Early Spring Hiking

A few weeks ago, the weather was so warm and nice! We took advantage of it by hiking with some new good friends, Luke and Danielle:

Madelynn News

Here she is! She is scooting backwards, rocking on hands and knees, and very mobile. But not quite crawling yet. She gets stuck frequently as you can see here:


Last week Madelynn was tested for Celiac Disease. Since it is a genetic disease, Joel and I have decided to test all our kids. As you may know, Joshua does not have Celiac. And now, Madelynn does not either!! Hurrah!

Scary Story, Happy Ending

"Hey Renee! C'mere. You have to see this."
I stop in mid-stride and turn towards the bathroom. Joel had just finished giving Madelynn a bath and the other two kids were in bed already.
Madelynn is laying on her back on Joel's legs and she's crying. Joel points to her mouth and I look inside.
"Do you see that? What is that?"
I look closer at Madelynn's palate, the roof of her mouth. It's discolored, the color of green/gray playdough. I put my finger in her mouth to scrape it off and Madelynn just cries harder.
I feel a heaviness come over me and I groan inwardly.
Both Joel and I just look at each other.
"I'll go google it..." I lamely suggest and walk away.
I stare at the computer screen. The results of my googling didn't give much comfort: Cancer. Ulcers. Tumors. There should be no discoloration of a normal baby's palate.
I picture myself standing up in church asking for prayer for God to heal Madelynn. 'First Emily, then Rachel, now Madelynn?' This was too much.
I sit on the couch with the phone and thank God for a free 24 hour Nurse Help Line.
After a quick explanation to the nurse, we both agree that perhaps the discoloration is from the green veggies she ate today or the newspaper she was chewing on about an hour earlier.
I hang up, relieved.
A few minutes pass and an idea occurs to me. I find the newspaper Madelynn had been "playing" with and inspect it.
"Aha!" There was a small chunk missing! Joel and I agree to do a little "investigating".
"Q-tips," Joel suggests. I go grab them and bring them to Joel.
I leave the room as Joel forces Madelynn's mouth open but she just giggles. Finally she opens her mouth and Joel scrapes the palate with the Q-tip.
Then I hear laughter.
"What? Did you get something?" I ask.
Joel shows me something on his finger.
"It's a potato skin!"

Joshua's Birthday Volume 2

Joel, Joshua, and friends John and Boston (4) went to the Duluth Train Depot to celebrate Joshua's birthday. There they met up with Mark and Oliver (4) and had a wonderful time:


After the train depot they went to the Kid's Museum (aka: Children's Museum). They climbed a tree house to the second floor and there they made hoop gliders (a straw with two loops of paper on either end).

They went to Burger King for lunch:

(l to r): Boston, Oliver, and Joshua

Wow, do you think they were all tired out after all that? Nope. After lunch they went to this great playground and probably spent about an hour there running around:

(front to back: Oliver, Joshua, Boston)

And that's not all folks, after this they went to the Omnimax theater and watched The Alps.
Whew, what a day. The boys (and the men) were quite tired at the end.
Joshua is still catching up on his rest as I post this.

Some Green On A Gray Saturday...

No, these are not mine. I googled for them. I needed some Spring lift and thought I would share my search for spring:

A Bit of This. A Bit of That.

#1: Joel and I are registered for the MACHE conference (A statewide homeschool conference, with curriculum fairs), so our weekend date planning is underway. So Excited!

#2: Madelynn was weighed and measured recently: 27" long and 14.15 pounds.

#3: Rachel is officially potty trained! Hip hip hurrah!

#4: Is Spring here?? 40-50 degrees during the day and sunny! It's been so beautiful. The kids and I have been going on walks. And they run and run. I am so thankful to Jesus for this beautiful warm weather.

#5: Some of you may have been aware of a rental house we were looking at. We were in the application waiting process. Well, that fell through. So now we are still hopeful and praying to God to show us where to live next. (We have about 6 weeks left in our current rental house).

#6: I've been reading a great book on Homeschooling.
It's entitled: Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling. (whew!) It's a thick book, a few inches I think. But, boy, has it been helpful so far. As of right now, I'm working on forming some long-term goals for us as parents: What we want to see in our children when they are adults.
I'm also working on WHY we are homeschooling, besides the Huge Fact that God wants us to.
Just these two steps have been so helpful, and has really put my mind at rest a bit more.

Joshua's Fifth Birthday!

Joshua is now a five year old! To me (Renee) this is a major milestone. I can hardly believe our little boy is five! Wow!


I remember our first night home from the hospital with him. He was about 3-4 days old and oh, so little (7lbs 7oz at birth). Things went pretty smoothly the first day home. Until it was time for bed. I nursed him one last time and we swaddled him up nice and tight and he fell asleep. Aah. Now we could go to bed.

Just as Joel and I were falling asleep...

"WWAA-WAAHHH!!!"

You got it. Joshua starts crying. (haha, i laugh now, but boy, were we frustrated then!)

Joel gets up (what a great daddy) and goes to Joshua.
"I think he's still hungry, Renee."

"What?! I just fed him! He can't be hungry! Maybe he has a burp..."
20 minutes later... "Maybe his diaper is dirty..."
10 minutes later... "Maybe there's a hair wrapped around his big toe..."
25 minutes later... "Maybe..."

You get the idea. Joel ended up driving Joshua around in the car in hopes of settling him down and lulling him to sleep. It was 2:30 in the morning now and nothing had worked. Joel and I were both exhausted. Then I realized something:

"I wonder if he's hungry?"

Yup we had a lot to learn about babies. The hospital nursery now seems very deceptive to me. I mean, they brought Joshua into my room Once a night during our 3 night stay. So when we got home, shouldn't he continue to eat once in the night?

Well, I guess we did an all right job, thanks to the abundant grace of Jesus and to our family and friends. Joshua is five years old now and is happy and healthy and growing.

We had a small celebration at home with pancakes for supper (Joshua's choice) and vanilla cupcakes with green frosting.




He received a small present from Nana and Grampa (Joel's parents) and a card that belongs to his "birthday book". The birthday book is quite a neat idea. Since we live so far away from Nana and Grampa, Nana makes a little card for each grandchild each birthday. Also included are pictures of Nana with said grandchild during that specific birthday year. The kids love it. It has been fun watching the books grow every year. Below is pictured Joshua listening to Daddy read the note inside the #5 Birthday card.


After reading it, Joel slides the note and pictures into Joshua's birthday card. Listen to their cute conversation about the book Nana made...




Happy Birthday Joshua! We love you so much!!

So Rich A Crown

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless
Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

The sermon this morning (Sunday) actually stuck with me (Renee) today. It was about the cross of Jesus. It was about Pilate (the governor of Jerusalem at that time). And somewhere in the middle of the 20-30 minutes of the sermon, the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that I was kind of like Pilate. I've come face to face with Jesus, but do not make Him the center, the focal point of my life.

I have other things, people, activities, thoughts in my life that suck my time and my love. Yes, Jesus is one of those people, but that's it. He is one of those, rather than The One Person that Is my life. And through That One Person, all else falls into it's proper place and proper importance.

I want to want to (that's not a typo) gaze upon Jesus, and not stop looking or turn my face away-ashamed or disgusted. So this blog post is a little different. Instead of starting out with a whimsical opening or a cute picture- I'm starting out with Jesus. And I'm going to end this post with Jesus. I'm going to end it with not just a picture of a Cross "on a hill far away", but right at the foot. Because that's where we all need to be and need to stay.

Enjoy the "cute" photos of our kids, but remember Jesus. Remember that He is the only way to God, the Creator of this world.

Joshua making "dirt angels"