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!!!

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!