More Tidbits

We had some beautiful weather a couple of weeks ago, and since Kenna was driving me crazy with her wanderings around the house, I finally took her out back and put her on the trampoline. She LOVED crawling around on it, and I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the little hair she has sticking up from all the static! (You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to see her static head.) I did let the kids on, but the boys had to come off pretty quickly because they couldn't refrain from jumping. Charis crawled around with Kenna for awhile, and then I took the baby inside because I needed to do some other things. It was a fun change of pace for her, I think.


February 9 was the AWANA Sparks-a-Rama. Charis and Tobin had been practicing with their team for a month of Saturdays, and they were eager to go compete. Our church had enough kids to form 2 teams, and of course our kids were on separate teams, which meant we had to watch both sides of the gym! Arden and Kenna were in the stands with us, which was interesting...Kenna wanted to crawl all over the gym! She had awakened at 6 a.m. that morning and hadn't taken even a little cat nap before we had to leave--the kids had to be there by 8:45 a.m., and it was nearly a half-hour drive to get to the school. By the time we got home it was nearly 1:00, so down Kenna went for a much-needed nap. Both of our teams placed 2nd, and the kids seemed to have a great time.


One of the couples with whom Ted and I have enjoyed playing Settlers of Catan (our new favorite game) ended up suddenly having to move to California. We got together for one last game night the Saturday before their move day. I had offered to keep the girls for Laurie since she would be alone with the packers and movers and had to clean, etc., so Alyssa and Katie came to our house last Monday. Laurie was one of the very first people I met after moving to Las Vegas. She was part of a play group that I attended for a little while, and she also became a member of my first stamp club here. When Ted and I learned how to play Catan, I told Laurie, since she had told me about the game while Ted was deployed and I thought it sounded like something we'd like. Though we hadn't seen each other for awhile, we all got together and enjoyed game nights on occasion through the fall and winter. Ted and I prayed that we would be able to show God's love to the M family, as they had told us they weren't very religious and didn't know yet what they planned to tell their girls about God. We were sad when we learned they would be moving, as we felt like we were just starting to get to know them better.

Charis, my tender-hearted daughter, had prayed for their family the night before we were to watch the girls. She told me that night that she wanted to tell Alyssa (the 5-year-old) the Christmas story, the Easter story, and about heaven. I told her that was a wonderful thing to tell her friend, because she might not know those stories like Charis did. Well, the next evening at dinner, after Laurie had picked up her girls and we had said our goodbyes, Charis informed us that she had told Alyssa about heaven, and Alyssa had said she wanted to go, too! Charis told her that she needed to have Jesus in her heart to forgive her sins, and then she even modeled a prayer that Alyssa could pray. Alyssa's response was, "I can't remember all that! Can you just pray that Jesus will come into my heart for me?" And Charis did!

Now, I make no judgments as to the condition of Alyssa's heart before the Lord, but I am so thrilled that Charis loved her friend enough to be sure to tell her the gospel before having to say goodbye. Lord willing, Alyssa will remember that conversation and begin asking questions of her parents. We're praying that they will find good Christian friends who will show them God's love and water the seeds that have been planted. What a challenge my daughter is to me, to be bold in proclaiming the salvation our Lord wants to give everyone!