Happy St. Pat's! Happy 4th Bday to Samuel!

Oh what a wonderful birthday our little Sammy had today. Samuel turned four today. He got to celebrate on Monday with his grandparents Mateer and then today with our family. We also got to go to the Kennedy Space Center today! That was cool.
(Our co-op went on a field trip to the Kennedy Space Center. WOW! It was a great field trip. Definitely one of the coolest field trips yet! We had such a good time and we learned so much. It was esp. cool because just last week my father-in-law helped me teach a class all about the Space Race and the trip to the moon. Then today we got to go and see the Space Center and all the things we learned last week were seen before our eyes.)

Here's a few pics from today and from Sammy's bday celebration:

Sammy with his Rocket Cake (made with Oreos)

 Look who is 4!

Sammy with Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom!

Sammy with one of his favorite gifts - a Hess truck and Plane from G'pa and G'ma Coggins.

Then here are some pictures from the Space Center today:

 The children and I at the start of our day

 All of us with a real astronaut - in the Astronaut Encounter. Very cool. :)

 The kids with another astronaut (Sammy called this one the "moving astronaut", as opposed to a statue.)

The launchpad with space ship on pad. We got to see this from the bus tour - also very cool.

We are so grateful to the Lord for blessing us with our little Sammy 4 years ago. He makes us laugh and tells such funny stories.

Also, being at the Space Center today reminded us again that "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1. Amen to that!

Prayer for Japan

Our dear friend Stacia put this on her blog, and it is worth re-posting:


 I may not agree with John Piper's "Christian hedonism" philosophy, but I do appreciate his teaching on God's sovereignty and glory. I was especially moved by this prayer for Japan that he wrote:

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

(Thank you to Stacia McKeever for putting this on your blog. I couldn't agree more.This was taken directly from http://notesfromtheholler.blogspot.com/2011/03/prayer-for-japan.html ) 

Basketball Fun

Way to go Shockers! They won their game today!

The Central Florida Regional Fair (and a visit with Grandpa and Grandma)

Last weekend Diane's parents came and visited and it was just great. They got to see Josh and Sarah at their Upwards Sports games, we went to Wycliffe Bible Translators and we went to the Central Florida Regional Fair. It was such a fun and busy weekend.

Wycliffe Bible Translators Discovery Center is such a neat place. It was so neat and served to be a real encouragement to me. We stayed to hear a missionary from Wycliffe who shared about what he was doing and his part in the Great Commission. Well, for those of you who know our situation here at New Tribes, we have experienced a great deal of sickness since moving down. It can a be a real discouragement at times because sickness sometimes serves to take your eyes off of Christ and more onto your circumstances. Well, I think that had happened to me. When we heard the missionary from Wycliffe, though, he was an IT guy (just like Dave) and he was serving in the home office. It encouraged me to remember that we too are trying to do our part in the Great Commission and God has us here for a reason. He works ALL things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, so we rejoice in where He has brought us.

My parents, the kids and I

Anna checking out some of the unreached people groups represented 

The following day, we went to Josh and Sarah's Upwards game and then to the fair. It was a great day. Josh'a basketball team has really improved over these past few weeks. Last week they tied one of the best teams in his age division and this week they won! (More about that in the next blog.)

Josh (#31) is the defense pro!!

 Sarah cheers her little heart out and encourages all the teams and the other cheerleaders!

At the fair, we got a surprise and Sarah won 3 BLUE RIBBONS and Josh won a ribbon for each thing he entered! Sarah won 1st place in Popsicle Creations, Velvet Pictures and Painted Ceramics. She did great! Josh got a 2nd place in Popsicle Stick creations and an honorable mention in his Painted Ceramics. They did so well! Yea for the fair!

Sarah with her Hot Air Balloon Painting (another entry she made)

Joshua with his Popsicle Stick Hot Wheels Garage

Tim and Sam (and Anna in the background) having a great time at the fair

My Favorite day of Laundry

Here at the Mateer household, we do mounds of laundry every week. It seems that every single day, we do at least one load of laundry. I have learned to be thankful for our five beautiful children who fill all that laundry and dirty it up. (Laundry used to be one of my least favorite tasks.)

Well, I took a picture of the best load of laundry ever found in our laundry basket. Here it is:

4H Booth - so proud of these kiddos

Back in September, a friend down here in Florida and I started a small 4H group. We had never done anything like this before, but it was fun to try something new and learn some new things together. There were 3 or 4 main families who decided to join our little group (two other families besides our own). The Central Florida Fair begins this weekend and a few weeks ago, the other leader and I decided to go to a meeting to learn what our little 4H group could do. We decided to enter a booth into the fair.

So yesterday, after recovering from a terrible bout with the flu, our kiddos came and helped Bonnie and I set up the booth. They did a great job. Everyone has had projects they were to work on at home for weeks and then yesterday we all brought what people had been working on, put it together and made our booth. Here is the end result:

Jonathan, Josh, Landon, & Sarah

 The finished product

The theme of the fair was "Indulge!", but we had to do the booth with the 4H themes of healthy living in mind, so we did a booth called "Indulge the 4H way" in which we featured different sports stations where they had to see how many they could do in a minute. (For example - how many baskets can you shoot in one minute, how many times can you bounce a tennis ball on a racquet, etc.) The kids did a great job.

Our Old Kentucky Home

A few weeks ago Dave decided to give me a trip to Kentucky to visit our old friends and to see our ole' KY home. It was a wonderful weekend. When Dave first suggested that I fly up to KY, I said, "What do you mean - Anna and I or Anna and Sammy and I?" He said, "No, just you by yourself." It was such a sweet gift of love from his heart to mine and it was wonderful to see all our dear friends from back home. Thanks to everyone who made it such a special weekend - esp. to my sweet hubby who stayed at home with the children.

 my dear friend Angel

 Stacia and I at the super bowl paper - too bad about them Steelers

dearest Tracy

the sweet Ramseks who gave sweet gifts to EACH of our children

the dear and beautiful Wilt ladies

And of course, I can't forget the Gaskills, the Acevedos, the Zordels, Kenton Baptist Church and the Oertels. (Sorry, I didn't get pictures of all of you!) What a precious time it was. Thank you Lord for such wonderful blessings (and the biggest blessing of all - coming home to my hubby and my children!!!)

My favorite Samuel in the whole world

Samuel and I building with Lincoln Logs one day while Dave was out with the older kids biking and Anna was taking a nap. My Sammy is such a sweet little guy. He is so funny and loves to read books and cuddle. He keeps telling everyone he is 3 years old, but he is growing very fast and soon he will be 4. I love it.

(Thanks to Aunt Diane for the idea for this post!) :)

100th Day of School

Monday was our 100th day of school for this year. I always like to celebrate with the children when we get to the 100th day. We like to check out children's books about the 100th day of school and each year we do some different activities. This year we made necklaces out of fruit loops (with 100 fruit loops) and made 100th day sunglasses that they decorated.

The kids making their necklaces out of fruit loops

The kids with their glasses (and their necklaces)

Timothy is in Kindergarten this year and so it is lots of fun to see all the children's books available at the Library for the 100th day of Kindergarten. Miss Bindergarten and the 100th Day of Kindergarten is one of my favorites, but I also love 100 School Days. The kids enjoy the day because the "theme of the day" is all about the 100th day. We even do our creative writing entries about our first 100 days of school and what was their favorite thing that they learned this year. The each got to bring 100 of some collection of things (Tim did 100 Legos, Sarah did 100 silly bands, and Josh did 4 different ways of doing 100 cents.) Hey when you have 5 children you can do show and tell right here at home!

I will say that God has blessed us much in these 100 days. I love being able to work with my children right here at home and see them grow and develop and be stretched (right along with Mommy.) We have learned all kinds of things and I love having them be here at home with me. We play together, laugh together (yes, sometimes cry together too) and we feel blessed to be able to do so. Thank you God for where you have put us right now in this time in our lives.

Playing a bit of basketball and cheering them on

Yesterday was Joshua's first basketball game with Upwards Sports. He did really well. He almost made a basket and covered his man as closely as possible. It was great to see him grow into this position.

Joshua in the back of the court

Joshua on the sidelines

Our sweet Sarah made her cheerleading debut yesterday as well. She joined Upwards Cheerleading and she was able to cheer for Josh's team. She did great too!

 Sarah getting introduced on the court

Go Team Go!

It was so much fun to go to their game and see them trying so hard. Upwards has a neat philosophy about the game as well. They are so encouraging to the children and they seek to teach the children the rudiments of the game as well as encourage them in Christ. They learn verses as teams and they talk about Christ-likeness on and off the field. It has been neat to join this organization!

Thank You Lord for Craig's List :)

We have been in the market for a while for a larger table. The table we have had since we got married was Dave's family's when Dave was growing up. It has been a good table. We have had many, many hours around it. The thing is, now that Anna is almost out of her high chair (she'll be 2 in March), we are outgrowing our table. So, we began a search on Craig's List for a larger table. We have looked on and off for months, but our search began more earnestly after Christmas. Isn't it neat how God provides just what we need, at just the right time?Two days ago, we found a beautiful table that seats 8 for $50! It is just great. We are very happy with our new table, (although it is so much larger than our other table that it felt like we were eating at a medieval table and that we should have goblets from which to drink.)     :)

You really can't get a feel for the size - it is MUCH bigger than our previous one! :)

Other Happenings in the Mateer household

Dave and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on January 2nd. What a blessing that was. My parents were here and we were able to go out for dessert and enjoy some time together.

The kids are doing well. They had a wonderful Christmas with both sets of grandparents and now are getting back into school.

Dave's parents visiting

The kids with Grandpa Coggins

A sweet moment with Grandma Coggins and Anna

We are thankful for so many things - twelve years of blessed marriage, five beautiful children and two sets of wonderful grandparents. We are even thankful for finding a beautiful table on Craig's list for a very reasonable price. God is so good to us. What are you thankful for today?

Christmas 2010

What a joyous Christmas this was this year. Dave's parents came down and spent a whole week with us. It was a tremendous blessing for us all.

This is our Christmas tree with our train underneath. The train is extra special because it was Dave's Dad's when he was a boy.

The children showing off some of their special presents from their stockings from Daddy and Mommy. (I love how Anna's hat is over her face completely.)

Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom with the kids. 

After celebrating Christmas that morning, Dave and his parents and some of the kids went geocaching. Up in Pennsylvania, they would have had a white Christmas if they had been home, but down here we had a "white" Christmas with bright white sunshine, not snow. :) It was actually a beautiful week, although it did get cold down here for a few days before Dave's parents left.

Here we are too. :)

Now before we close about Christmas, we have been thinking lots about God's grace. What a gift of God's grace to send His One and Only Son to be the Deliverer, the Savior of all men. Dave and I have been teaching Sunday school to the children at our church. We have been building for weeks on end going through the Old Testament learning about the promised Deliverer. One of the little girls said on day, "Do you know who the Deliverer is?" I responded, "I know who the Deliverer is, do you know who the Deliverer is?" She said, "No. Does anyone else know who the Deliverer is?" Sarah said, "God is..Jesus is." The first little girl got this beautiful look on her face as it dawned on her who the Deliverer was and is. That, dear friends, is what Christmas is all about. 

Diane's 5K - A good ending to a busy week

This was such a busy week! It also ended up being a good week. The kids had a good time decorating their little Christmas village gingerbread houses. I was excited because there were 5 houses - one for each child and when we opened them, they were TINY!!!We had a good time though. (I decorated Anna's for her.)

Then we had our co-op Christmas party this past Thursday. Diane was pretty much in charge of that, so it added a bit of planning and busy-ness. It ended up being lots of fun, though. Then Thursday night was the NTM Christmas party as well. Poor Joshua and Daddy - they were sick this day and weren't able to go to either Christmas party. Josh was a real trooper, though, and really enjoyed spending the day just he and Daddy.

Then today I ran the Reindeer Run 5K in Orlando. It was so much fun. It is probably my favorite 5K. They are very festive and people dress up in Christmas decor. You can hear jingle bells all around you during the run. This year it was at Sea World, so that was an added bonus. (Not that many of the animals were out or anything, but we did run past a group of flamingos.) My dear friend Katherine ran it with me. We got to have about 3 hours of fellowship this morning - just us two. :) It was kind of nice.

Katherine and I EARLY this morning (notice how it is still dark outside)

The Evolution of a Quilt

Dave told me a while back that I should blog about my quilt, but I was nervous to do so until it was completed. I finished my little creation on Saturday night and so today I am blogging about it. I am actually entering a JoAnn Fabrics quilting contest. I have been working on it for several months and and very pleased with the finished product. Whether or not I win the contest is not a big deal, but it sure has been fun doing it.

This quilt design has a story. When I was little and we would go to my grandma's church, she would draw this little design on the church bulletin for me. She was also an avid quilter and she loved the color purple. In loving memory and honor of her, I decided to turn her design into a quilt. In doing this, I learned how to do a ton of new things! I learned how to do mitered corners, scalloped edges, making your own bias tape, and freehand quilting. It was so fun. I hope you enjoy the finished product as much as I have enjoyed making it!

This is when I first appliquéd the design onto the fabric. 

Then I sewed around them with black thread to make them stand our more.

Then I pieced the quilt together and learned the mitered corners. I also learned the freehand quilting - very fun.

My finished product.

and a close-up of one of the squares. 

Happy Birthday 8 year old!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Sarah who is 8 today. What a blessing she is. Here are a few pictures of her growing up.

Sarah today with her Mickey pinata and her silly bands. Happy Birthday sweet girl.