Stolen Van, Sickies, and a Birthday!

For the last 14 years, Valentine's Day has been overshadowed by our sweet girl's birthday.  Amanda turned 14 yesterday.  I still remember, 14 years ago when I stopped working on a Friday and all my co-workers gave me grief saying the baby wasn't coming anytime soon.  I still had 2 weeks till my due date.  I had big plans for those 2 weeks.  I was going to clean and get organized!  Little did I know, Amanda had different plans and made her grand entrance only 2 days later on a Sunday, which was also Valentine's Day.  Needless to say, 14 years later I am still trying to find the time to clean and get organized. 
Amanda has grown into such a wonderful young lady.  She is a very talented violinist and a wonderful baker.  She is also an awesome big sister to her 5 younger brothers.  We are excited to continue to watch God work in her life and know He has great plans for her. 

To say life is full would be an understatement. 

~The month of January and into February has been full of lots of sickness in our house.  I think everyone has been sick at some point.  Leo has been most affected by all the sickness as it led him to have at least 3 febrile seizures.  We had one ambulance ride to the ER for a seizure last Thursday.  I am praying spring arrives soon and we can finally get rid of all these germs. 

~Our 12 passenger van was stolen from the train parking lot while Jeremy was at work.  We have a small rental car till the end of February.  We just got word yesterday, that our insurance is ready to settle the claim and we will be getting more then we expected from them.   We also have received a generous gift to help with a new to us van.  I don't know about how you react when faced with a situation like this, but Jeremy and I have gotten excited praying to God to provide and then watching how He chooses to meet this need.  We have once again found ourselves thanking Him for His provision in unexpected ways.  We know He has our backs. Please pray with us as we begin searching for a van within our price range, which isn't all that high :)

~Jeremy began teaching a class one night a week at Temple.(This is in addition to his regular full time job)  This is a new experience to him.  He has taught before but never a full semester class complete with homework to grade, tests to give, and lectures to prepare.  He is putting in mega hours in the evening and weekends to be prepared each week. 

~If life wasn't full enough, Jeremy, Tyler and Amanda will all be participating in our church's Jr. High winter retreat.  This September Jeremy began volunteering in our church's jr. high ministry as a small group leader.  It will be me and the 4 younger boys flying solo while they are away. 
 
In the midst of all the busyness, life is good, crazy but good.  We find strength in watching God work everything out.  We are tired at times, ok a lot of the time, but we wouldn't trade this life we have for anything.  The exciting part, we know God isn't done with our family yet.  Jeremy has his mission's trip to Africa coming up in June and we both anticipate this being an eye opening adventure for him, one that we are praying God uses to give us some direction for what is next. 

May we never settle for a life of comfort, but always strive to be in the center of God's will.