One of the many benefits of being the 5th child...

...there is always someone to make you laugh. :)

Well, we made it

After nearly a decade, 8 years to be exact, Rick is finished with seminary. His last class was last night. No more classes, no more finals, no more midterms, no more 15 page papers, no more Turabian style, no more 30 page church planting manuals, no more 1500 pages worth of reading per class/per semester. Graduation is in 2 weeks. I can hardly believe it.

Why did it take 8 years? Exhibit A and B:

When he started, we had no children. In fact, I found out I was expecting Kate towards the end of his first semester. And look at us now, 8 years later and 5 wonderful children later. I suppose the title of this post, "Well, we made it," is misleading. We didn't just "make" it. The Lord was gracious. The Lord blessed us as He always does. The Lord blessed Rick and allowed him to work full time as a software engineer, attend and finish school, and lead, protect, and love his family. There were only 2 times where I felt completely overwhelmed and discouraged and Rick took the next semester off each time to help me out.

And now, there is no down time and no waiting. We are on to the next step. Rick will have to pass 5 written exams and have 2 oral exams before he can be ordained (this will take several months.) He has been called to be the pastor at a church plant. I NEVER thought I'd be a pastor's wife, much less a church planting pastor's wife. Rick will be bi-vocational for a while, probably several years. It will be very hard. But we know our God is faithful and will equip and will sustain.

Claire is 6!!!

I cannot believe my baby girl is 6 years old today. I am truly thankful that the Lord has given her to us for 6 years. What a blessing and what a joy she is to all. She is the most giving and selfless person I know. She is happy and thankful for everything. I pray the Lord will continue to give her that attitude for her entire life.

I almost forgot to take her picture so I had to go get her out of bed for this one. I think it was definitely worth it! We had a fun and full day celebrating and there was just no time to stop for pictures!! (The day started off with another trip back to the dr-Sims has RSV AGAIN). Claire had NO school today, ballet (we took cupcakes for her class), violin, Chuck-E-Cheese, and a surprise birthday present on the front door when she got home. Henry said it was the "best birthday ever" and I think sweet Claire feels the same way.

April updates

To say we've been busy would be an understatement. I'll fill in the details later but for now...Rick graduates seminary in about a month; we're putting our house on the market this week, and we will soon be moving to another city (close by thankfully) for church planting. Many changes are in store for us.

And now for a school update: we are almost finished with the year and it has been a good year. Kate (1st grade) says her favorite subjects are Greek and Writing with Ease.

Claire says her favorite subject is Math. I have already purchased almost everything we'll need for the upcoming year and my plan is to start the new year in July and school year round. We'll school for 3 weeks and then take a week off (with an extended time off for Christmas). I'll have to see how it goes but I like the idea of this much better than breaking for 3 months in the summer. I'll share our new curriculum soon because we've made some changes.