The Love of God

I was introduced to this hymn awhile back, and the words still strike me with their amazing poetic truth,  especially the second verse.  (There is a modern addition to the song that starts at 2:00.  I like it best before that part, but to each her own, right?)

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Book Review - Whispers in the Wind

I recently signed up to do book reviews for Bethany House. They send you an email every 6-8 weeks with a list of books, you choose one that you would like to read and write an honest review for, and if you're picked, they send you that book for free! So, here's my first review:

I read Lauraine Snelling's Red River of the North series years ago and really liked it, so I was excited to read another one of her books. This book focuses on Cassie Lockwood, a former Wild West Show trick shooter, and her new life on a South Dakota ranch that her father had helped settle and later had dreamt of returning to. The Engstrom family, who have lived on the ranch from the beginning, take her & her companions in and help them settle into the community. The story tells of Cassie's gradual learning to rely on God to provide through various means and her various relationships with the Engstrom family members as they get used to the idea of the ranch not being their own.

Overall, I found the book's pace to be a little slow. There was lots of character development which I think will lead to a love triangle in the third book, but a strong ending which Snelling has had in at least some of her previous books was missing from this one. That being said, the character development did keep me reading and I probably will one day read book #3 to find out what happens with Cassie and the Engstroms.

Spaghetti Painting

We did an art project at John's mom's that was great. It's called Spaghetti Painting.  

Cook spaghetti according to package.  Drain it and then immediately put it in water dyed with food coloring.  Keep the spaghetti in the water until you're ready to use it.

 

Let the kids make pictures on white paper by using the spaghetti.

 Kids between the ages of 18 months and 10 had a lot of fun doing it.

We were a little nervous that the spaghetti would stain anything that it touched, but it didn't.  So there was easy clean-up too!  Any leftover spaghetti was put in a ziploc bag in case anyone wanted to do it again in a few days.

Give it a try!

A Great Trip

Helena & I had a wonderful trip while John was in Israel.  I honestly couldn't ask for a better trip.  We had a great time with John's mom with lots of other family members thrown in at various times, we had a fun time in Bemidji, and we ended our trip with 3 relaxing yet full days with my friend Mandy & her fam.  I was ready to get home to see John & not be a single parent anymore but I do wish the trip could have gone on because it was so good.

Visiting Chickens at Grandma's friends' house

All the cousins traveled to Grandma's house for a big picture party one day.  Lots of good pictures were taken and lots of fun was had!

Visiting Mutti in the nursing home - pushing a wheelchair is like pushing a stroller :)

The big highlight of Bemidji was fishing!  Uncle Rob and Papa helped us catch lots of fish.

Hmmm....worms...

She loves to kiss so why not kiss a fish?

Papa & Uncle Rob made Nani & Helena's mom kiss fish since we made Helena kiss a fish :)

They also made me pretend to kiss Rob's big catch.  I swear that fish stuck his tongue out at me.

Pizza and Play in the Park with Kay :)

Tea Party before we left - there was real food!  It just hadn't been served when I took the photo.

Watering flowers & a mini watering can were both big hits. The water just didn't always go to the flowers.

Helena made so many dog friends on our vacation.  Whenever we Skype with anyone we visited, her response IMMEDIATELY after someone answers is "Arfff?  Arfff?"  This is Moses.  At one point I had to explain to Helena that dogs chew on the sticks but kids don't.  From then on she liked to feed them to him.

Baby Caleb is great.  He's got a CUTE smile and such a content demeanor.

When we went out for ice cream, I ordered Helena a toddler cone off the menu.  It was a full-size ice cream cone.  And she ate all of it :)

Mandy, it was so nice to live life with you for a few days.  I can't believe we're both moms!

The trip ended with a "Fashion Makeover in 10 minutes flat" by my nieces.  Don't we look fabulous?

Like Daddy, Like Daughter

A lot of people tell me they see John when Helena smiles.  In the last few days, Helena has been trying to be like her daddy in other ways too!

Life after two weeks on different continents

We are BUSY around here:

1) John getting over jet lag.
2) Refilling our fridge and cabinets with food.
3) Devoting time for John & Helena to spend together so they can reattach themselves to each other.
4) Changing the clothes in our drawers as a new season is upon us!
5) Church meetings for church retreat, women's care committee, and small group.
6) Getting caught up on and conversing about thoughts, news, parenting changes, new life goals, emails.
7) Looking at photos of Israel!

Eventually I'll get around to blogging, right?