A few highlights.

We got 7.5" of snow on Wednesday. Since then we've made three batches of snow cream. The kids couldn't be more delighted with it and keep trying to come up with different flavors. Sarah likes cherry with chocolate chips, Jeremiah likes plane cherry with a cherry in it, and Joshua wants everything in his, but usually starts by asking for raisins.

I've been trying to figure out what Sarah likes to play with. Mostly she's a book worm. On Wednesday she threw a fit a nap time because she'd read through all the chapter books we'd gotten from the library and couldn't find a chapter book to read. Only my 5 yr old would still be tolerating nap time, and throwing a fit about books. She also enjoys riding her pink scooter around the house and playing with her friends whenever possible.

Jeremiah is progressing well with his speech. It is now very rare that I don't understand what he is saying. That's such a relief. He also loves puzzles, trucks, trains, and fixing everything with Daddy. Basically he's a boy.

Joshua laughs all day. The past couple days I've been trying to pay attention to when he's laughing and it's constant. Everything is funny to him. Unfortunately I don't always agree that things are funny (like dumping out all the toys he can find). I'm still working on figuring out the balance of homeschooling Sarah and keeping Joshua from turning our living room into a dump site.

Aaron is doing well. He got through a semester of Hebrew & theology in the fall and is taking the next in each series again in the spring. The Jr High room at church seems to be packed on Sunday mornings with kids/teens ready to learn about God, or at least see the next silly thing he will do on stage. Last Sunday's highlight was an air guitar band rendition of It's My Life, starring Aaron as the lead singer dancing on a table with four youth leaders backing him up. The Jr Highers loved it. I am so amazed at how God is molding Aaron and I into the leaders He wants for the Jr High ministry at our chuch. It was not in our plan a few years ago, but God still got us where He wanted.

I think I'm doing pretty well. This year (2011) has already been a bit challenging for me between a strange stomach bug (no I am not pregnant) and managing my time at home. I don't know how the boys seem harder to handle now than they were a month ago, but I guess that's the phase we're in. Everyone assures me that it will pass. I am just trusting God for the patience each day to deal with them.

In addition to the snow this week, we also had an electrical circuit fail (mini power outage) that took Aaron (and a little bit of my help) about 5 hours to fix, and we discovered a mouse problem in our house. The kids joyfully will tell you about catching 4 mice in our mouse traps, including one "real live mouse" (it's leg was caught). As we've been dealing with these things, God keeps showing me how He will help us through the little struggles in life. He keeps answering my prayers, like "God, please don't let me have to see a live mouse. I'd be ok with a dead one, but not a live one" and "God, help my husband to figure out why our power's not working. We could call in an electrician, but Lord I'm trusting Your timing for getting it fixed without needing an electrician." Amazingly, Sarah and Jeremiah had asked for a sleepover in Joshua's room and were asleep in his room when we discovered that the broken outlet was in their room.

Hopefully someday soon I'll add some more pictures to this blog, but for now, this is where we are.
God bless.