Summer Projects

We have a new project. Dave was looking in the Menards ad this morning and saw that epoxy garage floor paint was on sale for really cheap. A mere 5 hours later, we have cleared and cleaned out half of the garage for tomorrows paint job.

Here are the real reasons why we ended up doing this. After the great mice fiasco of '08, I was really wanting to give the garage a good cleaning. This will really make the garage look sharp, and make it easier to clean. It also provides us a great opportunity to clean and organize, which has been on my to-do list for months. In the end, it really motivated us to clean the garage...and clean it good. So, painting...here we come.
(Before)

Storm Stories

Well yesterday we had a pretty severe storm hit our area. Summer and her girls were over playing (while our husbands were both working on dad's day). The storm got so bad we hauled all the kiddos into the bathroom for a few minutes until the worst of it subsided. We lost power for about 3 hours. The kids were playing with flashlights and trying to find things to do that didn't involve the television....novel idea. Although nothing happened at our house (mercifully), other houses did not wear so well in our neighborhood. Dave and I later took the kids for a walk and ended up surveying the damage of houses around the neighborhood. Many people lost WHOLE trees (we saw at least 2 pine trees pulled from their roots), and more limbs and branches than we could count. One branch fell on a truck and did some damage, missing shingles, missing siding...It was quite the storm.

Taming the Tongue

Tony talked about James 3 today, which breaks down the taming of the tongue...Yeesh. It was so hard to hear it...mostly because this is an area of struggle for me at different times. I felt so convicted. What's worse. As soon as the sermon was done, I was talking to a close friend and out popped something that could have totally been taken the wrong way. I totally didn't mean it the way it came out, but never the less...out it was. Seriously?! Did I not learn anything in the last 30 minutes of teaching? I had to call my friend later and apologize (always humbling). It's even worse when I do that, sometimes, because then once I get going I can't stop. Thankfully, there is grace. That is the big thing that I am learning. I am an all or nothing sinner...meaning, I either am completely oblivious to my sins or when I do acknowledge them I am racked with so much guilt that I forget that God has already forgiven me. There has to be middle ground somewhere, an area of gentle conviction that brings about change, but acknowledges grace.

Well, clearly I don't have this area mastered yet (controlling the tongue or finding grace). Good thing that God's not through with me yet...Now if only I could be a more studious pupil.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Unfortunately, our "dad" is working all day today. managed to give him his gifts and make breakfast for him this morning, but he is off to work now.

In honor of dad's day:



Thanks honey for being such a great dad. We love you!!!

It is well with my soul

Given the events of the last few days (check out previous post), I decided to ponder a little deeper on this hymn. Here's what I found on wikpedia:

This hymn was writ­ten af­ter several trau­matic events in Spaf­ford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chi­ca­go Fire which ru­ined him fi­nan­cial­ly (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville Du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While cross­ing the At­lan­tic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with an­o­ther ship, and all four of Spaf­ford's daugh­ters died. His wife Anna sur­vived and sent him the now fa­mous tel­e­gram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spaf­ford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daugh­ters had died.

The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Palestine. The Spaffords moved to Jeru­sa­lem and helped found a group called the Amer­i­can Col­o­ny; its mis­sion was to serve the poor. The col­o­ny lat­er be­came the sub­ject of the No­bel prize win­ning Je­ru­sa­lem, by Swed­ish nov­el­ist Sel­ma La­ger­löf.

This man really lived a Job-like life...and yet, these are the lyrics that he penned:

It is well with my soul:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul

It makes me think about the silly trials in my life (disciplining a 2-year old, keeping my house maintained, whinyness-mine and Noah's). The Lord is still there whether your trials are trivial or despairing. I need to find the place in my heart again where I can say, with confidence, "It is well with my soul". The events of this last week have pushed me just a little bit closer, but I am still reaching.

Thoughts on a funeral...

Dave's grandma passed away this last Sunday. So, on Tuesday we made the trek to the Quad cities to say our final goodbye. The journey proved to be an interesting one for us. Grandma lived her last few years in a town called Silvis. However, before that, she lived in Ashton for a VERY long time. She ended up being buried in Ashton. For some reason, this led Dave and I to a discussion on where we would want to be buried when that time comes. The jury is still out...and hopefully the need will not arise for quite some time. Still, it was in interesting discussion.

Some things of interest:

There was a CD playing hymns softly in grandma's room at all times. She passed away to "It is well with my soul"...Now that is truly a great way to go. Dave and I both had goosebumps, and tears when his aunt shared that story with us.

Noah and his cousin, Tyler got along swimmingly. There was one wrestling match, but it ended amiably.

On our drive from the visitation to the funeral we passed a road called, "Bloody Gulch Ave"- You can't make this up people. I didn't grab my camera fast enough to take a picture.

I missed most of the funeral due to an overactive 2 year old. However, I heard that it was beautiful and the parts that I DID catch were very moving. It was more important that Dave was there to say goodbye to Grandma. He and the rest of the male grandchildren were pallbearers.

When we arrived at the cemetery, Noah felt inclined to point out all the "Big rocks". He walked along and said, "Big rock. Big rock. Big rock"

At the reception afterwards, Dave was talking with a group of people. It came out that he was a vet. One woman asked him, "What's the name of the horse clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico?" Uhh...How obscure a question is that? I imagine Dave felt that he was on a game show...he lost that question.

It was really nice to see many relatives that we had not seen in quite some time. Many people had not yet met Callie.

It was hard to see Grandpa. He had been married to grandma for over 60 years. That is a great love story. There were pictures of them in their later years kissing like newly weds. They would often sit together on the bench overlooking the lake at the cabin...I always found that to be pretty romantic. To be married that long and still delight in your spouse is pretty incredible. It will be very hard to see him at functions without her. They were quite the pair. I hope that Dave and I have a love story like theirs that spans the decades. The trip was truly a great testament to their love for one another and their family. She will be missed.

Now we are back home. We arrived late last night. Noah didn't fall asleep until after 11:30. That's why I was a bit surprised when he popped into our room this morning bright eyed and wide awake at 7:30. He didn't get much sleep. It should prove to be an interesting day, with hopefully a LONG nap tucked in there somewhere.

Nursing Noah

Well, it finally happened. Noah tried to nurse Callie. I had just finished nursing Callie, and he was sitting next to me. He lifted up his shirt and shoved Callie's head into his stomach. "Callie eat", he said. I had to have the discussion (while trying not to laugh) that only mommy's can feed babies that way. Pretty sure he didnt' get it.

In other Noah news, he threw up his dinner when he caught a piece the wrong way. While I started the bath, I came back to the kitchen to find Noah, the chair, and daddy gone. I looked outside and Dave was literally hosing Noah off outside. :-) Noah loved it. By the time I grabbed my camera, Noah had moved. Noah thought it was a blast. Why do I bother with bathes?