Poster Contest

Holly is really enjoying being in the youth group for VBS this year. Today they had a poster contest. We got a large sheet of poster board and Holly did a great job decorating it. Several kids made posters but only one other girl had one as big as Holly's. Holly won for best looking and biggest. I asked her how she won for the biggest poster when another girl had one the same exact size. She said it was because some of the sequins were hanging over!


Not the best picture because it was taken with my phone. Tomorrow is the cookie contest. I'm not giving any clues to what we are doing!

Graduation Day!

On Saturday, June 12th, Gabriel and Hannah graduated from high school. I do not think the fact has sunk in that a major stage in my life with them is over. The ceremony was great. It was held down town at the convention center with 198 other homeschool graduates from all over the state of Virginia. I went prepared with plenty of tissues. I knew I would cry as soon as Pomp and Circumstance began. I regained control of myself by the time the first 189 students marched in and was able to give a big smile to Gabriel and Hannah. We were privileged to hear Ken Ham speak.










Then the parents presented the diplomas to their students. So I pulled from my drama experience and was able to go on stage with a big smile. After that, the graduates flipped their tassels and we stood and sang "Be Thou My Vision". Well, I guess just about everyone else sang. I was all tears again and could hardly eek out a note.









Afterward, we had a party with family and friends. The next step in our lives is to make sure we have everything we need for college which is only days away. I am sure I will shed many more tears. Tissues are on the list!

Tears and Laughter

John's graduation from the Virginia State Police academy is this Friday!! Excitement is in the air at the Woodward house. We have several families coming from Rochester, NY - John's two brothers and a high school friend. We have so much cleaning and shopping to do. John and I were talking about plans for the party afterward. I am already starting to get emotional. For those of you who do not know me in real life, I cry easily and frequently. I cry on both joyful and sorrowful occasions. And I just can't help it. I have read romance books where a woman bites her lip to keep herself from crying. It just doesn't work for me. When the tears want to come, they do and I can't stop them. Emotional occasions such as the one coming up on Friday are the perfect opportunity too. It reminds me of my wedding day. A day when I was sure it would be Niagara Falls. But something else happened. I was up on stage in front of everyone, facing John, when something struck me as funny. I don't know what. Perhaps it was just nerves. But I started laughing. It wasn't an out loud guffaw as seen on you tube of late. But I was afraid it would end up like that. I couldn't even look at John. I looked over his shoulder and said my vows while trying not to bust out laughing. I actually pulled a muscle in my side in my attempt to hold the laughter in. I tried to think of something sad but couldn't'. Then I looked at my older brother and he had a tear coming down his cheek. Awww!! His love and care for me did the trick and I was able to make it through the rest of the ceremony. But what will I do on Friday? I am not ashamed to allow a few tears of joy to run down my face. But I don't want to be there boo-hooing buckets either. And I certainly don't want to laugh! I think I need to watch a really sad movie and get all the tears out of my system. Meanwhile, I think I'll get a good night's sleep. Any suggestions for a good tear jerker?

Learning to Trust

I was a school teacher in 1987 when I married John. He was a Richmond City police officer. Everyone who knew John acknowledged the fact that he was in the right profession. Police work was in his blood. He loved what he did. He became a Virginia State Trooper in 1988 and I never saw a change in our future. I imagined living life in that one city; stable, secure, certain. Little did I know that God had a different plan when He called John into the ministry just four years after we were married. Since that time, John has worked at a rescue mission, gotten a BS degree in Biblical Studies while he worked full time and finally we went to Romania as missionaries. All the while, I was raising babies, youngsters and then teens. I was learning to be frugal on a slim budget and doing my best to teach them at home. Our life has rarely been stable or certain as I had imagined it would be; chaotic and sporadic are the adjectives that pop into my head. But throughout these many years, God has taught us that He is faithful and true. He is the Rock that we can stand on when the storms of life are raging all around us. He alone is steadfast and unchanging. He alone knows the next step of our journey. I am learning that He knows all about my tomorrows and I am learning to trust Him for each day.

The above paragraph was written on March 16, 2007, the day after we returned from Romania. We had absolutely no clue as to where our life would end up. At that point we never dreamed that God's path would lead us back to Virginia and the State Police. Never did we imagine that after giving up our life in 1992 that God would give it all back. My heart is full and I have many more things to say about this subject. But for now, I just want to say that God is good. All the time. Praise the name of the LORD.

Five Things I'd Like My Children to Know

Happy New Year! I am backing up my old blog and found this post. I'd like to share it once again just as a reminder to my children. I love you Gabriel, Hannah and Holly!!! May God richly bless you in 2010.

Someone tagged me with this meme a long time ago. How do I put into five thoughts all the things that I want my kids to know before they "grow up"?

Here’s my list. Actually, I think they already know these things but I want them to remember them for the rest of their lives.

1. That I love them with all my heart, no matter what, always and forever.

2. That God loves them even more than I do.

3. That God will be with them even when I can’t.

4. That He is faithful and true.

5. That they would learn to see beyond today and beyond themselves.

Blogging Again

I really want to, need to start blogging again. Facebook is fun but my thoughts are "here today, gone tomorrow." I need a more permanent place to record our daily happenings. So I figured that I would begin again today, the end of the year, rather than waiting for January first.

Today is a rainy, drizzly day. It seems an appropriate end to this year where John and I have spent more days apart than together. In some ways, it has flown by like Time seems to do. But in other ways, it has been long and dreary and I am ready to see 2009 come to an end. After today, John has only five academy days left plus graduation day. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!

The Dreaded Enemy

Today I was thinking about the mountain of laundry needing to be done and was tempted to complain. Instead, I decided to repost this blog entry. My poor blog needs some attention.

Laundry. The dreaded enemy. The never ending pile of dirty clothes. Laundry and I may never be best friends but I do consider myself to be blessed. After all, I have an automatic washer and dryer in the same little laundry room. My washing machine is hooked up to both the cold and hot water faucets. I can wash and dry a lot of laundry in just one day if I need or want to. This wasn't always the case.

Twelve years ago, we lived in Brasov, Romania. I considered myself fortunate to have an American washing machine. Never mind the fact that there was only cold water to wash in. It did the job well enough. In the winter, the water was really, really cold. And we only had powdered detergent. After a couple of loads that ended up covered with the undissolved powder, I learned to microwave a bowl full of water, stir in some detergent and put that in the washer. I had to hang the clothes to dry inside the house for most of the year. We had a little clothesline above the bathtub and a dryer rack usually sat near our huge terra cotta heater. No, it wasn't the most convenient arrangement. But it was better than it was when we first moved into that house. It was a small house and certainly not made for a large American washing machine. It took John a few weeks to figure out how and where to install it. Meanwhile, we did laundry in the bathtub and wrung it out by hand. I say "we" because John helped immensely. I was 2 months pregnant and very ill.

The first few months in that house were difficult in many ways. But it was a relief from what we had just been through during our first two months in Romania. Much of it is a nightmare that I try to forget but since laundry is the topic of the day, I will address that aspect. We lived in one room of a Romanian family's house for our first few weeks. They had a small washer but it was usually broken. When it worked, it was constantly in use by them. So I washed clothes in the tub. But there was nowhere to dry them. The family had a clothesline but it was always filled with clothes, wet clothes. It rained almost every day that we were there. So I washed socks, underwear and anything else that just couldn't be worn one more time and hung them on the radiator, backs of chairs and bedposts, hoping they would dry in the damp weather.

Laundry is still an almost daily affair here in our house in the States. We generally do a load or two 6 days a week (and several on the weekends when John returns from the State Police academy). This time the "we" includes the kids. It's not my favorite chore. I don't mind washing and drying so much and I actually enjoy hanging clothes on the line outside. It's the folding that I don't really enjoy. So, sometimes I forget how blessed I really am. Sometimes I complain, sigh, procrastinate. But then I remember the days when a simple thing like clean, dry socks was an enormous challenge and I thank God for all that He has blessed me with.