Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day surrounded by the people you love! My day flew by with church activities and babysitting, but I came home to a house filled with love--and for that I am grateful.

Julie's plane touched down safely tonight, so if all goes well, she will be home tomorrow afternoon. Praise the Lord! As soon as she gets over the jet lag, I will encourage her to start uploading pictures of her trip. I know she will be more than willling to comply! However, this means that my solo blogging days are over for now. I had a lot of fun being the sole blogger for three weeks, but I am ready to have Julie share the responsibility again. Maybe we'll work out some sort of 50/50 deal ;-).

I hope that my posts have encouraged you half as much as your comments have encouraged me. This week, as you eat your leftover Valentine's candy and watch the flowers begin to droop in their vases, remember the ultimate act of love committed by Christ on the cross and the fact that that love is yours to cherish forever if you are living for Him.

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So Very Much to be Grateful for....

Hello all! It's been a while since I (Amy) have posted anything, and I've been looking forward to blogging again. Yes, I am now officially eighteen. My dear Christian friends have been reminding me that this means I can legally smoke tobacco and join the military :-). I can also be tried as an adult and vote in upcoming elections. Don't worry--I only plan on exercising one of those rights (I hope you can guess which one! ;-). Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments on my birthday post. I had a great birthday! I went out for supper with my cousin Hannah, then went back to my house to open presents with my family. They gave me so many sweet, thoughtful gifts!

The past few nights, as I wrote in my prayer journal before hitting the hay, I realized how very much I have to be grateful for. All too often I am overwhelmed by the struggles of the day, and my prayers are consumed with pleas and petitions. I start to worry about the future, and I forget that I am praying to the God who created a universe, parted the waters, calmed stormy seas, healed the blind, and raised the dead! But when I remember those things, as well as everything the Lord has done in my own life, I am filled with such a peace and gratitude that words cannot even begin to explain. So tonight I want to share just a few of the things I am grateful for.....

More than anything else, I am grateful for the redeeming power of Christ Jesus my Lord. He has truly turned my darkness into light and given me life more abundantly!

I am so thankful for my parents, who have brought me up in a body of believers, loved me unconditionally, and corrected me with gentleness through the years.

I am very blessed to have two dear sisters who are also two of my very best friends.

I am grateful to be part of a church that teaches the Bible as absolute truth and that provides countless opportunities for my family and I to serve the Lord by serving others.

I am thankful to be surrounded by friends that care about me and my walk with the Lord. You all are a major source of encouragement and refreshment to me! May the Lord bless you as you give thanks to Him.

Psalm 146: 1 & 2

Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Tomorrow my wonderful sister will turn 18! As a present, how about everyone leave a comment for her. It can be a simple 'Happy Birthday,' or maybe you want to tell her why her friendship means so much to you, or maybe share a special memory. I will start: Amy, I love seeing the love of God flowing out from you to those around you. You are always ready to listen to me when I talk, and you understand when I just need to be silent. You push me to set aside my own will and follow that of our Lord. You are wise beyond your years, and I look forward to having our deep theological conversations again. I know I can always count on you to pick me up when I am sad or frustrated. God gave our family a great blessing in you, and we love you so much! Have a good day, Beloved!

Top Ten Reasons I Miss My Big Sister

I (Amy) am starting to really, really miss Julie, and she won't be home for another week! So, I am making a list of ten reasons I wish she was here. Drum roll, please! Here they are (in no particular order):

10.) Even though the birthday cake I made for Mom tasted really good (if I do say so myself ;-), my decorating job was waaaaaay below Julie's skill level.

9.) I am running out of blog post ideas :-o.

8.) Going for walks without my favorite walking buddy is not nearly as much fun!

7.) There's no one around to help me with my homework.

6.) Not many of my friends enjoy pondering my deep theological questions with me the way she does ;-).

5.) Hearing her laugh always makes my day brighter.

4.) I can't wait to eat one of her dinners again!

3.) I miss her advice on friendships, family relationships, school life, and guys.

2.) There's so much I want to tell her every day when I get home, but when I dance down the hall to her room, she's not there :-(.

1.) I miss her shining example of selfless service and bold integrity.

Well, all that to say........I can't wait 'til you come home, Jules! Don't get me wrong; I hope you're having the time of your life, and I am so glad you got to do this! Just know that I will be very happy to have you back safe and sound.

All my love,

Amy

P.S.: As much as I hate to release these to the public ;-), I guess it's only fair that you get to see the infamous birthday cake. I've posted some pictures of it below. And if you haven't seen them before, check out the archives to see some of Julie's fabulous cakes!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Today is our dear mama's birthday! She is such a selfless, caring, and fun person, and we are so glad she's our mom! So, to the woman who's always a winner in my book:

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Kissin' Fish

Okay, Julie, this one is especially for you! For those of you who don't know, our dad really enjoys ice fishing. He buys live minnows to use as bait and stores them in a bucket of water in our basement when they are not in use. We decided it might be interesting to let the twins "observe" the minnows for a while. It turned out to be a very hands-on (and "lips-on" ;-) adventure. They had sooo much fun! Enjoy the video!

Disclaimer: No minnows were (seriously) injured in the making of this film, and Kyle and Ella were thoroughly bathed after their little science lesson ;-).

Hi from Radom!

Hello everyone! Wow, Amy, looks like you are doing a great job keeping up the blog! You rock, sister. I haven't had a chance to read all your posts, but I will have to when I get home. I love the new background too. I want to say thanks to everyone who has been praying for this ministry. We finished doing the presentations in the high schools last week, and they all went well (except for the little part about my partner and I getting slightly lost trying to take the bus to one of the schools - but that's a story for another day). Today was the first day of our English workshop, and though rather hectic, there were many students, and everything went pretty smoothly. Please keep praying that God will plant a hunger for Him in the hearts of these students, and that we would have an unquenchable desire to reach out to them. I have been doing my best to take pictures so that I can post them when I get back. See you in two weeks!