Baby Chicks

Each spring, our very good friend (and very good deacon) Larry Harrell invites our kids to come to his home in nearby Williamsburg to partake of his adorably fluffy baby chicks that have just hatched. Larry, in his ever-accomodating way, makes sure the baby chicks hatch right around Easter, making the event especially heart-warming. This was the first year Anna was old enough - and responsible enough - to hold a chick herself.
Awwwww....

Since we came to Cincinnati, we have rarely bought eggs: Larry brings us a dozen or two of his fresh eggs almost every Sunday. Tim jokes that Larry's eggs are so fresh that they're still warm! Tim is so spoiled by Larry's fresh eggs that I can't get him to eat store-bought eggs any miore.

Thank you Larry!!!!

Easter Sunday at Clough

It was an exciting Easter Sunday at Clough Pike Baptist: we had our first early service, which was at 8 AM. Then we had Sunday School, and then our regular worship service. Tim joked that we would end-up with about 12 people in the early service, but to his surprise we had 74! Praise the Lord!

For those of you counting pictures at home, YES, there are more pictures of Anna than of John or Christopher. NO, it is not because we love her more, nor because she looked cuter on Easter Sunday than the boys. It is for the mere fact that Anna loves to have pictures taken, and the boys hate it!

 Anna greatly enjoys greeting people beside Daddy.

Betty Howard (right) and her sister-in-law.

Kay Gilliland, Patti Maschmeier, and Stephanie Bishop made sure no one had to worship with an empty stomach or with a caffeine depravation.

Bob and Wanda Field.

Amanda and Rachel Harrison.

Haylee and Valeria Bisig.

The extended Connor Family.

Tim preaching one of his alliterating outlines. I joke with Tim that he dreams in 4-point alliterating outlines!

Aaron did a great job leading the music for the Easter services.

Daryl Gilliland (a.k.a. "Ringo) on the drums. Fantastic!

How many churches can claim a deacon chairman who's also their drummer???

Tim Cherry on the piano. Awesome. Someday when I get good enough, I'll be able to play as well as Tim does.

Brad Bishop, Amelia High School Senior Extraordinaire, manned the powerpoint.

Scott Harrison did the sound. Scott's sound is always flawless.

All Boy

Each spring when the weather gets warm, we always receive new pets, of sorts. Right outside our front door is a large hole under the brick, which makes a nice summer home for toads. They stay until late August, and then hop away until they're replaced again in the spring by new toads. We call our hole "Toad Hole," which is a play on the Wind in the Willows book, which talks about "Toad Hall." (Is that too geeky of a literary reference???) Anyway, John, who LOVES animals, always starts searching for the new toads on the first warm days of the year. Sure enough, he found a couple the other day, and chased them around until he caught one. He was so proud of himself!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to me! It's number 37 today....ouch. My wonderful children loved Mommy enough to get her 2 cakes this year: one with my favorite family photo on it, and one with really good buttercream flowers. Can't beat that, can you?

Ride John, ride!

One of the great things about living in the church parsonage is the ample room for riding bikes, especially at a time like this, when you're learning to ride without training wheels. When there are no church services, we have the spacious parking lot all to ourselves. Daddy took the training wheels off the bike, and off went little John!

It's Spring! Cincinnati Nature Center...

Happy Spring! The weather is 70 degrees and sunny, and there's nothing much better than opening-up the windows and letting the fresh air in. Special thanks to Larry Harrell for meeting our family at the Cincinnati Nature Center and spending hours walking the grounds with us and taking some pictures of our family... Does anybody know that I like family pictures???