Always the last to leave

These ladies pictured here with me are my lunch bunch pals. During our church's Thursday morning Bible study we all stayed after and ate lunch together with our accompanying children (7 munchkins total). Hence our self-proclaimed moniker lunch bunch. Creative, I know.

After the study ended we continued getting together for bi-monthly summer playdates and monthly girls' nights out (affectionately abbreviated GNOs).

It has been SO refreshing and encouraging to chill with these fellow moms in the trenches! We are like giddy highschoolers during our GNO's and as this post's title implies we enjoy our time out so much we always linger until closing time.

Thus far we've had three GNO's. The first was rather conventional; we met at Panera, ate dinner, drank bottomless-mug-coffee and chatted it up. The second GNO we met for fondue dipping fun at The Melting Pot. To make a fondue night reasonably priced we only did the chocolatey dessert part. Y-U-M. For our third and most recent GNO the ladies came to my town and I showed them my favorite sights. Produce shopping at our local health market, bacon cheeseburgers as my fave mom-and-pop restaurant, and then coffee at the eclectic and artsy Jimmy's cafe (pictured above).

Do you have a gaggle of gals you hang with? If so, what fun activities have you done together?

Old friends

Last night we got to catch up with some very old friends. Ray & Jen Arnett (nee Pischke) were in Cleveland for a library conference so they stopped by for a dinner visit.

I've known Jen since we were teenagers. A lot has changed since then!

The Arnetts have two darling girls, Kathleen and Faith. Chloe was thrilled to have two playmates on her turf! They succeeded in getting out almost every toy of Chloe's and making a royal mess. They had a ball though.

And we adults had a ball too! We caught up on life events from the past four years and chatted it up about libraries, Matt's studies, life in small town Michigan, cloth diapering, and much more.

Thanks for coming guys! If you (or any of you bloggers out there) are ever in the Cleveland/Akron area you're welcome for dinner and fellowship!

Isn't it fun to get together with old pals? How do you stay in touch with your longtime friends?

Tag-a-licious

Ok, I've been tagged three times now so I guess I can no longer put off posting 8 weird/interesting facts about myself. Here goes . . .

1. I know almost all the lines by heart of the movies The Princess Bride and Back to the Future II.
2. I think porcelain faced dolls are very creepy. The seriously scare me. (I'm sure it's due to the first horror movie I ever saw when I was an impressionable 6th grader. The movie was aptly entitled Dolls.)
   
3. I have no middle name.
4. When I read a book and it contains words I don't know, I list them on a scrap of paper and then use that paper as my bookmark. As I go through the book I keep adding unknown words that I come across so I can look them up and learn their meanings. (I've been doing this since highschool but now I do this every time I read a Charles Dickens book. Dickens is my all-time favorite and I've vowed to read everything he's ever written; his Pickwick Papers is the funniest book I've ever read. And I learn tons of new-to-me vocabulary from reading Dickens. I don't know how my vocabulary survived without convivial or stentorian.)
5. If I would have had my way, Chloe would have been named Aurora. :) Thankfully Matt talked me out of it. Can you imagine a little kid trying to say all the r's in Aurora?
6. When I was single I used to own an entire shoe rack (3 tiers high) for all the black shoes I owned.
7. I have been a bridesmaid 7 times. (Not including my sister's wedding which was unconventional and didn't have any bridesmaids. I was her coordinator person though.)
8. During my first semester at Northland I tried to throw a polka party in my room. I made fliers and put them in all the girls' mailboxes. I didn't have much common sense back then (I still lapse into those moments now that I'm an adult). Hello, a polka party at Northland BAPTIST Bible College?!? Mrs. Arndt didn't think it was a good idea. :) Another funny NBBC escapade involved putting blackcat firecrackers in the rec hall's fireplace. Hee-hee. I heard the dating couples looking into each others' eyes got quite a fright when they went off.
   

So, now I tag the following friends to post 8 weirdo facts about themselves. Consider yourself tagged Mary Ann, Carissa, Tracy, Janelle, Sarah, Tricia, Karis, Heather

Another urgent prayer request

This afternoon a good friend of mine's newly born baby girl will be undergoing heart transplant surgery. (For those of you who might know her, her name is Aaren [Krause] Lepien - she was my roomie and teaching buddy for a few years).

As most of you out there are moms, you can imagine with me what a soul-wrenching experience this is for my friend Aaren and her husband. Please join us in praying for baby Charis!

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." [James 5:13-16]

A hodgepodge

Thanks to all who commented on our Chloe Spring Fashion Show! Official results were . . .
White embroidered shirt/Jeans: 5 votes
Denim dress: 2 votes
Green polka dot skirt/Polo shirt: 2 votes
Mint green pants/White sleeveless top: 1 vote

My favorite is (drumroll please) . . . . the green polka dot skirt get-up. It's simply adorable on Chloe! And I'm a total sucker for polka-dots.

We are enjoying a beautiful day here in northeast Ohio. I can hardly believe that our porch thermometer reads above the 60 degree marking and is headed towards 70!!! This calls for a long walk after supper. Speaking of weather, has anyone else heard that our beloved midwest is scheduled for some snow on Easter weekend?!? Our forecast says snow and 30's for Easter Sunday - yucky! Oh well, it will certainly be an Easter to remember! Hiding eggs in the snow will be a new experience. I just hope our tulips will survive the last blast of winter.

What are your plans for Resurrection Sunday? Do you have any special family traditions for Easter? Do you do special dresses/outfits for your little ones? Who do you celebrate with?

After serving in the nursery at church on Easter morning, we'll be celebrating with our pals down the street - the Mack family. We have no family in Ohio, and the Macks have kindly invited us to join their festive tribe (they have 6 fun kiddos) again this year for Easter dinner. Chloe absolutely LOVES going to visit them and playing with all the Mack progeny. She's getting pretty stinkin' good at saying all the kids' names too! Though she often forgets Brittany. Sorry, dear Brittany!

I'm still not sure what Chloe will wear for Easter Sunday. No homemade dresses this year. Her closet is bulging at the seams with cute dresses so there was no need to labor over a sewing machine this year. I'll be sure to post photos of our cutie pie in whatever she ends up wearing!

Here are a few recent photos of our crazy girl . . .


















Chloe and her chocolate pudding beard.

















Yo, my name is Chloe and I'm here to say, toddlers have fun in a majah way! Word to my homies! (Sorry, had to borrow the rap lyrics from the old Flintstone's pebbles commercial - my knowledge of rap is majorly lacking.)























Chloe models her pretty dress made by abuela Horn before church this morning. She looked so lovely and like such a big girl!



















Here's my best kissy-face for the camera, mom!

My latest project

It feels like I've not blogged in months! I don't know if anyone even noticed, but I haven't been blogging as much lately since I've been wrapped up in my latest project. I just finished a cross-stitch wedding record for my friends' 10 year wedding anniversary. Whew! This project has given me a new appreciation for cross-stitchery. It turned out beautifully and I thank God for the time and energy to complete such a monstrous thing.

Melinda was so touched by the gift that she started crying! Yay! It feels so wonderful to know that I surprised her that much and that she appreciates all the effort I put into this.

In other news, my vivacious grandma flies in tomorrow morning for a visit so I anticipate a lack of blogging for the next week. Chloe is so pumped about seeing her "nana".

Here are a few pictures of my darling girl to keep you occupied while we're enjoying nana's company. Blog ya later!





Chloe's new favorite seat is the bookshelf even though it's rather crowded.



















A close-up of the project. You would not believe how many shades of purple went into this.














Chloe and her beloved Elmo.

The lifter of my head

Lately I've been struck with the beauty of God's Word in specific phrases from Scripture. Certain phrases paint such colorful visual pictures of our Lord's character. Friday God reminded me that He is the lifter of my head. Isn't it funny how God lifts a phrase out of His Word and then just bombards you with it in various ways? After listening to a sermon online, I heard the following song (this is only a portion of it) . . .

And I will praise the name of Jesus,
Praise the Lord, the Rock,
The Lifter of my head
Praise the God of my salvation,
All my days are in His faithful hands

During an evening game of Scrabble with Matt, God brought the thought to my heart again. I asked Matt where that phrase was found in Scripture, and he immediately replied, "Psalm 3" (I love being married to a fountain of knowledge!). Here's the first part of Psalm 3:

O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
Many are saying of my soul,
"There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.
But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was crying to the LORD with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

Then God reminded me of one of my all-time favorite hymns, O Love that wilt not let me go. The last verse reads as follows . . .

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Tonight my heart is burdened for a dear sister in Christ, Janelle Johnson and her family's situation. Pray with me that God will lift up her head and draw her close during these hard weeks!