Double digits

Well, I now have two daughters in double digits.  Yep, Elissa turned ten!  She is growing into such an amazing young lady, and it's truly a pleasure to be her mom.  In honor of this momentous birthday, I've created the Top 10 Reasons I Love To Be Elissa's Mom:

10.  She's a cuddler.  Whenever I need a cuddle, she's conent to sit and cuddle, but not climb all over me.
 9.  She's a listener.  Elissa listens to what people have to say, and always respects their opinion, even if she doesn't agree.
 8.  She's a comedian.  Yesterday she ran around the back yard like a rooster.  Need I say more?
 7.  She's clever.  Elissa plays with words and ideas and puts them together in new ways.
 6.  She's intelligent.  Wow, this kid is smart!  I love to watch her solve problems and come up with unique solutions to different situations.
 5.  Elissa is patient.  She will work for hours on Legos, sewing, and crafts to get them just right.
 4.  Elissa is artistic.  The things she can draw make my drawings look very childish.  She has an eye for things that I just don't see.
 3.  She's a peacemaker.  Elissa is the perfect middle child, always helping her sisters make up, or smoothing over situations between sisters and friends.
 2.  She's a lover.  Elissa loves people, animals, the Earth with passion and sincerity.
 1.  She's devoted.  Elissa is devoted to God, her family, and her friends.  You can always count on Elissa to stand by you, no matter what!

Waiting in line for the pinata.  Yes, that is my daughter wearing a sombrero!

My beautiful daughter



World cake - her birthday theme was "Around the World"



Chopstick challenge



Pattern landscape



What kind of soil are you?

I love to garden, but it sure is hard work!  When I trimmed back my rosebushes this fall, I ended up with scratches from thorns all over my body - even through my jeans and gloves that I wore while working.  It took me days to cut back everything I wanted to cut back, and I think I bagged about 30 trash bags (the big yard waste ones) in the process.  I really appreciate my garbage men for picking all that up!  Even with the trimming I did, I look at my garden now and know that I have my work cut out for me this spring.  After all, I only cleaned up the beds.  I still have to turn the soil, remulch, and plant new plants.  Only when I prepare the beds correctly, will they then be ready to receive the new, fragile plants.  After I plant the plants, I'll have to feed them, watch them, and maybe even protect them from unexpected weather - drought, cold temperatures, etc.  And, that's only the front flower beds!  I still have a very large garden in the back that needs to be tilled, mulched, and seeded!  It sure is a lot of work, and not just for one season, but all the time!  Yet I will continue to work on it, because I love looking at all the blooms in the spring and eating the homegrown produce from the vegetable garden in back.

The Parable of the Sower


4:1-12pp -- Mt 13:1-15; Lk 8:4-10 4:13-20pp -- Mt 13:18-23; Lk 8:11-15

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." 9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, " 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' " 13 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
 
 
The Parable of the Sower has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks.  I want to be good soil - the kind that hears God's word, accepts, it, and produces a crop. But I know that tending to soil is a lot of hard work.  It's very easy to turn our backs to the garden and let it get overgrown with weeds, or dried out from lack of water.  The best news is, I have all the tools I need to keep my soil healthy.  God's Word is my nourishment - it waters my soil and keeps it fed.  To turn my soil, I have my fellow believers - friends who will pray with me when the work seems too hard, and friends who will stand by me when there is a particularly daunting task ahead and keep me encouraged to go forward.  Thanks friends!  I hope you know that I will bring my trowel to your garden and lend a hand when you need it!

When did my childhood become a decade worth researching?

Grace has been working on a decade project at school for the last couple of weeks, and she chose the 80s because she figured Aaron and I would be able to help.  It's been fun sharing my yearbooks and memorabilia with her.  But, I have to wonder, when exactly did my childhood, which seems so recent, become history?  Her comments about my yearbook were priceless!  She said we all looked so funny with our big glasses and bangs.  "Mom!  Everyone had bangs!"  She found one girl she thought looked pretty normal and figured we all thought she looked strange at the time.  Funny! 

Her area of research has been 1980s television.  So, we've watched a lot of the Cosby Show.  I'd forgotten how funny it was.  Her observations are memorable, to say the least.

She has to dress up for this presentation, too!  It was really funny when I was taking her picture - she bobbed her head and moved her shoulders just like I did when I was her age.  I guess she's her mother's daughter after all!

Resolutions

I admit, I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions.  I've tried them in the past and can never seem to stick with them.  Always say nice things, fix sack lunches at night instead of the morning, give up caffiene, etc.  I've lasted a few days, or maybe a week at best.  So, a few years ago I resolved to have no resolutions.  I think many times we give up on our resolutions because we don't feel an immediate impact.  Without an immediate impact, we tend to fall back on our regular routine, good or bad.  Or, we feel like our resolution is just too hard.  Well, this year I prayed about my New Year's resolution, and I came up with a great one!  It's simple, and easy to implement.  It doesn't cost a penny, just my time.  And this time, I am confident I can stick with it.  This time, my resolution is to pray more.  I've moved my quiet time to the morning, when I'm fresh.  The girls aren't awake yet, so there are no interruptions.  It's been great!  I feel so refreshed when I get the girls up for school, and when I get to work every day I remember my purpose to reach others for Christ.  I feel God moving in me and working through me, and I see Him working through my family as well.  It's simply wonderful.  This is definitely my kind of resolution!

Teenage years, here we come!

Just hangin' around

My beautiful family

Christmas, just before turning five

Yesterday I became the mom of a teenager.  More importantly, Grace turned thirteen.  13.  Wow!  That's kind of amazing to me.  When she was a baby, I couldn't imagine her being five, let alone thirteen!  But, time passes and eventually it sneaks up on us.  What's really neat, is that she has turned into a remarkale young lady.  First of all, she is passionate about God, and knows Jesus is her Savior.  She loves to learn about Him and I can see her growing in her faith every day.  I remember middle school as being a really hard time.  Let's face it, girls are mean, some boys are too.  But, Grace is secure in her identity as a child of God and she doesn't let many things sway her.  I really admire that.  She stands up for herself, works really hard, and takes pride in everything she does.  Secondly, she's so funny!  She's got this amazing sense of humor.  I enjoy listening her joke around with her dad.  They can really come up with some funny stuff that just makes me happy.  And, of course, she's super smart.  Currently she thinks she'd like to be an engineer when she grows up.  I think that's pretty neat.  I could go on and on and on, but I think most of you know how cool she already is!

First dance recital at 3!

Winter party, just before turning three.

Beautiful at thirteen!