Baptism

Several months ago Nathaniel asked about Baptism!  For the last several weeks he has been taking classes on "What We Believe" and so this morning was the Big Day!

It was Easter morning last year when Ronnie was baptized.  So this year, Nathaniel was ready to proclaim publicly his belief in Jesus Christ!

He was nervous to be up front,  but he was excited about the Baptism.

He answered every question with confidence!

 Ron invited me up front to pray with them.  

What an emotional time, what a proud moment!  

It is pretty exciting to have been a part of both our boys Baptism.

 So exciting and so proud of our little man!

So so proud!

Nathaniel is growing so much - physically, spiritually and emotionally!

We are so proud of the big decisions he is making for Jesus!  I pray that he will continue to make bold statements for Jesus and share his faith

Nathaniel, we are so proud of you!

He Is RISEN!

How Great is Our God!

So so thankful this morning that He is Risen!

Death has not won, Jesus Christ has Risen from the Dead!

Happy Easter!

May your celebration today and your life forever be filled with HIS presence!

And may you Live in the Reality that 

HE IS RISEN!

Missionary Visit

A couple of weeks ago we had the Degenkolb's for a visit!  Ray and Sylvia are preparing to go to Colombia with OMS (One Mission Society).  Ron had taught at OCU with Ray and so we have known them for several years.  However, this was the first opportunity to host them in our home!

They were coming to speak to our two churches on Sunday and we also planned a "Chalk Talk with Music" on Saturday evening!

Prior to everyone arriving the kids sat down with Ray and sang!  They all loved it.  They all four like the guitar and enjoy music.

 We had a pretty good crowd show up for Sylvia's Chalk Talk where she drew a picture and sold the story of Paul

She is a fantastic artist!

We ended the evening with some music lead by Ray!

 It was a great opportunity for our people to learn about Missions and see Ray and Sylvia share their talents.

The bonus for us:  Our kids got the opportunity to be up close and interact with these Missionaries in our home!

It was an extra special treat when Sylvia gave the kids a picture of Jonah that she had drawn!

They were super excited!

While it was a full weekend, it was also a very fun weekend!

Ray and Sylvia, thanks for coming and sharing your ministry with our churches and family!

Just Like Daddy

Eli has a wallet that he occasionally will decide needs a new business card in it!  He has one of Daddy's and decided he needs to make his own business card.

I had to snap a picture of it!

I love it!

He loves his Daddy and wants to be just like him!

Frozen Liquids

Nathaniel enjoyed his Science Fair Experiment this year!  He wanted to test to see which frozen liquid would melt the fastest.

He decided to test: Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, OJ, Milk and Water

He carefully measured out 1 cup of each liquid into each glass.

Then we stuck them in the freezer for several hours!  Until they were good and frozen!

 Nathaniel was upset by this picture because he didn't have his glasses on, but the point was to show that they are frozen!

Then we waited...and waited..

As it turns out the Pepsi and Dr. Pepper melted the fastest.  They took right at 5 hours.  Next was OJ at 5 hours and 45 minutes, then the milk at 6 hours and 10 minutes.  Water was the longest to melt taking 7 and 1/2 hours!  

Nathaniel was pretty sick the day of the Science Fair and still pretty sick when we returned that evening.  He wasn't into a picture, but he really did a great job and despite missing the Fair - he learned from his project!

Exploding Liquids

 The morning of the Science Fair at school, both Ronnie and Nathaniel woke up bright and early - very sick! They struggled all day and were disappointed not to be able to go to the Science Fair that evening.  They had worked so hard on their projects

Ronnie gathered his materials

He was going to add mentos candy to water, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi to see what kind of reaction it would make!

First the water.

Nothing

 Then the Pepsi

 "Awesome"

Then Diet Pepsi!

"That was cool" his siblings exclaimed as the geyser shot up in the air.  Ronnie was all grins!

He measured the liquid of both the Pepsi and Diet Pepsi after the geyser finished and found that both contained only bout 24 of the original 64 oz!

By the time we got home from the Science Fair that evening - Ronnie was feeling much better!

Science Fair

Last week was the boys Science Fair.  The older boys had to come up with an experiment and hypothesis and test it and then do a tri-fold board to explain everything.

The Kindergarten class however, did their  experiments in class and their teacher designed their board.  On the night of the Science Fair the kids were able to show off their experiments to their parents.

Eli was so excited to show me how vinegar in a water bottle and baking soda in a balloon when mixed together would blow up the balloon!

You can see the excitement on his face!

Then he was proud of his mission accomplished!

 Next he showed me how he could shoot a straw off this "rocket" he had made!  

I kept snapping pictures as he watched the straw fly off!

 Some of his classmates as they all got recognized!  Next year they will have their own board and experiment to do!

Update

I realize I haven't posted since Ron returned from Wilmore!  We have pretty much been non-stop since then.  The boys are on spring break this week and I had hoped for a little more "family" time, however spring break falling the week prior to Easter is hard, especially when Pastoring!

I hope to update a little of the last couple of weeks though, so stay tuned!

Ron's home

Ron is Home!

We are so thankful.

We have been non-stop since he got here though.

We are hosting Missionaries this weekend which made for a busy day yesterday and another one today!

 

So thankful to have Daddy back home!

Missing Daddy

I should have posted these earlier this week so that Ron would have them to look at!  I took them last weekend as we were trying not to think about Daddy leaving!

 

It never fails, get more than one person and the chances of everyone looking serious goes out the window!

 

Then when you put Ronnie in the picture, it is impossible!

 

Below Ron is trying to teach Eli solitaire!  Not sure why, but all three boys decided to play last weekend.  You can see the other 2 in the background.  Maddie is picking it up too!

So we're missing Daddy and anxious for him to be home with us!

Twins

Last weekend, Maddie knew her Daddy was getting ready to leave for Wilmore.  So she was staying pretty close.  They even dressed like twins.  Buckeye Shirts, Jeans and white socks with gray toes! 
She loved it!

 

Update

I'm not sure if anyone read my post yesterday on the Youth Group, but if you did and you prayed...Jesus answered!

 

We had a great meeting that I believe was completely lead by the Lord!  He was there!

 

It was pretty much rapid fire questions from 14 youth and the Lord helped me, big time!

 

The most exciting part - I was able to pray with 2 girls who prayed to accept Christ and invite Jesus to be Lord in their life!!!!!

 

YIPPEE JESUS!

Youth

Ron and I recently took over the leadership of our Youth Group.  Ron will be the first to tell you that he is not geared toward youth.  However, the kids love him!  He does great with them.  We really have a great group of kids.  It is a young group (6th-8th grades with one older), and they have only been meeting together since last summer.  But they are faithful attenders, even more so than their parents :)  They are young in their faith as well and they are full of questions.  They enjoy learning which makes it fun.

 

 

 

Tonight will be the 2nd time that I have lead them alone.  I prefer for Ron and I to tackle it together, but the Lord was so faithful last time and I pray that tonight is the same! 

 

My prayer is that they would grow in their spiritual walk.  That they would see their need for a deeper relationship with Jesus and they would be bold in their faith!

 

While Youth is for sure not as natural to me as preschoolers, it has gone well and we are trusting the Lord to continue to guide both Ron and I and the kids!

Memorization and Pizza

 

Several months ago I challenged a class of 3rd - 5th graders to memorize the books of the Bible.  We were doing a month long session on the "Bible" so I told them that if they could memorize them and tell me the books of the Bible, I would take them out for pizza!

 

I had 4 boys take me up on the challenge (2 were mine) and they all did a great job getting them memorized!

We tried a couple of dates to get it to all work out and after having a snow cancellation, finally last Wednesday I just invited the boys to come to our house for Pizza Hut Pizza!

 

Our boys were excited for Ryan and Jackson to come. 
They all enjoyed their pizza, then moved on to a few games of MLB Spot-It

From there it was upstairs to play basketball in the room (with a trash can on the top bunk).  I'm really not sure what Eli is doing here and I got him down as soon as I snapped the picture.

 

I might have gotten a little rough!

 Then the boys came back down to check the scores of basketball games before we headed to the church were their parents were dropping off their older siblings (for Youth) and picking them up!

I think they all 5 had a good time! 

Fun and short, my kind of party and pizza too!

And I'm so excited that they memorized the Books of the Bible!