Mile Marker

We clearly heard from the Lord that Joel going to Haiti will be a mile marker in our journey.

He is now home from Haiti and we are trying to process it all. It's almost feels like we are stuck on mile marker 224 (2-24-10 was when he came home)

We are trying to get back into the fast lane of our lives, but it seems like something is preventing us from moving forward. We really think we need to take the time to soak it all in, and really pray about our future involvement with Haiti and her precious resilient people.

Here is a picture of Joel in Haiti and of his amazing team. I will post more pictures in the days to come, accompanied with Joel's thoughts and stories.

Come Together

Beautiful

The Strickland girls did a performance today in the Journey at our church. It went so well! And we were so blessed by all who came and helped with the whole process. The Lord's grace has been all over us!

What's up with this picture?

Can you guess why our dad is soooo excited? And why is he wearing a large backpack? Filled with things like Cliff Bars, and clothes for a week?

If you guessed "He is happy because he gets to be the hands and feet of Jesus and go to Haiti" you were right!!

I will post more details later. In the meantime, you can be praying. For him, his team, and most of all, for the Haitians.

Got Dirty Clothes??

For once (and hopefully it'll last a while) I love doing laundry!

Why in the world would I love doing laundry you ask?
Because I got a new washer and dryer!
Oh.my.goodness. I am so thankful for parents who graciously give. It has just made cleaning all these dirty clothes from 6 people a blessing!




























We will see how economical it really is to run these when we get our electrical/ water bill. I have noticed that I use less detergent. So that already helps the pocket book.

Note: Those are ladybugs on the wall behind me, fake ones...because I LOVE LADYBUGS!

True Love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

I can honestly say, the only way to experience this kind of love, is with Jesus in your life. I know I only want this kind of love- there is no turning back!

Compassion

Compassion International is just one of the amazing ways you can help Haiti. Check it out at http://www.compassion.com/

D-E-N-I-A-L

Joel and I are a bit shocked that our oldest turned 11 today.
Her birthday came waaaaay too fast!

Heck- these years have gone sooooo fast!

I found myself a today in a bit of denial. I don't want to believe it's true. Our baby girl is growing up. We cant stop it, we can only embrace it. Lord help us.

And so it grows....

We are so so excited about the upcoming gardening season. I've been planning out the garden this year which will be double in size than last year.


I just love to HOPE of LIFE in the SPRING. I set out some time to get into the garden and start tilling the toil. I found that all my bulbs have started to grow again. Without me doing a thing! Here are a few pics of whats growing.



























And to my amazement, our strawberry plants have persevered the winters chill thus far. Of course I cover them when it freezes. Im expecting a good crop this year!



















I was able to till and and replenish the soil in an area to plant onions. This year I have doubled my onions. We now have white, yellow, and purple onions. Hoping and praying they all grow plump for picking!!




















Now that I have the garden going, we decided to plant some seedlings. We doubled the size of our "Light House" to raise up more seedlings.

















This was Joel's invention. VERY easy to make out of cardboard, foil, tape, and two lights. We did this last year and it worked out really well. The top doors open.























We planted seedling for tomatoes, okra, broccoli, cucumbers, beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, herbs such as cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley, dill. We will see how well it all grows this year!



















We will start some seeds for our sunflowers and other flowers soon. Later spring we will start those melons and corn!



















By no means are we professionals, but we sure are enjoying these fun times and hope we can gain some fruits!

MOD PODGE

We have been ENJOYING making projects with Mod Podge lately. So much so- that I have to share!














It started off with a friend in lifegroup who had these beautiful plaques on her wall-come to find out- she made them! I had also bought some from another friend to decorate the walls in my boys room--she made them too. So creative!








So the ladies in our lifegroup got together one night and each put together a sign using wood as the backing, and scrap paper, stickers, and a friends Cricut. We sealed our pictures with Mod Podge. This is mine.





























A day later I decided to make another sign, Im just having too much fun with this stuff!


















Then I got online and looked up some Mod Podge ideas and found this really cool website called Mod Podge Rocks! http://modpodgerocks.blogspot.com/ . I found this creative idea to make your own vases.

So, I sat down with some girls and we made these! So fun!


























Now, I bought more vases and will have my boys help make some for Valentines for their teachers. Walmart sells glass vases as low as 75 cents.

Go get check out Mod Podge Rocks and get creative and make something for a birthday gift, or even a Valentines gift. These projects are so cheap and make better gifts in my opnion!!