Happy 4th of July!! This heat is something else, but we're handling it just fine! :-) I can't complain because I'll gladly take this heat over below zero weather.
We were blessed last week to be a part of a special couples wedding! My cousin Mike and his beautiful wife Emily, got married! They asked Tom and I to be their host and hostess for their wedding. We felt very honored that they asked. They had an absolute beautiful wedding. They had a big wedding reception and dance too and the girls were dancing machines!! It was so fun to watch them (especially Julia) dance and have a great time. They were absolutely exhausted by the end of the night. We have a lot of pictures and videos to always have that memory. And I'm so not a dress person, but I managed to find something I enjoyed wearing and had a great time with it. And its the first time in a long time that Tom wore a tie! He looked amazing - it was so nice!
Today is the 4th and while we didn't have a ton on our agenda for the day, we decided to go to the 4th of July parade down in Chanhassen. It is always a really big parade so its takes awhile. And with it being 99 degrees outside, made it feel crazy hot. The girls had a blast though so thats all that matters. We had Dan, Gina and Isaac joining us too for a fun time which made it more enjoyable too. We're going to be topping the night off with some awesome fireworks with some great friends. Can't wait! The girls are very excited too. We'll have to post pictures too.
We hope you've all had a very happy 4th of July and are enjoying this heat. We have been and will for years to come!
Take Care!!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Happy 4th of July! (a few days early!)
It's crazy to think June is just about over, isn't it?! It has been such a busy summer for us, but been a great one to say the least.
The school year ended on a positive note for Kira. We are so proud of her! She is already missing her friends like crazy even though she still sees them every few weeks (there are SO many summer birthdays in her class) at birthday parties. It's a goood time for all. She did great in school and we're really looking forward to another fun year ahead. She was always such a reader when she was really little, now she's even more of a reading machine and has been getting into more chapter books instead of the cute sight word books that she looked at before. Her passion for reading and writing was amazing. I'm not going to lie, I'm able to share an emptyness from her kindergarten class too. I felt so incredibly blessed to be able to volunteer in her classroom once a week throughout the entire school year! It was such a great time and it really did a lot for me. I initially struggled with the idea of public schools in the Twin Cities area because of the high rates of bullying and the fact that Kira was already super shy. I was worried for her because I've seen how mean kids are now days. It gave me an overall peace to be able to meet more staff and be a part of her kindergarten experience. I built a fun relationship with the kids that I'll always have with me. I also have a brand new appreciation for kindergarten teachers....holy cow - I could never do that job!! Thats some tough work but her teacher was amazing.
It has been really fun this summer - we've spent a lot of time at the local city pool. It's really fun and the girls are enjoying it VERY much. It is one of the zero depth entry pools and even has a little slide in it and all sorts of fountains too. It's right down their alley. I can't wait for more fun memories at the pool! :-)
I've also starting reading a book that I'd love to share with whomever might be interested. It's called, "Choosing to See", by Mary Beth Chapman. This is a book written by Steven Curtis Chapman's (the Christian musician) wife. I have never been so emotionally tied to a book in my life. It has literally brought me to tears, but its such an uplifting story that I can't put down either. It has truely taught me a lot about truely being the hands and feet of Jesus cause they are just a shining example for the rest of us. It has really been a fun time for me to read the book. I haven't been much of a reader but when I find a good book that really catches me, I give it a whirl and wa-la! :-) But seriously, I would love to encourage all of you to check it out. It's a really great book. And I'll be honest, its a pretty quick read, so check it out! :-)
I would also like to take this moment to remember a special person in our lives that recently went home to be with the Lord. Tom's grandpa passed away about 2 weeks ago. It was a little harder for us because when we met back a long time ago, between the two of us, we had 3 grandpa's to share memories with and to grow close to. Throughout the past 13 years, they've slowly passed away and recently we lost Tom's grandpa William, our final grandpa. We shared a lot of memories with our grandpa's, and we're very fortunate to have had such great memories that we're able to share with our family now. We miss you Grandpa Francis, Grandpa Pollard, and Grandpa Beiser!!
We have had a great summer so far. We hope you're all doing well too!
Take Care!!
The school year ended on a positive note for Kira. We are so proud of her! She is already missing her friends like crazy even though she still sees them every few weeks (there are SO many summer birthdays in her class) at birthday parties. It's a goood time for all. She did great in school and we're really looking forward to another fun year ahead. She was always such a reader when she was really little, now she's even more of a reading machine and has been getting into more chapter books instead of the cute sight word books that she looked at before. Her passion for reading and writing was amazing. I'm not going to lie, I'm able to share an emptyness from her kindergarten class too. I felt so incredibly blessed to be able to volunteer in her classroom once a week throughout the entire school year! It was such a great time and it really did a lot for me. I initially struggled with the idea of public schools in the Twin Cities area because of the high rates of bullying and the fact that Kira was already super shy. I was worried for her because I've seen how mean kids are now days. It gave me an overall peace to be able to meet more staff and be a part of her kindergarten experience. I built a fun relationship with the kids that I'll always have with me. I also have a brand new appreciation for kindergarten teachers....holy cow - I could never do that job!! Thats some tough work but her teacher was amazing.
It has been really fun this summer - we've spent a lot of time at the local city pool. It's really fun and the girls are enjoying it VERY much. It is one of the zero depth entry pools and even has a little slide in it and all sorts of fountains too. It's right down their alley. I can't wait for more fun memories at the pool! :-)
I've also starting reading a book that I'd love to share with whomever might be interested. It's called, "Choosing to See", by Mary Beth Chapman. This is a book written by Steven Curtis Chapman's (the Christian musician) wife. I have never been so emotionally tied to a book in my life. It has literally brought me to tears, but its such an uplifting story that I can't put down either. It has truely taught me a lot about truely being the hands and feet of Jesus cause they are just a shining example for the rest of us. It has really been a fun time for me to read the book. I haven't been much of a reader but when I find a good book that really catches me, I give it a whirl and wa-la! :-) But seriously, I would love to encourage all of you to check it out. It's a really great book. And I'll be honest, its a pretty quick read, so check it out! :-)
I would also like to take this moment to remember a special person in our lives that recently went home to be with the Lord. Tom's grandpa passed away about 2 weeks ago. It was a little harder for us because when we met back a long time ago, between the two of us, we had 3 grandpa's to share memories with and to grow close to. Throughout the past 13 years, they've slowly passed away and recently we lost Tom's grandpa William, our final grandpa. We shared a lot of memories with our grandpa's, and we're very fortunate to have had such great memories that we're able to share with our family now. We miss you Grandpa Francis, Grandpa Pollard, and Grandpa Beiser!!
We have had a great summer so far. We hope you're all doing well too!
Take Care!!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Trusting in God
I'm learning....learning about Trust....learning about Trust in God. As a family, we've been through some trials, and through it all I've grown closer to God and after the last "trial" I've been doing a lot of self searching to find out what God is trying to teach me about trust.
When I recieved some not so great news yesterday about my health, the first thing that came to mind after I got into my car from my doctors appt was to trust in God and he will make things better. The verse from Proverbs came to mind, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understandings; in all ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." While I thought in this instance, trust God, its not always that easy. It's hard to give completely control over to God sometimes. I sometimes just NEED to know what is going on so I can work on fixing it, but sometimes thats not the plan. I was never in control from the beginning, it was God all along. I truely believe that God is using these instances to teach me about Trust in HIM.
We have been through a lot as a family. We've been through a lot of what other people have, but had a little more than some people too (sick children, job loss more than once, medical issues which has required 4 surgeries in the last 3 years, major house problems, car problems, and the list goes on). Sometimes I feel our "luck" isn't very good and that often times we have a dark cloud thats following us. But I know God uses these trials and tough times for good. God never gives us more than we can handle and even sometimes thats a hard concept to put our hands around. I can openly admit, I have personally been through a lot and wonder what God is trying to teach us but we continue to worship God and are even closer to him today than we've ever been.
I have a story from yesterday that I would love to share with everyone. I was at a doctors appt yesterday and recieved some news I wasn't quite expecting to hear. I made calls to my husband and my sister to get all my feelings and emotions out and then had a little quiet time with God as I was on my way to the park. I prayed to God for everything to be okay and to hold me and my family close. I ended my prayer and took a deep breath and pulled myself back together and turned the radio on (I always have the radio pre-set to 98.5 KTIS, a Christian radio station up here), and the song was "I'll be an angel by your side" by Francesca Battistelli. I listened to the song and knew that was God speaking to me telling me that no matter what he's right by my side and that I needed to give it all to Him. This meant a lot to me to hear this and made me feel a little better. I had finished with my CT scan and as a family, we were heading to Tom's softball game. At this point, it was about 6pm and we hadn't heard results from the scan yet like we had been told. It was a real bummer because this was potenitally life changing news. Tom and I kind of stewed about it in the car and our conversation came to a hault and Tom reached over to turn on the radio for the rest of our drive and on the radio was the song. "While I'm Waiting". It was God teaching us to trust again. It was God teaching us that even through the waiting, He's in control and we can trust that He's there for us.
Tom and I have grown so close to God over the years. We've used times of trial for good. Even though we don't know it at the time, we have always looked back on all our trials and thought, wow - God is good isn't he?! Not knowing what God's plans are is a hard concept to grasp but we can know with God in control, everything will be just fine, we just have to TRUST.
When I recieved some not so great news yesterday about my health, the first thing that came to mind after I got into my car from my doctors appt was to trust in God and he will make things better. The verse from Proverbs came to mind, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understandings; in all ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." While I thought in this instance, trust God, its not always that easy. It's hard to give completely control over to God sometimes. I sometimes just NEED to know what is going on so I can work on fixing it, but sometimes thats not the plan. I was never in control from the beginning, it was God all along. I truely believe that God is using these instances to teach me about Trust in HIM.
We have been through a lot as a family. We've been through a lot of what other people have, but had a little more than some people too (sick children, job loss more than once, medical issues which has required 4 surgeries in the last 3 years, major house problems, car problems, and the list goes on). Sometimes I feel our "luck" isn't very good and that often times we have a dark cloud thats following us. But I know God uses these trials and tough times for good. God never gives us more than we can handle and even sometimes thats a hard concept to put our hands around. I can openly admit, I have personally been through a lot and wonder what God is trying to teach us but we continue to worship God and are even closer to him today than we've ever been.
I have a story from yesterday that I would love to share with everyone. I was at a doctors appt yesterday and recieved some news I wasn't quite expecting to hear. I made calls to my husband and my sister to get all my feelings and emotions out and then had a little quiet time with God as I was on my way to the park. I prayed to God for everything to be okay and to hold me and my family close. I ended my prayer and took a deep breath and pulled myself back together and turned the radio on (I always have the radio pre-set to 98.5 KTIS, a Christian radio station up here), and the song was "I'll be an angel by your side" by Francesca Battistelli. I listened to the song and knew that was God speaking to me telling me that no matter what he's right by my side and that I needed to give it all to Him. This meant a lot to me to hear this and made me feel a little better. I had finished with my CT scan and as a family, we were heading to Tom's softball game. At this point, it was about 6pm and we hadn't heard results from the scan yet like we had been told. It was a real bummer because this was potenitally life changing news. Tom and I kind of stewed about it in the car and our conversation came to a hault and Tom reached over to turn on the radio for the rest of our drive and on the radio was the song. "While I'm Waiting". It was God teaching us to trust again. It was God teaching us that even through the waiting, He's in control and we can trust that He's there for us.
Tom and I have grown so close to God over the years. We've used times of trial for good. Even though we don't know it at the time, we have always looked back on all our trials and thought, wow - God is good isn't he?! Not knowing what God's plans are is a hard concept to grasp but we can know with God in control, everything will be just fine, we just have to TRUST.
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