Soccer

After taking a break for a couple of seasons, Nate decided to play soccer again.  His team only won one game, but it was a fun season.  He had a great coach and we met several sweet families.

It was exciting to see how much Nate improved since he last played.  He was a lot more confident and even scored two goals. :)  

Vulcan

Resurrection Set

I forgot to include Nate's resurrection set in my Easter post.  I found it over at Catholic Icing.  Each day Nate would color a couple of pieces and we would talk about their significance to the Easter story.  When he finished coloring all of the pieces, he had a great time using them to act out the Easter story.     

Strawberry Picking

End of Year Program

Are these kids cute or what?  Since Nate's class has studied geography this year, his teacher had them dress from different countries for the end of the year program.

Nate obviously chose Mexico. :)

I cannot believe co-op is over and our school year will be over next week.  It has been a great year.  It has definitely been challenging at times but way more rewarding.  It has been a joy to watch Nate grow and learn. 

Easter

We had a wonderful week celebrating Jesus Christ, our risen Savior.  One of our favorite activities was a Good Friday Nature Walk.

We also made Resurrection Rolls for the first time.  I didn't get a picture of our rolls, but they turned out perfectly.  We made them with friends and all of the boys were amazed to see that the Peeps had disappeared.  They were also seriously yummy. :)

My very favorite part of our Easter celebration was the Easter Sunrise Service.  A church in our area has been doing a sunrise service for many, many years.  Nate was very excited about attending the service and didn't mind getting up at 5 AM.  The service was wonderful and a great way to start our day.  I hope it becomes an Easter tradition for our family.

We spent the afternoon with Darren's family.  It was bittersweet.  Darren's sister's husband, Gavan, has been in the hospital since January 28th.  He has been extremely sick and still has a very long way to go.  We are praying that God will be glorified in his complete healing.

Adventures in Bunnies

We lost our sweet Maltese, Emmy, a couple of months ago.  She was a sweet girl and we still miss her. Nate has asked for bunnies on a couple of occasions.  We always said no, but with Emmy's absence we decided to say yes.

He and  Darren worked very hard on the hutch.

The finished product.

Meet Stella and Hal. We don't have the best track record with outdoor pets, but so far they are doing really well.  

Mud Fun

Farm Life

Springtime in our neck of the woods means lots of new baby calves.    All of the male babies have to be castrated.  They also have to be tagged and get a shot of medicine.  Nate wanted to watch but not be too close to the action.  We decided to go up to the loft of the barn and watch from there.  

I have lived right in front of the barn for almost 15 years (and dated Darren for many years before that) and this was my first time to be in the loft. Nate and I had so much fun!  He found all sorts of "treasures" and insisted that I take his picture with all of his finds.  

Darren Turns 40

Darren turned 40 on March 14th.  He and I were blessed to spend some time away in the mountains.  It was a beautiful weekend. 

Words cannot express how thankful I am for Darren.  He has been my best friend for almost 20 years.  I love him more as the years go by.  He is a godly husband and father.  He works so hard to provide for our family and makes spending time with me and Nate a priority.  I. Love. This. Man. :)

The following Monday after our trip, Darren resigned from the bank where he was employed for 17 years. God opened a door for him to work for another bank.   We prayed about it for months and continued to get confirmation that this would be a great opportunity.  The day he resigned was such an emotional day. He loved the people he worked with and had so many great memories from his 17 years there.  Thankfully all of his coworkers were very gracious, kind, and understanding about his decision to leave.

He has been at his new job for almost two months now.  He is adjusting well to his new environment and enjoying getting to know his co-workers.  We continue to be grateful that God provided him this opportunity.