Easter Is Coming!!!!! - LISTEN!!!

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

I'm so excited!!! Easter is almost here!!!

I LOVE Easter Sunday! I LOVE what we celebrate on Easter Sunday!!!

Do you know!?! Do you know that you were bought over 2,000 years ago?

Do you know that Jesus came here in a human body and died for you? He took our place and died for all of us, but He didn't remain dead; HE ROSE AGAIN!!! Your sins have been paid for!! You can live in freedom and eternally with Him!!! If you admit that you are a sinner, confessing your sins to Him, and that you deserve to go to hell; accept Jesus as your personal Saviour; believe in Him and commit to following Him and His ways, you are HIS!!!

I have only been celebrating Easter Sunday for 4 years now! I am so thankful that I am able to reflect and celebrate what Jesus did for me so long ago! My first Easter was so powerful! I cried almost the whole service. Not just because all that Jesus had to endure and went through for me, but also because of His love, mercy and grace for me that I can't even begin to wrap my mind around! HE IS AMAZING! What a sacrifice! Thank you Jesus!

Last year, I wasn't plugged into a body of believers at Easter, which made me sad and miss Lincoln even more. However, I took Dakota to a powerful pageant that was fabulous. But I'm so excited that this year I am plugged into a great church family and I have the honor of teaching the wonderful Gospel to little people. Not only the Easter Story, but the week before, Palm Sunday, too. I can't wait to use palm fronds and sing Hosanna! I can't wait to see the enthusiasm that only 3 year olds have when we get to jump up and down and shout Jesus is Alive!!!

I pray that as it gets closer to Easter that we can reflect and appreciate what Easter is really about and tell everyone about it!!! And if you don't know my Jesus, I pray that you would ask to meet Him!! He's waiting for you!!!

No Cavities!!!!

YEAH!!!! I know this may not be a big deal for some of your families, but with ours it is HUGE!!!!

I can not tell you how much $$$ we have vested in Dakota's and Kye's mouths, but it is ALOT! So Thank you Jesus! Is all I have to say!

Seriously, I'm so thankful that I didn't have to make another appointment for follow-up work to be done!

So we wait for our 6 month check! The week before school will begin again! Kru will be added to the dentist visit in August as well. Thankfully, his teeth to appear to be more Stephens than Furne, I pray! Dakota definitely inherited my family's mouth! Kye I think is somewhere in the middle, but he grinds his teeth! They are smaller than Kru's, really!

I'm also thankful that even though Dakota has had dental issues from the age of 3, he doesn't seem to remember any of it! So, unlike me, he doesn't have any emotional trauma/baggage when he visits the dentist and neither does Kye! Whoo-Who!!!!

Love those clear dental check ups!

My Afternoon Boys!!!! Kye and Kru

What do we do in the afternoons???

Sometimes take naps, but those are becoming
few and far between! :(

What a cutie!

And now with the weather warming, we are enjoying playing
out in the garage with the train table that doesn't have any trains!

Actually, we did this on purpose, the boys just really aren't into trains,
but this table works GREAT with all of the animals that we have!

It's a Fisher Price/Playmobil play place!

Have I mentioned that my 2 youngest LOVE water!!!
They get it from their Daddy!!!
Today, February 25, it is 80 degrees!
So this afternoon, Kye and Kru got wet!!!!

So much FUN!!!!

Soaked to the bones!!!

I hope that you are able to spend your afternoons
doing what you love to do!

Nothing to do with boys! But good anyway! :)

This post has nothing to do with the boys, but I don't have my own blog, maybe I should, so this is going here!

I was sitting in the Houston airport a couple of Saturdays ago, the Saturday before "Super Tuesday". Arriving early, I sat at the gate watching MSNBC or CNN or one of the news channels. The hot topic of the day was Super Tuesday and of course, who would win in those important states. Because of the important day coming up, they were also airing special political stories as well.

One in particular stood out and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind or how I related it back to my Christianity. The story was about how important the collegiate vote will be in this election. So the reporter had visited university campuses across America to interview students from both political parties. From the get go, you knew what party those being questioned represented. Be it the shirt or the buttons on their shirts, it was clear who they were supporting.

These kids were not phlegmatic about their support either. The ones interviewed were usually the head of their parties on their school campuses. One young man would go to school all day and then take a 2 hour train ride to his party's headquarters, where he would man phones, do mailings, etc... because he was so passionate about his "side" and their success.

After seeing this brief report, the thought crossed my mind.... Wow! Just think what we could do if we would be that passionate for our Lord and be that concerned about winning sous for Him!

Last Sunday at church, Butch asked a question, "What would happen if we mentioned Jesus to others as much as we mention the weather?" I wonder? I know amazing things could happen.

Obviously, the election is on everyone's mind and thoughts, but what about Jesus? Do I think of Him or mention Him as often as the current political situation or primary election? Do I discuss Him or ask others about Him like I do about the weather?

My prayer is that I would be more passionate about Jesus and sharing Him more than ANYTHING else! That I would be more burdened about people choosing Jesus than a political party! That I would be more apt to ask about how people's relationships are with Jesus than how the weather is where they live!

Can It Really Be the Middle of February!?!

I can not believe that January is gone and half of February is as well. Obviously, I'm not keeping up with the whole updating the blog weekly or even biweekly, but we really are not that exciting to post that often!!!

2 weeks ago, I was surprised by my wonderful husband, on a 4 day trip to see Kory and Shelley in DC. I left on Saturday and returned on Tuesday. YES! I went alone! It has been a LONG time since I have done anything like this, probably around 6 years! This was my early birthday/Valentine's gift!!! Had a ton of fun and Darrin survived with 3 boys alone! It was so great of him and it was a fabulous and needed breath of fresh air. I came home with a fresh perspective and, well, I can't really explain it. All I know is that is has been sweet since being back home and I love my family even more and better than before I went, so thank you Darrin! I love you!

My boys are growing!!!!! Kye, literally, is only about 5-6 inches shorter than Dakota!!! Seriously! I will take a picture tonight and add it! It really blows my mind! Kru is getting taller as well! He has been talking a TON! And he has used his potty chair a couple of times! One time POO!!! We were way excited, but we aren't really pushing the whole potty training thing until summer when he can run around naked and get the thing done!!!!


Dakota continues in basketball and soccer will begin in March. Homework has begun for Kye! He is doing well, although, at times Darrin claims to have flashbacks to when he and his mom were working on homework!! Kye has been coloring and drawing a bunch too! Had him signed up for art lessons, but they were cancelled! Oh well, we will keep trying. Anyone in College Station want to teach my 5 year old to draw?????? Seriously! I'll pay ya! ;)


Darrin was ready to get back to work after begin sick and then with my trip! But work continues to go well! Teaching has been fun this semester. I'm teaching 2 different classes and have around 22 students. Love the teaching, but forgot how time consuming the grading can be! I can't imagine working full-time anymore with my family! And I'm thankful that I don't have to worry about that! Thank you Jesus! I love being home!

Other than that, we are pretty much same ole same ole! Hope you like the tunes!
Will write when anything changes!!! :)

Dakota Cuts His Hair!!! & Other Shots!

Yes! today, January 19, 2008, was the day when Dakota finally got his hair cut! It's not as extreme as it could be, he still has longer hair than most boys down here in Texas, but it is a change for him!!

So going from this....


















and this...


















To THIS!!!

WOW!!! He looks like a young man again and I can almost see his eyes again! And I can see his handsome face!

This is today's game! Dakota was shooting a free throw.
He scored a couple of times and is really good at defense and stealing!

Other Breaking News of the Stephens boys....
We got fish!!!

We got 2 goldfish and Kye LOVES them. He will tell you it is
his responsibility to take care of them and so far he has
been very dependable!!! The names change almost daily,
but I think right now they are Tiger and Panther.
Imagine that!!! :)


Just a couple of shots of my boys!!!

Kye

and Kru!!!

Our Christmas in Review!

We had a wonderful Christmas break and I thought I would share some of our highlights.

When we returned from Iowa, we traveled with our Hope Group to Caldwell to cut down our Christmas Tree. We have never cut our own, so we were really excited!


It took awhile, but we finally found the perfect one and proceeded to cut it down. Dakota and Kye drug it up the road and a nice man attached it to our roof.


We have decided to make this a new yearly tradition in the Stephens' household! The tree lasted a lot longer and the experience was so neat! Thank you Fernando and Cathe for inviting us along!!!

Let the Decorating Begin!!!

Kru hanging his yearly ornament..

And Kye his...

And Dakota toppin' the tree!

Start the Baking!!!

Darrin even helped this year!

Kru was WAY into Christmas this year and that included making cookies! He also loves sprinkles and his cookies were over the top with sprinkles. Yum??!!

Do you see all of the "stuff" on the table!?!

Kye's portrayal of Joseph

To see and hear his performance look at the post below.

Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Morning - VERY Early!!!

A few of our favorite gifts!

Kari - pearl necklace!

Kye - jungle playset

Dakota - PSP Madden '08

Kru - his Tonka truck from PaPaDarrin - Bone book - it's a comic book thing - no picture!

Christmas in Hot Springs with Pappy & Granma

We enjoyed the chillier temperatures up in Arkansas. The boys had fun playing in the backyard with Stephen.


We also had a blast playing Guitar Hero III while we were there. In fact, our forearms were sore and so were my fingers.

It is probably a good thing that we don't have this at our house!!! It is very addictive! And fun! I don't think that I closed my mouth the whole time! Go Kari!!!! My favorite, ZZ Top's, LaGrange, Darrin's, Poison's, Nothing But A Good Time.

We ROCK!!!! (well, Darrin more than me, but I rock too!!!)

Praisin' in the New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

I just have to tell you at 1:00 in the am on January 1, 2008,
I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!!!
Tonight was so great!

This year things were so different in so many ways, that I had to share.

No T.V., no watching the "ball" drop in New York City, no listening to bands that I don't even know of, no watching people who I don't even know kiss in Times Square, no fire crackers, no counting....

Instead. . . . .

Worshipping in the New Year!

I can't think of a better way to begin a year!

We played games, laughed, had fun, but around 11:50, we gathered in a big circle and praised and prayed in 2008.

I love the Body of Christ and the Church Body that He has graciously led me to here in College Station. I am thankful and blessed to have them this year and the year to come.

I thank Jesus the He has allowed me to become a part of Living Hope and meet so many wonderful believers.

May your 2008 be full of praising and thanking God and receiving His many blessings this new year!

Grackles are Evil Birds!!!

Do you know what a Grackle is?

I didn't until I moved to College Station, Texas.

We have these psycho birds here from,
oh I don't really know...
September through February. I guess.
I think they are here year round!!!

Here is a close up of one, but I HAVE to share these pictures with
you that I took tonight. They freak me out!!!

Seriously, I feel like I am in the movie Birds.

The wires are that black because they are FULL of nasty birds!

They are EVERYWHERE!!!!

They seriously give me the heebie jeebies!!!!!

These are a part of the Rock Prairie Clan, there are others in town!

They aren't afraid of much and don't hardly move!!

AAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

There are THOUSANDS of them!!!!
Somebody help me, I can hardly go to
Kroger cuz I'm afraid of them!!!!!

I should be adding pictures of Kye from his program, but we rented a movie tonight from Blockbuster and I just happened to have my camera in my purse. I have wanted to post about these evil, psycho birds for over a year now, just never got around to it, but here you have it!!!

The pictures really do NOT give it justice and then you add all the noise they make and it makes my skin crawl! Really, it does!

They will be all over the van when I come out of Kroger and they just look at you and they won't move! It is so eery!!!!! Sorry for so many pictures, but I was trying to make a point!

Did I???? :)