Orange You Glad?

Okay, this is a little random, but my parents recently introduced me to Cara Cara Oranges and I just bought some yesterday.  I ate one while writing my blog last night and they are SOOOOOO delicious!  I like Clementines too, but Cara Cara's are amazing....here's the deal, I am often disappointed in oranges because of their lack of flavor or too much stringy fibrous texture, but you have to try Cara Caras...they are the perfect blend of sweet, tang, and just a hint of sour!  I wonder if I could grow these in my house?...I need to research that!

Great Expectations

We had a great time of prayer tonight with some of our church family.  There were a few testimonies of how God has answered prayer that were incredible and our pastor gave a short devotional message on the passage where Peter shows up at the home where people are praying for his release from jail and no one believes the servant girl when she says he is at the door.

I was thinking about that account as well as the passage about the travelers on the road to Emmaus and my mind connected the two...we hope and even pray for things often, but how often do we pray expecting the answer?  Do we miss the miracles because they don't happen?  Do they not happen because we are not praying for them?  Or, do we miss miracles that are actually happening right in front of us and we do not see them because we really aren't believing God will answer us?  I mean why wouldn't Jesus be alive?....He said He would be.....and why wouldn't Peter be at the front door?....God answers prayer, right?  It just makes me wonder how many times I have been THIS CLOSE to a real miracle and not seen it because of my doubt.

That brought back to my mind a part of the movie Facing The Giants that has stuck with me ever since the first time I saw it....the quote is:

"Grant, I heard a story about two farmers who desperately needed rain.  And both of them prayed for rain, but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it.  Which one do you think trusted  God to send the rain?"

It Reaches

Head Over Heels For Gymnastics

We had so much fun attending one of the University of Michigan's gymnastics meets in January...and realized the tickets were so reasonable for our large family that we decided to get tickets for their regional finals....today we got to watch six teams battle for a place at nationals.  Those girls are amazing athletes!

BUT, FIRST....I must interrupt this update for some breaking news....since Karly is finished with gymnastic competitions for this year...(no more strict rules about earrings).....so we visited Claire Bear today and she got her ears pierced!  It's just something eight-year olds in our family get to do and Karly had to wait a little while :P

Can you see her earring?  When we got to U of M....we saw our friend the Storm Trooper so Kassi and Karly chased him down this hallway and were surprised when he removed his helmet to take a drink at a drinking fountain...haha....kind-of like seeing your teacher or doctor in public..... what?...you exist outside of that realm of my life?  He gave them his baseball card....okay, what is it if it is a storm trooper card?  not sure what to call it....then, later he photo bombed a family selfie Brad was trying to get on his phone....we didn't even know he snuck up behind us....haha!

My superhero....he has the glasses now because every superhero has to have them for their alter ego....I should get my "reading glasses" this week :P

All the girls in a row....we were waiting for Karly's friend, Grace, and her mom to join us

We found Grace....and our newest BFF.  His name is Blasty, but Karly is calling him Bestie.

This is such an awesome sport to watch...

Even with all the excitement all around us, sometimes braiding your friend's hair is the BEST!

Gotta love that!

The Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength

Happy Saturday!

Someone posted this on Facebook....hope your joy in the Lord can bubble over like this...nothing in this world should stand in the way of that happening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfezfZPw-qk

We enjoyed Karly's last gymnastics meet of this year tonight in Kalamazoo....Vannah took her camera and captured some great moments :)

Warming up for the vault...somehow this is one of Karly's best events....she gets good height when she jumps off the springboard and that seems to make judges happy....even though it makes mommy clinch her teeth a little bit and say a quick prayer :)

Practicing a little of the beam routine in warm-ups

Maximum Gymnastics being introduced

Probably my favorite shot that Savannah captured of Karly's form on the beam

During her dismount...legs together and toes (at least slightly) pointed....atta girl!  She gets sick of me reminding her about her toes.

Getting ready to practice a tumbling run....so serious

She did her best leap tonight in her floor routine....great height!

This was actually during her floor routine....we have been having her practice "pausing for a picture" because she tends to rush through her routines and slight pauses when she is landing a skill can help her get more points because she can show she is in control of each movement.  Anyway, we haven't really meant for her to look at a camera....just to pretend she is pausing slightly for someone to take her picture, but she actually looked right at Vannah when she landed her splits like, "okay take my picture now!" haha!  GOOF!  Her coach doesn't look thrilled with that :P

So many faces to try out :)

I am so proud of her for how hard she has worked on the bars....this is soooo much harder than it looks when Olympians compete....they need so much arm strength and core strength to do what they do.  The last time Karly competed she needed her coach to spot her three times in the bar routine to help her pull herself up, but today she got through her bar routine with NO assistance.  It was still a struggle, but that is definitely improvement!

Vannah likes to take weird pictures of me....I guess we are kissing another day goodbye....it was a good one.

Happy April Fools' Day!

Jokes and pranks....they're just cymbals of affection, right?! :P

Hope your efforts are smashingly successful!