Water and Parks

Here are a bunch of pictures from the past couple of weeks of the kids busy busy busy!

Another Great One from "Stuff Christians Like"

The "Stuff Christians Like" blog had a great one today that should make you laugh!

From Jon Acuff, Stuff Christians Like blog:
#567. Opening your eyes in church when you're supposed to be praying.
You shouldn't do this. I think there's a verse in 2 Thessalonians that mentions the need to have your eyes closed at all times when the pastor is praying at church. But if you do, if you willfully decide to crack your eyelids for a peek, the very least I can do is prepare you for what you'll find.
It's a church wonderland.

It really is. When you open your eyes during a prayer it's like going snorkeling for the first time and being shocked at how much life is going on under the surface of the water. All the years you were clutching your eyes shut, you had no idea what you were missing.

The removal of instruments? The magical set changes or pulpit vanishing acts that happen on stage? That's during prayer. The way ushers seem to materialize out of thin air with the offering buckets when the prayer is over? That's accomplished during a prayer. In fact, the momentum of the church staff doesn't stop when it’s prayer time, if anything it speeds up the moment you close your eyes. But that's housekeeping stuff. What about the underprayer wonders you'll see?

A few of my favorites include:

The guy that thinks he's invisible when he's praying. You might know him by his more common name, "Nose pick guy." He's made the assumption that everyone has their eyes closed and he is therefore invisible. (My youngest daughter does this when we play hide and seek. If she can't see you, she assumes that you can't see her so the only body part she'll hide is her head.) As soon as people bow their heads in prayer this guy suspends all social graces and has no problem combining a prayer with a ferocious session of nose-picking.

The bathroom jail breaker She has got to go. And like Tom Cruise hanging from the ceiling in Mission Impossible, she knows this is her moment. She quietly gets up, moving with the deftness of someone playing the game "Operation." And the second she breaks free of her row and gets in some open space, she starts powerwalking. The clock is ticking. If she's going to make it to the bathroom and get back to her seat before the sermon, she knows she has to hustle.

The little kid who knows silence amplifies his yelling. This rascal had his yelps and giggles hidden under a warm blanket of worship music, but no more. It's quiet now and this is his time to shine and shine he will. Standing up in his seat he'll fill that quiet time of reflection with loud talking, highlighted when his mother whispers, "be quiet" and he yells back "Why?" But if you're really lucky, if you're special, you'll witness a "little kid call out" and will actually hear him yell, "Mom, that man is picking his nose." Oh, so rare. It's like seeing a unicorn fish floating about the reef. A creature so rare I had to make it up for the purpose of this paragraph.

The only thing that ruins a good open eye exploration session, other than that you might be missing the point of prayer, is when you make eye contact with someone else doing the same thing. It's like bumping into a family of other tourists when you're snorkeling. Some of the wonder of being in a completely foreign undersea world disappears when in the midst of floating about gently in a clear blue sea you bump into a guy wearing a "Fear This" t-shirt. Look away. Look away quickly and either close your eyes and jump back into the prayer or try to find a bathroom jail breaker you can time with your watch. Will she make it back? Will she get caught off guard by an unexpectedly short prayer and end up interrupting the sermon with her reentry? Ohh the intrigue.

Have you ever opened your eyes during a prayer at church?

Door Prize

Last week at Jon's bank picnic Bria won the drawing for the door prize: a very nice lounge chair from Cabela's. She was obviously very excited about her big win. And poor little Emmy was obvioulsy very devestated that her name was not drawn out for a prize. Try as she might, Bria tried to cheer her up and distract her, but to no avail.... the fun evening had quickly turned into the "worst day in my life," according to our dramatic 5 year old!


But.... wait.... it was daddy to the rescue! Mom had spent the entire day heading off melt downs at the house and her creative juices had all run out. But not Dad.... he was fresh for the battle. He became, "the Prize Master", as he cajoled everyone into leaving and heading over to Pamida (formerly known as Paul-Mike-and-Danny's). Once there, mom's job was to keep EMmy busy while Dad and Bria went on a prize searching mission in the toy department. Once it was all said and done (and with some input from Emmy), both girls ended up with a new SeaPal toy and smiles all around. You know, sometimes, it's just worth it to make them smile!

Bria'z prize chair: THe girls in their outside reading spots.

Emmy and her SwimPal from the Prize Master.

I love my family!!

In case you haven't noticed before in my blog, I'm quite smitten with my family. I have these two amazing girls. It seems like every time I can sit and just observe for a minute I notice something new or different or changed about them. They have grown so fast and changed so much and it's so very good. Sometimes scary, but so good. I see similarities in them and differences and how they are so alike Jon or I, yet so completely their own people. Is every moment perfect and well-behaved and obedient...... uh..no..... but in even in those not perfect moments I can see them learning and growing and expressing who they are.

It's easy for me to rush through the day sometimes - looking at the clock and thinking about who needs what in the upcoming half hour or hour or minute - with my own kids and with the daycare crew. But what I like most is when I can put aside the rest of the day or the week and just get lost in the moment - I need to do that more.

And I probably shouldn't even get started on Jon! Growing up what I wanted more than anything was to be married and be a mom. Along the way I came to realize the difference between dreams and reality - and reality is so much BETTER than what I had dreamed of! I always had an idea of the kind of man I wanted to marry and God filled in the rest in an even better way then I could dream of! I feel like one of the truly blessed people in this world to have been given the gift of a man who is a perfect fit for me in every way. I could go on and on, but I'm sure you all are rolling your eyes by now anyway! :)

I just am very very thankful for whom I have been blessed with. God knew better than I did who would be perfect in my life - a husband who completes me and makes me better than I could be without him. And two beautiful daughters who love me, grow me up and challenge me in ways I never even imagined.

Thank you, God!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all those amazing dads out there! We dont' know what we'd do without you!!! I need to say a special thank you to my amazing husband - you are the best and we all love so very very much!!!

ANother extra special wish for a wonderful day to my dad, Jon, and Jon's dad, Ron (now there's a mouthful!) Also -Happy Father's Day to Trever! And to Corey, Jason, Nate and Travis!

Jon & Bria

Emma

Father's Day ties for the dads

Happy Birthday Tre!

Hey buddy..... happy birthday!!! We can't believe you are 7 years old!!!!!!! Hope your day is wonderful and have fun at your party on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Tabbi!!

One of my little sisters turns 30 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TABBI!!!!! We'll see you in a few weeks!

Fun at King's Walk and Fun Snacks

The last couple of days, Emmy has been the master chef of snacktime at our house. She found one of the fun books we got from the Amerikids Food Program and she has really enjoyed picking out and creating afternoon snacks for the daycare crew. Yesterday she made strawberry mice and today she made lion sandwiches. Definitely fun!

The girls also had fun this morning exploring the "hills" out near the entrance of King's Walk golf course while we waited for Bria to finish up her golf lesson. They were racing, rolling down the hills, playing "Jack and Jill", blowing on dandelions or "wishing flowers" as we call them around here. Definitely a good time!

Here They Are......

Here they are! They both went really short and really cute and are loving their new looks!

Off to Get a Haircut!

Well, Emmy is in the mood to get her haircut for "real" this time. She's tired of dealing with tangles, so we are going to go get her a new style this morning. Usually I just cut it at home, but we'll give Great Clips a try this time! We got home and Bria got done with her class and now Bria wants a haircut too.... so we are off to Great Clips again! Here is a before picture from yesterday!

Park Trip

While Bria was at golf lessons and Emma was at school for her class, the rest of us played at a park. The kids had a good time playing and I think their favorite part was rolling down the hills!

Our Birds

Cedar Waxwing

I never used to be a bird person. To me, birds were "fine" - they were there, some were cooler looking than others, whatever...... I never paid much attention. And the thought of bird watching - absurd! I thought that was just silly.

But........ now that I have a kitchen that is big enough to enjoy spending time in (and I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen feeding 6-11 kids every day and all the preparation of food and clean up afterwards).... I find myself looking out the kitchen window a lot. We had a little feeder put up in the tree that started attracting a few birds here and there and for my birthday Jon and the girls got me a feeder that we were able to put on the corner of our deck, right under our tree and right outside the kitchen window. Now we feed every bird in the state of North Dakota! Seriously! A couple of weeks ago there was a stretch of several days where we had about 40-50 birds out there at all times! Fearing that it was going to start costing more to feed to birds than it does to feed our dog, we have started letting the feeder remain empty for a day or so in between feedings so that we aren't feeding the entire population of the state.
Jon's mom got us a "Birds of North Dakota" book when we moved up here and now we have all enjoyed marking the book to keep track of all our feathered friends. And we have had quite an assortment come visit our yard. I haven't managed to get pictures of all of them, but we have photographed several.
So, without further rambling.... here is a list of all our feathered friends:

Black and White Warbler, Downy Woodpecker, Chipping Sparrow, Pine Siskin, House Finch, Dark-Eyed Junco, White Throated Sparrow, Harris's Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Black-Capped Chickadee, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, American Goldfinch, Yellow Warbler, Cedar Waxwing.

White-Throated Sparrow

American Goldfinch Downy Woodpecker

Dark-Eyed Junco

Brown Thrasher

Paving Stone Project

Our project for the weekend was to add some paving stones to an area in our backyard that will never grow grass again! It's a very heavily trafficked area in our yard due to the dog and kids. So now the paving stones are down and we're trying to grow grass over the dirt we needed to add. Hopefully in a few weeks we can "unblock" the area and enjoy it - just in time for our next project - restaining the deck!
Ground - Before

Ground - After

Gospel For Asia - Manja

Manja, Free At Last! This morning I read an update from Gospel for Asia and it was full of good news. Manja, a Gospel for Asia native missionary was released from a Nepali prison after serving 9 years of a 20-year sentence for a murder he did not commit. It is good to hear good news from this region of the world!