In Christ Alone our Hope is Found

This past week, we took Josiah in to the hospital for a follow up on his foot. We are so excited to report that it's completely healed! When he found out that it was healed he told me that, " I don't get excited about small things. But big things like going to the museum or getting my boot off is very exciting. So I am very excited!" He makes me laugh. He is very much like Ken and Josh. When Ken is happy or excited, we just get a smile or "I am so thankful." or "That is so great." I am more of a, "WHAT?!!! SERIOUSLY?? THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!!", smile really big, a jump up and down, laugh and maybe even throw in a little squeal kind of person. You will know it. Sometimes I want to say to them, "Really? That's all you've got?" I can't really relate to those boys in that way. (: We have been feeling yuck in this house for the last month. We have had sinus cold after bug after chest cold. Micah has not felt well for at l...

Today I have some pictures to share. We just had Micah's birthday. He is 12 and it's very exciting. 12 is way older than 11. It just is! We are beginning our 'even' year. Micah first turns 12. In April Josh turns 16, Natalie 10 and Siah 8. In June Grace turns 4. I think it's fun that all of our kids are all odd or all even. I think I say that every year! (: Here is a picture of Grace and her new kitty slippers. She is thrilled. It's the small things! Excuse her mis-match reds. In person, they looked much closer! (O: They just suit her so well. They remind me of her! ( : The kids always get a choice of whether we make the cake or buy the cake. It's special either way. Micah picked a Meijer cake. It's nice that you don't have to order them. They are just sitting there waiting to be chosen. This year he chose a marble. It looked good !(: I love that he still likes the house decorated. We always decorate after they go to b...

This was written on a Monday a few weeks ago. We were planning to be done school Wednesday at 12 for Christmas holidays. But we woke up in a big-gigantic mess this morning, so we decided to do school on Thursday so I could put the house back together today. Sometimes it's hard to keep things organized on Sundays. It's a luxury for me to have the flexibility this week to take today off of school. (: So we started upstairs in the bedrooms, collecting all the wash, hanging up clean church clothes and cleaning up. We always start there! (: The kids usually do their own rooms, but because things were so upside down, I decided to help them. While cleaning up Micah's room, we started talking about his stuffed animals. I asked him if he was ready to put them away. They kept falling off and were always so messy (not unlike the rest of his shelves! (: ). That is  partly because Grace kept wanting to play with HER doggies. It felt right to ask. I was starting to feel it was time...

Even though at times we do miss our family, friends and our church family, the kids and I often talk about the fact that we are living in the US. It's something we could have never predicted. But it's also something we never thought we would enjoy so much. One of my kids told me the other day that he wouldn't have cried so much when we moved if he knew how good it would be. That makes me happy. It was a time of such upheaval for the kids and to hear that they like it here and will miss it when we leave, makes me extra thankful. It's hard to put my finger on why we enjoy it so much. I think the biggest reason is that this is where our family is.  Home is where we are all together. It just is. Secondly, there is always peace when you are where the Lord wants you to be.  There are also some fun things that we enjoy.... We drive much faster! I like driving fast.  I love my house. No for real, I loooooooove my house. It makes my day to day much easier. There is a ...