hello!

Hello out there!  Can you believe it's April already?  We had our first 100 degree day yesterday, so for us it feels like summer is about here.  I'm sitting here this morning listening to birds chirping cheerfully outside and I just love it.  (Of course it isn't 100 degrees today *yet*... in fact, at this moment it's 59 degrees outside.)

Anyway, this week I've been better disciplined with my online time.  So as you may have noticed, there have been no posts from me for several days.  But it's amazing how much you can get done when you're not sitting in front of a computer... it feels really great.  :)

This doesn't have anything to do with life around here lately, but I've been thinking wistful thoughts about our Beach House and just thought I'd post a photo a friend took for us in October 2009.

I sold this on Craig's List this week for $20... it helped pay the extra little bit that we didn't have to pay our Beach House heat bill this month.  We bought it at Goodwill just before our Michigan trip last summer only to discover it weighs so much by itself that you can't pack too heavy or you're over the weight limit!  And it's super bulky to store the rest of the year.  So, off it went to its new home this week.  :)

Spent some time painting in our backyard on Wednesday, before our heat wave came the next day.  It was so beautiful outside and the gentle breeze felt great!  :)  I've made lots of progress on this painting since then, and it will soon be finished.  (Hopefully this morning!)

Went to the horse barn this week.  Marissa & I got to help our friend Sarah groom a horse and watch her lunge the mare.  It was fun to hear her explain how to train a horse to lunge and the progress the mare had made.  This isn't that mare... in fact, I can't even remember this horse's name, but it's the only photo I took when we were there this time.

The garden-theme painting on Thursday.  I did a tiny bit of work on it yesterday but not enough to warrant a progress photo.  More to come soon...

Well, and that's about it.  Today Matt & I are going to replace the rotors and pads on the front brakes of our minivan.  You know, the one with 201,000 miles.  Hopefully the times watching our pastor help us with brakes before will help us.  :)

And tomorrow, I am singing in the worship team at church (something our son David has been doing for several months now).  Yikes!  One of the ladies is going to be gone for the next two Sundays, and they needed a volunteer to sing soprano.  Well, they ended up with *three* volunteers!!  

We had a fun practice last night.  I got myself (somewhat) familiarized with holding the microphone *really* close to my mouth and pretending I didn't care about hearing my singing voice projected from the speakers.  Hopefully I won't get stage fright tomorrow morning!