The silver lining

It amazes me that every morning God choose to paint a new portrait as the sun rises. I am constantly awed at His creativity...thought you'd enjoy this view from the past week.

 We had quite a timecard last weekend with lots of visits from grandparents and were also able to attend a passion play in Woodbury. We are excited to have a church we've been enjoying the last two weeks and anticipate celebrating the resurrection at Canvas Church tomorrow. Last week, Madison and Breanne were excited to go to church and for whatever reason, they were way into wearing scarves. So, here's what Madison looked like by lunch time...and then later, while eating chocolate frosting for dessert:

Grandpa Verlyn and Grandma Barb were by for a couple visits between celebrating their 33rd Wedding Anniversary with a night out on the town. Aliya conned many into reading her "LaLaLoopsie" book from the library. I actually refused to read it because I had heard both grandma's (my mom also stopped for a short visit on Saturday) and Derrick read it so many times during the weekend. Later in the week, we had a "LaLaLoopsie party" after school where everyone needed to bring something to Aliya's party.

 

 On Monday, we were bummed to hear that Micah was admitted to the hospital in Rochester. (Follow his Caring Bridge website.) However, as my very wise older sister shared on Monday night, "God is always good!" So behind every storm cloud is a silver lining! We got to have four Sechler cousins spend a couple nights and days with us this past week.

Aliya and Abigail are inseparable! Both three (well, Abigail's almost 4) they have so much in common and besides eating Madison's gum and getting into my jewelry...they were pretty fun to watch. I have a picture very similar to this one of me and my cousin, Jennifer when we were little.

 When I asked Daniel if everyone in their family like popcorn and smoothies, he said yes. I explained that Breanne and my favorite meal is popcorn and smoothies and asked if we could have that for lunch one day; we was tickled. It must have seemed like a novelty to eat snack food for a meal. You should have seen the floor...it looked like it had snowed in my house..covered in white puffs. Caleb was hilarious, shoving in handfuls of popcorn into his mouth before returning outside.

Our aunt Deb, Alyssa, Kyli and Riley came to spend Friday afternoon with us. Riley was amazing with the kids. They all loved him. They played games outside and the Easter Egg Hunt game seemed to be the biggest hit of all.

 Six of the kids would wait in the front yard while one of the kiddos would hide the easter eggs in the backyard with Riley. This went on for hours...until they threw the eggs into the tall grass...apparently those eggs were harder to find.

We constantly lift these kids, Micah, Mike and Traci in prayer as we wait for God to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can even ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Love you guys!

Mighty to Save

Yesterday, our nephew Micah was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester for complications from poor functioning kidneys. We were fortunate to be able to visit for the evening last night...yet another gracious gift from God that we're only one-hour away from Mayo. I am amazed at the peace and confidence in our good Savior that Mike, Traci and Micah all continue to display. As Traci shared last night, "God is ALWAYS good." And Mike blogged today that God was not surprised by this and holds this all in His hands. I know that God is using their family to make an impact for Him on this earth through this tough circumstance. We love you guys, continually lift you up in prayer and KNOW that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can even ask or imagine!
You can follow Micah's story at   http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/micahsechler 

Hearts that seek first...

What greater joy can a mother have than to know that her children seek first the kingdom of God? This past week, a glimpse of this came from Madison & Breanne. We're so proud of our girls for learning their books of the Bible. Breanne memorized the books of the New Testament and Madison has now accomplished the Old & New Testaments. We can not tire in praying that they continue to seek Him first..
Last week was spring break for Madi & Bre and it was a joy for Aliya and I to have them home. We got to spend time together planting seeds for the garden, learning some Biblical worldview, did crafts, hosted a tea party, rode bikes, worked together and Daddy even took the day off Friday and took us to the Mall of America. On more of a bummer note, multiple times I found myself sprinting across the culdesac or backyard to the rescue of a little girls thrown off their bikes. Lots of skinned knees, bumps and bruises, but as dad always says, "a long way from the heart!"

I am editor..

Any mother will understand that what one does...the other siblings have to do. I now find myself not just writer of the blog but editor. Here's Madi's take on school:

School                                                                                                            

I have been in school like 3 weeks. It is different here. Like in Billings they called library library. Here they call it Media. We have art here. In Billings we didn’t.

-Madison                         

A new blogger...

I am excited to introduce the newest blogger in the DeWilde family. I hope this is the first of many posts from our creative middle Breanne:

I am having a Tea party. I am inviting Destiny, Kendall, Emma, Eliy. I am having pink punch. I am having cookies. It will be fun. I will post pictures later.

-Breanne

At last...

Not sure I fully grasped how different moving would be when your family is bigger and older. Maybe it's just my older age but it has been an exhausting month to be sure! I can't believe that it's been a month ago already that we became homeowners again. As to be expected, it's been a somersault of emotions as we've begun to develop a new kind of normal for this DeWilde family.

When we took possession of our house, we decided to spend one week painting and cleaning before we moved in any of our belongings. Without appliances, it was tricky to say the least. If you can't make it with a crockpot, coffee pot or fry pan, it ain't gettin' made! Thank goodness God loaned us a "walk-in freezer/fridge combo" to use for the two-weeks it took to get our appliances.

 Derrick, Aliya & I spent the whole week up getting situated while Madison & Breanne stayed at grandpa & grandma's house finishing their last week of school at Pipestone schools. The girls were SO excited to finally be in a home that was ours again! We were so thankful to have a place to stay with grandpa & grandma, but Derrick really missed being away from his four girls mostly every week.

 The girls quickly picked out colors for their rooms and we set to work getting bedrooms painted. We enjoyed many a "picnics" in the porch and sleeping bag parties in their new rooms.

 On Monday, Madison & Breanne left to finish their last week of school in Pipestone.
Madison was honored on her last day of school by being awarded the "Terrific Kid" award. We were so bummed to miss it, but she was well supported by her grandpas and grandmas. Mrs. Torkelson was sad to see her leave Hill Elementary.
Aliya was so bummed to be flying solo with just mom around during the day. A highlight for her was opening her present from grandma Barb and she quickly memorized the stories told in her new "laptop." Breanne said it was no fair because no only was the laptop pink, it has a mouse.

In my estimation, the best part of our new home is the 4-season porch. There's nothing like waking up in the morning, turning on the fireplace and watching the sun come up. Coffee, sunrise, Bible and God...priceless!

Move in Day was very efficient but busy. We were blessed with 16 people to help us get the storage unit emptied and carried into the house. It went pretty quickly even when though it's pretty stressful to see your home in boxes. Slowly, we've gotten everything unpacked and still manage to wonder..."where is..." I guess it happens. You're bound to loose somethings when you move.

Our neighborhood is very friendly and we blessed with 15 kids in our culdesac! It's a party everyday after school around here. Madison and Breanne are both doing well adjusting to their third school this school year. They've made some friends and even get to ride the bus with the other kids in the neighborhood. Pitching the trampoline was a magnet for making new friends...they seem to come out of the woodwork.

Since moving in and unpacking the bikes, Aliya's decided she is a manic on her little bike. Before this crazy warm weather came in, she would be out no matter what pedaling her bike around...socks, hat, flip-flops and all. It's so fun to see her pick up skills seemingly overnight.

Before we moved out of my parents' home in Pipestone. The Sechler cousins came to visit us for the week. The big girls got to go on a date with grandpa. He said it was pretty wild! I can only imagine! When they got home, the all had a turn to show off their reading skills by reading the Bible with grandpa. 

Eegads! I'm Boy TRAPPED!

What a fun weekend for momma to get away from her princesses and spend time getting to know some little gentlemen. This past weekend, Derrick gave me the gift of time to spend with the Giffey family down in Tennessee. I had a great time and often found myself "boy trapped" (which doesn't ever happen at our house...guess I know how Derrick feels now.) I think I played more Mario Kart in one evening than I've ever played in my life and for the first time that I can recall in my adult life, I played 2-on-2 basketball. I loved just getting to know these little boys and do everyday life with them. Also, learned to thank Jesus for, "the sun, and the rain and the "citrus" seed." (I get it Grady!)

Gail & I got to have some girl time too. She's currently expecting her fifth boy (any day now) affectionately called G5 (The fifth G: Grady, Gavin, Gunnar & Gage. Get it?). She amazed me with how much energy she had. I made her walk around the Cane Creek Lake for old time's sake and we went out to dinner and a play on Saturday night. Here I thought I'd get to take a nap every afternoon...I called her energizer bunny! I took more naps than Gail did.

We got to attend The River Community Church. It was fun to see a few old friends and watch how the "little" kids aren't so little anymore. The last words I heard were from Gunnar, "Next time, bring your kids." I'll try!

I was able to grab lunch with a friend, Amber, in Nashville before flying home on Monday. It was fabulous to catch up and edify each other in really just a short time. That's what I love about relationships built on Christ, there's always something to connect on and common ground.
Now, it's onto the next chapter in our lives...we bought a house! Yeahoo! We're so excited and expect to close on February 17. It truly has been a blessing to be (quite literally) "with" family for this stay but I see that's important for our family to be on our own and most importantly together with our daddy.