God is Good

This week has been brutal with bronchitis for me, sore throat for david, Mike out EVERY evening for work, SOL test studying, and stress.  This week has been a blur but here are some random facts from the week because I am too tired to write in normal paragraphs:)

1) I am still in utter shock that the Jonas are moving.  I did get to meet to the new pastor yesterday who had such a wam handshake and kind eyes.  You can tell a lot about a person from their eyes.  God is good.

2) Bronchitis is not pretty for an asthmatic like me.  Zpacks are fabulous. God is good.

3) Dave worked SO hard on his SOL reading tests and we could not be  prouder of his effort and attention to the test.  He utterly amazes us.  God is good.

4) I received three separate compliments about Kyle this week out of the blue.  Considering the fact that he is a preteen, a boy, and hormones are starting to rage, I was so appreciative and blessed to hear that he acted in a mature and kind way away from us three separate times this week.  He was rewarded by being able to go to a boys night at Macados to watch the draft.  God is good.

5) Several friends are going through some hard times right now.  I felt blessed that I was trusted in confidence to hear those struggles and to pray for them.  Life is hard, but God is good. 

6) Raising a special needs child who now has lifelong medical issues because of his stupid cancer is hard.  God continues to bless us with some amazing professionals that take great care of him and even laugh when he texts them!  Dave texted a doctor yesterday to "call him" and she did!  Ha!  Life is never boring with David and God is good.

7) SOL tests are brutal but they also mean that summer is oh so close!!  God is good.

Those are only the clearer images and bullet points from an emotional and stressful week.  No matter what happens today and everyday, God is good!  Happy Friday!!

Friendships and Baseball

A few weeks ago I shared on here that my heart was broken over a situation.  I can now share that my heart was/is broken over the fact that Jonathan, Suzanne, and their kiddos are leaving Marion.  She shared the news with me weeks ago and I have had to grieve with just a few dear friends because it was very hush hush per the Methodist church. 

God has big plans for the Jonas family as they move to Bristol.  The only sweetness about this move is that their new house is only 36 minutes from my house and they still will be near their extended families.  I know our family friendships will remain, but we will miss Jonathan as the pastor of FUMC and he is kind of, sort of my boss.  Sigh. 

All of our hearts have been heavy about this move, so last night several families got together for some BBQ, playtime, and smores.  It was exactly what we all needed.  My stomach muscles are actually sore from laughing.  God has woven together some special friendships that a few miles cannot separate. 

 

Roasting some smores.  Dave was the roasting man!  He did them perfectly:)  I also didn't know until last night that you can substitute a reese cup for a hershey bar in the middle of the smore.  Oh my word....

The boys got a big kick out of playing baseball-daddies versus boys.  We women just sat and laughed at them.  The men were beating the boys and then some little boys jumped ship to be on the winning team!  Ha!

Daddy's in the field.....

Sydney, Hope and Sage watching the game from the trampoline! 

We have a lot of kids amongst us all and here is the boys team:) I was doing fine last night until Suzanne took us into Sage's nursery to show us some new clothes she got her and I saw that she had packed up some of her stuff.  We have all had some special and fun times together in the parsonage. 

Before our our smores party, we had two baseball games.  Kyle's team played a heartbreaker yesterday and lost in extra innings by one point.  It happens and it hurts, but that is why sports are so important.  You have to win and lose with grace and class.  Kyle is a competitive kid and takes every loss very hard. 

Kyle's friend, Luke started the game pitching and did a great job before pitching out for the day.  Little League is very restrictive about how many pitches each kid can throw.  Kyle came in mid-game and finished it up.  He too did a good job under pressure and it was a low scoring game.  He keeps him cool better than his Momma does:)

Before Kyle's game this little enthusastic tballer had a game!  It is hilarious and exhausting to coach this age group.  She loves every minute of it and here she is in the "ready" position. 

 

We stress to all of our kiddos how important service to others is.  One of the ways that Kyle has really jumped in an served this year is at the Little League field.  He and I often do a weekly rotation in the concession stand to raise money for the program.  Here he is patiently counting out dimes, nickels, and quarters that some cute little kid plopped down on the counter.  The kid wanted to know what he could buy with this and Kyle helped him count it out and make a purchase.  Kyle has also helped rake the field, run the scoreboard, help in concesions, and he actually umpired a game (bases not behind the plate) Friday night. 

 

This week is a we bit stressful in our household.  SOL season is up on us (sigh) and David has one tomorrow, Kyle has one coming up and is already starting to prepare, and Mike has a stressful week at work with some travel and some public meetings.  With good friends, baseball for stress relief, and a living and awesome God we will get through it all:)  Happy Sunday!

Big Milestones and Granola

This week has been a week full of exciting firsts around here! Hope went on two kindergarten visits this week to her school to get ready for Kindergarten.  She is so excited!  Here she is in one of the awesome kindergarten teacher's classroom listening to the story on frogs. 

I cannot believe it is time for this already, but she is so excited!

 

Tuesday night Mike took her to Kindergarten Roundup night!  They got to ride a bus and have lots of fun.  I get to do so many things with her because of preschool that this was a special Daddy/Daughter night for them.

 

Another huge milestone this week was that David lost his first tooth!!  We have really been wondering if he would ever lose a tooth, and he did!  When it came out we kind of freaked out that maybe this was an adult tooth that came out and shouldn't have because it was big.  Really big.  We still need to do xrays to make sure adult teeth are there and waiting to come in.  We know several children with DS that do not have adult teeth.  Interesting-huh?!

 

Mike has had a rough few weeks lately at work.  Sigh.  Anyway, he loves yogurt, granola, and chocolate chips together.  One of our preschool  Moms brought in this awesome homemade granola stuff that I flipped over.  So I made some today for my sweetie to make him smile.  Here is the recipe!

 

4 cups of old fashioned oatmeal

 1 1/2 cups of sliced almonds (I had a hard time finding them because I thought they would be with the nuts, but they are in the baking section with chocolate chips)

1/2 cup of light brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of cinamon (I love cinnamon so i did way more than 1/2 tsp)

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup of  honey

1 tsp of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of raisins or dried fruit (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a bowl mix oats, almonds, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  In a saucepan warm oil and honey and whisk iin vanilla.  Carefully pour the liquid over the oat mixture.  Stir gently with spoon.  Spread granola on a cookie sheet (mine was totally full) Bake for 40 min  and let cool.  Stir in raisins or fruit of choice.  Store at room temp foa week in an airtight bag or three months in freezer. 

 

We took Mike some to work and he loved it too! 

 

 

 

Yesterday for our Wednesday afterschool church group we went to Hungry Mother for a playdate.  We had such fun.  David looks mad here but he had such fun.  This was before his tooth came out and he was stressed! 

 

Happy Thursday!  Let me know if you make the granola and if your peeps like it as much as we do!