Not So Easy

So supposedly the idea behind the blog is to keep friends and family near and far updated on our lives in the Real OC. Of course every time I've looked at the blog I ask Erin how come she hasn't updated it more. Needless to say Erin has since told me to try and keep it updated which I've been less than successful at.

It continues to baffle me how we as a culture supposedly have all this stuff to make our lives easier and faster but how they continue to bog us down and simply add more stress to our lives- cell phones, computers, email, facebook- the list could go on and on!

Just Erin and I were able to get away this past Friday night and part of Saturday for Valentine's with some friends at a cabin in Minnesota on Lake Shetek. We were able to leave the girls at home with a babysitter, and even though it wasn't a full 24 hrs. by the time we'd left and return, it was still a much needed break away for us to hang out with each other and just with friends without the distraction of the girls.

But of course, our lives do revolve around our little ladies and they continue to make us laugh as well as scratch our heads. Gracie continues to grow up way too fast and we're talking about her going to pre-school for 3 yr. olds next fall for 2 mornings a week. Karys is just a crack up with words she is learning and the mannerisms she has. Both of them love to jam out and dance with me in the kitchen with the i-home on. If one is dancing with me then the other one has to as well. Karys will even do her dance while she's sitting at the counter on her barstool- she'll just use her arms, kick her legs, and wiggle her body- I just about fall over laughing!

Crazy to think that February is almost over and March is right around the corner! I am anticipating our HS trip to Tijuana over Easter Break with a team of 37 people, 30 students and 7 leaders! From that trip we are into the last month or so of regular program nights and we're already looking forward to May and summer!

I'm also waiting for word from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN about whether or not I'll be starting in their MDiv program this summer. It is set up as a distance learning program over 5 years and only 4 weeks a year on campus, of course 2 weeks have to happen during the summer!

Erin is enjoying her role as a lab instructor at Dordt 2 afternoons a week. She teaches 3 sections of the same lab- 2 Thursday and 1 Friday. Erin comments that she feels like she is finally using the Biology degree that she worked so hard to get via NWC and APU!

You'll see a couple pics of Gracie- one is holding her favorite neice, baby Leah, and the other is her in front of her new favorite movie- Beauty and the Beast. If she has a choice on a movie, she'll pick B & the B hands down every time and likes to fast forward thru the scary parts and prefers the scenes with Belle in her beautiful dress!

A few of the latest pics of the girls!


Sick day for everyone including mommy!


PULL-UP Girl to the Rescue!


High chairs watching movies

"Cheese" Gracie wearing her blanket and scarf and Karys w/ her eyes closed as usual!

"Cheese" w/ eyes open and a good smile!

LONG Cold WINTER!

So we knew what we were in for when we moved back to NW Iowa after being acclimated to SoCal for 4 years. But this winter has been a little ridiculous with snow around since Thanksgiving and there's still probably a layer of ice about 3 inches thick at the bottom third of the driveway.
It definitely doesn't help either when we had a low of -19 the other morning. Our senior pastor said he pulled the van out of his garage and the temp. said 19 and by the time he got his kids to school it had dropped to -19, a nice 38 degree fluctuation in the wrong direction.
I'm definitely craving a round of golf at this point in late-January! Spring come quickly!

Life in our house has been quite interesting since Erin's last post. We've taken on a roommate, a 19 yr. old girl who found out she was pregnant right before Christmas. She was a sophomore at Northwestern but now is taking classes full time at NCC in Sheldon.
Long story short, we only knew her through the connection we had with her boyfriend, but felt led to provide her with some "shelter" in the craziness she's in during this season of life. It's definitely been a good place for her to be with Erin home most of the time so she doesn't feel alone. We're also trying to speak a little into lives of her and him as a couple. They had a rough first month after everything came out, but this past week has definitely been the best yet for them and I think for us as well.
We think we're a little nuts because we've been married 7 yrs. this summer and we feel like we have 3 daughters- 19, 2.5 and 1.5. At least that's the way I feel. God is good and has blessed Erin and I's relationship through it all as well!

Erin started her teaching job at Dordt this week- 3 sections of A&P lab between Thursday and Friday afternoons. She said it was weird to be the teacher of a class in a college classroom.
I'm into the process of potentially starting seminary this summer via Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. They have an InMinistry program that takes 5 yrs. that would allow me to keep doing what I do at Trinity while I would take classes via on-line correspondence. I would also have to be on campus for a total of 4 wks., 2 wks. twice a year. That would all start sometime in late May or early June. Crazy to think we're looking that far ahead and before you know it I will be on the golf course and it will be summer and we'll be looking to Fall already!

Being intentional to find rest...

In the business of this season, I was adament about finding rest and quiet in the weeks before Christmas. Weeks that I sometimes feel are the calm before the storm. However, the days seemed to quickly fill with appointments, activities, and visits from sisters (yay!). After the first week of making a trip to Sioux Falls on Monday to take Gracie to a Pulmonologist, a trip Thursday to Sioux City to take Gracie to a pediatric dentist, and then finding myself at Friday when Rob to the girls to Lennox and left me with a "Day to myself".....I realized that this was life. This was what we always do, we go from place to place and moment to moment...I have two little ladies under two, really Erin be realistic....there is no calm ;) But on the day I had to myself, I took some time to just reflect and realize the intentional rest that I had already been taking in spending time in God's arms...resting in the arems of my daddy and allowing him to calm my heart...a heart that tend to beat too quickly most days and move too fast. In that, I was granted the peace of HIS blessing...a blessing that was shown to me in so many ways, but primarily in the realization that He loves me SO much...even as much as He loves HIS son. WOW! And that He is orchestrating my life to one day lead me to the place that He has prepared for me...a place that I would consider perfect because He will be there and I will dance in His courts, but a place He will consider perfect b/c I am there--we are there!

Oh how I have found myself to be such a learner in this season of life...Rob always teases me and says that he thinks I could be a student for life b/c I love school so much! Who needs school...my brain is already taking in all that it can get!

Some quick news points you may not know about that have happened recently:

• I applied, got offered, and accepted a job at Dordt College as an anatomy lab instructor for the spring semester. This job is going to be about 10-15 hours a week and be on Thursday and friday afternoons. It is just working out so well as Rob is home Fridays, so the girls will only spend one afternoon without one of the two of us home, and yeah they nap still anyway ;) I am pretty excited about this, being back in the classroom and just utilizing my education a little!
• Gracie went to a pulmonologist for her persisten coughing, even when she was not sick she would cough when she would go out into the cold or start breathing really hard with physical activity. He is diagnosing her with childhood asthma and she started on a steroid medication last week that she will take through the winter for sure. We are kind of having a hard time with it as she is waking up in the night alot since being on it and she just outright does not like to take it. So we covet prayers in this area...has to be pretty scary and uncertain for a two year old!

Other than that no real big news...we are getting ready to start our Christmas tour tomorrow! So we will be in Lennox through Christmas day and then on to Ankeny through the 29th...Blessings to all this season!

Christmas Tree

Here are just a few pics of our venture out into the cold to find a Christmas tree. Gracie absolutely loved it! Karys wasn't quite so sure b/c it was pretty chilly that night...I think Gracie was right there with her by the end of it, but it was a GREAT adventure!

Thank you God...

Every night before Gracie goes to bed we always say a little prayer and then we are trying to teach her to pray on her own as well. At the time, she is such a Thankful little girl! She is always thanking Rob and I and even others for the things that she has been given. For this reason we start our prayings saying, "Thank you God for...(fill in the blank). Here are some of her Thank yous leading into some of mine....

Thank you, God for...
--GREAT Dora hugs
--Karys, "I love Karys" and mommy and daddy
--for baby cousin (Leah) and Nathan
--for blankets
--for songs and books
--for bed (I added "and sleep" and she quickly said NO)
--for cookies and milk
--for baby Jesus in the manger

• for laughter that fills the walls of my home...the kind that comes from the belly of a little girl and melts the walls of my heart.
• for warmth and a refuge from the cold
• for forgiveness...the ability to fall, and fall rather hard and be picked up from your heap into warm and loving arms. To pour out your heart and your hurts to the one who hurt you, and to release your pain in that same swooping embrace of the arms that hold you.
• for showers and the ability to feel refreshed and clean
• for communication...despite its complexity! Whether through the motions or our hands, the words from our mouth or the expressions of the heart.
• for sisters...by blood, by marriage, and by the family of God. Women to walk with, to talk with, to cry with, to laugh with, to be still with, to live life with....
• for books...lessons others have learned written down for us to learn and grow from
• for Beth Moore...the woman is an annointed daughter of the King; rich in blessing right from the Word of God.
• and most of all for Jesus Christ...whose delivery into our world is utterly amazing to me. The humble babe who grew to walk among man...what a life! Only to know His calling, His purpose, His commitments...may I live with the same calling--to love my God well, to love His ppl well, and to proclaim the gospel and its teachings to the ends of the earth

The list could really go on and on....the feeling of THANKFULNESS has overwhlemed me this holiday season more than I think I have ever allowed it to. I am so richly blessed! And oh how I so often take it for granted! Oh how selfish I am....May I continue to give back out of blessing and may my lifestyle be altered by giving....of my time, money, and heart

Thanksgiving in Ankeny

The Comforts
Grandpa and Nathan bond in a manly, football watching way
Grandpa Earl...so great to have him be able to be with us!
Cousins John Elliot and Nathan getting some good hang time!

Heather and Gracie making a variety of faces...this is their 'scared' face.
Wow! I think Uncle Chad must have farted...again ;)
Aunt Kris needed a picture of us...Rob is mocking my infamous 'head tilt'
Four Generations!!!
Gracie just loves being with Family and all the excitement!




I am not sure why some of the pics are smaller, but my Thanks to Auntie Kris who got me these pics...the only ones I have from thanksgiving down there b/c my camera is missing...hoping to get more from Doreen and Heather as well!