Love's redeeming work is done....Hallelujah!Hope this will be a wonderful Easter weekend for you and your family. Here is Gresham, we're being treated to a beautiful, (almost) warm, sunny day. Larry is sleeping thru it, but the rest of us are enjoying it!I was going thru Krissy's bag today where she has a huge stockpile of pictures and other things she's printed on the computer. I was amused to find a sheet of paper in the mix where she typed out "we are people helping people...showing that with just a little love and a little understanding...if we take the time to care, every moment that we share will be guaranteed to have A HAPPY ENDING". Not sure who she might have borrowed that from...Probably a well known song and I'm so NOT 'in the know'....

News from our place... 

• Jamie got her driver's license about 2 weeks ago. We haven't seen her since. Just kidding, but she is a busy girl and it is nice that she can take herself places now. Krissy is anxiously awaiting her arrival home from Vancouver this afternoon, so that they can go for a ride.
• Change in David and Emily's wedding date...Church wasn't available the 16th, so updated 'save the date' is Sunday, December 18th at 3pm. They met with Alan, our lead pastor who has agreed to marry them. Normally they would be assigned to a 'mentoring couple' at church for a pre-marital study, but Alan graciously said he would like to meet with them himself, since he's close to both our families. I think we're all aware of the wonderful opportunity this is for them. They continue to meet with Joel and Lani, a young Christian couple and have so enjoyed that time together.
• Larry and I plan to fly to Hawaii on Tuesday morning. We are really looking forward to this time together of rest and refreshment. Actually, probably a little more relaxing for me since Larry has a conference from Wed-Sat, but they finish at 1pm each day, so that gives us a lot of the day together still. We have friends who are also going (people Larry has known from the NICU for years). A couple we get together with frequently from church are also there later in the week visiting their married daughter, so we plan to take them to see the big sea turtles on a quiet beach where they are often sunning themselves...then have dinner at 'our place' on Friday. Next day, Larry's mom and David are flying over to meet us so they will arrive just a couple hours before Larry's conference wraps up.  As you can imagine the logistics of covering all of the bases at home 24/7 was challenging, but I think with God seeing to all the details I can't know about,  it hopefully should work.  There is a color chart indicating who is covering who, when every hour of the day, posted on the fridge.  Please pray as the Lord reminds you :o) 
  

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of our big boy in his new shorts. He's hanging out in the backyard today and enjoying that beautiful blue sky!

We did have an unexpected grand time this past week when we went to the church for the family pictorial directory photo shoot.  You just would have to be there, I suppose, but everyone (including the photographer) was in stitches.  I think she managed to get one that we can all live with...barely. 

Blessings to you and yours this Easter!  Love, Janelle & all

Sorry it has once again been so long since I posted. Things have been going well for us. Both Jamie & Anne were excited to get their braces off early in March. Jamie particularly had some very challenging things to overcome with her bite, etc. so the dentist was thrilled with the outcome after 4+ years. In fact Jamie’s mouth will probably be appearing in a prominent dental journal soon. He thought her dramatic results called for publishing :o)

We had a chance to catch our breath over spring break. Both shows the girls were involved in closed just before, so it really felt nice to have a brief reprieve from intense theater and school schedules before it all began again this week.

Our biggest family news is that David and Emily are engaged, planning a December 16th wedding at Good Shepherd. He managed to surprise her with the timing of the proposal and a beautiful dainty heart-shaped diamond ring. He knew exactly what she’d like, so I drove with him across town to the jeweler he wanted to buy from and he explained to them what he was looking for… we were outta there in 15 minutes :o) Because you choose your diamond and setting separately there we needed to return to pick up the finished product the following week. I hung out in the car and managed to get a picture just after he came out. He proposed on Saturday afternoon, March 19th. We already had plans to be at Emily’s family’s home for dinner after church that night, so it ended up being a special time of celebration. We also presented Emily’s dad with a ‘bride price’ gift, a token of sincerity from David and our family….a cow that will be delivered once they finish getting their fences in place. This steer will happily laze about in the pasture thru the spring and summer before he gets butchered in the fall. We knew it would be well received as they had been planning to get one...You can’t just buy a cow for anyone these days :o). As for their plans, they both plan to finish their associate degrees next spring. Emily then plans to work while David transfers to Portland State to pursue his degree in Criminal Justice. He’s not looking at police work, per se, but is interested possibly in investigative work with the FBI or Homeland Security. Emily’s parents have a small farm up in Sandy and several years ago built a big farmhouse. The second level was built with a separate apartment in mind, so while her mom makes her wedding dress this summer, Bill will be finishing the apartment for them. They have generously offered to rent it to them for a very reasonable rate while David finishes school. It will also be a great opportunity for David to learn the ropes of farm work….they have quite a few chickens (they sell eggs), raise pigs (a few months of the year) and grow/can lots of vegetables from their garden. David and Emily have been reading together and are meeting regularly with a wonderful young Christian couple. They also plan to do Financial Peace University at Good Shepherd and participate in pre-marital counseling….so along with a Christian Community Theater production they both hope to be in this summer, they have some busy months ahead of them. We love Emily and her family and have enjoyed getting together often for meals, fun, Face to Face (Bible Read Thru) and visiting. Emily has been working with Benjamin the past few months too and it’s been so nice to have her around….she’s really good with Ben and then we’ve just enjoyed the opportunity for us to get to know each other better with her here daily during the school week. Because she was hired as the choreographer of the CYT Spring show (Tom Sawyer) she’ll have to reduce her time here some for the next couple months, but we’re excited for this opportunity for her too. Anne auditions for that show this afternoon. Jamie chose to be on crew again up in Vancouver this session.  

We are planning towards my returning to Uganda this summer for another medical outreach. They asked that a team come again, and so far 3 out the 4 of us that went from the US last year are planning to return. Dr. Will (Florida) and his wife will be coming in May to meet with us and plan for the trip. We ideally would like one more physician on the team, so appreciate your prayers that God will provide in ways that He knows are needed.  

Krissy is doing pretty well. She’s in a calmer place these days and I think rather than get our hopes up that it’s permanent, we need to enjoy it. Her behavior tends to cycle (which is very comforting when things are much more challenging!). She’s happy at her school and plans to attend the Autistic Children’s Activity Program this summer (ACAP).  

I think that about covers the news on our end!

Love, Janelle for the family