We're making it!

I have survived one full week now at my internship. As with the start of most new jobs, it started off pretty slow. But, it's picking up and I'm finding myself right at home among some of society's frowned-upon and ignored members.

The kids have transitioned smoothly into their new routine. Last week, they enjoyed time with their grandparents and this week was their first official time week with Miss Beth. Jackson loves his new lunchbox and he is a great helper in packing it and getting it ready.

We're still settling into a routine during the evening, but we're finding ourselves so productive and efficient with our time. Our time together has been shorter than usual, but it's been enjoyable and sweet.

One thing is for sure-- everything has been coming together so perfectly and smoothly. I'm such a different person than I was even just last week in terms of being anxious, stressed, and tearful. I know I've been covered in prayer by so many wonderful, supportive people and it's obvious in my life and how everything has just come into place. It's been great to have received so many emails, facebook posts, and text messages letting me know I've been prayed for and checking to see how we're doing. I have the greatest friends. :)

And a HUGE thanks to my the hubby-- could go on and on, but people don't tend to enjoy a lot of mushiness. Basically, he's amazing and he complements be perfectly. {And he compliments me too. Especially lately! He's surprised after work almost everyday when he comes home and I actually look like a lady... aka- not in yoga pants, sweatshirt, and ponytail!}

I'll end with saying that my one of the biggest downers about leaving the kiddos in daycare is missing out on some of their firsts-- especially Belle because I was always home with Jackson at his age. Well, it only took a day and a half for that to happen. Belle threw up for the first time and it was with Miss Beth. Poor Miss Beth, but I'm not all that sad about not having to clean it up! Thankfully, my sister is still on Christmas break and watched Belle pottied today since she couldn't go back to daycare. Turns out, another "first" happened at my parents-- she in the tub... {the gross kind}. Can't say I'm bummed about missing that either! I guess there are some "firsts" worth missing!! :)

Julie's back... Again!!!!

Yes! Our favorite Dane has come back to visit once again! There is a certain little boy who is soooooo exited to have her back! (We are all very excited, but Jackson is the only one who had an asthma attack from running/jumping/hollering due to so much excitement.)

Due to an internet outage, I'm posting from my phone and so I don't want to go into the ridiculousness we went through to pick Julie up from the airport. Poor Julie got off the plane with no one to greet her! :( But we did find her after lots of running and frantic searching.

There's also a good story of how I didn't get Julie's flight info before she started traveling, so after scouring the internet with only her arrival time, I decided I needed to email her family...not all speak English! But I was desperate to find her flight number so we wouldn't have to wander through every terminal looking! Her brother saved the day, but we still wandered (ran) through two out of three terminals anyway...

Anyways...

Jackson was SO excited to show Julie the sign he made with Grammy! And like I mentioned, he was ecstatic to see her and he barely l left her side all evening.

Even though I knew she'd be so tired from 20 hours of travel, I planned a surprise welcome party for her! Many if her favorite friends were here to welcome her back to the states. Everyone was just as happy to see get as she was to see everyone else!

And lastly, Julie got to see her new room! And by new room, I mean brand spanking new. Like... I just finished sanding and painting this morning. Just last week, it was barely even framed. But thanks to many volunteers the room has been wired, drywalled, sanded, and painted with doors and lights installed too!

(because I'm posting from my phone,I can't caption or pick the placement of   photos--they are ask just stuck at the end!)

The weekend

We have had a wonderful weekend! Even though it’s been full of mostly routine and boring tasks: cleaning, budgeting, laundry… we’ve managed to squeeze in some super fun family time and even time with friends! It’s the first time in a weeks that I’ve just relaxed and put school completely on the back burner. {And now that Monday is approaching, I need to get my tush in gear! I have a presentation on Wednesday!}

Friday night, we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse {with a groupon so it was super cheap!}. We considered going kid-less to enjoy some alone time on a date night, but we decided to have a family date night and I am so glad that we did. We had such a super nice time with the kids and Jackson was so excited about that place. His exact words were, “This is so awesome!” We took the kids by the mall afterwards and let them play.

Jackson is approaching the age when he actually wants to put money
in the slot to make the rides work. Up until now, he’s been
perfectly content just climbing/sitting/steering!

Saturday was the day filled with pretty boring stuff, but we managed to squeeze in grocery shopping, a trip to the DMV, cleaning house and cooking dinner. I managed to take a two hour {must needed} nap and we even had friends over for dinner!

These are our friends Kaylynn {pronounced Kay-when and/or the-girl-who-calls-me-Jack} and Kennedy. Derek and I went to college with Matt and Kandice. It’s so weird to look at pictures of our kids playing together and thinking back when we all lived in Springfield and hung out at the Baptist Student Union! Now we’re all grown up {mostly} and our kids play together. So weird. I’m super excited that Matt and Kandice have moved up here to Kansas City! We’re totally looking forward to hanging out with them more.

Isn’t this picture super cute!? Don’t mess with us—we have a collection of super heroes to protect us at this house!

Costume change!

And Sunday we did the normal wake up late, get ready for church super fast, get to church late routine. I guess Jackson’s Sunday school class took a tour of the church today and they passed by the worship band when Derek was playing the drums and Jackson was really proud/excited to see his Daddy up on stage. I wish I could have seen it! Derek spent the afternoon playing disc golf with a new friend while I just enjoyed the quietness around the house.

And after evening church we had a house-full of friends come over to watch the Oscars! I love watching the Oscars every year. And just like Billy Crystal said, “What we need in this economy is to watch millionaire give gold statues to one another!” We all filled out Oscar ballots… and I won {of the people still remaining when the show finished up!}. Woo hoo! I am really hoping Derek and I can catch up on some of the movies from this year {in the time I don’t have!}. Does it count that I have at least read the book for a couple?

My ballot—8 out of 24, a whopping 33%… but that’s all it took to take home the prize. Which was nothing. But I’m always up for any thing that happens to be a competition!

Looking ahead our week is a hectic one. Parents as Teachers and Finance meeting at church on Monday, Tuesday classes, Belle doctor appointment, Wednesday presentation, Thursday shots {Jackson} and then Derek has a 3 day weekend with the Army and I’ve gotta find something to keep me occupied so I don’t go stir crazy with the kiddos!

We always manage to squeeze in some nice family time, so even when it’s super crazy, we have a good time.

Helping Hungry Families—a birthday celebration

The other day I told you about volunteering at Harvester’s with my Sunday School class. Today I’m going to share how we celebrated my mom’s birthday this year.
Mom turned 27-again {and again} this year on December 23rd. It’s hard when people have birthdays so close to Christmas because their celebrations often get thrown into the existing holiday festivities. This year, we made sure to give Mom her very own party—a volunteer party at Harvester’s!

Did you know you could have a volunteer party?!? How cool is that. You can have it for children as young as six {with lots of adult supervisors} up until age 56 27 or even older. You can book a party during any of Harvester’s normal volunteer hours with a minimum of two-hour blocks. Harvester’s provides a party room and even a cake!

Mom and Ruth’s Mom
{kinda embarrassing, but that’s the only way I know her by!}

Hanging out—waiting for cake! This is only about half of the people who came. Several people brought their families!

When having your party at Harvester’s, you invite the guests to bring 10 cans {10 pounds} of food as their gift! I was stocking up like crazy getting items to ensure that Mom was able to receive her special party shirt that is reserved for birthday honorees whose guest collect an average of 10 pounds per person. Of course, Mom’s friends are awesome and brought a lot of food—330 pounds {which equates to 260 meals!} from 23 people!

Mom got her special shirt! “My party made a difference at Harvesters!”

And then we volunteered! Can I say that our task for the evening sounds incredibly weird and boring, but everyone had a great time! Lots of sorting, lots of bagging, but mostly lots of conversation and laughter!
Before I explain our actual task I will explain a little information to put it into perspective. Harvester’s gets donations in a variety of ways including monetary and food donations. Some money is received from government agencies and others through individual giving. Food is collected through food drives, restaurant donations, and by companies {and don’t forget birthday parties!}.
We spent the evening sorting carrots that were donated from a grocery store chain in Canada. I hesitate to call what we worked with carrots as they did not look like any carrot I had *ever* seen. They were more like tiny orange logs.

See—I’m totally not kidding. Can you imagine the size a snowman
would have to be to support this as a nose!?

But the ginormous size and sometimes awkward shape were the exact reason the carrots were donated. If a grocery store would put these carrots in their produce section, people would pick all around them and they would eventually go bad. Basically, no one will buy these {not when the pretty, thin carrots are available} and these bulky carrots would waste shelf space and potentially cost the store money to have these displayed. Donating them offers a special tax break and also helps feed others who desperately need it!

The carrots were shipped to Harvester’s in 50 pound bags stacked high on several palates.

It was our job to divide the carrots into smaller {5 pound-ish} bags that could be distributed to a family or even local soup kitchens. Because really, what single person has a need for 50 pounds of carrots!?

We had three tables {work stations}.

And we were able tackle about two full palates between us all {I don’t want to brag or anything, but our table cleared our entire palate} and we were able to fill three large containers of carrots to be distributed.

See, if I didn’t explain a little at the beginning, it would have sounded weird to say we un-bagged ugly carrots to bag them into smaller bags. And really, when dealing with fresh produce it is critical to get the work done quickly so that it doesn’t spoil by the time it gets distributed!

We make carrots look good!!

Laura—she’s the weird one. I’m telling you, these carrots could be used
as a deadly weapon—Death by carrot {haven’t seen that on CSI yet!}

After our volunteer shift, we had a nice tour through Harvester’s huge facility! I had even been on a tour before and I was still fascinated. The operation is huge and it helps so many people through several programs. Our guide was super sweet and answered all of our many questions.

One person asked about one of the greatest needs of Harvester’s Food Network. The one thing that our super-sweet guide mentioned was that donations and volunteers are abundant in the holiday and winter months. However, once the nice weather and summer/spring seasons come around, the donations dwindle and the need for volunteers goes down as well. Yet people go hungry all year round. This is true for food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters across the country. I just wanted to plant that in your head and maybe you can brainstorm a way to make a different and find some ways to donate this spring and summer!
Be sure to check out Harvester’s volunteer page and plan a time to come spend a few hours making a difference. Regardless of the season, your work will impact the community in a positive way!!

For this child, I have prayed

Several years ago, I attended the Focus on the Family Institute {which has since been renamed Focus Leadership} out in Colorado Springs, CO. It was an amazing summer and one of the best parts was getting assigned to live with one of the sweetest {happiest, bubbliest} people I have ever met.

At Family Dinner- Kate's in green, I'm in blue 

{back when I wore glasses and had blonde highlights}

Seriously, you cannot be around Kate without a smile. She even makes me grin when her status updates show up in my newsfeed on Facebook. Kate has been blessed with an amazing talent of writing. I always love reading what's going on in her mind and it's always so insightful. Even little pieces that reflect on Prince Charmings and Facebook etiquette {please read this... it's great!}-- can really get your mind turning and give you spiritual insight.

Unfortunately, Kate has dealt with unfortunate loss in the past couple of years. First, her father was killed in an automobile accident just mere weeks after her wedding. Kate was so open and transparent about the grief in her life, yet at the same time, she was able to reflect and give God the Glory at the same time. Read this piece and share it with anyone who's suffering loss. I promise you won't regret it.

And just this very week, Kate suffered a miscarriage. Even though I've never had to endure that crisis, I have watched as several friends- near and far, "in real life" and bloggy friends alike, suffer through that emotional turmoil. This was Kate's facebook status just yesterday:

It's funny...we say this verse "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him," when we get pregnant and it makes our hearts happy and thankful. But the end of that verse is this..."So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." Hannah didn't get to keep her baby very long either. (1 Samuel 1:27-28)

I reread this status over and over again. And I realized that I, too, needed to hear this! I wish I would've known these words as I dealt with my postpartum depression after having Jackson. In fact, I could have used it after first finding out we were pregnant with him. I sobbed for a week unable to accept that things might actually be okay: I was certain something catastrophic was going to happen. I just knew! And then after he was born, I struggled just to let myself love him so much because I was devastated at the thought that I might actually lose him someday.

I was terrified my entire pregnancy with Belle of going into the same darkness after giving birth and even though I was medicated it still hit-- just not nearly as deep or hard. I didn't sleep a wink the first night she was home because I knew the minute I wasn't watching, something could happen to her.

Two things kept me grounded: Philippians 4 along with this little phrase I learned from a mentor in high school. She would tuck her kids in each night and say, "I love you. But Jesus loves you more." And at every moment that I would begin to worry, I reminded myself that God feels the same way about my little babies a million times more than I do. And he feels that way for each and every one of us too.

People sometimes say that the reason Christians believe in God is so that they have something to get through the hard times; to make life easier. But, I have to say-- sometimes it's harder. Because I have to trust His plan over mine. Even when it doesn't make sense and even {especially} when it hurts. Because it ultimately comes down to being God's "fault" and that isn't easy to deal with. But that's when I have to pray for God to give me that peace that passes understanding.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Kate, you're strength and insight during difficult times NEVER ceases to amaze. You, my dear, are amazing. How you do it-- I don't even know. God's given you an amazing gift. I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Kate is having her procedure tomorrow. Please pray for her. Let us all pray for all of the families who've suffered through miscarriage. Pray that we can see God's hand and provisions even in the toughest times.

Operation Keep-Busy-While-Derek's-Gone

When I planned to keep busy while Derek spent his two weeks at annual training {National Guard}, I didn't imagine myself being so pooped! Today we got home after being out and around the state for seven days. Whew! 

First stop: I went down to visit my sister who transferred to Missouri State in Springfield, which is also where Derek and I went to school {*cough* nine years ago.} Mom and Dad kept the kids for a few days and it was super fun hanging out with Laura and totally nostalgic to be back on campus and around town: eating at the student union, Thursday night ministries, late night at the coffee house.... parking tickets. Totally a flashback college experience. I also got to catch up with several college friends-- shopping, Starbucks, McAllisters {yum!}. It was super fun.

Second stop: I drove up from Springfield to stop by and see my other sister who is at Mizzou. My parents met up with us there and Ashley walked us all around campus and showed us around. It was fun because she was just so excited about it all. It was a definite reminder of how much walking I did in college. Geez. But I guess I wasn't carrying around a whiney, napless two year old then either. But at least we got to eat some Shakespheare Pizza. Delish.

Third stop: I spent a few days up with my parents next. Mom cooked fried chicken on Sunday {more yum!}, we took the kiddos to see The Lion King, which was cool in 3D. I taught Dad how to use Craigslist {again}. Jackson and I also made applesauce!

Pit stop: I drove the kids over to Derek's hotel {fancy army training, right!?} so that we could see him for a quick minute after he got back from the post, Fort Leavenworth. Derek's been working 12 hour days for nearly a week and he has over a week left-- no weekend! He's even more pooped than me and seeing the kids for a little bit really boosted his spirit!

Fourth stop: Mom, the kids, and I traveled up to Trenton to visit my Grandma's on Monday. Both grandma's were happy to see the kids {me and mom too, I think} and Grandma Trickel made homemade noodles for lunch today {even MORE yum!}. The kids and I did make a quick pit stop to visit a high school friend and her kiddos.

We made it home from Trenton at 3:30 this afternoon-- just in time for me to change and get ready to head to YoungLives club at 4ish and then off to book club at Panera {need I mention another yum?!}. Tomorrow morning is MOPS, which I'm super excited about. And tomorrow evening we have the Wednesday night meal and church. Thursday is Belle's 6 month doctor visit {yes, she just turned seven months... we're a little behind, okay?!} and then Friday we are headed to get Jackson's allergy shots and possibly meeting my mother-in-law for lunch.

Operation Keep-Busy-While-Derek's-Gone complete. Maybe a little overboard, but I've had a great time catching up with SO many friends and family even if we have spent way too many hours in the car this week!

Two Super Grovers

Our cute friend Chacey came to play today! We sure do miss her! It took a little while for the kiddos to get back in their grove-- Chacey doesn't feel as much ownership of this space as she once did and Jackson, not having to share his toys much anymore, has lost interest in sharing them ever. But after jumping on the bed, sliding, and playing in the fort- they got back in a grove. And then they became Super Grover. 

Super Grover = blankets tied as capes and running laps around the house as if you were Grover from Sesame Street. Derek was just happy to have a break and to not have to be the second superhero tonight!

(It wasn't just Chacey over. I feel as if my readers might think Chacey just is motherless and just never appears, but her mom, Elizabeth, and I are friends! Even though I sort of think she uses me so she can hang out with Belle.

Anyway, we got to chat and hang out whilest our husbands were out doing more fun things than watching kids... but it was good.)

Whew!

In the TWO WEEKS it's been since I've blogged, we have been very busy. This has been the longest time without a post since I first started! Here's light review: Hopefully I will get around to posting more details about our end of summer fun!

Derek took a couple of days off work and we traveled to St. Louis for a mini vacation. We went to visit his brother and family and we also squeezed in some time at a few of the local attractions.

On our way to St. Louis, we grabbed some McDonalds for dinner. Much to my surprise, there was an 8gb micro SD card included with my cheeseburger. I did happen to take the card back (after browsing the contents, of course) and for my "troubles" they comped my meal. Not so sure I think that's enough. Even though no harm was done, there was potential for major damage! I mean, it easily could have been in Jackson's food and those cards are tiny. 

Derek and I went to a Royals game with Derek's company one Sunday afternoon. We were in the dugout suite and it was cool. Like, dugout as in the other half of the dug out that the players are in. Great view!

A friend from high school came down to visit last week. It was fun! Exhausting, but fun. She has twin two-year-old boys... so add that to my two year old plus an infant-- we were outnumbered and busy! So glad she could spend a few days with us!

Breakfast for three! 

We visited Deanna Rose Farmstead last week and got to see how they milk a cow. Jackson was pretty interested and enjoys telling people that milk comes from cows. 

Last weekend was Derek's army duty weekend. Jackson was invited to go to the State Fair with Derek's parents. He had tons of fun and even got to ride a pony. I took Belle and visited my parents house to spend time with the family before both of my sisters leave for college this week (crazy!!). I worked at a wedding at the Ranch on Saturday night. 

Yesterday, Belle started CRAWLING! Seriously, I was so not prepared for her to be on the go quite so soon. And in our attempts to get our house organized and rearranged, we put together a new (hand-me-down) bed for Jackson. He loves it, but has a hard time staying in when it's time to actually sleep.

And lastly, I've been pretty crafty lately, so I've been spending the time I would typically be going through pictures and blogging working on some super fun crafts. I can't wait to share about them. I'll leave you with this: these are the goodies I picked up at a Salvation Army while we were in St. Louis and all are being upcycled to cool things for the house. Two are completed, one in progress, and another is awaiting more supplies!

I still feel like I just need to sit and say, "whew!!!" In fact, I just did. Ha. I'm a dork.

Rewind: Julie's Going Away Party

One year ago today, I drove to the airport to pick up a pretty Danish girl from the airport. I hardly knew much about her, but was so excited to spent the year getting to know her. It's crazy to look back and think it's only been a year because I just can't really imagine my life without her!

It's been almost two months since Julie left, but we had a big going away party before she did! Tons of people came, of course- because Julie is just super fun person and so many people enjoyed having her in their lives this past year. We all wanted to make sure that she felt tons of love here in the states as she traveled back home to the people who loved her first. It's about time I finally get around to posting about it!

There were lots of friends:

Lots of food:

and lots of fun!

She had two delicious cakes

And we gave her a hard time about choosing to eat from the Danish flag!

I can’t believe Julie has been gone for almost 8 weeks now. We miss her like crazy, but she’s been having a blast back home. We Skype and email to keep in touch. She spent a week in Italy at the beach with friends earlier this month and is currently in Paris with her mom, so I’d say she’s having lots of fun adjusting to home life! She does have plane tickets to come visit in October-YAY!! Super excited.