She's heeeerreeee....

Yep!! We picked her up on Friday night. Wolfy II is now in our posession and she's WONDERFUL!! What a smoot ride. And so many bells and whistles that Mark and I HAVE to read through the owner's manual in order to figure out what we're doing. We even had problems figuring out how to start her up. hehehe My favorite thing about the vehicle are the automatic sun shades in the back seats. You know those shades you see suctioned to back windows in cars with children?? Well, we have several of those for Hope, but we can't get them to stay suctioned up so we don't use them. Well, Wolfy II has those shades built into the doors in the back. If you need them you just pull them up. No suction or anything. So, so cool. Wolfy II also has this automatic air suspension (or whatever it's called). The vehicle automatically goes up or down to make it more aero-dynamic. Sheesh!! We love her. Hope rides in the car and says, "New car." The first ride she took in it she just sat in her car seat, smiling. hehehe Oh...and it also has keyless entry. Mark and I couldn't figure out why the doors would automatically unlock as we approached the car. It was because we had the remote key with us and it senses when to unlock the car. CRAZINESS!! The bad thing about all these bells and whistles?? More things to go wrong with the car. Good thing we have the extended bumper to bumper warranty...to 100,000 miles. Mark did a great job picking out Wolfy II and bargaining for her. I'm so glad he did!

More things happening: Now that they've announced it to their congregations, I can tell you that the "mystery friends" that will be moving in the near future are Dawn and Dan Spies. I worked with them both while I was at Ezekiel. They were the biggest reason I was able to stay sane there. Although I loved the people at Ezekiel, some of the key leaders were pretty mean. The Senior "pastor" was totally unsupportive of his staff...and pretty clueless about things going on around him. I'm so going to miss Dawn and Dan, but I'm also happy they're getting away from Ezekiel's leadership and on to something healthy. Dan will be a Chaplain in the Navy. They're hoping that they get stationed in Southern California...maybe even Texas. Somewhere warm. Secretly, I'm hoping they go to the Great Lakes (near Chicago) so I can see them (and baby Spies) more often. Yet, a winter vacation in SanDiego sounds really good, too. At any rate, they'll be somewhere happy and for that I'm happy. Andrea...I'm sorry I had to fib to you and tell you that it wasn't Dawn and Dan. I was sworn to secrecy. I know you understand. And I have a feeling that even though you got an email from me telling you it wasn't Dawn and Dan that I talked about anonymously in a prior post, I have a feeling you knew it was anyway. Please forgive me!!

OK...time to go finish up some things for my Education Committee meeting tonight. I think first I have to call my in-laws and check on how Hope's day has been. She cried when I left their house this morning. It probably didn't take her long to forget me though. She has so much fun at Grammy and Papa's house!

That's it for now. Later...
Melody
PS...One more quick note about Ezekiel. I just want to make it clear that it's not EVERYONE at that church that makes it a toxic place. As a matter of fact, it's not even the majority of the people. It's maybe a handful or two at most that make it toxic. "One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel." Isn't that the quote?? As a matter of fact, one of the meanest people there is also on the River Falls Council. In the River Falls Journal a month or so ago there was an article about this particular person and how the City of RF had to put into place a "Respect in the Workplace" policy just for him. He terrorized people!! How great is that?? I loved--still do-- 99.9% of the people at that church. I miss my kids. It just wasn't working anymore. You can only beat your head against a brick wall for so long. So now I have a new congregation and new kids to love on...and I'm lovin' it!

Something about friends

In one of my posts yesterday I talked about how it's hard right now to get too close to people. I hope nobody took offense at that. Last night in confirmation we talked about how God ABUNDANTLY blesses us each day. That is one blessing I see God giving me: wonderful, amazing friends. It's just so hard now as a Mom to put a lot of time into a relationship. I remember when I was still single and my friends were getting married and having kids. I couldn't understand why they didn't have time for me anymore. Or at least not the time we had when we were single. Well, now I completely understand. It's not that people (I) don't want to have deep relationships in their lives...it's just that life changes. There are different stages. And in all honesty, I'd LOVE to get really super close to a friend or two now. I'm just not sure I'd be a very good friend to them. Which got me to thinking about how sad that is. And about how busy life is. Sometimes I wish we could go back to simpler times: when neighbors had time for each other. When kids had time to play kickball in the street together. I just wish life would slow down. The funny thing is that really, if you think about it, we have the power to slow things down. So why don't I? Something to ponder.

That's it for today. Time to get up and going...for another busy day.

Funny little girl

Tonight I got home from work at about 9pm. As soon as I walked in the door, Hope got a big smile on her face and said, "Yeh!!!" Talk about making my day!! Then a few minutes later I said to her, "What's up, girl?" She looked up and said, "Stars." hehehe Funny AND smart!!

By the way...

The cows ran!

Running cows make me laugh

It's Wednesday. Hope and I have been suffering with colds. She had a temp of 102.1 on Sunday morning, 104 on Sunday night and 103 on Monday night. Granted, the temp has gone down in between those spikes, but it's still scary...especially as a first time parent. The good news: no ear infection and her lungs are clear. The bad news: not much we can do. I think, at least in part, her cold stuff is from teething. I saw her lower right 2 year molar popping in. I think there are more to come because she's been slobbering like crazy. Poor thing. God definitely knew what He was doing when he figured out the teething thing. Although it's hard to see your baby have so much pain, you also realize that it's better for them to go through it now because they won't remember the pain. Today my head is so stuffed up. I should buy stock in Kleenex because I'm going through them like crazy. Hopefully this won't last long. Mark is suffering from allergies. It's that time of the year where he'll sneeze, cough, have itchy eyes, etc, etc, etc for about 4-6 weeks. He's just miserable. So it's not a lot of fun at the Brue home right now. This, too, shall pass.

The really depressing news for me though is that I'm looking at one of my best friends move away in the next few months. I'm so happy for her and her hubby (names to be released at a later date. Until the places that work at know, it's a bit confidential) because it really is time for them to move on. Yet, this will be the second really close friend that I've lost in less than a year. One moved to Dodgeville (WI) when her hubby got a job transfer. Now it's happening again. I knew that this was coming, so I'm not surprised, but now it's finally becoming real and I have to tell you that my heart is really hurting. I'm realizing now that although I have some really close friends at my new church and I love them dearly, it's hard to nurture and begin new relationships at this stage in my life. My life is consumed by being a Mommy (and I wouldn't trade that for the world). I guess that's why these friends were/are so dear to me: I knew them before I was a Mommy...when I had time to get close to people. I know that once Hope gets a little older and starts getting involved with things (we're signing her up for swimming lessons this summer and maybe even dance class this fall), I'll start meeting people and maybe there will be a new friendship formed there. Yet I also realize that I'm going to be ALOT older than most of the parents of the friends that Hope will have. Anyway, I'm sad. I just hope that when this friend moves away she'll stay in touch (that's for you if you're reading!! hehehe). My other two really super close girlfriends live in Dallas and I miss them like crazy right now. I could use a hug!!

OK. This has been a bummer of a post. Sorry. Maybe the cows across the street will start running for me. That makes me laugh ALOT!! What reason would a cow have to run?

Melody

One more thing for today

How can I forget to give an update on Hope?? I loved her so much as a baby. She was so tiny (5 lbs, 10 oz for those of you who didn't know us then) and little babies are just so cute and cuddly!! But Hope as a 21 month old is SO MUCH FUN!!! She amazes us every single day with new things. Her personality is shining more and more each day, too. And her vocabulary is truly incredible. She's starting to form sentences now. Here's a funny story from a few days ago. She was at Grammy and Papa's house (the best child care we could ever ask for) and Grammy was in the kitchen baking muffins. Hope was playing in the kitchen, but then took something (I think it was a magnet) into the four season porch. She came back into the kitchen and Grammy said, "Hope, can you go get the magnet for Grammy?" Hope looked at Grammy and said, "Grammy do it." hehehe How funny is that?? She can also say "Don't like it" now. Oh...and also at Grammy and Papa's the other day...Hope was coloring a picture of Santa. He was holding a list. Mark's Mom wrote HOPE on the list. She turned to Hope and asked, "What does this say?" Hope said, "Hope." How brilliant is that?? Pretty dang smart that she can read her own name at the age of 21 months, huh?? It really IS true that Mark and I will have to go back to school when she starts kindergarten. I'm sure there's so much more I could tell you, but then I'd be up all night again. Oh...there IS one more important thing to tell you about her (and us): this is Hope's 3rd night in a row in her own crib in her own room!! Good for us, huh?? The first night she slept in her room I got into bed and I just cried. I missed her so much (even though she was just in the next room). Speaking of Hope...time to go check on her so I can finally get to bed. And here's a picture of our girl that Mark's Mom and Dad took this weekend while Hope was staying with them. She's getting so big.

Night night for real this time!
Melody

Wolfy is gone

We no longer own Wolfy. "Who is Wolfy?" you ask. Wolfy is our (former) 2002 VW Jetta TDI. Dark blue. Leather interior. Moon roof (or is it a sun roof?? I don't know the difference. Does it depend on whether it's day or night?? hehehe). Nice sound system. Diesel (thus, the TDI for those who didn't know). GREAT gas mileage (40-45 mpg). She's been a wonderful car until the past year or so. She's just given us some problems. So Mark took Wolfy to the VW dealer on Thursday to get her oil changed. (Yes, Wolfy is a girl.) Mark asked someone, just out of curiosity, what we could get for Wolfy. The guy said he give us about $10,000 for her!! It's a DEAL!! So what did we buy in Wolfy's place?? Wolfy II (well, I think that'll be her name...that's still up for a final decision). Wolfy II is a 2004 VW Touareg!! We've wanted one since we started looking for the Avalanche in 2004. We never thought we'd be able to afford one though. With a great trade-in for Wolfy I and a hard bargain driver for a husband, we actually CAN afford the Touareg. In case you're not sure what the Touareg is (and alot of people don't, so don't feel bad), it's the VW SUV and it's NICE!! VW teamed up with Porsche to make this one...so I'm just going to tell everyone I'm driving a Porsche now. hehehe Mark told me that they teamed up with Audi to build the motor on the Touareg. Cool, huh?? Anyway, the reviews on the Touareg are incredible...except for the gas mileage. UGH!!! So now we have two vehicles that both get about 17 mpg (that's about what the Avalanche gets, too). There's no way we can afford that, so we'll also be trading the Avalanche in, too. That's gonna be a hard one. We got that puppy brand spanking new. Gilby (we named the Avalanche after former Packer Gilbert Brown who is a big boy) is bright red (I picked it out!) and is just an awesome vehicle to drive and own. Although we hate to get rid of Gilby, we have to get something more economical. So now the search for a car continues. We're thinking that maybe we can get a Chevy Imapala or maybe even a Vibe. We've even thought about looking at Subarus. Whatever we end up getting, we'll have to get a pretty even trade for Gilby because Wolfy II will present us with the first car payment that we've had in almost 2 years!! There's no way we want to go from no car payment a month to 2 a month. I'm sure we'll find something. If you know of anyone that would like a 2004 loaded RED Chevy Avalanche with low miles, give us a holler. Oh...and Mark took Wolfy (that's Wolfy I) to the dealership yesterday to trade her in, but they won't have Wolfy II ready until sometime this week so they gave us a loaner. We are now driving a silver Beetle. It's so much fun. And it's a convertible! Nice, huh?? It's a little small for a car seat in the back, but I managed to get it in anyway. Hope will be safe and sound back there, but I won't have her in it much. She'll mostly ride in Gilby until we get Wolfy II.

So that's what's new in our neck of the woods. I FINALLY started working on the photo album that I auctioned off at my friend Steve's benefit. I got a good start on it today, but there's still much to do. It'll get done. The most important thing is that I'm really having a great time doing it.

I better go. It was a late night last night. Oh...Mark and I had a date night!! Grammy and Papa (Mark's parents) watched Hope over night and Mark and I went to Red Wing to see Scott Kyrpaine (I butchered the spelling of his last name) and Steve Green in concert. It was amazing!! Both so different, but both praising God through music. Anyway, we got home late and I was up for a while getting things done around the house...and it was 2am before I got to bed. So I'm going to go night night now. Sweet dreams everyone! Happy worship tomorrow! And here's a picture of what Wolfy II looks like. It's not the exact vehicle, but I think this is the color Mark chose. Oooohhhh...and the most important thing: Wolfy got her name from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...my favorite composer who happens to be German (well, Austrian, really, but who cares?).

Ramblings

Wow! It's been a while again. Time sure flies when you're having fun. The weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS in Western Wisconsin so we've been spending lots of time outside. Hope had her first experience with sidewalk chalk yesterday so now there is beautiful art all over our driveway. She loves it!! Between creating masterpieces on the asphalt and rearranging the small rocks in the garden, she's giving our yard some class. She drew a picture of Elmo, Mommy, Daddy and a moo-cow yesterday.

Here's a picture that my Mom took of my nephew Jack a few weeks ago. Jack is the son of my younger sister, Alison and her hubby, John. Jack is almost exactly 3 months younger than Hope, so it's fun when we get together with them.



Hard to believe that Mark and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary one month from tomorrow. Some days it seems like we've only been together for a year, but somedays, in all honesty, it seems like it's been 500 years. Are all marriages like that?? Peaks and valleys. I guess you need both in life. Anyway, we bought our aniversary gift and it should be arriving sometime this week or early next week. We bit the bullet and bought a GPS unit so we can do lots of geocaching this summer...and for years to come. I'm pretty dang excited about it. I've been plotting the geocaching.com site to figure out which will be our next finds. We've got lots to learn about this sport, but it'll be so much fun. We're planning on taking the GPS to Stevens Point on Memorial Day weekend when we go for Andrew's high school graduation. Yep...Andrew is graduating from high school!! Where did my baby go?? I'm getting into that niece/nephew talk again. I'll talk more about each one another day. They're so special to me.

Time to go. Happy Tuesday!
Melody

Such wonderful news!!!

If there are typo-s in this post, please understand that it's because I'm typing this with tears of joy in my eyes. Our friends Ron and Beth have FINALLY gotten the news they've been waiting so long to hear (almost 18 months, as a matter of fact). Today they received the information about the little girl--THEIR DAUGHTER--who they will be traveling to China to adopt. She is absolutely beautiful. Now I'm a little biased, but I LOVE the name they've chosen for her: Hope!! So now Hope and Hope will be running around Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Baldwin, WI, like they own the place!! Beth and Ron are at church almost as much as I am, so it will be a second home for Hope H as it is for Hope B. Hope H was born on June 13 of last year so she'll be around a year old when Ron and Beth travel to get her. They're not exactly sure of the travel dates yet, but usually it's within 4-8 weeks after getting their referral (which is what they received today). Please keep Beth, Ron and Hope in your prayers. Pray for safe travel and a relatively easy transition for all of them. Baby Hoot is no longer Baby Hoot. Baby Hoot is now Hope KeXuan Charlotte Heutmaker. Such wonderful news!! And we can't wait to meet her.

On a tragic note: today Hope and I went to feed the ducks and geese on the Kinni today. We found this great little spot when we went geocaching with Beth and Ron. It has a platform that you can walk out on and the geese/ducks just hang out there, waiting for people to throw bread, corn, etc. at them. So...we walked to the platform and when we got there I grabbed a piece of bread out of the bag to give it to Hope so she could throw it to the ducks. Well, she thought I was giving it to her to eat, so she immediately dropped her pico (Hope's word for pacifier) out of her mouth so she could put the bread in. Pico bounced on the platform and went right into the river. That was the last pico like it that we own. We have several others at home, but Hope likes this particular kind of pico. We've tried giving her the others before and she wanted nothing to do with them. And it's not like you can get these picos just any where. I've looked at every store and you can only find them at Target. We're about 15 minutes away from the nearest Target, so I knew there would be no Target run tonight...unless we were desperate. She asked for pico again when we got home, so I got out one of the others and she, fortunately, took right to it. YEAH!! Thank you, God!! Now I know that Hope is getting to the age where she shouldn't be using a pico much longer, but I have NO idea how to get her to not use it...so if you have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know!

I guess that's about it for now. I'm going back to Ron and Beth's blog so I can look at pictures of Hope Heutmaker again. She's absolutely adorable!! PLEASE take a second and check out Ron and Beth's blog so you can see the pictures, too. There is a link to their blog on our blog. You'll be able to figure out which link it is.

Thank you, Lord, for an amazing day!

Geocaching is FUN!!!

Hi everyone...
I wanted to post before now, but between it being Holy Week and Hope being under the weather (she threw up on me TWICE on Monday night), this is the first chance I've had.

We went geocaching with our friends Ron and Beth on Sunday. It was our first time and it was awesome!!! Even though the weather was pretty crappy (drizzling and cold), we bundled up and headed out anyway (are we bad parents or what?). Beth and Ron brought Kaitlyn with them (she's an adorable little girl from church) and that was so much fun!! Hope loved having someone to play with! After lunch at our house we went to find our first cache (Ron and Beth's 198th...their professionals!). We had our GPS units in hand, Beth printed little labels with our geocaching name on it (I think we're the 3 Brews), and we were on our way. I found the first two caches because Mark had his hands full with Hope. Anyway...this is like a high-tech scavenger hunt. People hide these little caches (or treasures, as Kaitlyn calls them)and when you find them with the help of your GPS, they have little logs in them. That's where we put our label with our name (and the date) on it. It's cool to look through the log to see who else has found the cache. In many of the caches people leave little trinkets that can be exchanged. Kaitlyn brought some little stickers with her so in the caches that we found she'd take something from the cache and replace what she took with one of her stickers. I'm not doing the sport of geocaching justice with my words. It's just so much fun. We walked about 2 miles (YES! In the crappy weather) and it didn't seem like 2 miles at all. It's a great form of exercise, too. We're now researching what GPS we should get so we can make geocaching a family outing. Now please know that even though we totally enjoyed geocaching on Sunday, we enjoyed spending time with Ron and Beth even more. They are so fun to hang out with!! I'll include some pictures of our adventure with this post.

Speaking of Ron and Beth...no news yet about their baby. I'm so bummed. It seems that the rumors that were circulating about the referrals being on the ground were incorrect. They're pretty disappointed, but they have such great patience and strength. Please keep them in your prayers.

I went to my friend Jennifer's 4 month old son's funeral on Saturday. Let me just say that I never, ever want to experience something like that again. Jennifer and her husband Wayne carried the baby's casket up to the front of the church and then back out again at the end. They were the pall bearers. I'm not going to write much about the funeral because it's just too devestating. No parent should have to experience this. This is one of my questions for God when I get to heaven: why babies?? And then I pray a prayer of thanksgiving and safety for Hope. I know that's probably selfish, but I also know that if anything happened to her I don't know that I could go on. She's my life....even if she DID throw up on me twice the other night. Poor thing. I think she's getting her 2 year molars.

It seems like I had so much more to say, but I guess that's enough for now. Happy Easter to everyone. One of my favorite Easter memories was the Easter of 2000. It was the first Easter after my Dad died and Easter just meant so much more to me then. It had a whole new meaning. I could picture Dad celebrating the resurrection of Jesus in heaven. How wonderful is that?? Celebrate on, Dad!

In the name of the Risen Christ...
Melody

Here is Hope on our geocaching adventure.


Here are Ron and Kaitlyn finding cache #3 of the day.


Beth and Kaitlyn took time to play with the ducks.


The newest geocaching family: Three Brews


The Geocachers


Our guides for the day: Kaitlyn and Hope