Field Trip

One of the many fun things about homeschooling is the field trips.  Anna is studying Cows and the letter 'c' this week so we took a field trip to the Apple Valley Creamery.  The Stoners, one of the sweetest families ever, gave us a little tour of their dairy farm.

We learned about their cows, saw calves that were born the night before, felt the rough wool of a baby lamb, learned about what the cows ate, saw the cow that produces the most milk, fed the sheep some rolls, learned that about 80% of their cows were pregnant, saw the 'maternity pen', and I got my jeans bit by a calf.  It was pretty cute.

Anna named most of the cows and the baby lamb.  She called him Curly. :)

Then we went to their farm house and Oliver played with toy tractors, Anna did a puzzle with Miss Sharon, we listened to Philip and Rachel play worship songs, drank milk from their creamery and ate homemade waffles for lunch.  

A field trip that ends with homemade waffles is my kind of field trip. :)

A Drink

We went to the youth retreat this weekend that Philip was leading.  Me and the kids.  
I knew that Philip was going to be busy but we wanted to be with him and the teens.
Philip and I used to go to this retreat center when we were teens, before we started dating.
We were in the same youth group. :)
I have so many fun memories there with my friends and life changing, tear-filled weekends.


I went as a youth and then as a youth leader and now as the youth pastor's wife.
And my first retreat with my kids.
I stayed in the director's cabin instead of with the youth.  
We had our own room and our own bathroom. :)


We went to the evening session.  Both the kids were exhausted but were troopers.
We watched the cabin skits and laughed hard.
Anna thought Daddy was so funny acting up there with the guys.  He was.


Worship time started.  Anna stood beside teenage girls and was singing her heart out.  
I held Oliver and was worshiping, too.
Philip started leading one of my favorite songs.  
There is something about singing love songs to my God.  It's one of my favorite things.
The song had barely started and Anna turned and told me she needed a drink.  Now.  She was dying of thirst.  
My attempts to have her wait made her eyes well up with quiet tears.  


Couldn't she see I was singing to the Lord?
Should I demand patience of her? To wait until my favorite song is at least over?
Isn't this what the Lord wants me to be doing? Singing to Him?


And then I looked down at her again.  Her eyes were full of tears.  She was thirsty.
And I heard Him whispering to my heart.


Give her a drink.
Tell her you love her.
Teach them about Me.
You are serving Me when you serve your kids.

We walked out of the room and they drank their hearts out. 
And it hit me.  Again.  I am where He wants me to be.  I am worshiping Him in the small moments of being a mommy to my kids.  


We went back into the session until the message.  It was time for bed.
The three of us left all of the youth, said goodnight to Daddy and walked back to our cabin in the dark, in the snow.
We talked about how funny Daddy was.
We got pajamas on, prayed together and, exhausted, they were asleep within minutes.

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'   

Matthew 25: 35-40

Time

How do you go from this

and this

to this

and this

in two short years?

And how do I make it stop? :)

Our Week

Stayed home New Year's and watched the Coldplay concert on PBS.  Amazing.

We celebrated a little boy turning 2!  

 Birthday lunch...chosen by the birthday boy.

The last picture of our very dead tree.  Taken by Anna.

A trip to the park on a warmer day

Smiles from our sweet girl