My Dear Valentines

I love my Valentines! God is so kind to give me such dear friends! I got to spend some time out with Julie this week and was refreshed and encouraged by sharing sweet fellowship with her. I'm going to guess that 9 out of 10 people who would visit this blog can quickly agree with that statement. (The other "1" would be family or others who may not know her) Julie, I love your desire to honor God as a wife and mother and how you tirelessly seek ways to care for the ladies in our care group and throughout the church. You speak openly and specifically about your sin, and you do a great job giving and receiving encouragement! Thank you for the way you regularly invite me into your life and the reality of the battle against flesh. You are often on my heart and prayed for with much love!

On top of Keith finding tons of practical ways to care for and serve our family, and helping me understand scripture more clearly, he has this uncanny ability to bust on me and encourage me at the same time. I'm not quite sure how that happens, but I don't have another brother quite like him. I'm so glad he's my care group leader and I can't imagine having a better one. Thanks for all the time and energy you've poured into us over the last 2 years, and especially the burden you've carried for Gene and the faithful outworkings of that! We are grateful!

One of my favorite memories so far with Keith and Julie was this Valentine's Day when they showed up at my door with gifts and notes from ladies in our care group (thank you again to all who had a part in that) and topped it off with a singing telegram. I wish I had a video of that to share, but no such luck.


Julie mentioned on her blog that the kids were here and had a water balloon fight last weekend. She kind of missed the punch line though - I used regular balloons and they wouldn't pop when the kids threw them at each other. So I had a yard full of unpopped ballons and a group of kids yelling, "Owe! Please don't" as they were pelting each other with them. I finally convinced them it was all part of the game and no reason to cry. I'm not sure I'll get to babysit them again... I guess it depends on the size of the bruises.



After that we stuck to the squirt bottles but poor Caleb couldn't get his little fingers wrapped around the trigger unless it was facing towards him. He seemed to be fine with this and entertained himself rather than chasing the other kids. I took this video of him with my camera and he kept looking at me and saying, "Cheeese!" Could these kids get any cuter? I love it!

our picnic lunch

Thank you Julie for giving me permission to post these. I hope you get to enjoy the videos now :-)