EDS, an HP Company 'Cat Herders'

We are now on the downhill slide to the end of school. I would usually be very excited about this but this year I have a little apprehension about the changes coming up. My daughter will be graduating 8th grade and will be moving on to High School. I don't like big changes! She has gone to Trinity Lutheran School since Kindergarten! She is getting so grown up and beautiful, I don't know that I am ready to have her go to High School! She is looking forward to it. It will be a big change from her little school where everyone knows everyone and looks out for each other, like a family. There will be none of that in the big world of public school. She is, however, a very smart, independent thinker and will adjust just fine in time. We had a deal that there would be no talk of her getting a cell phone until she graduated 8th grade and she has been faithfully quiet but I am sure she is counting the days! There are a lot of things that need to be done for the graduation. The parents are the ones who work with the 8th grade teacher to pull off a stylish and fun dinner/graduation. It is quite a big deal for everybody!
My son is currently looking forward to finishing 7th grade and next year he will be the 8th grader. It does not seem all that long ago I was dropping him off for the first day of Kindergarten also! Wow, I am getting old! But everyone else is getting old with me so I don't feel too bad! I thought that once he was finished with his basketball season, my schedule would magically become easier but NO...he is now in the 7th/8th grade drama. The play they are doing is, "Love Rides the Rails" and he could not just have a small part but he has a leading part! He is the villain Simon Darkway. Ahg! Now we have practices for that 3 times a week and weekends! Oh well, the experience is good for him, right?
I thought it would be fun to post two pictures of Brooke. The young Brooke was in first grade and then a current picture of her. She is beautiful!

April has begun. We celebrated Easter this past Sunday. I love Easter because it is the lynch-pin of the Christian faith. HE IS RISEN! CHRIST IS RISEN! We live in a time and culture where society is doubling it's efforts to remove Christ from everything and becoming incrasingly hostile towards any public display of Christ centered faith. Easter is all about the resurrection of Jesus! The apostle Paul writes of the importance of the doctrine of the ressurection when he was writing to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14; "But if there is no ressurection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; then our preaching is vain, your faith is also vain."
But our faith is NOT in vain!
When I was a kid in Awana club I learned these verses:
1 Corinthians 15:3b-4 : "...that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the tird day according to the scriptures..." Then it goes on to list who Christ showed Himself to after He was raised.
My favorite desciption of Jesus is found in Revelation 1:17b-18 Jesus Himself says to John;
"Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades."
My faith is in the One who holds the keys of death! I do not need to be afraid!

Do you ever wonder why the date for Easter is so widely varied each year? The formula for determining the date each year was established by the Roman Emperor Constantine and the Great Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. First, find the vernal equinox on a calandar. Second, look for the next full moon. The date for Easter will be on the Sunday following that full moon date! Now you know!

Have a beautiful April!
Blessings!

It is a beautiful day....


The cows are happy....


They are after all California cows....


The dog is happy....

Enough said!
Blessings!