Sweet Days with Nicole and Chris

When I was a child I used to count down the days until Christmas. It was so exciting when the number of days would get into single digits and finally 3 days, 2 days, 1 days...it's here! Well, we have a countdown in our home again, and it is in the single digits...3 days, 2 days...and I work to feel and know the excitement of it.
Today is Monday. Nicole and Chris leave Wednesday for their next Life adventure in India. We are totally privileged to have them staying at our home for these last days...sweet days. I have prayed that God would allow these days not to be tainted with the bitter-sweet of their departure and He has been so faithful. Friday night was a long night as we finished moving from their house. It is amazing how quickly a home can become simply a house once the purpose and the love and the personality have left it. Saturday we came together at the end of the day and enjoyed talk, ice cream, rest and a movie. Sunday we worshiped Jesus together and Nicole and I got to sing together. After church we shared a wonderful birthday brunch where Nicole and Chris gave me a Creative Memories Book of Brad and my 25th anniversary trip to Cozumel, Mexico. It was a true labor of love during a busy transition time in their life and it holds much more than just pictures for my heart.
So, now we are down to 2....1....Go! I want to cherish and save every breath, every word, every hug, every smile, every laugh, every song. This morning, during my quiet time with Jesus, I thanked Him for the gift of family and for the gift of the ability to appreciate it. So, today I will live in appreciation for our day together and for the renewed awareness that days together are limited. They always are, you know...I just have a heightened awareness of it at the moment. So, my prayer for you is that today you will live in appreciation for your day together with whomever the Lord has given you and for a renewed awareness that your days together are limited. May we all live with the God-given passion to have sweet days with the people we love.

Papa, our Papa!

It's always a good time when Papa comes to town! Papa drove down from Minneapolis (that's amazing in itself since he is now officially 86 years old!) on Thursday, July 2nd and arrived in fine style mid-afternoon. He brought with him treats from Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue's Quality bakery (those didn't last long!!). He brought with him work shirts from Aunt Connie's ActionWear business...Thank you, Connie! He brought love, laughter, his fun array of jokes, his white papers, his wisdom, his support and his infusion of "can-do" into our lives. We were joined on July 4th by Matt, Brian and Rachel Farley. My stomach has finally stopped hurting from all of the laughing we did. What a fun day. The pictures shows us toasting and roasting Nicole and Chris as they prepare for their bon-voyage day.
He's now gone, but Brad and I are re-infused with a plan, a re-committment and an excitement for the tommorows we hope to have the privilege of sharing together and with Papa.
As Uncle Doug would say "Is this great or what?"

It's a small and delightful world!

We have just been blessed with a 2 day visit from Poul and Trine Kielsholm from Denmark. We had delightful chats over morning breakfast and coffee on our front porch. We got caught up on all of the news of their children (Maria, Johanna and Rasmus) and Paul's sisters (Else (who lived with us when she was in High School) and Inge) and their parents. We laughed much, shared much and re-invested in a relationship that means so much to us.

NEW VENTURES: It's fun that Poul and Trine were able to share their dreams with us as they are here to begin the path of starting an American company which they call "AmECO-BOILERS" (American Eco Boilers). They are doing the work to make their dream come true! We were able to our dream with them as they toured our new home and supported us as we are doing the work to make our dream come true. Poul met with a friend of ours here in Story City (Kurt Erickson) who was very instrumental in directing him to some American connections and as we sat at Hickory Park last night it was fun to hear how encouraged he was from the events of the day. Now they leave enroute for other parts of the midwest. I am reminded that "What we can conceive and believe, we can achieve". We will be praying for you Poul and Trine, as you plan and work and create. God has given you great life-partners in each other and great preparation for this venture and great vision for what could be. It will be delightful to watch Him bless the work of your hands. We love you!

Packing for a wonderful future

So, sometimes the steps to our dreams are not nearly as exciting as the dreams themselves. I started packing up some of the back rooms today. Here's what our family room looks like now...lots of boxes, lots of labels...a heart that is sad to leave a home we've loved for 25 years and a heart that rejoices in the laughter/memories/experiences/potential of the future. Almost every box has some tear stains on it, but my wise mother taught me never to love anything that can not love you back. So I remind myself that it is not this house that I love, it is the family that has lived within it...and they will be with us in our new home. To everything there is a season...this is my season for boxes, newspaper, markers and packing tape! To God Be the Glory!

Sometimes reality is oh-so much fun! This is our new reality...our future home and sometimes we pinch ourselves to think that we will be spending the latter years of our life in such beauty. OK...it's not such beauty now, but the picture in my mind is beautiful.. And, as Mary Kay Ash said...What the mind can conceive, with work we can achieve. We are achieving our dream!

Cabinets are up!

This was a fun weekend of work on the new house. Pictures will be coming, but I wanted to Praise God for the weather, the energy, the safety and the delight of working on the soffit on the back side of our house, of painting the storage rooms in the basement and of getting the kitchen cabinets up on the wall. It is so fun to rejoice in every little step forward.

Great Night!

Cindy Shearer and I went to the Michael Card concert tonight. It was a very simple time of worship and singing. Michael Card does such a night job of putting scripture to music. I loved the fact that tonight was filled with scripture, not just emotion.

Michael told us about a new website where you can download christian music, lyrics and studies for free. It's called www.byfor.com It stands for "by Christians, for Christians." I haven't checked it out yet, but am going to soon.

Anyway, thanks, Cindy, for reminding me how much 2 hours of a concert can revive my spirit and strengthen my thirst for The Word.

Our 3 alive after their skydive

I'm not really sure how it happened, but somehow...someone...got it in their head that they wanted to skydive. Brad and I gave them part of their skydive as a birthday present. So, on Friday, May 22nd at 5:30 p.m., we arrived at the Boone Airport and prepared for Amy, Matthew and Nicole to do their first ever tandum skydive jump.
First, they were trained...

then they "suited up"

Once they were set...they went up, up, up



and then down, down, down !

Matthew was first.


Amy was second.



Nicole was third. And, it was a good thing she was. Chris was in Webster City showing their house (it's for sale), and he got to the airport just before Nicole jumped out of the plane.



They all survived! They all enjoyed it. And it will be a GREAT memory of their birthday celebrations for 2009. As for mom and dad...we're glad they're all still here to tell the tale!

Gotta love the new millenium!

Thanks to Nicole and Amy we are up and running in this fancy blog world. It's quite the rush to see pictures of family half way around the world. Here's a picture of us saying our goodbye's to Matthew and Amy the night they left for Florida. Quite the group, huh?

They've Arrived!

Brad and Suzi have finally arrived in the 21st century...they've got a blog! Many more interesting blogs to come, but now they can keep track of their kid's daily lives in Florida, India, Georgia, UNI, wherever they happen to be. YAY!