Merry Christmas!!

It's 7:35 on Christmas morning and everyone, except me, is sleeping. Time to wrap a couple more gifts for people in Mark's family, take a shower, wake up Hope (and Mark) to open a few more gifts (wait until Mark sees the best gift I got him this year....he's gonna flip!! It's an autographed 10 year anniversary Packer football. All the signitures are there. I love it!), and then get ready to head to Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Mark's for the Brue family Christmas.

Even though we're so happy thinking about what this day means (the birth of our Savior thousands of years ago), for us there's just a hint of sadness as Mark starts his new job in Appleton tomorrow. He'll leave tonight and spend the night at my Mom's in Stevens Point, then head for Appleton in the morning. Although I know this is a temporary assignment (Thrivent will move him from the home office in Appleton to the home office in Minneapolis in March or so...at least that's what they're telling us), it'll still be hard. It'll be hard for me to figure out how to be a single parent to a 2 year old during the week (he'll be home on weekends) and it'll be super hard for him to be away from Hope. We just have to remember those who serve in our military and do this, without weekends at home, for months and months and months. We can do this until March. Plus, we're just thrilled that Mark will be working for the company he worked for for 17 years. He loved working for Lutheran Brotherhood, but the company let go ALOT of people in the merger with AAL. So, he's back where he belongs, and for that we're so thankful to God.

Christmas Eve worship at our church was nice yesterday afternoon. The choir did their annual contanta. I only sang on one song because I played piano for all the others. After worship was over, Hope headed directly for the pulpit and shouted, "I'm a pastor! I'm a pastor!" I said, "NO!!!" hehehe She does have a heart for God already. You should hear her sing 'Awesome God'. It's so precious.

I pray each of you is enjoying time with family and friends in celebration of the best gift ever given: Jesus Christ. He's amazing and He loves YOU. We'll be heading to central Wisconsin to celebrate this HOLYday with my family this weekend. Can't wait to get together with them all.

Merry Christmas!
From the Brue family to yours

Hope with Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Grammy and Papa...Mark's parents)

What the &*%^

Oh man!!! Did you happen to see the Packer "game" today?? What the bleep was that all about?? For goodness sakes!!! Home field advantage in the play offs was lost today. We live in Wisconsin. They should have been able to play in that crappy weather. UGH!!! I'm feeling so bad for the Packers right now. I take that back. I'm not feeling bad for them. I'm pretty upset with them. I'll get over it though. That's my team and I love them. But I do have to say that they better look better next week and into the play offs than they did today or we don't stand a stinkin' chance. The good news: Dallas' T.O. (Terrell Owens) got injured in last nights game (which the Cowboys barely won). So normally I'm not one who wants people to get injured, but this is football! hehe

I made it home from church (a 20 mile drive) alive today (obviously...or I wouldn't be writing this post). It was a scary ride home though. It was really windy and the snow was really blowing. I don't think it would have been so bad except I got behind a snow plow and every time he'd plow, the wind would pick up the snow and swirl it around so you couldn't see ANYTHING!! The mini van in back of me thought it would be a good idea to tailgate me and I thought for sure that eventually I was going to get hit head on by a car heading north (I was heading south) because they couldn't see either. I got into the driveway, turned the car off, and I just cried for about a minute. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be home.

About an hour or two after I got home we braved the weather to go to the ER. When I got home Hope had stinky pants (not so unusual). What was unusual though is that her "stinkies" seemed to have had a reddish tint to them. Mark and I both looked at the diaper and looked at Hope and decided it wasn't red after all. Well, not even a half an hour later she had stinkies again, so I changed her again. This time it seemed to be more red than the first one. I told Mark that we were taking her to the ER and he agreed. To make a long story short: they did a smear test (doesn't that sound like fun) and it came back negative, so it wasn't blood. The doctor said that the test is REALLY sensitive, so if there were any trace of blood in her stool it would have detected it. Plus, she didn't have a fever, her heart and everything sounded great, her disposition was still bubbly and happy and she said she didn't hurt anywhere. So we came home and were thankful that she's OK. Again, we weren't thankful at the outcome of the Packer game, but if I had to choose one thing to be happy about, it'd be Hope. DUH!

I probably won't be posting now until after Christmas, so I wish to each of you a very Merry Christmas. May you find joy in the small things: time with family and friends, your favorite Christmas carol on the radio, and salvation that came in the form of a tiny little baby named Jesus thousands of years ago. Merry CHRISTmas everyone! (Now...it's to the basement to watch the Vikings get beat (PLEASE SANTA) and wrap some gifts. hehehe)

I love the color pink, but REALLY...

So I've been fighting this sore throat for over a week now. It's finally won. It's been so sore the past couple of days that I can't stand it. I was almost ready to go see the doctor to see if it was strep, but I thought I'd wait it out. A couple of times during the night I woke up and my right eye was "glued" shut. I managed to get it open somehow. Well, at about 7:30 this morning I woke up to realize that my eye was REALLY "glued" shut and I couldn't open it. I also realized that Hope was soak and wet and, therefore, so was my bed. UGH!!! So here I was, trying to get her out of her wet pajamas, getting the wet sheets off the bed and dry ones on the bed--all with one eye. NOT a pleasant experience this morning. Mark got me a warm, wet rag and I finally managed to get my eye opened. The eyelid was really swollen, it was really tearing up (as a matter of fact, it was tearing while it was still glued shut)and my vision was blurry because of all the gunk. I looked at my eyeball and guess what color it was?? PINK!!! Yep. My favorite color...just not on my eye. I looked up my symptoms on line and came up with pink eye. I called the clinic at 8am sharp and had about 10 minutes to get there so they could see me right away. Diagnosis: pink eye. UGH!! I've never had this. I have no idea where I got it from. Of course my immediate reaction was for Hope's care. I asked the doctor if I needed to stay away from her. He told me to just not let her touch my face. Oh...and he checked my throat, too. Not strep. Praise God for that. I also asked the doctor if I could go to work tomorrow (Sunday) or not. He said that he'd prefer me to wait until Monday, but he also realizes that this time of the year is really busy for children's ministers, so he said I could go. I just have to be careful not to let the kids pile on me. hehehe I can't wait to go and find out which one of the little stinkers gave this to me. Just kidding. So I'll go to church tomorrow with my red, swollen eye, and I'll tell people that Mark beat me up. hehehe Tomorrow is the last Sunday practice for the children's program before we lead worship next Sunday, so it's a good thing I can go.

That's it from here. Time to go put some more drops in my eyes. Like I said before, I love pink, but I think it looks better on ME than on my eyeball.

2007 Sports Illustrated Man of the Year

I've added a new link to the right. Check it out. The article and the pictures are great!! If you haven't guessed by now who they've chosen for this award, it's Uncle Brett!!!

Ugh and Ugh!!

OK...so I haven't posted anything since the Cowgirls beat the Packers on Thursday night. In all honesty, it took me a couple of days to get over the sting. It's not that the Packers lost (I can handle that---every true Packer fan, although we don't like to lose, are used to losing), but it's that they lost to the COWGIRLS!!! There were many things about the game that were unfair. Basically, the Cowgirls' A-team had to play the Packers B-team because we had a couple of our key players injured. And then there was that hit to Brett Favre early in the 2nd quarter that put him out for the rest of the game. My stomach was sick! NOT BRETT!!! Now keep in mind that up until that point, Brett was not having the game of his life. He was trying to hard. Throwing passes he never should have thrown...only to go into the hands of the enemy and over the goal line for points. There are two silver linings to this loss as I see it. One is that anyone who doubted that Aaron Rogers will be a great QB for the Pack when Brett retires, well, I think they've probably changed their minds now. Aaron did an AWESOME job on Thursday night!! He showed that he's got what it takes to be a QB in the NFL. He played great under pressure (he even threw for his first 2 TDs in his NFL career). The team worked with him and really let him lead. So I have hope that the Packers won't descend to the mirey deep when Brett retires. The other silver lining is that if we do have to meet the Cowboys in the play offs, I'm pretty confident we can win. By then all of our guys will be healthy(God willing) and we can play the game we know we can play. So Cowgirls: BRING IT ON!!!

OK...enough about football.

Now on to the second UGH. We got snow yesterday. I hate winter!! It'd be great if I could stay cozied up by the fireplace with my family, but unfortunately, we still have to do the every day things in the winter. I did make it to church today, but the back roads were pretty slick at times. All of the people who have been wishing for a white Christmas got their wishes. I'm sure we won't see the ground again until mid-late June. hehehe OK...so it might be as early as April, but still, it'll be a long time before we see grass again. This is the time of the year I so miss living in the South.

Oh...and my Mom fell yesterday (there was a patch of ice under the snow that she didn't see...all because her landlord didn't bother plowing until later in the day). Fortunately nothing is broken. She, like Brett Favre, injured her elbow and her shoulder. Nothing serious, just inconvenient.

We took Hope to see Santa and Mrs. Claus yesterday (aka Grammy and Papa). She sat on Grammy's lap but didn't have anything to do with Santa until they took a break and he saw her in the hallway. Then she warmed up a little to him. I'll post pictures later. One of these days she won't be afraid of the big guy in the red suit.

One more thing. This is really exciting!! Mark got a new job. YEAH!!! He will soon be among the employed. He'll be working for the Thriven home office in Appleton, WI. When he went to interview for the job last week I was already starting to get stressed out about being a "single" parent and getting the house ready to be put on the market. For those of you not familiar with Wisconsin geography, Appleton is about 3.5-4 hours west of River Falls. It's near Green Bay. There would be definite advantages to moving there for sure, but like I said, I had NO idea how I was going to do all the every day things that need to be done AND get the house cleaned and ready to sell. The really good news: Mark will only be working in Appleton for a few months. They want to pilot this same program at the Minneapolis home office and they want him to be the lead. So we don't have to move after all. YEAH!!! It'll be really hard the next few months (especially on Hope), but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. It's a great job and from what Mark knows from when he used to work for Lutheran Brotherhood, he'll probably be able to retire (at least from that company) in 7-8 years. He's really looking forward to this new job (it's some type of a research job which is what he LOVES) and getting back to work for a company he's always loved. So it's a win-win situation. Thank you, Lord, for providing for our family.

One other bit of news before I go. We'll be registering Hope for pre-school come February. Can you believe it?? Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital?? There's a great pre-school in River Falls that she'll be going to. The teachers are all so, so good and they're friends of mine. We're hoping that we can get her in the Wed/Fri class because that'll work out best for my schedule at work. I had a dream the other night that I took her to pre school for the first time and as I left I just cried!! I'm sure that's exactly how it'll happen. Now we just have to get her potty trained AND able to be with someone other than Mommy. She'll probably cry the first few days, but hopefully that won't last for long.

Have a great day!! Thanks for checking in.

Happy Monday

It's Monday. We had such a relaxing weekend that it was hard to get back into the routine of things today...yet routine is welcome. Crazy, huh??

Thanksgiving, Part 2, was nice. It was great to see Mark's cousin Maria and her family again. Hope played SOOOOOO nicely with Maria's son Andrew (he's 3) and I'm so happy about that. Being an only child and not having much interaction with other children can make this a bit tough at times. But she shared nicely and gave lots of hugs to Andrew. They sang the ABC song together MANY times. Hope warmed up to Auntie Cheryl, too. That was so nice to see.

Speaking of Auntie Cheryl...my wonderful sister in law has graciously invited me over to watch the Packer game on Thursday night. They have NFL Network and that's the only station you can watch the game on. I thought I'd either have to listen to the game on the radio (not much fun for me) or resort to going to a bar to watch it (again, not much fun for me). This will be MUCH better. We'll order a pizza and watch the game. I think they go to bed fairly early, so I may have to let myself out. I saw a statistic that makes me a little leary about the upcoming game. Tony Romo (the Cowgirls' quarterback) has the most TDs at home this season...even more than Tom Brady. YIKES since we're playing at Texas Stadium. Well, it's out of my hands and Hope has diligently been saying her "God bless Uncle Brett" prayers, so I guess I'll just have to see what Thursday night brings. Can you believe that I already have butterflies in my stomach?? Sheesh!!! That's crazy!

Mark is enjoying the day with Hope. They went to the library this morning---one of their favorite Daddy/Daughter activities. Tomorrow she'll be with Grammy and Papa and then on Wednesday I'll have her in the morning and Mark will have her in the afternoon while I'm at work. The one good thing about Mark not working right now is that he's got time to spend with Hope. Oh...speaking of job stuff...if you could pray that the right job comes along for him, that'd be really great!! We're OK, but this stuff is getting really old really fast.

Other than that, not much else going on. Thanks for checking in.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

Hi everyone...
Just a quick note before we get ready to head to Baldwin for Thanksgiving, Part 2. We'll be at Mark's parent's house today with Mark's sister and her family, Mark's Uncle Dan and Mark's cousin Maria and her family. Always a fun time. The day will start at 11 with lefse making---a family tradition. I can't wait until Hope is old enough to enjoy and participate in this tradition with her Grammy, her cousins, her Aunt Cheryl and, of course, her Mommy. Then we'll sit down for dinner and enjoy great conversation and catching up. Then Mark's Uncle Dan and I will take our place at the kitchen sink...another fun tradition.

Our Thanksgiving on Thursday included putting cornish game hens on the grill, Mark's parents coming down to enjoy them,and a little bit of resting. Oh...and did I mention enjoying another Packer victory?? WooHoo!!! The game was great!! Brett looks like a 22 year old, not a 38 year old. We're now 10-1. Holy Cow!!! We had a few injuries on Thursday which means they need to heal fast so we can go to Texas Stadium on Thursday and kick some Dallas butt!! OK, so I realize that our chances of winning IN Dallas aren't the greatest, but I'd say we have a 50/50 chance as long as our injured are healed. If we win on Thursday that means we get home field advantage during the play offs. NICE! The stinky part about the game?? It's only on NFL Network which means if we want to watch it we have to go to a bar. NOT fun! How about if I get tickets for the game?? That'd be great! Not gonna happen though. So, GO PACK, GO!!!

I got in line at WalMart at 3:50 yesterday morning!! Crazy! I was about the 10th person in line. The people around me were great, so the time went quickly. I thought my toes were going to freeze off by the time they opened the doors at 5 though. It was worth it. I got my Cricut Machine!! Merry Christmas to me!! They were going FAST, too! I also hit KMart, Target and Shopko yesterday. I stood in a little line at the register at WalMart, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. No lines at KMart, Shopko or Target. The longest line I stood in and the busiest place I went yesterday?? You'll never guess: MENARD'S!!! It was CRAZY!! The people were nice and polite, but the register lines were sooooooo long and there were no carts to be seen anywhere!! I was home by 9:30am. I picked up a few things for Hope and Mark and got something fun for little Isaiah Spies, too.

Last night Hope, Mark and I stood out in the cold on Main Street in River Falls for the annual River Dazzle Parade. It was about 30 minutes long and it was nice. All those Christmas songs and Christmas lights put you in the mood to celebrate. Hope liked it. She got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus from a distance. She wasn't too sure about them. She'll go to Baldwin next Saturday as Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Grammy and Papa). We'll see how she does then. Maybe she'll know it's Grammy and Papa. I'm not sure. I think she's going to be one of those kids who will figure it all out at an early age. I just hope it's not TOO early.

I talked to Andrew on Thursday. He said he had the best turkey dinner at the base on Thursday. He has off until Monday, so he's enjoying some R&R. He'll be home in just under a month. YEAH!!! We can't wait to see him!! He sounds good.

Guess that's about it for now. Time to go wake my sleeping family.

Random Thoughts...

This blog will be mostly random thoughts about things happening around here. Just a quick way to catch you up on life in River Falls.

Hope continues to amaze us every day. I went to pick Hope up from Grammy and Papa's house yesterday and Grammy told me that at one point during the day she did something for Hope (I can't remember the circumstances exactly) and Hope said to her, "Gracias." hehehe Not thank you, but gracias. She's bilingual. Actually, she's starting to be trilingual because Grammy had Hope's Raffi video on when I picked her up yesterday and Raffi was singing a song in French and Hope was singing along!!! Holy Hannah! I know nothing about French except french toast and french fries. Seriously though, this girls also knows how to sing the ABC song in Spanish! She also knows how to say, "Don't tell me that" when we tell her something she doesn't want to hear. Mom---your wish came true---I got a daughter just like me!! Only she's way smarter than me. hehehe

I'm borrowing my friend Lara's Cricut machine for the long weekend. I'm so excited about that!! This is a new, electronic die cut and embossing tool that is a God-send for scrapbookers!! I'm borrowing Lara's to see how I like it because I think after Christmas I'll be getting my own Cricut...only I think I'm going for the big one and getting the Cricut Expressions. Fun, fun, fun!!! If I start my scrapbooking business like I'd like to, I can take it as a business write off on my taxes. YEAH!!! Mark and I are thinking about starting the business before the end of the year for tax purposes.

I had a wonderful lunch and visit with my friend Lisa yesterday. It was really nice to visit with her and get to know her a bit better. Little Lucy was at Grandma and Grandpa's house though so I didn't get to visit with her. But I did get to meet Abby...Troy and Lisa's cute Golden Retriever. Thanks for lunch, Lisa!!

Today I had lunch with my friend David. Yummy Chinese food at Panda Garden. It was nice to catch up with him and hear the latest about Ezekiel. Wow is all I can say about the stuff happening there.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. Mark's parents are coming for a low-key Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, but we're having our big Thanksgiving at their house on Saturday. Mark's sister and her family will be there as will Mark's cousin Maria and her family and Mark's Uncle Dan. Uncle Dan and I have a Thanksgiving tradition: we do the dishes together after the meal and chat. A couple years ago he told me that I'm really good for Mark. hehehe Smart guy! Tomorrow I'll grocery shop (NOT looking forward to the crowds) and go to Target to pick up Hope's Christmas pictures. I can't wait to get them. I'll also have coffee in the morning with my friend Jeanne whom I haven't seen in AGES!! It'll be good for Hope and me to catch up with her. We'll also work on Christmas cards and invitations to Andrea's baby shower this weekend. I'm excited about hostessing a shower for Andrea in January!! My mind is already trying to figure out what to serve, what games to play and what kind of a cake to make. I love doing stuff like that. Oh...and let's not forget that I'll be parked in front of the TV on Thursday beginning at 11:30 for the Packer game. If we beat Detroit on Thursday, we've pretty much got the division wrapped up. YEAH!!! Then it's on to the Cowboys. If money were no object you better believe I'd be making a trip to Dallas a week from now so I could go to the game. I'd even take my Dallas friends with me...as long as they'd wear Packer jerseys and cheesehead hats!! hehehe

So Andrew took his first test at school. He missed passing by 1 lousy question. Since he only missed by one question, they let him re-take it. Had he missed by two or more, he would have gotten stuck with a different career that he would have been totally board with. But...he passed his re-take test so all is well. And he got his first orders. When he's done with school in February they'll ship him off to....
(drum roll, please)....Germany!!! I'm excited and sad all at the same time about this. I'll hate having him so far away, but I'll also love going to visit him. I was in Germany 10 years ago and it was so beautiful. I can't wait to go back. I think I'll take Hope with me...and hopefully Mark will join us. For those of you who don't know, Mark is terrified of flying. Hopefully we can get him over that fear in the next year or so. Andrew will be in Germany for at least 2 years, so we've got some time to work on Mark flying.

I guess that's about it for now. Please keep the following people in your prayers: David, Monica, Rita, Sandy, Anne and Marion. These are simply people I know and love who could use your prayers.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Speaking of babies...

I had to get this in my blog before I forgot about it (this blog is pretty much acting as Hope's baby book right now so I have to put down things she does or says so I don't forget about them when she's older). On Halloween night we had a few trick or treaters at our house. The last trick or treaters of the night were my ob/gyn's daughters. We love it when Dr. Hallman comes to see us!! Two days later my friend Andrea came over for and afternoon chat. She's pregnant and due in late January. After Andrea left I was explaining to Hope that Dr. Hallman is going to help Andrea's baby come out of her tummy just like Dr. Hallman helped her (Hope) come out of Mommy's tummy. She looked at me with this stern look on her face and said, "Dr. Hallman kicked me out!!" I couldn't believe what she said so I asked her to repeat it. Yep! I had heard right!! So now whenever Dr. Hallman's name comes up Hope says, "Dr. Hallman kicked me out." I thought that was so funny!! I get to see Dr. Hallman tomorrow (nope...no baby here) so I have to remember to tell him about that.

There is one person who wishes we would have another baby though. Hope loves babies so much! Today at story time at the library she didn't pay one second of attention to the books that were being read. Instead she looked and talked to the baby that was sitting in her infant seat next to us. She so badly wanted to touch the baby and kept saying, "I'll be gentle to the baby." The other day we saw babies on TV and she told me she wanted a little sister. Then last Thursday we went to give a piano lesson and she told my piano student, Cassidy, that she was her little sister. I hope she will forgive us when she gets older that we never gave her a little sister.

Introducing...

Lilly Peterson!! Daughter of my friends Jeff and Jodi. She is absolutely beautiful! Mom and daughter (and Dad) are doing great! I stopped by the hospital tonight and took these pictures. Oh...Lilly weighed 10 lbs, 3 oz and was 22.5" long. Big girl, but absolutely perfect. Anna, Jarrin and Maddy are all excited about their baby sister. Enough words...look at this beautiful blessing!

Do you believe in SPANKINGS???

I do!!! Because I just witnessed the Green Bay Packers SPANK---and I mean SPANK--the Minnesota Vikings!! WooHoo!!! Now I realize that some of you who read this blog are Viking fans, so I'll be gentle. Although I am a Packer fan, I admire those Viking fans who stay loyal to their team through bad years, turmoil and scandals. So hats off to you. I was a bit sad to see Brooks Bollinger (the QB for the Vikings today) all by himself on the sidelines after the Vikings last possession. Way to encourage a young QB, Vikings. Plus, Brooks was an outstanding QB for the Badgers not too long ago, so I'll always like him. But here's where I take great glee in the Packers kickin' the Vikings today (final score: 34-0): Darren Sharper---where were all those interceptions you talked so big about today?? If I remember correctly, the last TD for the Packers saw you run squarely into your team mate. What could have EASILY been an interception for the Vikings turned into 7 points for the Packers. Thanks Darren! So why am I so hard on Darren?? He used to be a Packer. After Brett Favre, he was my favorite Packer for a long time. He's CUTE!!! But since he became a trader and chose to play for the Vikings, he's been trash-talking Brett Favre like crazy. Well, the Packers won what Mark and I consider to be OUR super bowl today. We beat the Vikings!! As a matter of fact, we beat them TWICE this year.

OK...enough about the Vikings. Let's talk about how awesome the 8-1 (YES!!! 8-1) Green Bay Packers. They looked so great today!! The offense played an unbelievable game today. Lead, of course, by Uncle Brett. The defense was spectacular. Up to this point I thought that the Packers were playing well, but still had a lot of luck on their side. But today I am totally convinced that we have a heck of a chance to beat the Cowboys (my second least favorite team in the NFL) in Irving, TX, on November 29th. Our running game was great today. Our passing game was almost perfect today. Our defense remains strong. We have two more games before we meet the Cowboys. I'm already on pins and needles for that game. I'm pretty sure we can beat the Panthers at Lambeau next week. Then we play in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. That's always a tough place for us. A week later it's the Cowgirls. The last time we played at Texas Stadium I was at the game and almost got kicked out. I think I've mentioned that before. No more football talk for today. Can you tell I'm excited??!!!!!!

How about some fun, exciting news about Hope?? She's getting closer and closer to getting this potty training thing down. We are SOOOOOOO proud of her!! She has gone pee-pee in her potty chair every morning for a week now. YEAH!!! A couple of days ago I woke her up from her nap and she was dry, so I put her on her chair. Not only did she pee-pee in her chair, she poo-pooed, too!! YEAH HOPE!!! As she was sitting in her high chair eating lunch today, she was working on a doozy poo-poo in her diaper. I changed her, but found there wasn't much there. I was surprised. I was going to put a clean diaper on her, but she insisted that she had to go potty. I didn't believe her (she's great at finding reasons to not go to sleep), but I set her on her potty anyway. Pretty soon she was looking in her chair. Poo-poo!! WooHoo!!! She DID have to go after all. We're hoping and praying she can keep making this kind of progress so that maybe by Christmas she can be pretty much completely trained. Merry Christmas to us: no more diapers to buy. YEAH!!!

So that's it from the Boersma-Brue household for today. It's a good day. With the Packers giving us such great news today and Hope doing so well with her potty training, maybe we'll get great news about a job for Mark this week. That would be perfect.

Oh...one more thing: we took Hope to see The Bee Movie yesterday. She did a pretty good job sitting through the movie. The movie itself: I'd give it a B. (hehehehe)

7-1!!!

They did it!! The Packers, in a CLOSE game, defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. Final score: 33-22. The final score doesn't look as close as the game actually was. Whew!!! Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is a venue that the Packers haven't won in. Now they have. YEAH!!! That's it for tonight. I've gotta go check the rest of the league scores. The only two games I know for sure is that in a nail-biter, the Colts got beat by the Patriots. UGH!! Another UGH: the Vikings beat the Chargers. How in the heck did that happen?? I promise once football season is over there will be little sports talk for another year.

Packer Game-Day

It's Sunday!! The Packers play at noon today in Kansas City. I was SOOOOOOOOO hoping we'd be able to go to KC for this game, but here we are, still in Wisconsin. We can't even WATCH the game in River Falls because we're considered part of the Twin Cities viewing audience which means we are punished and have to watch the Vikings. Well, we'll watch something else. Anyway...the Packers are actually underdogs today. Go figure. The Packers are 6-1 and the Chiefs are like 4-3. Yet the Pack are underdogs. Hhhmmm. Interesting. That's OK though. Takes a little pressure off. They are on the road and they did have a short work week since they played (on the road) on Monday night, so maybe that's why they're not favored to win. What the media is forgetting is that the Packers actually have a better record on the road than at home. Another interesting bit of trivia. OK...so I'll be listening to the game on the radio while I get ready for a friend's baby shower today. That's fine.

But here's a little joke for you that my mother in law sent our way. I love it!! Enjoy!


John Madden was in New England to announce a football game one weekend when he noticed a special telephone near the Patriots' bench. He asked QB Tom Brady what it was used for and was told it was a hotline to God. John asked if he could use it. Brady replied, 'Sure, but it will cost you $200.' John scratched his head, then thought, what the heck, I could use some help picking games. He pulled out his wallet and paid $200. John's picks were perfect that week.
The next week, John was in Indianapolis when he noticed that same kind of phone on the Colts bench. He asked what the telephone was for and Manning told him, 'It's a hotline to God if you want to use it, it will cost you $500.' Recalling the previous week, John pulled out his wallet and made the call.
John's picks were perfect again that week.
Last weekend, John was in Green Bay , when he noticed the same kind of telephone by the Packers' bench. He asked Brett Favre, 'Is that the hotline to God?' Favre said, 'Yes, and if you want to use it, it will cost you 50 cents.' John looked incredulously at Favre and said, 'Wait a second, I just paid $200 in New England and $500 in Indianapolis to use the same phone to God! Why do the Packers only charge 50 cents?' Favre replied, 'Because in Green Bay , it's a local call...Welcome to God's Country.'

Sharp Dressed Man

Just wanted to post some pictures of Andrew. Does he look great in his uniform or what?? The people in the pictures with him are either my sister Alison (his Mom) or Alison's husband (Andrew's step Dad) John. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

OK, so I'm a day late. It's actually Happy All Saints Day. But since I didn't get the Halloween pictures posted until now, I'm still saying Happy Halloween. This was Hope's 1st Halloween that she dressed up for. Thanks to Grammy, she got to be her favorite thing in the whole world: a moo cow!! Hope is OBSESSED with moo cows!! Grammy found this really cute costume at a garage sale this summer. Although Hope screamed every time we put it on her, once it was on and she saw herself in the mirror, she loved it. We went to story time at the library yesterday and then went trick or treating at church and at Grammy and Papa's house. Then we just waited for trick or treaters to come to our house so Hope could show off her costume. She had so much fun!! And as you can see by the last picture, so did Mark:)

Enjoy!


Hope at story time at Hammond Library


The toss the beanbag on the pumpkin game


Halloween wouldn't have been complete without a visit to the Peterson farm


Some of our favorite trick or treaters...
Lynnette, Jaclyn, (yours truly) and Cindy


Mark's livin' it up on Halloween

Go Pack Go!!

Sorry about the red-eye in that picture.

Before we talk about the incredible Green Bay Packers, I have to give a shout out to Lisa L who has recently discovered our blog and has been discovering all the craziness that is the Brue Family. Hi Lisa!!

OK...how about those Packers?? Oh man!! Did you see the game last night?? I do have to say that I feel slightly bad for the Denver community. On Sunday night the Rockies lost the World Series in a sweep by the Boston Red Socks. Then the Packers come in and beat the Broncos in OT on Monday Night Football. Oh well. I'm done feeling bad now. hehehe Are the Packers REALLY 6-1 this season?? Holy Cow!! Who ever, in their wildest imaginations, would have guessed this is where we'd be going into November?!! I'm so stinkin' excited! If anyone deserves to have some goodness come his way, it's our fearless leader, Brett Favre (as Deanna said in her book "Favre---it rhymes with starve. Don't pay attention to the order of the letters."). He's been through so much in the past couple of years. Now I realize it's only November and lots can happen between now and the end of December, but we're looking pretty good. We even seemed to have a bit of a running game last night. Who is that Grant guy, anywhere?? Whoever he is, YEAH!!! Mark told me before the game that Denver is one of the stadiums that Brett has never thrown a TD pass in. Well, last night he threw two. BOTH BOMBS!!! And wouldn't you know I missed BOTH of them because I was doing laundry. DOH! Thank God for replays. So I stayed up late last night watching the game and putting trick-or-treat bags together for our handful (or two) of trick or treaters that we'll hopefully have tomorrow night. And now I'm thinking ahead to the rest of the season. Here's the run-down:
This Sunday we're at Kansas City. Packers should win that one. That's the game I wanted to go to this year because we love the Chiefs since their training camp is held in River Falls each summer. On 11/11 we have the Vikings at Lambeau. Packers should win that one, too. We've already beaten them once this season. 11/18 the Packers host the Panthers. No idea about that one. Not keeping up with the Panthers this year. I'm thinking that could be a W, too. Then on 11/22 we're at Detroit. That'll be a tough one. Detroit is fairly good this year and it's a road game. The next week is the worst for me: 11/29: Packers v Dallas. Man I can't stand the Cowgirls!! That's like Mark and his dislike for the Vikings. That last time the Packers played the Cowboys they were in Dallas and I was at the game. I almost got kicked out of Texas Stadium because I was standing up to watch the game. Sheesh!! The Packers lost that game, so hopefully they can win this one. This is undoubtedly their toughest game of the season. Many "experts" are picking the Cowboys to go to the Superbowl this year. UGH!!!!!!!!! Onward: then we're home against the Raiders. Should be a win. Then we're at the Rams and the next week we're at Chicago. We've GOT to win that game against the Bears because that's our only loss this year---and they handed it to us at Lambeau!! Payback's a ..... Our last game is at home against Detroit. OK...so I know most of this is boring to most of you, but nobody, including yours truly, expected the Packers to be doing what they're doing this year. Could it all crumble at any time?? Sure. But I don't think it's going to. Will we end the season with just one loss?? I'd be surprised. But I do think we can win our division and get a good start in the play offs. Time will tell.

Here's another picture from last night when Hope was cheering for the Packers and "Uncle Brett." Yep. She thinks Brett Favre is her uncle. Now where would she get an idea like that?? Oh---and every night when we do our prayers I say, "God bless.." and she always finishes with this, "Daddy and Uncle Brett." She's got green and gold in her veins, too!! TOUCH DOWN--PACKERS!!!

Have a great day.

Proud to be an Air Force Aunt!

Well, today was the day. After 6.5 weeks of BMT (Basic Military Training), my nephew Andrew graduated today!! I was so hoping I could have been there. I got a call this afternoon from Alison and also got to talk to Andrew. He did such a great job in BMT. He got to lead his flight crew for graduation today. As I understand it, it was at his TI's (Training Instructor) request. Pretty cool, huh?? My sister told me that Andrew's TI (a female---how cool is that???) told her that usually recruits come in and you can tell they've had little or no discipline at home. She said that wasn't the case with Andrew. She barely had to do anything with Andrew. So Alison told me that and I started to cry. Not only because I'm so unbelievably proud of Andrew, but because I'm so proud of Alison. She did a great job raising Andrew---especially considering she had no help from Andrew's father. Of course there were others in his life that were role models (my parents, John, hopefully myself and my sister Jo and my brother Geno), but the credit really goes to Ali. So kudos to you, my little sister! After graduation today Ali and John got to take Andrew off base. They were going to see the Spurs game tonight. FUN!!! He has to be back on base tonight, but they can have him off base all day tomorrow and then I think they'll see him on base on Sunday. Not sure what time they'll be leaving SanAntonio. Andrew leaves for his technical training at midnight on Sunday/Monday. He'll be spending the next 12 weeks at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. I'm hoping we can go down there for Thanksgiving so he won't have to be by himself. I'm also hoping that if I get down there, Dawn and Dan will be around so I can see them (and, of course, baby Isaiah), too. That would be such a great trip!

Anyway...I'm a proud Air Force Aunt, for sure. I'm proud of all my nieces and nephews, but today is a special day for Andrew. As soon as Ali and John get back and I can get my hands on some pictures, I'll post them. Alison said that Andrew has grown up a lot in the past 6 weeks and that he looks very handsome in his uniform. I'm sure both of those statements are true.

40 has turned my brain to mush...

Here is an email I just sent to my friend David. It relates what happened to me tonight. Laugh alert: be prepared! I truly think this is the single most stupid thing I have ever done in my life. Here's what happened tonight:

Oh man!! 40 has turned my brain into mush. Either that or I'm naturally blond and I've never known it. Now usually I'm a pretty smart cookie...even if I do say so myself. No genius here, but no moron either. Well, tonight I pulled one that has me laughing (at least now) and worrying that maybe Alzheimer's has set in. The first Tuesday of every month Baldwin does this community supper. It's held at Gethsemane, but each church takes a turn making the meal during the year. Mark's Mom and Dad always bring Hope to the dinner, we eat together and then I take Hope home from there. So tonight was no exception. Hope and I got into the car (note here: Mark traded the Touareg in last week for another HHR. The only difference from the purple HHR we already have is that this one is sunburst orange: the color that Mark has wanted since we started looking at the HHR. I'm driving the orange one right now because it has more miles on it than the purple one does. We're trying to even out the mileage between the two cars) and were going to head home. I put the key in the ignition and the blasted thing wouldn't move. I turned the wheel a bit because with some cars you have to do that. Well, this key was not moving at all. I got really ticked because I wanted to get Hope home at an early time and get her to bed. Plus it was raining (not that we were in the rain, but it added to the mood). I had no idea what I was going to do. I called the Chevy Roadside assistance. A lot of good that did me. They said all they could do was tow the car to the dealership in town. I asked how I was supposed to get home. They had no idea. I ended up giving the guy on the phone a piece of my mind and hanging up on him. He called back and said, "Mrs. Brue. We were disconnected." I could tell by the way he said "disconnected" that he knew we had not been disconnected. I said something to him about me hanging up on him because if they weren't going to help me I had to find someone who could...and then I hung up again. I had called Mark, too, to let him know that I think the HHR's are crap and that he was taking this one back to the dealership on Monday and getting something else. I think I hung up on him a few times, too. I was MAD!!! Oh...and a few tears were shed, too, because I had no idea what I was going to do. So at one point Mark called me back and told me that Greg Jacobson (the Chevy dealer in town who we've done lots of business with...but we didn't get this orange car from him) was on his way over. I looked up and also noticed Mark's dad coming into the parking lot. So my father in law messed with the key and he couldn't get anything to work either. Then Greg showed up. He didn't see us at first and I wondered why because he had driven right past us when he first came into the parking lot. He turned around and realized it was us. He wondered why I had the orange car since that was the color Mark kept bugging Greg about. He got out of the car and as soon as he sat down and started messing with the key it dawned on me what had happened. He said the problem just as I was thinking it (are you ready for this???): I HAD THE WRONG FREAKIN' KEY IN THE IGNITION!!! I have TWO HHR keys on my key chain...one for the orange car and one for the purple car. Here's the kicker in all of this. I usually have two sets of keys: one for each car. There's usually a house key on each chain, too, so that I don't have to stop and think about which set of keys I have. Well, Mark always tells me that I need to have ONE key chain with all my keys on it. So today I did what he said---and look what happened when I listened to him!! LOL I felt so stupid!! I told Greg that I'm not normally that stupid...that I'm actually fairly intelligent...that I graduated in the top 10% of my class...that I have a college degree.

So here's what I'm thinking. Like I said earlier, either I have Alzheimer's, 40 has turned my brain to mush, I'm naturally blond or I'm so tired and so stressed that I'm finally starting to crack. Maybe it's a combination of the four (although the blond possibility is pretty far reaching). Yet I'm betting on the last possibility to be the most accurate. And with that, I'm going to tell you that I'm scheduling my massage at Lori's for sometime SOOOOOOOON!!!!! And, I'll be going to bed now. It's already 11:30.

You have a brilliant friend, my friend:) hehehe

So that's how it went tonight. Lord, help me!! At least I can laugh about it now. Trust me when I tell you I was NOT laughing earlier.

Oh...and a bit of good news, too: in case you're wondering, the results of my mammogram came back normal. WooHoo!!!

With that...I'm going to go sleep next to my wonderful little girl (yeh, I know...she's almost 27 months old and she still sleeps with us. What can I say?? We like the family bed idea. Good thing we're not having any more or we'd have to get a bigger bed. hehehe)

4 and O!!!

Oh man!!! Wisconsin really IS the place to live right now. If you're a football, fan, that is. The Badgers are undefeated so far this season and have the longest winning streak in college football right now. Go Badgers Go!!! And how about our most beloved Packers??!!! Did you see that game on Sunday against the Queens??!! I must confess that I have not yet watched the entire game. I caught the last 9 minutes of the game LIVE (I was putting Hope down for a nap) and I listened to the first few minutes of the game LIVE (I heard it when Brett threw his record breaking TD pass to Greg Jennings). We taped the game so now I've watched it through Brett's record TD, but that's it. I'll watch more tonight. So the Packers are one of 4 teams in the NFL with a 4-0 record. They ALSO have the longest winning streak in the NFL right now. Is this to good to be true?? When I have a few extra moments I'm hoping to include some links to great game footage and interviews with "Uncle Brett" as Hope calls him. hehehe It's not only great that the Pack is 4-0. And it's not only great that Brett beat Dan Marino's record. It's great that we beat the Queens...AND BEAT THEM IN THE DOME!!! So Sunday night we play on national TV--against the Bears. Could be a tough game, but the Bears got beat pretty badly on Sunday by Detroit. Plus, we're playing them at Lambeau. Two things definitely in our favor. If only our siding project wasn't happening this weekend I think Mark and I would go to the game.

That's it for now. Thank God for the Packers and the Badgers bringing just a little bit of sunshine into our lives because it's done nothing but rain here for the past 8 years. Seriously...it's another gray, rainy day here. I'm so ready for the sun to come out again. But until then, I'll keep taking victories.

My first 40-something milestone

I just got back from the River Falls Area Hospital where I had my first 40-something milestone performed. Yep, I just had my very first mammogram done. What a bizarre thing. The radiologist was wonderful. She made it as comfortable as could be. Actually, I felt nothing really. I'm still trying to decide if having large breasts is a good thing or an embarassing thing when having a mammogram done. Let's just say that when that machine is squashing down on your breast, HOLY COW!!! It gives you a whole new perspective on the size of your breasts. LOL They'll read the mammogram on Monday and will let me know how things look. I'm sure everything will be just fine. I don't have any history of breast cancer in my family and I've never had any other problems, so I'm assuming all is well. Oh...just FYI: I will not be posting any pictures of me getting my mammogram. hehehe

Thanks for reading this. And if you haven't gotten a mammogram lately, PLEASE GO SCHEDULE YOURS NOW!!!! It's so important that we are our own health advocates.

Love,
Melody

Short one...

The Packers are 3-0!! Woohoo!!! Who would have thought this really young team would be undeafeted so far this season?? Thank you, God!! This Sunday is game #1 of 2 vs. the Vikings. It's in the Dome. We don't have a great record in the Dome. Hopefully we can win! More about our weekend in a different post. We got some great pictures of Hope at the apple orchard.

My first day as 40-something

Yep. It happened. At 8:01 this morning I officially turned 40. Funny. I don't feel any older than I did yesterday. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm actually feeling pretty crappy right now due to a cold that I had been fighting all weekend. Over the weekend I was pretty much winning the battle, but now I'd say the cold and I are about even. And now Hope seems to have the sniffles.

BUT...despite this cold thing, 40 is great so far. In my last post I told you that Mark felw my friend Marsha up from Dallas to surprise me. What a great surprise and what a great time I had with her. The bad part about her coming is that she always has to go home. I don't really like that so much. But Marsha wasn't the only surprise my husband (and my Mother-in-Law) had up his sleeve for the weekend. Marsha, Hope and I went out for brunch and did an errand on Saturday. When we got home we were all tired so we thought a nap was in order. Hope had just gotten asleep and I was almost there myself when I heard the dogs barking. I sprang out of bed to get to the door before someone could ring the doorbell and wake Hope up. It was my sister!!! She drove up from LaCrosse to surprise me. That was so wonderful. So Marsha, JoEllen and I sat around and talked. After a little while Hope woke up and entertained us. We talked a lot about my sister's (and her youngest son, Shane) upcoming trip to Thailand! Lucky ducks!! Jo's oldest son (Barry) is living is South Korea right now and taking all these great trips. He's taking Jo and Shane to Thailand for Jo's 50th birthday. Anyway...later Sat. afternoon the doorbell rang again. It was my Mom, my sister Alison, brother-in-law John, niece Sophie and nephew Jack. Another surprise!!! We all went out for supper that night and then Marsha and I went to the hotel where they were staying and had girls time with the beautiful cake she made me (I'll get pictures of the weekend on here soon). But the surprises didn't stop there. I found out when I read through the bulletin at church on Sunday morning that there was an open house for me on Sunday afternoon. Sheesh!! I guess turning 40 is a big deal. LOL Then I was surprised when people from my former congregation came to wish me a happy birthday. It was just a wonderful, wonderful weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration!

Now for my actual birthday: it started out with Ian Punnett (talk show host extraordinaire) wishing me the best day ever!! Mark sent Ian an email asking that Ian wish me the best day ever. Ian gave me crap about giving Mark a bad time about being almost 50. It was funny. When that was done I went to pick up the phone to tell Mark thank you (he's away for job stuff) and the phone rang. It was Mark's aunt Donna who lives in Minnesota. She was listening to the station and called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Then when Hope woke up she sang happy birthday to me. That was the best! Other great events of the day: nice cards from special people in my life, a visit at the office from Mark, Gail and little Hope H., great lunch with my friend David, and calls from my sister Jo, my Mom and Marsha, and new pictures of little Isaiah Daniel. He is SOOOOOOO cute!!!

Ya know what?? This next decade in my life is going to be the bomb!! I already love being 40. I truly am blessed. I know I don't deserve all these wonderful people in my life, Lord, but thank you for putting them here for me to enjoy. Help me to be a blessing to them as they are a blessing to me.

Now it's time for this old fart to go to bed! Old fart?? Nope!! Young 'un (as they'd say in Texas). Pictures of the weekend to come.

OH...one more really important thing: my Mom told me that Ali heard from Andrew! He's alive. YEAH!!! Well, not that we thought he wasn't alive, but I guess he's only allowed 1 phone call during bootcamp. It's probably a good thing she wasn't home when he called because the message said, "Mom, it's Andrew. If you're there, DON'T pick up the phone!" Can't they let a guy talk to his Mommy?? He wasn't very clear on the message so she couldn't understand his address. She's going to contact Andrew's recruiter. Hopefully he'll be able to get Andrew's address for us so we can bombard him with letters. I want to send him Packer articles from the paper since the Packers rock (at least so far this season). Go Pack, Go!!

Now it's good night!

He's here!! And so is SHE!!

Isaiah Daniel Spies was born on Wednesday, September 12 at 9:21am. He was 6 lbs, 8 oz and 20" long. He is an absolutely beautiful baby!! I'll post a picture or two as soon as I have Dawn and Dan's permission. It was a long and pretty tough labor/delivery for Dawn, but she's doing pretty well. I'm so excited that he's here and everyone is safe and sound. Last night as I was falling asleep I cried just thinking about what a miracle this baby is. Truly a blessing from God!! I know---every baby is a miracle and a blessing from God--but here is a couple who was told they'd never be able to have their own children. I guess it proves that God still knows more than doctors. Now I can't wait until November so I can go and see him (oh...and Dawn and Dan, too).

I had an unexpected visitor show up on my doorstep yesterday morning. Mark told me that he was going to his old gym in the Cities to work out. I thought it was odd that he was going so early in the morning. Well, a little while after he had left, the dogs started barking and the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was my best friend standing on the front landing...all the way from DALLAS!!! I couldn't believe it. Mark got her to fly up here and surprise me for my 40th birthday. What an awesome surprise!! We're having so much fun. Tomorrow will be tough because she has to go back home already. Maybe I could kidnap her!

Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!

So it appears that Dawn's labor is underway. At 2:30 this morning her contractions were about 15 minutes apart. She was letting Dan sleep while she snacked on toast and peanut butter. hehehe The contractions being 15 minutes apart doesn't mean you have to rush to the hospital so I guess they were going to sleep for a while (yeh, right...too much excitement!! Although after my water broke with Hope I took about a 45 minute soak in the tub at home and Mark managed to catch a few more zzzzzs before we headed to the hospital). Anyway, they were also going to install the car seat (probably a very good idea). So I'll keep you posted on what I know. It appears that Baby Spies could be making his arrival a few days earlier than anticipated, but still within good range to be born very healthy. Oh...but he's still a week early for my birthday. Dang it!! Say a prayer for Dawn, Dan and Baby Spies. I'm so excited!!! It almost makes me want to have another one. ALMOST!!

Happy News...Sad Goodbyes

First the happy news: I found out today that my friend Amy is pregnant with baby #2!! YEAH!!! I'm so excited for her and Matt. They have Heidi who is 18 months old and now they'll have another baby in May. The other fun news is that I found out today that my friend Andrea and her husband Bert are having a baby boy. Again, I guessed that one wrong. I think mostly I was hoping she was having a girl because I have these clothes that Hope wore when she was first born that are SOOOOO cute and I want to give them to a friend. No luck yet. My friend Kari from church just had a baby boy on Friday. Dawn is due any day and they are having a boy. Now Andrea is having a boy. C'mon!! Someone out there has to be having a girl. And NO!!! It's NOT going to be me. hehehe But I'm excited for Andrea and Bert. This is their first baby and they are going to be excellent parents. Mommy is well and baby is well and that's what's most important:) Hey...maybe my friend Marsha will have the next girl. (hint, hint, hint)

Now for the sad goodbyes. After the late service yesterday we headed to Stevens Point. I had to say goodbye to my nephew Andrew as he headed for Milwaukee today and heads to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX, for basic training tomorrow. As of tomorrow he will be the property of the United States Air Force. I'm going to miss him so much. He's like the son I'll never have. I was in the delivery room when he made his beautiful, grand entrance into this world (all 9lbs, 1 oz, 21 1/2 inches of him). I got up with him quite a few nights during his first 6 weeks of life so my sister could get some sleep (he fell right asleep watching the Home Shopping Network). I went with Andrew and Alison on his first day of Kindergarten (and I BAWLED all the way from Stevens Point to back to Downers Grove, IL). I taught him how to sing "I see London, I see France..." I taught him how to turn the volume up and down on the TV (and did that annoy a few people I know and love). I'm his Godmother. He's Hope's Godfather. He's such a great kid and I'm going to miss him dearly. So I've shed quite a few tears over the past few weeks just thinking about him starting on this new journey. And yet some of those tears have been tears of joy because I'm so very proud of him for making this decision to serve his country. Andrew's a smart kid. He could have gotten in to any college he wanted. Yet he chose this because he feels it is his calling. Lots of people have given him lots of advice about bmt (basic military trainging). I could offer him none. All I could do is hug him and let him know how much I love him, will miss him and how proud of him I am. He's going to do great. I know he will. I'm looking forward to seeing him once he gets settled at school after bmt. He'll be stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. It's a great deal for me because my friends Dawn and Dan are at the Navy base in Gulfport, MS, which is right next door to Biloxi. That means when I see Andrew I can see them (and baby Spies...who hasn't made his arrival yet) as well. Please say a prayer for Andrew...especially during these first few weeks. I'll keep you posted on what I hear. I'm sure I'll shed a few more tears in the next weeks, but Hope will be near me telling me as she has so many times in the past 24 hours: "Don't be sad, Mommy."

Ya know, I actually have FOUR awesome nephews and I'll post some things about them in the next few days. What I'm feeling about Andrew leaving is what I felt when Barry graduated from UW-Madison (GO BADGERS!) and left for his Peace Corp assignment in Benin, West Africa. I was so proud and yet he was going to be so far away and I missed him horribly. And I felt that way again when he decided to go to South Korea to teach. He's doing such great work, but selfishly I wish he lived in the States. And then Shane left for Marine Corp bootcamp. I heard horror stories about the Marines before he left and I was so worried about him. But he got through it with flying colors...and he actually said he liked it!!! Now that's about as crazy as me saying I love working with Jr. High students. What can I say?? We're gluttons for punishment. hehehe I was so proud of Shane and I knew he'd do well, but not knowing how often we'd get to see him and worrying that he'd be in danger just made me cry. Fortunately he got out of the service just before this whole mess in Iraq started. My other nephew, Jack, will be 2 in October and he's so blasted cute!! Yesterday he told me that he's dashingly handsome. LOL He and Hope have so much fun together.

So I've rambled. I just had to journal about how I'm feeling about Andrew right now. My best prayer right now is just "Lord, please be with Andrew." I wish he weren't flying to San Antonio tomorrow because it's 9/11. I've got an "icky" feeling about tomorrow simply because when 9/11 originally happened it was on a Tuesday. And tomorrow is Tuesday, 9/11. Again Lord, please keep Andrew safe.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Time for bed.

Kids really DO say the funniest things...

So on Wednesday Grammy was changing a very stinky diaper (on Hope, just to be clear) and Hope said, "What died in there?" I wish I could have been there to hear that one!! She got that from my nephew Jack the last time we saw them (about 3 weeks ago). Jack will be 2 in October.

On Monday morning I got up and made my world-famous (well, maybe not world famous, but if you've ever had them you'd probably agree they're pretty darned good) banana chocolate chip muffins. After Hope got up I put her in her high chair so she could have a muffin and some yogurt. Even though there was a little bit of muffin left on her tray, I could tell she was about done with breakfast so I went into the kitchen to get a wash cloth to wipe her up. While I was gone she threw the muffin pieces on the floor. Now this is something she does on a regular basis and we've talked to her many times about how that's not nice and she should just leave the food on her tray. So I went into my disciplinarian mode and said something like, "Hope, you know you're not supposed to throw your food on the floor. Do you know that's not a very nice thing to do?" She looked at me and, in her best Norwegian voice, said, "You betcha." From the loft I heard Mark say, "It's kinda hard to be upset with her when she does that kind of thing, huh?" I just laughed!! (By the way, Hope is VERY Norwegian since I'm a good part Norwegian and Mark is even more Norwegian than I am.) So Hope has the Scandanavian lingo down. Next she'll be talking about lefsa and stuff like that.

One more note: not only does Hope have the A-B-C song completely down pat (including the "Now I said my A-B-Cs" tag at the end), she's also been walking around singing the song with the SPANISH alphabet!! I have to say that she gets most of the letters right. I better order the Rosetta Stone "How to Speak Spanish" CDs and let her start listening to them. Actually, I should get the Italian ones so we can start practicing up for when I take her to Italy for her high school graduation! She'll catch on right away...it's me that needs the next 16 years to practice. LOL

Time to go back to sleep!!

Fun news...

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd make this a quick one.

Just got word that our log siding will be delivered on September 27th. YEAH!!! I can't wait to cover up the old, ugly cedar that's on the house now. The logs will look so beautiful. Since we're putting it up on our own, that means we'll need some hands that weekend to help. If you're available, just let us know. They're sending a rep from the company (suburb of the Twin Cities) to be there on our first day of siding in order to get us started. They usually don't do that because most of their customers are pretty far away, but since we're close by, they're adding that feature for free. I can't wait!!

The other good news is that Dawn and Dan are settling in down in Gulfport. Sounds like everyone is doing well. I can't believe how quickly her pregnancy has gone. Baby is in the perfect position, so it won't be long now. Her due date is in two weeks (Sept. 21), but I keep hoping the baby comes on the 18th. What a great 40th b-day gift for me!! Here's a picture of my beautiful pregnant friend: (hopefully she won't mind that I posted it on my blog)

I'm back...

Well, I'm back from a very emotional trip to Georgia. It was nice to be there to share this time with Jan and with Jennifer. We visited Ryan's grave and the accident site and put flowers at both sites. So, so sad. When I visited the accident site I couldn't help wondering what Ryan was thinking in those seconds between the time he lost control of the truck and the time he died. I guess the comfort, if you want to call it that, is that Ryan didn't suffer. Everything happened really quickly. And I got to meet (and hold, of course) Ryan's son that he'll never have a chance to hold. Noah Ryan Donkersgoed is such a cutie. He was born 3 weeks early, so he's little. He weighed 6 lbs when he was born and came out of the hospital weighing 5 lbs, 12 oz. Even then he was just a few ounces bigger than Hope was when she was born...and a pound bigger than Hope was at her lowest weight (4 lbs 13 oz). As I held Noah I couldn't believe that Hope was ever that little. I think Jennifer is doing as well as can be expected, but I don't think it's really hit her yet. I don't think she realizes what she has ahead of her. Maybe that's OK. Maybe that's survival mode. Maybe none of us really realizes what lies ahead of us...and maybe that's for the best. There's one lesson I really came home with from this trip: don't take ANYONE in your life for granted. In a matter of seconds they could be taken away from you. So love them, even with their faults.

On a more pleasant note, I got an email from Dawn today. YEAH!!! She left River Falls a couple of weeks ago and I miss her terribly! She's due with Baby Spies a month from today (although she's going to have him on Sept 18...my 40th birthday). Dan is now officially a Navy chaplain and his job is going well. I was just so happy to hear from her and know that they traveled from New Port, RI, to Gulfport, MS, safely and they're doing well.

Saturday was Mark's 47th birthday. We had a good day despite the rain. We went to Red Wing to check on a car and then we headed to Wabasha (MN) to the National Eagle Center. Hope got her picture taken with a bald eagle named Angel. If you saw the picture you'd think that maybe Mark was having more fun than Hope was. At the end of the day we ended up eating supper at Mariachi Loco (the Mexican restaurant in River Falls which is DELICIOUS!!). When we pulled into the parking lot Hope's eyes got big, she clenched her fists and said, "I'm excited! I'm excited!!" hehehe She loves eating there and was so happy we were going to have supper there. LOL I ate a lot of Mexican food while I was pregnant with her, so even the salsa doesn't bother her.

Thanks for checking in on the Brue family!

Up, up and away...

Hi everyone!!
Well, tomorrow I leave with our friend Jan to head to Georgia for a few days to visit her new Grandson. Noah Ryan Donkersgoed was born on August 1. Noah is the son of Jan's son Ryan. You might remember from earlier posts that Ryan was killed in a vehicle accident in Georgia on July 2. So this trip will be bittersweet: always wonderful to see a new baby, but the sadness of what's happened recently , knowing that this baby will never know his father, will be the bitter part. Scott and Jan asked if I'd go down with Jan since Scott can't get off of work. I'm happy to help in any way I can. So please say a prayer or two: for safe travel to and from, for the right words to say to Jennifer (Ryan's widow), that Mark does OK with Hope for the next 5 days (I'm sure he'll do just fine), that Hope does OK without Mommy for the next 5 days...and that Mommy does OK without Hope for the next 5 days. I'm going to miss her so much. I've already started crying! I think there's only been once in her 2 years of life that I haven't been with her overnight.

While I'm in Georgia I'm hoping to see my best friend from college. She lives in Augusta...just about a mile away from "THEE" golf course. Mark is envious. Maybe I should go golfing:) I should take the GPS with me so I can do some geocaching. We'll see.

It'll be a while before I post again. Enjoy these last days of summer. I don't even want to think about that!

Urgent prayer requests

Hey again everyone...
By now I'm sure you've seen the news. The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis that crosses the Mississippi River between University and Washington has collapsed. It's devestating! I had a scare when this first happened because Mark was headed into the Cities today. Since he stopped working at the Thrivent (it'll always be Lutheran Brotherhood to us)home office in Minneapolis, we rarely have reason to go over that bridge, so I knew chances were that he wasn't on the bridge. Yet, I also knew that he was planning to go work out at his old club which is in that general vacinity, so I had a little cause for worry. My husband is great about carrying his cell phone with him. However, he's TERRIBLE about actually turning the dang thing on!!! So I tried and tried and tried to reach him, but each time got voicemail...until I was getting busy messages because everyone else in the Twin Cities was on their cells, checking to see if loved ones were safe. Mark's Mom called to see if I had heard what happened and I told her that Mark was headed to the Cities and I hadn't heard from him. Then MY Mom called (she lives 3 hours from us) because she had seen the news on CNN. I told her that I hadn't heard from Mark. Of course we all prayed. Hope and I were getting to bed and Mark came home. I just started crying because he was OK. He had been listening to the Brewers game on the radio so had NO idea what had happened. First I hugged him because I was so happy he was OK. Then I wanted to hit him for not having his cell on. Anyway...please say prayers for those involved in this tragedy. It's just aweful. That bridge is the main North and South artery in and out of Minneapolis. There's always the chance that we know someone who was on the bridge. Right now they're saying there are 7 confirmed dead. I'm sure that number will rise dramatically over night. The news here is reporting that rescue workers are pretty much saying it's now turned into a recovery mission. So, so sad.

The other prayer request I have for you is for my sister Alison and her son (my nephew, of course) Andrew. They leave bright and early (I think their plane leaves the Mosinee airport at like 6am...UGH!!) tomorrow morning for their long weekend in New York City. I'm so excited and, frankly, a bit jealous. They asked me if I wanted to go. Of course!! But then reality sank in and I knew I couldn't be away from Hope for that long. So I said no. This is Andrew's graduation gift from Ali and John and it's fabulous. My plan is to take Hope to Italy for her high school graduation...but if we can't afford that, then New York City would be a great alternative. I haven't been there since 1997, so I'm due for a trip back East. Anyway...please pray for safe travel and a safe trip for them. I didn't even give it a second thought until this whole bridge thing tonight. This has been a wake up call for me. I realize that truly none of us knows when tragedy will strike. I take so much for granted. So please pray for my sis and nephew. They are going to have so much fun and I can't wait to see the pictures!! They're staying at a hotel on Broadway!! So, so cool and what a special time for them to spend together before Andrew starts his service in the USAF.

One more thing: although this whole bridge tragedy has made me once again realize how precious life is and that I take too many things for granted, I also know that we can't live our lives in constant fear. I'm sure there might be some who will not ever want to go over a bridge again in their lives. Trust me, when this happened tonight I swore that I'd never go to Minnesota again because the only way to get there from where we live is over a big bridge. But ya know what?? That's where faith comes in. You just live your life the very best you can, striving to be all that God wants you to be, and you just go with the flow. I don't want to live all cocooned up in my house in fear. Will I think about what happened tonight every time I go over a bridge in the future? Probably. But that's life. And there's no guarantee in life.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. And mostly, thanks for the prayers! I'll let you know how things are going.

A bit of humor for today

Hi everyone!
Normally I don't pay much attention to the forwarded emails I get in my email box, but for some reason today I read one that my friend David sent to me. I'm so glad I did. I don't know if it's because I'm in a punchy mood or if because these things are truly funny, but whatever the reason, I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I was reading these things a few minutes ago. Enjoy!!


Best "Out of Office" Automatic e-mail Replies:

1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if Ifail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

3. Sorry to have missed you, but I am at the doctor's having my brain and heart removed so I can be promoted to our management team.

4. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

5. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

6. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over.)

7. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

8. Hi, I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

9. I've run away to join a different circus.

10.I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as 'Lucille' instead of David.

And by the way...

Happy, Happy 36th birthday to my little sister, Alison!! We love you, Ali!!

Updated pictures

Hey everyone...
There will not be many words to this post. Mostly pictures. I've got lots of pictures to post of Hope's swimming lessons, birthday parties, etc.

Mark was sick this weekend and at 3am on Monday morning Hope thught she'd get sick, too. She threw up for a few hours and now it's coming from the other end. Hoepfully she'll get better by this weekend. We're supposed to be heading to Stevens Point for my Mom's SURPRISE birthday party....however, I found out last night that it's no longer a surprise. Apparently a couple of people sent her
Happy 70th Birthday cards and my Mom asked Alison why those people would know she was turning 70. Well, Ali lied as best as she could, but she's not a good liar (I guess that's a good thing...but never take her to Vegas with you. hehehe). So Mom knows now. There will still be plenty of surprises though:)

So...here is a slide show of Hope from this summer. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday to Hope!

Yep. Today's the day. Our little girl turned 2 today. We had such an awesome day with her. The day started by me making banana pancakes for breakfast. She loved them! Then Hope and I went to my piano student's house for a weekly lesson. They gave her the cutest pair of jeans and shirt. So sweet. Then we stopped at the hospital to give Dr. Hallman a little birthday cake (a tradition with us since he helped bring Hope into this world...well, kinda). He wasn't there:( We got home and shortly after we got home our friends Matt, Amy and Heidi came to visit. It was so good to see them again. Hope had a hard time sharing her toys with Heidi at first (Heidi is 18 months old). But she got the hang of it after a while (THANK GOD). Our friend Dawn came over to celebrate, too. We had lunch and then while Hope was napping, Dawn, Amy, Heidi and I headed to Woodbury to go to the Carter's store. Of course I saw some cute things there and had to buy them for Hope. We got back home and had the DQ ice cream cake that Mark had picked up. YUMMY!!! It had Cookie Monster on it. Hope LOVED it!! After our friends left we got ready for our last swimming lesson. We had a great time playing with all the water toys. When lessons were done we handed out cookies to the kids in Hope's class so they could celebrate her birthday with us. Oh...Grammy and Papa surprised us and showed up at Hope's lesson. She was so excited! After the lesson we ate our picnic supper at the park and played on the playground. Hope had such a great time. She's going down the slides all by herself now...just like a big girl. We ended our day by watching Mark ref some college girls basketball games. Oh...and the River Falls Police Department gave ME a gift for Hope's birthday: a warning and not a ticket for speeding. YIKES!!! Now those of you who know me KNOW I tend to have a little bit of a heavy foot, but I can honestly say that I always watch my speed in town. I guess I wasn't watching today, but I truly thought I was. I didn't even shake or anything when he pulled me over because I thought it was a mistake on his part. Anyway, the officer was VERY nice to me. I told him that even if he had given me a ticket I would have said the same thing. He was just really a nice guy. After he handed me the warning I said, "Here's the funny thing about this. I'm on my way to the high school to watch my husband ref some basketball games. Tonight his reffing partner is Jeff Linehan." He just smiled. You see, Jeff Linehan is the head of the River Falls Police Department. hehehe

So it was a good day for MANY reasons today. I've decided that of all the days of the year, July 19 is my very favorite day. We just have such a wonderful time making Hope's birthday as special as we can. We must have done a good job because as she was falling asleep tonight she was saying things like, "My birthday" and "Cookie Monster." Her party is on Saturday and that will be a fun time. LOW KEY this year compared to the huge 1st birthday party she had.

Now the reflective part: I can't believe that two years ago right now I was so tired that I wanted to sleep, but couldn't because the adrenaline was pumping. I was also excited, waiting for the first time the nurse would bring Hope into my room so I could nurse her. I wanted to hold her all night long, but I knew I desperately needed to get some sleep. Two years later it's the same thing: I so want to hold her all night long (which is probably why she still sleeps in bed with us), but I know I have to get some sleep. I thought that July 19, 2005 was the day that God blessed us the most. Little did I know that that was just the beginning of the blessings with our daughter. She is such a joy, such a blessing. You Moms out there know how your heart just swells with love, joy, pride, etc, and then your eyes swell with tears of those same feelings. We have an amazing little girl. It's hard to believe how much she's grown in two years: from the 5 lb, 10oz baby (4 lbs, 13oz when she came home from the hospital) who slipped out of me like a little seal to this little girl who is speaking in complete sentences and who is quickly losing even her "toddler-ness." Please don't let her grow up too fast, Lord. She's the only one we'll ever have. Thank you, God, for this precious gift that you've given to us. Help us be the best parents we can be. Help us be able to provide Hope with all that she needs to be a happy little girl. Please keep her safe as she grows. Amen!

Now it's time to crawl up next to my baby (she'll always be my baby), and go to sleep. Mark will probably post his thoughts about today sometime tomorrow. And we'll post pictures from today, too.

Let's try something new...

So our friends Ron and Beth have been doing this slide show thing on their blog for a long time now. I thought it was time I did the same. So here's my first attempt. Thanks to Grammy and Papa for the pictures. Enjoy!

Feelings

Feelings are important. What's even more important is learning how to express your feelings in a positive way. Grammy took a class about Grandparents as child care providers a few weeks ago at UW-Madison. One of the topics they discussed in the class is teaching children how to express their feelings. So we started working with Hope. It has helped a lot. Now instead of just screaming when she's upset, she'll actually say, "I'm mad" or "I'm sad." Until today, those two were the only feelings she'd really express (sometimes, if we're lucky and with a little coaxing, she'll say "I'm happy"). Well, Grammy just called me to tell me what the latest feeling is that she's expressing. "I'm frustrated." hehehe Now I'm not laughing that Hope was frustrated about something. I'm laughing because here she is, not even two yet, and she can clearly say the phrase, "I'm frustrated." AND she knows what it means. She totally used it in context. Grammy had cleaned out some little bottles (like the plastic spice bottles) and given them to Hope to play with (she likes to pretend she's making muffins, coffee and soup, so the spice bottles are perfect for her to play with). She was having trouble getting the tops on and off and out of the blue, with no coaxing from Grammy or Papa (she was playing by herself while Grammy was fixing lunch) she said, "I'm frustrated." With that she threw the bottle and the cover on the floor. Now that part I'm not crazy about, but at least she can express herself. Now we can start working on how to handle those feelings. Now the fact that she knows that word is a bit scary though. That means that Mark and I must use the word a lot, which means we must be frustrated alot. We've gotta work on that.

Other news: swimming lessons are going, well, swimmingly! Hope is having a great time. The first night was perfect because it was nice and warm and sunny. Last night I got in the pool with Hope and it was freezing! Poor thing was shivering when we got out of the water. Tonight is going to be about the same as last night. Thankfully the lessons are only 30 minutes. Of course we'd have to take lessons during the summer cold front. UGH!! Now I'M frustrated. hehehe Maybe next week will be warmer. Anyway...Hope did NOT want to have anything to do with floating on her back on the first night, but last night went much better. She did great! And she's learning how to jump into the water (into our arms, of course) from the side of the pool. Oh, and one of her swim instructors has the "camp" name Cockroach. He told us that when he introduced himself on Monday night. So his name was said once. Last night we got to lessons and Mark asked Hope what her teacher's name was. She looked at the teacher and said, "Cockroach." We couldn't believe it!! He was amazed, too, that she remembered that from the night before. Of course then we had to get her to tell him what her favorite geometric shape is. hehehe

Tomorrow starts River Falls Days. FUN!! Lots of garage sales to check out and the great parade on Friday night. Hope and I will have to go to the parade by ourselves as Mark will be in Madison helping Brian move into his new house. He'll be back on Saturday night and then we'll go to Ryan's memorial service on Sunday afternoon. I'm still in shock about Ryan's death. It doesn't seem real.

And ya know how they say bad things come in 3's? Well, I got the notice of the third death yesterday. A wonderful man from the church I worked at in Dallas died on Sunday. Gene Friesen and his wife Glenna are just so nice and always were supporters of me while I was in Dallas. Gene has been sick for quite a while, so even though we will miss him, he is healthy, whole and with Jesus now.

Mark gave me an option of how I'd like to celebrate my 40th birthday. I know what I'm going to choose, but I'd like to know what you'd choose, so leave your comments. I can either have a big birthday bash that would be catered by Mariachi Loco (my favorite Mexican restaurant in Wisconsin), or we can go on a surprise trip. Now I'm not so sure I like the surprise part of that (simply because I like to plan), but I do like the trip part of that. Anyway...I'm going with the trip. I'm thinking Door County (if you don't know about Door County, you've got to Google it and check it out), Galena, or maybe even a road trip to Kansas City...but only if my friends Marsha and Jeff (and maybe even Pam and John??) would meet us there for a weekend.

OK...time to hang this random blog up. Hey...I need to copy a DVD. Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, etc?? If you have access to this type of technology, let me know please. The sooner I can get it done, the better. Being the cheapskate that I am, I really don't want to pay much for it. I'm looking to make copies of the DVD that the funeral home in Hartwell, GA, made of Ryan's life. Anyway, if you have ideas, please let me know.

Have a great Wednesday!

PS...I'll post pictures of Hope swimming soon.