Good Morning

This is a picture from Ethan's preschool Valentine party. The little girls are Alyssa and Olivia. Aren't they cute? Alyssa's mom is Emily's teacher at school.

Here is a picture of Emily and the "Bug Cafe" she made from Play-Doh. She made tables, chairs, and even plates and "food" for them. I thought that was cute.

I had a good walk this morning and listened to Patrick Mead's sermon on "Heart Check." It was a good one - I recommend it. One thing that stuck with me was, if you can't say "in the name of the Lord Jesus" at the end of whatever it is you're saying, you probably don't need to say it. Gulp. How many times do I just spout off something at the kids or John without thinking? Another thing was, we'll be judged by our words, even the little idle ones here and there that we don't think about before we say. I guess I needed that! He also talked about what our "default mode" is. Is it offensive, defensive, forgiving, angry, etc.? It should be as much like Jesus would be as we can get. When things happen, what is our gut reaction? There were alot of things in there that are food for thought. Last week I listened to one of Mike Cope's lessons on rearing children - also good.
This Saturday is Emily's birthday. All the grandparents will be here, plus Aunt Katie. There's nothing like company coming to get you motivated. John and I have been working on our living room, foyer, and hallway walls to get them painted before Saturday. John started painting the hall (which didn't require much prep work), and is removing the lovely zebra border in Ethan's room. I spent Sunday afternoon and yesterday cleaning wallpaper paste off the other walls. I also did the spackling. I hate the sanding part, because all of that dust goes everywhere in the house! I hope to get that done today so I can start painting. So I don't have much time to write here today.
Our kids are doing well. Emily was home on Monday for Presidents Day. I didn't realize there was no school until I was out in the garage putting Ethan in the car and noticed there were no cars in the school parking lot! Oh well.
Weight loss is still going. The last time I checked, I was down 2 more pounds. When I get to my goal, I will have to buy some new jeans!
Well, I don't have time to write any more, but keep up those blogs! I enjoy reading them and keeping up with you!