Overdue update!

It just keeps on snowing. I love it! Ahh the beauty of winter...a crisp blanket of snow covering the earth. Wonderful!

Last week we discovered a new sport that Javin enjoys. Skiing! The guy is fearless! A few times down the bunny hill and off to the lifts we went. In no time he was cruising down blue trails - the straighter the better, since he can't turn very well. He loved to take off at the top before anyone else and race straight down the hill. He was just flying! Stopping was a challenge. He often ended up in a tumble but bounced right back. He was making it down without any falls in such a short time. I wish I had pictures but then I was too afraid that I might fall myself to bring a camera along. And besides I don't have one right now. More on that later. Anyway, skiing came back pretty quickly for me and I managed not to fall the whole night. Granted, I spent most of the night stopping and starting with Javin until he got the hang of it. So we had a great time. However the night turned long and just happened to be a school night. Javin had a challenging next day staying alert! Poor guy had his Tae Kwon Do testing that evening. Not very good timing on our part. Couple that with a belt mix up and we thought he didn't pass. Oh the drama!! But alas, he had passed to the green belt status and they had just misplaced his belt. They were really generous, I thought.

Kailyn, on the other hand, has started going to a preschool of sorts. It's not official preschool but sure runs just like one. There is a lovely church nearby that has an awesome preschool room. Their Children's Director takes 6 kids (between 3-5 years old that are potty trained) for 2 hours a week. It is very affordable - awesome. She has really grown up since she can go to her own school. It's big stuff! If anyone wants more info just send me an email. They still have openings, I think.

So I have been researching this camera decision for days now. I go back and forth on which features that I just have to have. Don't you love that American consumer mind set that says I just have to have the biggest and best out there! Do I really need a 18x optical zoom or 6x enough? How fast do I need to get good sports shots? Lithium ion or AAs? Tilting LCD or not? SD or XD? Too many options! Did you know that Sony has a smile feature that detects when the subject smiles and takes the picture for you? That's almost too automatic for me! So I have narrowed it down to the Panasonic DMC-FZ18. 18x optical zoom with a wide angle lens, lithium ion battery with stationary LCD, super fast between shots. One review said it had not so good image quality and the other said it had great image quality so I think I will wait and see for myself on that one. My next step is go to a store and actually play around with one and make sure I like the feel of it. Who knows, I may be back to square one, I've been there several times already. My 2 favorite sites for researching are http://www.dpreview.com/ and http://www.steves-digicams.com/. So check them out next time you are in the market for a new camera.

Snow!

This has been an interesting week. Sunday started off with a very chilly 3 degrees and a houseful of people. We had the Burkina Faso team and their famiies and some guests over for lunch after church. The lady from Acts Ministries and her husband were in town. We had a wonderful time hearing more about what it is like over there and about the work they are doing. They are an amazing couple with a heart of service. We are definitely going to the poorest of poor. What a privilege to be bringing the Word of Truth to them and helping them get out of the cycle of poverty. Please pray for wisdom for our team to know what God wants us to do. The needs are so great that it can be overwhelming. We want to know what God is doing and to do that.

Monday we woke up and got Javin ready to catch the bus only to find out that school was cancelled. It was too cold. I don't remember having that rule when I was in school. Well that led right into Tuesday's big snow storm. It snowed and snowed and then rained and snowed some more. Obviously school was cancelled. By Wednseday I had high hopes of school being back in session, but no it was still closed! So what did we do during all this free time...played outside in the snow (for only a short time), improved our SSX Tricky characters, watched Spy Kids (many thanks Mimi), and lots of laundry.

We love the snow. Kailyn and I went out while it was raining and the snow was prefect for packing and built a little snowman. The problem was that it was raining and we got soaked and our snowman fell over right after we got back inside. Now that was a short life!

Thursday was my day to lead the Valentine's party at Javin's class. He was so excited that his mom was in charge and got to tell everyone what to do. I guess that is cool! The party went well and everyone had fun. I don't have the pictures yet from the other mom to post. My pictures may be few these days. My camera had a fatal accident yesterday so I am shopping for a new one. Does anyone have a recomendation for a good digital camera?

Angie's List

It's winter in Ohio and what's there to do? Not much besides watch movies, scrapbook, clean and read books. My scrapbooks are all unorganized right now so I am not very motivated to work on them. Cleaning, yuck! So it's movies and books. Thought I would let you in on my latest picks.

Movies:
The Ultimate Gift
The Star Wars series (Javin is watching for them for the first time. I have realized that I am not knowledgeable enough to answer all his questions concerning these movies. I have to send him to Uncle Eugene.)
SuperNanny Season 1
Hitch

Books:
on Parenting
Be A Great Parent by H. Norman Wright
Respectful Kids by Todd Cartmell (All time favorite)
Raising children on purpose : helping your children find their God-given calling by Wesley H. Fleming
Parenting With Kingdom Purpose by Ken Hemphill

on teaching my kids
Big truths for little kids : teaching your children to live for God by Susan Hunt
My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts By Susan Hunt
Sign & say : Bible verses for children by Daphna Flegal
52 Family Time Ideas by Timothy Smith

Fun Reference
Kids Love Ohio by George and Michele Zavatsky (Great ideas of fun stuff to do with your kids)

Devotional reading
Your Best Life Now for Moms by Joel Osteen
Your Scars are Beautiful to God by Sharon Jaynes (haven't started yet, but hopefully I will get to it soon.)

Fictional jaunts
Hood by Stephen Lawhead
Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead

Story time with the kids
Epossumondas Saves the Day by Coleen Salley
The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst (She's smarter than her brother)
Pennsylvania Dutch Night before Christmas by Chet Williamson (Hillarious book if you are from Holmes County)