Congrats Grads!

Heather, Dan, & Laura at Sara Groves' concert on Heather's birthday!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR BIG KIDS...HEATHER AND DAN FOR GRADUATING FROM BALL STATE UNIVERSITY!!! WOOOHOOOO

NOW GET...GO INTO ALL THE WORLD! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

(Heather wants to go live in a tribal village in the middle of nowhere!)

Some more pics!

EJ & Miley napping together

My dear friend Wendy

Garrison bike riding

P.S. I only got a few pics on our vacation to Pennsylvania because my camera isn't working right! I'll post those asap. We had a great time!

Laying Stones

We completed a project of laying stones to increase patio area in our backyard. Here are some pics of the boys working with Dad...and of Saunnie "overworked!"

Changes...

Hello everyone! Yes...it has been a while since I posted. We have been busy with vacation, finishing up Math and Language Arts for school, playing outside...


I love winter! I love winter because I love snuggling with my kids. I love baking cookies with them and watching movies, reading books, playing games. And...I love snow. I missed snow so much living in the south!


BUT, I really, really like spring...watching everything come alive again. Everything wakes up... and so do little boys if you didn't know! They seem to have this energy that is about to explode out of them! So...I also love warm weather that allows little boys to run outside!


My guys have been playing for hours with the kids on our street. I am so thankful for our neighborhood. What a blessing! Wonderful neighbors and a cul-de-sac to play safely in...it's fabulous. AND, I love getting to SEE those neighbors again! We all tend to hibernate in the winter, so we have lots of catching up to do when we emerge!





Yes, I love my life. It's like a fairy tale most days. I really am happy and at peace. I "strangely" like my husband and enjoy being around my children (both considered abnormal in this day and age it often seems!).





I have the "American Dream." I have what many immigrants struggled to get to America for! I'm not gonna lie...I get wrapped up in it...the easy life...spoiled as all get out.





And then I sit down to watch the news at night, I read the news online, or I get a report from one of the Nepali missionaries our church supports, who is receiving death threats for preaching Jesus, and I am reminded of the atrocities that occur daily. I am reminded of all that I have...of every convenience given to me.





I think about seemingly simple things I enjoy...like clean water to drink, when I watch a little African boy drinking out of a puddle filled with animal feces. I see my little boy in his eyes big brown eyes. I think about how the water he is drinking, though he longs for it, will only make his little tummy sick...while my little boy is outside running through a sprinkler. It's not right. It's way wrong! It's the result of this fallen world.





Lord, how much do I take for granted? Only You know! Search me O Lord and know my heart...show it to me, that I may be changed into one like You.





I know I said that I sat up this blog to share funny stories and updates, but some days I think we all just need a good dose of reality to be humbled! We all get so wrapped up in us...our feelings, our thoughts, our perceptions, our issues, our families. It's easy to become negative when we focus on us, isn't it?





I want to be a person who glances at my problems, fixes my eyes on Jesus, and listens to Him say, "Help this one."





I pray this is a summer of much fun for my children, but also a summer of opportunities to make a difference in their world.



May we all be people who seek to understand one another and walk in compassion even when we don't.

I challenge you to watch this and see if it makes your thoughts different today!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdP6PqsbJY

Bakery de Reynolds

I love evenings in the casa de Reynolds...especially evenings like this:
Alex walks into the kitchen and announces that he would like to make chocolate chip cookies, but we only have an oatmeal chocolate chip mix in the pantry. After a brief discussion on the impossibility of dividing the oatmeal flakes from the chocolate chips in the premade mix (though I was impressed with his creativity), Alex decides to make the cookies from scratch. His options for adult helpers are as follows: 1)big sis Laura, who burns food/catches ovens on fire when she cooks, or 2)big sis Saunnie. Opting for sister #2, Trey joins the party and the three go to work.
A few minutes later, after reminders about germs from licked fingers and the quick retrieval of a few stray egg shells from the dough, cookies begin to take shape...kind of. :o) The end result (which I, sadly, forgot to photograph), was a beautifully handcrafted, enormous, delicious chocolate chip cookie. And some leftover cookie dough that was mysteriously eaten before it could be baked. :o)