The Fighter

Look closely at the picture above. Last night Ben was dancing around in the living room and whacked his nose on the back of the red chair. It looks like he may have broken it. He says that it doesn't really hurt, unless he touches it. I thought he might wake up this morning with a couple of good shiners. We'll see if it continues to swell. I hope not.

The Fall

Romans 8:22
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Creation in Minnesota was certainly groaning today. I don't think that it snowed on the last day of March before Adam and Eve sinned. We were all outside this past weekend. The boys were riding their bikes; Amanda went for a couple of good walks. I don't know what happened. It's just another way for us to recognize that this is not the way that it was supposed to be. So if you happen to live somewhere like Florida (or if you are just visiting there for a week) be thankful.

New bike

My first bike was a blue banana seat number that we bought from Timmy Neldred who lived a few streets over. I think I may have even gotten it after Joe was done with it. I remember crying over it for some reason. I played the "Why do I always get handy-me-downs?" card a lot growing up. I am hoping that Caleb and Matt do not have similar issues, but if they do I think I will have a similar response to my parents. "Zip it! There are a number of kids in the world that would love to have that ___________!"

All that to lead into our purchase last weekend of Ben's new bike. The bike that he had before was given to us by Ben Arendt. Towards the end of last summer and especially this spring when Ben road that bike he looked like a clown at the circus. So I went to the bike store and got him a new one. It was fun to see his face yesterday when I pulled tarp off of his new bike and he said, "Blue is my favorite color!" The bike is a little big, but I think that it will be perfect for him by mid-summer.

I love these pictures.

I am just sharing these pictures because I have been looking at them all day today. I sure do love these little people in my life.

The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter! We had a great day yesterday which capped off a great week. We talked all about the story with the boys and it seemed like they were getting it. Our hymn for the week was "Up From the Grave He Arose". You can see a pretty sweet rendition below. Our church service was great and the fam did a great job. Molly is learning to clap, so she really liked when everyone was doing that. The boys are really learning to behave so well at church. It is a huge blessing to us and we tell them about how proud we are as often as we can. Dinner at Shube's house was very good--Cornish game hens! You can see all of our pictures here.


I hope that all of you were able to be with family and worhship our risen Lord. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen, indeed!

"Won't You Wear a Sweater?" Day

This Thursday, March 20, would have been Mr. Rogers' 80th birthday. In his honor, Mr. McFeely wants everyone to wear their favorite sweater. Check out the video below and join our whole family in honoring our favorite neighbor by wearing your sweaters.

St. Patrick's Day and MORE SNOW

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day yesterday with these really fun cookies from Grandma's Bakery. I think it will be a regular stop on odd holidays like St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Flag Day, etc.
Then this morning, we woke up to another 2-3 inches of snow. They said on the radio that today is supposed to be 40 degrees and so is tomorrow. Maybe we'll lose all of this snow quickly. I did read an article a few weeks ago about the water level in the great lakes rebounding though. I guess that is what the snow is supposed to be for.

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Now playing: Chicago Public Radio - #345: Ties That Bind
via FoxyTunes

"You say it's your birthday . . ."

Today is Gregg's birthday. We celebrate his 32 years on this earth. Happy birthday Gregg. We hope that have had a great day. Join us is wishing him a great year and many more. In honor of Gregg's birthday I thought I would include this great clip from In Living Color. I love Calhoun Tubbs and I think Gregg will too. Check out all of the other Calhoun Tubbs clips at the new hulu.com site.

Blessings--see announcement

Here is a great picture of Joe and me from Florida. We are surrounded by so many blessings. As you can see, the boys loved swimming at Uncle Joe and Aunt Carrie's house. They also thought Drew was a lot of fun too. From the way that Drew watched the boys (especially Ben and Caleb) and followed them around, it was obvious that the feeling was mutual. Thanks again, J&C for a great time.

Another blessing that we found out about when we were in Florida is that Joe and Carrie are expecting another blessing! We are so thrilled with and for them. We have prayed for them and cried with them. Now we celebrate with them. Is this not the story of the life with Christ? Not always does it work out like this, but we are overjoyed when it does. Congratulations J&C! We love you.

P.S.
Can you tell which family lives in Minnesota? We're the blinding white ones on the left. :)

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Now playing: Cry Cry Cry - Lord, I Have Made You A Place In My Heart
via FoxyTunes

Gregg rocks LazyLightning.org

Last week Bill and I were chatting and he said that he was looking into getting a new banner image for his site. He didn't really know where to start though. I told him that I would ask Gregg (who did my banner) and see if he would be willing/available. Sure enough, Gregg and Bill chatted and I think they came up with a real humdinger. You can see the whole redesign of Bill's site here.

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Now playing: Kathleen Edwards - The Cheapest Key
via FoxyTunes

Kathleen Edwards--Asking For Flowers

"Asking for flowers

Is like asking you to be nice
Don't tell me you're too tired
10 years I've been working nights"

This is how Kathleen Edwards laments her character's relationship in the title track from her newest album Asking For Flowers. I have listened to a few tracks online and it is GOOD. I love her previous work and this is more of the same. First stream the whole album at her website, then buy the album at Amazon.

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Now playing: Kathleen Edwards - In State
via FoxyTunes

Beatiful weather, great time with family and praying to the procelain god: a Florida trip recap

We are back from a wonderful trip to Florida to see Mom, Joe and Carrie and Drew. We also got to see my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jess who came in on the last day. It was a great trip. The weather was perfect (80's every day). The only drawback was that all of the kids and eventually Amanda had a terrible stomach bug, diarrhea and and vomiting. Molly had it the worst. She could only breast feed. Everything else she threw up. So far, I have dodged that bullet. The boys had a great time playing with Drew and swimming, swimming, swimming. Last night at family meeting, I asked everyone what their favorite part of the trip was. No one had to think long. Here are our responses.

Ben: Sunday at the water park
Caleb: Swimming in Gigi's pool
Matthew: Jumping off the side of the pool
Amanda: Our last day when the weather was beautiful and all we did was lay by the pool
Andy: A week of beautiful weather, seeing family and not working

Thanks to Mom and Joe, Carrie and Drew for being great hosts. You helped us have a great and relaxing week. You can see the rest of our pictures here.