Happy Birthday Mark

Since Mark wasn't going to get back till after his birthday these were the pictures we sent him (via phone) Sunday morning so that he could at least see his surprise on his birthday :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy got a kayak for his birthday - the girls were so excited for him to come home and see it.  Rachel even took her nap in it, I think it made her feel closer to her daddy :)

Counting Down

We are counting down the days till we see daddy/mark again.  His last Sunday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Amherst is this Sunday the 29th (also his birthday) and then he will begin the long drive back to Texas.  We are still in somewhat a series of decisions and transitions.  Many of which were thrown at as very recently and unexpectedly.  We certainly appreciate continued prayers for our family.  We are looking forward to all being under one roof again very soon.

 Poor Rachel smashed her ear in the door frame somehow.  Thankfully once it was cleaned up it wasn't near as bad as it originally seemed!

Big boxes are the best!  This was the base box to something and I first just set it out in the living room and put some crayons and markers inside of it - they LOVED it!  Soon it was all colored and going on all kinds of adventures as a boat, a house, a water park, etc.  Oh the fun we can have with a big box and some imagination!  At the end of the day they wanted it to be a bed, so we built a nest and they were so adorable all curled up in it - even the cats thought it was pretty fantastic.

Thunder Cake

Eliya came home with a book by Patricia Polocco called Thunder Cake.  It's a cute story about a girl who is scared of thunder storms and makes a cake to help her feel better and realize how brave she is.  At the end of the story is the recipe.  So we made thunder cake - one bigger one for Elie to take to school and share with her class and smaller ones for the girls to enjoy at home.  It was a fun project!

Glasses times two?

These are just a pair of toy glasses that don't even have lenses in them, but Eliya decided that Micaiah needed glasses too, just like Rachel.  So they got her to wear them.  She was pretty darn cute! 

Animals!

The girls were having fun scaring each other with the pictures of various animals and the noises they could make to mimic them.

Happy Easter!

So for the past few days we have been running around, or more accurately driving around. I have officially decided that Texas and Wisconsin are too far apart! I think I came to that same conclusion when I was doing these back and forth trips when Mark first came down here for medical treatment. I can be so thankful that the trips are not nearly as stressful as they were then! Either way I am thankful to be rid of that trip for a little while at least in the sense that we don't have any more school breaks for possible trips, but very sad that that means we won't be seeing Mark/daddy for awhile. I do have many pictures from our trip that I hope to upload soon. We had a wonderful Easter break with friends and just getting to spend time together as a family as well. It's always so nice when the 6 of us are under one roof together. Mark's health continues to do well. When asked how he held up with the extra services, stress and stuff of Holy Week his response was "Great!" Praise the Lord for that!

In addition to our praises we are being faced with many decisions about jobs, calls, locations, etc. right now. We are confident that God is with us and taking care of us. We are completely trusting Him, His leading and His guidance through these decisions. It is exciting to make decisions based on gifts and service to Him as opposed to health (or lack there of) and medical necessity. What a blessing! Thank you for continued prayers for our family.

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Easter with the Reichles

Trying to get the kid group picture shot - always fun/funny...

Getting ready to race up the stair to hunt for eggs. We were going to hide them outside, but it was really windy (and chilly) out!

Goofy facesWe were trying to get Micaiah and Julius to give sugars (kisses)....
they would giggle
She finally went in for the smooch!More goofy faces....Story time with SarahThanks for a super fun day and for coming to Amherst! We love you guys!!!

Easter Afternoon

We were so blessed to have a beautiful Easter afternoon - most of our Easter's up north have had snow on the ground!  We were invited to spend the day with some wonderful friends.  The girls had such a fun time hunting for Easter eggs with all the cousins that were there.  Thanks for including us in your family for this special day! 

~ as a side note I wanted to share this great idea that my friend does for the Easter egg hunt with so many kids of so many ages.  She gets 15 eggs that are all the same color/design and then each child finds their own eggs.  She also makes sure that they are hidden by the child's ability level - hence Micaiah's were laying right out where as Elie's were hidden well.  What a great idea!