Honor Flight

Last night, Greg, the kids, and I gathered at the Columbus airport with hundreds of other people to welcome home some of our veterans from the Honor Flight.  My grandfather, Clyde, was one of the men on that flight who served in the Army during WWII.  What it was, the veterans left early in the morning and flew to Washington DC.  The veterans were escorted by other veterans and were taken to see the WWII monument along with other historic sites.  Then they flew back home that same night and were welcomed by many people at the airport, holding signs, waving american flags, holding other military flags and balloons.  As the men got off of the plane, many of them in wheelchairs, the crowd cheered and the bagpipe played.  It was so touching and many of the veterans had tears in their eyes not expecting this welcome home.  It gave me a new appreciation for all of our veterans and everything that they went through.  Thank you Grandpa!

My Little Cubbies

I am so proud of my kids this week.  First of all, Kate has been taking swimming lessons and finally learned to swim on her own.  She swam about 8 feet by herself.  This will be great for this summer and swimming in our pool.

This week was the last week of Awana at church.  They both finished their entire book and memorized 24 bible verses this year!!!  What a treasure to have these scriptures in their hearts!

Live Simply

This morning, I turned on my water to shower and brush my teeth.  I filled up my water pitcher with clean water with just the turn of the faucet, knowing that it would be safe to drink.  I am blessed to have a washing machine, with clean water to wash my clothes, not having to sit and wash them by hand for hours in a dirty stream. I think many of us take these little things that we do everyday for granted.

But, things could have been very different.  I could have been one of those people that I saw in Africa walking for hours with no shoes, down a road, looking for water, carrying heavy jugs.  I could just see me complaining now.  I could have been one of the women who brought this water home to my family to drink that was brown, dirty, and contaminated with parasites and other things that could possibly kill my family.  I can't imagine giving this water to my kids knowing that they have to have it but that it could make them very sick.  I could have been one of those women sitting and hand washing my families clothes.  This is such a far cry from the life that we live here.  We don't have to worry about such things.  After returning home after our trip, I felt so guilty for all of the things that I have.

So, why me?  Why did God choose me to live this "cushy" life in America while others live such a hard life, struggling to have their basic needs met?  I don't know why.  But what I do know is that after seeing with my eyes this poverty that I am talking about, that I have more than enough resources to DO SOMETHING.  No, I may not do anything big or really important in the world's eyes, but I can do something.

I bought a t shirt not too long ago that says, "Live Simply, So others can simply live."

I want this to be something that I live by.  There are many things in my life that I would like to have, but now I have different priorities.  I am definitely a frugalista (That's another post) but I am a frugal spender for the most part.  I feel like by living simply, and not having all of the things that I want, I can use that money for bigger purposes, His purposes.  This may mean that we don't go out for dinner as often, or forego a trip, or I will drive my used car until it dies.  Just imagine if everyone in America did this, gave up a little of what they wanted, and used that money for charity, spreading the gospel, etc.  What an amazing difference this could make.

We are committed to a water project in Ethiopia trying to raise $5,000.00 to provide clean water. Would you consider giving to this project?  http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/campaign/hoying-water-project

Day at Boonshoft

Kaitlyn was on spring break this week, so we decided to take a trip to the Boonshoft museum.  We had not been there for 2 years and they had made some good improvements.  The kids had so much fun and were no longer timid like they were the past 2 years.  They ran around and played everything, sliding down the slides and just had a great time.

Drew with "pizza cheese" on his head

Playing at the water table