On our way home from the REVAMP retreat, we stopped in Albert Lea to pick up not only our girls...but also our nephew Nathan. Nathan was getting the awesome opportunity to come to the metropolis of Orange City for SPRING BREAK! I had volunteered to keep him when the girls asked me the Thursday before if cousin Nathan could "come over and play?" Not knowing what to say right away I thought about it a minute and then thought, you know what...he might just be able to. I have been on Spring Break these past two weeks and with the Comforts coming from the Des Moines area anyway, we might just be able to work out a little swap. Things had been going pretty well with pregnancy and i just didn't see another opportunity in the near future to invite him just schedule wise and things getting closer to the arrival of our new little sister! So luckily we offered and his mommy and daddy said YES!
Nathan was all excited to come and visit Gracie and Karys and was good to go for the car ride up. The kiddos got to ride in Papa Brent's truck on the way to Albert Lea b/c it was the only car that all three car seats would fit in ;) and then they got to ride in "big vans" with a bunch of high schoolers the rest of the way to OC. They loved it! Some of the girls we have babysit did a GREAT job of keeping them engaged and entertained ;) Nathan opened right up to them and introduced himself as "Nathan Josiah Vande Lune"
A pic of all the kiddos lined up in the back with their in flight entertainer, Auntie Heather! I think they also watched Cars too on the way ;)
The three amigos holding hands in front of Papa's truck...I love this picture!!!
We got home and everyone ran out some extra energy from the car ride, ate some supper, and for the most part seemed to be ready for bed fairly quickly. So we got everyone washed up in the tub and pulled out the trundle under Gracie's bed for Nathan to sleep on. I questioned in my head how well it was going to go for all three kiddos to be in one room, but if the first night was any indication for the rest of the week it was going to be a breeze...they were all sound asleep and breathing hard by 8:45! And that wasn't even the best part, aside from a small incident in the night where Nathan rolled down into bed with Karys ;) everyone stayed in bed all night and didn't wake up the next morning until almost 7:30!!! Thank you God for a good nights rest...much needed recovery after the weekend everyone had ;) 
This church was in no way a super organized food pantry. As you can see from the pictures above, the sanctuary has become the "sorting ground" for all of the food that is donated. And sorted might be a slight understatement as well. We got so many comments from the kids how unorganized things were...yet the number of 
It was incredible the amount of food they brought in! Each bag of food was weighed in on this scale, then placed on the stage of the church to await sorting. Our job was to work on the sorting, cans on one side of the pews...dried goods on the others. We weren't able to start then sorting it out into the appropriate rows just b/c we ran out of time. So crazy how much food came in, and how quickly it was projected to go back out...never enough!
After the food was sorted it was brought to various rooms throughout the church for storage. No joke there had to have been 6-8 different places on different levels of the church where things were stored. How they ever find the things they need must be a miracle within itself ;)
Some of our guys worked on 
For lunch we were presented with a "lunch challenge". Each person was given $1. With that dollar you could join with 5-6 other 
This was difficult b/c the foods in the ethnic grocery stores were so different and unfamiliar, the corner markets were more over priced than groceries in a 7-11 or some other type of gas station and the fast food restaurants were definitely not the healthiest nor did you get much food. However, kids did pretty well with this challenge. Rob's group bought a package of hot dogs and utilized the microwave at the local market, a bag of chips, bread, and a honey bun for dessert. 
My group ended up choosing 
Following lunch we headed to this living complex. Inside are condos that have been established in the Phillips neighborhood to promote community and diversity. We were able to chat for an hour with a young man who has intentionally chosen, with his wife, to live in this community as Christians and seek to love on and do life with their neighbors and those they come in contact with. It was an amazing as well as interesting testimony just of God's calling on their lives as well as how they came to know Christ and now how that is leading them to lead others to the same discovery. This was many of our kid's favorite part of the weekend.
After that story, it was off to the Global Market. The concept of the Global Market was developed in the summer of 2003, the City of Minneapolis was searching for a use for the long vacant Sears building on Lake Street. Local business owners and neighborhood groups from the Phillips, Central and 
Its MISSION STATEMENT stands to read: "We exist to develop and maintain a public market that builds upon the economic, social and cultural assets within the surrounding community and welcomes the diverse peoples of this community to share and celebrate together the healthy foods, arts, crafts and other aspects of their heritages." It was so interesting just to walk the 
Sunday was more of a laid back day, we woke up, cleaned up the sleeping areas and ate breakfast. We had some downtime before the church service and so our kids were busy playing the game "Big Booty" which had been a common theme for the trip ;)
Pretty soon 
Wasn't long before she was out cold...don't understand how you can fall asleep like this! Hard floor, bum in the air...really??!
Gracie was asleep too not more than 20 minutes into the movie and she and 
They woke up on Saturday morning asking the question "When are Sarah and Leah coming?" Rob got them distracted for a while involving them in some morning stretches. It was so funny! Yes to watch them try to stretch but more so to listen to Rob grunt and complain about how old he is and how tight he was after having a week of basketball again! He had gotten out of habit the two weeks of intensives.
We whipped him quickly back into shape that day though once Sarah and Leah arrived. He served as the official "horsey " for the three ladies. Sarah helped them all get on...
...and had to squeeze them on a little so they would all fit...
We did get a quick picture-not everyone was looking but in the next few seconds...
...we lost Leah and 
Once Leah was dizzy from the dancing, she headed over to get herself straightened back out by Uncle Rob...
Then it was off to the bathtub...Gracie had taken a shower with Rob earlier that morning so she was really excited to "give" Leah and 
Once everyone was all clean and dressed in their princess 
The next morning we got snow...really? Snow in March!!! I know, I know, this is NW Iowa ;) Anyway, it finally stopped and Sarah and Leah decided to head home so they could be home on time in case they did 
The snow was so white and fluffy that all the girls were tasting it...we just had to remind them never to eat the stuff that was yellow ;) Luckily Maggie goes to the bathroom mostly in the back yard.
Gracie loves being out there! She was the first one dressed and eager to get her rake and help daddy clear the driveway off.
Took Leah a little bit but eventually she was reaching down to dig into the snow right along with the girls...
...she loved watching the girls throw the snow and was eager to show Sarah and I the snow she picked up...
Look, Mommy! I have snow! So cute to watch her try to eat it and throw it right along with the other girls...won't be long until they will be smiling and scheming right along side each other ;)
Daddy was causing some trouble and throwing a few snowballs too...
