I'm in a lull...

Really not sure what to write, but just wanted to give a little update as to how things are going. Since writing last, we've had those busy weeks where you look back and think, "What made it so busy?" We had a great New Year's Day eating lunch at Matthew's Aunt Elise and Uncle Arden's house and enjoying the company of the Brooks' side of his family. That afternoon we went over to our friends Jason and Julie's house. Another couple was there and we all enjoyed playing the "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" DVD game. Philip had a good time with Sarah Beth and Brittany and all their "girl" toys. Here's a pic of the three of them from our Harvest Fest in October.



The second week of January, I spent rereading my Bible study lesson as BSF picked back up on Jan. 10 after having a three week break and preparing the January newsletter for our MOPS group. Had the thing almost done on Saturday when my file corrupted or something! I had to start from scratch on Sunday afternoon but at least I had the layout in my head (fun, huh Casey?!).

Our MOPS meeting on Jan. 15 was great. Mom was our key-note speaker! I had thought she would only be giving a 10-minute testimony, but when Diana, our coordinator, called Mom about speaking, she told her she would have 30 minutes. I was nervous for Mom (neither of us are polished public speakers), but I was so proud of Mom and she did a great job speaking for 35-minutes! Her talk was about persevering through the hardtimes in marriage. Mom and Dad have been married 34 years and have homesickness, loss of job, issues with raising children, severe marital strains, and most recently cancer to post on their marriage resume. By God's grace, they are very happily married today. Listening to Mom speak and thinking about what she said from the perspective of all the other girls in the room, I have a renewed gratefulness to God for my parents and their example to me. I pray God blesses Matthew and I with many, many more years of marriage and the strength ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..." Philippians 4:13) to get through whatever type of trials will come.

Finally, Tuesday afternoon Philip woke up crying from his nap saying his throat hurt. I gave him some juice to drink and tried to get him to take Tylenol. He threw it up. An hour later, he ate ice cream, toast pizza and some applesause. Off and on, he said he didn't feel so good (Me: "How do you feel?" Philip: "Not good."), so I took him to the doctor yesterday to rule out strep throat (my throat has been hurting off and on for weeks. Thank the Lord, no strep but probably a virus I was told. We rested at Mom's house yesterday and today woke up to a beautiful white-snow covered world. Virus or not, Philip was outside playing in it and helped his neighbor friends Emily and Anna Grace build a snowman! He's now sleeping in his bed.

Looking back, it has been a great start to 2008!