Ilon's teacher stopped me at school today. I was 90% sure it was for the usual, "talking during carpet time". She said she was showing an example to the kids about Martin Luther King Day. She gave all the girls a snack and told the boys they couldn't have any. She said the girls all started eating the snack but Ilon kept looking around and then took her snack and shared with Nathaniel sitting next to her. After she shared, the other little girls all started sharing.

Love you little I and your sweet heart.

Jnzbxbzbgcvcvvvv vv hgggghhhhhhhbhjjhhhkkkkshhzhzhzhshdka

Happy New Years!

We spent our NYE at the ice skating rink and at home! It has been a cold white wonderland here, too dark to be outside much. We will be spending the next month getting back into the next semester. Ilon and Gabe are ready for school, counting down the days. Most of the resolutions in the family this year involved playing outside and acquiring pets of different kinds. I am going to do more sitting around, and read a book all the way through. I'm really stretching myself this year:)

Happy 2013!

Idaho Christmas

It was a white one! Beautiful, cold, and wonderful. Grateful to celebrate the amazing gift of Jesus with our family!

Lights, sledding, snowmen, food, games, drinks, white hills, family. Merry Christmas!

Happy 4th Birthday Gabriel!

We cannot believe you are 4, it seems like just yesterday you were a BABY! We all adore you; your energy, joy, devious nature, crossed arms and pouty lips, and imagination. We are thankful for you!

I'd take the birds and bees conversation a hundred times over the ones Ilon and I have been having the last couple of months. Sex is easy. Hatred, sickness, evil, devastation, is not. It started with Jessica, the sweet little girl who was lost on her way to school in Colorado. Ilon and I started praying for her. So of course she asked every day if she had been found, and we had to talk about what happened to her. Not in detail, just as little as I could say without lying or sobbing. That's when monsters became real to Ilon. Not the pretend kind in cartoons, the kind of people in the real world. The kind we can't really even comprehend. The next conversation came when another girl, Malala, was shot in a school bus in Pakistan because she was speaking out against the Taliban. And we prayed for her to survive and recover.
And now this. I did not plan to tell her about it. She caught me crying. I told her some kids were hurt at school and I was sad for them. We walked to her school today and it was covered in white snow, untouched by anyone. She had Christmas music playing from her backpack, it was quiet except for the guitar and piano. She made snow angels around her school, praying for angels to protect the schools.
We talked on the way back about how some people have hard hearts, that we don't always know who they are but God does. And we can pray for them, for God to change their hearts before they can hurt others.
This world is hard to explain. My only answers are that we have to pray, without ceasing.

We got home and she asked for yogurt, and to go sledding. Because she's 6. And hasn't mentioned anything since. I am so thankful I have my 6 year old safe with me, and am praying without ceasing for the families right now that do not.

In no particular order

Aaron has held down the Roepke fort, while I have been out of town and in classes, and he has been studying for and taking finals. It's been a bit stressful, BUSY, and we all ran out of pants. Literally. Thats when you know it's time for a break, or at least a laundry day, when you can't leave the house because you don't have any pants to put on.

We have spent the last few days officially getting in the holiday spirit! The Lights parade, Christmas Tree farm, putting decorations out and finally all being under one roof long enough to have friends over.
Happy Holidays!!