A Most precious Gift From Jesus...

Matt and I started our ministry together right after our second anniversary, it was at a little CMA church in Wadena MN. Little did we know then that we would take away from our time there some of our most precious friends, who at the time, were our students! It has been one of the most incredible designs from the Lord that I have seen unfold over the past 12 years. Well, it has been almost eight years since we moved to our current church in IL. But this past month we were incredibly blessed to have two of our "girls" from MN and their soulmates come and stay with us for the weekend. Matt said he saw life come back into me as soon as they stepped in our door, I think he is right. It was a weeknd just filled with laughing, sharing, and new memories. It was so amazing to see who the Lord had picked out for the girls as their soulmates, ones we came to simply adore whole heartedly. It was fun to talk about old memories, fill in the gaps to some of the stories, share the new journeys we have all been on, and tighten that bond of friendship even more. The second day they were here, I think I must have had tears stream down my face with almost every conversation because I was just so filled with gratitude for their friendships. Monika, Nicole and I had some girl time to create down in my studio which was amazing to have such kindred creative spirits to toss around ideas with. These sweeties used to come over to my home when they were teenagers and we would plan out things for me to make them for their next youth trip. It totally warmed my heart to see Monika carry in her pillow with the pillowcase I had made her back when she was in highschool. I still have scraps from things I had made them 10 years ago because they bring back such fun memories of trips to the fabric store with them. And this time we had fun planning out some things for Monikas upcoming wedding, and after.

We took a hike to our Phillips park zoo which was an especially big hit with Jay who was greatly intrigued with the mastodon museum there-very fun!

We had a fun lunch at red Robins and a lively game of Risk later in the evening.
Jay, Nicole, and Bell(who was their hot roller during the game) playing RISK.
Steve and Monika -I don't know Steve, you might be taking this game a little too seriously;)

I told the girls later that I feel like our kiddos got to see some of the best parts of us that weekend. It was so fun to see our children take so fondly to all of them! Nicole had babysat quite often for us in MN, but it was just Cole and Madi back then! Monika came to see us in the hospital when Joslyn was born and I remember so vividly her holding Josie, And Josie was only 6 months when we moved, and she is 8 now- so there was quite a bit of catching up to do with our family, but it felt like no time had passed, and our kids warmed up so quickly as if they had always known them.
Sunday morning the gang made breakfast for us before they headed home, that kitchen was filled with laughter and now seems a bit lonely without them.
And we were all graced with one of Nicole's famous chocolate cakes-IT WAS AMAZING!!! MORE PLEASE;) Nicole is a fabulous baker/chef-but that is of no surprise, she is absolutely amazing at anything she touches!
Monika is an amazing photographer and it was fun to watch her mind work. She can capture beauty at it's best. I could stare at her photos for hours. God has richly blessed her with this gift.

I wish now, looking back, that I had had my camera stuck to my face because it is fun to remember the weekend and to see their blessed faces, but I am glad that those moment s remain in my heart and mind. it was a real gift from the Lord, and our house feels a bit more like home now that they have been here. Only trouble is that my heart aches even more now with missing them. We will be seeing them again at least in May for Monika's wedding!!

Just To Make You Laugh....

How many of us can say that our kids come up with the funniest things to say!? But, with time, our memories just lack the ability to remember all of those moments! I know I have lost too many of those side splitting times to the abyss in my mind, and I only hope that the Lord brings those memories to the surface when I really need them! But years ago, with the encouragement of different mom friends and family, I began to write some of them down whenever possible so I did not have to rely on my ever failing memory! Now if I could just keep from losing the notebooks!....

I came across one of those notebooks from years ago with some of those funny times jotted down and thought it would be fun to share. For those of you who know our kids, well, you will laugh even harder because it so fits them! We always knew as well, that our kids were going to get us in trouble with the things they say and we have prepared ourselves for those times of squirming red faced childlike honesty!

This one was from Dec 4th 2005. And you have to have seen Elmo in Grouchland to understand this one(which, you only grin and bear it through this movie if you are a parent of little ones!)

Cole came to me after seeing a commercial on TV. He said the guy in the commercial was the same guy that stole Elmo's blanket(or wubbie) in the movie. In the commercial he was talking about our cholesterol. Cole proceeded to tell me he thinks this man is lying and that he really wants to steal our cholesterol! IF ONLY THAT WORKED!


This one was from Dec 14th 2005

The kids were licking chocolate left over from dipping pretzels for Christmas. They of course were covered with it. Madison looked at Cole and said, "Gee Cole, I wish you were a statue so I could lick your face off!"

This was on Dec 16th 2005

Matt told me one night as we were getting into bed, that Madison told him he should put name tags on them(our kids) because he always calls them by the wrong name! Matt said the birth of our fourth child threw everything off and name tags would not even help! - Imagine our trouble now that we have 5!


This was from Feb 2nd 2006

As we were getting ready for church this morning, Joslyn told Matt, "Dad, you're getting too old, I don't think I can keep you!"- We are in deep trouble I think:)

This one is from March 3rd-2006

Today when I was picking up, i found a piece of papaer that Cole had written some phone number's on. He had heard a commercial about cash and thought he ought to write the number down and give it to me. The number was 1-800-needcash. The other was 1-800-bathroom.

Now that bathroom one! I probably could have used a few months ago if your remember reading the bathroom demo blog of mine! Hum? I wonder what Matt and were talking about that week that Cole was tuning into!? :)


This was from June 11th-2006

This morning as we headed off to church, we locked ourselves out of the house(and our cars) Of course, Matt and I blamed each other and it quickly turned into yelling. (I cringe to think of our neighbors watching out their windows saying "hey honey, listen to the pastor and his wife getting ready to go to church) After Cole climbing in our window to rescue us from ourselves, I stormed in, said we are not going and that was that. Joslyn says to Matt, "Daddy, you amd mama need to give up the madness!" Oh, the insight of child. Well, we sat down(reluctantly) apologized, prayed and did make it to church. (For the later service:)- Not exactly one of our prouder moments as parents or a couple, but I know I am not the only one who has had a moment like this!


This was from Feb 13th-2007

Tonight, during family devotions we were talking about the Holy Spirit being symbolized by a dove. Madison then mentioned the dove from Noah's Ark. Joslyn then went on to tell us that the dove had brought back "weed" to the ark. After practically rolling on the floor in laughter, we continued to about the Holy Spirit coming down when Jesus was baptized, Joslyn once again shared her Biblical knowledge that God put His Son in the ocean to baptize him.-Needless to say, we may need to work on Joslyn's interpretation of scripture:)

Yummmmmm....

Spring fever has most certainly set in! I remember having to sit still in a sterile classroom when the weather was gorgeous and every living thing had come back to life after sleeping hidden from the winter's chill. When those ugly old school windows were propped open just to tease us. Every sound of the outside world seemed ampliphied to my ears and why did they always seem so happy!? All I wanted to do was get out there and breathe the air. But even more than getting outside was the craving for summer break! Simple freedom, a change of schedule, fun! Well, I have been out of school for, hum, oh yes, I haven't been out of school, I went from student to teacher. And let me tell you, those spring fever attacks are no different! And I must admit, I fall into surrender of that spring fever monster every time!

Being a homeschool mom is awesome, and hard. One thing that I realized early on was that any of the kids being crabby or tired could interupt an entire day of school, not just for themselves but for everyone else! I found out just how important a good bedtime was! It was key to getting through our school day! No, it doesn't cure bad attitudes, bad days, or bad weeks:)-but it does help maintain some sort of sanity for mama! Not only does it give my kids all the rest they need, but it gives me the time to get done all those things that a mom would do while her kids are at school during the day. So, the hour of peace in our house is 7pm! Even for my older two, who read for a few hours in their bed.

BUT! Back to the spring fever monster! I am caving already, I am enjoying the sun staying around to give us extra hours of play outside, bedtime is starting to come and go with little notice being taken. I am losing my battle, and almost with a sense of joy as though I were a kid again! Last night after clearing the dinner table we told the kids to jump in the van instead of jumping into their PJs. After a long day, I just had a craving for some fun family time away from the house. So we went for some really good ice cream! And everyone was all giggles, and it turned out to be a great time!


Bell


Joslyn


Madison

Cole being a bugger, won't allow me to take any pictures, this is the best I could do- he was a blast though, despite what the picture may speak!


My love!



Noah took the cake in making us laugh! He was covered head to toe by the time we were done! There was a chocolate ice cream lake below him, we had to strip him down to put him in the car, and it took about a hundred napkins to clean up the table- but oh the giggles watching him eat his ice cream!