Women's Retreat at Columbia Community Church

Tomorrow I head out with my mom for her church's spring retreat. We'll drive from my parents home in Kennewick, Washington to Clearwater Lodge at Camp Spalding in Newport, Washington. The theme of the retreat is Dwell Well; which is the same theme MOPS is using this year. The verse that they asked me to focus on is John 14:17 "...he lives with you and will be in you."

I've been praying and thinking about this retreat for almost a year now. And it's a real treat to finally be here with these ladies. I got in a few days early to spend time with my mom and dad. And then today I taught at the women's bible study. I loved being with this group of women as they work their way through the book of Matthew. They have a vibrant and growing ministry to the women of their church and it was delightful to see!

I'd love it if you would pray for me. I'll be teaching 4 times during the weekend and I love the material that the Lord has laid on my heart. I'm also very aware that he has an agenda and I really want to be sensitive to his leading and guiding.

Josh has is at home with the kids and they are doing great. He did say the other day that they are making good use of the Kraft macaroni and cheese we've imported!

Snowy Easter Sunday

Saturday morning we awoke to giant fat flakes of snow falling from the sky! Luke came down the stairs saying,"'no!" (meaning snow!) How strange is that! No open toed sandals or short sleaved shirts for us!

But now here we are on early Monday morning. And I want you to know I had to chose between taking time to make coffee or getting these pictures out to you!

I am headed to the states this morning and Josh is holding down the fort around here with all four kids. I'll be speaking at a womens conference for next weekend and I would love your prayers. The verse we are focusing on is from John 14:6 and Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. He says, "You know him for he is in you and will be with you." I am very excited but it's so hard to leave Josh and the kids!

The Empire Strikes Back

So Saturday night we hunkered down in the living room with a plate of Wheat Thins (from the stateside stash that we only dip into when we're feeling needy), cheese slices, a bowl of popcorn and V Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back. We laughed and laughed about Yoda and how funny he is with the flashlight that he steals from Luke. Of course we had to make a few, "Luke, I am your father." cracks.

But what really got me was this one. I was giving Blake a bad time about all the mushy scenes that happen between Han Solo and Princess Leah. I pretended like I was talking with Luka and I kept saying things like, "I know. But Blake likes these love scenes so we just have to grin and bear it." And then Blake would flinch and say, "MOM!"

So then we started joking about sweet little Becca. "Oh yeah, Becca really loves all the blood and fighting." I sort of summed it all up saying to Luka, "Blake likes the love scenes and Becca likes the violence." to which Blake acted like he was about to attack me and said, "Then Becca's gonna LOVE this!"

I can't get over how funny that kid can be!

Josh turned 40 yesterday!

He's always said he couldn't wait to be 40. Ever since we were doing ministry in Upper Heyford, England and parents would walk into youth group and look around for the leaders, look right at us and keep on looking; Josh has said that he'll be glad when he finally turns 40. Well, yesterday he did. And I think you'll permit me to say he's still got it!
We celebrated all week! We had a team meeting where we featured cherry pie instead of birthday cake. A tradition for us when we celebrate Josh. Then our friends the Jackson family and the Okorn family prepared a delicious meal with a buffet of foods you could eat with your fingers. (Josh has been into dipping his food since he and Terry were roommates in college!) And then last night was chicken faijtas and American Idol with me and the kids. He didn't party too long since there were still loose ends to tie up and the next morning he had an early departure for this years Global Youth Inititive conference in Israel. It's nice when your job takes you to exotic places!
Happy Birthday Josh!

A visit from our cousins!

Last week Josh's brother Dave and his family came for a visit! They live in the Czech Republic (actually Dave is our boss!) and it was their "spring" break so they decided to visit us and sample the delights that Slovenia has to offer. They got to ski on the nearby slopes, spend a day in Venice (only a few hours drive away) and Croatia as well as get in on a staff meeting with our team here. And we had great cousin and Aunt and Uncle time.In the evenings we ate dinner, hung out and laughed and talked in to the wee hours of the morning! We even got the latest episode of American Idol and turned our imported Oreo cookies into shakes...just to remind ourselves that we're Americans! David A is who we are cheering for although we do have other favorites as well. With all these Patty's under one roof there was quite a lot of musician speak going on. After the door closed behind our cousins we sighed and talked about how glad we are to have family who live on the same continent and how blessed we are to love to be together with all of them!