March 2025

March

It always feels like we've survived the winter when we get to March.  We get a few more days without rain and the kids are all just so excited to get back outside although many of the days are still pretty cold.

Maddie

Aubrey

Hazel has been asking Brandon to read the Bible with her at night which is really sweet.

Dr. Seuss Day!

They're the cutest!!!

The first daffodils of Spring are always so welcomed and adored.

Aubrey

Maddie

We've started falling trees in preparation for some landscaping and a new back patio.

A shower for Auntie Amanda and Baby Grace

Amanda is so sweet to the girls.  They literally gave her literally zero personal space during the shower and she seemed not at all bothered.  She's the best and they just adore her.

Mission Trips

Every year our high schoolers attend a mission trip the week before Spring Break.  For Sadie's first trip she stayed in Salem which wasn't her first choice but I was really proud of her for embracing the experience.  The team spent a day in downtown Salem and a day in Portland walking the streets and asking people if they could pray for them.  They also visited a Jewish synagogue and had a chance to hear a little about what they believe and to begin processing the similarities and differences of another faith in comparison to Christianity.  I can only imagine how far out of their comfort zone this pushed them but they did it and walked away pretty excited about the experience.  They were challenged in the best ways by the YWAM staff during this trip to life their lives in service to Christ.

Attending the trip with her where her good friends Sailor, Felicity, Bella, Wesley, and Kaleb.

While she was gone we took turns taking care of Cori.

We ran into Coastal to look for a graduation outfit for Wyatt and these too are a hoot.

They of course couldn't resist the stuffies.

And this they really wanted to buy for Mrs. Metzger.

Next in the month of March was the Talent Show.

The kids always want to be in the talent show and I never know what to have them do.  So when the cheer coach offered to do a cheer with any girls interested I thought perfect!

The talent show was Friday afternoon, same time as Sadie needed to be picked up from YWAM, and just hours before we were headed up to Caldera Sprints to enjoy the first part of Spring Break with the family.  As I raced out the door to drop of the dog at the kennel and grab Subway to eat in the car on the way to Caldera, I got a call from the middle school principle to say Wyatt had taken a shot to the junk that brought him to tears in front of his entire class.  Oh Boy!!  Then I got home to find Sadie a puddle of tears because she'd broken my backpack on the way home from the mission trip and "had been crying ever since."  Translated she was exhausted from not sleeping on her mission trip.  This is life as we currently live it.  So lets squeeze all the kids into the suburban and drive 3 hours to sleep, not in their own beds, but in a bunk room with cousins.  Solid plan I think...

We returned from Caldera on Monday evening and Wyatt headed out Tuesday morning to Bandon, Oregon with his friend Lucah and his family.

We found some time to get to the park with the girls 

On Saturday Brandon's friend Kevin came over and helped us fall the remaining trees in the back.

Oh and Zoey has a thing for Orbeez beads apparently.  The girls keep leaving them out and she's eaten her weight in them.  At the point I took this picture we were not sure she was going to survive her most recent bad life choice.  Wyatt came home to a very lethargic dog which he was so sad about.  However, she has survived this crisis and lives to make her next poor choice.

Cooper and May