All that, and a bag of chips!

It is really hard not to say the word, "awesome"...I have had to begin some behavior modification on myself in order to change this habit.  ZAP...(just kidding) So, now whenever I start to say it...I finish the "awe"...with "that and a bag of chips"...how's that for a blast from the past?...haha!  The girls, especially Savannah, love it! (I am being sarcastic about that). We are in this totally new territory with a "teenager" and suddenly we are "so embarrassing!"  Brad took the younger 4 to a Daddy/Daughter dance, so I took Savannah to see the LEGO movie on Thursday night and when we left, I was trying to walk like a LEGO person....she wouldn't even look at me and ran to the car.  I told her since I have never had a teenager before I have to experiment with a lot of different things so I will know which ones are embarrassing to her and which are not :)...she said, "Sometimes I will not talk to you or act like I know you in a public place if I see anyone I know." HA!  She's all that and a bag of chips...ahoy!

Me, as a LEGO :)

We had a terrific weekend with all the girls.  We traveled to Traverse City on Friday and spent the night at The Great Wolf Lodge and hung out at the water park Friday night and Saturday then headed back home late Saturday afternoon.  Thank you to those of you that went together to purchase this gift for us for our adoption celebration last year.  It was such a great gift and we are spoiled (in the best way) to have such wonderful family and friends who have been and continue to be so supportive and generous in their love toward us.

1,000 gallons of water every 5 minutes...crazy!

On our way up there, around Clare, MI, I saw two eagles in flight.  Now, every time I see an eagle, I am going to think of Pastor Scott and our church family....weird how things happen like that and then something becomes like a symbol to you.  But, as I watched them fly, I was reminded of God's faithfulness to our church.  We have been in a time of transition, praying and searching for a lead pastor since August.  Our search committee finally (and unanimously) presented a candidate, Jeremy Toyer, to our church for a vote on February 2nd and our church voted (very strongly) in favor of calling him...and he and his family--wife and 6 kids...5 sons and a daughter...ha! (very strongly) accepted the position.  I am so thankful for God's leading in this very important decision for our church.  We have also been blessed, in the last couple weeks, to be offered another church building (free of charge) in Parma, MI. We have a lot of thoughts about what we could do with it as a community center, so we are just praying that God will give us clarity for the purpose of His gift to us.  It is so exciting for me to know I am a part of a church where God is working!

You would also like this one....I was at Meijer on Saturday night to pick up a few items and I was ready to leave and had just started my van when I saw a young lady (with red hair) struggling to push her cart through the snow and ice.  She was giving it her all, but it wouldn't budge through the messy parking lot with her load of groceries.  So, I got out and asked her if I could help her push it.  She said, "I don't know why I can never find my car...I came out this way, but my car is two aisles over there!"  I told her I used to do that too until...and then my story about the grocery store parking lot and my wisdom in always parking in D from one of my previous blogs.  I laughed and thought, "it happens to us all...not just blondes or brunettes, but even red heads too."  We finally got it pushed over the ice and she was able to get to her car...that was a fun adventure!  Don't you think sometimes God puts little coincidences in our lives just to make things interesting...I love that about Him!  If you were God, wouldn't you have some fun with that too?  He's all that...and AWESOME too!