"even 3-4!"

Annagail (age 2) was scribbling on white paper with some crayons while I was doing some admin things for AWANA a few minutes ago. She said, "Look Mama!", showing me her scribbles with that precious toddler pride.



"Oh my Annagail!" I said, as I held up her multi-colored swirls and scribbles, "That is Beeeeeautiful! Did you do that all by yourself?"



Her shoulders went up to her ears and her chest puffed out a little and she said, "uh-huh".



"Oh it is just so pretty! You are SUCH a great colorer (yes, that is what I said. Mommies get to make up words). Who made you to be such a wonderful colorer?" I asked.



"Ummmmmm. God." she answered.



Hugging her now I replied,"Yes He did baby. Do you know how MUCH God loves you?!?!?!?!"



She pulled away from me and whipped around to look me right in the eye. Her eyes got perfectly round and tipped over her nose as if she knew I would be SHOCKED at the number she was about to tell me. She held up five chubby little fingers and said, "Even 3,4 Mama!"



"3,4?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!" I said and she shook her head yes and said, "uh-huh. I know" and went about starting anew masterpiece.

Blessed.

Last week's graduation festivities were a wonderful time for our family. This was taken at the reception on Thursday night.

Friday morning was graduation. Mere words cannot express the amount of pride that I have for my husband. Some of you are probably getting sick of hearing me say it, but it is true.

Having a moment with Cooper after the ceremony.

I can't stop thinking about the many life lessons that my children have learned over the last four years about stamina, strength, priorities, and God's provision.

I did pretty well when Nathan walked across the stage to accept his diploma- until I looked over at his Mom and she was in tears. I imagine that she has an entirely different, although equally as significant, type of pride about this accomplishment. I pray that Nathan's lessons to our kids about toughing it out when the task seems daunting will help insure that

I will feel that same pride one day.

Often, the Lord sends the Holy Spirit to us to provide us with comfort and peace. Sometimes, he sends friendships with common thread and common hearts that comfort you in much the same way. I am blessed to have been given friends like that on this journey

(even with my eyes closed, LOL!)

We had a great graduation party on Saturday and a busy Sunday of service and worship. Sunday night Graycen became ill and ended up staying home Tuesday also. Tuesday also brought an unexpected invitation to Nathan to go visit a church that has been speaking with him regarding an open position on their staff. We quickly got him packed and ready to head out early this a.m. for a six hour drive. In doing so, it was hard not to think about all the unknowns and possible BIG changes in our future. I got good advice to push those thoughts aside until more concrete information was decided. This morning, we kissed Nathan goodbye and have been lifting prayers for his safety, his clear vision, and that the Lord would guide him ever since.

Imagine how my heart jumped out of my chest a little while ago when I answered the knock at the door to find these...

Isn't he dreamy? ;o)

This is it!

This is the week! Nathan graduates on Friday!!!!!(Tears welling up just thinking about it!!!)

Whew! I don't even KNOW where to begin to update on us. We have continued to be held in this state of...grace. God has blessed us with 3 months of unemployment. Yep, that is what I said. Nathan has been out of work for just a few days over three months and we have been FINE- WONDERFUL even. We have been living off of his severance pay (60% of our normal budget) and we haven't had to borrow, beg, or even pay a single bill late. We have had time to get work done that needed doing. We have had time to gut-check some practices we had gotten out of practice on regarding our kiddos. Nathan has been lunch parent once a week every week in Graycen's class since his lay off and he and I have been able to be chaperones for TWO of Graycen's class field trips.

Nathan has sent out, I don't KNOW how many, resumes and most have gotten a favorable response. As it stands right now, he has four churches that have narrowed down candidates to less than 8 and he is still being considered and he has one part-time position here locally that we should hear something about fairly soon. We couldn't be happier with the affirmation we feel from the Lord regarding our decision to step out and step into full-time ministry work now. A few of these positions are looking to have people on campus by the end of June or July, so we COULD be moving in another month. As crazy as that sounds to read out loud, we are ready to get going in this next part of our journey.

It is late and I have a full day of worship and service tomorrow, so I will write more about the week's festivites later. Now I just have to figure out what to wear?!?!?!?!?