Spring?!

This morning Shepard asked me when spring was coming. I told him to hang on till March. March is my birthday and I always loved it, because I knew spring was around the corner.  I'll never forget my Mom dieing in January and thinking if I could make it to March I could get though the pain.

So, I told Shepard all about March. : - ) “In Like a Lion out Like a Lamb” Weather  it is true or not, we can only hope that if March starts off cold and stormy it will end warm and sunny. 

Another Sunday

Today our pastor's sermon was A Fresh Focus On... Evangelism "Net Work"
Luke 5:1-11
5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Today's sermon outline:
Cultivate patience for people.
Compensate your weakness by promise.
Saturate your witness with prayer.


Bret before church.

On Sunday mornings we are all over the place. Arden jumps in the car with her breakfast, we take the other kids through McDonalds drive though, drop them off at Sunday school and Mike and I meet Lael at Panera before we all to to church.

The little Asian girl in the background is not one of ours.

That's the little girl's Dad and yes she is adopted.


As usual dinner, out after church.



Gabrielle (in the middle) wasn't feeling too good. The night before she had an allergic reaction to her cat.


Darby more than happy to show off her new purse her Mom had just bought for her.


Eliot and his friend Victor. I had just got done telling them I ratted them out for talking through church.


Here I had just told Payton that I told her Mom a boy came up and gave her a "big" hug after church and we don't do that!

I tell Payton her face is red and she says it isn't. Victor quietly tells her it is.

Arden proudly says, "I didn't get in any trouble." She was just trying to be funny though. : - )

More new pics!

I received an email today with more pictures of our new son!!



He is far left in the brown, blue and orange coat.  Oh boy, he is  cute!!!!

It's Sunday!

I really, really like and respect our pastor.  Today he preached on "WHY BAPTISM?"  So, you might be interested in reading some of his outline.  You know just in case you ever wondered - and if you haven't you probably should. : - )


1 John 5:3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome...

IN BAPTISM GOD MEETS OUR NEED to express our faith.  Acts 2:22-24;36-38

² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,^[a] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

IN BAPTISM GOD MEETS OUR NEED for cleansing Mark 7:21-23
²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”


IN BAPTISM GOD MEETS OUR NEED for a benchmark.  Romans 6:1-4 
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.


IN BAPTISM GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS to be humbled.  
There is intellectual pride.
There is social pride.
There is selfish pride. 

After church we about always go out to dinner with my sister and her family. 

 

 

 These are my sister's kids, Payton and Eliot



 This is Eliot's best friend, Victor.  Victor is Russian and moved here a couple of years ago with his mom.  He is a really, really nice boy and we all like him!

 

     


  

My sister's Darby.


 

 


  


 
 My sister's boys.


 

  


  
Bret told them to act like brothers here.

 


 
Bret

 

 


 

What to name my new boy?

 I'm still not positive on what to name our new son, but at least I still have plenty of time.  I do have some ideas for first names, but don't have a clue for a middle name.  The one thing I am sure about is  we don't need another S name.  Of course, it isn't confusing for us, but it is other people.  I have Stafan and Shepard and my sister's Chinese son is Sawyer.     



 








 Stafan doesn't try, but is so "cool" about everything he does and says.  Shepard sometimes is just so funny without trying to be.   I always lay out their clothes the night before for school. I laid out these sweaters for school Thursday.  Friday morning, Shepard came in my room with his on and mad as a hornet.  He was worried everyone would think he was wearing a girls sweater.  Mike and I finally convinced him it did not look like a girls sweater.  He has been here  2 1/2 years now and is making good grades.  But he is still learning English, and tonight at dinner we got one of those reminders that he is.  He ordered mashed potatoes and when they asked him what kind of gravy he wanted he said, "chocolate."  Stafan wasn't going to let that one by, so I had to tell him to shut up.


 




 Someone found these pictures of our new son this week and sent them to me.  He is probably a couple years younger in these, but then again I'm not sure!  Maybe he is tiny. 









 He is with a handsome man here!




 














 Shepard is very happy that the report said our new son likes to build.  Stafan loves sports.  Shepard likes sports too, but his first love is legos!!









 The boys were so funny this day.  I walked in the room and they all had their shirts off and shooting each other with guns.  I ran to get the camera, but they figured out what I was doing and when I got back they had all put their shirts back on!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Austin, Lael's friend, is singing and he is in the picture below with Darby. Oops, it is WordLESS Wendnesday. The Mandisa music will stop in a minute. Oh, just one more thing! You can google youtube Austin Long and REALLY hear him sing.









Darby with Austin. Why do I even try and do a WordLESS Wednesday?  I can't do it!






















 







???







(That isn't a "dirty" sock--the kids decided to use it as their whiteboard eraser).  And as far as the message on the board, Arden isn't one to give compliments lightly.   But every once in a while, she can be really sweet.