A trip around the world??

My friend Lloyd is a musician. He belongs to an awesome Christian band called Echelon and he also does solo stuff. Hope's favorite CD right now is Echelon's latest CD. One of the songs on that CD has a chorus that goes like this: "You, giver of life, maker of all things made that have been made. Oh I could go 'round the world and find nothing better to do than worshiping you, Lord." It's a great song with great music and great words. Well, Hope knows the words and we sing it every day. Tonight as she was finishing supper I was singing the song to her. A few minutes later, here was the conversation:
Hope: Mommy?
Mommy: Yes, Hope?
Hope: Can I go around the world with you some day?
Mommy (melting inside): Yes, Hope. That would be really nice. Where would you like to go first?
Hope: First to the farm to see Baby Reddy. Then to the playground. Then around the world.

I just smiled and gave her the biggest hug. I just thought that was so precious!!

What a great weekend

Both Mark and I actually had four days off this weekend, so it's been a really nice weekend. The weather mostly cooperated (say a prayer for those whose lives have been changed by the tornado in Hugo...a suburb of St. Paul, MN) and we were able to be outside a lot. Due to the fact that I'm going to try to be in bed by 10pm (WHAT???), I'll keep it brief. We got to go geocaching THREE TIMES this weekend. We found a total of 6 caches. Fun!! The first day, Mark had a woodtick on his ear. Today I came home with THREE of them. I still have the creepy crawlies, so I think I need to take a shower before I go to bed. We also went to a couple of graduation parties, the farm a couple of times, Como Zoo (where Hope went on a carousel for the very first time. She was a bit freaked out by it, but she made it through and I think it'll be easier next time), and to our friend's Scott and Jan's house tonight for an impromptu picnic.

I didn't get anything done in the garden or in the house, but it was worth it. We spent lots of time together and it was great. I just wish it could always be like this...but work calls tomorrow.

With that, I'm off to get the creepy crawlies off and hit the hay. Please remember all those who have given their lives for our country as well as those men and women currently serving in our military. Today we're saying a special prayer for my nephew Andrew who most of you know is serving the US Air Force in Germany.

Heartbreaking news

I just read something heartbreaking on line. Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman (one of my all-time favorites) and his wife experienced something horrible on Wed. night. Their 5 year old daughter was killed in a car accident in their driveway. Maria was their youngest daughter and they had adopted her from China. Here's a link to the article. Please keep this family in your prayers. http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

House update

Well, the showing went well yesterday morning. The couple just did a quick look through, but I sensed it was fairly positive. The wife LOVED it (except she walked into the kitchen and said, "This is it?" I have the same reaction and I've lived there for 6 years). She was really impressed with all the storage areas (there are lots) and she was REALLY impressed with the fact that the house has two bedrooms and two FULL bathrooms on the main level. I wasn't sure if the stairs up to the loft and down to the basement (the husband has a bad left knee) or the small kitchen would be a deal breaker or not. Apparently they weren't because the husband called us around 6:00 last night to talk price. He did mention that the stairs were a bit of an issue, but that they were still interested. I handed the phone to Mark so they could talk about the price. Mark told him what we were going to list the house for and he didn't laugh or anything like that. He said they'd talk about it and get back to us. Now the story takes another interesting turn. We are set up with Keller Williams Realty for email housing alerts. We set up the criteria we're looking for in house (number of bedrooms, price, square footage, etc) and when something matches our criteria, then send us an email. Well, there's a house in River Falls that I walked through that I absolutely LOVE!! It's currently owned by a couple with two young girls. I know them because they're members of the church I worked at in River Falls and were involved with the children's ministry there. The house is PERFECT for us. Today we got an updated listing from KW and that house just dropped in price by $10,000. It's on the outer end of our price range, but if we can talk them down just a little more and if we can get the price we're hoping to get for our house, it would be so great. BUT...Mark and I did talk about how we love the location of our current home and how hard it is going to be to move from there. We talked about doing a really good add-on job which would mean adding two new rooms (an office for Mark and a guest bedroom) and the kitchen of my dreams. That would probably mean adding a 1/2 bath or 3/4 bath, too. The more I think about it, the more I think the cost would be way too high for us to do that. We'll see. We'll pray. There's also a house in Baldwin (right across the street from our friends Ron, Beth and Hope...hi guys!!) that I've been keeping my eye on. It also went down in price by $8,500. The new price on that one is $161,400. TOTALLY do-able for us for sure. So we'll see what ends up happening. Oh...the house in River Falls is just a block away from the Elementary school where Hope would go. It's also two doors down from a very good friend of mine.

More exciting news for us: we officially have a potty trained 2 year old. WooHoo!!! I know there will be accidents from time to time, but she really has this potty thing down-pat. She's even wearing big-girl panties now. This was a long road. Everyone kept telling me that one day it would just click for her. I started doubting that. They were right though. YEAH!!!

That's it for now. Time to get ready for my elementary aged kids that are coming in just 45 miutes. It's the last Kids Club of the school year. I love them, but I'm ready for summer to be here.

More to come on the housing situation....

Quick prayer request

I have a quick prayer request for everyone. The request: that the showing of our house tomorrow morning is successful. The background: There is this (older) couple that used to be members of the church I worked at in River Falls (they became "un-members" because of the Sr. Pastor's crap) who are our neighbors (they live around the corner). When the wife (we'll call her Jane) heard from her beautician that I was leaving Ezekiel and would be working for a church in Baldwin she called me to let me know that they were interested in buying our house. They were assuming we'd be moving to Baldwin. I let her know that we were not going to be moving to Baldwin, but staying in our house. Then a year ago (we were actually out for our anniversary dinner) we ran into them at a restaurant in town and they again let us know that if we were ever interested in putting the house on the market we should contact them before we sign a contract with a realtor. So Mark called them on Saturday. He talked to the man (we'll call him John) and I guess he didn't sound that interested, but he said he'd talk to his wife (they had company at the time, so it could have been that they were just busy and didn't have time to talk at the time). Well "Jane" called this morning and is really excited about seeing the house. They're coming over tomorrow morning at 10:45. Mark and I will be working like crazy tonight and tomorrow morning to get the house "packed away" so it doesn't look so cluttery. Mark also called the carpet cleaner and she's at our house even as I type, getting the carpets nice and clean. I'm so hoping this couple will buy our house. I think we can probably come to an agreement on the price (without having to pay a realtor we'd be able to take a little less of an offer than we'd have to otherwise). They've been in the house before (in the 70s when it was first built....and we've done a LOT of work in the house since that time). It would be a perfect house for them. Plenty of room for a retired couple. BEAUTIFUL view out the back (I'm going to miss that). Bathroom and bedroom on the same floor (I guess they don't have that in their current location). So if you could say a prayer, that would be appreciated. It would also mean being able to seriously start looking for our next home. YEAH!!! I'll keep you posted...

I'm so proud of my sister in law!

Today was mine and Mark's (is that correct grammar??) 6th wedding anniversary. We've been through so much stuff since we got married...most of it pretty tough. My weight loss surgery just two weeks before we got married (Yep...I just celebrated my 6th anniversary for that, too...and I have to get serious about this whole thing again, but that's a topic for another day), Mark losing his job of 17 years at Lutheran Brotherhood due to the merger with AAL, Mark's hip surgery, job stresses for me at Ezekiel, more job stuff with Mark, a miscarriage, the birth of Hope (that's been a GREAT thing, just so you know), a job change for me (that's been a great thing, too), parents getting older, and now trying to sell a house and figure out where we want to live. Anyway, there have been great vacations, great friends, time with our wonderful families, the ability to be able to do lots of updates on our house, great views from the back deck of our house and watching Hope grow up in those years, too. So for our anniversary today Mark's parents came and babysat for Hope after Andy's (Mark's nephew) confirmation party. Guess what we did??? We went to IKEA!!! LOL How romantic is that?? Well, it wasn't romantic, but it was fun. I love that store. I think Mark has grown to tolerate it. Then we went out to eat and headed home. On the way home we stopped at Mark's sister's (Cheryl) house to drop off Andy's confirmation gift. Cheryl shared some really incredible news with me: she was nominated as one of the contenders for Teacher of the Year in the Hudson School District. It's an awesome school district, so just to be nominated is a huge honor. Well, she WON!!! Cheryl teaches 1st grade and is an incredible teacher, so she is very deserving of this award. So here's kudos for my sister in law!! YEAH CHERYL!!!

I have much more to say, but I've got a headache the size of Cleveland and I have an 8:40 doctor's appointment in the morning, so it's time to go to bed. Until later...

Lots of things...

So many things have happened since my last post. I know I'll probably forget something, but I'll try to get it all in and not be TOO long winded (hahaha).

Hope and I attended my friend Rachael's funeral on Thursday morning. So sad and yet so hopeful. It was truly a beautiful service. The pastor (who I know from when I was part of the River Falls ministerium) did an awesome job. Just incredible. The church was PACKED!! What a testiment to what an amazing person Rachael was. She touched the lives of everyone she met. My favorite part of the funeral (that sounds kinda weird, doesn't it??) and the part that made me cry the most was towards the end. The congregation sang "Awesome God." That was one of Rachael's favorite songs. Well, it's one of Hope's favorite songs, too, and she belted it out from the back row...hands raised and everything. It was such a special moment. I thanked God for my precious little girl and her love for God.

That afternoon Hope and I went to a local coffee shop to see Dawn, Dan and Isaiah. After 9 long months of not seeing them, it was so nice to give them hugs. And their little guy is SOOOOOO cute!! He is just perfect. I didn't get to spend any one on one time with Dawn, which I was really hoping for, but there were many in town who wanted to see her, so I had to share. And that was OK. Friday we headed to Como Zoo (we being me, Hope, Andrea, Wyatt, Elise and Hannah) to meet Dawn, Dan, Isaiah and Dan's parents for the day. It was a perfect day for the zoo and we had a great time. After the zoo was lunch...which gave the Mom's (all of us first time Mom's with kids ranging in ages from almost 3 to 3 months) time to chat about Motherhood. It was great!! I had a few tears in my eyes when I said goodbye to Dawn. I loved seeing her, but it just made me realize how much I truly miss her. Friday night found us on our way to Dresser, WI, to the Trap Rock Inn. It's a little hole in the wall that most people would drive right by, but they have an excellent fish fry on Friday night, so we headed there to meet Mark's Aunt Donna and Uncle Ken for supper. We had a great time with them. Hope absolutely LOVES them (and so do I, by the way) and it's always fun to get together with them.

Saturday we had a plant sale at church for the youth group. It ended up being the "send Jake Myer to the National Youth Gathering in 2009" sale because Jake and his family were the only ones (besides me) to show up!!! That's all I'm going to say about that because I'm a little ticked off about that. BUT...I got to spend quite a few hours with the Myer family that day and that was awesome. They are great people!!

And that brings me to today...Mother's Day. This is my 3rd Mother's Day as a Mommy and I'm so incredibly blessed to have Hope Christiana as my daughter. It's really true what they say about your children: they are your heart walking around outside your body. I just look at her and melt. She is such a loving, smart, beautiful little girl and sometimes I just can't believe she's ours. After church we had lunch with Mark's Mom and Dad. Hope gave Grammy a beautiful porcelain miniature tea set (for two). Mark's Mom collects tea pots AND they have a tea party every day at Grammy and Papa's, so I thought this would be a perfect gift. Plus when it's handed down to Hope she'll have some wonderful memories of using the tea set with her Grandmother. After lunch Mark took Hope and told me he had something to do...so they'd meet me at home. So I got home and had a chance to chill a little. NICE!!! They got home and I got the best Mother's Day gift I have ever gotten: a beautiful hand drawn picture of Hope. It made me cry. The artist said that Hope was the most beautiful little girl he's ever drawn. OK...so I know he probably tells every parent the same thing, but I'm going with it!! I can't wait to get it framed and on the wall. Hope was really good sitting for the picture and told me all about Tom (the artist) when she got home. I'm glad we got a picture of Hope with her long hair because she's getting it cut short on Friday. I'm having a little bit of a hard time with cutting all that beautiful hair, but I know it's best. She's not a ponytail girl at all and it keeps getting in her face and her food. My sister is cutting her hair so I know it'll look super-cute. After I got my picture from Mark and Hope, it was time for Hope and Mommy to head to the farm. We struck gold at the farm today because it was feeding time for the calves when we arrived. Hope got to give Reddy (her favorite calf) a bucket of milk AND she got to help farmer Allison give a 1 day old calf a bottle of milk. She was in 7th Heaven!! Of course I didn't have my camera today. UGH!!!! We got home and went out for supper. Now Hope and Mark are asleep and I'm not too far behind. Before I forget: Mark also got me Lincoln Brewster CD (I love it!!!) and a beautiful hibiscus tree for Mother's Day. Now if it would warm up enough to put the tree outside, that'd be good!

So that should pretty much catch everyone up. Today was the last day of Sunday School and although I dearly love each and every one of "my kids," I'm looking forward to the break that is Summer vacation!! Wed. is the last night of confirmation and the following Wed. is the last Kid's Club of the school year. June 1 I go down to 20 hrs/wk for the summer and I'm looking forward to that. I love my job, but I love summer, too!

Here are some pictures that I hope you enjoy...

A close up of the picture I received as a Mother's Day gift today.

Here's the whole picture. Isn't it beautiful??

Hope B and Hope H: a day on the farm

The Brue family at the farm on a very windy day.

Hope petting "Baby Reddy" (her name for the calf because of her reddish color).

Hope with Dawn on our trip to Como Zoo.

Mommy and Hope at the coffee shop.

My friend Rachael...

Do you know how you meet someone, maybe even just once, but you feel a connection to them immediately?? You share a similar experience and it just bonds you. Well, that's how it was with my friend Rachael. I think I have already posted about how I met Rachael and her husband Isaac, but I need to post it again. Last June we had a garage sale in which we sold all of Hope's baby things (with the exception of a few sentimental favorite things). This young couple came and as they were looking at things to buy we just started talking and one thing led to another. Rachael shared that she had lost a baby at birth. I shared that I had had a miscarriage at 6 weeks (totally not the same thing as what Rachael and Isaac had to go through, but still pain). Rachael and Isaac were so full of life. So full of hope. And they were pregnant and due in October. They had Mikayla in mid October and she is absolutely beautiful!!! The day before Rachael had Makayla, she noticed a lump under her arm. Being a new Mom, she got busy with her daughter and didn't get around to getting that lump checked until a couple of months later. By that time the news was pretty bad...and it kept getting worse. They had started out at the hospital in Stillwater, MN, but quickly moved to Mayo. They tried everything they could, but they finally said that there was nothing left to do and gave her about 3-6 months to live. Isaac took Rachael home and cared for her the very best he could. A week or so ago they moved her to the hospital in Stillwater. They moved Rachael on Friday from the hospital to the hospice facility in Stillwater. I just found out through Rachael's Caring Bridge site that she went to be with Jesus this afternoon. I knew it was going to be soon, and I know she's not suffering anymore, but this really stinks. So the doctors at Mayo gave her 3-6 months, but I don't even think it was a month ago that they told her that. It went really quickly. I just can't imagine being Isaac or Makayla right now. Thank you for your prayers for that family. If you could keep praying for them, but just re-focus your prayers for strength and comfort for the family, I'd really appreciate it...and I know they would, too. Also, Isaac is self-employed. He's an awesome computer technician. He was over a few weeks ago and did what he could for our really lame desktop (thank God I have this laptop that my friend David upgraded for me). If you need any computer work done, I would be more than happy to put you in touch with Isaac.

Another prayer request: my Mom will be having shoulder surgery on June 5th. This is something she's been dealing with all winter. It is a result of a fall she took some time in November or December. It was snowing and her landlords hadn't come over to plow the parking lot yet. She was walking from her apartment to her garage and there was a patch of ice under the snow and down she went. She's been doing PT all winter and it hasn't gotten any better. The doctors finally said that surgery was going to be the only thing to help the pain. Mom will also be moving sometime later this summer or early fall, so that's another prayer request for her. That she enjoys her new apartment. I think she will. I believe it's a senior citizen type of apartment. It'll be nice for her to be around people her age. My Mom is 70, but a really young 70, but the apartment that she's been living in for the last 9 years has a few noisy younger people, so this will be a good move for her.

On a good note, we had an awesome day today!!! Our friends Beth, Ron and Hope came down from Baldwin and we had lunch together and then headed to the University Farm. Oh my goodness!!! You should have seen the two Hope's together. SOOOOO cute!!! They walked hand in hand, they chased each other around, they laughed. It was just so precious. I have some pictures, but the USB cord I need to get my pictures from my camera to my laptop is upstairs in the loft, directly above where Mark is trying to get Hope to sleep. The floor is really squeeky up there, so I'm not going to attempt to get the cord. Pictures will follow soon.

Thanks again for your prayers for the Grover family.

My new venture is official!

For those of you who read the last post, I hope I didn't make too big of a deal with the new venture I've taken on. I'm pretty excited about it, but I realize it won't be a big deal to everyone. I am proud to say that I am now an official Usborne Books consultant. A friend of mine from Maryland recently became a consultant and when I read that there is no monthly quota or anything like that---that I can do as much or as little as I'd like--I thought I'd go for it. I've been familiar with Usborne Books for quite a while, so I know the books are really great. It will allow me to bring in a little extra income and get fabulous books for Hope. Who can't use both of those things?? Here's my website so you can check it out. If there's anything there that interests you, just let me know. http://www.ubah.com/ecommerce/main.asp?sid=V2449&gid=49537862 I should be getting my starter kit within the next few days and then I'll be ready to set up shows: either home shows or e-shows. It's a great way to earn free books for your children, grandchildren, church, etc.

I'd love to share a picture with you. This is my friend Kim that many of you have been praying for. Kim is truly one of the most upbeat, positive, inspiring people that I know. This is round 2 of cancer for her and her attitude is just beautiful. I know she's going to beat this horrible disease. With all the prayers daily being lifted up for her and her incredible desire to live, there's no other option but to beat it and win. A couple of weeks ago a benefit called "A Celebration of Hope" was held for her. I wrote about it a few posts back. This was the picture that Kim's husband John took of the two of us. It's one of my favorites. I'm so glad she sent it to me.

Isn't Kim beautiful???

Global Temperature Warming???

I don't think so!!!! Do you know that one of the weather guys in town is predicting rain and SNOW showers for this weekend!!! The high for tomorrow is supposed to be a whopping 45!! This is crazy. It's May 1st for God's sake!!!

Now on to some good news: I took Hope to daycare today. This was day #4 (I can't believe we've been doing this for a month already). All week she's been asking, "Mommy, can I go to Kaitlin's house on Thursday?" So she's been excited about it instead of dreading it like the past few weeks. Then she'd ask me, "And Mommy, can I hold you for a couple of minutes when we get to Kaitlin's house?" (NOTE: when Hope wants me to hold her she says, "I want to hold you." I haven't corrected her because I think it's so cute.) So today I held her for a couple of minutes when we got to Kaitlin's house, set her down to take off her shoes, stood up and she said, "Mommy, you go to work now." She gave me a kiss and off she went to play with AJ and Brandon. How cool is that??? That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it was going to. Our little girl is growing up. And she truly IS literally growing UP. I put another pair of pants on her today and they're too short. Same thing happened yesterday. So Beth...we have at least two more pairs of pants (and a shirt) to bring you for your Hope.

Other news on the home front: we're still going back and forth about where is the best place for us to settle when we get the house sold. We'd prefer to stay in River Falls because we just like the place, but it makes more sense really to move to Baldwin. That would give me a lot more time and save a ton of money on gas. We just keep going back and forth about it. Mark is hesitant about Baldwin because it's the town where he grew up. Some people love living in the town they were born and raised in and others don't. I know I wouldn't move back to Adams-Friendship if they paid me. So I can understand where he's coming from. It's just that my job is in Baldwin and so are Mark's parents (who watch Hope), so it just makes sense. I'm still trying to convince Mark that moving to Texas where it's warm and sunny year-round is the route we should go!! hehehe I'm actually only half joking about that. I have felt a real pull to get back to Dallas lately. I know our families are here and that's ultimately what will keep us in this place, but I'm feeling really lonely for my friends down there, the church that I worked at, and the sun & warmth that's almost always there. Maybe I just need to go down there and visit and that'll take care of my longing to be there for a while.

One more fun thing that happened today: I dropped Hope off this morning and realized I had forgotten my purse at home, so I drove back to River Falls to get it (that was NOT the fun thing that happened. I was actually pretty ticked off because I'm just not feeling well today and didn't want to have to do that). But I got home and Mark was on the phone with his Mom. He gave me the phone and she had a great offer for us. Mark's nephew Andy gets confirmed on May 18th which also happens to be our 6th wedding anniversary. Mark's parents talked about it last night and they have graciously offered to watch Hope after Andy's party and into the night so Mark and I can actually go out alone together. It's been a LONG time since we've done that. Now we have to figure out what we're going to do.

Oh...I lied. I have one more thing. Yesterday was the 6 year anniversary of my weight loss surgery. I've gotten into a lot of my old, bad habits over the past few years and I've made a decision to change those things and get back on track. I look at pictures from 4 years ago and I looked great, I felt great. I'm going to get back there again. I realize it won't happen over night, but it'll happen. I also realize I won't get back down to my low of 144 lbs, but the number isn't as important to me as the feeling. Plus, I have all kinds of cute clothes just waiting to be worn again. They are much better than the fat clothes I have now. So here's to me!

I guess that's about it for now. I'm about to sign a contract for a new very, very, very part time extra income opportunity, so watch future blogs for that information. I'm excited about the new opportunity. That's my tease to get you to come back again:)