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Monday, June 30, 2014

Eat him up 


I am so tempted to put mascara on those lashes


 he is so squishy...We are so blessed!

Praying for great results at Mayo this week. Will give an update when we can.
Thank you for all your continued support.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

grace
God is so bent on blessing, He chases.
God’s not out to get you — He’s out to give to you.
And God’s blessings don’t pursue temporarily but relentlessly. It’s right there in His Word: His goodness and mercy pursue me not just some days — but all the days of my life. When I’m in a wilderness, His mercy and goodness run after me. When I’m hurting, His grace hunts for me. When I’m plagued by problems, His goodness pursues me.
No matter where I go, He has his two blessing men right there in hot pursuit: goodness and mercy.

I whisper it to myself when it’s noon on the first day of the week and everything is closing in on me and I am already behind in my mind.

Whatever is chasing you — no matter what it looks like — it’s grace.
And grace isn’t what makes us feel good: grace is all that makes us more like Jesus.

I can breathe deeper. I could smile. I don’t have to feel anything pressing on my chest.


Because the real truth is: God wants to bless more. So why run from whatever God is giving? It’s only got to be for my ultimate good and His ultimate glory.
We don’t live in pursuit of a better life it’s the blessed life that’s in pursuit of us.
It’s there on the counter, that open journal where Dave and I count gifts, and it may feel like were looking for goodness and mercy, but it’s grace and mercy that finds us.

 No one chases grace — but grace chases everyone.

I feel like a happy fool making lunch in the kitchen, kiddos schooling, loud and crazy chaos in the house, washing machine humming, and I am laughing over nothing, over everything, over joy, a love like this.

And nothing can overwhelm me — like grace can overtake me.

No matter when you look over your shoulder, that’s what you find: God’s blessings overtaking you. No matter what a day, a life, looks like, this is what it all stacks up to for every person on the planet: We are all chased by grace.


And in the kitchen(because that's where we hang most of the time), with the timer beeping — I reach over, kiss a boy smack on the forehead, the world full of His goodness and mercy and Glory

Love wins

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Beautiful things

This girl eating something else besides celery, chicken and yogurt all the time.  She is a picky eater but a healthy eater.   She made a funny face but she seemed to like it.  Darn...she ate 2 whole pieces. This sounds like no big deal but we are so proud of you.



If you are ever at our house you need to seriously watch out for flying bullets.  They are going every which way all the time.  Jeremiah got a bullseye on my smoothie when I was drinking it.


This girl does everything school from sun up to sun down.  She loves organization(but her room is a disaster) and school. She cannot wait to be home schooled next year.  We are so excited!


Hamming it up


the kiddos love making cards for people...they are truly aware of what that person is like.
love their hearts


thankful for our friends for  continually helping Dave on his licorice addiction(hee, hee)


 my children bringing me flowers constantly


these big kids giving Gabe unlimited rides in Rubbermaid. 
Love Rubbermaid


Love my life...

Saturday, June 21, 2014

ice cream for breakfast

This post is mostly for the kiddos
Our tradition for all these years has been to have humongous ice cream sundaes for breakfast the last day of school.  Ya know wind them up like crazy and then by the time they get to school they crash.  The older 2 were done with school already but the younger 2 were not.  
They all had a fun year.  I just never get how they are ready for it to end and then a few days later want it to start already. 





Gabe has no idea what's going on..he won't even touch ice cream.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014


Happy 11th Birthday(June 13th) Odin!

You have such a sweet, giving and loving spirit. Always ready to help and serve others.  You are so excited to see what God's plan is for you.  You have a hard time receiving things for yourself.  Always wanting to give it to others. 
 Love where God has you.








lover of Legos, marvel action hero's, star wars
loves books, camping, his sister and brothers, wrestling, swimming, art
cooking and baking
staying up late in the dark
likes things neat and orderly
can't wait to have a family some day
wants to join the navy, air force or be a photographer







Jonah made him a Jenga french toast tower



this guy loves nature cottage scenes





Thank you for all the awesome and thoughtful gifts.  He had a wonderful day.

Sunday, June 15, 2014



Happy Special Father’s Day David!

Where do I start…I love you more than ever.  We are so blessed and I am so thankful you are here with us.  It makes me cry to think that you might not have been here.  Writing this makes me cry. This journey has taught me a lot about love.  Laughing more.   Crying more.    Holding each other more. Taking  the time for us more.  Giggling over simple moments and teasing about serious things in a light hearted kind of way. Some moments have been stumbling to get through but the grace of laughter and love always get us through.   I can see how cancer can destroy a family.  That is why the time we spend now- our healthy efforts in love- MATTER. The investment in love we make today matters in all of our tomorrow’s.  Suffering came.  Our love story was prepared to face it. This cancer drew our hearts nearer to one another and Jesus.  
Thank you for loving our kids in all their strange demands. Thank you for lying with them at night and tucking them in.  Even when you didn’t have energy to get up. Thank you for patiently teaching them. Thank you for constantly filling my empty gas tanks.  Thank you for protecting us. You are always so brave and strong.  Thank you for being compassionate and courageous in so many ways. Thank you for finding joy in the simple things. We love you.  Thank you for loving our kids with kindness when you don’t feel kind. Thank you for fighting for gentleness when everything in you doesn’t feel gentle.  Joy always returned quickly on your hard days.  God’s grace and forgiveness is so good.
 You are a gift to my heart. I love you!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Olivia
Left at 8:30 and didn't realize all the construction that was going on down in Milwaukee so we got there at 10:35 just a little late.  I always tell the kiddos to never be late so that was hard for me to do.  Checked in and waited 5 minutes and then we were in.  That never happens for us there or anywhere.   Weighed in and met the Dr. and her intern.  Great lady.  Chief of the ENT department.  She looked at Olivia and felt quite a few lymph nodes under her chin, her throat and other parts of her neck finding more little lumps that I never felt or saw.  Then she felt the one on her neck/collarbone area which was bigger than the other ones.  It was double in size.   The Dr. thinks it is just swollen lymph nodes but she is not sure.  The good thing she said was that it was movable and there was no funkiness going on by the skin or any other symptoms of concern. They told me that Olivia is at a higher risk now after Dave's cancer which makes sense but is scary too.  The problem is she said that some kids do not show signs of anything if it is some sort of cancer or something else.  She said if it was lymphoma the lump would be  more in the front, down from your chin. That wasn't the case at all.  While she was checking her ears and everywhere else she noticed that there was a lot of scar tissue/damage in her ears so she wanted to do a hearing test.  So we moved to another room and away we go.  Olivia was great through everything. She was hilarious saying all these words out loud during the hearing test. Apparently she is borderline for a hearing aid in her right ear.  Really..never new she couldn't hear that well in that ear and Olivia never is one to ask for anyone to ask us to repeat anything or ask "what?" over and over. She actually listens better than most of the kids. They want to see her again in 2 months for her to get her neck checked and then yearly for her ears.  We just have to monitor her for any symptoms or problems and then go from there.
 Thank you for all of your prayers and continued love and support.

Monday, June 9, 2014

summer

no packing lunches and getting out the door on time...just chillen
We’ve got nothing serious on our agenda just camping. Which is our favorite.  We may go ride bikes.  Or just play at the playground.  Hang out all day and do nothing. Who knows.  The world is at our finger tips.  Glad to be done with school.    My heart already feels a little lighter.  Although our summer is going to be big and fun, we just have a more weightless feel to us when we’re in the easy swing of summer.  Late nights and hopefully late mornings(like maybe they can sleep until 6am).  Swimming and park playing and movie watching.  Ice cream and cereal for dinner and momentarily cookie making. Pruney toes.  Water and sand all over my floors.  Wet hair and straight up bare feet.  Nothing really too pressing because it feels like we’ve got all the time in the world.  Longer, slower days.



this guy is so much fun..


he is trying to get the scooter..might just be my favorite picture


As soon as we finished school on Friday with the 2 big boys they ask if we can start next years books.  Are you kidding me.  I was ready to be done this year in May.  May was long.  They were getting restless and edgy with each other.  Love that Odin and Jonah have such an awesome relationship. We will always have the normal brotherly/sisterly bickering but I'm thankful for their love for each other.  Odin asked if he could read his history book from 2 years ago for his summer reading.  Weird kid! He is so like his dad and all.  I tell ya I have never learned so much about history like I have in these last few years homeschooling.  It has been so much fun.Now if I can remember it.  I have terrible comprehension. Like really bad.  I would be a terrible witness.
We don't do summer school or anything else that involves commitment.  Our kiddos do not play sports either.  They love to draw, craft, bake, serve at the homeless shelter and visit the elderly.  So we will be doing a lot of this daily. Love their hearts. Gabe just loves to be outside playing with sand and water.  Which makes it easy until you're ready to bring him in.  He holds onto the door or your shirt and will not let you come in.  The kid totally screams his head of.  


We  started the old Little House on The Prairie series and they rock.  We love their living style.  I would love to live like them! 


I take Olivia to Children's today to see the Dr. about her neck.  Please pray that it is just a lymph node that is enlarged and nothing more serious.
Walking in the woods

my kiddos love the woods.  Their imaginations just soar when they are there.  I would love to live in the woods, get some chickens and maybe a cow and some pigs.  Long dream of mine.  One can always dream. 
 

this big guy loves his daddy





he kept trying to escape everywhere





they all wanted to go in there until I told them there might be some live animals that might eat them in there...so they sent Gabe in first!


Odin is always worried about Gabe




finding joy in the little things in life...
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