Life on Nellie Lane

• From Robyn (age 5) today: "Mom, I have two favorite foods...Do you know what they are? They are ham sandwiches and broccoli."


• One way to diffuse a pre-schooler's infatuation with wearing short-sleeve shirts and shorts on a quite cool (high of 48) day: "Let's call Grandpa and ask what he is wearing! You can wear whatever Grandpa is wearing." Grandpa Richards was wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt today, which made Seth skip happily down to his room to pick a long-sleeved shirt!


• From Ken: "We have very blonde children." We see that Aaron's hair is lightening and is rather fair-skinned. His eyes are awfully blue, as well...sorry, Daddy, I'm not sure he's going to have brown hair and brown eyes. BUT you never know - he's only two months old!


• From N & R: "Guess how many pine cones we have collected from our back woods?! We have 203 pine cones on our picnic table...and there's lots more out there!"


• From Rhonda & Ken: thank you for your prayers for Dad Vanderwest. His surgery went well - they ended up doing four bypasses and replacing a valve. The surgeon felt this will help him have much better blood flow and more energy. We are grateful he has had no complications at this point; we met others in the surgery waiting room who had loved ones who had routine surgeries but experienced complications and had been there for weeks. We were thankful Valerie (Ken's sister from PA) came out to help her Dad and enjoyed introducing Aaron and spending time with her. And Kay is coming from Peru this week - yeah!


• Seth - praying for lunch today: "Dear God, Tank you for the flowers, tank you for the trees, tank you for Daddy be safe on the roads, tank you all the people to feel better, and tank you that Robyn won't be squishing my arm anymore." (sister was sitting very close to him on his stool while he prayed)


• From Dr. Watkins - "Wow! Big Boy!" Aaron had his 8 week check-up today and he's tipping the scales at 14+ lbs! He has vaulted into 3-6 month clothes and will soon be out of them! Dr said to "keep doing exactly what you've been doing," which is always reassuring. Amy took some adorable pictures of him which I will share with ya'll.


• To God Be the GLORY! We've been in the new church building ('Kent City South,' as we will still use the old church building, too) for two weeks now...what an AWESOME experience it has been!!! The first Sunday was moving for me - to see ALL the people worshipping in the area that has been in the works for so many years. Pastor Chris' kind words about Ken's dedication to the project made me cry tears of happiness and pride. The 'quiet room' has been a nice spot for Aaron and I to hear and see everything without everyone hearing and seeing us! :) And playing the piano for the first time in a couple of months and playing in the new building was special, too. We are thankful and look forward to this coming Dedication Weekend.

Happy 'Spring' (currently 34 degrees) . . .

-REV (That's Rhonda, not the Reverend)