Substitute Mommy

So...Seth usually demands that Mommy lays with him at night. Tonight we tried something different. Josiah offered to lay with Seth. Since we had gotten them to bed a few minutes early I figured, "why not try it." After about 5 minutes, I left the room with a couple boys resting nicely in bed. 15 minutes later I went back to check on them. Seth was sound asleep and Josiah was sitting up in his bed glowing with pride. I whispered in his ear that I was proud of him. Josiah then said, "Can I do that again tomorrow night?"

Men of faith rise up...Men of sports, please change

From Dan:

This sermon and video are very challenging to me. I know many of the people that follow this blog are women. Could you invite your husband to listen to/view this with you? This is a challenge that is not being talked about much today. I would be very interested to hear any reactions/comments you have about this sermon and/or this video.

Click here for the 53 min sermon.

Click here if you only have about 4 mins.


To the husband: If you can't find 57 mins to hear these messages but you have no problem taking 3-4 hours for a football game or a golf outing, what does that say?

To the wife: If your husband is a godly husband and you don't doubt the affections of his heart for Christ, you, your kids, and the Church, praise God because he is a man that you can willingly support. He does not need to hear these messages. He's already living it. Thank him.

Thanks for your precious time,
Dan

Fetch...

I played Fetch today....nope, not with a dog....with Seth...the boy who thinks he's a dog. I throw the ball...he crawls, picks up the ball with his teeth and then crawls it back over to me and drops it at my feet. Hmmm...is this an issue?!?!

The Letter "W"

Our Family Time verse tonight was...

"We love because God first loved us." 1 John 4:19

In case you did not follow this blog last school year and aren't familiar with the family time structure we do, I'll explain briefly.

1. Dance to family Time song.
2. Memorize and recite Bible verse.
3. Learning activity.
4. Discuss/Debrief
5. Pray
6. Dance
7. Each kid creates a picture of what they learned.

We chose a new family time song for this year. Lecrae's "Don't Waste Your Life." Check it out.



Right before family time, the kids gathered 20 rocks in a bag and Dad gathered about 100 rocks also. After dancing and verse memorization, I asked the kids to identify something that God has done to show that He loves us. As they said something that God has done, they placed a rock in the center of the floor. They were quite creative and surprised us with their depth of thinking. The pile grew to about 35-40 rocks. Then the kids were asked to make a second pile for the things we have done to show God that we love Him. Creativity ran out quickly. So, there it was. God had about 40 rocks. The kids had 7. Dad then asked what the kids thought about the two piles. They responded by saying that God loves us more than we love Him. When asked, "Should God let you into heaven because you love Him so much?" They said, "no!" Then why would He let you into heaven? The kids finally responded, because He loves you anyway.

You can rejoice today because He loves you anyway. You'll never earn it. Stop trying. Love, because He first loved you.

Back to School

It's hard to believe, but Dan is starting his 8th year teaching at West Fargo High School and this year he is also a part-time principal/Dean of Students. Very exciting!

Josiah is starting 2nd Grade.....is that really possible????

Soon Alayna will be starting preschool and she can hardly wait....how did my kids get so old so fast?!?!

Born To Be Wild!

His first motorcycle ride and he LOVED it!! After his first ride in the sidecar he kept going to the other motocycles and saying "Pwease, Pwease!" and so....he got another sidecar ride. Not exactly what he wanted, but he has to wait until he's 2 to ride with his uncle behind the other cycle. If it's nice in October (when he turns 2) I'm sure he will be ready to ride again!

If you remember back to a post in the winter he relaxed like this while riding snowmobile too
....he's not afraid of adventure!

Getting ready for my first ride on a motorcycle with my cousin and uncle

After the first round of fun he wanted to go again and this time....
his aunt was nice enough to give him another ride!

Do you hear the sound???

It's the sound of the ice cream truck coming through the neighborhood!!

Last year the ice cream truck started coming through our neighborhood and the sound of it's music can be heard from blocks away, the kids get SUPER excited as it approaches. Tonight we were home when it came through and so Seth and Alayna shared a sweet treat! Fun summer memories!!

Precious Moments....

Sometimes I forget about the precious moments that happen everyday...this morning we were watching some old home videos (the kids LOVE to watch themselves as babies/toddlers on TV) anyway, we were watching Josiah as a baby and I realized just how fast the time goes by. He's 7 and he doesn't make the baby sounds that he used to, or smile a crooked smile like he did as a baby and then I looked over at Seth and realized....in no time at all he won't be pitter pattering (or in his case b/c he is a big kid, thumping) around the house barefoot and in a diaper. I want to remember the little things about everyday and realize just how precious they are.

** he can be such a rascal sometimes, but he is too stinkin' ADORABLE!!!

Bed Time....

We switched Seth into a big boy bed a little over a week ago. Last week we took down the crib and re-arranged the boys' room. He is a bit of a rascal when it comes to staying in his bed. He likes to get out and wander a bit until we hear him and tell him to get back in his bed.

A few days ago it dawned on me to just snuggle with him a little longer in his bed to calm him down a bit more before he goes to sleep. Well, here is a picture of how he snuggles. REALLY close to me!! When it comes to Love Languages I'm starting to think that Seth's is Physical Touch....

Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend of fun with friends and family! Saturday we headed out to a lake cabin to spend time with friends and we had a refreshing time catching up and hanging out. When we got back on Saturday Dan's brother and sister in law and their family were all here and so we got to spend some great time with them as well. They spent the night and so we went to church with them Sunday and spent some of the afternoon with them 'playing' and chatting. All in all, it was a great weekend!!

Tubing with dad

Kayaking in the rain

Daddy - Daughter hot tub

She didn't actually ride on the jet ski, but she was there long enough for a picture! :)

Josiah rode on the jet ski and had a great time...boys will be boys!

A Week In Review....

Getting ready for 'popcorn and a movie' night

Josiah DESPERATELY wants to learn how to mow the lawn. He wants to start his own lawn mowing business and even asked me to make him a business card. He has a ways to go, but he was more then willing to give it a try with help from dad.
Don't worry...dad is nearby...but we have 2 boys that love to mow the lawn. As long as that passion lasts, in a few years we'll have the most maintained yard around!

He has now learned how to climb in and out of the window wells. Thankfully I don't have to worry so much about him falling in now! He likes to play in their with the frogs. What a BOY!

Josiah 'dog sat' for grandpa for a week. we had a lot of fun with Chester, but by the end of the week Josiah's desire for a dog was gone. He loves that grandpa has a dog and he can visit, but he doesn't think that we need one anymore. Phew! (the funniest part is that Chester is one of the easiest dogs I've ever met...can you imagine how Josiah would feel about the work of a new puppy!)

Our helpful little boy...he may be a rascal, but he is cute and ALWAYS willing to help in any way!

Who's under that mask???

This little cutie!

The Great Chase....

When a mom loves her child.....

Last week was a bit crazy at our house. We did a kid swap with Dan's brother and so we had our niece Hailey here. She and Alayna play very well together and have lots of fun! The first day we hardly saw them, they played, and played and played! Later on that day Alayna started not feeling well and slowing down a bit....then she really slowed down and we noticed she had a fever. The next day she had a fever of 102 and 103 and just laid down resting. We got her adjusted and she felt a little better, but something was still not quite right. We assumed it was just a virus, or teeth or something similar because she had no symptoms other than a fever and being tired. I kept asking her if anything hurt and she just said her head a little. On Friday she was getting worse and we were in St. Cloud so we brought her to see my sister (also a chiropractor) she checked her over and said if she wasn't feeling better by the next day she'd do a test to rule out a bladder infection. Well, that night her fever rose to 104.5...SCARY!!!! We got her fever down with medicine and the next morning she went in to test for a bladder infection.

Now comes the fun part.....or not really fun, but memorable!! To test for a bladder infection you need to pee in a cup. When you're 4 you go to the bathroom when you need to, not on command! Anyway, there we are, her and I in the bathroom.....she's on the potty, I'm holding the cup in my hand and my hand is in the toilet....I'm sure it would have been quite a sight!!! (what a mother won't do, huh?!) I would bet we were in this position for close to 15 minutes....all that time I'm trying to explain how to make yourself go....trying to get her to drink more....talking about running water....then....finally....she did it!!!

We found out she had a pretty severe bladder infection. Poor thing! It was up too high so she didn't notice it when she went to the bathroom. Kind of scary! Anyway, she's on medication and my pretty girl is back! It's never fun to see your kids sick, but not knowing what was wrong was even worse....I'm so thankful the cause was found and that she's doing so much better now!!