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:)

Very cool!!

I just got off the phone with Mark. I sent him with my brother in law John to Lambeau for the weekend. They're there for the Packer Draft Party. Believe it or not, Mark didn't really start getting excited about this until about Wednesday. (NOTE: Mark is a bigger Brett Favre fan than he is a Packer fan. I am both.) I started looking at the list of events for the party on Thursday night and I was a bit jealous that I wasn't going. I told him that next year my sister Ali and I were going. Anyway, Mark just called to tell me the really cool thing that happened to him just a couple of minutes ago. He got to meet, up close and personal, Mike McCarthy!!! For those of you who don't know who he is, he's the head coach for the Green Bay Packers. Mike had been speaking at the Draft Party and Mark happened to run into him by a back elevator after he was done speaking (Mike McCarthy, not Mark. It would be VERY scary to have Mark speak at a Packer event. Esepcially one where GM Ted Thompson would be present...as he was today). Mike actually went over to Mark, shook his hand and said hello to him. Too bad Mark didn't have a camera or my brother in law with him to get a picture. Anyway, Mark was excited about it and had to call home. Oh...Mike was headed to the administrative part of Lambeau because it's almost time for the Pack's first round pick.

Other exciting news: Hope's potty training continues to go in the right direction. YEAH!!!! And since Hope and I are having a bonding weekend this weekend, we were going to go to the zoo today. Well, since winter lasts 10 months of the year here and it's snowing today, we opted out of the zoo and decided to go see "Horton Hears a Who" instead. She did such an awesome job at the movie. Was quiet, at popcorn with Mommy, didn't fall asleep. She even went potty on the big girl chair at the theater when the movie was over. So it's been a good day!!!

Time to go start supper and listen to who the Packers are going to draft. I have no idea who they're even looking at.

Lots of growing

Wow!! Hope is growing so much. Not just physically, but emotionally and developmentally. She has truly hit a growth spurt. I took her to day care again today and she shed tears on the way there when she found out she was going to Kaitlyn's house. By the time we got there she had settled down for the most part, but wanted me to hold her. Long story short: AJ said to her, "Hope, wanna go play on the slide?" And although on the verge of tears, she said, "Sure. Bye bye Mommy." So she went off with AJ and Lisa and I exchanged high fives. By the time I could get out of the house Hope came back to me. She said goodbye one more time and then she was off to play. I was so happy!!! Lisa also told me when I picked Hope up this afternoon that she went ALL day without her pico (Hope's word for pacifier. Not sure where she got that one). She didn't even ask for it at nap time!! This is truly an amazing step for her. She doesn't usually have her pico except at naptime or bedtime, but still, she's growing up!! Then there's the whole potty training thing. Today wasn't as good of a day as the past few have had, but she was in a different routine with daycare today, so we'll take babysteps there. Yesterday I took her to see the pre-school where she'll be going this fall and she saw the little toddler sized bathroom and said, "Mommy, I have to go potty." I thought perhaps it was just the novelty of a bathroom her size, but I sat her on the potty anyway. And she went!! I've found that what works best for Hope is letting her run around the house bare bottomed. She always tells us when she has to go. But if she has her diaper or even big girl pants on, then she goes in her pants. So for her to tell me yesterday, with her diaper on, that she had to go potty, that was huge progress. Maybe we're getting closer to not having to buy diapers anymore. This is the only stage of Hope's life so far that I've found myself being a little frustrated with. I think I expected that because she's so smart she'd get this potty training thing down pat in no time flat. But I do understand that this truly is just a stage and soon it'll all click for her and she'll be wearing those big girl panties all the time.

On an entirely different note...please continue to pray for my friend Rachael. It seems as though she's given up the will to fight this cancer that she has. It's really sad and I think it's becoming really real to her husband Isaac that Rachael is indeed going to dye. Thank you for your prayers.

I was going to put pictures on from the retreat this past weekend, but it's almost 10:20 already and Brett Favre is going to be on David Letterman in a few minute. WooHoo!!! I can't wait to see him. I'm sure he's missed me. LOL So...the pictures will be here soon. I promise!

Great weekend

I was fortunate enough to spend this past weekend with three lovely young ladies from my church. I took Kylee, Jennifer and Kennedy to a Youth Encounter weekend in Wisconsin Dells. They were SO great!!! I knew that they were "good kids" before I left, but now I REALLY know what great "kids" they are. Their parents have done an awesome job raising them to be respectful...something that, frankly, a lot of parents aren't very good at these days. I had a great time getting to know them better and just hanging out with them in general. The funny thing is (and I could be way off-base on this) that I think they actually had a fun time with me, too. The weekend included some great music, a great speaker, great workshops, lots of noise, a fun church group from Tomah, Melody putting a pastor in his place (more on that later), and great music. The band Captive Free was the house band. The guest musician for the weekend was this awesome singer/guitar player/song writer named Lloyd Garrelts. Funny thing is that Lloyd and I are good friends from college. I knew he was going to be at this particular Quake, so that's why I chose to attend this one. Lloyd and I sang in a contemporary Christian band called Living Water for two years while we were in college. Those two years were so much fun!! Now the REALLY cool thing is that Lloyd ended up marrying one of my floormates (Tonya). Tonya and Lloyd's twin sister Lynn were roommates all four years at Concordia. Lloyd and Tonya never dated in college. They really didn't start dating until they had been out of college for quite some time. It's a great story and it just seems so normal that they ended up together. So....Tonya was with Lloyd this weekend and I got to do lots of catching up with her, too. The sad thing is that I've lived in the Twin Cities area for 6 years now and Lloyd and Tonya have lived in Minneapolis for longer than that. I'm so sad that we haven't gotten together before now, but we're going to change that and get together now. I hope it's often because I really love both of them and would like to spend time with them. I have pictures of the weekend, but I haven't gotten them on the computer yet, so I'll post them when I can.

Time for bed, but before I turn off the computer I'm asking for prayers for my cousin Jay. Jay is just 6 months older than me. We were really, really close when we were growing up. He and his family lived just a few blocks from us so we always did stuff together. I just found out yesterday that Jay found out last week that he has skin cancer. He doesn't know much more about it, but he'll be heading down to Madison this week for more tests and stuff like that. Please keep him in your prayers. I'll keep you posted.