In January we found out that Josh and Kinley have H-pylori which is a bacteria in the stomach that if left unattended can cause stomach cancer. It's main symptom is acid reflux. Josh took a heavy round of antibiotics and has not been the same since. He actually has an appointment with a gastro doc May 15. Prayers for answers, direction, and healing are appreciated! He has gone through extensive testing and nothing turned up so they will probably scope him. We opted not to give Kinley the antibiotics and have been trying all kinds of weird things to try to kill the bacteria on our own. We will retest her in June to see if her numbers have changed.
In February I kept James out of school on a day that the girls had preschool and we went to the Tulsa Children's Museum. We and a blast. They have a creation room where the object that week was to make something you can wear using no cloth. James and I made boots. Then we went to Ted's for lunch. I had asked him where he wanted to go and he thought about it for a long time then chose Taco Bueno. I talked him into upgrading to Ted's :)!
James has had an excellent year in scouts. At the March pack meeting he got to carry the flag to open the meeting. It is such a blessing to see him developing respect. He takes scouts very seriously and inspire of his crazy, inattentive, disrespectful den mates he works hard to listen, participate, and learn from scout activities.
We took our annual Morris/Henslee camping trip to Devil's Den this year. We parked our tents right next to the river pictured above so the kids got to play in the water and rocks a lot. It is a beautiful place. The first night we had a big steak dinner. We made T-bones, skillet sweet potatoes, grilled asparagus, cheesy garlic bread and chocolate chip cookie pie all over the fire! We also got to experience two thunderstorms in our tent which has to be among the coolest experiences.
We've been enjoying our canoe and kayak a lot!
Levi and Mallory were playing in the hammock together and had it closed over themselves. I could hear then whispering so I went to listen and I heard Levi say "did you like it when I tickled your privates?"!!! Mallory said "uhhh huuhhh". I ripped open that hammock and said "what are you guys doing?!" They both put their hands to their mouths and smiled as guilty as can be. We had lots of long talks with each child and are watching them like hawks now. And we are praying like crazy that God develops His perspective in them about "privates"! Of course when we were done talking to them we had lots of laughs - we have to laugh to keep from crying!
The gang!
James actually took this picture...yea for him getting big!
The Henlsees just moved three minutes away form us. We are so excited to have good friends so close!
I started babysitting a sweet little baby girl named Adina in January. She comes three afternoons a week for about 3 hours. Her parents are friends of ours and gave us a PF Changs gift card and offered to babysit for us to have a date so for my birthday we went to dinner then went to Pino't Pallet. Above are our ugly paintings. We had a great time painting though. We have faced so much opposition to going on dates lately I am just thankful we made it out and have fun together! Josh earned two trips this past year through Edward Jones and we saved them so that we can take my parents somewhere with us. They chose Italy! We will all four being going to Italy in July!
The many faces of Mallory!
One night last week Mallory woke up in the middle of the night crying. She came to me and said she had a really bad dream. I asked what it was about and she said that it was that she didn't have God's Spirit in her heart! I just about died it was so sweet and sad. I asked her if she knew how to get God's Spirit in her heart and she said "no" I said well all you have to do is ask. I was hoping she would say "I want to ask" then I would have explained it all and prayed with her right there but she didn't. I prayed over her and put her back to bed. The next day when I asked her about it still hoping it would turn into a decision she explained that a really big crab was on her hand and was going to bite her because God's Spirit had fallen from her heart down to her stomach. Then she went to sleep and God's Spirit came back. Oh brother...I am still encouraged that God is moving in her heart and drawing her to Him even if it's through dreams about crabs!
I was so blessed to get to go to the Captivating retreat which is put on by John and Stasi Eldridge's ministry Ransomed Heart. Josh was so supportive and encouraged me to go. God provided half the cost of the conference through Alicia Butters and airline tickets through Delta points. I got to go with Roselene who is my mentor and prayer team partner at church. We had a wonderful time soaking in God's truth and presence. God spoke to me so much about the lies I have been allowing myself to live in everyday and has given me truth to replace them with. We stayed at a young life camp near Winter Park, CO. Josh and the kids did wonderfully. He cooked, cleaned, babysat other peoples kids, hosted and led life group, and had a smile on his face when I got home. He's amazing!
Mallory and Caroline Butters at their school egg hunt.
Kinley and her best friend Abby Butters.
For Easter weekend my mom, Steve, sister, nephews, and grandma all came to stay for 4 days. We and a great time relaxing and being together. Mom took Kelly, me and Kinely for pedicures. It was Kinely's first time. She liked it but messed up her toes three times and said it wasn't what she expected. Kinley has been so curious about spiritual things lately. She is asking tons of questions about why Jesus had to die, why God requires the blood of something pure to cover sin, how we trust someone we can't see, why aren't some prayers answered, why do stories about the Bible contradict each other (nails in Jesus' hands or wrists), etc. It is overwhelming but really cool. Love to see God stirring her heart too.
James has had a really good semester at school. He won the gold medal in the reading olympics reading over 600 minutes in 3 weeks. The teacher had them do student led conferences and he did an excellent job taking me through all that he is learning. He is such a good student and loves learning. He had a lot of trouble the first semester with recess because all the boys would do was play chase and he didn't want to play chase so he would just sit under a tree by himself the whole time. Now he has found a few boys that like to play basketball and he loves basketball (he says he is going to be in the NBA when he grows up) so that has been very good for him.
Ours plus Cade and Tristan in the Easter clothes.
Cousins sporting the piñata they busted.
I love James' intense face. He was serious about crushing that thing.
We are bringing home a puppy May 24th!!! It will be a double doodle which is a labradoodle/goldendoodle mix. As of today we think our first choice will be the one on the top left. Curly hair with the white stripe on it's head and neck. If we end up with him we will name him Hank. We are number 5 to pick out of 10 and only one of the people in front of us wants a boy so hopefully they will pick a different boy. We will be going to visit them May 3 and will officially put in our top two choices. If we end up with a girl we have no idea what we will name it...we have a lot of trouble naming girls in our family :)!
