A Wonderful Sunday Afternoon

Today was a gorgeous day here! It was about 90 and sunny and so after a great morning at church our family headed to the Arboretum. This is an absolutely beautiful place. They had the fall florals and pumpkins out again...just like the first time I was ever there. I remember last year at this time being amazed that I could take the kids to the "pumpkin patch" in shorts and T-shirts. Being from North and South Dakota that is a special treat!

We had a picnic for lunch and played football, chased 2 pretty girls, enjoyed the beautiful flowers and played in the hay and pumpkins. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. The Arboretum is definitely one of our favorite places to go. Here are some of the pictures I took while we were there...














I am so thankful for my family. I have been blessed with a wonderful man and 4 wonderful kids. Thank you all for a fun afternoon together! I love you SO much!!

Hope for a Sometimes Weary Mother

Do you ever "feel like" you say things, you repeat yourself, you discipline, you encourage, you hang in there for the 20th time (200th sometimes), you even resort to an idle threat or two and yet no response, no change in behavior, no ANYTHING seems to happen in your children's behavior? Well, if so I am right there with you on many occasions. Tuesday morning was one of those times for me. It looked something like this...

It was a typical morning of school for the kids. We were getting ready to do our music time and my boys were squirrely. So we did some "active" singing for awhile...it involved some dancing and jumping and was really lots of fun. Only this time, it didn't help to get some of the antsy-ness out, rather it produced even more. They were being just plain goofy and I was ready for them to be serious. Well, at least semi-serious. I asked them repeatedly to settle down, sing with "right" voices, sing with their tongues in their mouths, sing with their mouths open, settle down, stop making those weird sounds, sing the "right way, be an "example" to the girls, settle down, sit still...are you getting the picture? They were not responding and I was getting VERY frustrated. I snapped. I growled a little and headed for my bedroom. I knew it was in the best interest of ALL of us that I have a time out, so that I would not just "run" at the mouth.

I sat next to my bed. I am telling you I had "had it"...whatever that really means. I lamented. I cried. I prayed. When I was calm again, I headed back out to "talk" to my boys. But to my surprise Drew met me at the door. He handed me a piece of paper. It read...



I love you mom. I am so sorry. Will you forgive me.

What else did I need to say? Nothing right. What else could you want? Although I have to be honest I did have ONE more thing I had to ask. Boys do you know why mommy went into her room?

Drew and Sam in unison: "Oh yeah...we knew why."
Drew then followed up with: "You just didn't want to lose it."

How right they were. And how encouraging it was to see them, on their own, make it right. It is moments like these that can bring such hope to this sometimes weary mom.

Thank you Lord Jesus for your presence in our lives. Thank you for how you are working in all of our hearts. Thank you for loving us so very much, flaws and all. We love you!

Rangers VS. Red Sox

Last weekend our family went out to the Ball Park again for the Texas Rangers vs. the Boston Red Sox. We were a "divided" family that night as Brent and Drew are Red Sox fans 1st and Rangers fans 2nd! Sam is a Rangers fan ALL the way and I am definitely a Rangers fan, but 1st a Yankee fan...so Boston is NOT a team I pull for! It was fun to get ready and have a little fun with some "rivalry". We are not at all as serious as some of the pictures may look...it was all in FUN!:)






It was a VERY Fun game! The score was 15-8 and the Rangers won! There was lots of action and fireworks for the Rangers homers! None of us were too disappointed (Drew was a little bit) because we truly do LOVE those Rangers. It is very fun to cheer for the home team. And as I have said in previous posts...we are all Josh Hamilton fans. I hope he stays with the Rangers while we are here!

Prayer Request

I am posting a prayer request tonight for a family I have never met. My friend Robyn sent me the caringbridge site and information for this family. They have a 3 year old little boy Cole who has cancer and is fighting for his life. Would you please join me in praying for this family? Their dear little boy is in need of a miracle.

www.caringbridge.org Password/familyname coleruotsala
www.coleruotsala.com

Thank you!

Back To School

The Last week of August Brent headed back to school at DTS. This semester he is taking 12 hours and officially has switched his "track/s" to a Masters in Cross Cultural Ministries and a Masters in Christian Education. What does this mean? About 90 hours...so at least 3 more years! These tracks seemed to be a much better fit for what he was passionate about and hoping to do when we are done with seminary. He is excited to be back...has a TON of work to do...but LOVES what he is learning. And it is what we are here for!! So I am glad that he is back at it too!

And then, last Tuesday "Jackson Elementary" School was back in session! Drew started 2nd Grade and Sam started Kindergarten!! Lizzy started "pre" pre-school and as we say here, Abby started our "baby tots" program.:) The kids woke up to our tradition of a "back to school" gift outside of their bedroom door...


The kids were all so excited to start school so they could use their new school supplies. Both of the grandmas were here a couple of weeks ago and treated them to a bunch of new supplies. So here the students are in front of their school sign...



Our principal, Mr. Jackson, also got up really early the morning of our first day to make us this "Back to School" banner. He is always surprising us with something!


And Lizzy just cracked me up. She has quite the sense of style. She had on her new puppy shirt, her dress up Cinderella shoes, her new hello kitty back pack and topped it off with my Yankee's hat. I think I am going to start taking a picture of her each day before we leave the house so you can see for your self how good she is at accessorizing. It always makes me smile.



We had a good first week and I am looking forward to another great year at Jackson Elementary...but I am thinking I need to talk to the principal about a raise...:-)

Abby's First Birthday Video

This is a video that I made to celebrate Abby's First year of life! In order to be able to share it though I had to shorten it. I took about 3 minutes off the end of the original video, but you will get the majority of it! You may want to scroll down and pause the music that plays, so you can hear the music on the video.