Good Morning! People are weird. That is my big observation today. Sometimes they bring great joy. Sometimes they cause incredible hurt, but life would be intensely empty without them.

I try to surround myself with people who lift me up, who help me see the good in each day - not that they are perfect people (We all know those don't exist) - but they shine with God's light. That brightens my way. They help point me to Christ. They laugh with and at me, and remind me not to take myself too seriously. They give me a hug & a kind word when I need it.

For years, when I ask my Mom what she wants for her birthday, her standard response has been "a kind word." All too often, kind words are hard to come by. Very sad. With Christ's love in me, I should be overflowing with kind words. Words can be powerful tools or powerful weapons. I prefer tools. If Jesus can die for people, then I can build them up with my words.

"God gives each of us a task. Paul's God-given task was to evangelize a world; to most of us, it will simply be to make one or two people happy in the little circle of those most dear to us." William Barclay

Today is the day for a divine oil change. I'll take the little nut off, drain out the old, dirty goo, & fill it up with new, clean oil.

Well, I don't believe it. Spring has sprung! It's so wonderful to be able to go outside and play in the dirt in the garden, to listen to the birds singing (although I'm not so fond of the bird poopy on the van), to go for walks without freezing, go camping (May 16-18), go fishing, whatever. I'm ready to be outside. Such a busy time of year. We just finished with the first-ever-for-our-area homeschool prom. It was a big success! I did refreshments, Kevin did photography, Ben DJ'd ( and did a wonderful job ), and Sarah helped with the planning as well as decorating AND cleanup. There's even a Pantagraph article about it. They videotaped Ben doing a breakdancing routine! And Sarah's in it dancing. She's the one you see from the back shaking her booty. Check it out at http://www.pantagraph.com/

 I'm not sure why they featured our family so much in the article. Maybe cause some homeschoolers are really wary of the press. We look at it as a chance to show the benefits of homeschooling. And, let's face it, I'm a ham. Anyway, the kids who attended seemed to have a great time. Lots of smiles and dancing and talking. Props to Michelle, who planned it so perfectly.

Tonight we celebrate Kevin's 50th birthday. Doesn't seem possible that he could be 50 years old. He still looks like the muscly gorgeous 24 year old that I married almost 26 years ago. What would I do without him? Gotta bake a tombstone cake for him today. I already have gray frosting, and black for writing and spiderwebs, etc. . . . I'm not very nice when it comes to milestone birthdays.

If it's not raining tomorrow, KR & I will go help Nathan put up some siding on his house. Pretty rainy now.

Sunday is Highpointe's 5th anniversary celebration. Nic & Heather Dillon are coming to lead worship and Nic is preaching. That'll be a treat.

Next Saturday is Liz's graduation from ISU! That doesn't seem possible in so many ways. Could I possibly be old enough to have a 22 year old college graduate for a daughter?!?! She already has a full time job lined up at Milner Library, and is thrilled. I'm so happy for her. She's a very capable young woman, and seems much unlike the timid girl who started at ISU 4 years ago. Her graduation is at Redbird Arena at 1 pm, then we're having a party for her here at the house afterwards. We'd love to see everybody, so come on over! Will have food, of course.

Yesterday, I tilled most of the garden. I was so tired after that, I had to sit & rest for a few minutes. Then went to Menards to get Kevin's birthday present - lumber to build a shed. I've been researching and planning for a few weeks, so hopefully got mostly the right stuff. Sarah helped me load it all onto the carts, then into the truck. THEN, she took off with Liz, and I had to unload it all at home by myself. The 2x4's weren't so bad, but the 16 4x8 sheets of chipboard were a killer. I don't know how Kevin does it! Very tired then, but still had to fix supper and go to a birthday party with Kevin. Didn't want him to know what I'd been doing. Anyhow, it's that much effort he WON"T have to expend. Maybe I can help him build the shed, and we can have fun together.

Wow, wordy again. Speaking of WoW, we now have 2 sets of family characters, alliance AND horde. Hopefully, we'll get to play together some this weekend.

Gotta go bake a cake, clean house, and fix a nice supper for my sweety. Until we meet again, keep your powder and your pants dry.