World Water Day Party

last march i stumbled my way through my first blog raffle. i promised that if my little raffle would raise enough money to train a well mechanic in india then we'd celebrate with a par-tay. as the few short weeks unfolded i was shocked and amazed and thrilled that this raffle was able to provide the training for not just 1, but 4 well mechanics. what an adventure to give God loaves and fishes and watch Him do what He does best..... multiply.

kojodesigns and sassy sweet designs are helping me plan the celebration of those mechanics and of our community coming together in small but very real ways to make a tangible impact on the last and the least. here, here!

here's the list of invites.  it's kind of exclusive.    if you were a part of the raffle in any way at all, then you are expected to be there. :)

Jen Wilson
Melissa Paisley
Virginia Johnston
Jessica Lundahl
Laura Moffat
Kirstin Gentry
Elaina Chynoweth
Alicia Berutti
Raleigh Tillman
Laura Schwarz
Lindsay Walker
Elaine Elsberry
Sandi Elsberry
Laura Clapp
Tawni DeYoung
Matt Elsberry
Amanda Haag
Erin Harms
Jessica Picard
Stuart Clark
Naomi Haverland
Melissa Bolton
Nancy Houle
Kelly Rollett
Megan Perea
Melissa Martynyuk
Velma Knierim
Jen Patterson
Candice Covak
Megan McCluskey
Ellen Goad
Erin Sparks
Kathy Buchanan
Angelina Shumaker
Renee Morrison
Tricia Vincent

please let me know that you are planning to come and then i'll email you directions to the party!  (it will be in northern colorado springs)

to be in the same room with this list of amazing women (and my brother :))  would be a dream come true.  please mark it on your calendar.  it will be a night to remember all that God has done and all the ways He desires to use our offerings, however small, our resources, however limited and ourselves, however broken.  never are we more alive than we when we choose to use all He's blessed us with in order to bless another.

plus, there will be cupcakes and wine, so that's fun.

another first

another pinch-myself moment in our little home. 

for awhile she would only read during reading lesson.  it was almost as if she didn't really believe that she could read other books besides her reading lesson book. 

she has finally realized the world that reading has opened up for her.

"oh look mom, i can read that book too"

this was the first time i caught avery legitimately reading to ashton. 

neat-o. 

shaving cream snow

we had two quiet weekends in a row.  when you have surgery, it's easy to guilt your parents into watching your kids for a handful of days.

it's funny the way the house goes from SO quiet to busy and full of activity in 2 seconds flat after they get home. 

i talked dave into doing a fiar activity with us last night.  he read katy and the big snow to them and then we dumped a bunch of shaving cream on a tarp. :)

at first we kept the mess at bay by letting them take turns playing with "katy" and the "snow"

but then they some how coerced us into a free for all. 

it was a baths-before-dinner kind of night.

last wednesday night colorado springs kind of got pounded with a big snow (for us anyway).  between 7:15 and 9:15 i was trying to get my kiddos home from awana.  we got stuck twice! and then eventually met dave in a parking lot so that he could navigate us home.  it was stressful, but avery kept saying "mom, it's just like we're in the katy book!  we need katy to come get us out of this snow!"  

homeschooling at it's finest. :) 

of thyroids and finishing our reading book

some of you know this, but many of you don't. dave had surgery on thursday, he had his thyroid removed.  it's a fairly minor surgery.  we hung out in the hospital for a brief 24 hours, watched movies and hulu and gold rush.  we took walks to the vending machine room (yes, room) and chatted with friends all afternoon in the hospital cafeteria.

 we started this book when she was a tiny four year old!  now she is a few months  shy of turning 6! 

we're home now.  kids are still running around at grandmas and so we're hanging out, cleaning this place and watching more t.v. on the computer. :)

avery finished all 100 of those little lessons!  so surreal to do the last one on wednesday! i'm SO proud of her.  

we're thankful to have both of our surgeries behind us.  we have much, MUCH to be thankful for.  perspective is a priceless gift.  there is new life in the making.

i almost forgot to add that my knee is feeling great!  i'm doing some small workouts and plan to start running again on march 1st! yay!

a post surgery post

i'm terribly thankful that surgery is over.  

right now, i'm icing my knee and sipping on some coffee and uploading pictures.

he was able to get the floppy part of my torn meniscus out of there and said my acl looked good.  

my first dose of pain meds made me sick last night so i'm sticking with ibu from here on out. 

i slept all night!  the pain after this surgery is night and day compared to my acl repair.  praise Jesus. 

the kids are happily being swapped from grandma to grandma. 

thanks for your prayers.

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the girls had their last gymnastics class on tuesday.  

in true ashton fashion, she scurried over to hand her teacher her thankyou card

and then took a few shy steps back to observe the reading of the card. 

dave came to see the last class and ian couldn't get enough of his daddy.

then my mom and both gg's took us to whit's end! 

 look who's tall enough for the abendago slide!

(notice a sad little sister)

she just couldn't believe she was finally tall enough! 

it had been forever since we'd been here.  i don't even think ian remembered it, but he loved the little camp room. 

and on wednesday night i got to help out in ashton's awana class.  

of my three, she is the one who delights in this the most.

so i love when i get a chance to do it! 

happy valentines day

if i speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy,  

but don't love,

 

i'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

if i speak God's word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, 

and if i have faith that says to a mountain "jump" and it jumps, but i don't love, 

i am nothing. 

if i give all i own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but i don't love, 

i've gotten nowhere.

so no matter what i say, 

no matter what i believe, 

and no matter what i do,

i'm bankrupt without love. 

 love never gives up

love cares more for others than for self.

 love doesn't want what it doesn't have

 it takes pleasure in the flowering of truth

it puts up with anything

it trusts God always. 

love always looks for the best.

it never looks back and it keeps going to the end. 

taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 13 (the message)

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we had a fun valentines day yesterday since avery's in school and i'm having knee surgery later on today. (!)

avery and i had fun making little matchbox valentines for her little classmates.

and we enjoyed our outing to go visit dave's grandma.  avery read her a little valentine story and we gave her new pics of the kids.  will you pray with us that grandma cattani will come to know of this glorious and mysterious love?  

afternoon reading lesson

snow falling

afternoon coffee sipping

ash and ian sleeping

aves and mommy reading

a few things

ian brings books to the table and "reads" them

ian says "no take picture mommy"

i say "smile and then i'll stop taking your picture"

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we started our five in a row books again and i'm SO happy to be doing these again.  we are really. far. behind.  but that's okay.  our math and spelling and reading are all on target and we had to let something go during january so we could do gymnastics on tuesdays and free breakfast at chic fil a followed by y swimming with grandma and gg  on fridays :)

we're doing katy and the big snow and so we made snow dough!  i improvised and used a couple cups of flour, a couple cups of cornstarch, 1/3 cup of baby oil and some tablespoons of glitter.  this stuff is so fun and therapeutic to play with. it's the consistency of flour, but you can mold it!  they all were busy for over an hour and after i got ash and ian cleaned up, avery was still making "doughnuts".

it was MESSY.  but really, it only took a good 15 minutes of sweeping and wiping and vacuuming, so it was well worth the mess!

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this is a mess of blurry photos, but we had such a good time for my dad's birthday party on saturday night.  i made everyone play one of the kids games "elefun", you hold this elephant and try to get his trunk (like a slinky with a suction cup) to grab "snacks" off the ground.  it was hilarious to watch everyone!

mom and dad

gg velma and kayla

gg elaina and moi :)

gg got the last snack and beat me!  :)  

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and these are from today.  

love notes to daddy on the mirror= handwriting practice 

i took these next pictures at 10:43 this morning.  we just finished math and had a little break before spelling.

ash dancing and singing on the bed

oh, she spots me!

avery making an airplane with her trio blocks

ian playing with his tractor

and then we bundled up and played outside! 

we've been reading little house in the big woods a couple evenings a week.  last night laura and mary made molasses candy to get ready for christmas and so today we tried it out.

you melt sugar and molasses together

and then pour it into snow! it freezes and makes candy!  :)

fun! 

avery's standing here, wanting to go do a reading lesson..... :)

happy monday!