April Fool's

Just thought I would let you know what AWESOME weather we are having! It is like mid 70's and the sun is shining...I am so looking forward to going to the park today and taking a walk with the girls in the stroller! I think I will go for a run in shorts and a t-shirt...and after that have a picnic in the front yard!

APRIL FOOL's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, none of that is true as many of you know!!! And I feel like I had a peace about it yesterday b/c the SNOW that fell melted quickly and by 5 the streets were dry and I could go for a quick run, but yeah I woke up to MORE snow and covered roads again this morning. In case HE doesn't already know..."God it is April, and this is not a very funny joke ;)"

On a lighter and completely serious note ;) Our family has some prayer requests....

• Amy, the young girl who has been living with us, is trying to figure out plans for the summer...where to live, where to work, etc. We are just praying that God would truly guide that and place her right where He wants her, and that that would be a place where she can be surrounded and truly settle in and prepare for baby boy.
• My Dad is having some tests run this am...
• I have been havivng the full work up lately just to have some weird symptoms I have been having checked out...so far--my brain is fine and I think the heart is good, but I am waiting for blood work to come back that tested a plethera of things ;)
• prayers for our Cali fam...we are really missing them!
• And I just need prayers for boundaries and direction...so many ppl I am in relationship with and so little time...I want to be a good daughter of the king, wife and mother and friend. Balance I guess...priorities that are well-balanced ;)

BLESSINGS FRIENDS!

Mexico & Back

Erin and I were gone to Tijuana/San Diego from last week Wednesday until late Sunday night as we took a team of 37 to build a house thru AMOR for a family of 7. I say house but it would be a glorifed garage here in the states at 22' by 22'. What a sweet trip with so many students and leaders, but way too quick too. About the time it felt like we were getting comfortable and hitting our stride, we were already done with the house and it was time to start working our way back.

The hardest part of the trip had to be leaving the girls. We've left them before but never while we've actually left the country and not been able to touch base with grandma to get an update on how things were going. It hit hard on Tuesday when we swapped vehicles and the girls in Missouri Valley with my mom and sister. I figured the initial goodbye would cause a raucous with the girls, but it actually didn't happen until we were each 5 minutes headed back where we came from when we got a call from Auntie Heather and Gracie had realized that mom and dad weren't in the van and weren't going to be around. All ended up well with them at grandma's for the week, but it was hard for the two of us!

Of course it was great picking them up again around 11pm Sunday night and seeing their faces as they woke up and realized that mom and dad were driving the van again. They could have kicked themselves right out of their carseats they were so excited and it was a joy to hear their stories/adventures with grandma and auntie. It was also amazing to see how much they'd changed in just 5 short days.

NW Iowa "Spring"

You know you live in NW IA and it's been a long winter when you bundle up and go to the park to enjoy a 45 degree day even when there is still a few inches of snow on the ground! We've had almost a solid covering of snow this winter since the week right after Thanksgiving and everyone is soooooooo ready for Spring!

A Passion for the Mission

I am totally celebrating today Rob's passion for the mission and call that God has placed on his life. i am gonna expand on this in the next post, but wanted to get these pics up and celebrate this aspect now in case I didn't get to it til later tonight!

Communicator

Sometimes it seems as if we are totally on the same page

Other times it seems like no matter how loud we shout the
other person still has a hard time hearing or reading us ;)

And sometimes we are both thinking totally different
things at totally different times!

I think the second thing that I want to celebrate this week is Rob's increased ability to communicate well. I remember being at Power Connection this summer and having Rob admit to one of the other leaders that he wasn't always the best communicator when it came to relationship. I wholeheartedly agreed at the time...I did feel like in order for me to get what he was feeling it was always a matter of how much I could over communicate in order to extract feelings from him. not always the best source or solution either ;) However in the past few months we have just gone through so many changes and adaptions, and I feel like it is those changes and adaptations coupled with a class he took last month that have just started him on this path of good communication. He just has loved me so well and those ppl we are in relationship with. Truly seeking to be aware of love languages and seek to communicate through those, attempting to identify and understand differences in ppl and thier personalities and how that plays into their communication styles....it is just so fun to watch and has challenged and blessed me in our relationship greatly. Just last night we were having a 'talk'with Grant and Amy and he said "I feel like I am turning into quite the counselor". I knew he meant in really learning to communicate and go through the processes it takes to truly hear and be heard! I love it! So we continue to celebrate birthday week by thanking God for our good COMMUNICATOR!

Amazing Dancer

Well, yesterday started the first official day of "birthday week" around our house. Since Rob actually has a birthday this year it could be argued that birthday week is null and void. He usually declares it b/c of the lack of an unofficial day to celebrate his birthday;) However, there is quite a bit to celebrate this week...one thing completely unrelated to his birthday would have to be that on Saturday he recieved his letter of acceptance to Bethel Seminary and is set to begin on our anniversary! We are so happy for him!!! and definitely in prayer for him and our family as we enter into this new season for our family!

I think then in trying to celebrate Rob this week I am going to try to share seven blessings...seven ways that he blesses my life and the life of the girls, or maybe even the way he blesses those around us. I think however I am going to start the week with the blessing of AMAZING DANCER...

We have kind of established, no Rob has established, an unwritten rule at our house that if you are crabby, stressed, sad, or even happy, excited, or hyper....you dance! He started doing this with the girls and it has carried over to all of us now for many different reasons. I would say that his amazing Dad qualities pour out through this example. He is so able to turn the girls moods around, my mood and even his own mood, through fun activities and uninhibited craziness sometimes. He doesn't worry about things sometimes and just dances! The girls love to 'chase' around the house, to play hide-and-seek, and just to fly with daddy. He has created that playfulness and craziness in our house that allows us to dance....to keep things light and to have fun together no matter what may be going on in our outside worlds! We have needed this especially this winter....it has been pretty long and I don't think I see an immediate end in sight. It is definitely challenging the joyful spirit ;)

So we celebrate Rob today for being an AMAZING DANCER!!!

if you can think of any other blessings throughout the week please feel free to post them or email them to him!

A Princess Affair

The only picture we got with all the princesses

Thanks to G & G for treating the girls!

What two year old doesn't love a chocolate fountain?

This picture wasn't quite happening...

A couple of weekends ago Rob was out of town at Winter Blast, a middle school retreat. During that time the girls and I headed over to my parents house for the weekend so we wouldn't have to brave three long days of freezing cold in the house alone ;) It was a great weekend...I am so blessed to have parents who are so willing to spend time with my girls and love all three of us well when Rob is gone! I must say the highlights of the weekend were rather royal events. On Saturday we went shopping in Sioux Falls to pick out princess attire for the girls. It was so fun to watch the girls, Gracie especially, go through the dress up clothes and decide which one she wanted to pick! Karys just liked waving around all of the magical wands and trying on shoes ;) We ended up picking out a Snow White outfit for Gracie and a Barbie princess dress for Karys.

On Sunday, we then went to MCC to the Princess Brunch. This was totally cute! There were princes and princesses roaming around, special royal food and plates on the buffet, free tiaras and wands, and a craft table to make purses and other fun crafts! It was so funny to watch the girls...Gracie just kept telling everybody that she didn't want her picture taken with any of the princesses, but Karys of course according to Gracie wanted her picture taken with the princesses instead ;) Gracie just liked talking to the Cinderella decal on the windows...less intimidating I guess ;) Anyway, the pictures say it all!!!