MOPS convention. what an experience the convention had around 4,000 ladies and it was a great neat. Traveling with 3 other steering team leader made the trip for me. I couldn't have asked for better companions. we could have used better health. but that didnt ruin our trip we still had a blast. i may write more later . i am still getting over what might be the dreaded "flu" saw the doctor tomorrow it was funny she basically said that same thing!!

Insights from Elsa Morgans book Naked Fruit

There is this wonderful book that has been at hand lately. This year, Mops creative team will be going through a devotional at our monthly preparation meetings for the upcoming months activities. The book is about the fruits of the spirit and seeing them naked, an honest look at what the fruits of the spirit were meant to look like.

According to Morgan (2004)"Love, being there... in everything."(p. 53) A person that does not give up on love when one may have displeases that person. Simply put loving when love doesn't come easy. This is one fruit that is powerful; having a person see within our faults, seeing us naked from all the niceties that are used to conceal who is inside. This book has the ability to open the readers eyes to the possibility of how God would have the reader see others. What kind of a world would it be if we were to have God goggles on.(Morgan, 2004, p. 53)

Joy is the next of the fruits of the spirit. Finally, an easy explanation for what joy is; Jesus Others Yourself.... JOY having confidence in God. That no matter what the circumstances are happiness is found in everything. Because, God is there with the reader getting the reader through the situation.

Peace is the result of resting in God, knowing that He is there with the reader and the reader is not alone in what ever faces him/her. With the storm of life swirling all around still having peace with the knowledge of God's surrounding protection.

Patience. Continually this is a fruit that will be dropped. And then walked all over. Having children and being married and, well, just being around people, the reader needs to have patience. The Bible addresses patience in the fruit list as patience with people. Patience is hanging in there with hard to love people. People who make life harder than you would like it to be.

According to Morgan (2004) "Kindness cares, and because it cares, it acts." (p.92) This is a profound line found in Elsa Morgan's book. The reader may have not thought of it like that before but upon closer examination that is exactly what it is.(Morgan, 2004, p. 92)

Goodness is God like. We, as a people, can all try to be good but it isn't in our nature.This fruit is one that really pushes the reader because one must realize that God is good, in the good times and bad times of our lives. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. To understand that God is good in the times when we are content in ones life, with all desires met, it is easiest to see that God is good and has provided good things. for But, to see God as good when things get bad in our lives, when we don't have all our desires met, we still must see God as good. Because, God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Faithfulness being able to let God take care life's needs. It is explained in the book as having a garden that God has planted. All He asks is for a daily help tending to the garden so it will flourish. Elsa Morgan writes (2004) "we mirror God's faithfulness by being true to him and true to others." (p.116) (Morgan, 2004, p. 116)

Gentleness is explained as harnessed power. In our society gentleness is often compared to mouse like nature but it is more like a wild horse that has been reined in. A strong will bent to an others. Gentleness is our will bent to what God would have one to do. In that thought the author encourages the reader to strive to be gentle. Knowing that if God is holding the rein's that He will help bend the readers will to do His will.

Morgan writes (2004)"Self-Control hems us about, protecting us from losing ground to impatience, bitterness, greed, and the like."(p.131) It holds us together when all we want to do is explode. It means that the reader needs to ask God to help keep their cool, to help them to think before acting. (Morgan, 2004, p.131)

As a reader of this book I feel that with a basket full of these fruit, and the pursuit of the fruit, happiness is sure to be.
God is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Elsa Morgan (2004) Naked Fruit : Getting Honest About The Fruit Of The Spirit
Fleming H. Revell Grand Rapids, MI

Paper written by Danette Roy

MOWING with daddy it is so cute to see liam doing the same things that elijah did at this age. i dont know where the picture of elijah mowing with the same mower that liam is
using.
looking at the two picts you would not be able to tell that it was the same back yard we have done so much to it.

i will have to upload a picture of the back yard now with the green beans and squash and sunflower and all the other plants that have taken off.

Lego ship this was birthday present that finally got completed. It was fun and lasted about a week put together. it can be so depressing to see something that took hours to get together come apart so quickly and knowing that it will never be put back together but Elijah had fun with it so i guess that is what it was about since it was what he bought with his birthday money..

Dentist visit!!

speaking of teeth Elijah and Liam went to the dentist the other day and they both did so GOOD i was suprised since liam doesnt like to bruch his teeth i thought he may bite the dental tech but he really came through and was an angel! I even got cute little xrays to scrapbook so this dental visit will have all kinds of memories it was a few days before elijah lost his tooth so you can actually see his tooth close to falling out. lots of FUN!!

tooth fairy

ME as the tooth fairy!! i put glitter on his bed and around the box we made so the tooth fairy could get to the tooth easily


I have to say this tooth fairy stuff is fun ..Elijah is buying it hook line and sinker!! so sweet!! we are onto the second tooth and he still believes he was thinking that she must become dust to get into the house. so creative!

THELMA KNIEP
Kristopher's grandmother went to be with Jesus a few weeks back. we we were able to attend the funeral and spend some time at her farm before we went on the our time planned with my family in oregon and all the graduations.

grandma kniep was a wonderful woman. she loved me just like a grandchild right from the get go.I always felt welcomed when we visited and when she hugged me it was like my grandmas hugs. i hope my grandparents who are also in heaven can say hi in heaven.
this window you see it at the kitchen table she would sit at every day especially in the morning with her coffee. I can see her sitting there...

our grand adventure to the coast

we had a blast at nana's house one our way through sisters oregon we stopped and shopped well Elijah found this fun balloon set you pump them up and then they squeal the air out. it took up lots of time and energy because the balloons would fly around everywhere and the boys would chase after them. so fun Elijah tried to blow them up on his own (he couldnt wait his turn) let say that it took many turns to blow them up i think that they are special balloons. we also went camping on the coast. winchester bay oregon we had all kinds of fun exploring the guys enjoyed the putting green that was at the rv park. we went to a wonderful garden with a very special cove at the bottom of a path the boys were excited about it and so were we -until liam fell in and got soaked - so then we had to get moving because it was in the 50s at the coast and the oregon coast water is not warm...

aubrey graduated

so aunt aubrey graduated from Eugene Bible college we are all proud of her and hope we will see more of her but we have our doubts...

spokane river bike ride

we drove down to the spokane river campground -bowl and pitcher- were we had a bike ride before school. it was fun.. it is so strange having my little guy riding his own bike and mostly keeping up.

the deck

kristopher got a bee in his bonnet to make us some shade in the back yard. well, i did not discourage that idea. so now we have a 12 by 12 deck with a simple pergola, it is so nice to have a smidge of shade in our very hot backyard. the sun sets on the yard so all day we are getting full sun. great for gardens hard for people... i wish i took some finished pictures of it. but i was forgetful - i guess i was probably tired from all the trips to the hardware store and helping him with this and that. so in one weekend (memorial day weekend) he finished the deck. yippeee....

we havent actually gotten to enjoy it much. we soon after got bad news that kris' grandmother passed away and needed to travel to southern idaho. so we were busy with this and that preparing for our long trip to southern idaho and then off the creswell ( a previously planned trip) so it has become a LONG trip . Aubrey kris' sister graduates from eugene bible college.

riverfront park runners.

this is a great picture of my son at riverfront park we had a date last summer. played Sorry on a blanket , went to sawtooth grill, watched an imax underwater movie and so much more. it was a wonderful day with just the two of us i look forward to more of these this year. just thinking about it makes me excited!! i recommend dates with your kids it really helps them open up and bloom with you. what a fun time one on one time is..

the mcgees

These are our good friends from our lives in puyallup. we love stephanie and shawn they are wonderful friends that we only see about once a year, we have set in motion having annual camping trips. this will be our second year. our kids are getting old enough to do this without bottles and hopefully diapers -much longer. God gave us this friendship that we may not have seeked out but our relationship grew nonetheless and know we have a wonderful set of freinds that feel like family. Thank you God .

Avery and cousins

Baby Avery, my niece, Phillip and Desi's little one . We have had her at our house 3 nights thus far. this last time I was able to see more of her personality. she is a smart little girl who i am sure will thrive with the wonderful parents she has. She was quite interested in this pooh phone that Liams nana got for him, it lights up and does all sorts of things. I so enjoy seeing her interact with my boys as well. I have been longing for the boys to have a strong connection with their other cousins in Stayton Oregon so i want them to have a sense of family here with Avery. Growing up my sister and i had cousins but we didnt exactly feel like family with any of them. there wasnt a strong bond with either side of the family. I see my sister and i both trying to give our childern what we lacked growing up with our cousins. It is so nice to be able to make those choices and to have christian relatives to enable such friendships to grow. God is good to have blessed Dee, my sister, and I with opportunities for such strong families to be a part of.

Elijah is 6!!!

Elijah is 6.
wow he had a star wars themed birthday party i put together some of his legos to make star wars themed cake topper(see pic at bottom) anyways it was a fun birthday party. Just family we havent dived into the whole friends party yet, maybe next year we will 1st grade is a good time to start having friend birthday parties. He got a pokemon book collection that we have already started to read i am hoping to get him more interested in reading so that he will be more enthused about reading himself. He does not have any drive to start reading or writting I have been trying to find ways to get him going on that. We have been so focused over the last couple years with his speech that i fear that i have not been diligent with the rest of his learning. I keep hearing in my mind one step at a time, but i know that we are a bit behind becuase those steps have been so slow.

so another posting... i dont know why-well wait i know why i dont post daily like some people. but i have a little boy who likes to get on my laptop and push buttons as i am so it makes for a control game i dont really want to play..
this is what has been going on in my life.

so this is easter morning our boys are so sweet (when they so choose to be) i have to say we are the luckiest parents in the world. i have been blessed with two boys who love to cuddle and be loved on -i guess that is not as normal as i thought it was. anyways we had a great day with a wonderful church service at Faith Bible church with our amazing pastor Dan Jarmes. Then we were off to grandma and grandpas house for Easter lunch and a fun egg hunt.
This egg hunt is one i hope i never forget it showed how great a big brother Elijah really is. As Elijah was finding eggs and Liam was only finding a few Elijah saw that and he took some of the eggs from his own basket and rehid them for Liam. It was so sweet and it is so typical for Elijah to do such a thing. He likes it when everyone is having fun, especially his little brother. Liam is so blessed to have a wonderful older brother I pray God will strengthen their relationship through the years and they will always be concerned with one anothers happiness.

bowling

bowling on base what an interesting day. we had fun .. i suppose. liam didnt want to take turns so that was tense. elijah took out a bumper and got his ball stuck. liam is able to pick up the balls and drop them luckily not on any toes. we hope that we will be able to go back and have a better experience. but it may be a while before kris is up to another day of liam being so upset .

elijah had a school sale we only sold a couple things. but he won the monkey alarm clock in a daily drawin so that is fun. he also got the other things you see. these drink glasses lasted one day then they were taken apart and are spread around the house now..

so we had my niece baby avery overnight and i got some fun pics of her she is a sensitive soul very empathetic. she saw liam crying and so she decided she would join in . it also happened as we slept that night liam woke up and avery decided she too needed to cry. it was an interesting take on how it would be with twins . kris had to get up to help cause you cant calm two babies at the same time at least not me... it was just too much. either way we had lots of fun.

so elijah is on an official team -wrestling. so cute third over from the left in back row. he is having fun but not sure he has fully figured out what he is suppose to do but it sure is exciting seeing him out there i look forward to being involved in any sport he chooses to do


Elijah got a medal for finishing the tournament and had fun showing his uniform to us..there was lots and lots of waiting around so hard on my little guy. we try to have fun with him but we wanna watch what is going on. so crowded too...