Surviving Winter

We have been having very cold temperatures here lately. It has been below zero with a wind chill factor of -25 to -30. I've been told that Spring does come. I don't think it comes until May, but nevertheless it comes. Today has been the first day in two weeks that it is 30 degrees and we are loving it. It is nice and sunny outside.

Darin has been gone this weekend with the highschool students to a place called Timber Bay. They will return later today. While he was gone it snowed and I had to shovel the driveway in
-10 degree weather. I thought I did a pretty good job until this morning when we were on our way to church I commented on how nicely shoveled the driveway looked and Tyson said, "It doesn't look as nice as when dad does it." Oh well.

Logan has turned five already. He had his first friend birthday party. We had it at the RAC (Rochester Athletic Club). He invited nine of his friends and they were entertained by the staff there. Darin and I didn't have to do anything except show up. It was great!! They even wrote down which child gave what present for me. No set up, no figuring out games to play, no 4-5yr. olds running around in my house, and no clean-up. It was the best party ever......and I think Logan had a good time too. :) He is also loving preschool this year and making tons of friends.

Tyson is doing very well in school. He plays with his classmates (although he doesn't have a set group of kids he plays with all of the time, we are just happy that he plays with other kids). He still loves to learn and is doing well academically. He told me that science is his favorite subject.

Avery loves jumping and dancing all over the house. Her favorite song is, "Go Tell It On The Mountain" which she sings everyday, and she has learned to count to 10 in spanish (thanks to our Ecuador friends). We are working on potty training, and I hope she is a lot quicker at catching on then her brothers were.

Darin has had the opportunity to learn a little bit about hockey which is huge here. He has gone to some of the highschool games to watch some of his students play. He also has done some scoring for the high school volleyball teams this past Fall. His most recent adventure has been to play soccer at the RAC (Rochester Athletic Club) at lunch time with some other professionals in the community as a chance to get to know people outside the church.

I have been trying to keep busy with these cold winter days. Sometimes I get gloomy, but then the sun comes out and I feel much better (as long as I stay inside of course). My friend, Vickie, who is a christian writer and motivational speaker has asked me along with five other women to be in a focus group for her new book coming out called Holy Enthusiasm. I am very excited to be a part of this process. She sent me the first three chapters of her book to read and it has been very encouraging and uplifting. I am reminded often of all the great opportunities that God has provided our family here, and when it gets hard to be so far away from so many of our loved ones it's as if God pulls me around again and tells me to press on. He is always good!