Protected and Blessed

Last week was an interesting week for us.  Kevin was practicing with some guys from church for a volleyball tournament and he went up to hit the ball and something happened in his knee.  He came home limping and telling me that he needed a knee brace to play in the tournament.

Thursday morning dawned and he couldn't get out of bed.  When he finally did he was hobbling around trying to get ready for work.  I got up and stood watching him trying to walk around the kitchen and told him there was no way he was working and we were going to the ER to get it checked out.  You know Kevin is hurting when he doesn't argue with me about seeing a DR and then proceeds to make arrangements for work.

I drove him to the hospital and for the next two hours he was asked all kinds of questions, had x-rays of his knee taken, they made him take Motrin (yuck) and then he was put in an immobilizing brace, given crutches and then sent on our way with instructions to follow up with our PCP to get an MRI set up to see what damage he did to his soft tissue.

Kevin stayed home from work for the rest of the week.  He pretty much stayed off his leg as much as possible.  We iced it frequently, we also put several essential oils on his leg every couple hours to help with any swelling and promote healing.  He really never used the crutches, but he was a good boy with the brace and kept that on, even sleeping with it on the first two nights.

Then Saturday happened....

I gave all the boys haircuts, Tyler was the last one.  He tends to zone in the shower and usually takes quite a long shower.  I had cleaned up from the haircuts, I was standing in the living room talking to Kevin who was on the couch with his leg propped up when  we heard a big crash.  Micah was, as he likes to call it, the first responder.  He made it to the bathroom door in seconds just as Tyler began to scream.  I was close behind him and what met my eyes shocked me.

There was my son standing in a sea of broken glass, blood running down his legs, holding a towel.  He was screaming "my feet are burning, my feet are burning!"  I told Tyler not to move and I tried to think of a way to get him out.  I was not strong enough to lift him out at the angle that he had to be removed from the shower.  Kevin came onto the scene, took one look at one happened and moved to action.  He hobbled over to the shower, told Tyler to grab his neck and then lifted him right out.  He placed him on the toilet where I could grab him and run him to the kitchen sink to evaluate the injuries.

For about the next hour Kevin and I worked at washing off the blood, assessing the wounds, and pulling out the glass from his legs and feet.  I then applied a wonderful oil called helichrysum to stop the bleeding and help close up the wounds.  I bandaged him up and then he sat next to Kevin on the couch the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Kevin must have re-injured something in his knee because his leg was swollen, his ankle being the worst of it.  Thankfully Kevin called his parents to come over to help clean up the mess.  His parents took care of the entire bathroom, down to removing the last glass shower door, vacuuming up all the glass, washing out the shower, cleaning the bathroom floor, shaking out towels and rugs, purchasing a shower rod and installing the rod and shower curtains (left from our old house).

Tyler's injuries could have been so much worse.  We praise God for his protection over Tyler.  He sustained quite a few cuts, some of them were rather deep.  The deeper ones were a cut and puncture wound all in one, but nothing that I felt required stitches especially since they were on his legs and feet.

Monday morning dawned and Kevin got up for work.  He was walking around the house without a problem.  He left for work and through out the day he sent me texts saying his knee was feeling really good.  On Tuesday we went to an Orthopedic surgeon and had his knee checked out.  The DR put his knee through all kinds of crazy moves and none of them hurt Kevin.  She said that unless his knee starts to hurt again, that he was good to go as long as he remembered he is not 20 yrs old anymore.  She said that she wasn't going to search for a problem if he was feeling fine.

Kevin says he can't remember a time that his knee has felt this good.  One more reason to praise God.  We have seen His blessings and his provisions poured out on us in ways that we never expected.

Two quick prayer requests:

Last week my Great Uncle died unexpectedly a day before he turned 90 yrs old.  Uncle Cornie was such a kind man.  We used to stay with him and Auntie Lu when we went to Wisconsin to visit when I was a young child.  In February when we went to Wisconsin I was able to sit and talk to him for about 30min after church.  I didn't know if he would remember me, but I sat down to talk to him anyway.  Amazingly enough, he not only remembered me, Kevin and the kids.  He proceeded to ask me about each of my siblings and what they were all doing, and even asked about their spouses and children.  The only one he didn't ask about was Lina, but he heard all about her by the time we were done visiting.  He held my hand stroking it just like my Grandpa used to do, the whole time we talked.  Please keep his family in your prayers.  He lived a long and good life and he missed his Lucy terribly and I am sure he is overjoyed to be with her in Heaven, but it is never easy for those left behind.

Kevin received a call on Tuesday from our friend and old neighbor Leisa.  After she explained what she was calling about, she told him that she was diagnosed with breast cancer on Dec 1st, she said that she had a rough couple of months.  She is currently going through chemo and then she will have radiation.  Her beautiful long curly red hair is all gone.  She has a 17yr old son, that helps as much as he can, and she has a lot of friends that have really come along side of her to help her.  Please pray for her, she has a long road ahead of her.

Well, that's it for today I think.  It's currently a dark wet day, I am making the kids do 2 days worth of school today, so we can enjoy the weather that is forecasted for tomorrow.  I think the boys will be learning how to rototill a garden... I'm sure they are going to love it.

Blessings!

Adventuring!

I am coming off a week of being sick (hence the blogging break).  I escaped the influenza bug when the rest of my family had it back in December, but it came out of no where and hit me hard last week.  Thankfully I am now pretty much back to normal... whatever normal is.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here.  We got school done early and headed outside for some fresh air.  The kids were trying to see who could throw the tennis ball into the top of the silo.  Tyler made it twice, but Romeo kept interrupting their game and capturing the ball when it bounced off the silo and went racing around the yard and even back into the house (if the back door was open).  In his head all tennis balls are his property.  It was pretty funny to watch the kids race to get the ball before he got to it.

After both parties gave up that game Tyler asked if we could go for a hike in the woods.  We had plenty of time before we had to leave for karate, so I said sure and we all laced up our shoes and headed to the back forty.  Romeo, not one to be left out, came along too.

Can I just say how awesome it is to walk out your back door and just start walking into the woods for an adventure.  What a blessing it is.  Truly.  First we went to the pond.  It still had quite a bit of ice on it, but it's pretty shaded back there so that makes sense.  Then we started down one of the trails and walked a ways until we came to the place where the trail disappeared beneath a pretty large area of water.  Back in my youth I would have kept right on going.  Crossing the fallen trees, jumping from dry patch to dry patch.  Now... I paused.  I didn't really want to play balance beam, but before I could say anything, my boys were half way through the obstacle course calling with huge smiles on their faces.  There was nothing I could do, but follow.

I have to admit that at one point, Tyler made a leap from a log to a dry patch and the back of his foot hit the watery mud and splashed muddy water on his pants.  I literally started saying "oh great, now what are we going to do, we have no way of washing that!" (side story, I am currently on a no laundry restriction because of septic issues... hopefully those will be taken care of tomorrow when the septic company comes).  As soon as that statement was out of my mouth, I followed up with "you know what, you are having fun, and what's a little mud on a pair of pants."  Onward we went, navigating the tricky natural obstacle course.

At one point in our hike Tyler was balancing across yet another fallen tree and he yelled "We are adventuring Mom!"  Yup buddy, that's what we are doing!

We made it through to the other side of the trail and it was time to start back towards home.  Jilli and I decided to take the long way around so as not to test our balancing skills again.  So far we didn't have wet feet and we wanted to keep it that way.  The boys decided that they wanted to adventure across the spans of water again, so we split up... girls went the dry way, boys went the wet way.

Jilli and I weren't even out of the woods yet and my phone was ringing.  I answered and it was Micah making sure Romeo was OK, because we weren't back yet.  I just had to laugh!

Just at the end of the woods, where the corn field starts there was a half dug hole.  In that hole Jilli and I saw 2 furry animals with leathery skinny tails.  They were both dead, and then just off to the left of the hole was another of those same furry animals... but I could only identify that it was a like species because of it's tail, the rest of him was missing.  There was a lot of blood.  I believe they were muskrats, but I am unsure how all three were killed in the same place and only 1 of them was half eaten.  How is that for a science lesson!!  The things we get to see living in the country!  I took a picture but I will spare you from seeing it and instead show you a picture of the back of our property. The brown grass is actually our hay field that a local farmer comes and harvests.  It is Jilli's desire that next year it will be pasture land with a horse or two grazing there (her Momma wouldn't mind seeing that as well).

Three separate times Tyler came to me later that afternoon and evening and told me how much fun our hike was.  Three times... Each time he brought it up a different way, the last time he hugged me and told me how much fun it was and thanked me for hiking with him.

There were so many other things I could have done instead of go hiking with the kids.  My house has leaves that blew in the backdoor and need to be vacuumed up.  There is lots of dirt by that backdoor too (amazing how much we track in when you don't have an attached garage to catch some of that dirt and leaves).  My kitchen never seems to be clutter free, the dust just flies around this old house like nobodies business.  Guess what... All those things are still waiting for me today.  Like my wise Mom always said... "the laundry will be there in the morning, your kids won't".  Today it is raining, today I can't go hiking with them.  I am so thankful I took the time and went yesterday and made an adventuring memory with them.

So, if you happen to stop by and my kitchen is cluttered and I still have laundry laying in piles (hopefully it isn't because of septic problems next time) and there is a layer of dust with brown crunchy leaves by my back door, you overlook those things and see the fun we are having!

One more quick side story... The big barn door was slid open last night for a late remote control helicopter flight and we discovered a bat flying in the rafters!  Good thing I got over my fear of bats while living in the city as a young girl but thats a whole other story!

Beautiful Day

A couple of Sunday's ago, Jilli and two of her friends sang Beautiful Day by Jamie Grace as part of our service.

The girls really didn't have much practice time between when they were asked and when they had to sing.  There was a little part where they lost where they were at, singing with a live band is totally different than singing with the song on YouTube! But... I think they did GREAT!

One Generation Away...

These past few weeks have been really busy for Kevin and I.  I will show you what took up all our time, but before I do, I need lay out whats been on my heart for the past few weeks.

It all started with something that was preached on a few weeks ago that hit both Kevin and I.  We are working our way through the Bible and we were learning about Moses and the Israelites.  I am sure most of you know the story.  The generation of people who left Egypt never saw the promised land because they disobeyed God except those that were 20 years and younger and Joshua and Caleb.  So you would think that the children that suffered through the dessert and then came to live in the promised land would not forget to pass on the faith to their children.  But they didn't. This is the quote that has really stuck with Kevin and I.

"We are one generation away from forgetting our faith."

I have thought on that for many other things like, how the depression era generation would be mortified to see how much we waste everyday.  Normal everyday activities like keeping a large garden, canning up your produce, mending clothes, darning socks... besides gardening which has seen a comeback, we have lost so much wisdom.

I was raised by a mother who was raised by a mother who was a girl during the depression.  Many of the skills my Grandma passed to my Mom.  Canning was a yearly thing, making all our meals from scratch was normal.  Store bought cookies were very rare and so was going out to dinner.  I learned how to make bread from my Mom, us kids all had our own loafs that we would kneed and roll out and sprinkle with cinnamon.  My Mom never wasted food and even though we had a postage stamp sized city lot, half of it was taken up with a garden and an apple tree.  Now even though my Mom canned, that is a skill I never learned.  I think us kids were sent outside to play since it was a sometimes dangerous undertaking and so time consuming that my Mom didn't need any of us underfoot.  However, in the last few years my Mom and Dad have assisted me in the canning strawberry jelly and canning applesauce.  Hopefully I will be canning much more this year as I am putting in a large garden.

The depression era stuff has my attention and I am totally intrigued with anything I can get my hands on about this time period.  You know the depression rocked this country to the core, but most of the people had the skills required to sustain life, even though it was a very hard life.  You can't say that about my generation if placed in the same situation.

All it takes is one generation not to pass their knowledge onto the next generation and that knowledge is gone forever.  The same is true with our faith.  If we don't actively pass on our knowledge of God onto our children, that knowledge is lost.  The generation after the Israelites entered the promised land needed to be punished again because they disobeyed God, they didn't pass on their faith to their children.  Don't the Israelites ever learn??  Do we?

Looking back over the generations in my family I have an amazing legacy of faith.  Faith that has been carefully taken care of and passed down to each generation.  I didn't receive the sock darning knowledge but I did receive the Jesus Loves Me knowledge... darning a sock isn't going to give me everlasting life, but Jesus is!

Being intentional to pass down this knowledge to my children has grown more urgent as they have grown older.  Probably because I see the clock ticking, they aren't going to be under my roof much longer and I need to make sure they have a firm foundation to build their life on.  I am even intentional about talking about their future families, the spouses they choose, how they choose to raise their children.  We even talk about other religions, what they believe and why.  My kids ask hard deep questions that are insightful into their train of thoughts.

Kevin and I have been on an interesting faith journey for many years.  It has brought us to different churches, we have questioned what we believe and why we believe it.  We have taken a break from corporate church.  We have been stretched and changed in so many ways.  But we have never walked away from our faith.  Our kids have been on most of that journey with us.  They see us question and test and talk through so much, so I think they have a healthy view of what it is to walk by faith.  I am sure that they will each have their own faith journeys, but it is our greatest prayer that as they grow into adults, they will never forget their faith, that they will continue to pass the most important knowledge onto their children because we are only one generation away from forgetting our faith.

Now, to show you what has kept us busy...  It kind of goes with this post in a round about way.  VBS is an amazing way to teach children about Jesus in a fun way.  It is a way to continue to pass Jesus down to the next generation.  Kevin and I were asked to build the set for this years VBS.  This past Sunday was our church's VBS kickoff and we needed one of the set pieces completed to get the kids excited about what is to come.

The Theme of VBS is Mt. Kilimanjaro, think African Safari....

 Our finished product... The jeep stands at about 7 feet tall and it's about 8 feet wide (from rock to green plant).  The headlights are those battery operated push on lights.

Kevin and I projected the outline onto wood, we traced it out.  The actual cutting out of the jeep and building it on it's stand was all Kevin.  The painting was all Jilli, Tyler and I.  We are pretty happy with the end result.  Now to start on the stage pieces...

One last thought... There will come a day when we all stand before our Maker.  Whether we believe in Him on this earth or not.  I want to hear the words "Well, done good and faithful servant."  I want my children to hear those same words, I want their children to hear those words as well.  May we all be intentional about passing on our faith to our children and teach them how to pass it on to their children so that it won't be my generation or their generation that is the last generation of a family of faith.  .

Our Surprise Weekend to Racine

Kevin decided that a trip to Racine Wisconsin was in order, but this trip was going to be kept a secret from the kids.  We were not going to tell them that we were even going anywhere until the morning we were leaving and even then, we were only going to tell them what to pack.

The day before we were leaving I baked 3 loaves of cinnamon bread because I can't disappoint my nephews and niece and not bring any.  It would be like me going to Racine and not buying any Kringle.  Just.Not.Going.To.Happen.

Friday morning dawns a beautiful day.  We tell the kids to pack and we get the house ready to leave.  They tried and tried to figure out where we were going for the weekend.  At one point Tyler says, "if Mom takes that cinnamon bread then I know where we are going!"  I had to hide the bread in my overnight bag so they wouldn't know I took it!

We left and the kids kept trying to figure out where we were going.  There were a few times, we thought they would get it when they saw the signs, but nope.  We hit Chicago and they thought we were spending the weekend there, until we were through the city and we hadn't stopped.

It was as were were exiting off the highway onto Hwy 20 did Micah finally guess we were going to their cousin's house.  Then he quickly exclaimed "The Land of Kringle!"

Weekends together always include, late nights, breakfasts of cinnamon bread and kringle, lots and lots of games and this time....

Yup we went roller skating.  I think it had been at least 20 years since I had donned roller skates.  I thought for sure I would end up on my butt!  Thankfully I didn't, but I was close a few times!

Now Andy... Well, he is the guy that flies around the rink barely moving his feet, he crosses his legs back and forth, he skates backwards and everything... he has skills.  I tried to get is hair blowing out behind him as he came around the corner, but my iPhone just couldn't capture the flowing locks.  But I think we can all agree that he could pass as Jesus on roller skates.

This is some of the "group" coming around the corner.  Carey doesn't usually skate like this... she was putting her moves on for the camera.. neither does Kevin for that matter...

Then I tried to be all awesome and take pictures of everyone behind me while skating... They are blurry but they make me smile.  As I was trying to take them, more and more of our group tried getting into it so I had to keep raising my phone higher and higher... so only my forehead is in them.

Here is one of just us adults... Kevin snuck into the picture just as I was taking it.

This is Tyler.

Here is a picture of all the kids.

Oh I almost forgot!  Before we went skating Andy made us all cotton candy.  How many roller skating Jesus' do you know that have their own cotton candy machines?!  So we sugared them up to take them skating.  Worked out beautifully.

Here is a picture of the girls.  They could either be found in Emily's room or in the basement dancing to a wii game.  Not once did we hear "I'm bored" or "we have nothing to do" they are just like their Momma's.  Carey and I could keep ourselves occupied for hours as girls... even if we were just laying on a bunk bed giggling.

Ok, one last picture.... it's the ceremonial picture that must be taken every time Carey and I are together.  We started this tradition I think when we were pre-teens??

The weekend was too short and flew by too fast.  We are already planning our next time together... hopefully it will be longer than just a weekend (hint, hint Andy... aka Jesus on roller skates... the pond awaits your exploration)!!

My Crazy Tyler Turns 11yrs old!!

Tyler's Birthday party was the first to be celebrated in our farm house.  It felt so good that there was a place for all to sit, even if it was the floor.  The only thing I miss about the old house was the finished basement.  It was just another place for the kids to spread out.  Aiden kept asking to go see the basement.  It took us awhile to figure out that he was looking for the old basement with all the toys.  Sorry Aiden, most of our basement toys are still boxed up in the garage!

We ordered pizza and Tyler wanted a clown cake for his birthday.  He wanted "Crazy Tyler turns 11 yrs old!" written on it.  After all the hoopla of the birthday party most of us got ready to go to our church for a special event called Tiny Circus.  The kids all seemed to have fun and even us adults got a kick out of some of the acts.

It was that evening that a snow storm moved into the area and dumped quite a bit of snow on us, it lasted until early Monday morning.

Tyler and I headed out to the back forty late Monday morning.  Let me tell you, walking through snow drifts up to 2 ft deep was quite a workout.  We made it all the way back to the pond.  Here are some pictures after the snow stopped and the sun showed it's rare face to us.

This is one of the pond and the little bench that sits on the dock.

I couldn't get over the blueness of the sky.  I guess when you don't see it for months on end, it looks extra beautiful!

One last picture of the birthday boy who spent about an hour hiking in snow with his Momma.  We were both worn out by the time we got back!

Blessings!!

A New Chapter Begins

There are points in life when there is a life shift.  Sometimes you see it coming and sometimes you  don't.  This time I saw it coming.

It was like walking down a road in the middle of a moonless night, when up ahead you see a truck racing towards you with it's bright lights on.  You can't miss it, it blinds you.  You know the minute, the second it arrives.  That blinding light transports you into a new season of life... Our new season...We are no longer considered a "young" family.

Oh my, the tears just well up at the thought that my baby is old enough to now be called a teenager.  Officially it happened at 5:36pm Sunday night and let me tell you, he was not officially 13 until 5:36pm.  His party started at 5pm so all who love him could celebrate this momentous occasion with us.  Our house was filled to overflowing.

I think your 13th birthday is one of the biggest, if not the biggest of your childhood.  It's one of those birthdays you remember for life.

His birthday weekend didn't start off so great.  Things that had been planned were cancelled (due to weather).  There were other situations that caused Micah disappointment.  We adjusted, made changes and as Uncle Andy always says "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade" and that is just what we did!!  I think Micah will forever remember his 13th Birthday.

Micah's cake is comical to us.  He originally wanted me to make his cake.  Kevin and I felt it wasn't really possible with the oven that currently resides in our house, so he was gracious and said that Costco could make his cake.  Micah and I went there to pick it out and this is the one he selected.  I thought it was hilarious being that he was turning 13, and never told him what "over the hill" was referring to.  After Daddy saw it and started laughing did he enlighten his son to the meaning behind the cake and we all had a good laugh about it.

His birthday continued after everyone left with a sleepover with his cousin Nicholas.  Kevin and I went to bed just after 9pm and gave the boys free reign over the house, bedtime, and activities.  Funny, they were in bed by 9:45pm.  Micah gave into sleep around midnight and Tyler just informed me that he and Nicholas talked until 2am (Sorry Toni!!).

Now I'm going to get all sentimental...
Sunday night was beautiful to me.  This old house has seen hundreds of birthdays over it's existents.  Even though the floors cause you to walk like a drunken sailer until you get used to it's ebb and flow, the staircase would be more efficient with a fireman's pole it's such a vertical climb, I have a bucket in the basement catching the water that drips from the shower, but Sunday night it held family and friends together in the celebration of the life of Micah Alan Peters.  There was room for all 30+ people to break bread (pizza) together.  There was space for the kids to run and be crazy.  I love that I don't care if a ding goes in the wall, I love that greasy pizza hands ran up and down the steps and their greasy hands joined the greasy hand marks of children over the past 100 years.  It was night full of memories... Like the paper ball fight that went on around Micah as he opened his gifts (it was Kevin against every other kid here... we were picking up paper balls long after everyone left).  I will always hold this birthday party close to my heart, new friends were included, old friends maintained there steadfast presence and family were all here to surround our family with love.

4 Years of Hard Work!!

He was eight years old when he walked into class for the first time.  He was timid and shy.  My heart was breaking for him as he walked into a room full of people he didn't know.  A man came up to him and welcomed him into class, he took him to the back of the room and stood next to him the whole class period.  Teaching him the very first building blocks the next 4 years would be built on.

Over the next 4 years I watched this boy slowly mature into a young man, I watched him work hard at learning all he needed to know.  Over the last year he was gearing up for the final test.  There is a full year from becoming a brown belt to becoming a black belt.  There are tests and requirements that must be met.  There was an essay that needed to be written and a 128 question test on the origin of Tung Soo Do Kyohoe Kwan (that is the style of karate), many of the Korean words used, the history of the DoJang (karate studio), the meaning of the parts of the Korean flag, and the list goes on.

To say getting a black belt at Crusader Martial Arts is time consuming is an understatement.  Hours upon hours were spent in the studio or at home studying and working on all the different requirements that were needed.

As the end was approaching Micah came down with influenza and was sick the whole month before his black belt test.  He even missed the written test and had to make arrangements to take the test at a later time (he passed his test 85.5% Whoo Hoo!!).  He also was assigned a mentor to help get him ready for his physical test, but because he was sick, he was unable to meet with him at all.  A week before his physical test he was still recovering from the sickness.

The physical test is a 4-6 hr test in which the students are tested on everything they have learned since becoming white belts.  It is physically exhausting test.  I know this not only because I sat and watched the sweat fly from the faces of the students but because Micah had the chance to go to the Cottage Bar afterwards for lunch and he turned it down to go home, shower, and lay on the couch.

Micah's test lasted just over 4 hours and the reason it was one of the faster blackbelt tests was because all of the students knew there stuff so well, there wasn't much repeating techniques.  Watching I couldn't help but be over the moon proud of Micah.  He was nervous going into the test, which is understandable, but during the first shio (rest period) Sah Bum Nim Lisa (his instructor) came down from the judges box and told Micah he was doing an amazing job.  She would continue coming to him during his shios telling him "you got this Micah, your doing great", it was nice to have her reassure him that he was passing the test.

Each student had to break 5 boards.  They preselected the type of kick, strike, or block they were going to use.  At times it can be painful to watch board breaking because if they hit the board wrong... well lets just say it can be very painful.

Micah was getting ready to do a knee strike and DoJaNim joked with him about getting Sah Bum Nim Duane in the stomach. Sah Bum Nim Duane is Sah Bum Nim Lisa's son, you can see her in the back laughing about this too.

After the the test was done, we waited while the judges conferred with each other.  They made the students stand at attention then gave the news that they all passed!  Micah's reaction... "I DID IT!"

Sorry, poor picture quality, it was my phone

This next picture is Micah with his current instructor Sah Bum Nim Lisa and the man who took Micah under his wing his very first class... Kyo Sa Nim Nick.  It was a pretty special day that may or may not have included tears.

Flash back... Micah and his buddy Dan have gone through this whole process together.  They have been partners for different techniques, they have studied together, and pushed each other along on this journey, so I thought I would share a picture I found of two little boys who were white deputies getting their yellow belts.  Picture is dark, but hopefully you can see Dan on the left and Micah on the right.

and now....

Then for a whole week we had to wait until the potluck for Micah to receive his new belt.  It was a long week for him.... he couldn't wait! His black belt being tied by HuimJaNim Jaci

DoJuNim gets his hug!

The newest black belts!

Then pictures again with all the important people... except the two that paid for all of this... we never got a picture with him.  Hmm....

I now officially have a black belt living in my home.  He has decided that he is going to work towards his 2nd Don which takes about 2 years.  His ultimate goal is a Master, which would take about 9-10 years provided he passes all his tests.  In the meantime, he has applied to be an instructor which requires him to go through more training.

--

Micah, I have watched you grow from a little timid boy to a confidant young man.  God has given you this desire to take your skill to the next level and I am so excited to see you continue to mature into the Man God is molding you into.  You will go far in life as long as you always remember that everything you have and everything you are is a blessing from God.  Without Him you are nothing, with Him you are Everything!!  Keep working hard, I love you Micah Bean!!

A Year Ago Today

**I had written this post yesterday, but forgot to publish it, so it's a day late**

Hard to believe that last year I babysat Lina for the first time at a coffee shop just down the street from Melissa's work.  She slept most of the time, but about 30min before Melissa got back she woke up and just had to sit on Aunt Lynny's lap and talk to me.  She took her bottle and we waited for Mommy to come back so we could go grocery shopping for Daddy's birthday dinner.

Lina at the coffee shop

After Melissa found us we decided to make our way to Whole Foods to pick up what we were going to make for dinner.  As we were walking through the aisles Lina started to get a little fussy so we quickly finished picking out what we needed (which included sweets, because what is a birthday without sweets!) and started our walk back home.  

In New York you don't go to the store and buy a weeks worth of food.  There are multiple reasons why but a big one, is that you need to carry what you buy home.  Now I don't know how far it is from the grocery store to their place, but I'm going to guess that it's about a mile, but I do know that Lina's stroller held most of the food, but my arms held the rest and by the time we made it home they were tired.  Most people in New York have small carts that they use to go shopping, unless you push a stroller, then you load it into that (the strollers in New York are like their cars).

Once home we all rested for awhile and then us ladies started to make dinner.  I can't remember what exactly we made... but I do remember that Melissa taught me how to make pico de gallo and I do remember that dinner was very good.  Oh Wait I remember... we made tacos!!  Then for Birthday dessert it was an assortment of treats.  Not exactly birthday cake... next time I'm in New York I think I will make Tim birthday cake, even if it's for no ones birthday.  The poor guy misses out on it over a dozen times a year and every time he is home he talks about birthday cake.

It was present time... He was a very capable dad and held Lina the whole time he opened gifts.  

Lina even made him a birthday card! I'm sure it's the first of many she will make him over the years.

 It was a pretty low key day, but I think it was a good day, Tim's first Birthday as a Daddy!!

**OK, so I wrote this yesterday but I have to add that last night we faceTimed Tim and Melissa (Lina was in bed already) and they were showing us videos of Lina walking.  It's just amazing to me to see How much she has changed in one year!  Since I only get to see her at the most 3 times a year, but probably only like twice a year, the change is so much more obvious.  Just looking back at these pictures reminds me how quickly time flies... make the most of each moment, because one day your holding a brand new baby, you blink and she is walking and sprouting the cutest curly little fro.**