Hello April!

I am posting from Michigan, after having just spent a few days back in Minnesota. We were supposed to be there the rest of this week- for spring break. But, as luck would have it, the night time sleeping wasn't going well for some of us, and that meant lots of daytime fussing and not-so-much fun as we had hoped. So we re-packed our new van and drove back early. One of the biggest lessons I am learning in life, and especially so as we grew to be such a large family, is that you have to be willing to change plans. Even if they are extra work, take away fun memories and cause their own bit of hassle too. Oh well. I don't blame the kids for all of it, as it is hard to travel so far {10 1/2 hours on the way over...12 on the way back}, sleep on airbeds and be on a different schedule in a different time zone. We are now just happy to be back with several more days to sleep in and just hang out before it is time to go back to school and routine.
The past week was another busy one! Besides the drive over and back, Chip flew over and back and drove over and back, all while getting his new golf course open and running a huge Easter brunch too. He celebrated his birthday with us by getting a text from me at 4:15 am asking if he could change his flight and come and help drive us home. Crazy, true and probably felt more like an April Fool's joke to him. But he willingly did as we asked him too and in the end we managed to make a memory by having a family dinner together on our long drive home. I owe him a birthday present now, but did make sure to tell him a big thank you for being a great dad and being so flexible too!
The kids did enjoy some parts of our trip- especially Easter and seeing family, friends and dressing up and finding some eggs with a bit of candy and money inside too. Wyndham has been so cute with her big smiles and showing off for the camera even moreso lately. =) I love that.
We are getting more and more sunshine {and had awesome blue skies as we drove through Chicago on Thursday afternoon!} and I am happy to share some full scrap pages I made for my April gallery at Cocoa Daisy. It is available for purchase right now and this Forecast kit has gotten rave reviews! Cocoa Daisy also has a few new things going on including a special "Day in the Life" kit. I am just getting started myself with doing Project Life and am very excited about how to document some everyday big and little details.
So, hello to April and spring and more sunshine and hopefully to growing a new yard at our old house again too. We continue to settle in here in Michigan, and being back in MN made me and the kids miss a lot of things about living there. I am not sure when we will get back there again, so for now, we will continue to send our love and be thankful for the family, friends and fun we have waiting for return that pick up right where we left off.

Bring on spring! A bright Forecast ahead!

Despite the long, drawn-out winter weather we have been experiencing late into March, the days seem to be going by quickly anyway! The past couple of weeks we celebrated Ava's 9th birthday, St. Patrick's Day, Teagan's sweet 16 birthday, bought a new van {we've had the same minivan for the past 12 years!} and are now heading to Minnesota tomorrow for our Easter/Spring Break. I know it's not sunny Florida or any warmer than we are here in MI, but where family and friends are is always better than sun in my book! So we are loading up our new wheels and taking a 12+hour trip west for 10 days. Chip will be flying back here to MI as soon as he drives us all over, because he has to get his golf course open and has tons of things on his plate as the golf season kicks off. We will miss his birthday while we are away, but I am sure we can find a way to eat cake when we get back and make up for it once we are settled back home. He says he will try to enjoy his birthday even without us all here and just might get a full, quiet night's sleep for once!
So, with all that going on I have not had extra time to blog here. But I do post and am on FB {more than I should be!}, so if you need some Nitty.Gritty. fixes in between my posts, feel free to friend me and I can see what you are up to in your corner of the world too! I have had time to scrap and play with the awesome April Cocoa Daisy kit~ Forecast. It is filled with bright, fresh spring colors and as you can see in my sneak peeks here today, I used lots of patterned papers and had fun layering so many bits and pieces of the kit on my pages. I made all the clouds "happy" clouds on my projects and am so looking forward to spring, sunshine, day-dreaming and hopefully soaking up some nice warm days very soon. In the meantime, there has been much memory-making, reflecting and gearing up for changes around here too.
I hope your spring forecast is looking bright. Bring it on! =)

That's a wrap!

Good-bye to twenty-twelve. It has been a wild year for me and my family in so many ways. A year of things we never imagined, planned or expected all sprinkled with some amazing new {lifelong!} friendships, memories to cherish forever, and lessons lived and learned that could only have been learned through the events and people that wrapped themselves up in the form of 2012. It was the year we moved twice. Across several state lines. With 6 kids- including 3 in diapers at one point, and with stress levels that would make everyone's blood pressure spike.
But there were gourmet cupcakes. And bunches of fresh bananas and chocolate milk in the midst of the stress too. There was laughter and hugs and prayers and good wishes. There was a little groundhog outside our window that was busy and playful and provided entertainment as we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at a table that my parents got us that 8 people can actually sit at all at one time. There were new songs to be sung, names and faces to learn, new library cards and books that led us on new adventures all their own.
From the pigeon longing to drive a bus to my kids standing at their own bus stop and climbing aboard to new schools and friends that would force them to grow and change and step outside their former comfort zones too. There was much to see, do and embrace~ and even re-doing things too. Like taking driver's test for our licenses. And reconnecting with 'old' friends. It was a year of ups and downs and twists and turns and never quite knowing what was going to be around the next turn.
But isn't that what life is made up of? If there is one thing I have learned in my 40 years of living, it is that no matter how much we plan and prepare and think we know what life is going to bring, it very likely will go its own way and look nothing like the picture you imagined it to look.
I scrapped a mini book about welcoming the new year, two-thousand and thirteen, with the fantastic kit from Cocoa Daisy for January. You can order a kit or sign up to subscribe and get it every month here, if you like. Jumping back into scrapbooking has been one of the highlights of my year and I am excited to be on the team this year too. Creating has been the one thing that has helped me process some of the crazier parts of this past year and also it is my launching place for the hopes and dreams I hold for this new year too. It does take up some of my time and energy and sometimes I wonder if it is the best use of them, but even Chip has noticed that scrapping fuels my inner joy and helps bring out the best in me, so he approves and is very supportive of my hobby and creative time. I am lucky that he allows me to let things slide around the house in order for me to fill my heart and express myself through paper and stickers and ink. I just loved the process of making this little book of quotes and words that I want to set the tone for me as 2013 rings in later on tonight. I am using the word "soar" as my focus word and hoping that I can find new ways to be invigorated and stay positive as we wait for a job for Chip and continue to resettle back here in our Michigan home. It has been a hard transition for me, much more than the kids. Leaving such close friends and all the newness of what life held has been hard. I feel like it was a big 'trick' to get such enough taste of what life can and does hold, but then got taken away from us all too quickly. It has felt like a huge step backward in life to return to the place we had said our goodbyes too and have to try to start again, only this time the house and yard were in rougher shape, my spirits were low, my optimism dashed, and a big piece of my heart was left in Minnesota.
Making a little book and surrendering to the many things I have told myself and learned over and over- things like create your own Joy and trust in the One who sees the big picture- is the place where I find solace and rest. It is the place where my spirit is still and I find that in the quietness and surrender is a fountain of hope. This past year has been so many different things to me and my family. This new year will likely be filled with suprises, blessings, more challenges and ultimately more opportunities to rise to the occasion, dig deeper and shine brighter when it's all said and done.
I am thankful for all of you who hope for good things to come, and who cheer me and my family on through the rough waters too. You are a blessing to us and I am still working on mailing some of you cards too. So from my heart to yours, thank you and best wishes as you wrap up 2012 and watch 2013 take flight. I hope it is a year of adventure and growth and seeing things from places you never dreamed you would find yourself~ be willing to be amazed at the view. No matter your vantage point. We're seeking to make two-thousand thirteen our year where the good outweighs the bad. That is always a good approach to anything...especially a new year!

Wild and crazy...and tasty too.

 Oh my.

It has been quite a month in the life of Nitty.Gritty. It feels like more than a month, actually. I am not even sure how to do a recap in blogpost form. There could be several posts about what we just went through. And maybe there will be as I continue to process everything that has happened.

For now I will do a 'quick overview' and the good news for you is that it starts with cupcakes! =) Hooray for gourmet cupcakes in the middle of life's dramas, right?! The good part isn't even the cupcakes- as delicious and amazing as they were. And let me tell you, they were amazing! The good part is the people in our lives behind the cupcakes and behind us all the way as we lived out some of the most stress we have endured in a long while.

Without re-reading my previous post {and I rarely read my own blog posts}, I am not even entirely certain where I left off. There were so many twists and turns and ups and downs and the feeling that life was going to go one direction and the reality is that we ended up in a whole different direction. To be perfectly honest, I sort of feel like I don't know where I am right now, how I got here, or what I am supposed to be doing now. It has been a wild and restless whirlwind, and I think we are still trying to 'settle down' and just pause and catch our breath.

The good-bye cupcakes came about because we ended up packing all of our belongings from the home we were renting in Minnesota and we loaded two movig trucks, one trailer and two vans with everything, all 8 of us, and my parents tagged along as our big supporters and helpers, and we moved back to our house that has been for sale in Michigan since last Thanksgiving. So basically it goes like this:

Last Thanksgiving Chip got a job offer at a course in Minnesota and we found a home to rent there, put our house up for sale, packed everything and moved a week or so before Christmas. Flash forward one year, and here we found ourselves packing everything back up- including box after box that had never been unpacked- and moving it all right back to where we started. It sounds daunting and ridiculous and mind-boggling, I am sure. The truth is that it is all those things to us too. And more.

I frankly still don't know what to make of it. As a person who has such a reliance on God and trusting in His ways to help guide and direct the paths we take in life, this whole scenario just seems unbelievable. Part of me is trying to wrap my head around it all. It was a whirlwind year- full of changes, good things, bad things, stressful things, fun things, new friendships, new adventures and then a screeching halt and we're back to where we started. A part of me wonders how that could happen. Did we miss something? Did God not want us to move to Minnesota and we did so out of selfish motives and in the meantime have to learn some hard lessons only to have us move back because He didn't really want us there in the first place? Or did God truly lead us there and plug us in to a great church body, give us real and lasting friendships as a gift, and now close that door there just when things were starting to settle down and feel 'right' for our family there? And if so, to either of these big questions, my next question is why? Why would we go through such major drama and stresses. Can't we learn life lessons a different way...an easier way? Or maybe all that happened in our lives for not just us- but maybe they happened for someone else? Could that be? I don't know. I really, truly don't know what it was all for. I cannot see a point or purpose to it all. And in the midst of going through it, the emotions, the stress of not knowing where we were going to move even just two days before we moved...it was all almost too much for me. Like I said, I am still trying to process and unwrap it all. My heart and mind and body were literally overwhelmed at times, and I don't know that there will ever be a point to it all or answers that seem to make sense of what we went through this past month. It was exhausting. And then some.

I cried more, yelled more, hurt more people with my actiosns and words then I care to ever admit to anyone. My heart was broken and I was angry and I was confused and yes, truly overwhelmed with everything. At one point I had logged a mere 10 hours of sleep in four days. And the days we were living were long and all-consuming. Just trying to keep 6 kids fed, diapered and out of trouble in the midst of packing and not-knowing and then actually driving 14 hours and doing what had to be done was a nightmare that kept going from bad to worse. We emptied and cleaned {with the help of my amazing parents and some really down-to-earth friends!} the MN house- all 5000+ sq. feet of it, and then got in our caravan of moving trucks and drove 14 hours to our home back here in Michigan...with a flat tire along the way. We arrived with a trailer that wouldn't open, which held all our bedding and mattresses so we could just pull them out and crash at 2:15 in the morning- but that didn't even happen without much anxiety and effort. Then, a couple of hours later we learned that our hot water heater was broken and would need a part and not be fixed for at least 48 hours. Consider this. Ten people...having packed, cleaned, loaded, driven 14 hours, unpacked and now nobody can take a shower or feel refreshed. So we had to take turns showering at friends and neighbors homes. After all of that. But there's more. The refrigerator is broken too. So any of the food that we had managed to keep cold for the 14 hour trip now has nowhere to be kept cold. And the food that people so generously brought to us upon our arrival has no where to go. Except that the temperature outside has dropped and so we got to eat food out of coolers in our garage for 4+ days. In the middle of boxes and sleeplessness and so much stress and chaos that I cannot really put it into words, nor would you really want to grasp it that fully anyway.

That's how we began this "new chapter", which still feels like an old chapter to me, of our life here in Michigan. Chip ended up parting ways with his club in Minnesota, so we now are settling as best we can back into our home here, we're needing a job locally- if possible, and the kids are actually handling this whole situation quite well, because at least they are back with their friends, familiar teachers and neighbors as they adjust to this recent move. They seem to be happy even. So that is a silver-lining to this whole circumstance. We are happy that they are happy.

But to be honest, I am still hurting and feeling disillusioned about what we are doing here again. As we wait on a job to open up for Chip and sit here trusting God to provide for our needs, I honestly feel so worn out and convinced that I "did something wrong" or that my prayers about being said with the right motives or pure heart, so I am not sure what to think or expect next. I do know that even if we messed up, or we chose the wrong path in life, or simply found ourselves in the wrong place at the right time that God can honor where we are now. I am not trusting in me and my lack of understanding or my prayers that seem to fall on deaf ears- but instead I am finding myself more broken, humbled, surrendered and open to what God wants to do in and through us next. I know that even when I can't make sense out of life, that God is still 100% invested in us and He will see us through to whatever or wherever He has plans to use us. We can trust Him forever and always, simply because He is Lord of our lives.

And that thought is enough reminder to my heart to bring me peace- despite the things we have gone through and continue to go through.

Okay.

So back to those cupcakes!! I didn't forget about the cupakes!

I will blog more about them soon, but for now I will just say that we were blessed- even in the midst of all of our "drama" as I like to call it.

One of the big blessings is that for all the stress leading up to this whole move and re-settling, is that on this side of things life has gotten very 'mellow' for us the past two weeks. Moving back from where you just came from does have a few perks. The house itself was in more disrepair than we had expected in just a year's time. I never realized how run down an empty house can get that quickly! There was the broken water hearter and new fridge that we had to buy, showers and tubs and floors to scrub, and our yard will have to be re-seeded next spring. It is a disaster. But beyond the cosmetic stuff, it has been easy to transition the kids back to school; we know where to shop for groceries and how to get around locally. We basically know what to expect around here. With Chip home right now and not working, my life has been easier than it had been. We were so tired and worn out from our move, that we spent a few days settling in around here and Chip even painted our master bedroom and we cleaned and set up our spaces enough to be comfortable, but then we took a much-needed break. With almost all our family back in Minnesota we had a quiet, uneventful Thanksgiving here by ourselves. Chip took Brock, Bella and Crew out on a service project to deliver meals for several hours in the morning, and then the rest of the day it was just us and Chip making turkey and all the fixin's. We have slowly started to unpack our clothes into closets and I have gotten caught up on washing a lot of clothes, towels and bedding. We have a garage full of boxes to sort through, but we have had no urge to do that yet.

So I have been lucky to set up my cozy scrap space again and Chip has been great about letting me just sit in that space and make whatever I want to make. I have needed that time and space to just be. Those pictures of a scrap page and a mini book are peeks for the newest Cocoa Daisy kit being revealed later tonight. My scrap box from Cocoa Daisy was the first piece of mail we got at our house here in Michigan and I was so thrilled that I could settle in my scrap spot and create with it from the very start of being here. It was just what I had hoped for, and even more! The colors and the antler stamp just brought the happiness I was craving at that time. I feel lucky that in the midst of everything I was able to have time to play with paper and ink and have some fun- just for me. I feel very lucky to be on the Cocoa Daisy team and am looking forward to reconnecting with a bunch of my scrap friends here in Michigan again too. They are a fun bunch and maybe rekindling those friendships is one of the reasons God brought us back here. I'm not sure, but I am looking forward to finding out. =)

So that's the short version of the past month of our life. I know we have much more than we need or deserve and we are grateful for all that God has given to us. It has just been hard to say good-bye {even with tasty cupcakes!} to all we had come to love about the people and place God had given us in Minnesota. It's hard to know we will spend the holidays alone and so far from family and friends. We were so looking forward to being "home" this year! But God has His reasons, His timing and I know He has our best at heart. So the one thing I can do is keep trusting, being patient, and being totally open to what He is up to. I am sure that however this new chapter of our life plays itself out, it will be another interesting twist to the life path He continues to guide us on. I love that the path is beautiful enough to keep pointing us forward...and that it graced with cupcakes and pretty paper and stamps and happiness for our kids along the way too. In spite of it all, we are still living a lucky charmed life. I just have to look at it from the right point-of-view!

With or without.

It is the start of yet another year. How 365 days seem to speed up and turn into a new year faster than the year before is the biggest surprise to me right now. I wonder if that keeps happening year after year, or if at some point it goes back to feeling a little slower-paced. Time will tell, I suppose.
So here we are- in 2012 and all it's freshness and possibility. Yes, I am in a new place back in my "home" state and feeling as though there are almost too many things starting over for me and my family all at once. From new schools, to trying to learn our way around a new grocery store, to setting up rooms and looking forward to meeting and making new friends. It's so much at once. If you know me in person you know I don't like change all that much. Sure, I love when Starbuck's offers a few new flavors on their latte menu. I like it when I get new shoes and they fit just right. I like watching my kids learn new things and try new foods. But beyond some of those things, I like things predictable and comfortable. Tried and true. I like knowing what to expect and when to expect it. I'm not nearly as adventurous as I look. =)
Right now, when I open the door to our garage, all I see is boxes and stuff stacked on top of more stuff. So much stuff that I feel practically overwhelmed with the task of finding things I still need and would like to use {or wear} right now. It's not for lack of space that our stuff is still piled high at this point. But more because, well one reason is that 6 out of 8 of us ended up with the flu bug the past few days. That did little to help the cause of getting us more settled in this place. It did give our washer and dryer a major workout. But I could have done without that right now. =)
It's more about me realizing in a big, big way that, while I knew we had too much "stuff", it was easy to just live without that knowledge and just let the closets get more and more filled at our last place. {Which, we are hoping will land some buyers as soon as possible. If you know anyone who wants a great family home near Muskegon, MI, send them this link. I'll send you some cupcakes as a return favor!}
So, as I was typing, in our last home I knew we had more than we needed. I had wanted to clean and have garage sales and donate nice things and give stuff away more times than I did. I knew the closets and shelves were filling up with all sorts of things. What I didn't realize is how much effort it takes to go through all of that stuff and sort it to try to decide what we need, what we want, what will be worth holding onto, and what we should simply let go of and be better off in so doing.
It's a big job to have a garage filled to the brim and have to determine what stays and what goes. Losing Teagan has made me hold onto things I might otherwise never have wanted to keep. Haveing kids from 16 months to almost 13 years old also makes for having a lot of stuff. There are games and toys and bikes and beds spanning all those years. That's a lot of gear to have to store and yet we use most of it too.
So as this year kicks off I am finding that I need to keep it as simple as I can. I am working on sorting through boxes of stuff and asking simply of each thing, "Can we do without this? Or do we need this?" I hope that I can actually make a dent in at least one small corner by the end of this week. Big jobs need to be scaled down, so I am hoping to not lose heart and just take it one box at a time.
I hope that come next year I will have learned that a life lived simply and with a whole lot less stuff can be just as satisfying and even more rewarding and fulfilling as the life where I filled up all the spaces I could. Wish me luck and I am crossing my fingers that we can stay healthy for awhile too. The flu bug is one thing I have determined I could definitely live without!
Happy New Year to everyone of you who reads and prays and laughs at us and with us each step of the way that I share here with you. I hope you have a year of learning, growing, whittling down and living more intentionally. May each of us become better in at least one small way!

Our new adventure has begun.

Merry day after Christmas and hello again to anyone who still drops by here to keep tabs on me and my family! We are settling in to the home you see pictured above, in Minnesota. There is no snow on the ground- which is nearly unheard of this time of year- and we are renters at the moment, hoping and praying our home back in Michigan will sell soon.

It has been a very long 5 weeks of packing and driving and unpacking and saying goodbyes and hellos and throwing in some celebrations for Christmas all at the same time. The good news is that I think the worst is over. The bad news is there is still a 3-car garage filled with boxes for us to sort and go through as we make this new place our home for now. The kids are all doing very well. They are excited to be in a new neighborhood; they love their new rooms and the layout of this house; and we are within an hour driving distance to my parents and many of our cousins too. So although it has been an intense (to say the least!!) month to get to this point, we are thankful that God has opened the door for us to be where we are and we are anxious to have this feel like home.

We will miss so many friends back in Michigan and are thankful for internet and ways to stay in touch so that it doesn't feel like there are that many miles between us all. We have lots to do- including getting the kids enrolled in school, setting Wyndham up with doctors and therapists, and even re-taking the MN road test in order to get proper licenses for this state. It seems like a never-ending list of things to do, but we are happy that so far we have stayed healthy and even had some moments of fun in between the major moments of stress during this major move. I look forward to being back to blogging and I hope the posts are not so few and far between.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. From me and my Nitty.Gritty. family, we wish you the very best in the coming New Year too!

It's going to be a major move...

Hello to so many new friends and readers coming here from Casey's blog. I am so encouraged and grateful for the notes you have sent me and how many of you have been touched by the story of Teagan that she shared with you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that you know in "real life" we are a fairly typical family with lots of ordinary days and activities just like you. We are sometimes awed how God uses our shortcomings and failures and even trials and tough times to make Himself more known to us and others through us. We definitely lean on Him and look to Him for guidance and so far we have had quite a ride in life.
It's about to take us a bit west again...all the way "home" to Minnesota from our current home here in west Michigan. Chip was recently offered and just accepted a position at Northfield Golf Club, so we will be packing everything here and moving 8 of us and all that stuff to where the orange arrow is pointing. We are so excited to be moving closer to so many of our family and friends again, although we have made some wonderful friends and been very loved and supported here in Michigan. We will miss all our friends here, but we know that God is opening this door for us and we are anxious to see how life is going to look for us in a new place. All this will happen by Christmas, so let's just say we have a lot of work to do between now and then. I probably should be packing something right now! =)
Anyway, if any of you readers- old or new- are in the area, I just might have to have a real life Nitty.Gritty. chat session to see who you all are once everything gets settled and I find a couple of hours of free time. That would be so much fun! As you must know then, this blog may get even more quiet than normal, and if that's the case you'll know I am buried under bozes somewhere, or trying to empty them out. I love the idea of decluttering and starting fresh in a new home again...but honestly, I could very well do without the hassle of packing. Wish me luck. Wish all of us luck and I bet I will have a few good stories to share with you all soon!

She makes it look easy.

What a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been for my family this October. There has been so much going on- good, bad and in between, that I haven't had a moment to catch up here at Nitty.Gritty. I also find that being home around so many family members made it 'less urgent' for me to post, since we were sort of living out what I might otherwise blog home to them about. So that's the explanation I have for not updating here.

We packed our whole family of 8 into an RV and took a 12+ hour roadtrip across 5 states to be with all of my family and friends to remember our dear Grandma Shirley as she passed away October 17th. It was a bittersweet time for many of us as we have such fond memories of sharing life with her. They say there are two types of people in this world- givers and takers. She was a GIVER through and through- always giving joy, love, happiness, a word of encouragment or sharing a meal made by her hands and heart. She will be missed and remembered by so many and I am grateful I had the chance to be home in Minnesota to take part in celebrating who she was and always will be. As my great-uncle John said, "Shirley was a true love machine". I was lucky to know that, feel it from her firsthand, and hopefully take some of that with me and turn it around to pour out to others as I walk through life too.

That top photo is a picture of me with my family- my parents and my four siblings. We haven't taken a picture together like this in years. Being together was special- but after driving all those hours home with our youngsters, Chip and I vow not to do that again for a long, long while.

And I'm not kidding.

AT about the 8 hour mark each way we were ready to have the trip be over. Especially Crew strapped into his carseat and screaming to let us know he had had it. Not fun in Chicago rush-hour traffic. Or anywhere for that matter. And at that 8 hour mark you realize you are only two-thirds of the way to your destination. It starts to feel like a terrible mistake to be traveling; but somehow we made it there and back. The kids LOVED spending time with their cousins and catching up on the fun they've missed out on the past couple of years. There were lots of fun and games and laughter and screaming (especially from Wyndham when Grandma Genie pushed her wheelchair while running through the halls of the building where we stayed!) and there was lots of crying, yelling and 'drama' too. I won't even go into all of that but you can just be thankful along with me that we didn't have to have surgery to try to reattach Crew's fingers. That's all I'm going to say about that- we're all still traumatized from that elevator incident! Eeeks!

Okay.

Now for an update on Wyndham. Today marks 4 weeks since she had her double-foot surgery. It has felt like a long, long time for us, so I can only imagine how long it has felt for her. She can only sit in her wheelchair, or lay on the couch or her bed. Oh yeah, she has a special toilet seat to sit on once in awhile too. Yesterday she saw her surgeon for some x-rays and was re-cast as part of the ongoing recovery process. This time around she picked pink casts. I think she was actually starting to tire of seeing those bright orange ones and just wanted a little change in scenery. You can see she was checking them out this morning and then gave me a thumb's up too. What a steadfast spirit she has about her. I could learn a thing or two from her about patience and perseverance. I wish a lot of times I could be more like her. Look at the smiles on her face as she does her coloring pages. That's how she is most of the time.

We keep trying to make things "fun" for her as she's healing, but she's the one that smiles through the pain and monotony of her situation. We bring stuff to her- like the dollhouse that normally sits on the floor, and she also loves to spend time doing the paint application on the computer. She's very good at it and can start the program all on her own. She inspires me everyday; she makes it look easy!

Just before we wnt to Minnesota one night I was needing a chocolate fix of some sort, so I quick whipped up a chocolate cake mix. Instead of just pouring it into a 9x13 pan I poured it into the giant cupcake pan and decided to frost it and let Wyndham blow out 2 candles in "celebration" of surviving 2 weeks with her casts on. It was sort of a way for us to turn a bad situation into something a tiny bit wonderful. Right away when the kids saw the cake they wanted to know who's birthday it was. =) I told them it wasn't for a birthday, but instead it was for letting Wyndham know how proud we are of the way she is handling having to wear double-casts right now. They were so excited to see her blow out candles and celebrate something like being home from the hospital. It has been rough for us as a couple (I could write a short book on that!) and as a family, and I know it has been difficult for Wyndham too. She doesn't smile all the time and sure wishes she could be doing what she used to be doing, but at the same time, I am proud that we're all still hanging in there as best as we can do.

That's one of the many gifts I think my Grandma handed down to me and now I occasionally find I pass along too. I told her years ago, after surviving the loss of a child and living through tragedy, that she had made the suffering look "easy" to me and so many people around her through the years. You'd never know it from first meeting my Grandma, because of the smile on her face and the joy in her life, that she had lived a life of trials. She was so good at trusting God and giving all her burdens to Him. I learned from her that you don't have to live a life feeling sorry for yourself. You can move through your sorrows and suffering and she lived her life as an example of that- finding ways to turn her trials into opportunities to experience God's love, mercy and grace.

I feel like I fail more than I thrive when it comes to stepping up to these life challenges. But I hope that even through my failures I will learn that there is reason to keep going. I am so thankful for my Grandma's life, for the love and support of my family, and even the inspiration of Wyndham in her suffering. She makes it look easy and that never ceases to amaze me. I hope to become more like her- and can sense that God is growing patience in me right now too. Not always easy; but it is a good thing.

A simple "yes"...

I posted on Facebook that today marks 15 years since Chip asked me to marry him and I said yes. Fifteen years ago I had NO IDEA what the future held for us, and I'm quite certain I wouldn't have believed it even if you had spelled it all out for me.

What I do know 15 years later is that I still feel very blessed to have met Chip, fallen "in like" with him, and then I started to see his potential, my potential and then "our potential" when I let myself dream a little bit at a time. I'm very humbled that God brought us together and pretty much blew away any picture I had in my mind of how our lives would turn out together. I'm still amazed that Chip was "smitten" by me. I wasn't really the "smittening-type" of girl back in those days. I was {and sadly still am far too often!} a selfish girl that judges quickly and feels entitled to get her way. I can be picky about little things- and even nit-picky about littler things. Fifteen years ago I never imagined that our lives would blossom beyond just an "us" to include several more little people, who very quickly and thoroughly, taught and continue to teach me that there's more to life than just me.

As I pause and think back to that moment in time {at Rice Park, Saint Paul, Minnesota} when Chip asked me to be his wife and one little word- three little letters- changed the course of my; changed the course of OUR lives, well, it's nothing short of amazing to me. I often joke, at times when life gets stressful and Chip and I are at odds with how to proceed through whatever it is life is handing us at that moment, I say to Chip, "Remember...you asked ME to marry YOU", and we laugh and it helps bring us back to 'reality'. Our crazy, wonderful, challenging, sometimes-ready-to-throw-in-the-towel, up and down again, all-around amazing reality that is our life.

I'm thankful that he asked me.

I'm so glad that my selfish, unprepared self said yes.

I couldn't imagine anyone else next to me through these past 15 years.

It's been wild. It's been hard.

It's been more than I imagined, and for all of it, I'm grateful.

I never knew a little yes could change so much.

I love you, Chip and I would say yes all over again.

This time, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Big projects.

We took on some big projects the past few days. Today we give a special shout out to all our friends and family in Minnesota...hey! Brock has a oral presentation to give on the great state of Minnesota to all the fourth graders in his class at school. He worked really hard on both a written report and putting a presentation board together. Even though Chip and I were born and raised in Minnesota, Brock felt he wanted to learn more about the state himself. One of his favorite surprises was to learn about the world's largest ball of twine which resides in Darwin, MN. He also was happy to bring the state beverage- milk- and state muffin- blueberry- to pass out to all his friends too. So, hello to all of you reading from Minnesota right now. We miss a lot of you!

While Brock and I worked on the finishing touches of his board, Chip was busy cleaning out our flower bed right outside our front step. Crew absolutely LOVES it outside as the weather warms up. He was all smiles as he watched Chip (and Wyndham) "play" in the dirt. I think Crew has a future in agriculture. Which means he has a good chance of moving back to Minnesota someday. =)

I just want to give you all a few more details as to my previous post and our new concerns for Wyndham. First of all, thank you for so many prayers and support for our family. We will most certainly need them over the coming months. We learned on Monday, that Wyndham will be having double foot/ankle surgery- most likley in early fall. This is something we have felt she wouldn't need, but as the x-rays and orthopedic surgeon confirm, sadly it will need to be done and it will be a challenge too. Not just the surgery, but also the recovery. She will be immobile/wheelchair bound for at least 3 months.

This sudden news really hit us hard. Wyndham has been doing so well in all areas of development. She is a very active and happy 8 year old. It is hard to imagine all the implications that this surgery will present. My heart hurts for the pain and suffering she will have to go through too. They say it's quite painful- we're hoping she has the lesser complicated one too- hoping to avoid the one where she would have bones fused, but that will be determined as she has more procedures done in the coming months. So please feel free to pray for her team of doctors and the wisdom they need to make the best decisions for her care. Also, pray for Chip and me as we have to help make decisions too and be Wyndham's advocate. Pray for us to have peace and be unified when it comes to the things that need to be done. This type of stuff has strained our marriage before- hopefully it will bring us together and force us to grow in new and better ways. Most importantly, pray for Wyndham and all she will endure. She has proved herself strong time and time again, but still, it won't be fun and it certainly won't make sense to her as to why she is healthy and happy and yet still has to put her life on hold and go through this traumatic experience. I am praying that God will just give her everything she needs to be calm, comforted and somehow He will bring helpers into our lives that will ease the burdens of having her confined for so long.

That's sort of the big picture in one paragraph, but hopefully it is enough details to help you both understand why our hearts were so heavy the other day, and also gives you insight as to how to support us- your prayers and thoughts means so much to us! A situation like this is hard to swallow. It is another reminder of how one person's acts have drastically changed/affected our lives forever. It is another chance for us to choose to forgive and let go. But I am first to admit...it's still hard.

You know I will keep bringing updates and details as this surgery gets closer. We are very grateful though, to think that we have a whole summer to "be normal" and have fun. Let's hope it's Wyndham's best summer yet!

Even the "unseen" matters.

I have written recently about the feeling I get- maybe even a touch of minor depression- from doing 'ordinary tasks' over and over again. I've shared how I love being SAHM (Stuck-at-home-Mom) =), but also admit that sometimes it just feels overwhelming, or feels unimportant in the scheme of things. I struggle with attaching meaning to the things I do. I admit, I fear "wasting" my life- especially after living with a brush with death and recognizing all the more how short and fleeting time truly is.
Insert my daily reading today titled "Faithfulness in Everything" from Our Daily Bread. The message is a good reminder, or an important thought to chew on as we go about our work- whatever that may be. It also hit close to home for me, as some of you may remember our family connection to the I-35 bridge collaspe in MN and also because we lived in Gaylord, MI for several years and traveled across the Mackinac Bridge many times- it was just an hour to the north of our home. I just was touched by the reading and scriptures tied in with the post today, so I wanted to share it with the rest of you. I'll be back soon to post a winner for a Starbuck's mini-book later this evening.
Here's the reading for today: Faithfulness in Everything
In August 2007, a major bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. In the weeks that followed, it was difficult for me not to think about that tragedy whenever crossing a bridge over a body of water.
Some time later, I was watching an episode of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. Host Mike Rowe was talking to an industrial painter whose work he was trying to duplicate. “There’s really no glory in what you do,” he said. “No,” the painter agreed, “but it’s a job that needs to be done.”
You see, that man paints the inside of the Mackinac Bridge towers in Northern Michigan. His unnoticed job is done to ensure that the steel of the magnificent suspended structure won’t rust from the inside out, compromising the integrity of the bridge. Most of the 12,000 people who cross the Straits of Mackinac each day aren’t even aware that they are depending on workers like this painter to faithfully do their jobs well.
God also sees our faithfulness in the things we do. Though we may think our deeds—big and small—sometimes go un-noticed, they are being observed by the One who matters most. Whatever our task today, let’s “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). — Cindy Hess Kasper.
Whatever task you find to do,
Regardless if it’s big or small,
Perform it well, with all your might,
Because there’s One who sees it all. —Sper
"Daily work takes on eternal value when it is done for God."

Belated Christmas memories...

After 17 hours of driving these are some of the memories we captured and experienced at Chip's parents' home in northern Minnesota. There was lots of snow for snowmobiling, single digit temperatures, a magnificent Christmas tree that stood tall and didn't fall once throughout our stay {I thought you'd like that note, Grandma Karen!}, a warm hearth which sits nice and close to the big screen tv so we all stayed warm and etertained.

You see that Crew was Mr. Personality during our family photos. [click any of the pictures to enlarge] I think what he was trying to say is he would rather have been tasting grandma's eggnog pie instead of posing for the camera.

Memories.

I love them- imperfections and all.

Just stopping by...

To give my Dad a big birthday wish on my blog. Happy 65th today. I'm so glad I was able to give you a hug in person and all the kids got to give you one too. We miss you already!
Our family was back on the road this morning, bright and early, and thankfully we made it home from Minnesota safe and sound. We had clear roads to travel this time around and shaved a few hours off of our trip by not having to go through a blizzard. It's nice to be home. Crew seems to be the happiest of all. I didn't even think he knew what home was yet, but based on his reactions and his happiness levels, I think he really does know he's home. There's just something so calming about familiar surroundings. Even a baby knows that!

It wasn't so pretty afterall...

The second half of our trek home to Minnesota wasn't all that wonderful. The snow started falling and we drove into a snowing/blowing whiteout turning our total drive time into just over 13 hours. Thirteen hours is about all we could handle scrunched in our vehicle with (as Chip calls it...) "white knuckle driving". The kids were amazing throughout the entire trip. They never sleep on these drives, except for Crew who kept taking nice snoozes all day long. So as the snow and winds picked up and the stress levels grew, we were surprised that the kids kept their cool. I think they knew the situation was dangerous and stressful, so they all somehow managed to keep relatively quiet and calm in their carseats.
We saw so many cars in the ditches and stuck in snow along the way that we were grateful to arrive at our destination- even though it was a few hours later than we had hoped for. To top off the final hour and a half of my birthday, Crew got sick, threw up all over me and then spent almost the whole night tossing and turning with a low-grade fever and stuffy nose. Poor guy. We're watching him closely and hoping he gets better rather than worse in the next day or two. I am crossing my fingers he will be happy and healthy as he celebrates his first Christmas.
Tomorrow we head to northern MN to be with Chip's side of the family for a few days. That 4-5 hour drive will hopefully be a bit easier on us, and I am starting to think that this will be the last time we do this winter driving thing. Christmas is supposed to be joyful and merry. Those two adjectives aren't exactly the two I'd pick for the 30+ hours of driving we'll put in when this trip is over. My body is telling me otherwise too. Or maybe it's the fact I only got two 40 minute "naps" last night. So as pretty as it is here and as wonderful as our families may be, it's going to be a VERY MERRY Christmas if we ever want to think about doing this trip again!
Now...I'm off to hopefully catch a Minnesota winter nap. =)
Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes you left for me yesterday. I think we needed them!

A different kind of birthday.

Today I turned 36 years old. I awoke and showered, finished packing everything I could manage {with Chip's help} to pack for a family of 7 into a Honda Odyssey and headed out for our trip to Minnesota. I am blogging for the first time ever in a vehicle. We're on Int. 90 headed toward Wisconsin. The roads are nice and clear (we just passed a sign for Belvedere/Sycamore, IL) for the midwest this time of year. Especially since we had a snow day yesterday and the storms have been all around this route and are possibly swirling for us to drive into as well.
I am sandwiched (tightly!!) in the back row between Bella and Ava. All the kids are watching individual dvd's and I'm on the laptop. Crew is snoozing nicely in his carseat and the driving is left for Chip to maneuver, and hopefully make good time too.
So far, I can't complain about the trip. Besides the stress leading up to it, and the last minute hassles of packing and loading everyone inside, I really can't complain all that much. I was treated to a quick stop at Starbuck's for a nonfat, half-caf, Hazlenut latte as we took to the road and as I sipped my birthday latte I thought to myself how lucky I am right now. Things could be much worse.
Lots of people have taken this route with family in tow- only in a covered wagon with no comforts of heat or wireless internet. My birthday wish this whole year long is that I count my blessings and look at the many things/reasons I have to be grateful before I utter complaints or criticism in the midst of any given situation.
I'm thankful today for my health, my family, clear,dry roads and new window wipers, cigarette lighters that provide power to dvd players and gameboy systems and so many other things too.
Yes, it's a bit of a different birthday, but I still there are lots of reasons to celebrate. Now, as long as we don't end up in a blizzard for the second leg of the trip I think being 36 is going to be a pretty good thing! =)

On this day in 1967...

My parents were married on Dec. 16th, 1967. I wish I had a wedding photo of them. They have such a wonderful, true, love story. I'll give you the short version... from their first date to the day they were married was 3 months. =) I can tell you today, 40+ years later, they are happily married and in love more than they were back then. I feel fortunate to have watched them model what a good marriage can and should look like through many of those years. I love that they have both changed and evolved together in so many ways. They are the kind of people that you can't imagine being apart; one without the other just wouldn't really be the same. Like milk and cookies. Somethings were just meant to be together. Today I wish them a very Happy Annivesary and hope they enjoy more love and happiness together for at least a few more years! =)

Then there's little Crew. I put him in a button-down shirt and suddenly he looked like a little man to me. How does that happen?! I also have to tell you that I took one of his 'santa baby' pictures and set my desktop background with it and now there are 3 pictures of him in a row. It's very cute, but the best part is that every time he sees himself on the laptop he gets the biggest grin and then starts smiling and even "talking" and laughing at himself. I found even when he's starting to fuss that I can show him those pictures of himself and he snaps right out of it. It's really funny and cute at the same time. Funny, because he doesn't even know it's his picture, and yet he's so taken by the baby in the pictures. I'm sure we'll tell him this story when he grows up and he'll be very embarrassed at himself. But it's cute for now!

As we prepare to pack and trek across 4 states back home to Minnesota for Christmas with our families, I'm beginning to think I should print out the santa baby photo and have it posted where he can look at it from his carseat for 14 hours. I'm trying not to dread the trip. Feel free to start praying for our family right now. I'm sure we'll need some prayers to survive the long hours and hundreds of miles on the road!

We'll be driving on my birthday and I am hoping that I can use that as leverage for the kids to behave. For at least 7 hours anyway! Wish us luck and if I don't post between then and now, I've either had a nervous breakdown trying to pack for 7 people, or I'm keeping Crew happy in front of the computer screen while he laughs at himself. This is my life... it's a little bit of this and that right now!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad.

We'll give you hugs and kisses when we see you in less than a week!

xoxo