almost done

Teaching is the best job for a working mom, especially if you teach at your kids' school. We are all on the same schedule. This week is the last week and we are sooooo excited! I have lovely in service days Monday and Tuesday of next week. Right now my girls are looking for jobs for the summer. If anyone wants to hire them to come and help for a day just let me know! They can clean, babysit, cook (well Mary Ellen can cook) whatever you want them to do.
We are looking forward to trips to the beach, Iowa, and SC....Lord willing.
Katelyn and the other Jr. and Sr. that went to Mexico are doing a presentation at school this morning.
BTW, these juniors and seniors were absolutely amazing at presenting and defending their theses last week. I was soooo impressed and wanted to discuss further many of the topics they presented. I think you can watch them on You Tube. Good job TOCS Juniors and Seniors! I was so proud of them....smart kids! gotta get on with my day...

some fun pics

This was this past winter sometime before our friends, Scott and Meghan left
for Peru. This is such a cute picture of Jonathan with their little girl.

This is fun picture. I'm not sure if I posted it last year or not...my crazy kids!

An oil painting Kate was working on in art. It turned out great! Now I am
going to frame it and put it in my kitchen.

More crazy pictures....:)

Memorial Day

Mom was here last year on Memorial Day and we had about 30 people over for a picnic so they could meet my mom. It was so fun. This year we are just relaxing and taking it easy for the day. The girls and I might do something later. My dinner is ready, except for the grilling and shucking the corn. The boys have some nerf gun game going on with Glenn outside. The girls are studying for their finals tomorrow and I am enjoying the latest issue of BH&G and Southern Living.
Can I just say that I LOVE cilantro! I love making stuff with cilantro, the smell, everything. I made some homemade salsa this morning to snack on today and it smells soooo good. We could eat that stuff by the bucket! Speaking of buckets...I am hoping to pick strawberries this week and make lots and lots of jam! I'll probably freeze some too. We just used the last of the jam from last year a couple weeks ago. I LOVE picking strawberries! I'll pick them for you if you want me to...let me know. :)

Isaiah 61:1-3

I love this passage. It puts wind in my sails!

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion---to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that HE MAY BE GLORIFIED! Hallelujah!
It doesn't end there...they begin to rebuild what was destroyed by generations! This gives such hope for me and for others! No matter what your background is, God died to bring life and restoration for His glory! It is a sure thing. We can count on it!

the power of the cross

Tonight was our spring concert. Katelyn and Mary Ellen sang the song "Mighty is the Power of the Cross". It's a Chris Tomlin song. (I love him). There friend, Emery, accompanied them on the guitar and they all did such a beautiful job. It really is special to watch and listen to them sing praises to the Rescuer of our souls and know the power of the cross in their own lives. It is really hard to keep the tears back... but I did! Aren't you proud of me??!! :)
They both have seen the power of the cross in their own lives in restoring brokenness just this week. God is all about restoring. I see brokenness all around me and would get overwhelmed with it but for the power of the cross. We have to keep coming back to the cross and see its power.
In one of Keller's sermons that I listened to last week he quoted J. Newton, "Everything the Father sends is necessary. Nothing He withholds can be necessary." Sometimes I don't understand what he sends and could think of a better way to learn the same lesson, but as a wise, godly woman once said to me, "We don't have to try to figure it all out and understand it. We just have to trust and rest." This is a woman who has gone through some serious pain in her life. She just had to trust and rest...that's it. That is where she found the strength of the Father. I love the verse Isaiah 30:15...In repentance and rest is our salvation, in quietness and trust shall be your strength". I'm not sure if that is the exact words...but it's close.
God, help me to trust and rest, laying down at the foot of the cross....it's a powerful place.
Thanks, girls, for pointing me back tonight to the power of the cross. I love you!

beautiful girls

Friday night was Protocol (for an explanation see last May's blog post about it).
Next year David and I are hoping to go and Mary Ellen will be going.
It's for 9-12 graders.
Kate with her sweet sister and wonderful friend, Jess Foggy.

The junior class

My beautiful girls. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kate's dress. She
looked so beautiful. They went to the Grand Opera House in
Wilmington for dinner and the opera...The Marriage of Figiro.
Kate absolutely loved the opera. I was kind of surprised by that.

Baseball on a Sunday afternoon

Here's the pitch......


the swing.....

He's out!

Mary Ellen is flying the cool kite that David got for Mother's Day!:)

Enjoying the warm sun on Mother's Day with my family and the DiBernardos. Who is that hot mama??!! :)

baseball boys

Jonathan..playing third base.



Jacob just hit a big one...He and his coach are watching the ball. It
didn't quite make it over the fence. He came really close twice tonight.
We have been enjoying watching our boys play baseball this season. It's fun for David and I to sit together on these spring afternoon and evenings and talk while we watch the boys do their thing. They are really enjoying it as well. Jonathan's team had a bad night tonight and he came off the field with a migraine at the end of the game. He hung in there until the end and then just broke down as he came off the field. He's had a rough week.

Prayer of Repentance

I read this on my friends blog....actually in the comments. So many times our prayers of repentance our ME centered and we need to repent of our repentance. My friend had posted this in the comments of my friend Emily's blog.

O GOD OF GRACE,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness.
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly,
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

Kate's trip

Here are a few pictures from Kate's trip...They are all on her Facebook as well.
This is one of the cenotes where they went swimming. You can look up cenotes at Chichen Itza online and find some really cool pics of where they went. They had to climb down a ladder to get to one of them and the only light came from the hole (like a manhole) they climbed down. They were pools in caves underground...beautiful.

Kate and her friend having fun.

I love all the color in this. I thought I loved color!
Mexico has a love affair with color.

The yellow one was Kate's bed the first few nights.

dinner

I know that you want to know what I decided to do for dinner. I found a GREAT recipe for shrimp and grits. It was SOOOO good and I had everything I needed to make it. You could close your eyes and imagine the streets of Charleston! I cooked the grits in milk and chicken broth and they were so creamy and then you put the shrimp and cajun sauce over the grits....oh man! I even had leftovers of the shrimp and sauce! Of course it was a Southern Living recipe.
Then I made a mojito for my after dinner drink. That was yummy too.
If you come to my house this summer, I'll make you one. :)
Glenn was here to enjoy it all with us. :) We were all happy to see him...our "little" buddy.

this week

We have had such a busy week. I am so ready for school to be done and have a more relaxed schedule. Monday Kate got home from Mexico! We were so excited to have her back home and sat listened to ALL the details of her trip. She took some fun pictures and videos. It's too bad that her trip has been overshadowed by this flu stuff. I think people are WAY overreacting to it all. People die in the US every year from the regular flu and we don't even hear about it. So that's my two cents worth. Instead of being asked about her trip she gets asked if she is feeling okay...
Anyway, she had a WONDERFUL trip, and I think it has strengthened her desire do more mission trips. She was bummed that her first stamp on her passport didn't even show up! She said the stamp pad was dry. We had standardized tests this week in school and then today we had our annual 5K fundraiser. It was little rainy, but that it's okay. It wasn't cold. I'd rather be a little wet than suffocatingly hot, like last Sat.
What's for dinner tonight?? I just finished watching the movie No Reservations...LOVED IT!! I want to go buy it. Last weekend I was making black bean salsa and thought, "this is beautiful food!" It has so many different colors in it. I'm in the mood for some really good Italian food, good music, and good wine....and good company. What can I come up with? Does anyone want to join me?
Another subject...baseball. Both boys are playing this year. This is Jacob's first time playing Little League. The little boys in the outfield get tired of standing out there waiting for the ball and so some of them just sit down, until the coach yells for them to stand up. It's so funny.
Jonathan's is a little more serious, but also sooooo much fun to watch. They are pretty competitive and exciting games. I wish his grandparents could see him play. He had a game on Tues. night and it such a perfect evening as far was weather goes. They lost the game, but David and I enjoyed sitting in our chairs watching the game, feeling the warm evening breeze. Jonathan really loves baseball and has now become a Phillies fan in the past few years. His father tried to warn him about straying away from the Braves telling him that they have lost more games than any other professional team in any sport. He warned him that he would get his heart broken over and over, but the son would not heed the wise counsel of his father. He listens to the games every night and gets on the computer and keeps up with it. Jonathan ran his first 5K this morning. He didn't even practice, just went out there and did it! Bravo!
Well, better go fix some dinner!