News From the North
This summer is flying by! You wait all year for Shark Week, it comes and goes … and then you have to wait an entire year before you can watch another 168 straight hours of shark related shows.
2011 AAU basketball has come to an end for Jake and Isabella. It’s been a lot of travel, a lot of time, and a lot of money. Right now we are in the only extended period of time (if 4-weeks is an extended period of time) that our children don’t have weekend activities. We have actually been able to get some yard work completed the last two weekends. Now - I don’t want to get too carried away, so I should say that I’ve paced myself. It also so happens to be my only chance to sit around and do nothing as well. I need to keep a balance in my life. Lisa would say that I should lean a little heavier to the work side.
One task I finished was cutting down a dead tree, and cutting some branches that always got in the way when mowing. I used a chainsaw, and spent about 45 minutes cutting up the trees and branches. Man, am I out of shape! My arms were like noodles when I was done. Today I am sore. Good thing our heat this winter is not dependent upon me cutting wood. We’d be freezing by late November!
Recently Eli was assigned the chore of picking up his toys in my office. After he was finished, I noticed some toys under the sofa. I thought he just missed them, so I drew his attention to those toys. Eli then said, “Oh, you saw’d dat. I was hiding dat from you.” Three years old and he is looking for ways to short-cut work. Oh no, maybe my “balancing act” I just mentioned above is setting the wrong example. A day later I was sitting in my office and Eli came in and pulled several toy cars out from under the credenza and asked, “Did you see dese?”
Lydia will be leaving for college on August 17th. She will be attending Minnesota State University Moorhead. It is located in northwest Minnesota about 3-1/2 hours from our home. It is on the North Dakota border, just across the river from Fargo. Lydia will be majoring in film studies, and hopes to direct films at some point in her life. She is very excited to go off to college and be on her own. It is hard to believe my baby girl is going to college. It seems like just yesterday when we brought our first baby home from the hospital. We pray that Lydia will form relationships with the right friends, and her life will be Christ-centered and focused!
Speaking of Lydia leaving for college … the kids are behaving like vultures, scoping out the things Lydia will be leaving behind and trying to claim it as their own. Her most valuable possession … her room! Lydia was the only child with a bedroom to herself. It appears that as things are shaking out, Luke and Eli will move into Lydia’s room once it is vacated. That will leave Jake and Bella with their own rooms.
Lydia was planning for the items she will need to purchase and take to school. She made a comment about needing money to get ready to leave. Luke jumped in and said, “I need some money to get ready for Lydia to leave!”
We picked Eli up from Sunday School. As a craft in class they had glued a muffin cup to a picture of a river, and then glued a peanut inside the muffin cup to represent the story of baby Moses’ mother putting him in a basket in the river. I asked Eli, “Is this baby Moses?” Eli replied, “No it’s a baby nut.” I think he missed the point of the craft.
Jake jumped on top of me to wrestle and made mention that he was now stronger than me (he is!). I told him, you might be stronger than me, but I know how to wrestle and I’m gonna hurt you real bad. Eli was standing next to us and yelled, “Do it Dad!”
Jake has grown another inch in the last month. He is now at 6’ 5-1/2” tall!
During church yesterday they had a children’s lesson. All the young children went down to the altar, and the teacher began telling a story to the kids. He asked them if they knew what desperate meant. Once that was established he asked them who they went to when they were desperate. Of course the answer was their parents. Then he asked who their parents went to when they were desperate. One kid yelled out, “The bank!”
Eli loves to ride on the tractor when I’m mowing. This weekend we were mowing and riding, and Eli fell fast asleep. As I mowed, Eli’s head was bobbing all over the place. Lisa came out and took Eli inside and placed him on the couch. The kids said at one point he woke up, lifted his head, yelled, “Who did this to me?!” Then he put his head down and fell back asleep. After I was done mowing, I trimmed some shrubs, did a few other things, then came in and sat on the screened-in porch to relax. Eli woke from his nap and came out to the porch. He was bugged. He wanted to know who took him off the tractor, and he wanted to go back out and mow some more.
We had a nice lunch at Culver’s restaurant. When we were done we made our mass exodus (Lisa, me, 6 of the children, and one friend) out of the restaurant and got in the Suburban. I started the vehicle, put it into reverse and started to pull out. As I did, Luke came running out of Culver’s. I almost left him. The funny thing, the kids knew, and thought it was funny and were just going to let me leave. We are a compassionate bunch!
The place I work, Becker Furniture World, was having an after-hours sale. Lisa and the three youngest kids stopped by to check it out. I was walking through the area we display accessories with 8-year old Luke and pointed to a bouquet of flowers. “This is what you should get your girlfriend.” Luke raised the sleeve of his shirt, flexed his bicep, and said, “This is what I got my girlfriend.” By the way, he has no girlfriend, … and not much of a bicep yet either.
Love,
JR
This summer is flying by! You wait all year for Shark Week, it comes and goes … and then you have to wait an entire year before you can watch another 168 straight hours of shark related shows.
2011 AAU basketball has come to an end for Jake and Isabella. It’s been a lot of travel, a lot of time, and a lot of money. Right now we are in the only extended period of time (if 4-weeks is an extended period of time) that our children don’t have weekend activities. We have actually been able to get some yard work completed the last two weekends. Now - I don’t want to get too carried away, so I should say that I’ve paced myself. It also so happens to be my only chance to sit around and do nothing as well. I need to keep a balance in my life. Lisa would say that I should lean a little heavier to the work side.
One task I finished was cutting down a dead tree, and cutting some branches that always got in the way when mowing. I used a chainsaw, and spent about 45 minutes cutting up the trees and branches. Man, am I out of shape! My arms were like noodles when I was done. Today I am sore. Good thing our heat this winter is not dependent upon me cutting wood. We’d be freezing by late November!
Recently Eli was assigned the chore of picking up his toys in my office. After he was finished, I noticed some toys under the sofa. I thought he just missed them, so I drew his attention to those toys. Eli then said, “Oh, you saw’d dat. I was hiding dat from you.” Three years old and he is looking for ways to short-cut work. Oh no, maybe my “balancing act” I just mentioned above is setting the wrong example. A day later I was sitting in my office and Eli came in and pulled several toy cars out from under the credenza and asked, “Did you see dese?”
Lydia will be leaving for college on August 17th. She will be attending Minnesota State University Moorhead. It is located in northwest Minnesota about 3-1/2 hours from our home. It is on the North Dakota border, just across the river from Fargo. Lydia will be majoring in film studies, and hopes to direct films at some point in her life. She is very excited to go off to college and be on her own. It is hard to believe my baby girl is going to college. It seems like just yesterday when we brought our first baby home from the hospital. We pray that Lydia will form relationships with the right friends, and her life will be Christ-centered and focused!
Speaking of Lydia leaving for college … the kids are behaving like vultures, scoping out the things Lydia will be leaving behind and trying to claim it as their own. Her most valuable possession … her room! Lydia was the only child with a bedroom to herself. It appears that as things are shaking out, Luke and Eli will move into Lydia’s room once it is vacated. That will leave Jake and Bella with their own rooms.
Lydia was planning for the items she will need to purchase and take to school. She made a comment about needing money to get ready to leave. Luke jumped in and said, “I need some money to get ready for Lydia to leave!”
We picked Eli up from Sunday School. As a craft in class they had glued a muffin cup to a picture of a river, and then glued a peanut inside the muffin cup to represent the story of baby Moses’ mother putting him in a basket in the river. I asked Eli, “Is this baby Moses?” Eli replied, “No it’s a baby nut.” I think he missed the point of the craft.
Jake jumped on top of me to wrestle and made mention that he was now stronger than me (he is!). I told him, you might be stronger than me, but I know how to wrestle and I’m gonna hurt you real bad. Eli was standing next to us and yelled, “Do it Dad!”
Jake has grown another inch in the last month. He is now at 6’ 5-1/2” tall!
During church yesterday they had a children’s lesson. All the young children went down to the altar, and the teacher began telling a story to the kids. He asked them if they knew what desperate meant. Once that was established he asked them who they went to when they were desperate. Of course the answer was their parents. Then he asked who their parents went to when they were desperate. One kid yelled out, “The bank!”
Eli loves to ride on the tractor when I’m mowing. This weekend we were mowing and riding, and Eli fell fast asleep. As I mowed, Eli’s head was bobbing all over the place. Lisa came out and took Eli inside and placed him on the couch. The kids said at one point he woke up, lifted his head, yelled, “Who did this to me?!” Then he put his head down and fell back asleep. After I was done mowing, I trimmed some shrubs, did a few other things, then came in and sat on the screened-in porch to relax. Eli woke from his nap and came out to the porch. He was bugged. He wanted to know who took him off the tractor, and he wanted to go back out and mow some more.
We had a nice lunch at Culver’s restaurant. When we were done we made our mass exodus (Lisa, me, 6 of the children, and one friend) out of the restaurant and got in the Suburban. I started the vehicle, put it into reverse and started to pull out. As I did, Luke came running out of Culver’s. I almost left him. The funny thing, the kids knew, and thought it was funny and were just going to let me leave. We are a compassionate bunch!
The place I work, Becker Furniture World, was having an after-hours sale. Lisa and the three youngest kids stopped by to check it out. I was walking through the area we display accessories with 8-year old Luke and pointed to a bouquet of flowers. “This is what you should get your girlfriend.” Luke raised the sleeve of his shirt, flexed his bicep, and said, “This is what I got my girlfriend.” By the way, he has no girlfriend, … and not much of a bicep yet either.
Love,
JR