Friends and Family

So I thought I would let you take a look at our refrigerator to let you know how much we love our friends and family. We often times will get pictures in the mail, and they go right on the refrigerator. I have run out of magnets so I will be purchasing some before next Christmas (when most of the pics come). But if you would like to be featured on our refrigerator, please send us a picture. Cade knows almost everyone on the frig! So take a look!

Also, I thought that I would update everyone with pictures of our family.

My brother and his family are currently on a trip to southwest and west in their RV (which they just bought on ebay). They road a Greyhound Bus to Phoenix, AZ (yes with all 4 kids) and picked up their RV and were off on their 2 week vacation.

My brother sent me an email with these stats a few days ago -

1461 Miles Travels Since Phoenix30 Hours in RV Traveling

187 Gallons of Gas

½ Tank of LP Gas for Furnace, Water Heater and Fridge

8 Trips to Super Walmart

A FAMILY ADVENTURE PRICELESS!

They have had a great trip! So here is a picture of them at the Grand Canyon!

Jeremy, Katie, Sage, Brody, Julia, and Corbin!

And also our family out in Kansas! They will be coming to visit us in IL tomorrow - yippee!!

This is a picture of the 4 kids - Caleb, Aly, Jake, and Anna!

We love our family!

Steven Curtis Chapman

I know that the news is every where about Maria Chapman's death. I have a hard time understanding death, it is so hard to get a grip on - expected and especially unexpected. There are so many questions why. BUT we know that God is sovereign and does everything for the GOOD of those who love Him. So let us trust in Him and everything he has in store for us. "TRUST and OBEY, there is no other way to be happy in JESUS but to TRUST and OBEY."

I received this link through an email of precious video of little Maira with her daddy.
http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

May God give comfort to the Chapman's and all believers who face tragedies that we do not understand.

New Look to our Home!

So I promised pictures of the front door to our home . . . so enjoy an inside and outside view.

Cade wanted to star in the outside pic!

Also, around noon today we had a large group of vehicles arrive outside our house. They were a tree service. I said to Curtis, "Wouldn't it be cool if they were here to cut down the dead tree on the west side of the house. And hopefully 'the city' told them to come" And that is why they were outside of our door! What a blessing from God. I asked the previous tree cutters (who cut down the tree in front) how much it would be to cut this tree down and they said $600. So thank you City of Princeton . . . we appreciate you taking down all of our trees without us paying anything. Thank you God! So enjoy some pictures!

It is finally SPRING!

I think spring is here! We are still wearing jackets and jeans, but the sun has been shining and the spring rains have been falling. We have been outside many many moments of our days.

Cade got a special treat last weekend . . . a new playground for the yard (such a wonderful hand-me-down)! We thought that he would enjoy climbing on it and sliding down the big slide, but his favorite part of it is his SWING! Since his swing fell down from the tree a month or so ago, he is happy to be swinging again. I made the roof this weekend with my fabulous sewing skills . . . homemade works great when you don't spend a dime!

He is definately a sports fan. He runs around with a glove, bat, ball, or helmet on 24/7! We found a football helmet at a garage sale this weekend and it has been carried or on his head since Friday. Not a bad piece of joy for 50 cents!

And Cade loves to watch the CUBS! He actually got upset at me the other night when I turned on the radio to listen to the game because it wasn't on tv. He tried to turn on the tv to watch the game while yelling "Cubs, Cubs, Cubs."

Curtis has had excitement with his track team. His top thrower won the Conference and Sectional meets in both the shot put and discus. Very exciting! The team also got 2nd at both of these meets. It is definately a time consuming event, but well worth the efforts with the relationships.

We also were given a great gift this last week . . . a new dining room table. We just bought a table last summer which we love, but this table that we received is REAL wood and has potential to grow with our family. We can actually sit 6 people at it and have the food on the table, without a leaf in it. Plus we have 2 leaves to put in it (though it won't fit in our room right now . . . someday we may have a room that big). So I painted the lower part of the table and will be recovering the chairs sometime in the future (very comfy chairs!). So I was busy putting on few coats of paint this week during Cade's naps!

Also, we had a wonderful blessing of a NEW FRONT DOOR this week. We have had an awful draft in our dining room during the winters because of the old door. It was also a small door, but we made the doorway larger and put in a wonderful steel door this week. The seal on the door is so tight and will help keep up warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer (and maybe even save some money on our bills!). So our house was a mess for a few days with all of the plaster being taken out and a new door being put in, but that cleaned up just fine! And now we have a great new door! No pictures, yet, but soon. Plus you will get to see the newly painted trim . . . repainting and starting new! Busy, busy moments!