Well, after three months here at WordPress I have decided to move on over to Blogger. I had reasons for starting out here and I have reasons for moving on, but I won’t bore you with all the details! I thought if I was going to make the switch it should happen now before too many things are posted here. So come on over and check out my new digs…http://standandconsider.blogspot.com.

Chances are the look of the new spot will change frequently in the beginning. That’s part of what I like about Blogger. It’s so easy to make changes for those of us who may not be up on all that code stuff.

Hope you enjoy!

Micah, our first born child, turned eight years old on Friday. Amazing how quickly the time has gone by. In three and half weeks he will be finished with school for the year and will officially be heading into third grade! We are so proud of Micah ~ the precious boy he is and the young man he is becoming. He brings such joy and a lot of fun and energy into our family! How blessed we are!

Last Sunday we celebrated with David’s parents. I made a cake and grandma made terriyaki chicken and rice for dinner, at Micah’s request. Spiderman is still a big hit and he seemed to steal the show this year! Spidey was everywhere!

On his actual birthday, we started the day by visiting the aquarium. This is always a favorite for Micah. It is amazing to me to see the strange and incredible creatures that God has created! You definitely have to watch out with things in the sea. Things aren’t always what they seem…

This little guy (a puffer fish) had the most incredible teeth! He flashed me a big toothy grin a couple times, but I couldn’t quite catch the full effect.

Upside-down jellyfish ~ aren’t they cool?!

For some strange reason I have the most difficult time getting my children to cooperate in front of the camera. Here is the result of my attempt at capturing something nice in front of that lovely rose bush…oh well. They’re cute anyway!

After the aquarium we came home to open gifts. It didn’t take Micah long to break into the Legos.

For dinner Micah requested the following:

• Grill-Roasted Whole Chicken with BBQ Sauce
• Broccoli and Cauliflower
• Baked Beans
• Watermelon

 Not your typical 8-year-old birthday dinner, but I’m not complaining! It was quite tasty.

Saturday we headed to the Dallas Zoo. They had a great new exhibit called Stingray Bay where we were able to feed and touch the stingrays. It’s a travelling exhibit so it will only be there through the summer. We were so glad to be able to see it.

It was such a fun weekend and I think Micah enjoyed it. Anytime he is able to see the animals is a fun time for him! Our (not so) little animal lover!

Happy Birthday, Micah! We love you!!

Yesterday the kids and I made a trip to Super Target. Micah and Abigail both had a little money to spend so I let them pick something out. And even though Isabel didn’t have much to spend, I let her pick out a little something too. After wandering up and down the aisles for about 20 minutes I finally told them they had to make a decision or wait for another time. As you can imagine they quickly found something they just couldn’t live without! Isabel picked out a little puzzle, Micah picked out an Indiana Jones Lego set, and Abigail…dear, sweet Abigail…picked out a microphone. Reluctantly I said it was OK and she proceeded to hug the package and loudly declare, “Now I can be a rock star!” Oh, boy…

Considering the microphone, or microscope as Abigail keeps calling it, was only $7.99 it is not half bad. It is cordless and tunes to the FM radio frequency on our stereo, therefore the sound comes out of our rather large speakers. I was seronaded all afternoon by all three of the kids. David is going to be so happy when he comes home!

This morning we began the day with homemade donuts. This was a new adventure for me. Micah is reading Homer Price at school and one of the stories is about donuts. There was a recipe in the study guide for donuts and Micah has been begging me for a couple weeks to make them. The first batch burned to a crisp since I heated the oil too hot. They were literally black in about 4 seconds. Don’t they look appetizing?

Once I got the oil cooled down a bit (and by a bit I mean about 200 degrees!) they cooked up quite nicely. I dipped them in sugar and cinnamon and we enjoyed a sweet breakfast. They really weren’t the greatest donuts. They were kind of heavy and without the sugar on top would have tasted like fried biscuits. But I think the kids thought they were fun and Micah ate all of his, which I’m thankful for since it was his big idea!

It’s been kind of an out-of-sorts week. David is out of town starting his new job (yes, we are moving soon for those of you who don’t know already…I’ll talk about all that in the days to come) and will be home on Friday. We’re not used to having daddy out of the house! But we’re hanging in there and looking forward to the weekend! For some reason the house has fallen apart and I am hoping to get it back together before David’s homecoming. There were tornado warnings last night and although they said nothing touched down in our area, I am pretty sure one of them went through my house!

Saturday was Micah’s first baseball game…his second season playing for the Rangers. It was a beautiful day and we were all kissed a little by the sun. I need to get back into sunscreen mode! Micah was up to bat twice and got a hit both times. 

Gettin’ ready to run…

He played second base, right field (I think…I can’t remember exactly), and catcher. The catcher’s equipment was so big on him and he looked like a robot when he walked! He said he felt like Darth Vader! I wish I would have taken a picture. He looked pretty cute! That’s Micah in the center of the photo.

We played at a different park than we have in the past. It was a beautiful park and had a little play area near the baseball fields so the girls could play while we watched the game. Abigail and Isabel were on the little merry-go-round for most of that time. I don’t know how anyone can spin for over half an hour and not get sick!

For those of you in my family or who know my family well, take a good look at this next picture and tell me…who does this child look like? As soon as I took the picture I looked at it and someone very familiar (other than Isabel) was staring back at me. David didn’t see what I saw, so maybe it’s just me!

Some of you may have noticed that I finally changed the Verse of the Week in the sidebar. The last one turned out to be more like the Verse of the Month. I did memorize the last one within a week, although whether I could still say it word for word at this moment is questionable. As I move on to the next passage I will have to review what I have memorized before. As I was thinking about which passage to memorize next I came across these verses on another blog. Before I go on to talk about the verses, allow me to say a few words about this particular blog, Confessions of a CF Husband. A friend of mine told me about this family a couple months back. The blog is written by a man who has a wife with cystic fibrosis (CF) who is waiting for a double lung transplant. In January she had a baby about 15 weeks early. I won’t attempt to explain it all–he does a much better job. But what has been so amazing about this couple’s story is their steadfast faith and trust in God despite the circumstances. It helps me put some of my own trials in perspective. I encourage you to at least take a moment to check out this blog. He usually posts something several times a day so there is a lot to read, but he has put a link on the top of the sidebar to a post that summarizes their journey up to this point. It is worth checking out.

Isaiah 40:31 has always been one of my favorite verses, a reminder to wait on the Lord for He will give us strength–the strength we need at the time we need it. But what jumped out at me this time are the verses leading up to verse 31. It is an awesome thing to dwell on the fact that God is everlasting; He is the Creater of the ends of the earth; He does not grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” We are all at unique places in life, with different struggles and things that weigh us down. But those who wait on the Lord, putting their burdens before Him, will be given strength. He gives us the grace we need, when we need it, to be strengthened and not grow weary.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their stength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
~Isaiah 40:28-31 (ESV)

God has blessed us with a beautiful beginning to spring. Last week was windy, but warm and sunny and everyone wanted to be outside a little bit more. When Micah was at school last Thursday Abigail wanted to fly her kite again, so out we went to fly the kite and blow some bubbles. I know I already posted some kite-flying pics recently but here is one of Isabel that I just could not resist sharing. She was having such fun!

The girls are doing amazingly well flying the kite on their own. They look so cute running around the yard, kite in tow! We have two rather large trees in our yard though that keep the wind from blowing too steadily so soon we will take it to the park to see what it is capable of.

Another of Isabel’s favorite activities is blowing bubbles.  While sissy was flying the kite she would blow her bubbles and then they would switch activities. Isn’t it lovely when the kids take turns without too much fuss? Here’s a few more shots of my sweet girls…

David and I love movies, and we tend to gravitate toward the independent films. You win some, you lose some, but many times we find they are the gems of the film industry and the ones that become our favorites. One such movie is Once. Many of you have probably at least heard of it and some of you may have seen it. Since it has been out for a while I didn’t think it was something I should write about, but this morning I read a review on one of my new favorite blogs, The Rabbit Room. They always have great and thoughtful reviews on music, books, movies, and art all from a Christian worldview. The “Proprietor” of the site is Andrew Peterson, a Christian singer, songwriter, and author (one of our faves…his style reminds us of Rich Mullins; he is a great storyteller). Start here to read about how this blog started and what it’s all about. There are several contributors ranging from musicians to authors to artists, although I would consider them all artists.

Back to what I intended to write about in the first place. If you enjoy thoughtful movies and great music (the music in this movie is amazing), then at the very least check out this review by Andrew Peterson (be sure to take note of his comments regarding the language in the movie). He has included a video with the song Falling Slowly which won an Academy Award. It shows clips from the movie and gives you an idea of what the music is like. It’s not for everyone, but something we thoroughly enjoyed.

Abigail has been begging me for quite some time to fly her kite. The winds were a blowin’ today, so out we went for some kite flying fun!

Soon Isabel joined in the fun!

While the girls were busy flying kites, Micah was honing his archery skills. Last week he borrowed “Robin Hood” from the library, so he has been itching to get outside and practice.

Isabel helped out by collecting the arrows and bringing them back to her big brother.

Micah has enjoyed this bow and arrow set, which is an actual set and not a toy…therefore requires close adult supervision! Today he was shooting them quite far and is becoming more accurate all the time. Sometimes I still can’t believe that it was my idea to get this for him. I am generally the more cautious parent, but this has turned out to be a great activity for Micah and I’m glad we went for it!

He is risen indeed!

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And…the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

~Luke 24:1-6a

Some thoughts for the day…

“He {Jesus} was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

~Isaiah 53:3-6 (ESV)

Peter said of Jesus:

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

~1 Peter 2:22-24

God loves us. He loves us so much He sent His precious Son, Jesus, to suffer and die for us. That is why today is “Good” Friday. The death of Christ brings us hope. A hope we can experience if we trust in what Jesus did for us some two thousand years ago. He died to set us free from the punishment of sin and death; but not only did He die, He conquered death by raising from the dead, showing us His power and victory over death. As Christians, Easter–resurrection Sunday–should be looked upon as the greatest of all days, for without it there is no hope.

Several months back I picked up a little book by John Piper called The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die. If you need some things to meditate on this Easter season, consider this. It is available to read online here at the Desiring God Ministries website.

Even better to read…God’s Word.

• Matthew 26-28
• Mark 14-16
• Luke 22-24
• John 13-21

“Now I would remind you… of the gospel {good news!}…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time…”

~1 Corinthians 15:1-6