A little preview

We got some family pictures taken a few weeks back. They turned out great, even in spite of Lydia's bang fiasco. Here's a little peek at them.

Kristie Anderson {KEA Photography in St. Paul} is amazingly talented and started taking our family pictures when LJ was just a little thing {Jacob and Rebekah were pretty little at that point too, actually}.

There are about 300 all together, but they aren't all completely splendid {it's amazing to me that with 7 of us, at least 6 of whom have a hard time cooperating and smiling normal -- good thing Kirb is so dependable and photogenic! -- that we get any good ones at all, but we did! Yay Kristie, thank you!}. Now I have a to sit down and decide what I am going to order and what {and how many} we can afford!

Flashback Friday

silly boy!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful for Trout Lake Camp!

We had an absolutely wonderful time at Family camp this week! It was the best 5 days of our summer and everyone has said that they want to go back again next year. {Well, Anna didn't exactly say that, but she did have fun and said "mine" which we assumed to mean that she wants to go back again next year too!}
Being surrounded by such obvious expressions of the beauty of God's creation was such a blessing! The weather was great, the lake was beautiful, the trees pointed straight up to their Creator and reminded us of how good we have it!

Paths to wander were abundant::

Extra-fun, out-of-the-ordinary activities were also readily available.
The kids had fun trying out the skate park.
Lydia makes a pretty good "skater dude" don't you think?

One of Anna's many silly faces::

Jacob on the zipline: 25 feet in the air!
Thank the Lord for sturdy harnesses!

Typical Joe::

The "littles" in an early morning fog of tiredness before breakfast::

We were some of the earliest customers to breakfast::

The kiddos::

"Happy campers"::

Joe & Kirb::

The littlest and the biggest on our 7 am pontoon ride::

Momma and her baby::

Lydia climbing the rock wall::

Jacob::

Rebekah::

The littles on the slide. This was Anna's FAVORITE thing of the week. Up the steps, down the slide. Up the steps, down the slide. Up the steps, down the slide. Over and over and over and over again!

The aftermath of 7 people camping for 5 days::

Well, just loads 1 & 2. There were many more after that!

We're home . . .

. . . let the laundry commence:

Flashback Friday

April 2008

Joe HATED {still does, but not to quite the extreme he used to} getting haircuts, so I gave up; while I was pregnant with Anna I just decided I would let his hair keep growing. Yikes! Why didn't one of you tell me he looked ridiculous? Anyway, this is the last picture of his {yucky} long hair before I buzzed it all off again! Funny! He wasn't even 3 yet in this picture. Maybe it's just how little he still was, or maybe it was the super shaggy 'do but he sure does look different!

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm particularly thankful for this downspout!

For years after we moved in {and even before -- which we knew when we bought the house} we would get water in our basement whenever there was a heavy rain. It was a bummer! Especially after the basement got "finished"! {It still couldn't be considered a finished basement, but it's closer now than it was before. You know, walls, a toilet, shower and sink, tile -- rather than cement -- on the floors, real furniture and stuff}. We tried a few different things to fix the problem {without spending the big bucks to dig out all around our house and drain tile} and it only seemed to get worse!

The fall I was pregnant with Anna {2007} it was particularly bad {or I was particularly hormonal and extra crabby about it, which is very possible!}. So one day my dad decided that maybe adding one more downspout on the west side of the house might help, or, at the least, couldn't hurt! So he spent probably less than $10 at the hardware store, got up on the ladder, sawed a hole in our gutter on the north by northwest {that's a little family humor there for ya, if you got it, great! Otherwise just move along!} corner of our house, attached the downspout and waited for the next heavy rain.


It seemed to have been exactly what we needed! It has been almost 2 years since this downspout went up {or down, I guess} and we haven't had water in our basement once since then. Today, I am thankful {once again} for this downspout {and for my dad!} because yesterday we had TONS and TONS of rain {along with 3 or 4 trips to the basement when the tornado sirens were sounding} and the basement stayed dry the whole time. What a blessing! It's been a pretty dry summer overall, but when it rains it really rains! I'm not sure what the totals were right in our neighborhood, but the 24-hour rainfall totals in parts of Minnesota were over 6 inches! That's a bunch of rain! Good thing it's not winter, we would have had quite a blizzard with those kind of numbers!

Verse 16

Verse 16 already! I was just reviewing my verses so far this year. There are so many great ones in there; things that I need to focus on more! I chose this verse to memorize next:

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. {Psalm 46.10 NIV}

If you don't know about my "resolution" to memorize 24 scriptures in 2009 and you want to know what in the world I'm talkin' about, you can check it out here.

We were given a challenge in church this morning :: spend the first 3 minutes of each day with God for the next 150 days. Spend the 1st minute reading just the first verse of a Psalm (in order: day 1 :: Psalm 1. Day 2 :: Psalm 2. That's why it's a 150-day challenge . . . there are 150 Psalms) and meditating on it. Spend the 2nd minute thanking God for something in your life. Anything. We all have more than enough to be thankful for! Spend the 3rd minute planning a way that you can show kindness or service to someone during that day. Easy, right? Just 3 minutes. We challenged the kids to do it (well, the older 3 at least) and we're going to try to do it to. It'll be fun to know that we're all reading the same verse to start our day! Join me if you want. Let's see what happens! Blessings on each of you!

Flashback Friday

Fall 2004

Thankful Thursday

Guest blogger today:: Kirby (the dad, the husband, "the man" around here!)

I'm thankful for my parents. It has been nice having them at our house for the past few days. It is especially nice knowing that my dad did not need to have surgery this week on his heart and that his heart is getting stronger and not the other way around. Each day is a gift from the Lord and I hope to have many more days/months/years with my parents.

Peek a boo

Silly kiddos!

A few of the silly things heard around here the past few days:

• "This reminds me of when I was a little kid." (Lydia)
• Rebekah: "Mom, if you have any more babies we're going to have to start driving a limo." Lydia: "Or maybe, like, a church van."
• "Can we please go see the parking lot for the trains?" (Joe)
  

Flashback Friday

August 2006

Thankful Thursday

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name
in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise
because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings,
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name
in all the earth!

psalm 8

Done and . . . done!

Well, we're both officially done with our Lazyman triathlon. Over 225 miles biked, 55 miles ran/walked and 5 miles of swimming between the 2 of us over the last 4 1/2 weeks. I'm so proud of us! It was lots of fun, now I think I'll celebrate with some Peanut Butter M&M's!

Twins, takes 3, 4 & 5

All our kiddos stayed overnight with my friend, Allison, and her family a couple weeks back. Here are some more twin pictures of our little BFF's:

same outfit, but in different colors:

Lazyman update

Well, Kirb is DONE with all his miles! He worked really hard last week and just finished up his last few miles of running this morning. Way to go, babe! I have a little biking left to finish this week and then I'll be done too; I wrapped up my swimming and walking/running last week! Soon we will be the proud owners of new t-shirts. Hooray!

Verse 15

Verse #15! How did it get to be August already? I can't promise that I can say them all completely from memory, but I'm better than I was in January, that's for sure. I chose this verse to memorize next:

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. {Isaiah 26.3-4}

If you don't know about my "resolution" to memorize 24 scriptures in 2009 and you want to know what in the world I'm talkin' about, you can check it out here.