What I've Learned in 2008

It's New Year's Eve and I've been thinking about some of the things that I've learned in 2008. Here are a few thoughts in no particular order.

- If it's been raining outside or is above freezing, check the dogs feet BEFORE he comes inside!

- Young love trumps parental reasoning (or any other type of reasoning).

- After 21 years of marriage, I am amazed at how my love, respect, and admiration for Jeff still continues to grow.

- Making repairs and fixing up a house is EXPENSIVE!!

- Life is easier if you do your devotions and talk to God daily.

- Grocery shopping for two is WAY cheaper than shopping for four.

- Parenting is just as tough when your kids are adults, just in a different way.

- Be content with where you are in life; dream big for the future, but be flexible enough to follow God's leading.

- If the dishes coming out of the dishwasher don't seem clean, stop IMMEDIATELY and run the dishwasher!!

- Appreciate every day that God gives you on this earth.

Taking A Break

It seems like the last week has been incredibly busy. Besides my usual two jobs and household chores, Josh came home from college; we collected, wrapped, and distributed Secret Santa presents for 19 kids from church; had a funeral and a Christmas Eve service; cooked and celebrated Christmas - twice; and packed up and sent off everyone in the family except myself. Now, don't feel sorry for me that I got left behind, because actually, I'm quite happy about it.

I have to work at the store two days and put in a few hours at church this week, but otherwise, home is where you will find me! I have lots to do including taking down the Christmas tree, finishing some baking, and a lot of after-Christmas-cleaning. I'll admit, though, that today I had no motivation. I did manage to hold down the recliner while I finished a book that I started a while back. Then the dog and I went for a long walk. I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening, too. Think I'll start those chores...TOMORROW!!

Blizzard

This morning is our Christmas Service at church, unfortunately, we have a blizzard warning! Jeff was really concerned at first, but I don't think it will turn out to be a disaster as far as attendance goes. There is about six churches in Boone that are cancelled this morning and we are getting many phone calls from people wanting to know if we are having services and what time.

The cold and wind are taking a toll on the Lawson's vehicles, though. We currently have just one of our three cars that is running with seven people from 3 different locations in town to get to church this morning at three different times. We are doing some quick shuffling.

The blizzard warning is at least the fourth warning we have had this week and we have another one starting this evening. It is currently -7 below with a windchill of -24. We have a layer of ice on everything with about 10 inches of snow on top and we have snow forecast for just about everyday this week. It's going to be a LONG winter!!

The Spirit of Giving

This is a hard Christmas for a lot of people. We live in an area that is very blue collar, low pay, and high divorce. Add to that the increased cost of living and the high number of people that are unemployed or underemployed and you can imagine that it will be a lean holiday for many. This includes families within our own church.

We identified a number of families in our congregation that could use some extra help this year for Christmas. We have 19 children that we asked church members to purchase gifts for (the children and families are kept anonymous, of course). I am so impressed with our church family. They really stepped up. Every gift need that we had was filled in the span of one morning. Many families that are new to our church are purchasing gifts. Even families that I know are hurting financially themselves volunteered to purchase gifts.

Christmas is a time for giving sacrificially. God gave his only son, Jesus. What are you giving this Christmas season?

A Visit To The Past

Josh goes to college with a young man who's family attended a church we pastored from 1997-1999 up in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. Many of the people that live in that area are either dairy farmers or loggers and are used to "roughing" it. They have wood heat, hunt and garden for their food, and the entire family pitches in to do hours of chores. Randy's family is no exception; they are dairy farmers. Randy goes home every weekend to help with the chores and took Josh with him this past weekend.

Josh had a blast!! He helped with milking twice a day as well a chopping wood. Doing chores wasn't a surprise to Josh, though. Even when he was in 3rd grade and would spend the night at the Kidder's, he had to go out and help with milking. Now for some people, they might think it awful to put a guest to work, but not Josh, he loves going out to the barn and working along side the other men.

While he was there, he went with several old friends to an old hunting shack for the night. Thankfully, there was a wood burning stove so they were toasty warm. He also went to Lake Park Alliance Church on Sunday morning and saw a number of people he knew there, although several people were out of town that day. Sunday afternoon he had dinner with a different family from the church. He had a great time and would love to go back again.

Family at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time when many families get together. Our family was no exception this year, although we seem to have made that shift from "going to our parents house" to "we are the parents house"! We've had the privilege of having Josh home for five days from college. I've tried to fix a few of his favorites and as always, I'm still surprised by the volume of food that kid can inhale!

Zach brought his girlfriend, Andrea, and her two little ones over for Thanksgiving Dinner as well. It was good to have a little time to get to know her and we were glad to have her at church on Sunday. Bryce and Hailey are adorable kids and as sweet as can be.

What I'm Thankful For

A group of ladies at church have been challenging everyone to count the many blessings God has given them. One gentleman said that he came up with more than 1700. Now, I don't have time to sit and write down everything that I'm thankful for, but I have been challenged to think outside of the box. Here are a few things that I've come up with besides my relationship with God, family, and friends.
* my dishwasher
* chemo drugs
* hair
* Walmart
* a job
* chapstick
* e-mail
* Christmas trees with built in lights
* coupons
* books
* campfires
* blueberries
* backrubs
* Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
What are some things you are thankful for??

A New Church Experience

Can you read what this says? Neither can I, but I saw a lot of this type of writing on Sunday. Jeff was invited to preach at a Vietnamese church in Des Moines on Sunday and Zach and I went with. This church is part of our C&MA Denomination. The people there were extremely gracious and loving.

During the Sunday School hour, the adults all gathered together and Jeff showed them a slide show of our church and our ministry in Boone. While Jeff spoke, everyone ate a traditional Vietnamese breakfast (a crusty hoagie roll filled with meat, shredded carrots and cabbage, and cilantro; a fruit cup; and clam chowder). Jeff then spoke during the church service.

This was a very interesting experience. The entire morning was spoken in the Vietnames language except when they were speaking to us (often through a young adult that knew fluent English). Probably 40% of the people spoke flawless English, 40% spoke broken English, and 20% do not speak any English. Both services had an interpreter so everyone could understand Jeff. Of course, we couldn't understand the first part of the church service. They sang hymns that I recognized (and the hymnal did have a few verses written in English so I was able to sing along). I think that the neatest thing was to see people very different from me worshipping the very same God. I guess we aren't really all that different after all!!

Feeding the Birds

While at my parents house in Michigan, I really enjoyed watching the birds eating at the bird feeders in their backyard. One morning I counted twelve different types of birds with in an hours time! It got me inspired.

So, last weekend, Jeff and I went to Wal-mart and bought several types of bird feeders and a pole to hang them on. They have been up for almost a week now and I've seen three different types of birds feeding from the feeders. The sparrows are our most frequent visitor, but I have also seen a black capped chickadee and a downey woodpecker. I'd love to hear your bird feeding tips if you have any!

Cookie Baking

The last couple of days has been cold and dreary here in Michigan. Sunday afternoon, my mom, sister Julie, and I decided to do some baking (after a much needed nap). We made some Lemon Bars and Cry-Baby Cookies. We packed some goodies up and sent them out to Josh at college and I have a container to take home to Zach. My dad insisted that he needed to taste-test the first cookie to make sure they were safe for us to eat!

Visiting Relatives (Dead Ones!!)

Tuesday morning I boarded a plane and flew to my parent's house in Michigan. One of the things that we like to do together is to work on genealogy. My parents have retired to the same area that all of my dad's ancestors are from. Since the last two days have been so warm and sunny, we decided to find the burial place of several of our decedents.

This is a picture of my dad and I in a cemetery near Hickory Corners, MI, about a half hour northeast of Kalamazoo. We are standing next to the grave of Francis and Jane Norwood. These people are my great, great, great, great grandparents. They were born in the 1700s! I'd love to know more about their lives.

Josh's Weekend Home

Josh came home late Friday night after his football game. I must say that he does pack his time at home quite full! I thought you might like to hear what all he did.

- Met with the Marines recruiter and parents to discuss future
- Visited with worship band at church
- Hung out with family
- Spent most of the afternoon with a "special" female friend
- Watched part of the Madrid High School football practice
- Ate a home-cooked meal of spaghetti with parents
- Helped put carpet down in a friend's dorm room, then hung out
- Caught up with church friends following service
- Went out to eat at Red Lobster with his family to celebrate mom's birthday
- Went shopping with mom for groceries for the dorm room
- Ate Mexican food with a friend on the way back to Crown

It was great having Josh home!

Something Beautiful

Throughout the fall, I've been enjoying the ash tree outside the window near our home office. It has slowly changed from green to a brilliant yellow. One morning following an evening of rain and wind, I looked outside and saw that the wind had knocked all the leaves off of the pretty ash tree. I was a little disappointed until I looked past the empty branches. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful red and orange maple tree directly behind the now bare ash tree.

If the wind had not blown all those pretty yellow leaves off of the ash tree, I might have never even known that the maple behind it was so beautiful. I think it is the same way in our life, too. We think we are so happy in a situation and are devastated when things change. But it is important not to keep focusing on what isn't anymore. God will keep giving us beautiful things in our lives, even if isn't what we were hoping for or expecting. If fact, it might even be better!

Itchy & Hacky

Both Zach and Josh has been having some medical issues in the last week. Josh has bacterial bronchitis. It came on so quickly! When we were there he was fine, the next day he called and was really sick. He's been to the doctor up in Minnesota twice now and is on four different medications. He is slowly getting better. He goes back on Thursday for a recheck to make sure he is doing okay. I'm sure his roommate is just about tired of hearing Josh cough all night. I'll admit that it was hard not having him at home so I could take care of him. I'm really thankful for the school nurse that has evaluated him daily since he got sick.


Zach has had a rash for a few months. I wasn't too concerned at first since he has so many allergies and such sensitive skin, but it continued to get worse no matter what we tried. The itching finally got so bad that he couldn't stand it any more, so we made a trip to the doctors (even though he doesn't have insurance coverage yet). Of course, the doctor doesn't know what it is, but after many questions, he has narrowed it down to a food allergy. Zach is on several medications, which are definitely giving him some relief. Unfortunately, he will probably be itching again in a few weeks once he is off the meds. I suspect that he will need to have some allergy testing done to find out what is causing the rash.

Zach's Job

Okay, so after a whole slew of jobs, Zach finally has one that is full time with benefits. Zach started working as an Assistant Manager at the Taco Johns here in Boone a few weeks ago. He works the evening shift and sleeps during the day, which suits him just fine. I wanted to take a picture of him working to post on this blog, but he said no.

Parent's Day at Crown College

Jeff and I headed back up to Minnesota for the Crown College Parent's Day. Since it was also Fall Break and Josh couldn't come home for the weekend because of football, we went up Friday morning and was able to hang out with him all afternoon. We ate lunch at Boston Market, walked around the Mall of America, got him a new cell phone, and then ate dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ. He was happy not to have to eat cafeteria food for a couple of meals. Saturday, they had a special brunch at Crown for parents and players. Then we went to chapel with them before the game.

The Crown Storm football team played a much better game than the last time I was there. They just seemed to work as a team this time and were very encouraging to the other players. They also won 28 to 21! It is so fun getting to see Josh play college football. This picture was taken right after the game. The trees and weather was absolutely gorgeous the whole weekend until right after the game. We got rain within minutes of driving off the campus for home!

Health Update

I am pleased to say that I have reached my two year anniversary since being diagnosed with cancer. I saw Dr. Otteman (oncologist) a couple of weeks ago and my appointments with him are now reduced from four times a year to three times a year. Today I had a mammogram, which was normal, and saw Dr. Hardy (surgeon) and don't need to go back to see him for six months. I am thankful that I'm am needing fewer appointments.

While Jeff and I were in the waiting room, I was reading in a medical magazine that the five year survival rate for breast cancer is now 89%. That is definitely an increase from just 20 years ago. Thanks to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many more women are getting the screenings to detect cancer early. If you are a woman (or married to a woman), please make sure that you are aware of any changes in your breasts, get yearly exams from your doctor and yearly mammograms if you are over 35 years old. Find it early because there IS life after cancer!

Ice Cream Sundays

Last night our small group hosted a "come meet the pastors" Ice Cream Social for anyone who has recently begun coming to the church. We had a great turn out and actually ran out of ice cream and had to make a quick trip to get more!

We had 22 adults and 16 kids show up. It was great for Jeff and I to get to chat with these new people, but by having our small group host it, several other couples got to meet and visit with the newcomers as well. Now when they come to church, they will see several familiar faces. We hope to do this again in a few months and have a different small group host it.

Three Day Training

A few weeks ago I was asked to join the Preschool Work Group that is one of the sub-committees of the Boone County Empowerment Board. The aim of this group is to brain storm ideas to improve the lives of preschool children in our county through the local daycares and preschools.

It was through this group that I was able to attend a Creative Curriculum training seminar on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Creative Curriculum is a method of teaching preschool that is developmentally appropriate for young children. It compliments everything that I learned in college but puts the information in more practical terms for everyday use. I think that the number one thing that I learned is that it takes the average teacher 3-5 years to implement all the different aspects of the curriculum. Boy, does that take the pressure off! I don't have to feel like I need to be the perfect teacher and have it all figures out the first day.

I really appreciate the Empowerment Board for making this training possible for so many preschool teachers to attend. It normally would have cost $350 per person for this training. Since Empowerment funded it, it only cost $50 each, and that included lunch for three days as well as the Creative Curriculum book that retails for $45. What a deal! They are planning another segment of the training next March on assessments, and I'm already planning to attend that, too.

Trip to Chicago

Jeff and I headed to Chicago last Wednesday. My sister-in-law works at a Best Western Hotel and got us a room. It was really nice with a whirlpool tub and all the amenities. The next morning, Jeff went to a Cubs game with my sister's husband, Rob, while I got a chance to visit with my sister, Leslie, and my three nieces. It was a great visit. I even got to spoil the girls with big lollipops that we got at Cracker Barrel. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get a picture of them this time, but this is them when they were here in Iowa last spring. We were only able to stay until the game was over and then had to head back home. It was a short trip, but it was fun and I'm glad I could go.

Exhausted

Yesterday was a busy and crazy day of working at church, doing chores at home, and running errands. Jeff had to fly to Colorado for meetings yesterday and didn't get home until 2:30 a.m. this morning. (Yes, I stayed up and waited for him.) We did manage to get about 5 hours of sleep last night, but I don't think it was enough. Jeff's day included meetings and performing a wedding and I worked at Hy-Vee for a full shift. It is now almost bedtime and I think we are just going to get a pizza for dinner. I hope I am awake to eat it!!

Football Pictures

Josh is #35. Click on the picture to see him close up.

Football at Crown

Friday Jeff and I drove to Crown to visit Josh. We went up to his dorm room for a while and got to see it all unpacked and then took him out to dinner. It was really nice to get to visit with him. We stayed overnight and went to his football game on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for a game (except for a million yellow jackets swarming everyone). I did get a pretty good sunburn, though!

Josh did really good in his game. We are so excited for him that he started in his freshmen year! His is a fullback and plays on special teams, too. He made a carry for 3 yards and many tackles. He has decided that going up against college players is different from high school; they are MUCH bigger! Josh is a little sore today with a bruised ACL and a deep back bruise. He'll be up and ready for Saturday's away game though! I'll add pictures of Josh when I get some.

Laboring on Labor Day

Today has been a busy, but fun and productive day. Jeff and I worked for just an hour or two this morning at church. Then we came home and finished the yard work that Jeff started yesterday. We mostly trimmed trees and dragged the branches to the burn pile. I do believe that grass might actually grow now that the sun can shine through a little. We will plant some grass this fall. Now we're fixing a nice lunch (pork chops on the grill, fresh green beans, and macaroni salad) before I go to work at Hy-Vee tonight.

The Military Man

Josh has been considering joining the military for a couple of years and we have met with recruiters from several branches during the last year. Josh finally decided to join the Marine Corp. He drove home from college last week and was sworn in last Friday morning. He leaves for basic training next May after he gets out of school. He will continue to go to school while serving weekends and summers in the reserves. It is really scary to think about my baby possibly going to war, but I'll admit that I am really proud of him!

Pictures of My Foot

This is my foot 3 days after twisting it. It continues to bruise, but I'm able to use it more each day.

Twisted Ankle

Alright, I did it this time! Yesterday morning I was walking down the deck steps taking out the trash; at the bottom is two slabs of concrete that is uneven. My foot twisted and down I went. Of course, I was home alone except for the dog. (Whom I discovered is no Lassie!) I managed to crawl up the deck steps and get into the house and call Jeff at church. We went to the doctor yesterday afternoon for x-rays and thankfully it isn't broken, just a nice sprain. It is pretty swollen and starting to bruise. I'm keeping ice on it and the doctor gave me an air cast (like a splint) to help stabilize and protect it. I have so much to do with cleaning the other house and unpacking the new one; I just don't have time for this. Why does Jeff have to be preaching on patience this week?

Summer Foods

Is there any true American that doesn't enjoy a summer lunch of Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwiches?? I had my first BLT of the summer today for lunch. In the last several days, I've also had my first corn-on-the-cob and garden fresh green beans. The season of fresh veggies doesn't last long enough for me.

I've already been enjoying all the fresh fruits available in the summer: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, and especially black cherries. Besides eating them as is, Jeff and I have really been into making smoothies with the fresh fruit this year. Fruit, yogurt, and ice blended smooth makes for a great breakfast or a refreshingly healthy afternoon snack. What is your favorite summertime fruit or vegetable??

Off To College

Well, we took Josh to Crown College yesterday. We got him all moved into his dorm room. He met his roommate and they got settled in and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with the football team. We went back this morning (after picking up some essential from Target) and stayed through registration and the financial aid meeting. We left at lunch time with Josh headed off to take a pre-entrance Bible exam.

While Jeff got a little choked up a few times yesterday, it was my turn today. I must admit that I was a lot more upset about us leaving than Josh was!! I'm really going to miss my baby, but I am so proud of him, too. I think this college thing will be an adjustment for all of us.

College Shopping

I'm meeting Josh in Ames when he gets off of work this afternoon so we can finish shopping before he leaves for Crown College in 6 days!! We went a few weeks ago and got the bulk of it and have also been scrounging around the house for items he will need, but tonight we hope to complete all the shopping. We are also doing all the last minute appointments - dentist last week, eye doctor this week, and physical next week. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!!

Moving Day

Well, the day is over and we survived one more move. We started taking several loads over yesterday including most of the kitchen stuff. Today about 15 guys from church came to help move the big and heavy stuff as well as some of the boxes. Moving is so much easier when everyone pitches in!

We still have some odds and ends at the other house as well as most of the stuff stored in the garage that we still need to bring over in the next few days. First I want to get some of the boxes already here unpacked. I'll admit, I feel a lot like the guy in this picture; not quite sure where to begin!!

Summer Fun

As you can see in this picture, Josh's summer has been filled with lots of fun with friends. If he isn't working, he is hanging out. They have spent many hours watching movies and going to church activities together, as well as playing in the mud! Josh is the one on the left. They had a blast having mud fights in a friend's creek - at least until the girls discovered leaches stuck on them and the boys literally ran into barbed wire!

Picnic In the Park

Sunday we had our worship service at Herman Park followed by a potluck picnic. It's a great time for everyone from both services to get together. We rented a dunk tank and set it up with the pastors as the first to get wet. Everyone was asked to fill out a connection card during service and there was a spot to vote who should be dunked first, Jeff or Curt. Jeff got 50 votes and Curt got 37!

Home Owners Again!!

After an unbelievable amount of paperwork and red tape, we finally closed on our new house. We are home owners again!! As a celebration gift to myself, I bought The Complete Idiots Guide to Simple Home Repairs. This house is not new construction like the last one. It is about 30 years old and needs quite a bit of simple repairs.

Today I went over and did some deep cleaning in the laundry/furnace room. The previous owner had a cat and that is where the liter box was. Since Jeff is allergic to cats, I decided it better be my job to try to get rid of the strong cat odor. After several good scrubbings it does smell better.

A Fish Story

Jeff came back from Canada late Wednesday night. He had a great time fishing for five days with several friends from Minnesota. He literally caught hundreds of fish while he was there. His largest walleye was 27 inches long which he brought home and is having it mounted to hang in his office. He also brought home some fish for the freezer. I offered to fix the fish the next day, but I guess he is a little tired of fish after eating it twice a day, every day while he was there!

Making Walleye Rigs

Jeff is getting his tackle ready for an upcoming fishing trip to Canada with some buddies of his. Tonight he enlisted my help in making walleye rigs. His job was to tie on the swivel and hook. My job was to string on the beads and the spinner. Between the almost clear fishing line and the incredibly tiny bead holes, my glasses would have been handy!

Painting My Freezer

Back in May, Jeff and I bought a used freezer at a garage sale. It was in good working condition, but had a lot of rust on the outside. It's not really a big deal since it will be in the laundry/furnace room in the basement of our new house, but I am concerned that the rusting might get worse if the basement is at all damp (which basements tend to be).

Today I decided to try my hand at painting the freezer. My dad suggested that I get the Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy in the spray can, which I did. I spent the afternoon sanding, taping, and painting the freezer. I think the hardest part was taping the handle and all the parts that aren't supposed to get paint on them. It took a little time to get the hang of spray painting and learning how to get the best coverage. I have a few drips and it could maybe use a second coat, but all in all, it looks pretty good.

New Windows

When we temporarily moved into the parsonage more than a year and a half ago, it was in very poor condition. The church decided not to do any extensive repairs until we decided if the church would keep or sell the property. When we hired our associate pastor, Curt, this spring, the board decided to keep the parsonage for Curt's family to live in after we moved into our own home. We are starting to have some major repairs done on the house now.

This morning, a crew of guys started to replace windows. Every window in the house is getting replaced. This is a really good thing since most are either missing the storm window or the glass is broken. During the really cold months during the last two winters here, our heating bill was sometimes more than $400! The windows look really good.

Vacation in Minnesota

I didn't forget about my blog. I'm sorry if you have been checking for updates. It's been a busy couple of weeks. We just got back from visiting friends in Minnesota. We left our church in Hawley almost two years ago, but we still have some really great friends there. Our whole family went up there to spend 4th of July weekend. They boys each went their separate ways. Josh spent most of his time at a lake cabin with several friends and their families. Zach and his friends were in Detroit Lakes for the big celebration there. (It's supposed to be the third largest Independence Day celebration in the USA!)

Jeff did some fishing and golfing with old friends, which he really enjoyed. We spent time every day visiting different friends and finished up our weekend at our former church in Hawley. It was so good to see so many old friends. I think I definitely exceeded my daily hug quota!! The people at Hawley Alliance Church most definitely know how to love their pastors (and former pastors)! But as much as we loved seeing everyone, it is good to be home again.

Relay For Life

Last night was the Boone County Relay For Life Event. This is the second year that I walked during the opening Survivor Lap. I was given the privilege of walking in the front and helping to carry the banner. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that their were well over 100 survivors walking in that lap. On the second lap around the track, all care-givers are asked to join their cancer-surviving loved one. Both Jeff and Josh walked the second lap with me. Afterwards, we bought dinner from the Hy-Vee food stand (100% of the money they collect goes to RFL). This morning our church hosted a fund-raising pancake breakfast. I just got back from that.

I really enjoy participating in the RFL event even though I'm long past being able to stay up all night to walk around the track! As you walk during that survivor's lap, they announce the name of each survivor as well as the type of cancer they had/have and how long since their diagnoses. It is so encouraging to hear numerous people that had cancer 10, 20, and even 35 years ago. They beat cancer, went on with life, and are here to tell about it. It is what I need to hear; that while I might get cancer again, I also might not.

I'm also amazed at the number of people that work so hard to raise money in the name of cancer. Organizations like Hy-Vee must have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this event. Other companies have teams of people walking overnight as well as just groups of friends that formed teams. It is thanks to all these people that cancer research and cures have come such a long way. I for one am grateful to everyone who has had a hand in helping raise money for cancer research!

Friends From the Past

Last night Jeff and I drove to Webster City to meet some friends of ours for dinner. Mark and Beth Kolwicz and their teenage sons, Erik and Bryce, have been pastoring an Alliance church up in Montana until recently. They are in Iowa this weekend canidating for a position in a church about an hour away from us. We had a really good time catching up with them.

Mark and Beth went to the same church that we did about 13 years ago in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jeff was studying to be a pastor during that time and was the part-time Youth and Visitation Pastor at the church. We haven't had much contact with the Kolwicz family in all these years, so it's funny how we heard from them so unexpectedly and renewed that friendship so quickly. The Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination is like a big family. You just never know when you will run in to someone that you met years before or in what context. It certainly would be great to have them in our district!

My Father is the Best!!

Today is Father's Day. I work immediately after church until late this evening so I won't get a chance to call my dad, but that doesn't mean that I'm not thinking of him or that I love him any less. I have some great memories of my dad.

My dad was an auto-body repair man and worked in a Chevy garage. Sometimes, we would go pick him up from work and I would walk in to find him. The garage (and my dad) had a very distinct smell of a combination of paint, bondo, and whatever else was used in that garage. To this day, every time I smell paint I am immediately transported back to childhood. I almost expect to see Dad walk through the door.

One of my best memories of my dad is from my high-school years. I think I was 16 at the time and had just broke up with the guy that I was dating. I was more angry than upset and Dad knew just what I needed. It just so happened that Dad was starting a remodeling project in the bathroom that day. He handed me a hammer and let me take out all my frustrations on the tile in the bathroom! I spent a good portion of the day working in the bathroom with Dad. I don't remember what we talked about, but we were together at a time when I needed a positive male role model.

Thanks for being a great dad, I love you. Happy Father's Day!!!

Cindy's Gardening Abilities

I've never had much of a green thumb in the past. Some because I don't like getting dirty, bugs, and hot weather, but mostly because I don't have a clue what I'm doing! I've had a vegetable garden only a couple of times in the last 20 years. I love eating the fresh produce through out the summer, though, especially tomatoes.

Last year I did a couple of tomato plants in containers that were semi-successful. I had decided not to grow any this year since we will be moving in July, but last week a lady from our congregation gave me 8 tomato plants. So this morning, I went ahead and planted them in containers again. Maybe next year I'll try a real, in-the-ground, garden at the new house, complete with green beans and cucumbers. If anyone has any tips on growing tomatoes, I'd appreciate any advise I can get!

Flood of 2008

Central Iowa has been literally flooded with rain the last month or so. I don't ever remember seeing this much water before. Every night or two we get major storms. I really wish I had a rain gauge so I could measure it myself. Above is pictures of Hwy 30 that runs east/west through Ames and Boone. The Des Moines River is way above flood level and the bridge crossing the river has been closed indefinitely. Jeff and I went exploring today and took pictures from the barricades at each side of the river. You can see the road just disappears.

For the most part, the flooding hasn't given us too much of a problem in our day-to-day lives. One day we had a hard time getting to the doctor's office in Ames because so many roads were closed due to flooding. Monday I was working at Hy-Vee when a rumor started that the water plant was flooding and all water would be turned off soon. I think every bottle, jug, or gallon of water in Boone sold in a matter of just an hour or two! Of course, it wasn't true.

Josh's Weekend

Josh had the privilege of having a couple of really good friends come to visit from Hawley, Minnesota. Chris and Garrett both attended our church up north and all three boys were very active in Youth Group. They drove down on Thursday and were able to stay until this morning. Jeff and I didn't see much of them; the three of them pretty much kept to themselves playing their computer games and reminiscing old times. I know Josh really enjoyed himself and I'm really glad Chris and Garrett could come to visit.

Good News!!

Yesterday, Jeff and I arrived at hospital admitting at 6:00 a.m. They wheeled me down for surgery at 6:45. I woke up in recovery at 8:45. The doctor came in and told me that IT'S NOT CANCER. What a relief. I was home by 11:00 a.m. I really didn't hurt too bad, although twice I took the prescription pain medication the doctor gave me. I even went to see the Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, last night with our church for Family Fun Night. I'm planning on heading into church to do some work today. (I haven't gotten many hours in the last week or two with all the family visiting!) Thank you so much for your prayers!

Car Troubles

The last of our company left this morning. My parents are taking my grandparents back to Oklahoma. It was a great visit and I'm so glad that we were able to get almost everyone here for the weekend. With all of our families spread all over the country, kids going off to college, and my grandparents in their mid-80's, who knows if we will be able to do this again.

So, my Ford Taurus was parking my parents in this morning, so as I went to move it so they could leave we discovered that it had a flat tire. When we changed it, we found a huge hole in the side of it. The strut somehow broke and poked a hole in the tire. Apparently, this is common in Tauruses. We got it to a garage and discovered that it will be very expensive to fix it. When Jeff got home from taking care of that, he then took Zach to where his car broke down on the highway last night and towed him to the garage. Who knows what is wrong with it.

It seems like we go from mountain-top highs to incredible lows so quickly. Jeff just preached on this very thing this past Sunday; how it's easy to praise God when things are going good, but when times are bad we say, "Why me!!" Well, I have a praise in this storm: I'm so thankful that the car didn't break down while traveling to or from Oklahoma with my Grandparents.