Ahh, sunshine

I think today would have been utter diaster if the sun had not been out this morning......but, Praise the Lord, He knew I needed sunshine today.

so what's new with the Kurtz's?? Matt's new job continues to go well. He's doing training this week, today he got to see how chips are made, he was thrilled. We're still waiting to hear about the house. I'm hoping we can move the second week of May, we'll see. Molli's surgery is Tuesday, starting to worry about that a bit. I'm just trusting that God will be there, every step of the way. On a happy note, her gymnastics teacher wants her to skip the 4 year old class and go straight to the young fives class which is much more advanced. I guess that means she's good......she was so excited. It means she gts to be in the "big" gym. To me, it means more time and money. We'll see about that too! Emma continues to be trying. With the nice weather they are playing outside almost constantly and she cannot be bothered to come in and use the bathroom. So I feel like we are potty training all over again!!! AAAAHHHHH! I hope she gets the hang of it soon. Sydney is...crazy. She is my active child. Some of you are saying,"No way!" What? All my other children are so quiet and reserved! He he! But Sydney defies them all. She is all over. and she is so smart, figuring things out, how to get onto the top of the microwave, how to scale the pantry shelves to get a fruit snack, how to opent the back door just enough to escape. She reminds me of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, who kept trying the fence for weakness....she's giving me gray hair!

And an update on Grandpa, he had a slight heart attack, but he's home now and feeling ok. He's fairly ornery so I guess he's back to normal!

well off to do my life....

Grandpa

My grandpa is in the hospital........

Today started like any other Monday, getting Noah on the bus, dragging Jonah out of bed for school, getting him ready while he angrily tells me that he doesn't go to school anymore, thinking ahead to Emma and Sydney's doctor's appointment this morning( will Emma have to get shots?!?!?!), taking Jonah to school, breathing a sigh of relief as he runs into the building having spotted a friend, driving home and taking the girls inside.

Then the phone rang.....

Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Carol were supposed to leave this morning for a trip to Atlanta so I was surprised that the caller ID said it was Grandma. It was Aunt Carol. "Mandi, Grandpa has taken 5 nitro glycerin pills and is still have chest pains. We're going to the ER."

Grandpa should have died about 6 times by now. God has kept him around, I'm so glad of that. But here we are again, faced with the fact that Grandpa's heart will just not last forever. It's been operating at 15% for the last 12 years. Sooner or later, it will just stop altogether. It's so selfish to think that he will always be here. We have been so blessed to have had him so close for so long. When we left to go to Nebraska to get our things and move here, Grandpa said to me, "Hurry back. I need my babies here." He means so much to them that the thought of trying to explain to them why Papa isn't here anymore just about kills me. This would be the closest death that they will be old enough to remember. How will we deal with that? How will they?

He's ok, they are keeping him overnight just for observation. Another close call. A little more time with the man we all love so dearly.......

Baby Emma
I got it to work!! So here she is, all of her hospital pictures are buried out in the carriage house, but this is one my mom had of her on the day we brought her home from the hospital. Man, it feels like so long ago!

Emma's birthday
I tried to get a baby picture on here, but Hello stopped working! But this is how Emma spent her third birthday - in time out where she finally fell asleep! Not a very good way to spend a birthday, but what are you going to do? I cannot believe it has been three years. I looked at her today in her Dora t-shirt and just thought she looked so grown up! I know I've said it before, but where does the time go??? She has always been my gentle one, unless engaged in full blown wrestling with Daddy or Unlce Josh where I'm pleased to say she can hold her own. She thinks so much about things, ponders. She loves other people so much. I love to watch her with Noah. She walks up to him and wraps her little arms around him and says, "You're my friend Noah. " Such a big heart. So here she is, my big three year old girl. And yet another step toward the growing up thing. Also, one year closer to being a teenager!!!!

Rain

It's raining......usually I complain about Michigan rain. No rain was one of the best thing about Nebraska, but everyone complained about it so much that it wasn't really always great. I was disappointed this morning when I got up and it was sunny.....weird huh? But now the sky is gray and I am rejoicing. I know, I need help....

Tomorrow is Emma's birthday, don't worry, there will be pictures and a sappy blog about the day she was born. But I can't stop looking at her and seeing how much she has grown even since last summer when we got here. We were looking at pictures last night and she just looks so very grownup. How can it be that she is so big??? Where did time go? Ok, enough sappiness, we'll save the rest for tomorrow.....gotta go clean :(

AWESOME!!!

Ok, so i've had very little sleep, lots of coffee and I am still on a high from last night! We went to see Steven Curtis Chapman with Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin. OH MY WORD!!!!! It was phenominal.....and that's putting it mildly. Worshipping live with Chris Tomlin ( he wrote Forever, WE fall Down...etc) was..........can't even come up with a word. And we were worshipping with THOUSANDS of believers. It was fantastic. The whole concert was one big worship service. How awesome... and Steven's newest album is mostly worship stuff. There's a song that is the new anthem for my life. I can't get it out of my head....over and over I hear it. I'm writing out some of the lyrics below, get the album, it's awesome! Ok, gotta get some more coffee and Make More of Jesus today! WOOOOHOOOOO!

I wanna make much of you Jesus

I wanna make much of your love

I want to live today

to give You the praise

You alone are so worthy of

I wanna make much of your mercy

I wanna make much of your cross

Take my life

and let it be used to make much of You

Drag racing

So most of you know my little brother Noah and that he has CP. This is him in his wheelchair. Well my grandfather who lives up the road just got a power scooter. so yesterday, sfter Noah got off the bus from school, he and Grandpa drag raced up and down the alley. My Aunt Carol's house is just up the alley so they raced there and back anout 800 times! Of course Molli cried and cried that her legs worked and that she could not have a wheelchair.......hmmmm. Noah is signing "faster" to Grandpa as they prepare for another race. Noah's chair can go up to six miles an hour which is pretty fast for a wheelchair. (I think he beat Grandpa almost every time) So another tribute to spring, family and wheelchair drag racing.

Things I love

So here it is, my current list of things I love......

1. Old musicals
2. Meeting new friends to chat with on Messenger
3. Getting real phone calls
4. Getting e-mail from people who I haven't talked to in a long time
5. Kissing my children
6. Putting the kids to bed :)
7. Staying up late with Matt
8. Watching the girls make up games (Molli is ALWAYS in charge)
9. Seeing Emma play with Noah
10. Catching my kids being nice to each other
11. Waking up and Matt is still there
12. Living so close to my family
13. Having a small group who care so much about us
14. Waking up to birds singing
15. Listening to rain on the roof
and finally 16. Fitting into my clothes well!

Dinner

Tonight we are grilling out burgers and hotdogs and eating on the patio. Man, this is great! I've waited so long to do this again.

Tomorrow Mom and Dad come home from North Carolina.....this brings mixed feelings. It'll be great to have them home, we've missed them. On the other hand, it has been very nice having the house to ourselves. Ah well, hopefully in about 4 weeks, we'll be on our own again!

On a totally unrelated subject, I'm in a quandry as a parent. Today, Jonah broke a window. Yesterday I caught him throwing a golf ball at the house and bouncing it off. I asked him to stop because he would break a window. He obeyed, but today, as I'm dutifully folding laundry even though I'm dying to be outside planting flowers or doing anything outside because I hate laundry and folding socks which, with four young children takes hours......*deep breath* What was I tlaking about again?? Oh yes, Jonah. So as I was folding laundry I heard shattering glass. I bolted to the front and met Matt and we saw the window. I knew immediately that it had been Jonah with the golf ball (plus the perfect golf ball sized hole in the window gave it away too). So now, Matt and I don't know what to do about Jonah. We sent him to his room (this was at 12:30 PM and now it's 5:30 PM) He was told that he could come down for dinner but that he had to go back to his room right after dinner. Also he is not allowed to sleep in the attic with the girls and no television. Curse me, I am so bad at consistency. I feel that if I were more consistent with discipline things like this wouldn't happen. It's just so much easier to threaten sometimes than to actually punish. He's too big for a spanking, but that also seems like too quick a punishment for something serious. Will this punsihment work? Will he understand the severity of what he has done? And how do I explain to him that disobeying makes Jesus sad when I know that he has not asked Jesus to be his Savior??????

We love the park...really..... 

Yay for Spring! 

So tired.....

Well, we had an awesome weekend in Detriot with family. It was extremely tiring, but worth it! And thanks to those of you who made it possible for us to go (Mindy H.!!) As we were nearing Battle Creek, Matt says, "Man, it's good to be home." Amazingly I was thinking the same thing. And I even missed going to our church. BCC was awesome, as always, but I missed seeing our friends and familiar faces. I've NEVER felt that way about a church we've attended. And coming home was just so good. I couldn't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Carol. The kids were so excited to show off their birthday clothes and stories from the weekend. What an awesome feeling to have a sense of belonging!

In other news, you'll all be happy to know that my doctor's appointment went off without a hitch and NO I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!! Just for those of you who I know were thinking that!!!

I love vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah.....I must admit that spending a week without having to get up and get kids ready for school is so awesome! After a long and fun weekend, it was so nice to just lay in bed and not rush to get up! The house is so quiet with Mom and Dad gone, feels weird to be here without them! And the weather has been just gorgeous, 75 today. We're heading to the park, wish the pool were open!!