Let it grow, Let it grow, Let it grow!

I have never been a gardener. I love planting flowers (that you just have to stick in the ground), but they always usually die on me during the summer. Growing up, the only successful thing I remember planting was a sunflower seed in our front yard and watching it grow 6 feet. Last year I attempted to plant tomatoes, watermelons, strawberries, and pumpkins. Nothing grew.

So this is a new year and even though I am still clueless on gardening I am trying this gardening thing again. I got a few pointers from some friends. Sean cleared out a really nice area for me and I started planting away. Sean planted some tomato plants and I planted rows of lettuce, green beans, watermelon, carrots, pumpkins, and cantaloupe. The girls, neighborhood kids, and I all planted sunflowers along the edges of our woods. I labeled everything with pretty little popsicle sticks so I can keep track. I have water the garden diligently when it hasn't rained and guess what....things appear to be GROWING!!! Ok, I am having a really hard time distinguishing between what are weeds and what is supposed to grow...a really hard time...so many little green things growing up. I know for sure my lettuce is growing...there are two little rows of sprouts. My green beans also appear to be growing. So I will keep you posted if we have any success this year...I believe we are off to a semi-good start...if only I keep remembering to water them!:)

Oh and the strawberries...something that I would absolutely LOVE the grow...I am going to a farm next week to pick some with the kids...no need to waste my time growing those. Here are some pictures of the process so far! See our row of lettuce!!

So how did the garage sale go?

I have gotten quiet a few questions from friends about how the garage sale went...so I just thought I would blog about it!:)We were all geared up to open on Thursday morning. That didn't quiet happen as planned. It rained, and rained, and rained.... There was no way we could even open up the garage because it was jammed packed with donations. We did have quiet a few people come by with their lists and we helped them as best as we could. At 2pm, the rain turned into a drizzle and her dad bought a second tent. We opened up sale for a few hours and had a steady stream of traffic right away. Thursday wasn't quiet what we were hoping for, but we made a few sales.On Friday and Saturday we had a steady stream of people the entire time we were open. There was never a lull. We sold most of the baked goodies and quiet a few raffle tickets. We did sell most of our higher priced items...and most of our large items. We still have a few really nice items left that we are going to list on ebay soon, so we do not have a exact total. Right now we have made 1/4 of our goal. The leftover clothes were taken to a local churches clothing drive and the household goods were taken to various local charities.Our raffle is still going on and the drawing will take place on May 31st. If you would like to purchase some tickets please e-mail me. The details are in the previous post. An IT guy is working on setting up our silent auction. We set aside some other donations to silent auction off. I can guarantee that they will be worth bidding on....here is a sneak peak of just one of the items! For those of you that donated to the sale, shopped, or have e-mailed me about buying raffle tickets-- the Sedlacek family is extremely grateful and thanks you!

Sneak peak of one of the wonderful silent auction items: (Thanks Brandy Brown from http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovelylittleones) **Please note...the little girl is not for sale-- it is the dress and headband that Brandy made**:)

Our first camping trip of the year!

We have been talking about doing this for the past 4 years and we finally did it-- camped in our back yard! Sean and I both love camping and are hoping that our kids will enjoy doing it as well. My girls like spending time camping in my parents RV-- but according to my husband-- that isn't real camping:) Sean spent all morning mowing and getting our wooded area ready to set up camp. He made a real nice bonfire as well. We enjoyed roasting hot dogs and smores! After the kiddos went to bed, Sean and I sat by the fire and watched a movie on his laptop. Ok...so my goal was to make it through the entire night in the tent. Back in the fall when we were camping at Pawnee State Park about 15 minutes from our house, Easton and I left at 3AM. He would not sleep...therefore I could not sleep. I love waking up in the tent with the morning sunshine hitting my eyes...so this time I was going to make it through the night. That didn't quiet happen. Easton woke up at 1:00AM. He is normally a really good sleeper, however he wasn't having it that night. I tried to hold him and have him sleep with us. He still wasn't having it. Every time a cow mooed he would look around thinking he could find it. So I gave up and we went inside. He still wouldn't fall asleep. I decided to try putting some orajel in his mouth-- always a cure to get a baby to sleep-- and noticed his gums were bleeding and two teeth were breaking through. Poor little guy! So at 2:00AM we finally went to bed--at home! The girls and Sean made it through the night!:)

Our Church.....

In the past few years, many of my local friends have asked me where we go to church and some have questioned why we drive so far to get to our church…why not just find one closer? Yes, an hours drive may seems like a long ways to go for church, but for Sean and I we feel that we go to a church where the Lord wants us to be. Some fun facts about our church: Millard Community Church—in Omaha, Nebraska.

1. I have been going to church in the same building since I was a baby. It has switched hands once and one of the current brothers who preaches has been there for around 24 years.

2. The people: Everybody knows your name- I think that is part of some song! Well it is pretty much true. At our Sunday meetings we currently have at last count 103 people in regular attendance. It varies on Wednesday nights. There are quite a few larger families with 5-13 kids and some families who are just getting started with just a few kids. I believe there is always someone pregnant at any given time. One week back in August 2007 we had 4 babies born in the same week…I was 3 weeks off of that…must have been something in the water. We pretty much all home school at some point. No it isn’t a requirement…we all just do. Some give their kids a choice to go to public high school. Because everyone pretty much knows everyone, it isn’t an easy place to hide if you are in sin…fornicating, adultery, homosexuality, lawlessness etc.—common things that go on in lots of churches that are accepted because the world accepts those things.

3. We don’t have a denomination. We are just a Bible based church. The brothers of the church preach from the Bible. They have studied, studied, and studied the Bible some more. Our doctrinal statement is what the Bible says and is a good enough one for us. We have no paid pastors or staff. We don’t take an offering.

4. We believe that the Bible teaches that we have salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ only. We believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again. We are all sinners. The Bible gives us four symbols only: one water baptism (as taught about in the book of Ephesians)—after we are saved (not as infants), the head covering for women during church (1 Corinthians 11), and the cup and loaf for communion (1 Corinthians 11:24-32).

5. We are not the only ones who drive an hour for church. Several other families make a similar commute—some drive farther than us. We have a potluck after church on Sundays to help the families out that have a drive.

6. Our typical Sunday morning—we start sometime between 10:00AM and 10:15AM. One of the brothers teaches for an hour. We take a break. Then we have another meeting. We sing three hymns, have announcements, and then have another hour of teaching from the bible. We get done around 1pm. My kids are usually sleepy and very hungry. Good thing we have a long drive home for them to nap! We also have bible study on Wednesday nights from 7:30pm-9:00PM.

I could go on and on. Some of my friends and families are lost…without Jesus Christ, don’t know what the Bible says, hear things over and over again that aren’t in the Bible or are made up. I just pray that if that is you, that one day you will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and understand what he has done for us.

If you want to find out more about our church or listen to podcasts of our messages you can visit: http://www.millardcommunitychurch.com or http://www.biblestudy.net

Lincoln Children's Zoo!

We love going to the Lincoln Children's Zoo! It isn't as overwhelming as the Omaha Zoo and you can walk through it in less than 2 hours. The girls have been wanting to ride the horses for quiet some time. I kept reminding them that they can ride horses for free down in Missouri, however they didn't think they could wait until this summer. They enjoyed their ride! Here are the pictures of our visit!The girls holding meal worms...their favorite part of the zoo are the bugs...gross!

Money, money, money....

Have you ever paid attention to the “rich and the famous” on television. The cameras catch them while they are shopping at fancy stores spending thousands of dollars in one shopping trip on fancy things…clothes, jewelry, cars, toys. It seems like money makes them happy and is the answer to everything. Maybe you have a friend or an acquaintance that boasts about how they are living their life just like the “rich and famous.” Well many of these people that are “idolized” on television or we know in real life probably don’t know what the BIBLE says about the preoccupation with material things and loving money. There are quite a few bible verses—way too many to mention on this topic, so I will only mention a few.

Mark 4:19: But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Many people think that we will be happy or fulfilled or content if only we had more of whatever it is we are chasing. This is a lie from the father of all lies, Satan. He wants us to be chasing after something he knows will never satisfy us so we will be kept from pursuing that which is the only thing that can satisfy—God Himself.

Luke 12:15: Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Ever watched those late night infomercials that try to convince you that they can teach you to become rich-quick—even some tele-evangelists have jumped on this bandwagon—give to us and your wealth will be multiplied. As this verse in Luke says—Watch out—don’t fall into the deceitfulness of others and what others have. In the book of 1^st Timothy we can read:

1 Timothy 6:9-10: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

If materialism was ever to satisfy anyone, it would have been Solomon, the richest king the world has ever known. He had absolutely everything and had more of it than anyone, and yet he found it was all worthless and futile. It did not produce happiness or the satisfaction our souls long for. He declared,

Ecclesiastes 5:10: “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income”

In the end, Solomon came to the conclusion that we are to “fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man” Ecclesiastes 12:13

And one more verse worth noting:

Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So the next time you start to think that you do not have enough or you wish you could have more money like so and so—feel blessed that you maybe haven’t fallen into the “love of money” trap like they have.

Easton is walking and more!

Easton:
Well Easton has passed the 13 month mark and has started taking a few steps here and there during the past few weeks. His preferred mode of transportation is still crawling, but here is a video of him walking a bit! (Videotaped Sunday, May 2nd, 2010)


Katelyn:
Katelyn can be sweet when she wants to be. Today we thought that she was at our neighbors house with her sissy....she came in about 20 minutes after she was supposed to be gone telling me she made a mess. I was thinking she had an accident or pulled all of our plants up..no.. worse...she had cleaned her trike and Jocelyn's bike with some of Sean's silicone based tire cleaning stuff. Lovely! She did a good job with cleaning them, but yikes, what a mess. She was sweet about it though-- apologized and asked her daddy if he could buy her some cleaning stuff so she can clean her bike.

Jocelyn:
Wants to be 9 years old really bad. Really, really bad. Sometimes I really think she thinks she is 9. She has some older friends that she hangs out with here at the house. They play with her, but since she is younger they don't include her in everything. Both of their houses are up for sale, so we are praying that someone will move in with some nice kids that are the same ages as ours.

Sean:
So before Sean and I met, Sean was an advid cyclist. He invested quiet a bit of time and money getting his bike all geared up for riding. He would ride 15-20 miles every night....then he met me--well that is at least the excuse he gives:) I guess he wanted to spend time with me...and then we got married...he had a personal chef...then we had kids...then we moved away from nice bike paths...and the rest is history. Today however is a new day! He got his bike out and dusted it off. Cleaned out his water bottles--filled with 5 year old water--yuck! He ordered new tires and will soon be good to go-- biking on some Lincoln trails. I am so excited for him!

Me:
Nothing new to report. Just getting fatter and fatter....ok I have a good reason. I am 11 weeks along...I think that since this is my 4th baby I am gaining more weight earlier...or maybe it is because I am eating more. My first Dr.'s appointment isn't until May 21st. I am always a little nervous about the first appointment as he will try to find the heartbeat. When I got pregnant after Jocelyn he couldn't find a heartbeat on that baby--total devastation. I just pray that everything is going well this time around. Other than that....our school year has been winding down slowly. We have been enjoying the outdoors! Since I won't have a newborn this summer my goal is to spend more time with friends! We are always up for play dates and having people over!