Happy 40th Birthday Tim!

Happy 40th Birthday Tim!

Welcome to your surprise video birthday party...

courtesy of
the Minister of your Music
and the wife of your youth.

As a birthday gift, the kids and I are sending Tim in March to a Jerry Vines conference in Georgia:

We also gave him a thermos that can hold 2 quarts of sweet tea, which is just about how much he drinks in one day.  Whether hot or cold, Tim LOVES his sweet tea!

Happy Valentine's Day

Special thanks to Kandis Babel, CPBC Children's Director, for organizing a Kids' Night In/Parents' Night Out evening at the church.  Our kids had a great time at the Valentine's pizza party that Kandis and her volunteers threw at the church, while Tim and I really enjoyed an early Valentine's dinner at our favorite hibachi restaurant. Happy that now we don't have to fight the crowds on Valentine's Night or pay for a sitter.

 Thank you Kandis, Janice, Stacy and Jill!  

Possibly the greatest marriage ministry idea ever...

And yes, we both caught the shrimp in our mouth when the chef threw them to us.  :D 

CPBC Hispanic Church Plant

The new CPBC Hispanic Church plant is off and running!  The first week we were disappointed that no one showed-up.  BUT on the 2nd week, Hallelujiah!  Julio the Churchplanter had 15 non-English speakers arrive for the service.  The services take place at 2:00 on Sunday afternoons in one of our Sunday School rooms (although we hope to soon outgrow the room and move to the sanctuary).  The services - including music, preaching, and fellowship - are entirely in Spanish, and target those in our community who speak no (or very little) English.  We are so excited about what God is going to do with the plant...which is so new that it doesn't even have a name yet.  No one else in our area of Cincinnati is reaching-out to the Hispanic community.  Pray that God will save souls and change lives!

Lunch

For a special Mommy/Daughter lunch, I drove across town to Hyde Park - 30 minutes from our house - to take Anna to The Bonbonerie, the best cafe/bakery in Cincinnati.  (The Bonbonerie's sandwiches and pastries are so yummy!)  I told Anna she could order anything she wanted.  She ordered....

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 
"On white bread, Mommy.  And a milk." 

Ha!  That's my girl. :D

Basketball

So proud of our boys, who just finished their basketball season at MCA.  I am  thankful that John and Christopher were able to play on the same team, that they learned some fundamentals of the game, and that they made a few points for the scoreboard.  But more than anything, I'm thankful that they were under the leadership of Godly coaches who taught them good sportsmanship characteristics, and who prayed with the kids at every practice and game.

Winter.

Tim and I have concluded that this has to be the longest, darkest winter in our 8 years in Cincinnati.  The sun rarely shines, and it gets up late in the morning and goes to bed early at night.  Although this has not been the winter that has seen the most snow, it has been treacherous at times.  This morning we awoke to what forecasters called "accumulating ice."  It has definitely been a good few months to light some candles, cook some soup, stay inside, and dream of "somewhere greener, somewhere warmer."

But we've made the best out of it.  Here are a few of our prettiest memories of Winter 2013.

Look closely and you'll see our puppy inside the door getting her first look at real snow.  :)The view from my front door, facing the church:Our yard:

My favorite winter poem:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.