Rock Ridge Kids: February 2015

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Happy Hearts Day!

Our kids always enjoy making Valentines for their classmates, cousins, & teachers…

In Evan’s classroom, the boys all wore red & the girls wore pink : )

Heart hair

Beautiful flowers from Paul

Candygram for Paul

Jenna made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. They were delicious!

Look who showed up to help us celebrate : )

We used these cute Valentine’s gift cards to have lunch at McDonalds.
(Thanks, Grandma! ; )

Heart-shaped food for supper… it’s tradition! <3

Strawberry cake for dessert… yum!
(Yes, it tastes as good as it looks – click here for recipe. ; )

Lots of love around this table <3

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! : )

Monday, February 9, 2015

Those of you who know me know I’m a big fan of the Duggars. If you aren’t familiar with them, they are the family from the reality television show “19 Kids and Counting”. The show is about Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children - nine girls and ten boys (including two sets of twins), all of whose names begin with the letter "J".

Josh Duggar is the oldest of the 19 children, who now lives in Washington, DC, with his wife Anna and their 3 children. He is the executive director of the Family Research Council Action committee, which is dedicated to preserving and advancing the interests of family, faith, and freedom in the political arena.

This past week, Josh spoke at the South Dakota Ministry Leaders’ Capitol Summit in Pierre, urging South Dakotans to continue their stand for religious liberty, marriage, and life. Our pastor attended the conference and surprised me with this video clip…
(Thanks, Rev. Brummel! : )

I sent Josh an email thanking him for the video,
and was pleasantly surprised to receive the following response,

“Thanks for the kind email!

It was great to meet your Pastor last week, and I really enjoyed South Dakota - especially the fact that it was much warmer than I expected (over 55 degrees on Friday)!
God Bless Your Family!
Sincerely,
Josh (& Anna) Duggar”

If you’d like to learn more about the Duggars, click here for links to view
many of their shows online. They have also written some excellent
books on parenting and growing up in a large family.
Can’t wait for their new season which premieres next Tuesday, February 17th! : )

Friday, February 6, 2015

Grandma & Great-Grandma

Our dear Grandma and Great-Grandma passed away on Saturday.
She was sweet and kind to all who knew her, and will be greatly missed.

Grandma always enjoyed hearing songs of praise,
and we are so thankful that we were able to see her
and sing with her one last time in December.

Nearly all of her grandchildren and great-children were at the funeral yesterday,
and it was a joy for us to sing together
“The Lord’s my Shepherd” and “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah”.

From left to right – Nate & Brenda (playing piano), Paul & Erin, Richard & Joanna, Mike & Beth, Heidi & Joe, Mike & Tricia, Tammy, and Matt & Stacy

In the front left pew are her children,
Aunt Marcia & Uncle Rich, Aunt Denise & Uncle George, Mom & Dad DJ, and Uncle Jim

Grandma suffered a great deal physically in the last month of her life,
and it was a blessing to hear the message she had chosen from 2 Corinthians 4:17,
”For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

We will always treasure the many memories we made with Grandma over the years…

*Any time the cousins are together, they talk about all the fun they had camping at Jellystone with Grandpa & Grandma. Wish we had some pictures of that to share,
and thought it should at least be mentioned for those who remember! : )

Grandpa & Grandma walking in with Paul
at our wedding, August 2001