A weekend of celebration

This weekend we celebrated a lot. We celebrated Father's Day and Amanda's birthday. Amanda and I don't do very well with delayed gratification as it relates to gifts so I gave her her birthday present on Friday night (a salt scrub and long massage at Donovan's Serenity and Wellness Spa for while were in Alpena.) She gave me my Father's Day present the same night (a beautiful blue and white summer robe from Land's End.) I love the robe. If you are a man who is not into robes, you definitely have to give them another try. I have a GREAT chamois cloth robe for winter. Robes are the in-between that you need in the morning. It gets you from the bed, out to the kitchen to get your coffee ready and eat breakfast. Enough about robes.

Saturday night we went with Shirley to Benihana for Japanese cook at your table. This was Amanda's choice, but I think the boys may have enjoyed it as much as she did. I had a wonderful filet minon. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender. But Matthew ate most of us under the table. It was fun to sit next to him and watch.

Sunday we went to church in the morning. Have I written about how much we love our church? I know I have. Pastor John is preaching through a series on the Psalms. Based on Psalm 103, he spoke about how fathers need to bless the Lord in the midst of their children. We need to bless (or praise) the Lord for 1) His sovereignty, 2)His righteousness in the way that He works on the side of the poor and oppressed, 3) His mercy in forgiving my sins. That third one was the kicker! I need to let my kids know more about how much I need God's forgiveness and how amazingly he lavishes it on me. Later in the day, I called the fathers in my family and told them that I loved them and that I had prayed for them. Being a father is a difficult job. See Pastor John's sermon here.

After church, we headed to Amanda's dad's to again celebrate her birthday and Father's Day. The day was beautiful and the food and company were rich. All in all, it was a great weekend. Photos from the weekend to come tomorrow.

Dirty, dirty, guess who's 30!

Amanda will probably kill me for this, but on Sunday we will celebrate 30 years of life for Amanda Faith. Amanda is an amazing partner and gift from God. I am regularly amazed by the grace she shows, the strength she musters and the love she lavishes. Please join me in celebrating her this weekend. I love you Amanda!

Little Molly

Molly is growing more and more every day, both in stature and in personality. She is another in a long line of strong women: her mother, her grandmothers, her aunts, etc. Yesterday she decided she wanted to climb up the slide. Amanda told me this when I got home. She didn't ever make it to the top while Amanda was watching her. Amanda pulled her off each time. She said it was too dangerous. She could fall. While I was watching, she finally made it to the top. She doesn't walk yet, but she can sure climb that slide. She's something! I got a little picture crazy. You can see them all here.

Finger lickin' good

Yesterday Amanda made a dinner that will definitely be added to our normal rotation. Baby back ribs were on sale this week at the Cub so we decided to give them a try. We copied Shirley's method and boy were they good. Amanda put them in the crockpot for about five hours on high and then I finished them off on the grill. The grill really helped caramelize the barbecue sauce and crisp up the edges. The meat was falling off the bones. We had some skins in mashed potatoes and asparagus too. It was another home run on Amanda's part. We're very blessed that Amanda is such a great cook. She knows how to sling the hash.

Sweet Baby James

This weekend we are heading out to Brad and Sarah's to celebrate James' baby dedication at church. I was thinking of him and made up this photo. He has the bluest eyes. They really are that color.

Ben graduates from kindergarten

This morning we attended Ben's kindergarten graduation. It was a lot of fun to watch him and his classmates. Laying in bed with him this morning, I said to him, "In only twelve years you'll graduate from high school." That seems like it is right around the corner. You can see all of the pictures from this morning here and another video here.

Gammons/Nagel Guys' Camp-out '08

Last night we inaugurated the first annual Gammons/Nagel Guys' Camp-out. Brad, Dave, Ben, Caleb, Matthew and I all ventured to the Wm. O'Brien State Park for an overnight of hot dogs, campfire, ice cream, candy, hiking and hanging out. It was an absolutely great time. The only thing that dampened our time was the tornado warning and downpour that sent us running south in the minivan trying to outrun the hail. This will make for a great story though. And any story that ends with all of us eating ice cream is a good one. The boys did a great job with camping. By 10:00 PM everyone was sound asleep (except for the 12 ten-year-old girls in the tent next to ours.) Matthew won the prize by sleeping the latest. He had to be woken up for breakfast. We took a couple of hikes by the beautiful St. Croix River down a great path. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been more Gammons/Nagel guys. We are hoping that in the future, James, Gregg, Joe, Drew, Alex and Jacob can all make the trip. Maybe we'll venture a little further south to make this a possibility. Thanks to Brad and Grandpa for making it a great time. I hope you both were able to get a nap! Check out all of our photos here.