Sam's First Missing Tooth

Sammy lost his first tooth last Friday! It was loose, but he ended up losing when he hit his face on the side of the pool. Man did it bleed A LOT!! He was pretty shocked at first, but he soon became excited at the prospect of exchanging that tooth for some money!! His tooth fairy even told him that he might receive a little more than usual because of the traumatic way it came out! Here is a picture of his new smile!:)



His other bottom tooth is loose too...so it won't be too long before he has a big space on the bottom!:) Next week he starts Kindergarten...he is growing up so very fast. I love you Sam! You are SUPER boy and I am glad I am your mom!

Abby's ONE!

Wow! Today is Abby's FIRST Birthday! I made a video to celebrate and remember her first year...when I figure out how to post it to the blog you can watch it.:) Until then, here are some pictures from our day of celebrating little Abby's life.










Both of the grandma's are here to celebrate with us! What a special trip they made!:)



I have so many things I would like to say, but after this fun filled day I am beat! I will have to write more later. Happy Birthday my dear Abby Grace. You are a treasure. I love you SO much!

Thank you Lord for a fun celebration of Abby's life. Thank you for the privilege of being her mom. Thank you for the blessing she is to us all. Thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness. I love you, Lord.

An Interesting TWIST to the Story...

Yesterday I was finally able to get the mail (our mail key was also in the stolen purse) because I met the mailman at the boxes. Anyway, one of the many envelopes had no name or return address. As I opened it, I was shocked...it was my driver's license! We are still wondering how that happened. Did the thief mail it back? Or did someone find it and mail it back? If someone found it, why didn't they sick a note in and why wasn't it in my wallet? Hmmm...it's a mystery to us. BUT, I am glad to have my license back, so that I do not have to stand in line and pay to get a new one!! I would never have imagined this happening...how about you??

"And Now the Rest of the Story"

Well, this week has been busy. We filed police reports on campus and with the city police, closed our existing bank accounts and set up new ones, had our car "re-keyed" (the thief also had our other set of car keys and knew where we lived and parked...so we didn't want our van to be stolen), called credit card company's, contacted the credit bureau, cancelled our old cell phone and set up new ones (so we have new numbers too), and I am sure I might be forgetting something but you get the picture! YIKES!! What a lot of "stuff" there is to do when you are a victim of theft. Thank you for any prayers said on our behalf, they have surely helped us as we walk through this trial.

There are a few thoughts I would like to share about this. First, I never knew how violated you could feel having your belongings stolen. It really bothers me that whoever took those things has all of my information, pictures, and mostly what bothers me is the information he/she has about my kids. I have had to "let go" of this, because there is absolutely nothing I can do. I have to know that God is trustworthy and our protector and is going to work all of this for good because he promises to do so. All of the thoughts about what if this and what about that just get me worked into a "tizzy". Let me assure you, I am not a pretty picture in a tizzy.

Second, looking back, I see how God prepared me to face this. THE NIGHT BEFORE (Saturday night) I was reading in one of my favorite devotional books, Speak to My Heart O' God by Kay Arthur, and I HAPPENED to read the section WHEN YOU FACE TRIALS. Here is a small portion of what I read THE NIGHT BEFORE...

"How often have you heard someone say, 'The Lord has been so good to us,' as they have shared something good that just happened. I've heard it often...as a matter of fact from my own lips. And yet when I hear or say and expression like this, the thought often crosses my mind, 'Would they...would I...have said this if something bad had happened instead?' Would we say, 'Such and such happened...the Lord has been so good to me'? Probably not. We seem to associate blessing only with the goodness of God. However to do so is to be ignorant of the purpose of trials--the difficulties, hardships, and testings--that suddenly invade our lives. We see trials as ROBBERS, bent on stealing our joy or our sense of God's blessing and goodness. To the child of God even trials are a cause of rejoicing.
'Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance ave its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.' James 1:2-4
When you encounter a trial, God says you are to Consider it all Joy. Why? Because no matter what the trial is, it has a purpose; that purpose is to make you 'perfect and complete, lacking in nothing'."

How is that for words to prepare my heart for being a victim of a flat tire and robbery?

I don't pretend to fully understand why this happened on Sunday as we were singing and praying and talking about the faithfulness of God in our little apartment. But I do know that it has and will continue to refine and purify my heart and my responses. This trial has made me have to trust in the goodness of God in a circumstance that I perceive as bad. God's goodness doesn't change as a result of something bad happening.

And so what's the final result? Along with everything else that life brings our way, we are going to "Consider it All Joy". Because We know that...

FOREVER God is faithful.
FOREVER God is good.
FOREVER God is Strong.
FOREVER God is with us.
FOREVER.

As my friend Toby would say, "You can take that to the bank."

***Also the day that this happened a sweet friend of mine here at the Swiss tower gave me one of her black purses to replace the stolen one. Isn't that just so sweet? And isn't that just like God? He is so good.***

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Double Bummer

Well, it turns out that during our Sunday Morning Service (see earlier entry:)), our car was robbed. The car was unknowingly left unlocked right outside our apartment and in the unexpected trial of a flat tire, my purse was left in the car, along with our diaper bag with the cell phone in it. When Brent arrived back to the car all of these items were GONE. So, as we unknowingly sat up here singing and praying our belongings were stolen. Credit cards, bank cards and social security cards. Double Bummer. God promises to bring good out of all things, so we are trusting this to be one of those things. Would you pray for the mess that this creates? We truly are quite frustrated...

Sunday Morning Service

It began as any other Sunday. A busy morning filled with hair combing, dressing, ironing, eating, and diaper bag packing to head out for Sunday morning church services. We all look forward to Sunday morning worship and Sunday School classes at our church, but it does feel like a lot of people to get ready sometimes with one small bathroom.:)

Anyway, we were all loaded up in the Honda and had just left the apartment gates when Brent said, "Something is not right." It didn't take long to figure out that we had aflat tire. Bummer. But praise the Lord that it happened right outside our apartment and not on the freeway!!!

So we headed back up to our apartment and as the boys were changing clothes, we went with Plan B and had a worship service in our living room. We sang songs, played instruments, danced a little, prayed together and talked and reminisced about the faithfulness of God in our lives. It turned out to be a very neat morning. I snapped 3 quick pictures during one of the songs...they aren't that great, but hopefully you get the picture!:)




This morning reminded me a lot of the worship times we have had overseas. There is no building to go to worship with other believers, but we had great times of worship in the living room. It makes me wonder what our future holds...if this is something that will be a regular part of our life when Brent is finished with seminary. Either way, whether at our home or a building we have decided that from now on we are going to worship as a family...not just go our separate ways on Sunday mornings.

Thank you Lord for my family. And thank you that our tire went flat near home and not on one of many freeways here. And thank you that the tire is now patched and fixed. Thank you for your faithfulness. We love you.

Colorado Reunion

Last weekend our family went on a short adventure to Colorado for a Zirbel family Reunion. My dad and his family, his sister Fran and her family, and my grandma Ardy all gathered in Denver for a long weekend. We stayed at my Aunt Fran's house. She is a great hostess!! The kids had buckets waiting for them on their beds, we had delicious food available 24-7, and a comfy half-basement to move into for the 3 days.

It was so great to see my aunt and uncle and all of my cousins and their kids. I hadn't seen my aunt and uncle for 2 years, Aaron and his family for 3 years and Beth and her family for 5 years. That's just too long!! It was also great to see my brother and his wife and my sister. I hadn't seen them since they were here in January, although my brothers wife was not here then! Last summer was the last time I had seen my grandma Ardy too, so it was nice to spend time visiting and playing cribbage with her. She had a stroke this summer, so we were very thankful that she was well enough to travel.

We spent our time just hangin' out at Dean and Fran's, eating lots of yummy food, swimming at their Country Club, and playing lots of baseball! We also were able to take some great family pictures...we even got one of all of us together. I don't have a copy of that yet, but I will share a few from the weekend of what I do have...











As an added bonus, my cousin Courtney (my mom's sister's daughter) also lives in the Denver area and was able to spend some time with us each day. It was fun to see her and her family! It had been 3 years since I had seen her too.




It was wonderful to see all of you! Thank you Fran and Dean for opening up your home and for feeding us all for 3 days! And thank you dad for getting us there and for getting us all together! I love you all!