When God Wants a Man

Well, I'm having trouble finding my photos for last week, so hopefully I'll have better luck this week!
Marsha, I found the poem. :)
What a great picture of how God moulds a man. And a great reminder of how vital my role as a praying wife and helper is, as God moulds Mark!
Thank you!



When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill a man.
When God wants to mould a man, to play the noblest part;
When he yearns with all his heart, to create so great and bold a man,
That all the world shall praise, watch His method, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects, whom He royaly elects,
How He hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blow converts him,
Into trial shapes of clay, which only God understands, watch His method, watch His ways.
When God wants to take a man, and shake a man, and wake a man,
When God wants to make a man, to do the future will,
When He tries with all His skill and He yearns with all His soul,
To create Him large and whole, with what cunning He prepares him!
How He never spares him, how He whets him and frets him,
And in poverty begets him, bids him struggle harder,
Though he may not understand, until He poignantly perfects him,
When God wants to name a man, and fame a man and tame a man
Watch His methods, watch His ways.
Lo, the crisis! Lo, the shout, that must call the Leader out,
When people need salvation then doth God show His plan,
When He has found The Man.

Weekly Photos

First off, LOVING the weather! A bit bummed with the lack of snow this winter, but can't complain about beautiful days like this. The boys have enjoyed being able to go outside again, and I love having the windows open and letting the semi-fresh air in...even if it's incredibly loud outside with traffic, ambulances, and jets flying to O'hare every 5 minutes. I try to focus on the few birds chirping instead. :)

This week was Spring Break for Mark, but he hasn't been around much at all. He had a couple required classes this week, and had to wash windows a couple days as well. Plus, he preached at a Covenant church here on Wednesday night. I've been busy packing up our apartment, which I secretly think is actually pretty fun. I guess that's my dorky, super-organized side of me coming out. I enjoy everything having its place.

I took Judah to Walmart this morning to pick out a toy with his birthday money. On the way home, we listened to "Happy Day" by Steve Fee probably 10 times. I love that song, and I love that our church here sings it every Easter. I can't wait.

Samuel is finally feeling better, after probably being the sickest he's ever been. Bad ear infection, high fever, and nasal congestion = yuck. He was soooo quiet and mellow, he barely said a word. AND he asked to go to bed every night, along with nap requests too. He was definitely feeling rough.... so glad he's better.


Well, not much photos to show from the past week, so here's some random photos and a video that show off our ridiculously cute kids. :)


One of my favorite photos of Samuel EVER.


A while back, Mark and Samuel stayed the night in Tyler and Erin's old apartment. They watched a movie, had root beer floats, and set up the ultimate battle with army guys, dinosaurs, rubber bands, and a marshmallow shooter.



Cutie. He has on his Batman cape too, but you can't really see it in the picture. He loves his cape. He wears it almost everyday, all day.


This video is a little old, but Sam's doing such a good job with drums. It's fun to hear how much he's improved from the other drumming video(s) on the blog when he was much younger. :) Mark still really hasn't really started giving Samuel lessons yet. It'll be neat to see how Sam improves once he starts counting beats, etc. Oh, and the keyboard Judah is "playing" on is the one that belonged to Grandma and Grandpa Habluetzel. It's a hit with the boys (and all their little friends). :)

That's it for this week!

Weekly Photos

Here's some new photos from the past week!

Judah is getting sooo big!



Wrestling with Mark happens daily in our home. Samuel is feeling a bit yucky, so he preferred to just snuggle instead.



Brothers! I think this is the first photo I have of them both smiling at the camera together. AND I learned the only way this photo even was a success is because I asked Judah to hold Samuel's hand. Judah LOVES his big brother, so he was happy to hold his hand and take a picture with him. :)



Samuel "playing" his guitar. Right now, he's just learning to strum, and he can tell when the guitar is out of tune. Mark will start teaching him chords eventually.




Judah, our beautiful birthday boy. I'm completely amazed how quickly the past two years have gone.



Love this kid!

Ready..... Blow!

Love this kid! Judah tried so hard to blow out his birthday candles, but couldn't quite do it. :)

Weekly photos

After realizing Samuel and Judah's grandma and grandpa NEVER get to see updated pictures of their grandsons, I figured I'd at least attempt to start posting some weekly pics on here. I'm not making any promises that I'll keep it up, but I'll try my best. :)

Watching a movie.


Pajama Day with Dad


Samuel's 6th Birthday!


With Samuel's birthday money, he saved up and got this Lego pirate ship. It only took Mark 3 hours to complete! Mark's decided he could definitely have a career just building stuff out of Legos all day long. :)



Just like Mark did when he was a kid, Judah LOVES riding his springhorse. And he rides it FAST. Judah especially loves to run over and jump on it when we tell him it's time for bed, nap, or a diaper change. :)