Girls Night

We are really gonna miss Brooke. We sure did laugh and have fun last night. And my feet are definitely cuter now.

Evidently

If you drink the laxative powder mixed with blue Gatorade from a tiger cup with a swirly straw it tastes good. We will see what he says 2 quarts later...

This week...

...we had a rough time getting back in synch. We had cousins to play with again. We found out Gavin had an ear infection (thus the rough week). We cleaned house like crazy people and put together a new island and cabinet for the kitchen. We got ready to start school again. We started school. Seth is taking a summer science camp class about bugs at the nature association. Gavin has become a letter detective. A and a are the letters of the week. Pictures soon.

Happy Birthday, Seth!!!!

Seth had PLANS for his birthday. The big one was face painting. I got a kit of "professional" paints thinking I would probably end up doing this again. The paints never really dried, and ended up being a HUGE mess. But Seth had a lot of fun and thought it was great. I made a couple of mistakes on Seth's, and we thought he ended up looking like a Sith from Star Wars. he liked it.


Gavin wanted to be a monkey.


Bradyn wanted to be like a Seth.


Once paint started getting on Nana's furniture it was decided it all had to come off. Gross!!!!


Wesley!!!


Happy boy in his "real" cowboy hat.


Reading cards with Uncle Steve.


Two brothers happy to be home after a big trip.

Things that happen when Andrew is gone...

...it becomes so humid outside that our troublesome wall becomes soggy and the nails start to sag.
...the front door gets stuck shut.
...someone (probably under the age of 6) tries with great effort to pry the shed open to get the toys out and damages the door.
...the windshield wipers on the car get stuck in the up position.
...gross debris is found all over the edge of the couch with no apparent source. Little boys claim no knowledge of the mess, leaving a mouse as the most likely suspect.

I think this list is about twice this length, but I am too tired to think about it all! These random things just rain down upon us when Andrew is gone and I just can't seem to keep up! It is CRAZY!!!!!

It makes me laugh. I am so thankful that he is safe, that we are healthy, and the rest of it is just details.

RAGBRAI, the Journey.

I spent most of this last year sick. I think that my body just decided that since we had made it to a safe place that it could finally just shut down for a while. I didn't agree. I wasn't happy with my body and was remembering a promise I made to myself as a child. I decided something had to be done, and I also knew that whenever I have goals and plans for myself that when push comes to shove my plans always suffer. To really get in shape there needed to be a firm plan, a deadline, and a financial commitment. And it needed to be something that would be a sustainable lifestyle for longterm health. Since we live here in the Midwest and I have always enjoyed biking I picked RAGBRAI. I was excited about my plan. No one else was. No one else was willing to join me, either. But this was my plan and I persevered. Training was fun and challenging and at times very hard and scary. Doing long rides alone often made me sick to my stomach. I discovered that the heat just did me in every time it was in the 90's. I learned a lot about myself, my gear, and about just doing the next thing because it just has to be done. I spent a lot of time in prayer about trying to do something that was too hard for me. And God began meeting me. At the church on the top of the hill south of the Platte River, where I was able to go inside and use the bathroom, even though the landscaping guy had never been able to do that in all his years of mowing there. In the kindness of strangers filling my bottles with cold water when I had run out in the middle of nowhere. In helping me push through a hard ride I never wanted to go on anyway. I decided to wear my Gramma's shoes. She died a year and a half ago. She was a strong woman. She quit smoking and started making a really big effort to eat and live healthily when I was a kid. At the end of her life she was on Hospice care. And still getting on the treadmill with her oxygen tank regularly. If she could do that then I could do this. I was scared: of the hills, the heat, the number of miles every day, of doing this thing alone... And God kept meeting me and began to provide for me, showering me with his favor: a friend to drop me off and pick me up, getting the tent rainfly on before the first drops of rain fell, and the tent staked down before the tornado sirens started to go off, getting to exchange a water bottle later in the week even though I missed it the first night, a free freezy pop when I was hot and tired, a tailwind and root beer float when I was out of energy and couldn't finish the day on my own, a friend to teach me to pace myself and giving me a ride to the train on time, friends in camp, a worship service midweek, a day off to rest and read and learn to knit, getting to sleep in a beautiful shady spot next to a church under the cross ("we have a night light tonight", yes, Jesus has been and will be a light in the darkness.). All week long I delighted in seeing the hand of God at work on my behalf. I wondered if I have been too distracted to see it before. If so, I don't want to live my life distracted anymore. Daily, hourly, I want to depend on Jesus to help me do the hard and impossible things that life brings. And I will be continuing to pray my new prayer... "Please teach me to bend and not break when the stress of life is too much for me". And I will keep remembering to be thankful for those who have come before us, showing us how to live. Our lives are built on the backs of those who have gone before us, and I am so thankful to have been given such a solid foundation to build my life on. As I biked this week there was a song that kept running through my mind and heart:
Here there is life for me,
Life in such abundance from you,
Here there is sanctuary,
And entering through you I find your peace,
For the shepherd knows his sheep
He's the only voice they heed
So how can I be afraid?
Now that you have found my heart again
For you can warn my fears away
And I won't be alone
For you will bring me home again
Safe into the shadow of your hand.

RAGBRAI By Pictures

Sunrises.


Beautiful views. Terraced fields.


Huge welcomes from tiny towns.


Bicycle art.


Tractors with ropes between them for bike parking.


Crowds of bikers moving constantly that go on ALL DAY LONG!


"Sweaty Mommy." -Gavin


Views, farms, countryside, bikers.


Campsites - some very beautiful like this one!


More sunrises.


Big blow up cows.


Real cows.


Bikes in odd places everywhere you look.


Old interesting vehicles.


Boone and Scenic Valley RR.


The Scenic Valley.


Photo op with a Black Hawk Helicopter.


Caveman bike.


Throw the rubber chicken through the toilet seat game.


The Mississippi River!!!!!

Best friends EVER!

Last night I came home exhausted (after RAGBRAI I basically pulled an all nighter driving to MN to celebrate Seth's birthday, and then turned around and drove home again yesterday). What do I find, but that my friends have snuck into my home and decorated!!!!! Yes, I cried.


I can't believe how many of you followed my updates on Facebook, and prayed for me and sent me encouraging messages! My friend Laurie even dropped me off and drove all the way across Iowa to pick me up since Andrew couldn't be there! I am sooooo blessed beyond words!!!


THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!