Our four birthday girls!
Wow, more than a month has passed since we posted on the blog. February was packed with lots of birthday fun and encouraging ministry too! We were blessed to have our friend Gretchen George (from Oregon) join us for the month of February to help lead our very first women’s Cor Deo programme. By all reports, it was a very encouraging and strategic month for the women who participated. Peter helped to lead the morning sessions and felt so blessed to be a part of it. In addition to her Cor Deo involvement, Gretchen was also able to lead a parenting course and a women’s evening on the topic of forgiveness for Trinity Chippenham.
We thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with Gretchen in our home. Kaylah especially enjoyed it when Gretchen read her stories.
A few more bits of news and prayer requests before I share more photos (don’t miss them below!):
**Peter spent a few days this week doing preaching training with a group of Salvation Army ministers. It was a unique opportunity and seemed like a strategic few days with good feedback from the ministers. He also preached during the month of February at Trinity Chippenham on the book of Ruth. You can listen to the messages here on the church website.
**We look forward to welcoming my parents this evening for a 10 day visit! We are all excited to spend time with them and introduce them to Jessah.
We’d really love prayer this weekend please. This weekend our church will be hosting and performing The Mark Drama. This is a 90-minute presentation of every event in Mark’s Gospel, performed “theatre-in-the-round” (this means the stage is at the centre, so we are almost treading on toes as we act). For the past six weeks 15 of us have been learning the structure of Mark and our first rehearsal was last night. The performances are Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. We have distributed almost 2000 invitations and would love to see local folks coming to this event. Last year we had 120 at the two performances, 90 of which were not from Trinity. Actually, most of Trinity was in it! The Mark Drama was an amazing experience last year and we anticipate the same again this time. Peter, Hannah and Aliyah are all in the acting team, Melanie will be helping with childcare. Please pray for health and strength for the cast – at least two are battling migraines today and several have had colds/coughs which could affect voices. We know Satan is on the attack as he would love to stop us sharing the gospel.
Speaking of migraines, I (Melanie) have been struggling with frequent migraines the past 2 months (including one worsening today). I would really appreciate prayer that they would stop and that I can figure out ways to prevent them. I have dealt with them for years and there are many things I do/don’t do to keep them under control but at the moment my life is being significantly disrupted by them. Pray for endurance and patience with this “thorn in my flesh.”
As always, thank you for praying and please let us know how we can pray for you!
Now for the photos . . . 🙂
The birthday celebrations began with Kaylah’s 4th birthday on February 1st. She requested a castle cake. 🙂
The girls bought her a princess dress for her birthday.
We love our sweet Kaylah! She is so affectionate (she’s often telling us – “I love you!”) and funny too.
And, like her siblings, she LOVES Jessah!
Aliyah’s birthday was next on 5th February. It was a big one for her . . .
Now we have two teenagers in the house!
I continued the tradition I started with Hannah and took Aliyah for a mother daughter night away. Here’s us out to lunch.
It was a VERY stormy night so we stayed cozy and watched a film. Jessah came too.
And having breakfast at the B&B we stayed at.
We are so thankful for Aliyah! She has such a servant’s heart.
Mariah’s birthday was next – 11 years old on 19 February.
Mariah has always had such a sparkly smile and a super friendly nature.
She and Joel enjoy learning about birds so she got binoculars for her birthday so she can do some birdwatching.
She decided she wanted an ice cream sundae bar instead of a cake this year. We had fun celebrating with the Smith family.
Hannah turned 15 on 2 March . . . OK I am in denial. How is it that we have a 15 year old? I am OLD!
Throughout the month of February, Jessah continued to grow! What a delight she is!
We tried and tried to get a 3 month old photo of her smiling but had a hard time. Here is one of the best we got. So sweet. It’s amazing how much she looks like Joel did at the same age.
Getting some tummy time
And getting used to the exersaucer . . . what a big girl!
Smiles . . .
And more smiles! Can’t believe she is four months old now!
Someone asked us recently if we still have arguments over who gets to hold her and yes, we do! Here’s Joel multi-tasking while he does his school work.
Aliyah’s turn!
Four sweet girls . . . Mariah was gone so missed being in this photo. The roses on the side have a story behind them . . . after seeing me buy roses for a friend’s birthday, Kaylah asked if she could buy her some too and also some for her sisters. So we turned around and went back to the store and she proudly used her birthday money to buy the roses! I couldn’t turn down that sweet request!
Being a mom is the best job in the world (a hard one but definitely the best!).
