Greetings...
The month of March passed by quickly... lots of snow up here... A few weeks ago we had about 2" of snow... nearby towns had 0". Hooray.
Lots of rain the last few days (@2"). And counting.
Well, as the title states, we have new dog! She is Josiah's dog, and he named her Esther, after the Bible story Esther.
Josiah is really doing well caring for his dog. He helped to build a kennel in our basement and a sweet doghouse with removable top. Esther is (so far) a great dog for our family dynamic. Being a beagle, she is quite a hunter when outdoors, but is very quiet while indoors. Even while outside, she rarely barks... merely a lot of sniffing! She is a purebred beagle given to us by friends who raise beagles for hunting. Esther is the runt and couldn't keep up with the training... so now she is ours. she is about 20" long and about 12" tall. She is already basically housebroken, with only a few mishaps.
In other news, I put a deck on last weekend (14' x 20'). However, due to all the rain I have been unable to put up the railing. Warmer weather is on tap for next week, so I hope to finish it up!
Youth Pastoring is going well. Our group keeps growing (up to about 28 kids). More importantly, the group seems to be headed in a great spiritual direction as well! The junior high has actually impressed me!
I had the opportunity to preach on Sunday morning a few weeks back. It went well, though that sort of responsibility is always energy draining.
I finished just out of 1,000 place on the brackets for March Madness on Yahoo. I had 7/8 Elite Eight, all 4 Final Four, the Champion game right, and the champion... I had 167 points, the winner had 175...
We had a nice visit with Jay and Nat and family. We had some fun at the Dubuque water park, ate some pizza and visited! I had work the next day, but the rest were able to enjoy some sledding on the hill in our backyard.
Josiah is doing super in school. His overall behavior has improved (especially interacting with others.) He is quite a talker (surprise, surprise), and loves to write/ color/ and look at books. He is usually a great helper. As the weather has "warmed" he has really taken to exploring. He enjoys searching for treasures in the "woods" behind our house. The other day he found some "plumps" (walnuts, w/ shells) and cooked them for me in a bucket of water. He found some coal one day, and he also found some shells one day (yes, actual coal and shells!).
Jacob is eating/ growing at an alarming rate!!! He is a great walker and a real toughie. He does not mind roughhousing (to an extent) and loves wrestling with his dad. He drools a lot. He has eight teeth, which he uses very well!
Kathy and I are both well, and all of us are sick free!
Anyhoo, that was late Feb, March, and early April.
