Visit with Y&P

Despite the insanity of Yiayia and Papa (Steve's mom and dad) traveling 2,000 miles, arriving just hours before Elias's 1st birthday party, staying only about 48 hours, and following up their visit with a brief trip to Phoenix before heading home to Munster, I think we had a really nice, relaxing visit!  Throw in their our church's annual meeting, a Valentine's date night for Steve and me, and a kind of impromptu anticipatory birthday celebration for Yiayia and you would be reasonable to think the whole weekend was complete chaos!  I think in the midst of everything that was going on, God had the grace to turn his face toward us and give us peace (Num. 6:26). 

(WARNING: huge tangent coming up -- skip down to the pictures if you're not particularly interested in my rambling about my own attitude, and God changing it.)  I think that was especially true for me, as the week before I had moments where I thought myself to be completely crazy, or foolish, or both to think I could pull off having the house ready for a weekend visit with the grandparents and our son's first birthday party when we still have unpacked boxes and ongoing home improvement projects.  I practically begged my very gracious husband to stay home from a Wednesday night church commitment because I was feeling overwhelmed and underqualified for the task at hand.  My extremely type-A flesh was quickly taking over this vessel.

Thursday morning I had a more extended time with God than usual -- largely because I was catching up on the Bible study homework I had procrastinated on that week (really, that's how it tends to go every week), and an awesome time during the group study itself just basking in God's word and who He is.  I didn't have an "aha" moment when a particular scripture or the Holy Spirit really said something specific to me, but just resting in Him and being reminded that he is God and, as Priscilla Shirer says in the video accompanying the study, "He is able and fully capable of being God."  She also said, "God is good at His job," and I added in my notes, "and just good."  We discussed so many scripture passages that are comforting reminders about God's character: Isaiah 55:8 where it tells us that God's thoughts and ways are completely other, Psalm 145:17 that talks about the Lord's righteousness and faithfulness, Jeremiah 29:11 that reminds us that God has a plan for us, and it's a really cool one.

I could go on and on, but the point is, God used his Word to provide me a tangible sense of being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2).  A weight was lifted and I was no longer burdened with feeling pressured to have every square foot of the house immaculate (which was totally unrealistic, but yet that was the standard i was holding myself to) and every detail of the party perfectly planned. I was able to let go, accept that some tasks on my list would go undone (and be ok with that), and really agree with God on His priorities for the weekend.  Hopefully, if you asked my husband, he would say that he noticed a change in me too!

Ok, so back to the visit itself and the cute pics of the kids (which is, I'm sure what you're most interested in!):

We had an E is for Elephant theme for the party because we often call Elias "E" and elephants are just so stinkin' cute!  Here are a couple of the cute things we made for the party.  We also made adorable elephant-shaped cream cheese mints, but I never even pulled them out of the freezer!  Oh well, I guess I'll be looking for an occasion to serve elephant mints, if they survive very long -- Steve and Grace have been enjoying the fact that we didn't serve them at the party so they can have them all to themselves!

 Following a Funston tradition, we always turn out the light for candles/singing!  Uncle Jon might disown us if we didn't :)

 E wasn't too sure about the cake at first.  I think he really wanted another of the nutter butters his sibling had been supplying him with all night.

 He obviously warmed up to it, though!

 The kids playing with our new friends, the Booths -- Azure, Aurora, and Eve.

 Elias wasn't the only one that enjoyed the chocolate, banana, PB cake!

Speaking of chocolate cake, we just had to introduce Yiayia to Daddy's favorite eating establishment, Atomic Ale for an early birthday celebration.  The have the BEST chocolate cake that they make with one of their microbrews.  Yiayia even said it was better than her favorite Jewel chocolate cake!  Also noteworthy, I had the only sip of beer that I didn't totally hate.

Thanks for coming to visit!  We love you and miss you!

Discipleship Nerd-style

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a ladies game night with my next door neighbor (thanks Tricia!).  Steve put the boys to bed early (they were exhausted from having taken a day trip to see our good friends the Birds), and below you'll find the official report on what he and the girls did for the rest of the evening.  And to think I've been looking for science curriculum for next year.  Forget textbooks and science kits -- all I really need to do is go to game night more often and leave them with our resident scientist/Daddy!  They already know the scientific method!

Elias at 1 year

Welcoming our precious gift into the world one year ago.





 

Celebrating the 1st anniversary of his time here on earth: ice cream and playtime at the mall!

GCC Staff Retreat

In October, Steve and I were blessed with the opportunity to spend some quality time with our brothers and sisters on staff at Grace Community!   I forgot my camera, but am blessed to know the very talented Missy Isbell who took these cool shots and put together some collages of our time together.  Full disclosure -- I also stole some of the details from her blog post about the same retreat b/c I am delinquent in blogging about it and she wrote it up while it was still fresh in her mind :)

The van ride there was miraculous in that with 26 people (including 3 babies) crammed into 2 big church vans, there was almost no crying, no motion sickness (that I know of), and we didn't even make a stop until we were about 20 min from our destination.  Even then, I'm pretty sure we stopped just because P. Hansen needed a Starbucks fix :)

We stayed at the most beautiful old Victorian mansion that was not just a bed and breakfast, but more like a bed and breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  There were some really cool ladies that made delicious food and took amazing care of us!

When we first arrived we had a chance to check things out and enjoy the beautiful setting. Funny -- just like I remember doing as kids when we arrived at a hotel on a school or sports team trip-- the first thing everyone wanted to do was check out everyone else's room!  They were all beautiful.  Ours was the one in the center of the top row on this collage.

That night after dinner, worship and teaching, we played the most raucous game of "I Have Never" and Paul's hilarious rendition of capture the flag meets ghosts in the graveyard "Underground Church." 

We were blessed to have a dedicated morning quiet time as a couple (well, couple +E) and the grounds were so breathtaking that we spent it outside each morning despite temps in the 40's.  Breakfast the next morning was amazing, but I wasn't quite warmed up yet from being outside that am.

Group photo time!  Can't believe they got a shot this good in just a few tries!  This is the staff of Grace Community + spouses and Ben Blakiston (Amy Hansens dad who blessed us by spending part of the week with us sharing insights he has learned in his years as a pastor).  Sadly, we were without Steve Anderson and Steve Scheperle.

A piece of advice for those 35 and older.  Do not challenge a group of 20 somethings to a game of ultimate frisbee.  It will end badly for you.  This particular game was 5-0, but we had a blast!  Stacy Simpson was such a trooper and played on a broken ankle from the previous weekend when Brooks dropped her doing a cheerleading stunt at Hawkeye homecoming!

That afternoon the ladies spent hanging out in Chi-town.  Missy is not only talented at photography, but also at doing u-turns in Chicago, in a 15 passenger van!  All the ladies + babies at the top of the Hancock building, although I guess it's called something else now. . . can't remember what.

Chicago pizza for dinner!  One thing we'll certainly miss in WA!

Me and my honey in my favorite spot in the whole city!

Elias just looking cute and entertaining himself during mealtime.

Although I was disappointed by the lack of staying up late to play games and talk (maybe that's what happens when you hang out with the 35+ crowd and people with babies, or it could be that Dave turned everyone off with his outrageous fart stories the first night :), the whole trip was so restful and I cherish the time we had in the vans together of all things b/c it just gave us a chance to get to know the team on a deeper level.  Oh, and if you ever have a chance to sit down with Deb Kirk, ask her to tell you the story of how she and Dave got together -- it's a great one!

And how excited were we about jumping in the leaves?

We have one very small maple tree in the backyard that dropped a couple of hundred leaves at most.  Regardless, one afternoon Grace asked for a rake, determined to produce a pile big enough to jump in.  Never willing to admit defeat, she insisted that her pile of perhaps 25 of those leaves was sufficient.

Greta contributed by standing by to offer commentary when necessary :)

She also had an obvious opinion on Zeke's batting skills.

Despite the obvious abundance of mucus, Elias was as cute and content as ever!

How excited are we about the first snow?

My kids insisted on having a "Snow Party!" They dressed up in full snow gear to go play outside, despite having only just the lightest of flurries :) It's so cold that even with all that bundling they were out for MAYBE 5 min before coming in begging for hot chocolate.

Zeke's 2nd Birthday

 In theory, taking a 2 year old horseback riding for his birthday seems unnecessarily extravagent, but in reality it was a perfectly relaxing low-key family activity that has made a horse-lover out of our little Z-man.  This is all thanks to our amazingly generous friends and brother and sister in Christ, Tarryl and Anne Bockelman.  When Steve aproached Tarryl about taking him up on his offer to let the kids come ride their horses as a fun activity for Zeke's birthday, we were only expecting to show up and let Zeke sit on the horse for a few minutes.   They made it so much more!  We rounded-out the afternoon with a cookout, 2 rounds of riding, feeding the fish in their pond, and some playtime in the hay pile in the barn.  The pictures themselves tell the story of what an awesome time we had!

Zeke had requested breakfast food for his birthday meal, but I wanted to make the pancakes and eggs "extra special!" 

Banana birthday cake (what else for our banana king?) complete with a "2" candle that Grace (our little eagle-eye) found in the Bockelman's barn!