In years past, it’s always been about us.

Dave and I.

Making plans.

Making reservations.

And scrambling to find the last available sitter.

This year was different.

An outpouring from our hearts that reflects Who we love and serve.

An emphasis placed on what matters.

During church service on Sunday we spent some time praying for these precious women.

Women who have seen their Valentine go to be with Jesus.

Far right is my grandmother.

After service, we visited a local nursing home.

Hope Kids passed out flowers and handmade Valentine’s.

And gave treats to the nursing staff.

Ashlyn wished ever single resident, asleep and awake:

“Happy Bahhh-lentine’s Day!”

KK diligently prepared Valentine’s for her classmates.

“Fun Dip for the girls because they are fun.”

“Nerds for the boys because, well, you know…”

I kind of hope she always thinks that way.

And stays little forever.

My friend hosted a party for the kids on Tuesday.

Shirt and cookie decorating.

Red and pink food and treats.

So sweet and thoughtful.

Thank you, Carrie!

This Valentine’s Day I was reminded that Christian love is about sacrifice.

We’ve been given so much.

We’ve no choice but to give back.

It’s not enough to have the right words.

Or perfect behavior.

But we must LOVE.

And care for God’s people.

In word AND deed.

I plead with Jesus on a daily basis for compassionate hearts in my children.

And I know they learn by watching me.

So I am continually challenged to live accordingly.

To find creative ways to show God’s love to God’s people.

On and around February 14th.

And other days, too.

If you missed church on Sunday, you missed some really good cupcakes.

These were the leftovers on Monday.

We ate them for breakfast.

You also missed some really big news.

For us, at least.

Dave was able to quit his job at CityTeam, Oakland.

To pastor Hope full-time.

We are so thankful for God’s provision through His people.

We are excited, humbled and anxiously anticipate all that the Lord is going to do.

As Dave has more time, energy and focus to place on our sweet church.

Super thankful to our church body for seeing a need.

And fulfilling it so generously.

We anxiously await this next season.

It is our privilege and joy to serve you.

It always has been.

It’s been a fun week.

Hope has been hosting local Kids Clubs in neighborhood parks.

I love these sweet little clubs.

Grass roots.  Old school.  Meeting people where they’re at.

Ashlyn was not interested in hearing about the wages of her sin.

So she grabbed the Nikon and went for it.

Trees.

Shoes.

My big, fat thumb.

It’s a genetic trait.  Some have only one fat thumb.

I was blessed with two.

I loathed them as a child.

But I’ve come to embrace them as an adult.

Some people call them toe thumbs.

I’ve also heard them attributed to the Hapsburg clan of German royalty.

But I just Googled it and nothing comes up.

Maybe the Hapsburg’s are denying their toe thumbs?

Rude.

Megan Fox has them, too.

Of course, out of all the physical characteristics we could possibly share.

It’s ugly thumbs.

That’s about right.

I’m making a meal for a family today.

So I’m sharing the recipe.

Because I have nothing else to share.

Except fat thumbs.

It’s my “go-to” bring-a-meal.

My mom’s recipe.

Super easy.

Cheaty Cheaty Baked Ziti.

Tucker’s, you’re getting it next week.  So buckle up.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Brown about 1.5 lbs ground beef  in large skillet.

Season ground beef with garlic salt and pepper.

When meat is fully cooked, DRAIN it.

Then add large (4 lb jar) Prego Traditional Spaghetti Sauce.

Friends don’t let friends cook fake Italian food with anything else.

As sauce is simmering add:

one packet Lawry’s spaghetti sauce seasoning mix

and garlic salt and pepper to taste.

After water has come to a boil, add 2 boxes of Barilla rigatoni noodles.

Yes, we are making Cheaty Cheaty Baked Ziti with rigatoni.

Just go with it.

Box says to boil for 10 minutes.

Only boil for 8 minutes.

Noodles will cook more when you bake it later.

Drain noodles and return both noodles and sauce to large pot.

Mix well.

Layer pasta mixture with mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

This makes enough for 2 families.

So you can enjoy your Cheaty Cheaty Baked Ziti/Rigatoni.

And they will, too.

Everyone wins.

And this recipe gets two fat, German-royal, toe thumbs up.

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!
{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

So.

This is more like 258 on 10.

I’m not posting a picture on the hour, every hour like I’m supposed to.

More like 5 pictures every 10 minutes.

So I’m breaking all the rules.

Sorry if that bugs you.

I’m just capturing memories, people.

So without further adieu, I present to you a Sunday in the life of Hope Church.

Since starting our church last October,

my biggest fear has been that one Sunday it will just be Dave and me and the girls.

Dave.  Preaching to us.  Alone.

This is not been a reality for us.

But I realize it will always be a possibility.

My prayer is that I will always remain joyful and thankful.

For 3 people.

Or 2,003.

As Christians, we are so quick to measure church success numerically.

We do silly things.

We host big events.

Count new converts.

And throw those numbers out from the pulpit.

We think we have a louder voice if we are bigger.

And there is some truth to that.

We are louder.

But what are we saying?

The Lord has been convicting me lately.

And teaching me.

Humbling me.

Instilling in me a new fear.

That I should have had all along.

That no one would come to know Him.

How sad would that be?

How pointless?

In church planting, it’s really easy to get wrapped up in logistics.

The technicalities of a mile-long “to do” list.

Feeling like we are needed for church to go perfectly.

Feeling like church has to go perfectly.

Last Sunday we sang a Christmas carol.

“Oh Come Let Us Adore Him.”

In June.

In the middle of a heat wave.

The “big church” in me was screaming.

Internally warring against my traditions.

“It’s 110 outside.  Why are we singing this?!”

But, I have to say.  It was incredible.

Pure, amazing worship.

A reminder that we are to not only celebrate Him in December.

But every day.

The story and celebration of His redemptive birth and life is the purpose of church.

A story told to a congregation of 3 people.  Or 2,003.

And although I pray otherwise,

even if our little family ever finds itself alone at Sunnybrae on a Sunday morning.

We are never alone.

I’ve once heard it said that you should never advertise your husband.

And I love that saying.

So hear me.  I’m not trying to advertise my husband.

I stumbled across this picture while unpacking the garage on Wednesday.

It’s my favorite picture of Dave.

And he’s not even holding one of our children.

Actually, it was taken before we even had children.

But I’m using it anyway. For a Father’s Day post.

I know it’s weird. Just stay with me.

It was taken about a year after we were married.

We were vacationing at Priest Lake, Idaho with friends.

The little baby he is holding will start 6th grade in the Fall.

His eyes are older now.

And wiser.

He’s lived so much life.

Made decisions.

Learned.

Loved.

Grown.

He was a paramedic when that picture was taken.

Working part-time in youth ministry.

Not because he had to. But because he loved to.

Now he is a pastor of a sweet little church plant.

Not because he has to. But because he loves to.

Yesterday morning, he preached on Psalm 145:4.

On how the primary role of a father is to glorify Christ to their children.

To make known to them His mighty acts and works.

As parents, we can not simply be rule givers without making known the reason for the rules.

We cannot expect our children to love and worship Christ if we don’t show them what that looks like.

I praise Jesus that the daddy to my girls is a preacher.

A good preacher.

Who lives what he preaches.

I’m well aware that I could be a wife who sits through sermons.

With children who will one day sit through sermons.

Bitter. Listening to a hypocrite. A pharisee.

Struggling to reconcile the man that we live with against the man that stands before his congregation every Sunday.

Forced to hide the fact that his words and actions don’t match up.

But I am not.  They will not.

And for that, I am thankful.

I am not saying he is perfect.

But he preaches that part, too.

He is vulnerable. And real. And kind. And gracious.

And I love him.

We love him.

Happy Father’s Day, babe.

We are so thankful for you.

Betsy captured this video during our Easter service and sent it to me yesterday.

And it makes my heart happy.

This is Easter.

So sweet. So simple. Praising Jesus.

The one who was crucified, died and rose again.

For God’s glory.

And to save sinners.

Like me.  And you.

This is the power of Christ.

I’m sitting on the floor in the southwest corner of our living room, borrowing wireless from “Angie’s Place” (a neighbor we haven’t met yet) on Dave’s laptop because the keyboard to my computer is packed in an unopened box somewhere and I can’t remember our AT&T password.  That was a run-on.  Fitting because our life is kind of a run-on right now.

We moved last weekend, the very same weekend the City of San Mateo decided to block and repave our street.  Dave asked the construction foreman if we could park the moving truck in front for an hour or so.  He mumbled something about lots of millions of dollars and said no.  So that didn’t work out so well.

But after two long days, TONS of help from great friends, we’re in our new place.  And I still have to pinch myself when I wake up.  I also have to unpack 872 boxes in our garage.  And find my glasses.  And my keyboard.

Hope Church’s 2nd Easter Sunday was yesterday.  We had planned for another outdoor service like last year, but the rain came and changed things up a bit.  God continues to gently remind us that His plans are always better that ours.

60+ packed into Grandmum’s house.  And I took one really bad picture.

Kim did a great job capturing the morning.  Read her post here.

After service, 60+ joined our 872 unpacked boxes for a potluck brunch at our new house for rich time of fellowship.

Later in the afternoon, we headed up to my parents for dinner and celebrated Ashlyn’s birthday.

I can’t believe she’s 4.  I love these pictures of her.

We’re celebrating with her little friends tonight.  Dinner at Red Robin.  The invite was a text sent out last week.

That’s just kind of how we roll these days.

While the Johnson family is in transition into their new home, I offered to blog for Jess about Hope Church’s Easter Event this past weekend!

You can find my blog here!

———————————————————————————————————————————————

A few weeks ago, we skipped chipotle Sunday and headed to Half Moon Bay for Taco Salad Sunday at the Sloans House.

The plan was to discuss Easter, and the potential childrens outreach for the weekends before Easter.

The food was delicious as always! Thanks Pam! The conversation was filled with ideas and plans for our upcoming event. We decided on using the traditional Easter Egg Hunt idea with a twist: Egg tosses, giant bubbles, a drawing contest, and Gospel stories and songs were added to the agenda for a fun-filled afternoon.

Ellen was quick to work on some darling invitations, and order 1000 eggs and Easter treats to fill our eggs.  After announcing the event at service, the amount of candy and treats donated by our friends and family was tremendous.

The Skaates-Steiger household still has leftover eggs filled and waiting to be devoured.

This event was well prayed for. As a church with many young kids, and more babies on the way, we pray earnestly that they would know and believe the Gospel from their youth.

After church this Sunday, we got working on filling 1000 eggs with candy, treats, corny tattoos and even cornier pins. It was amazing how many people wanted to help!

We worked like a well-oiled machine!

After a quick pizza lunch, we headed down to Sunnybrae park and began to set up.

We started off with the bubbles. I’m a believer in the fact that the joy of bubbles is cross-generational. We had kids as young as 1 to kids as old as 50! Needless to say, it was a ton of fun. The young ones watched the creation of the biggest bubbles they had ever laid eyes on, and the adults loved watching the excitement of it all.

The bubbles lead way into more kids flocking to the park!  Soon, we had little ones running around on the playground, on the swings, and in the sand.

All of this was fun, but what the kids were really excited for was the Egg Hunt.

Every 10 seconds I had a kid grabbing my leg asking when it was time! There were however, special surprises in some of the eggs which required a story to be heard before the hunt.

Camilla and Claire lead the kids in a time of singing, playing and learning about the true meaning of Easter.

Despite the attention span of most children being about 2.5 seconds, they enjoyed the time of singing and learning.  Camilla and Claire have such a gift in sharing the gospel to kids.  Hope is greatly blessed by the Sloan family!

The kids made out like bandits.

Their bags were filled with eggs and their mouths full of sugar.

And more importantly…

We pray that one day Jesus will fill the hearts of these precious children.