Works of grace

Dave has been gone all week. I am all the more aware of my need for grace when he is gone. During the past few days I have been freshly aware of how grateful I am for prayer and grace. I have had a number of friends (as well as my hubby ;o) tell me they are praying for me. My response is gratefulness, but also amazement with the friends the Lord has blessed me with....that they would think of us, amidst their busy lives and pray. And I have so felt their prayers. This week really has been so full of grace. Yes, Selah has been unusually fussy and I have had to give Mckenna more corrections than usual, but there has been an increased amount of joy and patience in my heart that I know is nothing short of pure grace. For the past number of days, I have not had very good devotions as the girls have been waking up very early. Nevertheless, the Lord has been meeting me in different ways throughout the day. I read a post on a friend's blog yesterday that was a nugget of truth for me to meditate on and fed my soul (thanks, Helen!). After breakfast yesterday I put on the Sovereign Grace Christmas album. I know I'm out of season, but I just love the rich songs it contains. Track 6 I played over and over and was so encouraged by some of the words as it helped me to meditate on my Savior and what He accomplished for me....

All our griefs He'll gladly share
All our sins He'll fully bear
He will cover our disgrace
And suffer in our place....

God has kept his promises
What a work of grace this is...

Thanks to all of you who have offered to have us for dinner, who have prayed and carried us on your hearts this week. I am aware that any of the little challenges I might face pale in comparison to what some of you daily experience. So, thanks for caring and for your example of living an other's focused life. I'm grateful...

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Little giggles

Here's another video clip that I took. It doesn't get too good until the end...of course I pulled out the camera too late. But there is one good belly laugh from Selah in there....and a great big hug!

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FLOWERS!

I love spring and summer and I love the flowers that it brings! I have been slowly learning more and more about gardening over the past few years and it's now probably become one of my favorite things to do in the warmer months. Dave graciously puts up with all my crazy ideas of what I want to plant next or dig up or replant!

Anyway, today I took both girls out to go pick out some annuals for containers around the house. It's probably the last time I will take both girls to do this. It was a little difficult to think straight about what I was picking out. Mckenna was fussy, Selah was screaming and leaving a huge trail of prezels that she was dropping from the cart as we walked along....which made Mckenna whine even more because the snack bag was quickly getting depleted! It probably was quite the scene for anyone looking on. At one point I was trying to look at my list and read a plant tag, without realizing that my cart (with little Selah in it) was picking up speed and moving toward the road. Some guy, turned to me and said, "umm...ma'am." At that point I realized that I just needed to grab anything I could find and wrap up my trip ;o). After planting what I purchased, I realized that some of the flowers were probably not the best choice, but they'll do for this year! And next year....well, maybe the girls will stay home with papa!

All that to say that I really did enjoy the fact that Mckenna is loving flowers too! And wanted to help in anyway she could to pick them out and help me plant. She's definitely my little helper. After we got home, I put Selah down for a nap, and she helped me unload the flowers and plant them. That was fun!

The end of our adventure!

My little helper

After we were done, Mckenna had little speckels of dirt stuck to her sweaty face. Too cute!

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Selah's walking.....kinda!

Selah took her first steps, holding on! I know, it's not really walking, but it's her first time moving this fast. My dad and Patti gave Mckenna this little cart before she started walking and it was great. Ty used it next and now it's back with us for little Gracie! She could not have been more tickled with herself. Here's a little video of the moment. It's a little choppy, but hope you can enjoy it!

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Saying good-bye to Grandpa Castro

This past Saturday we had a going away party for Dave's grandfather, Luis Castro and his wife, Elsy. They left on Thursday to relocate to Ecuador. They will be thoroughly missed. Dave's grandfather is a man who both loves the Savior and loves his family. He has provoked and spurred us on in many ways. Although it was sad saying good-bye, it was at the same time wonderful to see all of Dave's dads side of the family. We love them!

This is Selah Grace and her second cousin, Gracie. They are 2 days apart!

Group shot of everyone, minus Aunt Sherry and Aunt Cookie

Grandpa and Elsy

All the grandkids, great-grandkids and spouses!

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Daniel Astrom

What a wonderful time we had with Daniel!! He stayed with us for 7 days over a 12 day period. Dave and Daniel originally met around 13 years ago. Daniel had come to the States as an Au Pair. Someone invited him to our church and he quickly got knit in with a number of friends, Dave being one of them. They became VERY close friends over the year he was here. In 1995, after being here for a year, he went back home to Sweden. He and Dave lost touch (you know how guys are ;o). They only spoke once during the 12 years. I think they tried emailing, but had wrong addresses and they simply were never able to connect. About a month ago, a friend sent Dave his email address. They quickly picked up coorespondance. About a week or two after that, one of Daniel's co-workers informed him that he had signed Daniel up for a conference in Florida. Talk about perfect timing! God was very kind in allowing Daniel to stay with us both a few days prior and after his conference in Florida. While we would have wished to have had his wife and little girl (2 year old, Emmy) stay with us too, it was wonderful to have Daniel here. He and Dave had such a wonderful time together. It was fun for me to watch them catch up and reminisce together. We had some great laughs together!

On one weekend that he was here, we had a bunch of his old friends and their families come over for a cook-out. What a great time of catching up, not just for Daniel, but for us as well. All our old friends that we really never see much. The rest of the time, we hung out at the house, shopped a bit and got to know Daniel more.

Yesterday we took him back to the airport to journey home. We will miss him so! We talked numerous times of him coming back with his family soon. How wonderful that would be! Life in Sweden seems pretty expensive, so we will be praying for the finances for them to come in the future.

Here are some pictures from our time together

We all took a trip to the mall on Daniels first full day here. We all got bubble tea!

I took a number of pictures at the cook-out we hosted. Here are some of my favorites. This is Dave, Daniel and Travis.

Sisters! Amy and Jonalee.

Collin Grange (Steve and Janie's little guy)

Group shot!

Amy and her son, Zan.

My girlies

Saying good-bye at the airport...

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A few pictures

I finallly just tonight had a spare moment to upload our pictures from our trip. Life has been so full these past weeks. I can't believe April has come and gone already. We went on our trip, my sister moved and Daniel Astrom (Dave's friend from Sweden) came for a visit and went...and is coming again. Actually, I didn't realize that he was coming back...he came to the US because his company was sending him for a convention in Florida. He left for that this past Monday and is coming tomorrow and staying again until this coming Monday. It has been such a blessing having him and we'll definitely miss him when he goes. I'll tell more about that later, but before I hit the sack for the night, I wanted to post a few pics.

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