Be Afraid; Be VERY Afraid!

...especially if you're my dad or brother. Tuesday morning I woke up to a shuffling sound. Ollie was still in bed. Lily was sleeping. So I looked out our window at our air conditioner, thinking an animal must be playing on that. Nope.

Once I got up, I realized that sound was coming from the chimney to our stove pipe. INSIDE our house. It had to be a bird.

We heard that sound throughout the day, and once I got home from work, it started up again. That evening, after supper, we heard it again. Joel went to look and found that the bird had made it's way INTO our stove.
We put a garbage bag over the whole opening of stove, opened the door, and let him out of the bag, outside. Joel admitted that he was a teeny bit scared of birds. My brother and Dad however, are TERRIFIED.

Once, when I was maybe 7 or 8, dad came in from working in the garage. A bird had gotten in. So he asked Tyler and I to shoo him out. And we did! Ironically, one of my favorite movies is Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". (thanks to my mom, who insisted that I watch that movie before going to college. She likes it too.)

And, if you've never seen that movie, here's a brief 50-second trailer clip.

The Lost Boys

I am in the middle of a new book. It's called "They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky". My sister blogged about this, to0--and recommended the book to me.


I've always had a special place in my heart for Africa--especially after going there! But I was not prepared to read what I'm learning in this book. Even after my mom told me about this several years ago.

It tells the true story of thousands of boys who were displaced from their homes by civil and tribal wars in Sudan in the early 90's. (That's not that long ago!) They walked months through deserts, swamps, and enemy territories to get to Ethiopia, where they were safe from fighting. These three boys who tell the story were 5 and 7 when this happened. Can you imagine??


I can't put the book down. But at the same time, I read it and feel physically nauseous at what they've endured. How can these things happen to THOUSANDS of people, and we know nothing about it???

Sadly, these same types of torture are going on RIGHT NOW in the Congo, Darfur, and many other places around the world. It's so heartbreaking.

Every time I read it, I can't help but ask God, "How can I help? What can I possibly do to lessen this suffering???"

One thing Joel and I have talked about is finding a good organization to give to. We've heard of several churches that give to the efforts. At the same time, we want to be cautious about where that money goes--as many of these countries are extremely corrupt. If any of you know of good organizations that provide real relief--please share that!

I'd encourage you to read this book. There are others, too, written about this same event in Sudan. Keep informed about what's happening in the world--I'm trying to do that more. We are such a small piece of it--and my how our lives are SO different from so many others.

A New Look

Ollie likes to sport new looks occasionally, and yesterday he had TWO new ones. First, above, the "onesie and tool belt" look.

And here is the "underwear over the onesie" look. He got new underwear in his Easter basket and so we sometimes put it on over his diaper. But this is one we hadn't thought of yet! Oh, and by the way, he put these on himself today!

The night of the...

Tumbleweed! I looked out our window after supper and saw THIS in our back yard! You can't fully appreciate how big this thing is--it's at least as tall as Ollie. Joel says he's seen way bigger out on the fields at work...but still, I think this is pretty crazy!

Only in Kansas...

Top 10 Ways You Know You're Raising a Boy...

#10- You at any point in your day have to remind your child "not to dig" in their diaper.

#9- Your child climbs everything. Large piles of wood, onto your sewing machine, the toilet, your kitchen cupboards...

#8- You remind your child that he can only "spit outside".

#7- You remind your child that he can only "throw balls outside".

#6- You remind your child that he can only "hit the floor and wood" with his hammer. (not people)

#5- Lining up cars to race is a favorite past time.

#4- He is un-fazed by spankings.

#3- You hear car, truck, train, and airplane noises interspersed throughout conversation, and even during prayers.

#2- You have to explain why we can't turn the air compressor on right now.

#1- "Poop" has become a common topic of conversation (his, not ours) as well as the topic of many made-up songs.

We love our boy. More than we can ever explain. But it sure gets interesting! And here is a video of his softer side--singing along (and dancing!) to "Mighty to Save".

One Week Late

I told you I'd get to blogging about our Easter weekend. It's been a busy week...actually, all of April has been busy!

So, we started off our weekend 'o fun at Panera with...

My mom...
My sister, Courtney...
and my CANADIAN cousin, Denita.

Then, Ollie and I decided to make cookies that resembled bunnies. (If you squint, it works better) And in my defense, I did add eyes that REALLY helped, right Courtney?
Easter morning, Ollie and Lily had Easter baskets to find (we actually didn't hide Lily's this year, as much as that may surprise you. She's not really into surprises yet.)

Ollie's
Please allow me to explain what's in his basket...first of all, he doesn't need lots of candy. Second, he doesn't need toys. So, I got a bunny for him to play with, eggs with M&Ms in them, and a rolling pin for his playdoh. (I couldn't find any little ones!!!) Oh, and underwear and socks, like any good Easter basket contains. We'll be trying big boy underwear this summer, so I thought, "what the heck".

Lily's
(She doesn't need much. Just a few girly rattles)

We went to my parent's house for church and lunch on Easter. We had such a fun time! Not only was my sister there, my cousin Denita was there, as well as many friends of our family. So it was a super-funny day. We played games, ate lots of food and laughed VERY hard.

Adam and Mark Habluetzel. Mark is the worship pastor at my parents church, and also a good friend from growing up. I've known him since I was 5 and he called me "twinkle-toes" and broke my pink headband (while it was ON my head) by throwing a rock at me.

Courtney and Denita. Denita taught us many gang signs from Canada. Apparently they're quite vicious there....
All of us hanging out...


And here is the one birthday picture I have from Ollie's party with my family. I keep waiting for Courtney to blog about it and use her pictures! (ahem!!!!!) My parents got him a big wheel--remember those??

Kathy and Gabby

Tonight we had the privilege of having these two cuties over. Hollis and Murphy came to spend a couple hours with us--so for two hours we had 4 children in our house--and 3 that were 3 months old! Luckily it went very well. We tried repeatedly to help Ollie remember the names of these two boys, but unfortunately for them, he continued to call them "Kathy and Gabby" all night.

"Kathy sleeping?"
"Yes Ollie, Murphy is sleeping."

"Kathy waked up?!"
"Yep, Hollis is awake."

...you get the picture.

Poor boys.

Climbing

Ollie is a monkey. He climbs EVERYWHERE!!! A few minutes ago, Joel called me out to the backyard. This is what I found:
My first words? "Ollie, be careful! You need to get down!"

Joel's words? "Here, let me move this log so you can climb higher."

He loves it!

And here's a picture of him holding Lily--he LOVES to do this, too!!!

Finally, here's a video of Lily with her newly-acquired skill: talking. (Like we need ANOTHER talker in this house...) But she has lately been talking so much when she's awake!

Brief

Here's a glimpse of our Easter fun. I may get around to posting more later.

Ollie and Lily. (My EASTER Lily) :-)

A funny video of Ollie finding his basket over and over again...just doesn't get old!

Weekend

Lily turned 3 months this past weekend! She is getting so old. We still have yet to get a single toy up from the basement for her...
And Ollie is cleaning up after one of his many spills. We only drink water on carpet, by the way. But this particular day, 5 minutes after getting home, he decided to dump his entire cup of water on his head. He turned around and said, "Mommy--I dumped my water!" And why WOULDN'T you do that?

And we got to see our friends, Tony and Angela and their daughter, Emma! They came all the way from Oregon. It was so fun.
Angela...
Emma...(she turned one in February--and boy is she BUSY!) :-)
Joel and Tony
Debby, Ollie and Al and Lily. Debby and Allen were our first small group leaders--WAY back when we were first married. We are SO thankful for those 3 years with them. We (halfway) joke that they are a big reason we're still married!


Finally, here's a video of Ollie coloring. Now that he's two--he sure likes to 'write' and spell words. It's pretty funny. Oh, and the K-Love reference? He seems to think that's a person. He often talks about going to "K-love's house"...

Attempting Easter Eggs

"Three eggs?" you ask... Let me explain:

Me: "I loved dyeing easter eggs when I was little. I should do this with Ollie!"
I called my mom to find out what to mix together, added colors and then got out the 4 eggs I had hard-boiled the other day. I got out the crayons, and we started coloring.

Ollie cracked the egg on the bowl.
Me: "Ollie, don't crack these. These are to color!"
He attempts to color again. I go to the pantry to grab something.
"Crack!" Ollie has squeezed an entire egg to pieces. That one will be for lunch...
I put our 3 eggs (one of which has a crack--also from Ollie) into the color. I take them out. They dry.

Total time: 3 minutes.

Maybe we'll wait until he's 5.

Our New Nephew

Tyler and Erin had a boy last night! Asher Tyler was born at 6:11. He was 10lb 7oz!!! Holy Cow Erin! :-) He was 21 inches long--they're all doing well. So glad they have one of each now!

Follow their progress here.

I have a new...

...book to write about! (Just what you wanted to read)


Yes, I have a new niece or nephew coming at any minute too, but I thought this would get your attention.

Anyhow, I am reading two incredible books right now!

#1. I'm going through a Beth Moore study called "Daniel". Part of this book is about prophecy and end time events--so going through it has really prompted me to start researching this stuff on my own, too. It's fascinating-especially the prophecy! So much of what God spoke through dreams and prophets has already come true, exactly like it said! And it's prompted me to really get into first century history, too--since so much of Revelation pertains to that. Fascinating!

#2. This other book I'm reading, "The Blue Parakeet", has also been so good. It's one of the best books I've ever read. It's subtitled: "Rethinking how you read the Bible".
The whole premise is that there are many ways to read the Bible, and they don't all get the same results. Scot McKnight believes that we need to be reading the Story of the Bible--every book and author are little "wiki-stories" (from the wiki-pedia online)--that point us to the Story.

And when we come to contradictions? Realize that God spoke in Moses' day in Moses' way, in Jesus' day in Jesus' way, in Paul's day in Paul's way...etc. So we have to take things and figure out the context and audience to which they were spoken.

He also deals with a specific example: women in ministry. It's fascinating. Women, if you ever thought you can't do something because of the 'silencing women' passages in the scriptures--read this book! He really outlines and walks through each passage and explains the historical background for each one.

Honestly, this has been one of the most freeing books I've read in a while! If you are wanting a good book, try this one!

Follow the Photobooth

We have a new blog for our photobooth. Click here to check it out. Albums will be posted shortly after our events. You can find them on the right sidebar under 'Current event pics'. Happy Photoboothing!!!!!!!!!!!