Almost a Month?

I just realized that my last blog was on March 31. Guess I'm not very good at this!

So it's April 21 already. Braden has been 8 for a week and a half. Seems like a long time ago that we took our family & his friend Trig for a short visit to the Boehlje farm & an overnight in Owatonna. Time moves swiftly when you're crazy busy. And we're crazy busy!

I seek your prayers for us as we try to discern where margins need to be placed in my life. The more I study business and how the concepts can be applied to the administration of our church, the more I know that that's the area I'd like to work. Of course, I already do to a certain extent; I just keep getting all these great ideas & find that I don't have the time or energy to see if they could be used. I need to work on spending more time with my children, also--on more than just meeting their physical needs & keeping them occupied. Presently, I'm pretty drained & getting sick. Bright spot: School is over in a month! Just a little homework, an exam, a big paper, and a 10-minute presentation to go!

Eric had a six+ hour advisory board meeting last night, and the biggest outcome of that was an affirmation that his calling is to cast vision and preach--and that we must seek others within the body (other leadership) to do more of the personal-care aspects that absolutely drain Eric. At our leadership prayer retreat in May, we will be hearing 10-minute presentations from each advisory board member about what he believes God would have him personally commit to doing in the church over the next five years. Please pray that God will raise up lay leaders that will fill the gaps so Eric will no longer fly solo. The time for that is over.

Today he and Dave are at a conference at a church in the area. I was registered to go, but it seems that God wants me to stay home today, despite the fact that my dear friend Tara offered to keep my kids all day today so I could go.

The weather is GORGEOUS again today! Rather cool, but sunny! God has given us amazing weather lately! We are loving our big yard & the fact that we have grass this year. Eric seeded, fertilized, and sprayed the trees for bugs on Monday. He also bricked & laid cedar mulch in our front beds; covering the ugly dirty rocks with plastic first--this way, he built the beds up a bit to help drainage flow away from the house.

Church continutes to grow. People are getting to know God! This is so cool! Our small group is evidence of this. It is so exciting to hear people talk about what they are learning in personal study. These are the people who, at the beginning of our group, had various ideas of how one can get to heaven. Since then, Eric has baptized a couple of them, and a couple more are planning to be baptized this summer. 187 people came to church on Sunday.

Aidan is nowhere near potty trained. Any suggestions? Holland, our little dancer, is such a sweetie & very artistic. She loves to paint, and her emotions seem to be a little more level lately.

Braden is looking forward to third grade at Kaleidoscope Charter School next year. We were pleased to get his acceptance letter last week. We got one of the last available spots in third grade. He will be in a 3rd-4th grade combo class, so that his learning can be tailored to his ability level. I think we're going to like the charter school. I'm planning to give him the CAT test soon, to assess his learning level. We haven't done a bang-up job of homeschooling, but I suppose it's what we needed for this year.

We are looking forward to my parents coming here in May. They'll arrive in time for Holland's dance recital the weekend of the 21st, and Dad, Marc & Eric will leave for a fishing trip Sunday after church. Bruce, a semi-pro fisherman from church, is guiding their trip, and, WOW--is he thorough. He's already sending us emails about grocery lists, etc. Lucky Eric- he gets to miss the stress surrounding my final class on the 23rd. Poor Mom--she'll be here. :-)

Well my kiddies need some breakfast. Be sure to update us on what you're up to!

Love,
Kelly