Geocaching is FUN!!!

Hi everyone...
I wanted to post before now, but between it being Holy Week and Hope being under the weather (she threw up on me TWICE on Monday night), this is the first chance I've had.

We went geocaching with our friends Ron and Beth on Sunday. It was our first time and it was awesome!!! Even though the weather was pretty crappy (drizzling and cold), we bundled up and headed out anyway (are we bad parents or what?). Beth and Ron brought Kaitlyn with them (she's an adorable little girl from church) and that was so much fun!! Hope loved having someone to play with! After lunch at our house we went to find our first cache (Ron and Beth's 198th...their professionals!). We had our GPS units in hand, Beth printed little labels with our geocaching name on it (I think we're the 3 Brews), and we were on our way. I found the first two caches because Mark had his hands full with Hope. Anyway...this is like a high-tech scavenger hunt. People hide these little caches (or treasures, as Kaitlyn calls them)and when you find them with the help of your GPS, they have little logs in them. That's where we put our label with our name (and the date) on it. It's cool to look through the log to see who else has found the cache. In many of the caches people leave little trinkets that can be exchanged. Kaitlyn brought some little stickers with her so in the caches that we found she'd take something from the cache and replace what she took with one of her stickers. I'm not doing the sport of geocaching justice with my words. It's just so much fun. We walked about 2 miles (YES! In the crappy weather) and it didn't seem like 2 miles at all. It's a great form of exercise, too. We're now researching what GPS we should get so we can make geocaching a family outing. Now please know that even though we totally enjoyed geocaching on Sunday, we enjoyed spending time with Ron and Beth even more. They are so fun to hang out with!! I'll include some pictures of our adventure with this post.

Speaking of Ron and Beth...no news yet about their baby. I'm so bummed. It seems that the rumors that were circulating about the referrals being on the ground were incorrect. They're pretty disappointed, but they have such great patience and strength. Please keep them in your prayers.

I went to my friend Jennifer's 4 month old son's funeral on Saturday. Let me just say that I never, ever want to experience something like that again. Jennifer and her husband Wayne carried the baby's casket up to the front of the church and then back out again at the end. They were the pall bearers. I'm not going to write much about the funeral because it's just too devestating. No parent should have to experience this. This is one of my questions for God when I get to heaven: why babies?? And then I pray a prayer of thanksgiving and safety for Hope. I know that's probably selfish, but I also know that if anything happened to her I don't know that I could go on. She's my life....even if she DID throw up on me twice the other night. Poor thing. I think she's getting her 2 year molars.

It seems like I had so much more to say, but I guess that's enough for now. Happy Easter to everyone. One of my favorite Easter memories was the Easter of 2000. It was the first Easter after my Dad died and Easter just meant so much more to me then. It had a whole new meaning. I could picture Dad celebrating the resurrection of Jesus in heaven. How wonderful is that?? Celebrate on, Dad!

In the name of the Risen Christ...
Melody

Here is Hope on our geocaching adventure.


Here are Ron and Kaitlyn finding cache #3 of the day.


Beth and Kaitlyn took time to play with the ducks.


The newest geocaching family: Three Brews


The Geocachers


Our guides for the day: Kaitlyn and Hope