February and March

Craziness took over during the past couple months ...

1st ... The month of February was full of planning for the school auction on March 4. I'm telling you that being the chairperson for this event is practically a 3/4 time job. The 2 weeks before the event it turns into a full time job. Stressful? Yes. Worth it? Yes. Through the entire process God kept telling me "I've got your back". So many times I asked him what he was thinking when he chose me for this position. :) So, the photo on the left is just one of the projects that I worked on for a few weeks. It's photos of the parts of the 2nd & 3rd graders and in the center is a poem of how God made them each unique. This was my favorite project. Anyway, the event went great! I had a great team working with me and we made some changes. We had the kids there, which they loved. We also had a different set up for the live auction. People liked it. We had a "new to us" auctioneer and people loved him. Overall, I got all positive feedback. Some even said that it was the best auction Covenant Christian School ever had! I have to tell you that it wasn't me who made it successful. I take no credit. God is the One who had my back ... he really did! We made it past $20,000 by a miracle. Considering some of the circumstances, I really believe God did a miracle! He is good! Amazed by His faithfulness and trustworthiness ...

2nd ... March has been full of reminders of John. His 45th birthday was on the 12th. (The kids and I celebrated by releasing balloons and eating cake. :) Bekah picked out some purple flowers for him too.) His sister, Wendy, and family came out on the 11th to spend the day in Chicago with us to see Matthew in the St. Patrick's Day parade on the 12th. I thought of John a lot that day. Next was John Michael's 15th birthday. (The kid's birthday's are always a reminder of how much John would be so proud of his kids.) Then, I have been planning our spring break trip to Philadelphia and Washington DC. Planning the trip to Philly has been a reminder of so much of John, PopPop and Grandmom. John grew up and worked in the Philly area up until he moved out here in his mid 20's. We went to Philly quite a few times over the 12 years we knew each other. So with all these reminders of John, there were a couple weeks of grief being overwhelming at times. Healing ...

3rd ... HAnnah's Freedom Bags was asked to make 20+ bags for Destiny Rescue to take along to Oasis Youth Conference this week. I knew the girls were not meeting their goal of 20-25 bags so I spent some time organizing Anna's sewing corner and figuring out what was needed in order for them to meet their goal. They needed 10+ bags in 2 days! Oh my! So I went to work with cutting enough for the amount of bags that they needed and came up with a plan for Anna and I to finish all the bags in 2 days. We did it! I delivered 22 bags to Destiny Rescue this week with new labels and hangtags on them. All the bags are unique and beautiful. Wow God ...

4th ... Clint and 16 other people from The Vineyard are in Haiti this week building homes for displaced families from the earthquake. It's always hard for me to see him go on the missions trips. Why? I love missions as much as he does and I have to watch him go while I stay home. I had to do that again last weekend. I know that at this time in mine and my kid's lives, my mission field is at home. I love being with my kids and training them and teaching them to love Jesus... we've had some really good times this week. I also have a heart and passion for international missions that keeps growing in intensity like never before. I know that God is also calling Clint and I into international missions together in the future. That I'm excited about! I have several options of missions trips this year but it's a matter of which one(s) God is wanting me to go on. Trusting Him and praying ...

5th ... God has been doing some healing in me this week.  I've had some really wonderful God-time while having more time alone. (I have more of that with Clint gone.)  Jesus is digging deeper inside me and showing me more of his intense love for me. Oh, how He loves me ...


So in less than 2 weeks spring break will be here! We will be in Philly and DC, a trip that the kids have been wanting to take for several years. It will be good!