A Visit to Victory

Last night we traveled up to my old church (Victory Baptist in Chester Springs, PA) to hear John Van Gelderen preach. It was so nice to see all my friends again!



This morning we went to breakfast with the Thomases and Van Gelderens. Such fun!

Answers to Prayer!

I have been so overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness this past month! He has provided for so many needs (and wants)! I just wanted to share what He's done with you...

First of all, Adam and I have been saving for some living room furniture for a while now. And you know how it goes....every time we save almost enough, a need arises and we have to use the money for that. We were getting rather discouraged with the whole thing, when the Lord decided to surprise us this weekend. Someone gave us an anonymous monetary gift on Sunday! It was enough to pay for a new couch and recliner, plus a few decorative items to "spiff up" our living room. What a HUGE blessing!!!! Praise the Lord!

BEFORE new furniture...


...and AFTER!




I love our new couch!


I found these pretty pillows to go with the furniture :)


A few weeks ago the Lord provided this beautiful desk for Adam. We found it at a yard sale for $20! He's been needing a good desk to work on and spread out his study materials. This one has plenty of space for him!


And last, but not least, God provided us with a kitchen island! I have very limited counter space in my kitchen, so I really wanted to get some kind of island to put against the wall. One day, I was on Craig's List looking for garage sales in my area, when I saw the ad for this island! It was the right price and JUST what I wanted. The funny thing is that it was listed under "Garage Sales" instead of under "Furniture." God put it there so I would see it :)



Praise the Lord! We are SO thankful for His provision. Matthew 6:33 is true!

Fun with the Van Gelderens

This past week we had John, Mary Lynn, and John Jr. Van Gelderen at our church for meetings. It was so nice to see them again! We thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship :)

Here we are at a Japanese Hibachi Grill on Mothers' Day...


On Thursday, Adam took John and John Jr. to Gettysburg while Mary Lynn and I went out for lunch :) John Jr. is a big Civil War fan...can you tell? ;)





At the Gettysburg address memorial...


Thanks for coming Van Clan! Looking forward to having you back again in 2014! :)

Old Pics :)

Here are some pics from about 2 months ago, but I just got them from a friend and wanted to show you what we were up to during the months of February and March :)

Here are our church ladies at a special tea party that one of the church ladies hosted in her home. It was so fun!




And here's one picture from a Progressive Dinner that we had on St. Patricks' Day. We "progressed" to a total of 4 homes (including ours!).

Movie-Themed Recital

 Tonight I held a recital for all my piano students.  It was a movie-themed recital, so all the kids played music from their favorite movies.  It was a blast!  We also carried the movie theme throughout our decorations and refreshments as you'll see below.

I even got to play a few numbers :)  Adam figured out how to post a video of each one, so you can view them after this post.

Olivia played "Supercalifragilistic," "Puff, the Magic Dragon," and "Whistle While You Work"

Nolan played "Star Wars Theme" and "You Can Fly"

Connor played "Darth Vader's Theme" and "May the Force Be with You"

Orrin played "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria" and "Climb Every Mountain"

"Maria played "My Favorite Things" and "Do-Re-Mi"

And Kelly played "Oompa Loompa" and "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"

They all did a great job!  I'm so proud of them :)

"Maria's Favorite" Crisp Apple Strudel (from "My Favorite Things" song)

"YODA SODA" :)

Gotta have popcorn!

I found these candy Light Sabers for each of my students...they loved them!

I also made some Movie Cupcakes with the characters from each movie song that was played...

Rapunzel's braid graced the table :)

"Snow White's Apple Muffins"

 One of the moms got into the movie theme and gave me a gift based on a song from the Sound of Music -- "Brown Paper Packages Tied up with Strings."  Cute idea!  There was a music mug and some pretty towels inside :)

Please excuse the funky formatting on this post.  I can't get it to cooperate with me!  Agghh!
See below for some videos...

Beauty and the Beast

Colors of the Wind

Here is Katie playing "I See the Light" from her Movie themed Piano Recital.