An incredible opportunity

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Phil. 2:3,4

Today we had an incredible opportunity to put others ahead of ourselves and to look to the interests of others.  We don't have that very often in our lives, so Andy and I really wanted to take this opportunity as a family and are hoping that it will multiply into many other opportunities for our family.

We participated in the Convoy of Hope here in Fargo/Moorhead.  It is a national organization that is committed to feeding the hungry and caring for basic needs of those who cannot.  They have a goal of going to all 50 states this year and today they were in Moorhead, MN.  It was pretty amazing to see hundreds of volunteers from many cities and denominations pull together to bring hope to thousands.

They provided medical care, community resources for those who are in need of extra help, a free meal, several bags of groceries, feet washing and 500 pairs of free shoes, a fun kids zone with inflatables, face painting, and games, haircuts, professional pictures of families, and so much more.

We are very proud of the kids for "giving up" their Saturday to serve our community.  They got up at 6:00am to be at the site.  We volunteered to help with the groceries which was perfect for us.  The first thing we did was assemble over 5,000 bags of groceries.

The kids really gave forth an awesome effort.  The boys were practically running through the line trying to see how many they could fill.  I'm thinking we went through the line about 30 times.

Once we had all of the food in our bag, we brought it to a table to be tied up.

Then we waited for the people to come so we could distribute the bags of groceries to them.  

It was a lot of standing and it was very hot- 90+ degrees!  We handed out groceries from 9:30am-2:30pm.  Andy and the boys did a lot of hauling groceries to cars and apartments for those who just couldn't carry them.  

 We saw a lot of grateful smiles and heard a lot of heartfelt "thank you's", but the best thing of all was being able to serve the Lord as a family!  We are really hoping that we will be able to make this something that we do often.  It hasn't been a priority so far, but it sure is now!

Oh yeah, and a little positive reinforcement at the end of the day- Tutti Fruitti!

Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be your hands and feet today!!!!!

Swimming Lessons and Summer Basketball Video

Video of all the kids taking swimming lessons!


Video of the boys playing in a summer basketball league!

Move over Lebron James!

Okay, that might be a little bit of an overstatement, but I tend to be a little biased about my kids.  Can you blame me?  Anyways, basketball has invaded our house this summer and it has been a blast to watch.  The boys attended a training camp the beginning of June and are now in a summer league.  They are each on a team- Connor the Blue Devils and Carson the Bison.

They play the two other 3rd grade teams 3x a week.  It has been really great for them to play on a team!  In the beginning it was interesting to see how each of the kids really wanted to be the star and show everyone else how good they were.  But they didn't stay there and they have really learned to work together as a team to do their best.  More passing and defending are happening than they were in the early games.  I got some good action shots from today.  Andy is working on a video so we'll get that up when it's done.  Here are some shots though!

Coach Limbke gives some good tips in the first few minutes.  Today he talked about  making sure everyone got a chance at having the ball and good sportsmanship.  

Carson blocking the shot.  He had some great blocks and steals today!  

Connor is a great defense player!  He blocks and rebounds with passion.   

In the 2nd game Connor and Carson's teams faced each other.  

Because they are the tallest on their teams, they defended each other.  

Connor getting some tips from Coach Limbke!

I love this shot!  The boys are really giving it their all!

 

So far....

So far June has been busy but great.  The pace of life has slowed down and we have enjoyed being at home together again!  I have given the "This summer is not going to be like this...." speech already, but it was met with change in attitudes, including mine.  We started off June with the wedding of some friends from church.  It's not often that the whole family is invited, so it was a special treat.  The kids did very well during the ceremony and very much enjoyed the reception and the dark purple frosted cupcakes.  Kaelynn enjoyed hers a little too much, but thankfully the purple came out of her very white dress!  

The boys attended a basketball camp put on by the West Fargo high school team!  I really, really like West Fargo a lot!  The sports teams put on great camps with a good emphasis on skills, healthy competition, and sportsmanship!  The boys worked on lay-ups, free throws, and a little bit of defense.  They did an hour of skills work and then scrimmaged against each other.

Both of their teams (all 3rd graders) did very well.  Connor's team got 3rd place and Connor had some great defensive moves.  He boxed out quite a few times.  He was definitely the tallest 3rd grader there.  Carson's team placed 1st and he got a medal for that.  Carson made some great shots and played hard to help his team win.  I noticed that both the boys played with all they had, and were great team players.    

They got to keep the West Fargo Packers basketballs you see in the picture which they were really excited about.  They still have them in their hands now as they are chilling in front of a movie!

Kaelynn starts ballet next week and then we have swimming lessons, VBS, and baskeball league the following week!  Woo Hoo!

Summer is here!

School is out and summer is here!  Woo-Hoo!!!!  Time for 'smores around the firepit with friends......

......and flowers!  I absolutely love my peony bush.  I really wish it would re-bloom, but I will enjoy it while I can!

Ahh, the thought of sleeping in.... not today though.  Andy got the boys up at 4:15am to go catch some fish.  And boy, did they catch some.  They caught quite a few beautiful perch and walleye and Carson caught this awesome 28 in. Northern.  We have some great walleye dinners ahead!    

Unfortunately, I was unable to go back to sleep after the boys left so I decided to start on a summer excercise routine.  I got on the treadmill at 5:30am and was able to have a little devotion time before getting Kaelynn up.  This is not easy for me to do during the school year, as I need to get up at 5:30am to get us all out the door in time.  I'm not saying that 5:30am is my goal get-up time for the summer, but I might as well make use of the time if I'm given it.  

So what did Kaelynn and I do while the boys were galavanting on the lake?  The zoo in town had a free admission day and Kaelynn had never been there so we took in the animals.  The zoo isn't huge, but it kept us entertained for an hour.  The wolves were pretty entertaining.....

As were the groundhogs!

We also got free carousel rides.  There were quite a few people there, so we only took one ride.  There's just something about a carousel that makes you happy!  

The only bummer about today is that Andy's truck broke down on the way home from fishing and had to be towed into Fargo.  We are pretty sure it's a transmission thing and it's going to be pretty expensive to fix.  It seems that just when we are getting ahead a little, something happens and we take two steps backwards.  I think these types of things are the trials that God allows for us right now.  Oh well!  I'm not going to let it ruin my day!  God is good and will provide!

I am looking forward to a great summer!  I hope you all have one too!    

Running the race before us

Marathon weekend is upon us!  We love taking part in the activities of the FM marathon.  They have so much for the whole family and it is an awesome event!  This year 4 out of 5 of us did races.  Connor and Carson were first with the mile run on Thursday night.  Carson is very competitive and really wanted to do his best.  In school this spring he ran the mile in 7 mins. 31 seconds.  Here they are waiting for the race to start:

Such serious faces- concentration and determination at it's best!  

It was a very hot day- 90 degrees. There were about 200+ kids in their age category and Carson came in the top 15.  Connor was not far behind and I'm pretty sure he beat his school time.  He ran the whole mile which he hadn't done before.  So proud of them!  They are talking about doing the 5K next year.  It would be a fun goal to work for.

On Friday evening I had the opportunity to walk in the 5K with a bunch of people from Westside.  We were walking in honor of a special little girl.  One of the paras at Westside has a young daughter who was recently diagnosed with Lupus.  We decided to walk in honor of her and to get the word out about finding a cure for the disease.  There were 55 of us who walked with the other 9,500 racers.  It was 95 degrees, but it was a ton of fun!  People along the route put on sprinklers for us and squirted us with water guns to cool us off.  I walked the route with Lizz Peterson and a few others.

On Saturday morning, we cheered on Andy in the half marathon.  It is so exciting to see all of the runners working so hard to accomplish this major event!  We made some posters to encourage him towards the end and stood at mile 7 to cheer him on.  His knee was a bit of a distraction.  Actually a lot of a distraction.  He was really hurting when we saw him, but he pushed through it and made it to the finish line.  To say I am proud of him is an understatement!  He worked hard and didn't let the pain keep him from his goal!  

Our camera is not very good for these types of things, but here is a photo of him after crossing the finish line (He's in the orange shirt).  

Can't wait for next year! 

Blessings

I sure am blessed to be the mother of these three amazing kids!  

Celebrating Mother's Day was a weekend affair in our home this year.  We went out as a family on Friday evening to Olive Garden!  MMMmmmmm!  Then on Sunday we went out to eat with Andy's aunt Arline and her sons Darren and Jason and Jason's wife Kat and daughter Kaycee.  Jason and family live in Kansas so it was a special treat to be able to visit with them.

Sunday was a very relaxed day.  I sat on the deck and read a book for about an hour!  I don't do that very often, so it was a great treat!  We also walked to Tutti- Frutti and enjoyed some frozen yogurt!  Boy, do we love that place!  It was a great day!

On Friday, Carson's class had a Mother's Day Tea that I was able to attend.

We were treated like royalty:

And serenaded with poems:

I was told how much I was loved:

And given gifts straight from the heart!

One thing I noticed about this Mother's Day that was different from the previous ones:  The boys especially have really been able to communicate their feelings and love in a special way.  It wasn't just teacher made gifts that they signed their names too.  They really put in some thought to their words and I sure felt appreciated for the things that I feel go unnoticed so often.