Spring, Glorious Spring!

What a beautiful time of year!  The warm sunshine and vibrant, colorful, new life emerging all around brings me such joy.  What a glorious Creator we worship!  I love being so close to the Botanical Gardens and Tower Grove Park, where we are surrounded by a majestic display of our Father’s handiwork.  Here are some shots that David and I have taken from the past several weeks…  

“For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.”  Folliot Pierpoint, 1864

The bizarre Niki de Saint Phalle mosiac art... there's 40 large, rainbow-colored sculptures on display throughout the gardens. Can you guess who took this one?

How Deep the Father's Love for Us!

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One,

Bring many sons to glory

 

Behold the Man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,

Call out among the scoffers

 

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

 

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

 

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

by Stuart Townend

Another Snow Day!

I love snow days. As I teacher, it’s just as exciting as when I was a kid. There’s nothing like groggily waking up to a phone call and hearing, “School’s cancelled!” Now that I’m grown, sledding, building snow forts, and drinking hot cocoa has been replaced with doing laundry, washing dishes and making dinner on my holiday, but I don’t mind. (I do find some time for leisurely activities too...)

My first two years in Rolla teaching, we had no snow days. And of course, in Uganda we didn’t have any either. So this is my first year to experience them- and today is now the 4^th one this winter! It’s hard to believe that it was 78 degrees on Sunday, and now it’s pouring beautiful, white fluffy flakes- but I don’t mind! It’s lovely and I'm so thankful for the nice, relaxing day off!

The snow declares the beauty of our creator

He is glorious in splendor- Holy is His name!

He has washed me new like the freshly fallen white-

Clean, pure, and Redeemed by Christ

May all people be refreshed by His creation

Turn them to your face, O Lord

Open their hearts to see your glory

That all people may declare You as the Creator

and Your works majestic!

I love the Psalms, and as I was reading this morning I realized that the Psalmist did not live in a climate where they experienced much snowfall- otherwise I'm sure they would have written about it! So I decided to write my own Psalm about snow. The beauty of it draws me to worship our majestic Creator.

I took these pictures several snows ago. It was too snowy to go out and take pictures today- and I have yet to purchase a pair of snow boots! The first two pics are in Tower Grove Park (within walking distance from our house) and the last is our backyard.

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Didn’t you just love Valentine’s Day as a child? I loved decorating a shoe box with construction paper, hearts and glitter, filling out carefully picked Valentine’s for friends, sampling chocolate hearts until I found one filled with strawberry, and reading all my cards at the end of the day. I also loved my mother’s beautifully decorated and delicious “red” themed meal, including lasagna and pretzel jello salad.  One year in elementary school, my cousin and I even threw our very own Valentine’s Day party- following of course the American Girl party guide and wearing coordinating Limited Too sweaters.

I love being a teacher and experiencing excitement of holidays again through children. I never tire of making my students Valentines, decorating my classroom with hearts, icing sugar cookies, and watching the kids pass out their special Valentines. 

David and I celebrated Valentine’s by going out to dinner at Favazza’s on the Hill. (Thanks Uncle Matt & Aunt Patti for the gift certificate! The baby and I enjoyed amazing filet mignon!) While waiting for the meal, David completely surprised me with a beautiful set of pearls! (I just gave him jelly bellies:)  Our lovely evening was romantically with topped off with plumbing problems in our house, with water leakage in the basement. No fun! 

This is me at 17 1/2 weeks (technically into my 5th month.) My belly is growing- I now feel like I'm starting to look a little pregnant.

We're Producing!

"We're Producing" is how our Ugandan friends say, "We're expecting!" As many of you have heard- we're pregnant with our first baby! I am almost 15 weeks along and our baby is due at the end of July- around the time of our 4th Wedding Anniversary. We're very excited and greatly anticipate Baby Baca's arrival! I heard the heart beat for the first time the other day; it was breathtaking to hear how loud and strong it was. It's amazing to think of this little, tiny baby (the size of a lemon!) is miraculously being "knit together" in me by the hand of our Father. "For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." Ps. 86:10


Now an update on the rest of our lives...
We are adjusting to our new life back in our hometown, good old St. Louis. We’re living in the city, in the Tower Grove area, right next to the Botanical Gardens. We love it here- though it is very different from Wildwood and Chesterfield where we grew up. It actually feels like we are in a whole new town, so it's nice to live a different life in STL. We have found a new church community, are making new friends, trying out new ethnic restaurants, and are discovering many cool new things about our city. We're looking forward to warm weather which will mean lovely walks through the botanical gardens and casual bike rides around the parks.

This is our "flat," we basically rent the first floor of this house. There's a neat couple our age with two small kids that live upstairs. 

I enjoy teaching 4th grade and am very thankful for her sweet group of kids that I have. I car pool with 3 other ladies in my area and fortunately our 20 minute commute on 44 and Big Bend hasn't been affected by the major Highway 40 shut down! David started with EDM, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, in December and is trying hard to enjoy being a structural engineer. Working quietly on a computer (doing formulas all day!) in a cubicle is hard for his outgoing, extroverted self. (He's definitely not your typical engineer.) Prior to EDM, he worked with his dad at Guarantee Electric on a job site, which had a lot more action and commotion than a quiet office. But he's thankful for his job, is learning a lot, and finds the work rather interesting.

David with his dad, in front of the St. Claire Hospital Project at Bowles and 141 in Fenton

With Baby Baca on the way, some of you might be asking,"Are they still going back to Uganda?" We purposely rented this year, as to not be tied down to a house, and we actually got pregnant hoping to take the baby back with us next Fall. Though our hearts do desire to return, we found out in early December that David is no longer needed to help build the Westminster Theological College and Seminary Campus. As some money started coming in, Westminster's board concluded that they wanted to start construction ASAP and went ahead and found a local builder/project manager. So construction is in progress- which means they can move their overflowing campus sooner to the new building and hold more students! We are now in St. Louis for the time being, and are starting the process of looking for houses in our neighborhood. We know our mothers (and family!) are very excited to have us nearby....and we, too, are excited to be near them.

A Drissell family shot from Christmas