Football, Bible Study, Bible Quizzing

Our fall has started with a BANG! Our evening are full M-T-W-Th, so we barely have time on the weekends to gather our thoughts and start again!

Mitchell started football after a year of anticipation and planning with his friends. Mitchell was proud to tell me that his coach likes the way he and his friend Matt practice tackling. They're not shy, and plow right into each other! As you can see from the photo, his buddies are all happy to be attending practice at the same time and place....and their parents are as well!   The track is next to the field so I can get in my walking while my girls play with their friends. And so, football practice couldn't work out any better for everyone!

 Wednesday was our first Bible quiz practice, and I have the opportunity to coach four great girls-one of them being my daughter Megs. I am grateful for this chance to focus on my middle child and cultivate her relationships - and mine- with her friends. We will memorize two verses each week from the book of 1-2 Corinthians, and hopefully have some fun along the way.

Today (Mon.) I start Beth Moore's study esther: It's tough being a woman! I can't wait! We have a total of 28 ladies signed up, so we will have three discussion tables and I will facilitate at one of them. After doing so many studies taught by Beth, I feel a bit like she's my friend. Over the summer I missed her- and the way she leads me in my study of the Best Book!

Kitchen work

I'm in that funny time of year when I can't decide if I should be planning school or canning garden produce. Thankfully my garden isn't humongous, so I'm not completely overwhelmed, but still the urgency remains to preserve the food that my small plot grows. In my old fashioned farmhouse cellar, shelves are slowly filling with hamburger and bread and butter pickles, apple pie filling and applesauce. My freezer, also, receives weekly deposits of green beans, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes. It feels satisfying. Yet I know these productive kitchen days are nearing their end. Soon the canning jars on my kitchen table will be replaced with Language Arts, Math, Science and History books. Thankfully, I use curriculum that requires little planning, so I'm gonna can away!

Hired Help

Your sackful of God

More than Three Dollars

I recently received my August subscription to Voice of the Martyrs and was challenged by this quote from Wilbur Rees. I have edited it in an effort to modernize and personalize it.

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a [Starbucks mocha] or a [warm day at the beach]. I don't want enough of God to make me love [a manipulative woman] or [serve one less fortunate than me]. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please."

The director of VOM commented after sharing this quote, "We can starve ourselves, our congregation and our Christian denominations if our sackful of God is too small."

Is your sackful too small? Is mine?

What I learned when Mitchell went to camp

Mitchell did great at camp! He came home with everything except his $4.00 Target towel. He talked nonstop about his experiences the rest of the day. He said he loved camp and that he needed a break from his sisters for a while!

I fared fine as well. Robb asked me one day whether I missed Mitchell. I feel bad to admit it, but I did not. (Robb DID miss his boy!) Maybe that's because I try to live without worry. I trust my kids to God's care. Maybe I just enjoyed having one less child in the mix of disciplining conflict! I realized that because one child was gone, I only had only one relationship to referee- the Megan-Madison relationship. Just because Mitchell was missing from the equation eliminated two relationships: the Mitchell-Megan combo and the Mitchell-Madison combo. As a result, the house was much quieter.

I also learned that Mitchell stresses me out with his planning. He tends to be like his dad. He's a bit type-A. All day long Mitchell pesters me with questions. "What are we going to do tonight?"(He is very concerned about being bored.) "Have you called Jannina yet to set up an overnight?" "What's for supper?" "When can we go to Toys-R-Us so I can spend my giftcard?" "Do you have that two dollars you owe me?" He is unrelenting!

So I'm glad Mitchell got to go to camp. It appears we all need a break sometimes, even kids. And we have the opportunity to learn quite a bit by doing so. Now I need to figure how to use what I learned to everyone's advantage!

My first-time camper

I just signed my son up for his first week of camp. He is very excited but I am experiencing mixed emotions. Is he ready? I hope he is a good boy. I wonder if he'll remember to change his underwear, or his clothes, for that matter. Will he lose his towel, or his pillow? Should I mark everything with his name, and if I do, will it really make it home anyway?
I wonder what a week without him will be like? Will Megan be bored? Will it be quieter without a pesky boy teasing his sisters?
I guess I'll have to wait and see. One thing is for sure: my kids are growing up fast!

With Them

Ahhhh. My week of freedom is almost over and I am savoring the final moments over a cup of lemon balm tea.

Contented Sigh.

My house is clean. I shared brunch with four girl pals. My garden looks the best ever. It has been weeded and fertilized with stuff from the floor of the old chicken coop. The front of the house was landscaped with new bushes and perennials. The barns and sheds have been cleared out and two dumpsters were hauled away. A box of clothes is washed and pressed and ready to go to Once Upon a Child. All the toaster crumbs have been vacuumed out of the lazy susan cupboard. Various other storage has been organized and sorted. One morning was spent at the Prime with a friend kitting 300 boxes and then we had lunch with another friend. My errands will be completed tomorrow. And then my kids will be back from Vacation Bible School full time.

This sending my kids away thing is tempting. I could send them to school and live this life all the time. However, I feel compelled by this magnificent task of homeschooling, this challenge. I will not shy away from it, though I am exhausted and despairing. Others may be called to complete their task differently. I will not judge them, nor will I envy them. I will press on as I share truth with my children during the smallest, most unexpected moments of the day. I will live my life in front of them, all the time. I will share my tears, my joys, my anger, my laughter, my faith, my God. I will be with them. And He will be too.

Robb's home

Robb's home! When we talked by phone earlier in the day, he said he planned on going straight to the PRIME for some end of week office work before heading home late in the afternoon. Instead, he surprised me with flowers and mocha in hand for a short visit before backtracking to the office. What a sweet man. :)

Spring is finally here, but last you heard from me, we were in the middle of a great MN winter!
As when someone asks in passing, "What have you been up to?" I must pause and really think to remember. Life flies by- the fun and the not so fun- and I focus on what is to come and forget what is behind. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes, unforgivable!

We began the month of February with a trip to Wisconsin Dells with a bunch of families from church. What fun! On the way home, our friends' van broke down, so we stayed with them at a casino (a new experience for us!) and extended our vacation by one day.

  


Robb and I took part in the marriage study Love and Respect during the months of Feb. and March and found it to be encouraging and challenging.


For Valentine's Day, we saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater and I believe it's our favorite of the shows we've seen there!

The second weekend in March, Robb traveled once again to the CO mountains for the Wild at Heart Advanced camp, this time taking his friend Kyle along for the journey. The following week, our friend Aaron visited while I attended our church's women's retreat.

My women's Bible Study wrapped up at the end of March, finishing Beth Moore's When Godly People Do Ungodly Things. As always, Beth did not disappoint in speaking truth and proclaiming Christ. -And I love my ladies!

And that brings us to April. I am on my 11th week of working out. I am proud of me. Previously anti-anything sweaty, I am now dedicated to my treadmill! I even sweat- and live to tell about it. Astonishing! I've not lost a pound, but keep telling myself muscle weighs more than fat. I now own the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever bought- and they are tennis shoes! Here they are:
Ugh. Another history making event! I previously despised wearing tennis shoes as being too sporty and not enough girly. So. I guess I am a changed woman. HA!

We just came home from Arrowwood Resort yesterday after spending the weekend there for a wedding. Brandon went to college with Robb and I, and now works with us, and we wish him and his new wife God's blessing in their new life together.

So that brings everyone up to date. Robb left today to travel to the funeral of the pastor's wife of his family's church in Ohio. I will survive this week - I hope - as a single mom. Yuck. I will stay up late every night because I hate sleeping without my hubby. I will watch lots of chick flicks. I will eat plenty of snacks. I will medicate my loneliness with Facebook and friends. And then I will realize nothing is as good as a good man. Love you honey. Come home soon. Kiss.

crazy days

UFFDA! That's what I say these days. A bunch of stuff is hitting us all at once, and it's been a stressful week. Last week was so great. We've made some decisions and a schedule to help our family connect and learn together, and then this week happened. It all fell apart. But we will recover!

One big stress factor is taxes. Yes, everyone has to deal with this, but owning a company and some of the changes we've made this year make it all doubly time consuming. Robb's been stressed to the limit!

Another contributor to our busy week is a shipment of 1000 T-shirts that have to be folded and packaged and sent out. This wouldn't be a big stress if nothing else was going on.

Our business is doing great after some "restructuring." That's the not-so-nice-word for having to let our dear friends and employees go. The most difficult thing about owning your own business, I think, is having people depend on you and then letting them down. Thankfully, one of our employees has found a new job, and the other provided a supplemental income for her family. As a result of these changes, I've been taking on the responsibility of data entry. At the moment that requires about 7 -10 hours a week. That time will probably improve as my typing improves!

So you can see a bit why I say UFFDA! Add all the above to my normal duties of playing teacher, mom, housecleaner, wife, friend to many, cook, and child referee, maybe you can understand my state of mind.

Sunset on Snow

It's FREEZING!

The snow is gorgeous, though, and as the sun rises and sets, a pink halo forms on the horizon, and reflects on the white fields, causing them to join the pink parade.