A very special girl

Today is the birthday of our one and only niece! She is our little princess and such a special girl to us. It's hard to believe that she is turning 9 years old today!! It seems like yesterday that I became an aunt for the very first time and the joy I felt as I held her in my arms. We love you Jessica!! Happy Birthday from Aunt Nana & Uncle Luke!

What a reason to celebrate!

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What does Easter mean to you? Is it a time to get together with family and friends, have an Easter egg hunt, open up the Easter baskets, eat chocolate bunnies, sit on the Easter bunny's lap.....? Or is Easter the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Sadly, for many in our world today, their Easter celebration consists of the first scenario. They tell their chidren that the Easter bunny left them this basket full of goodies and toys. What a twisted view of Easter! For the Christian, Easter should be one of the happiest times of celebration! The Savior is ALIVE! Christ's story doesn't end at the tomb. He triumphed over death and hell and rose again with victory! What an awesome thing to celebrate!!

This Easter let's concentrate on the REAL meaning of the season, and not allow the world's view to distort it. Celebrate our Risen Savior!!

April Teen Night

It was our privilege to have our Church teens over for a youth night on friday. We are working with a group of girls right now at this point in our Ministry so that has been exciting! :0) We pray that each one of them would come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. Danielle, Shannon, Cindy, Melody, Me, Nataija Help us hold these precious souls up to Jesus in prayer!

"Camping at Sinai"

We recently started a new theme in Junior Church titled "Camping at Sinai" in which we are teaching the Ten Commandments. Sis Crystal Hodak is our Junior Church leader and the brains behind it all. Sis Kate and I just help set it all up and teach every 3rd week! What a blessing and a load off of my mind that has been!! We are all three back there every week with the children taking turns doing the memory verse, leading the singing, and teaching the lesson. It makes things run so much smoother when you don't have to do it all yourself! Our "Mt. Sinai"--notice the stone tablets on display.... :0) Sis Crystal in the character of "Moses" for the first week of the theme :0)

Nick was the little Israelite who "wandered through the Wilderness" with Moses

They had to have tents to live in right? And of course you can't forget the pack donkey! :0)

Happiness That Money Cannot Buy

Many people believe that as long as they are rich they will always be happy. What a sad mistake. While it is possible for you to be happy and be rich at the same time; money does NOT buy happiness. Riches have the potential of tying one down to the things of this world, putting you in bondage to those things, and making you miserable. So what does bring true happiness?

True happiness is knowing the joy of Salvation. The words of this song by the Mark Trammel Trio says it so well... "Real happiness is following Jesus. Happiness is serving the Lord. Real happiness is knowing the joy of Salvation! And you'll never know real happiness 'til you know the Lord." There is a void inside of each one of us that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. He has designed us to NEED Him in order to be truly happy. It isn't a drudgery to serve Jesus and to do what pleases Him, because He fills us with a joy and a peace that we cannot find anywhere else. He makes it more that just "worth it" to serve Him!

Riches may last for a short time, but the joy that Jesus gives us will last for eternity. But let's not just hoard that joy and enjoy it for ourselves. We need to share it with the lost and dying world around us. They need to hear that Jesus can satisfy the longing in their soul and that He can give real joy and happiness. Let's determine to share Jesus with those we meet so that they too can have real happiness in serving the Lord.

26 years and counting...

Today is my sweethearts 26th birthday. Since he prefers I leave him out of my "blogging" as much as possible, I will just keep it simple... Happy Birthday honey!!

Keeping the Clutter Out: Maintaining Clutter-Free Spaces

Clutter is a problem in every home all across America. We LOVE to hang onto our junk. We move it from room to room, stuff it under our beds, heap it in the garage, leave it laying around ANYTHING but get RID of it, right?! We say, 'why bother, it will just accumulate again!'. Well, let's look at some ways to maintain our clutter-free spaces so it won't accumulate again...

~Decide What is Really Needed:
If you haven't used it in a year, you probably don't NEED it, and it's time to get rid of it. Use that space more wisely. Keep this in mind, and when you see that item in the store that you really THINK you need; ask yourself if you have a space for it. If you've gone to the trouble of de-cluttering, you probably aren't going to want to do that on a regular basis and will decide it's worth it to maintain.

~Put Things Back:
When you use something, don't just toss it on the floor and leave the room. Make it a rule of thumb to always return things to their original place before going on to the next thing. If you do this all the time, you will avoid the overwhelming task of doing it later when it has had time to accumulate!

~25 Pick Up:
If things HAVE accumulated, here's a trick to take care of the problem quickly and easily. Grab an empty laundry basket and take it with you from room to room, filling it with all the items that don't belong in that room. Then as you go from room to room replace the items that belong in that particular room and continue on to the next room until your laundry basket is empty. Again, if you do this on a regular basis, you won't accumulate large amounts of items that tend to overwhelm you and make you give it up.

**The Biggest key to remember when maintaining a clutter-free space, is to keep on top of it or you will get snowed under!

For other articles concerning this subject visit Joy Ever After and Borrowed Time Blogging for their expert opinions.