The Last Days of Summer.....

I do not have a green thumb. I blame my mother but let's not get into that. Despite this, I still like to have flowers to enjoy in the backyard and plant some tomatoes we can enjoy about this time in the summer. This year, because we were gone for three weeks in July, I didn't want to invest in a whole lot of plants since I wouldn't be around to care for them. I decided to try planting some wildflower seeds in my half barrel out back. Zanna helped me sprinkle them and water them. And then we watched green shoots sprout up. I kept watering them. They looked like weeds. I thought maybe I was watering weeds. But it was a chance I was willing to take. We returned from our holiday during which my neighbor so nicely agreed to water my flowers. They were all alive thanks to her - and my barrel of weeds turned into lovely wildflowers!! What fun to pick a bouquet and bring it into the house for all to enjoy. Humor me.
Will enjoyed "Lego my airplane" camp at the Aviation Museum. This lucky boy got to play with Legos everyday for half of the day with other like minded boys (and one girl) and the other half was spent learning about airplanes and related things. The last day was highlighted with an actual plane ride that lasted for about 15 minutes. Will got to sit in the front, took lots of pictures with his camera and even a short video of the descent (sound like anyone we know and love? Big Will (my grandpa)!)

August always brings us 2 weeks of VBS between the 2 churches Wayne serves - in Ottawa and Quebec. We hosted Kingdom Workers from Wisconsin the second week as they volunteered their time and energy into the Quebec church's VBS. We loved having these young adults in our home, getting to know them and having them interact with our kids. What a blessing!! They did a great job and served their Lord faithfully. Our church's VBS in town ended with a community fun day with the bouncy blow up slides and stuff, carnival games and food. Wayne thought the sumo wrestling might be fun (inspired by The Office - Beach Day episode) and it was the highlight! Pictured here is our lovely family - good enough for the Christmas card, perhaps?
Last weekend we had our big reunion with the families we traveled to China with. (a few families are missing) It's been 31/2 years and look how they've grown! It was great to catch up, share memories and watch the kids play. They will always have a special bond!

Otherwise, we have truly been enjoying our summer break. It's a treat to sleep in, make a lazy breakfast, go for picnics, meet friends at the park, family walks, bike rides, read books, a trip to the new water park and lounging in our backyard (with a view of my flowers!).

Yesterday I even spent all day in bed! What?!! It's not as exciting as you may think. To recap:

February 2010 - intense pain in tooth

March - root canal

April - different tooth in intense pain - tooth pulled

June - braces off

August - temporary crown on root canal tooth

Permanent crown doesn't fit, another temporary

A cavity on an unrelated tooth is found

Yesterday - oral surgery to insert titanium post into space with no tooth, highly drugged experience, spent the rest of day in bed

So that's my story so far - looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds. It's getting pretty old. I try to be thankful for the care I am able to get, the technology available and a supportive husband. And medication. Thank you, Lord.

Summer Vacation in Wisconsin

We've had a busy and fun-filled July spent visiting my family in northern Wisconsin. The kids are pictured here with my grandparents who live close by my parents. It was so good to see everybody. Apart from the delicious meal Grandma provided for our group and several small visits hanging out on their deck, Zanna spent an afternoon of special attention with her great grandparents. And Will had the privilege of an overnighter, talking model airplanes with his great grandpa.
Other highlights of the trip included a visit to a nearby children's museum where Will found this ridiculous costume and walked around with it on most of the afternoon.

The ladies (me, Mom and Zanna) hit flea markets galore all over the area in search of hidden treasure. On a Friday night you'd likely find our group at a restaurant that served us fish fry and sweet whiskey old-fashioned drinks (with a maraschino cherry or two). We cruised the lakes on Mom and Dad's boat where the kids both practiced their navigation skills on the open water. Lord help us..... Zanna has a tendency to look behind her as she's driving (looking for a reaction to her speeding up) instead of what's ahead of her. The kids and I hung out at the beach in Minoqua one afternoon. Will rode on the back of Dad's Harley for many hours (with his mother's prayers drowned out by the noise). The men (Dad, Wayne and Will) could also be found at the shooting range, testing out guns to see how well they could hit their target. (hello - we're in the USA!) More prayers! Will and his Oma did a duet at their church on Sunday. They played "In Christ Alone" with Will on the violin and Oma on the organ/piano. We were concerned that one look over the balcony revealing a much larger congregation than to what we're used to at ours might cause some stage fright. No worries needed, it was a beautiful moment shared between grandson and Oma, glorifying God with song! (sigh of relief!!)
Wayne attended summer quarter at Seminary in Mequon, WI the first week we were there. He took two classes, both of which he enjoyed and found helpful to his ministry.

At the end of our stay, my Mom and I attended the Women's Ministry Conference at the Sem. I hadn't been back since Wayne's graduation. It was fun to see it all again, including our crappy old apartment in Harbour Pointe in an area of town I very quickly drove through, fearing for my safety (we're not in Ottawa anymore!). I met my sister-in-law Steph at the convention and it was fun to catch up and briefly see her girls and Wayne's brother Jeff. The conference was wonderful in content, inspired by being on the very grounds where all our synod's pastors through the years have been so carefully trained in the Word of God. We attendees to the convention had the privilege to worship with and be taught by two professors and the president of the Seminary along with many godly women who shared their wisdom and encouragement with us. Wonderful and uplifting!

Mom is on the Women's Ministry committee and had meeting afterwards. While she did that, I met up with a dear friend from Grafton, did some shopping and eating at the mall one afternoon and browsed the aisles of Northwestern Publishing House by myself (this is big!) It was lovely!!

It was good to be "home", be spoiled by Mom's good food and hospitality, enjoy the beauty of the northwoods of Wisconsin and miss home. Sometimes you have to leave it to miss it.

I milked a cow on my B-day!

For my birthday, my family gave me the royal treatment! For breakfast I was served eggs benedict on the red "you are special" plate (a family tradition). Then we were off to the country for a day of perusing an antique/restored furniture barn, a picnic with a view of the St Lawrence seaway and a visit to Upper Canada village.
We all got a chance to milk the cows except for Wayne who opted out of the experience due to allergies (no, it wasn't a cop-out - he gets quite miserable on farms!). Will was the natural in the family having done it in September when he lived in the village for 2 days as a boy in the 1860's. But for Zanna and me it was a weird but fun experience!!
And Will surprised me with a gift he purchased from our church's recent silent auction he participated in by buying a Christmas figurine for 25 cents and giving it to me for my birthday - haha!

The day ended with a nice meal out for supper alone with my hubby!!!

June Days

June is probably one of my favorite times of the year - maybe because it's my birthday month as my family is reminded of on June 1st. But now is represents the time of year when we bask in the accomplishments of the school year that comes to a close. The weather provides us endless opportunities to lounge in the backyard, play at the park, go on nature walks to feed the birds and squirrels and take family bike rides or walks. Fresh air and Vitamin D - what a combination! The picture above is Zanna picking strawberries at our local berry farm. She was finding some good ones to put in her basket but when I'd look next they'd be gone having fallen on the ground unnoticed. Will was not impressed by the whole objective as he doesn't even like strawberries. He just stood in the hot sun whining. I've realized the hard way that maybe we're not cut out for this - we're more of a stop by a roadside stand and buy baskets of already picked berries kind of family. Oh, well. I guess it's my job to provide different experiences for my kids and some they'll love and some not so much!
Will had his violin end of year music recital and did a lovely job. It's exciting to hear how far he's come. I'm so impressed with his confidence in performing in front of anyone, his musical ear to hear when he's in or out of tune and his enjoyment of the instrument that has brought me so much joy in my own life. I'm so thankful we share this passion together!
We finished school early in the month, wrapping things up with a newspaper unit, our study of the human body and our American history ending the year with the expansion out west. To celebrate our final day, I had planned a fun outing to a local town's festival. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and Will made for himself a pretty lousy last day where he missed out on our outing and stayed in the church office to finish the school work he didn't want to do at home. Overall, we had an awesome year - by far our best. But the last 3 weeks were rough and my patience was tested over and over again. I was under the impression that I would be teaching my children and that my children were to be the learners. But I have taken many lessons for myself this year - the major one being that I have more weaknesses than I ever realized. On my own, I am hopeless - and the depressing thing is, I know there are more weaknesses to discover. I have been humbled!! I have found myself depending more on the Lord this year for patience, wisdom, strength and self-control to just name a few. But the difference in this year from past years is that I thought Will was the one that needed to learn these things and that HE was the one with "the problem". So this teacher has also realized she's a student. I'm exhausted - thanks goodness for summer break!!

Family pictures

A friend of mine was kind enough to use our family as practice for her love of photography and new business. Despite the cold of the day, I think she managed to capture some precious family moments!

Marriage, Homemaking and Parenting

Back to my love affair with books. I'm up to marriage. Now I'm sure you're thinking, when you're married to such a perfect guy like Wayne, why on earth would you have to read books on marriage? Of course I totally agree with you and Wayne is quite wonderful. And I'm grateful to be able to say that our marriage has improved through these long 12 years of wedded bliss. However, the beginning had quite a few rocky moments I'd like to forget about but they also made us stronger. And like any good relationship, we have to work at it. So the following books have helped me/us in some way.

The 5 Love Languages - Gary Chapman - we read this together years ago and even went through the study guide in the back. I'm thankful he was willing to do this because we really learned alot about each other that even now we still reap the benefits from.

Creative Counterpart - Linda Dillow - this one I could probably stand to read again but I remember it giving me some clarity back in the early days of parenthood when I was trying to balance God, husband, child, home, church, self, etc.

The Power of a Praying Wife - Stormie OMaritian - while I didn't always agree with her Biblical beliefs on prayer, I certainly appreciated it opening my eyes to what I could be praying for in the key areas of his life. I like to think of myself as my husband's personal "prayer warrior":)

Fearlessly Feminine - Jani Ortlund - not just about marriage but God's plan for womanhood in general. A book I studied on the phone with my Mom (I have a good phone plan)

The following books are homemaking and stay-at-home mom encourgement -

The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Edith Schaeffer - a classic!! Written by the widow of the late Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. The back cover says "I would define 'hidden art' as the art found in the ordinary areas of everyday life. Each person has, I believe, some talent which is unfulfilled in some hidden area of his being - a talent which could be expressed and developed."

The Stay at Home Mom - Donna Otto

Celebrate Home - Angie Peters

Every book I've read by Sally Clarkson -

The Mom Walk

Seasons of a Mother's Heart - my personal favorite (I think)

The Mission of Motherhood

The Ministry of Motherhood

This author is a mentor to me. She also has the benefit of perspective as her children are getting to the age of moving out but all these thoughts and experiences are still fresh in her mind.

And now we get to parenting. I have a read many, many, many books hoping to find the "right way" to parent. Guess what I've discovered? There's no such thing. No matter what I do it will be by the grace of God these kids survive in one piece and end up on the "other side" with me for eternity. I pray alot. Having said that, there have been some insights into parenting that I have found helpful through various resources and here are some of them.

What to Expect the First Year - has to be my first parenting book. Gave me something to go by and some expectation of what is "normal" (whatever that is)

Bringing up Boys - Dobson - because now that I had a boy what was I going to do with him?

The New Dare to Discipline - Dobson - good advise

My favorite books when the kids were really little were the books my Mom gave to me from when I was little - so from the 70's. This read with the assumption that the Mom stayed at home, Dad worked and things were pretty "traditional". This was good for me because so were we! I especially loved the pictures depicting what a day in the life of an infant, 1 year old, 2 year old, etc could look like. Hey, I needed all the help I could get. Yes, some of the info was outdated but I referred to these often.

Boundaries for Kids - Cloud and Townsend - very good. They also have more "Boundaries" books available for all ages in case you have an issue - ha! Really useful read with good examples.

The 5 Love Languages of Children - Chapman and Campbell - yes, they have one for parents too. Another good read. While I may feel I'm showing love to my children in a certain way they may not be getting their needs met. Interesting.

Loving Our Kids on Purpose - Danny Silk - has changed our parenting 10fold. I'm not kidding. A friend passed the CD's on to us as her copyright allowed the sharing of it to 10 friends. Wayne and I downloaded it to our iPod. Parenting works best when we're on the same page! This guy is great to listen to and his ideas work. Bottom line. It's hard to implement sometimes because it is different in many ways from what we were doing before and how we were raised so it's good for me to listen to again every so often. Highly recommended.

Parenting with Love and Logic - Cline and Fay - I am currently reading. This book is actually what inspired the previous book mentioned so the ideas are similar.

Gotta go - speaking of parenting, my daughter is throwing a hissy fit.

Happy Mother's Day, Birthday, Ascension

May is Will's birthday month. He turned 10!!! I can't believe it. My parent's came for the occasion. In past years, my mom has helped me plan, prep and carry out some sort of themed birthday fest for Will and friends. But this year was different. He had the choice of party or more expensive LEGO than he normally gets and as you can see from the picture - he wholeheartedly chose the LEGO. Whatever floats your boat, son. He also wanted a DQ cake so I was even off the hook for baking. Mom and I kept looking at each other on the days leading up to the big day thinking that we should be doing something to prepare. Other than wrapping gifts, making the requested beef enchilladas and his choice of breakfast (breakfast sandwhiches, BTW) that was all that was asked of me! Will had a great day and had completed the LEGO by morning (he took a sleeping break).
Ten days ago on Thursday we celebrated Ascension - the time in the church year when Jesus returned to heaven to prepare a place for believers in Christ. We celebrated by having a picnic outside (you can see in the picture my children eating their hotdogs and contemplating their great commission :) For dessert we had strawberries on a cloud - otherwise known as Cool Whip.

And finally, we celebrated Mother's Day - albeit a bit late but better late than never. Last fall, Mom and I had gone to the movies to see "Julie and Julia". I got her the DVD for her birthday in April and so for Mother's Day I took her to Le Cordon Bleu for a three course lunch. Yes, this is the same renowned culinary arts cooking school known so well in France and all over the world. It is the only one in North American. And it was fantastic!! What a treat - when can I go again?