Easter Sunday 2007

Dalva, our resident artist, painted the shirts for the girls who had the major speaking parts in the children's musical presented Easter Sunday night.

Easter weekend was packed...

Children's musical practice on Friday afternoon

Saturday 6am work on getting things in shape for Sunday's services

Saturday music practice and leadership meeting in the evening

Sunday: Roll out cinnamon rolls at 4:30 am

Easter Sunday Sunrise service/breakfast and Communion at 6 am

Oh, no...RAIN!!! 2 pm

Sunday school at 5 pm (no rain!!)

Set up lights, sound and scenery

Practice musical at 6:15 pm (still no rain!!)

Evening Service at 7 pm (once again, no rain...yeah!!)

Alicia is ready to help even at 6am

Building classrooms on top of our storage building. Cement pad (foreground)where the evening service was held. Any questions why rain is a big issue?!?!?

Easter Sunrise service and breakfast...everyone contributed something

The kids' musical, Vida Com Cristo (Life with Jesus), was presented by some of our Sunday School kids. Pictured is the kids choir.

Jessica, Alicia, Hyeza, Suyanne and Myrla...the five girls who memorized the lion's share of the musical. It was fun working with such a motivated group of kids.

Ressurection Eggs

Easter Sunday the kids will present a children's musical called "Life with Christ". The excitement is running high with practices and delivering invitations to their family and neighbors.

It has been quite a while since I have wanted our church to start a children's church that would function during the regular Sunday service. I offered to be one of the main helpers, but suggested that a team that rotated regularly would better meet everyone's needs. Our small group prayed about it and talked about it for a while, but nothing ever really came of it.

Then when Christ is Life moved from the school out to its own property, the possibility of it happening in the near future looked even slimmer. Where were we going to find a spot that wouldn't interrupt the adults? After all, we were all meeting out under the stars!

Since I didn't have any helpers and no real place to meet, HE provided an even better option. While we have our regular Thursday evening group, I take the kids and use the same curriculum we would use in children's church. (Right now we are working through the attributes of God.) I even got a young, energetic, creative, FULL-of-ideas helper...Jessica. She takes the younger group of kids and I take the older. What more could I ask?!?!

Yesterday we used the Ressurection Eggs in our lesson and decorated foam crosses to remind us of how Jesus gave His ALL.

Praying that your Easter is filled with an intense desire to share Christ, who gave His ALL for us ALL.

Kidnapped?

Sunset on the beach where we stayed. Figure out how we can see the sun set over the Atlantic and you get 10 gummies!

Thursday afternoon Ken and I did what was next to impossible. We got away!

I managed to get my Friday classes taught earlier in the week, Jessica handled the kid's club Thursday evening (with the help of "able bodied" Ivonete) and the practice for the kid's musical for Easter. Larissa stayed with the girls, got them to school, back home and do their homework and chores...not to mentioned the loads of food that they made and consumed!

I thought I knew the schedule...

• get in car and drive to Fortaleza
• spend night with friends and leave the next morning
• Lori gets dropped off at a school to visit with some friends while
• Ken attends a meeting
• Lori gets to the lab to do some routine tests
• Ken picks up Lori and...
• we go home.

NOT

Everything went as planned up until the last point on the list. We drove within 70k of Mossoró and took a turn. I knew the area, so had a clue where we were, but didn't know what was going on until he turned into a little "pousada". My first question was, "Does Larissa know we aren't coming home tonight?" I guess everyone but me knew about the little "get away" so I didn't stress out. It was nice to get away from the grind for a while.

What's up with the new look?

photo: Our backyard


There are things we do because we have to...
wash the dishes, brush our teeth, fold the clothes, go to school

There are things we do because we like to...
eat chocolate, sleep in, read a good book, jump on the trampoline

There are things we do because we don't want to suffer later...
pay bills, exercise, get up a few minutes earlier so the morning doesn't get off to a hectic start

There are things we do because we love someone else enough to give up a preference to show them how much they mean to us...
watch that airplane movie that Ken chose instead of the romance that I thought would be much better, making the kid's favorite cookies instead of mine, changing the background so my uncle can print the blog out for my aunt and use lots less ink. :) Love you guys!!!

And By Popular Demand...

THE RECIPIE!

SUPER MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE

Mix all dry ingredients first and then add liquid making sure to add the hot coffee last:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sour milk (fresh milk with a squirt of vinegar works, too)
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup hot, strong coffee

Bake in greased 9x13 baking pan for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees (when you see the sides pulling away and the center comes out clean).

The original frosting recipie:
1 stick butter
1 tsp real vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Milk to desired thickness

Our powdered sugar here is grainier, so it doesn't make as nice of a frosting. I prefer the fluffy, smooth, gooey, seven minute frosting recipie (easily found in just about any cookbook) that I can beat up thick and fluffy in my Kitchen Aid with the wisk attachment.

MMMMMM....my resolve to wait another month to make this thing is fading fast....

Featuring...

Jessica and Anabel!!! Our two March birthday girls are thrilled to be one year older. I am the one who is feeling it, though, I'm afraid. The official cake was my sister's really-awesome-super-moist-can't-believe-it-is-made-from-scratch-chocolate cake* topped with marshmallowy 7 minute frosting and sprinkled with cocoa or confetti sprinkles. (Anabel got lucky, they just happened to have some in the grocery store the day I went to buy her number 7 candle that keeps lighting back up every time you blow it out.)


Jessica showing off her knick-knack shelf that Grandpa Stucky helped me make and I decopaged and painted. She is FINALLY (whew) 14.

Anabel, now 7 years old and 1/2 Jessica's age, is modeling her "princess" dress that we had made for her. She loves to play and dress up. High heals are one of her favorites (just bought her a really cheap pair with sequins today). Her running commentary of life through her eyes keeps us in stitches.

Wearing the new "princess" dress and eating that "oh-so-good" chocolate cake with the confetti sprinkles.

* I was listening to the Junior Sunday School class have their review of the 10 commandments last Sunday. The teacher asked if temptation is a sin. Lots of loud affirmation went up from the lips of these wise little people. The teacher responded with, "Hmmmm. Ok, then, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert. Did He sin?" A loud chorus of "NO" rang from these wise little people. "But you just said that temptation is sin." One little girl (and it wasn't Alicia) with slightly quicker logic than the rest said..."Wait a minute!"

While I got a kick out of listening to these kids, I was thrilled to see them thinking through and coming to grips with some really basic questions. Ones that they need to THINK through and not just memorize the answers to.


So what does that have to do with birthdays? Well, I just have to say that I can't make this cake for a very long time. The temptation is far to great...I could eat the WHOLE rest of the cake while no one is looking and that is no joke, and that makes it sin. Thank goodness there are no April birthdays in our family!

Whew!

My "tangerine-lemon" tree is LOADED this year. Will be making lots of juice in the not-to-distant future...


Well, I'm back. Been a long month, I guess. We have been through two birthdays, a roofing, floor pouring, LOTS of rain + wind (which we are not at all used to) and too many other daily activities to count. Will be adding pictures here in not too long to get up to date.