St. Patrick's Day

Have you ever wondered how some holidays got so far from what their original intent was? Take Memorial Day for instance...this was a day set aside to remember and give appreciation for the sacrifice that tons of men and women have made for this country throughout our history to establish and maintain our freedom. Now it seems like most people don't even care about that, they just want a day off work to party. St. Patrick's Day is another one of those holidays. I bet if you randomly asked 25 people at any parade who St. Patrick was they wouldn't have any idea. Just in case you are wondering...when St. Patrick was a young man he was kidnapped from his family and held as a prisoner for 6 years in Ireland. After he escaped and returned home he was led by God to return to Ireland to spread the good news of God's love. Interesting, huh?



Anyway, Shelby's school had a little parade on St. Patrick's day. Normally she wouldn't be at school on Wednesdays because we go to CBS, but she was so excited about the parade and all her work into making her little hat and vest that I just knew that the right thing to do would be to take her to school that day. After CBS and Moe's JP and I headed down to Shelby's school to watch the parade with the other moms and siblings. It was so cute. Each class filed out of the school. They had music and decorated wagons for some children to ride on. They marched all the way up the street and then came back, stopping occasionally to entertain passersby with a little jig. Thankfully the timing was perfect; just as they made their way back into the school the rain started coming. It was super cute and I am excited about next years!!!

Recently our church has started a new food drive ministry. It is an idea that Pratt and I got from a church that we visited and it is a great idea!! Basically you hand out paper bags to the members and ask them to fill the bags with canned goods and other non-perishables and then return them on a specific Sunday. Everyone leaves their bags at the bumper of their car and it looks really neat to see all those bags. We had a very successful first go at this and are excited to do it again. We ended up with about 86 bags of groceries that we delivered to two local food banks.

Shelby and JP started swim lessons on Saturday. At first neither one of them was excited about getting in the pool and thankfully Neely and Eliza were still there from their swim lesson and they had no problem getting back in the pool with my children to get them used to the water and Mr. Stefan. Each time it was JP's turn he would cry a little bit, but once he was in the water he would smile and really enjoy it. He is such a tease. In the end, they both really enjoyed it and they both put their heads all the way under the water!!! Shelby also swam to the wall all by herself right at the very end. I am so glad that she remembered some of what she learned last year.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and we all got to enjoy a special treat of hearing the children's choir sing. Rachel and Babs really do such a wonderful job with these children. In the brief time that they are with them they have time to practice their songs, teach them a Bible story and do a craft with them; oh yeah, and they also have a snack time. Anyway, back to Palm Sunday. It was one of the cutest things ever. All the children walked down the aisle waving palms and then they filed up on the risers and sang their little hearts out. There really isn't anything much sweeter!!! I am so excited to hear them again as they sing at the Easter Sunday service!!!