"Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt & Beth Redman

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And Blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name.

This song has really been speaking to me lately and I really feel this way. Even though we have hard times, God is still God. He never changes. He is always Good. Here are my own verses I could add to the song.

Blessed be Your name when I prayed for twins and you gave them to me
Blessed be Your name when we moved and Tim was able to keep his job

Blessed be Your name when we couldn't buy my "Dream Home"
Blessed be Your name when we found out about Tim's lung disease

Blessed be Your name when we could buy whatever groceries we wanted
Blessed be Your name when all we have is Ramen Noodles. :)

Blessed be Your name when we got to take a 2 week vacation
Blessed be Your name when we're sitting home all week during Spring Break

Blessed be Your name when my sister was cured from leukemia
Blessed be Your name when my Dad had to have a heart bypass surgery

Blessed be Your name when the children we are teaching listen well
Blessed be Your name when the children we are teaching won't sit still

Blessed be Your name when we are happy
Blessed be Your name when we are sad

Blessed be Your name when we want to bless You
Blessed be Your name when the rocks have to cry out because we don't

God is God all the time. God is Good all the time. He doesn't change. He doesn't move. He can do no wrong. His Will is perfect. He has plans for us, good plans. We are the ones who change. We move. We sin. We are not perfect. Our ways are not His ways. I am so thankful to know Him and to trust Him. Without Him there would be no Hope. With Him there is always Hope!

Christian Motorcyclist Association Season of Refreshing

This past weekend, Tim and I took the kids to Gaylord, Michigan for a Christian Motorcyclist Association Conference. It was called "Seasons of Refreshing"; and it's an annual event. We had a super weekend and really were refreshed and revitalized!

Friday night was mostly an introduction. We sang some worship songs and heard from our speakers, Rodger and Rayleen Wilson. After the program that evening, we had a pizza party.

Saturday was the main event. Usually Rodger will speak for most of the conference, but this year they did it a little bit different. You have to complete a ministry training program in order to earn the right to wear the CMA back patch. So, we all did the ministry training on Saturday. Tim had already taken it and had is back patch, so it was a refresher for him and many others there. Allison, Clara, and I all completed the ministry training, so we are all official Christian Motorcyclers now! :) They have a special training curriculum for the teenagers. I was so proud of the girls for doing it and proud when they recieved their completion stickers. Tim bought all 3 of us CMA back patches, so now we just need jackets or vests to put them on.

There were over 500 people at the conference! It is always Awesome to see such a big group of Christians all together. It's encouraging and exciting to be able to talk to others and hear their stories. The Wilsons are great speakers. We love to listen to them tell their stories and often they include a tear jerker or two. We are really excited to go to some rallies this summer! I can't wait to ride again with Tim.

Saturday night, after the conference, we went swimming at the hotel. The kids really enjoyed that. We ordered pizza and watched tv. Allison and I stayed up pretty late watching some shows on the Food Network.
Sunday morning after we checked out of our hotel, we visited Tim's cousin, Jimmy. It had been years since we'd seen him so it was nice to catch up and show of our beautiful children. ;)

We decided that since the Mackinac Bridge was only 45 minutes away that we would take the kids over it. Allison is the only one of the kids who had been to the Upper Peninsula before and she was a baby then. We ate lunch on the other side of the bridge and then came back over.

We stopped on the way home to visit our Uncle Eddie and Aunt Marge. We had some coffee and enjoyed a nice visit with them. They are the ones that got Tim and I together many years ago! Aunt Marge had shown me a picture of Tim and I thought he was so cute. I asked for his address and we started writing letters back and forth. A couple of months later we met in person and our life together began. That's another story though. :) We got home around 9:00pm Sunday night. It was a great weekend!

Worship Service


A CMA Back Patch

The Mackinac Bridge from the Upper Peninsula side

Sweet!

Just for fun, I took some "up close" pictures of something sweet...Sugar! I just think it looks pretty. :)

Regular white sugar


This one is that new sweetener called Truvia.

Red decorating sugar

Green decorating sugar

Pink decorating sugar

Blue decorating sugar

Another shot of pink

One more shot of blue

Jelly Beans


Candy Sprinkles

Can I still call 5 year olds "Babies"?

The other day was Ben and Emily's birthday. I cannot believe that they are 5 years old already! We had a little party with my Mom and Dad. My friend had made a 7 layer jello cake for her daughter recently and it looked so cool that I decided to try one myself. It was beautiful! :) My babies are growing up...