Hannah turns 7

After returning from Arkansas, I spent all day Friday cooking and preparing for the coming weekend. Josh's were driving up on Saturday and would be here through Monday so I needed meals ready. And we were going to have a birthday party for Hannah so I needed food for that as well.

On Saturday Dad, Mom, Aunt Millie and myself drove to Hutchinson for my Aunt Mary's funeral. She had fallen a couple of weeks prior and just never recovered. Ended up with pnemonia. My dad and all his sisters are poets and they read some of her poetry at the funeral.

The 3 remaining Vorans - Dad, Aunt Betty and Aunt Millie. We had a meal at the church in Castleton following the burial in rural Pretty Prairie. Afterwards, we took a drive down Memory Lane, driving to the old farmstead and pointing out where their one-room school house was.

And here are me and some of my cousins.
And the cousins back in '62 when we came to America on furlough.
On Sunday morning, Adam asked Josh to help him with worship. This will probably be the last picture of them doing worship together. Adam is going to our Hillsboro church plant as the main pastor soon.
Eli came to the nursery and it was fun to pop in on him occasionally while I was working.

Hannah turns 7 today, but we celebrated her birthday after church.
She ordered brats for the main dish. She LOVES brats! We also did chicken. And had lots of salads and other goodies.

My parents came as did Adam's parents. They had just been to a conference in Okoboji, Iowa and had driven since 8 that morning!
After a very filling meal, Hannah thought we should let our tummies settle and open gifts before having cake.

She flew into her daddy's arms when she opened this gift from all of us. Tears filled my eyes to see her happiness.
She has wanted Felicity,an American girl doll for a long time. Those stories are so wonderful and not only very interesting for little girls, but what a way to learn about history!
Great Aunt Terrie got her some Felicity clothes and you can see by her reaction what she thought of that!!
Emeri and Eli got her this and she also got some horse bed sheets from her folks. And Hannah wanted a horse cake.
I got each of the grandchildren some coloring/painting books and it occupied them for a long time while we visited and cleaned up.

Adam had to leave so he didn't get in this photo, but here are the men in my life!

The kids left Monday after lunch together as a family. It has been a very busy week, but I am joyful that God answered prayer in such a big way for me. Several of my friends were praying too that I would find the strength to endure. I can only say that it has been God who has been my strength as I have not had symptoms of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever for 2 weeks now (except for very, very mild ones)! It really is amazing and such an answer to prayer!
Happy Birthday, Hannah!!!! 7 years old!

Quick trip

I have had one BUSY week! It began last Tuesday with a quick trip down to Arkansas.
Josh and Staci needed some help with their children. Staci's mother was very ill and she usually takes care of them Tuesday evening while they have community group and also all day Wednesday. It was fun to see the children and play with them.

The weather was nice and the first thing I noticed was everything was in bloom! A week later now I have noticed that things are starting to bloom here in Kansas also.
Josh had drawn "streets" on their driveway. There were also bridges with a river flowing underneath it, and a car wash/gas station too.

We read books, painted pictures in their art room and cars and princesses. Thursday morning I headed back to Kansas. Ran into a slushy snow just past Joplin. But sunny by the time I got home in time to babysit the Kansas grandkids!

Japanese lesson on Girls' Day

For our Japanese lessons this week, I told the girls about Hina Matsuri Day which is also known as Girls' Day. In the above picture, I am with my friends at a girl's day celebration. Girl's Day is a special holiday in Japan that takes place on March 3 every year. The families make wishes for the good health, growth and happiness for their girls.

Japanese families display dolls of the Emporer and Empress in their homes. Some doll sets also include all of the Imperial court; the attendants, musicians and their possessions. These dolls are not played with as they are usually gifts from the grandparents or inherited from the girl's mother and are quite delicate and expensive!


Hannah and Sophia painted pictures of Japanese girls in kimono and then made these princesses.

We set up our own red tier stand for our Emperial court. We didn't really have an emperor or empress or all that goes with it. We improvised.

A Japanese woman made kimono for my Barbies so there they are on the 2nd to the top. Along with Sophia's "scratchy bunny" that she sleeps with. And a samurai at the bottom to protect them all.
The girls loved dressing up in kimono and whirling the umbrellas around.
Then we played "mama-goto" or "house" with our Japanese play dishes.

I prayed a blessing on all my granddaughters. He has a special plan for each one.

Seven years

It has been 7 years since we moved into our home on this date.
Our care group (that's what we called them before Adam moved here and they were renamed community life groups), friends, and mom and dad helped us with the move. We lived 6 months in the country in a rental since our home in Quail Creek sold before our new home was finished.
The Josts (whose home we rented) loaned us a cattle trailer to load up all our furniture and boxes. They worked so hard to clean it out. Even put in a nice flooring! There were several pickups too.
Here our lawn is still dirt - no grass yet. And on the street running south there is only 1 house. Today there are 6 homes on that street.


laying down on the job

We had a delicious lunch provided by my friend Becky.

We enjoy our home, especially to host Bible studies or have friends over to eat. And in particular to have the family over! What a blessing. Our hearts go out to all those whose lives have been uprooted this past week due to the tornado breakout.
This day is also a special day for one of my young mom friends, who is celebrating her birthday. Happy Birthday Tami!

And I think of sweet Cora whose birthday it is on this day too. Cora's family grieves their loss as Cora is now with the Lord. Blessings to you, dear friends!

Kansas Restaurant, March

This is where we were going to go last month, but made a mistake and went to Logan's. Not that Logan's was a mistake, but the coupon I had was for here. And it was quite good!!

The couple we took tonight was Joel and Kendall. We have known them for around 9 years now. They came to our church as newly marrieds. Allen and I had just felt led to begin a young marrieds Bible study small group and they signed up. Here are a few pictures of the "old" days.

On a summer trip to Oklahoma.

A Halloween party we had. Aren't they so clever?!

Christmas - don't you like our holiday sweaters? And Joel being his old goofy self.

The food was quite delicious. Salads, warm bread, sweet potatoes, steak, chicken, ribs...


and a bottle for this little one who came with us.
Thanks for a fun night guys!

Spinning around

This year in Bible study I am doing Beth Moore's "David: Seeking a Heart Like His". This week we looked at Psalm 32. David wrote this Psalm after he confessed his sins. God forgave David of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and of the murder of her husband.

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven.
"Blessed" means "sheer happiness". There is no one, absolutely no one He can't redeem. And because that is the kind of God He is, we can experience sheer happiness!

"Rejoice in the Lord and be glad"
The term "be glad" means "to spin around".

Have you ever watched a child spin around in delight? I often have seen my grandchildren spinning and dancing with joy. We can be going through awful times, but when we keep our hand in His, just like a child holds on to her daddy's hand, we can still be happy and spin around. I am so glad that in the "storms" of our lives, we don't have to go it alone. He is there holding on to us, sustaining us. Next time I feel down, I think I will just spin around to remind myself to "be glad" and "be full of sheer happiness" because despite circumstances that can pull me under (which is what the evil one desires) I can hold on to my Father's hand! He will never leave me nor forsake me. Ever.

Tonight at Awana, during our Cubbie singing time, Jon led us in a song called "Happy, happy" and we decided to have the children spin around while we sang it. It was so fun - but we sure got dizzy!



I had to include this picture of my son and his daughter getting ready to go to their church father/daughter dance this past month! Emeri did a lot of spinning and jumping around. She just loved dancing with her daddy!

Princesses

The girls are in ballet this year.

And they were having pictures taken at the studio.

The girls were to wear make-up so they wouldn't look washed out in the photos. They felt like little princesses!



They had to be careful how they would sit in the car so they wouldn't mash up their tutus.

At the dance studio.

Excited little girls! It will be fun to watch what all they have learned this year at their program in May!