Death and Taxes

Hola!

They say that there are only two sure things in this life...death and taxes. We know that there is even an SURER thing in life....JESUS!

This week, tax day came around and my brother in laws mom died. She was buried on the 19th and that evening her brothers son died from a work accident. This week has been sad in so many ways....death, friends having difficult health and relationship issues...Jason remembered a friend who died on the playground when he was younger and that brought up sad times in his little heart. Some days, you just wonder....I also heard this week that in Birmingham last year, 99 people died from violent crimes. So many others died with broken hearts. The world hurts! Today, Jason and Lisa were studying Romans and we came across the verses that tell us that "nothing can separate us from the love of God..not even death! " (Romans 8:35-38). We remember that even when all these "bad" things pile up in our lives, we can go to God and cry out to Him as He is never far away! That is so reassuring when things of the world get to us....

Russ had an interview at the Birmingham Zoo yesterday. He felt good about it. He may have to give up Sunday mornings for a while, but he can change that later. Pray that he gets this job. We need it to get out and get our own place. We want to be out by that end of May and have our selves settled in to "home".

Things are good with Jason for the most part. He is going to his first "preteen Discipleship Now meeting" with the kids in his class at church. He is excited. Pictures are coming today of Easter and how much he has grown! Although yesterday, we had a "touch"of "needing mom" when he skidded into the mud on his scooter and scraped up his arm pretty badly. He needed mom to take care of that and afterwards, it was nice to know that even though he is getting that "preteen" attitude", he still needs mom and dad from time to time.

We are proud of Jason as we have seen him soar in school these past two years and spening time with him this semester, we are so proud of what he can do. This week, Lisa is doing a wek of review with him to see what he has retained. They are even having a Spelling Bee next week with all his words from the whole year! That will be something!

It is already HOT here . Lisa forgot that the south gets only about a "WEEK" of spring and then we go right into summer by the middle of April. YUK! Gas prices are soaring here as everywhere else also! We sort of miss Mass Transit!

We are excited that we are going to get a brief visit from Susan Field (from Graffiti)as she and some NYU students head down to New Orleans over Spring Break to do som mission work. The team will be staying at our church for a night or two and then head down. YEA!

Blessings and Peace today!
Russ, Lisa and Jason