Bethany College- Day 2

Well, it has most definitely been an eventful day. We woke up to snow this morning! Yes, I know, I was surprised too. Even though I had done my homework, looked on weather.com before packing, I knew there was a chance for snow, but was still surprised. You know, down south when there is an early chance, it usually means we'll get a flake or two. It snowed here from before we got up, through lunchtime. No real accumulation, as I figure the ground is still warm, but what a fun addition to our trip. We just needed waterproof gloves to go with our snowball fights!



This one is my favorite, as you can clearly see how we love to walk. Despite the fact that our shoes might get wet, we don't have our snow boots or pants, and we don't really like the other pair of shoes that mom brought-- we still choose to walk directly in the snow. Really, is there any other option???


This morning as we were cleaning up for breakfast we found the second most exciting part of the trip thus far. Second only because it happened second, not because it is second best. You see, we are eating in a college cafeteria. And as most of you know, when you are finished with the food on your tray you take it to an area and follow any number of directions to help with the cleaning process. This my friends is what we found. . . .



I made it a bit bigger so you can get the full effect. It will forever be termed, the slide for the silverware. Need I say more??

Goodnight and sweet dreams.

The Family Trip to Bethany College. . . . Bloomington, MN- Day 1

Alright friends, we loaded up this morning after having a wonderful weekend with the Lee family (at least three of them) and have now arrived in Minnesota. Bethany College of Missions is a small college that we became connected with last year, and they invited the Daddy up to teach a class. They offered to put the family up for the week, so we considered it a vacation! On that note, and because we are all sleeping in the same room and therefore have to be really quiet after 8pm, I thought I would give all three of my loyal readers the highlights from each day.

Here we are leaving the house. . . . (the random new friend in the back is Angie, she needed a ride from KC back to Bethany.)


Then I was driving, since my husband was preparing to teach all week, and I thought I would document the interesting things I saw while utterly bored. (no, it wasn't all that unsafe)


Then a signpost. . . oh wait, Des Moines is just barely halfway there. :(


Then some cornfields. . . and a rather unhappy Little Boy face.



A staticky stop. . .


Some fun playing in the room. . . wrestling as much as mommies are made to. (I missed the really good pic of them taking out their daddy!)



And finally, bedtime reading with daddy. It took a bit, but amazingly enough, the boys were both asleep by 8:35! This is going to be a fun week!!!



p.s. Sometime I'll have to tell you about the funny conversation that Big Boy and I had sitting in Subway tonight. It was in reference to Bethany College and his sister Bethany not being here. For a quick moment, he thought we were coming to get her. :(

Are women born this way?

I saw this on a friend's blog today and thought it was hilarious. It is how things work in our house...

So, here's a post to my dear friend Candace!! We had an awesome weekend in Hot Springs, despite difficulties, it was well worth it. We had an early birthday party for Candace, sang Happy Birthday, had a strawberry cake, and laughed a lot! It is such an amazing gift to be partnered with such a woman of the Lord. She encourages my heart in so many ways, often times just listening to my ramblings. My heart has been blessed by this woman.

Quotes of the Day

Okay, so I have tried like three times now to process through my emotions and post something really amazing about my mom and how I feel about her, but I can't seem to get through it. SO, instead, if you want to read something really cool about her go to my sister's blog. She's got it all.

What do I have for you, you might ask??

Big Boy: "You know what mommy, I want to move."

Mommy: "Like where to?"

Big Boy: "A new house, so we can go to outer space."

Mommy (and Daddy as he has joined in now): "Really?"

Big Boy: "Yeah, we need to move to a house that is closer to a rocket ship so we can go into outer space."

And so it continued for close to 10 minutes. . . . he had really thought this one through.

Mommy: "Little Boy, tomorrow is another day at school! Are you excited?"
(p.s. he did really well last week!)

Little Boy: "No, I don't want to go."

Mommy: "Why not?"

Little Boy: "I like you."

Can it melt your heart any more than that???
(In my head I was thinking, I'll NEVER again make you do ANYTHING you don't want to do, not ever again!!!)

Fellowship. . . . part ???

After a 5 month hiatus (is that a word??) to a foreign land, our friends the Millers have returned! It is truly and interesting story, our meeting, but I will say they have become dear friends. We got to know them last fall, then at the beginning of November, they moved to North Carolina. In January, they spent almost three weeks in our house for a visit, left for another part of the world, and have come back for a three month visit to KC. Yeah! Our favorite evening activity would be to gather in the late afternoon, cook dinner together, and eat. We would put the kids to bed and stay up talking together late into the evening! It has been such a blessing to have them back. On a separate note all together, you know how much you love someone, if you offer to let them stay in your flat in a foreign country for three months! (hopefully when we go next summer)




It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can connect people together. I find my heart connected to people all around the world, and yet it is a connection that is sometimes as strong or stronger than the ones I have right here. How is it the Lord does that? How is it that our sisters in Christ are so close to our hearts, no matter the distance? I suppose this is just a general shout-out to my dear friends everywhere, especially far away. Helloooooo to East Asia, to Shreveport, to Wilmore, to Fayetteville, to Conway, and to everywhere else! I love you all and know that the Lord has mighty purposes in our lives, in joining our hearts, and in forever connecting us in such a tangible, real way. May the Lord speak to you all, may He make His face to shine upon you, and may you see His heart at work in all the things around you.

Fun with Aunt Erin!

Okay, so last weekend Erin came up for a visit. I have two very important things to say about it all. . . .

1. My children love their aunt. She treats them the best, spoils them at every opportunity, and loves them fully. They had a blast together and she even slept on the trundle bed one night! Big Boy and Little Boy were thrilled.

2. I am so honored to have such a good sister. We have started a bible study together over the miles and she said so appropriately, "Maybe the best thing about this study is that we get to know each other better." You know, somehow switching from just sisters, to friends who also happen to be sisters. It's been really fun and the Lord is doing mighty things in us as well.

Oh yeah, and #3-- you should totally go look at her blog and see some really cute pics of us all at a Royals baseball game!

The Fish. . .

Okay friends, this is really quite funny. We have Thursday Night Dinners at our house, where we get the joy of feeding and praying with 10-15 mostly single, mid-twenties students from around the IHOP base. It's a great night, and I have expanded my creative cooking skills, learning to cook for a crowd, things that still taste really good! (some weeks I am better than others. . . but that's okay!) Anyway, this past week I sent out an e-mail on Monday claiming that we would have grilled fish for dinner Thursday night. I had all kinds of excited comments and such, and as it would go the fish that I had assumed was in my freezer had been mostly eaten. Thursday morning after a brief stint in the prayer room, I headed to the nearby grocery store to grab some more fish. It was a quick and slightly distracted trip, as I had sweet Little Boy with me and he was hungry and nearing a two-year old breakdown. All that said, I did look at the package, read the recipes on the back, and there was NO mention of this- or anything to do with this. Here's what came out of the package. . . . at 4:30 in the afternoon, after it was all thawed in my kitchen sink. hmph.



Fortunately, the kind and very pregnant, Katrina, came to my rescue and ran to get some more fish- this time without heads, skin, and fins!

WE MADE IT!

We slept the second night in a row- no paci, and this time, NO TEARS! He didn't even wake up, thank you Jesus!

Oh to see my children grow. . .

Well, it's been a big week. Last night we went outside in the driveway to ride bikes and Little Boy sat in the seat on Daddy's bike and Big Boy rode around and around the house on his no-training wheels big boy bike. I watched him almost run into just about everything, fall over, and get up again. He went almost all the way down the hill in the grass, and then pushed it back up the hill again, claiming, "I don't need any help. I can get it." After a little bit, Little Boy declared he was tired and ready to go night night, and so we went inside and began yet another massive moment in the growing up process.




Little Boy has recently found very fond affections for the frog in this picture. Daddy and I decided (on the night before he starts teaching again) that it was time to make a move. We sat down with Little Boy and talked to him about the great switches of life. As you get older you switch from bottles to sippy cups. Then big boys switch from diapers to underwear. You switch from baby food to big boy food, and sometime you switch from sleeping with pacis to sleeping with froggies. Yes, there it is friends. Take a moment. . . this is probably the biggest one yet in our house. We put the paci away, or "wah" as Little Boy has so affectionately learned to call it. All was well through the discussion, but then it came time to get in bed. And the sadness welled up within him. If you know my Little Boy, you know his heart is really big. He was REALLY very sad. He was mourning the loss. And he felt it deeply. I laid with him to help him fall asleep- hugging tightly his frog and eventually he did. Around 11pm he woke up again and the sadness returned. "I want my wah! I want my daddy." I went and woke up daddy (who by the way is napping right now alongside his son!) and then they went back to sleep. We made it the first night! Today, sadness again came at nap time, but it was shorter and a bit less dramatic. I have the highest hopes for tonight. Please pray for us. Really. It's very sad.

However, it has also led me to some exciting thoughts. I love to watch my children grow. I wonder if it is a taste of what the Lord feels for us. I stood there last night and beamed as I kept watching Big Boy on his bike. I caught myself on several occasions, running around to the other side of the house to watch him come back around. I was grinning like a big, fat nerd. Then, as Little Boy wept, I sat on the floor outside his room. Knowing what was best for him, and yet crying with him through the process. I laid with him and then sat very close by, but never was my heart far from him. I have a great feeling that IS like the heart of the Father. he does know best. He is standing there jumping in our celebrations and ever so present in out sufferings. He does know what is best and He is good. Thank you for your hand in our lives- cause us to see it at every step of the way, not just the good ones!