Nursing Program for Kristen!

Well, this is a big deal! Kristen got her notification that she is into the nursing program for the next two years at Mass Bay today! This is definitely a significant moment in our lives due to the work that has gone into things up to now and what we are signing up to for the next two years. I will share more in future posts to remember how we truly feel like God worked in this situation...and I am putting together a video of Kristen's response to finding out about school :) (it was awesome!). Just couldn't wait to put at least this note out and share the exciting news. We did celebrate partially by going out for ice cream this evening...but I know there will be more celebrating to come.

Men's Pizza Night

About two weeks ago, we had a Men's Pizza Night at the church. It was an opportunity to get the guys together and to listen to a speaker. Pastor Dick Germaine, who was the former lead pastor of our church (he was gone before we joined) was the speaker and he talked about prayer. It was a great talk and he had a few great points, which I thought I would share.

Based on Luke 11:1-13, he said the following:

1. He is our Father and we need to keep that at the forefront as we bring things to Him.

2. We should be bold with our requests

3. We should be persistent in our prayers, petitions and praises

4. We should pray in the spirit

If God is who we say He is and He is all-powerful, as we say He is, then do we ACT like we really BELIEVE that He can do ANYTHING/EVERYTHING?

Easter Sunday with family

We had a great Easter Sunday and I thought I should write a note and post a few pictures! We went to church again and this time Kristen got to be in service. While I had offered my services for daycare, they had enough helpers and I sat in with Kristen and caught the service again. After that, we headed home, got a bite and the boys played while Kristen and Jude rested for a short bit....then we had Aunt Annette, Uncle Todd, Cordell, Sydney and Piper over...they even brought Abby who is Sydney's friend as a bonus :) We had a great time in the sun for a couple hours, ate some food and went for a walk. They hung out until around 8:15 before heading home. It was a great day of relaxation and fun and we even still got to catch up with several people before it got too late.

Jaden and Easter Service

Capturing this for my memory sake...especially since I have relayed this to many already.

We went to Easter service on Saturday night this year due to a church request to make seats available Sunday morning. The difference was that they would only have toddler and infant care...so classes for kids over 4. Kristen volunteered for the nursery and took Jude, so I had Jaden and Jacob with me for service. When we arrived, I asked them where they wanted to sit, and they took me up to the very front row...right in front of the stage. We sat and both did very well as we got into the service. About half way through, Jacob had to go to the bathroom...so, I took Jacob out the side door, trying to mitigate the disruption as much as possible, and then came back maybe 5 minutes later the same route with Jacob feeling much better.

Well, during that time Jaden stayed in service and did a GREAT job. Not only did he handle himself very well, but he grabbed my notebook, looked at what I was writing down during the service and started doing that for himself with my pen. He had a full page of notes by the end of service! :) I was certainly proud of him, I think he was proud of himself and he got kudos from several people at church for his behavior and note taking after the service. In fact, even the pastor's wife, Sheila, pulled me aside to relay Jaden's actions when I left and how neat it was to see him emulating me.

It is both neat and slightly daunting from my perspective. God was working on me through this and through a passage that I had just gone through with my men's bible study the week before...in John 5:19 I read:

"¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.""

As I read this, I wrote down in my Bible...what is it that my boys see me doing?! I am a powerful influence on them and while I know that...I stumble badly in setting the example I would like to with them each day. So, it was nice to see this be a good thing that I can hold onto that I am passing along to my boys, and hopefully it is a catalyst for that many more good things that I can pass along as well.

Boys new clubhouse

I started work on a clubhouse for Jaden and Jacob on Sunday...two weeks ago. I started this post, but didn't want to actually put it up without pictures...so, here we are....still not finished though with all the rain and everything :) Enough snickering from some of you...I can hear it from here!

It is a 4ft x 4ft structure that will have windows and a door. It will not be the best looking thing (and not just cause I am the one building it!) as I am doing it with scrap wood that was left over from the construction, but...the boys are still pretty excited.

So, I have framed the 4 walls and put up some pieces of wood as siding / walls. Hopefully, this weekend I can figure out a roof and have a buddy come over and help me move it out of the garage to a place the boys can play :)

Amazing week of rains and flooding

So many people that we know had inches and even multiple feet of water in their basements! We were so lucky not to have that issue. Kristen took a couple of pictures of some water on our property that are below. This was way after the worst of it...but I am glad she got a few shots.

We had more of a moat situation. It didn't come in the house...but you also couldn't get into our house without waders on. It is making me dig some new drainage ditches and I will have to spend some time fortifying some areas where the water does run so that it will be directed properly. All in all, not bad considering we were a disaster area :)

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is enjoying the day and celebrating the fact that Chris is risen! I figured I would share what we did a week ago in pre-celebration of Easter with the kids for this post. After all, it includes a parent doing something painful for their child to give them a chance for joy too...

After church last week, Kristen, the boys and I went to town center to participate in the festivities even though it was a little chilly out. We were meeting a friend and his kids and it was better than sitting at home :)

Anyway, after standing in line to get a picture with the Easter Bunny, we realized as we left the lodge area that he was in, everyone else was lined up for the egg hunt and they were starting to go! We told the kids, "GO!" and away they raced so that they could try to get a few eggs before they were all gone.

Now, most everyone knows that Kristen had hurt her sciatic nerve a few weeks ago and she has had good days and bad since then....some days she hobbles and others she doesn't want to move at all...well, despite this, she was determined to get Jude down there and let him get to an egg or two. So, she picked him up like a football and started running down to the field!

I am happy to report that each of the boys got at least something...though most the eggs did get cleaned out before they got even got down there. As for Kristen, she was hurting a bit from her stunt, but I think she was happy that Jude got to get an egg too...so way to go Mom!

HAILEY GRACE ARRIVED

I haven't been posting much...which is why I didn't do this earlier...so shame on me! I am a week late on this post.

A sweet baby girl, born at 3:18 am on 3/27...her name is Hailey Grace Wallace and she was 7lbs 2oz, 19 in. long, healthy and beautiful!

She already has tons of pictures up on Facebook, but I have to share some myself on this site.

We are all so excited and Kristen is itching to get out there in just a couple of weeks to spend time with them. It will be hard for us boys to have her gone (especially Jude), but we are excited for her to have some Auntie time that will be special for her, Joy, Hailey and everyone else she can see while in Colorado.

Hey...look at me! DOH!

Boys will be boys...first nice day around here and the boys were excited to be outside.

which, of course, led to this....

Don't you just love the "Dad" fix on this? Used up some heavy duty paper clips and away he went :)

WorldVision - Step into Africa

http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/minisite/minisite.aspx?id=209

Excited about this exhibit that is coming to our church. Both Kristen and I are going to be volunteers and we are trying to help drive traffic through there as well so that people will see the impact that AIDS is having on the country and especially on the children. The kids are getting to be involved too as they get to go through a "day in the life of an African child". Hopefully, it will be a good experience for them as well.