Mother's Day Sermon

May 10th was Mother's Day (yes I'm behind). I'm immensely grateful for my own mother and for Dixie who mothers my children. They both have calming, generous spirits, which I admire. I always try and fail to emulate Dixie's patients. I am blessed to have both of these mothers in my life.

At church that day, our preacher, Jerry Neill was out of town, so I gave the sermon. I'm not the best preacher in the world. I definitely feel more in my element leading worship than I do when I preach, but considering I've had relatively little experience preaching and I can mark improvement each time I preach, I think I'm moving in the right direction. I'm thankful that Meadowbrook graciously endures my preaching and encourages me along the way.

I called the sermon, "A Nurturing Nature." I collected some artwork from the artists at Meadowbrook to use in the sermon. Here are the pieces you can look at as you listen to the sermon if you'd like to listen to it.

Tye Stricklin, age 5:


Hunter Adcock, age 9:


Ashton Martin, age 12:


Gayle Reaves, "Mother and Child":


Ton Rietvelt:


Gayle Reaves:


Larry Stowe:


Larry Stowe's childhood hand imprint:

Back on the Blog / Ethan's Birthday

No more pencils, no more books...

I'm really ready for a little bit of a break from school. I took 9 hours in the fall and 9 hours in the spring so I'm feeling a little bit of a burn out. The good news is that I only need 1 class this summer, 2 in the fall, and 2 next spring and then I'll be done with this M.A. in Theology. Once I finish this degree, it will be a long time before I even consider going back to school. More than likely, my formal education will be concluded.

So I have about 6 weeks or so with no school responsibilities. There is much rejoicing!

With a little bit of extra time, I should be able to return to the blog a bit more regularly.

...

Saturday was Ethan's Birthday. He turned 5! Ethan is our kid with the easiest smile. He probably has the easiest tears too, but in happy times he is so fun to be around. He gets so excited about little things that he can hardly contain himself. Sometimes a popsicle from the ice cream truck is the greatest thing in the world!

So, needless to say, when big things like birthdays or Christmas come along, Ethan is just beside himself. The dimples make frequent appearances.

Dixie planned a Mario & Luigi party for Ethan and his friends. It came off great. Here's a picture of the cake that Dixie made:


Here are the party goers, complete with Mario & Luigi hats and mustaches:
And here is just a taste of Ethan's excitement over one of his presents. Imagine you also hear this sound: "Ohhhhhhhhh. That's awesome!"

A great time was had by all!