Dad

 

It's not Spring Yet

It is a funny thing how we, on the West Coast, start dreaming of Spring 

as soon as the calendar turns to February.

I begin to bring tulips or daffodils home from the grocery store.

The yard gets a good clean up, raking to reveal bright green shoots

and we begin to notice tiny buds sprouting on trees.

This year, the lobelia going up the trellis, was surely not to be outdone,

so we decided to wrap it in plastic.

It's a good thing we did!

Because last night while we were watching TV,

we looked out of the window and saw that,

very quietly, our world had transformed once again.

I opened the front door and got a better look.

And a peek toward the back from the stairway.

Surely, a season with it's own beauty. 

A time to keep a fire going and keep dreaming. 

 

Look Alikes?

My friend from many years back recently, out of the blue,  sent me some photos -

photos that I did not have, so it was fun to share them with my granddaughters.

For some reason, seeing myself, took me back to how I felt at that age

and just maybe allowed me to get a glimpse into their stage of life. 

The funny thing was, when Kristal saw the photo

she immediately took a photo of Natalie, right then and there ...

no fixing hair or taking off her jacket ...

and we had a chuckle about the resemblance. 

It truly took me by surprise. 

Forty nine years between us

and yet, not as much has changed as I thought.

She likes high waisted, bell bottoms or wide pants,

peasant tops, cute floral dresses

and I've noticed that browns looks great on her. 

I look at her and think she's just so cute!

Definitely not how I felt at that age, 

but I wonder if my grandmother thought that about me? 

 

Grandparents At School

I have to say that the biennial Grandparents' Day, 

was a big welcome back into the classroom this year.

With four students at this school, we didn't have a lot of time in each class,

but what we had was so special!

Our first stop was Teddy's Grade 5 class, where she promptly proceeded to show us some language and math skills they have been working on. 

I even learned something new. 

Who knew that different triangles had ways to remember them by? 

Oh, and we also went to check out the fish tank with 1 inch salmon fries swimming about. 

A very interesting thing that made me a bit emotional when I walked in

was to see that her teacher is the same one Kristal had some 31 years ago. 

He has been a wonderful influence on several grandchildren by now

and is quick to pull out a project done by their mom or aunt. 

I could see that his many years of experience make him pack in a lot of learning for the students.

Next we went to Evy's Grade 3 class. She was a bit shy about us joining her at her table.

Rightly so, this has never happened before!

She did a fun little questionnaire with us and showed us how to play a math game. 

Jade, in Grade 2, was next, eager to show us her collection of art in her workbook.

She also read us a story, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"

I think school is just a lot more fun today than it used to be! 

And last, but not least, we visited Jack's Kindergarten class. 

There was a display of beautiful valentines bags the students had decorated

and put up like mailboxes for cards. 

Such anticipation!

We went through a questionnaire with him as well

and he told us about different stations in the classroom. 

There is nothing he does not like about school! 

What an amazing start! 

 

Family Fireside in February

Family nights are not every week anymore 

but still every few weeks or at least once a month -

and with the size of our family now - it's a party!

Saturday was the perfect day to sit around the firepit,

so while I was preparing trays of burger toppings to go down,

he was setting up the seating.

Which reminds me, 

I don't think I ever posted about the chairs he made last summer!

We had two chairs that Opa Friesen made a very long time ago,

a regular smaller version of a type of adirondack chair

(made before we ever heard of them) 

and a foldable hammock type chair.

He decided to build some copies -

measuring, cutting and assembling them just like the original ones.

We needed chairs and this made it personal.

It turns out I didn't take pictures out there on Saturday night,

except for when I saw Jade all cozied up in the hammock chair

that she claims is the most comfortable in the whole wide world. 

It really was a gift of an evening,

from watching the sunset colors fade into the night

to food that reminded us of summer to come. 

There was no smoke chasing us from chair to chair,

the kids stayed warm playing hockey or basketball 

while the adults warmed by the fire. 

It's always so good to catch up!