God was in my Sunday School class this morning!

The girls and my Mom and I went to Woodland Heights this morning. I just love that church, and especially our Sunday School class. They're family. There were some serious prayer requests this morning. The children's minister, Stacee, has stage 4 cancer and was put on a ventilator this weekend. (They're hoping to be able to take it out the next day or so.) Her sister is in that class. Another family in town has a son who's a freshman in college. He's been deaf since he was a child, and is now losing his sight. The doctors told him he needed to go home and learn braille. Everyone was emotional talking about it, and how his parents must feel. Then Richard started the lesson, which focused on Isaiah 28-30. He said he hardly needed to ask the first question he had planned: what are some difficult situations or decisions in our lives in which we were searching for God's will. We went on to read and discuss these verses:
These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder,
the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.
Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? (made me think of evolution/creation, but that's another story)
Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?
That's where we were "supposed" to stop. But my eyes wandered down to verse 18, and my eyes got teary. I thought, 'We really need to read this verse.' A few minutes later someone brought up the young man losing his sight, and Kevin said, "Have you read verse 18?" This is what it says:
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
Wow.

Houston story

We had something funny happen at the pet store at the Woodlands Mall...I wish I had a video of it. It was very crowded--probably 30 or more people in there. We looked at the kittens, puppies, guinea pigs, and had moved on to little white mice and frogs (lovely) when all of a sudden Mikayla screamed bloody murder. Everyone froze and stared at us. She buried her head in me and said, "I thought it was real." Someone had thrown a furry ball, and it landed at her feet, scaring her to death. It was a little embarrassing, but made me laugh.

Trip to Houston

(The flu put me soooo behind on blog reading/commenting. I'll try to catch up over Spring Break!)
On our way to Houston last weekend to visit Mike's family, we detoured through Dallas and celebrated Rebecca's 5th birthday a little early...at the American Girl Store! Jessica and Mikayla, who'd been saving their birthday money for this, brought their dolls, who received "neck massages" (head tightening), skin treatments, and new hair-do's at the doll salon, along with a few new outfits. Rebecca used her birthday money to buy a Bitty Twin (yes, just one--you can do that at the store, and she couldn't afford both!) and the Bitty Twin stroller. Which is huge. She named her new doll Rosie, and has played with her almost constantly since she got her. It's been fun for all of us! After all the shopping was done, we got desserts at the Bistro, where the dolls have seats and menus just like the people, and Rebecca got a candle in her milkshake. The girls were so happy. And poor Mike, who was very patient with his women, was not the only dad there. :)
Before:
(We expected to have to send Elizabeth and Samantha to the doll hospital for an extended visit, which is why they're naked. They were both bought on ebay, and Samantha really needed this spa visit. Really. We were glad they could do it all on site.)

Meet Rebecca's new baby, Rosie!
Here we are at the Bistro.


After:





It rained all the way to Houston. We were surprised to see bluebonnets already blooming, and hoped to be able to get pictures eventually, but it never stopped raining. It was good to see Mike's mom and sister and her family. Mike's mom keeps declining, mentally, but she LOVED seeing the girls, and actually moved to the couch from her recliner to try to talk to them, and whispered, "Your dad's silly" to Jessica when Mike was teasing. He is silly. She just eats Rebecca up. It's easy to do--she's chapped under her lip (don't you hate when kids do that??) and made us all laugh when she asked for gasoline to put on it. We went shopping at the Woodlands Mall and got Easter dresses on Saturday, but mostly we just hung out. And ate a lot.


(Jessica took the above picture and I told her it would make the blog.)

Influenza A

That's what they told me after the nurse stuck a giant q-tip (not toothpick, as Mikayla thought) up my nose last Tuesday. I don't usually go to the doctor until I've been sick for 2 weeks, because I hate being told it's a virus. But since I felt like I'd been hit by a bus, and that's what everybody with the flu says, I tried to catch it in the first 48 hours so I could get the good medicine. And I got it! By Thursday I felt almost alive again, and was able to go on our trip to Houston the next day! I can't seem to stop coughing, though...

Hamentashen

Did you know that a week ago today was the Jewish holiday called Purim? It celebrates the delivery of the Jews from the wicked Haman (boo, hiss). My brother Mark has a friend who used to send him a package of "Haman's Hats" (some people call them "Haman's Ears") each year. This year, since the Beth Moore Esther Bible study included a recipe, we made some of our own! And they were delicious. We also read the whole book of Esther for our Bible time that morning, stomping and booing whenever we said "Haman" and cheering for Esther and Mordecai. It would have been a lot of fun if I hadn't been coming down with the flu...

Jailhouse Rock

We just got home from our church children's choir program, "Jailhouse Rock." I dont know what it is about watching kids sing about the Lord, but it always makes me cry! I was teary-eyed the whole time. And it was a comedy! Jessica played the part of Sara, a wise-cracking camper. Here's my favorite line:

Mikayla had her first solo in "Let Us Pray," right after her friend Alyssa.

(Side note: Last night Mike called Mikayla over to him and said, "Hey, remember all those favors I did for you today?" To which she quickly replied, "No!" And when he started to talk again: "Can't Jessica just get you some water?" She's a smart one!)

And Rebecca looked cute. :)

(Side note #2: she's been trying to catch a cold lately, and had fallen asleep on the couch before bedtime twice last week...tonight when we got home we were watching "Amazing Race" and she said, "If I fall asleep on the couch, just don't tell me in the morning." Next thing you know, she was snoozing!)

Aren't they sweet?
My memory card filled up right before this turned into a conga line! But it's still pretty fun. :)

Did anyone else get to go to "Focus on Marriage" yesterday?

Thanks to the generosity of our church, Mike and I were able to attend the "Focus on Marriage" simulcast at our church yesterday. It was even worth getting up early! We got to visit with people we knew and people we met, had time away from the girls, and sub sandwiches for lunch. Here are the main thoughts I got out of it:
Gary Thomas: Marriage was designed by God to make us holy, not happy. Happy is a bonus.
Beth Moore: (She was so funny.) Don't worry about "great"--good is good. She also used my favorite Tony Evans quote, "Submission is learning to duck so God can hit your husband."
Del Tackett: What God has made, including marriage, reveals His character, who He is, His divine attributes, His nature. (He teaches the Truth Project Mike and I are going through with some students right now, and I'm loving it.)
Gary Smalley: If I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, I will see myself as helpless, and then the kingdom of God will come to me and God's love will flow in me. My heart needs to be about God, God, God, not me, me, me. Stop trying to fix Mike and get my own heart right.
John Trent: "2 degree difference"--Make small, 2 degree changes to apply these things to my life.
Did any of you get to see it? What stood out to you?