Allow me to introduce you....

...to the worst picture of 2009, thus far! I don't know that I have ever been involved in a worse picture.
Well, there was one of me sleeping with my head back, mouth hanging open, and my laptop on my lap, but it mysteriously disappeared. Hmmmm.... ;)

Anyway, our church held it's annual Friendship Banquet last weekend and we had a great time being with friends and family. My parents and two sisters and their husbands were all there, so it was a unique night for us.

HOWEVER... this picture will probably go down as one of the most memorable moments. As you can see, only two of the six of us were even remotely ready for this shot. What am I doing? Oh yeah, moving the flowers... for apparently no reason at all! My husband is thinking, "NOW what is she doing?" and then we have the classic closed eyes look going on in the front.

Oh.my.word. All I can do is laugh because it is SO bad!

Here is a much more "picture perfect" table. This is my mom and dad, my two sisters (both in black) and their husbands, and my sister's pastor and his wife. Isn't it a lovely picture?

I obviously didn't inherit the "readiness" skills that my sisters did. Oh well... you win some, you lose some.

A friend of ours snapped this one on the way out the door. I am so glad that she did because it turned out to be such a good picture. In case you can't tell in this shot my sister, Michelle, is due to have a little boy in June. #5 -Can't wait!!

AND I have redeemed my picture readiness skills--yipee!! :)

On Sunday, Ethan received the ribbons that he earned at FABA on Friday. FABA means something about Fine Arts, and yeah...that's all I know about that!

Anyway, the 4th and 6th graders from our school competed in several categories and did very well. We were proud of all of them. Ethan competed in 4 areas; Piano Solo, Bible Knowledge (NT), Tone Chimes, and Spelling Bee. He received First place overall in his piano solo and in Bible knowledge and received an excellent rating in piano and superior in Bible knowledge. The whole group received First place in Tone Chimes and he came in 16th in the Spelling Bee. His dad and I were very pleased with how he did. His hard work over the last few weeks showed. Great Job, Buddy!

So that's life around these parts, as of late. We're doing better than we deserve and are so very thankful for it. Our God is good...all the time!