Over the river and through the woods . . .

to grandmother's house we go!

Happy 6th Birthday, Rachel!

Happy 6th Birthday, Rachel!

December 14 FINALLY arrived and Rachel turned 6! She got a new purple Barbie car this year, which I don't have a picture of yet! Oops. It's been zooming around the house full of Barbies since her birthday. 

It has been so much fun seeing her enthusiasm for school this fall. She's learning all sorts of big words, too. On Saturday morning, she was calling from her room. I thought she said she had a "catastrophe."  "No," she said, "a DISASTROPHE!" (I think that is worse than a catastrophe.) She couldn't decide what to wear. :)

All Saints Christmas Program

This year, our All Saints youth presented "Live from Bethlehem" for their parents, grandparents and friends.

December

Wow--almost a month has passed since my last post!
What have I been doing?  Well, I'm not really sure!
I turned 39, so that's something.

And so far, 39 is pretty great!

As is the case for most Decembers, I don't plan to blog much as my focus turns to concerts, programs, shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas cards, etc.  However, could you all do me a favor?  I'd like to compile a list of my readers' favorite blog entries over the years--nine years in January!  If you'd like to go over the archives while you're waiting for new stuff (all entries are on the right hand side of the blog) and send me a note at wifeandmomblog@gmail.com, I'd really appreciate hearing from you!

Have a great first day of December!

An Afternoon with Mr. Laettner

When David and I saw that Christian Laettner was coming to Aberdeen to put on a basketball camp, we were kinda excited.

When we told our kids that Christian Laettner was coming to Aberdeen to put on a basketball camp, they had only one question--"Who?"

Here we go again-back to the 90's!  Can I help it that the 90's were such a fabulous decade??

Nathan attended the afternoon camp with his friend Lincoln and learned basketball skills from not only Christian Laettner, but other talented former players as well.  They actually made them work pretty hard for the time they were there. Afterward, Laettner took the time to take a photo with each player after their sessions and signed photos for them as well. 

I remember Laettner playing for Duke and I saw him play once or twice for the Timberwolves. It was obvious that some of the parents were more excited than I was in seeing him there (e.g. Christian Laettner was their Garth Brooks). :)  And all of us were more starstruck than the players--most of whom weren't even born until at least a decade after Laettner's Duke days.

We appreciate his coming to South Dakota to teach these young players a thing or two about working hard and playing basketball!

Snow Queen princess

It was Rachel's turn to be a kindergarten Princess for Snow Queen on Saturday night!

They were all so cute and did a great job. :)

Happy 12th Birthday, Nathan!

Happy 12th Birthday, Nathan!

It was a good day with Battlebots to play with and knepfla for supper. :)

A Slice of History

Yesterday the kids went off to school and David was preparing to leave for the day. I didn't have to make dinner for the harvest crew, so I was seriously tempted to go to Aberdeen. However, I told myself it would be more responsible to stay home and catch up on things around here that had gotten out of hand. 

A few minutes later, I flipped the calendar to November and saw--oops!--I had an eye appointment at 9:15 a.m.!  I had scheduled it so many weeks ago--and didn't check my voice mail if I had a reminder call.  (Side note--if you need to tell me something urgent, don't leave a voice mail.) So, I got my day in Aberdeen after all, and now had a reason to go besides just getting off the farm for a few hours. I arrived there in time for my eye appointment, got some other errands done, visited my grandparents, found spectacular deals on bread and milk at Kessler's, and then headed home.

I was about 10 miles south of Aberdeen when I remembered that my car's oil life was at 0% and my tires were a bit low. I could still return to Pit Crew Row and get back home in time, so rather than schedule another trip on another day, it was back to Aberdeen AGAIN.

While I was waiting for the oil change, I read the Aberdeen Magazine, like I usually do when I'm there. There are always fun articles about local people, and since Aberdeen is a small city, I usually know at least someone in an issue. (As a side note--I was one of four people waiting there. The three others were men probably 10 or more years older than me. They all started at their phones the entire time. So don't tell me my generation and younger are the only ones who stare at our phones!) :)  Anyway, I found a wonderful article on Lu Griess and Lu's Pizza in Aberdeen. Nearly every trip to Aberdeen as a child included a visit to Lu's Pizza. I still remember how wonderful the restaurant smelled, how delicious and one-of-a-kind the pizza was, and even getting to play the Pac Man video game in the front. If you're interested, I've included the link below. :)

A Slice of History

And now. . . to get to that stuff I didn't do yesterday!

A Boo-tiful Birthday!

Birthdays always start early at our house with opening presents. When harvest is going on, there's early morning candle blowing, too!

We always stop at Grandma & Grandpa Melius' house for pizza and cake after school. Teresa's friend Bella came to celebrate, too.

Here are the girls after a fun night of trick-or-treating in Cresbard!  Nathan joined us, too, but just wore a mask. He said it was his last year--we'll see! :)

Teresa decorated this beach cake all by herself. See the bear on the upper right diving into the water?  

Happy 10th Birthday, Teresa Rosemarie!

We received the best treat of all on Halloween 10 years ago--our Teresa Rosemarie!

Life was pretty crazy for you right from the start with two older brothers, but you have kept up with them just fine. You are a great LITTLE sister and a great BIG sister!

You are a talented writer and artist . . . we can't wait to see what more good things the years will bring for you.

Happy 10th Birthday, dear Teresa!

 

 

The Perfect and The Good

Late last spring, I was crying to my mom on the phone about a problem our family could potentially experience. (Because that's what I often do--think I have to solve problems before they happen!)  She told me,

"You always want everything to be perfect. You just need to enjoy your family."

Wow. Yes. I'm sure my mom would attribute that bit of wisdom to the Holy Spirit. The origin, however, isn't important. I needed to hear that. And that potential problem, even though it still would have been minor in the scope of our family had it happened, didn't happen either. 

I've thought about what my mom said several times in the months since when things are not going as I think they should, even though they are very, very GOOD. As I was doing the homemaker thing yesterday making beds, a similar quote came to mind, "The perfect is the enemy of the good." The thing is, I don't expect everything to be PERFECT. Oh, wait, maybe I kind of do. Or maybe not perfect, but I want everyone to be HAPPY. I realize even though it is my default setting to want everyone to be happy, that is certainly not possible, or beneficial to either of us, especially in parenting. 

Parenting children well and their being happy, just as the perfect and the good, do not always complement each other. OK, hardly EVER do they complement each other. The conflict I experience when my Mama Bear instincts want to fly in and fix one of their temporary hurts, although God is asking me to trust him to use that temporary hurt for a greater good, well that is just plain HARD. 

--(And then I thank God for these small crosses we are both asked to bear.)--

So, yes, I need to be mindful that I cannot let what is less than perfect (or perfectly happy) ruin what is very, very good, because let's face it, perfectly perfect or perfectly happy is pretty difficult to find here on this earth. 

And that brings me to the subsequent thought I had as I finished pulling the covers up over the bed.

This desire for perfection that we have comes from God himself. 

Not everyone would consider themselves a "perfectionist," but we all want circumstances better and nicer to some degree, do we not? If done with our eyes fixed on God's will for our lives, this is what keeps us dreaming and reaching for our full potential, and encouraging our children to do the same. To me, this desire for perfection, or perfect happiness, doesn't have to be a bad thing if it is kept in perspective--and if I don't get in God's way and try to fix things myself. That just delays God's fixing it the right way. To me, this desire for perfection shows me from where I came and where I will someday return--to a perfect eternity in Heaven.

What a timely thought that was as I found out this morning that my dear Grandma Joachim passed away last night. She lived and worked hard on this earth for 98 years. Even in her last few years, she would still often leave me with words of wisdom. One time after she had fallen and I was showing my concern, she told me matter of factly and without concern for herself that "people have to go through things sometimes." Because that's how she lived her life--no time for thinking about how hard something was. You deal with it. And you have a strong faith that shows you where you are headed.

Now, I know I've been mentioning a certain singer quite often lately, but I just can't think of a better song to share this morning. Here are the lyrics and I've also shared a YouTube link to a performance below.  

"MOM"

Little baby told God, "Hey I'm kind of scared.
Don't really know if I want to go down there.
From here it looks like a little blue ball
That’s a great big place and I'm so small.
Why can't I just stay here with you?
Did I make you mad, don't you want me, too?"
God said, "Oh child, of course I do.

But there’s somebody special waiting for you."

So hush now little baby, don't you cry
Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright.
A loving angel tender, tough and strong.
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.

You'll never have a better friend
Or a warmer touch to tuck you in.
She'll kiss your bruises your bumps and scrapes
And anytime you hurt
Her heart’s gonna break.

So hush now little baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright.
A loving angel tender, tough and strong.
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.

And when she's talking to you, make sure you listen close
She's gonna teach you everything you'll ever need to know.
Like how to mind your manners, to love and laugh and dream
She'll put you on the path that will bring you back to me.

So, hush now little baby, don't you cry
Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright.
A loving angel tender, tough and strong
Come on child it's time to meet your mom.

Here's the YouTube link:

Garth sings "Mom"

Thanks for stopping by. May you have a blessed day!

20 years ago

"Why was everything 20 years ago?" my husband asked the other night. I laughed and agreed that it has certainly felt like that lately, from my 20 year reunion to Garth to NSU's Gypsy Day to the "Friends" and "King of Queens" reruns we often catch before going to bed. While it's true certainly lots of great things are happening RIGHT NOW, it's also interesting that so many of these things from 20 years ago have been reminding us of our teenage selves lately, too.

As the kids and I have been spending quite a bit of quality time together in the car these days, we often listen to the playlist on my phone. One of the albums I bought earlier this year is TobyMac's "This is Not a Test" and it's the one they choose most often right now. I bought it mostly for the song "Move," but "Backseat Driver" quickly became my kids' favorite.  You can watch the video here . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kME_Q5V82Us

What does TobyMac have to do with 20 years ago? Well, he was in the Christian rock/rap group dcTalk back in the 90's, too!  If you remember "Jesus Freak," you remember TobyMac.

TobyMac will be coming to Nebraska later this year on tour. It's really unfortunate that I promised I would never ask for anything again if David could get me to two Garth Brooks concerts in a week. I don't know why I promised this willingly, as he never asked me to! In the past few weeks, I have been reminded of this promise quite often . . . .

I still maintain it was completely worth it, but I could have a long 50 or so years ahead of me!) :)

Oh, well. At least then I can reminisce about how great the music was 50 years ago!

The Lonely Side

I read a most honest and spot-on blog entry the other day. It was so good, I wish I would have written in myself. I sure could have. The entry was written by a writer for a group called Her View From Home, but shared on Facebok by a young mama who is special to me. You see, this young mama was the first teeny tiny baby I babysat for back in my early babysitting days. We see each other occasionally when I visit my hometown and always take a few moments to reconnect. Now she is a wife and has a new baby boy of her own and, as much joy as that brings to all of us moms, it is really hard!

I have said it time and time again that the hardest part of being a stay at home mom with young children in the country was the loneliness. It doesn't last forever, as as children grow, social engagements increase, new friendships are formed and the loneliness subsides. But if I'm honest, I still experience it at times.

I am so glad that she shared this post with me and everyone else because it is so important to share these thoughts! And, it reminds me that I need to continue to reach out to other moms, too.

https://herviewfromhome.com/when-mama-is-lonely/

Happy Harvest Birthday!

Last week Thursday, in the midst of harvesting these guys . . . 

David turned 40! In typical David style, he took it all in stride and received what he asked for--a full day of combining soybeans.

As we near the end of our soybean harvest, we are grateful for a safe harvest and pray for everyone else out there as well! 

Gypsy Day

As is our yearly tradition, a busy Homecoming day was followed by NSU's Gypsy Day!

We watched the parade with cousin Gabriel, who was thoroughly impressed. :)

The NW Band looked sharp and received a Silver Award this year.

There's No Place Like Northwestern Homecoming 2017

As I was saying last time, I am thankful for God's pefect timing because just one week later . . . life got a little crazy!

Soybean harvest has begun . . . and it was Homecoming!

Dawson & Nathan carried the banner this year. I caught them doing their slow side step to "Uma Thurman."

Here comes the Kindergarten!

 

And there they go!  I had to get a photo of this impressive single file line of 26 Kindergarteners!

Teresa was Dorothy . . . in a dress made from the kitchen curtains I had when David & I were first married. :) Thankfully mom's way of sewing--hot glue--held up for the duration of the parade route.

Here's the 6th grade float!

And the 8th graders!

As soon as the parade was done, the 3rd-6th grade girls volleyball program had a couple of matches, too.

After that, we went back to pick up the boys from soybean harvest to get back to school for pep band.

The day ended with a win for the Wildcats on the football field.