The inanity of it all

Kind of a strange title, isn’t it.  I feel like that sort of sums up how I feel about my blog.  I love the blog, I love to look back at what we’ve done, what the kids have said, and how different the kids look.  But lately, I just feel like it is so inane.  I think a lot of it stems from the fact that a few streets away, my friend lays in her home, treasuring each of her remaining days here on earth and my life is just so…normal.  (Some of you would question whether life with 3 kids under 5 could ever be normal).  Yet there is nothing wrong with normal.  I like my normal.  Just so much about normal doesn’t seem fair.  A number of my friends have lost a baby or babies to miscarriage, are struggling to balance family, college, and work,  have a spouse with a significant illness, or any number of other difficult or at least demanding situations, and our life, it’s just so normal.  I could start to feel a little guilty about it.  But then I think about something I heard a woman say.  You are not equipped to handle what anyone else has, both the bad AND the good.  So, I know, that God has not equipped me to have anybody else’s life and when my trial comes, because we all know that nobody is exempt for trials, I will be perfectly equipped to handle it, whether it be big or small, just like each of my friends is perfectly equipped to handle whatever situation in life they have been handed.  I hope if you are in one of those difficult or demanding times of life, or even in just a frustrating time, I hope you can take courage in knowing that God specifically equipped you better than anyone else to handle this time of your life.

With all that said, we had a blessed week/weekend with lots of fun events to enjoy.  Friday, Mike was able to take part of the day off of work and we went boating with Nic and Amanda.  Lincoln and Creighton (yes, you read that right) both tubed for the first time.  Lincoln loved it, Creighton, he was a bit bored with the tube unless Mike hung him over the edge.  I am quite sure the Grandma’s would not have liked this so much.  =)

When we got home, we went to our friends, Darren and Jane’s, for supper.  They were so hospitable, as were their girls.  They had ponies and kittens and our kids, especially Kate, were in absolute heaven.  It was a great evening!

  

Saturday morning, my friend, Bethany and I, ran our first 5K together.  It was so incredibly hot, but it felt good to run the race, knowing how just a few short weeks ago I could barely run for 3 minutes and now I can run 3.1 miles.  Nothing about Saturday was pretty.  I was sweating profusely and alternated being feeling like I might pass out or that I might throw up.  But I finished, and pretty close to the time I was shooting for, despite the heat.  Mike and the kids did a 1 mile walk during the race, which was kind of a circus for him, but we were glad to support the cause (Money went to an orphanage in Guatemala). 

 

After the race, Kate, William, and Norah did the kids “Fun Run.”

 

Saturday night, my aunt and uncle invited us over for a cookout.  We again had a wonderful time and my cousins did such a fantastic job playing with our kiddos.  Thanks!!

A few misc shots of Creighton. 

 

Sunday we went to church, went swimming and then out to eat, and when the whole weekend was said and done, though we had a blast, this is how we all felt. =)

HOT, HOT, HOT

Wow, it has been toasty.  We spent a lot of time at the pool last week, but only for about an hour each day, it was just too hot outside.  But, what with all the swimming Kate and Lincoln are really turning into great swimmers!  Kate can now swim without a swim belt and can jump in and swim across the pool.  This past week she has started doing cannonballs (she actually has great form) and handstands and diving for things on the bottom of the pool.  Lincoln started the week unwilling to jump in at all and then moved to jumping off the side while sitting down and then to standing in and holding your hands all the way to jumping in by himself.  It really makes my life much easier that they can swim so well as Creighton has no fear of water and after just dives right in.  He sticks his head under water, laughs, then does it again.  We may have another Kate in the making in Creighton. =)  Here are a few pictures of the swimming progress.

Kate and Lincoln jumping in together. 

 

Lincoln jumping in with Kate cheering him on

Lincoln jumping all by himself.

One afternoon the sun was brightly shining, but it was raining.  I tried to get a picture of it, but it was so hot outside, that my camera fogged up when I tried.

We celebrated birthdays this past Sunday, only 3 this time.  Seth (1), Hope (5), and Jack (4).

  

Look at this lovely shirt the kids made me out of an IGA shopping bag. =)  They insisted that they needed to take my picture.

A couple of quotes yet.

My Mom was asking Mike how much rain we got.  Kate answered before he could with, “We got a whole storm’s worth.”

I wear my hair down 95% of the time because I have a sensitive head and get severe headaches if I wear it up, even in a simple ponytail for more than an hour or two.  After I had been outside and sweaty I put it up in a ponytail to cool off.  Lincoln looked at me and said, “Mom, what you do to your hair.  I no like it.” Got to love the honesty of a child. =)

No pictures

I spent last week a bit under the weather, so I don’t have any pictures to share.   Thank you to all that helped our family last week while I was sick.  So, if you only look at the pictures, you can stop reading now. I thought I’d just share a thought that has been bouncing around in my brain. 

The first thing is that recently my accountability partner asked me to check with her every week and see if she had done one kind thing for someone else.  As I thought about that, I thought about how easy it is to just get wrapped up in our own homes.  For me, it comes pretty easy to do something for someone else in the heat of a battle or life change (new baby, moving, etc), but I don’t naturally think to just do something for someone not in an obvious situation.  As I thought about it, I have challenged myself to think beyond the obvious people (I am in no way suggesting you ignore those in obvious need!!) and just look outside my home for the little things that I can do to brighten someone’s day or week.  The possibilities are endless.  Pick a few flowers from your garden and take them to a neighbor, grandma, or friend.  Take a plate of cookies to someone you know had a bad day or leave them for the mail man.  Send a letter/e-mail to someone you haven’t talked to in awhile and just encourage them.  Pick up an extra gallon of milk for the busy Mom down the street.  Spend 15 minutes chatting with the widow from your church.  The list could go on and on.  So many of you have so inspired me as you come alongside those who are facing cancer and death and disability and so many other things, now I simply encourage you, as my friend has encouraged me, to look for that one little thing that you can do this week to spread a little encouragement for someone else.

Stay cool!

A week of summer fun

This summer is just flying by.  I can’t believe that the 4th of July is behind us already.  Dad and Mom K had us and Brett and Tessa over for lunch and swimming on the 4th. 

 

Later, we met up with Dad and Mom R and Caleb to watch the fireworks.

 

Creighton is getting into everything right now.  He is reminding us so much of Kate, when she was this age. 
 

The kids love to play in the rain.  Even Creighton joined in this last time.  He had a blast crawling thru the puddles.
 

We got to have Russ and Beth here for about 15 hours – it was so great to see them, but I didn’t take any pictures, except for this one. =(

We had a fun night out at Chris and Sheri’s with John and Jamie and all our kids (6 adults, 11 kids, plus one more on the way for John and Jamie).  The kids had a blast!

   

Grandpa and Grandma bought some pork at a benefit and had the family out to Dad and Mom’s to enjoy it. 

 

Kate has been learning to swim without her life belt.  Lately she is very into jumping in and asking, “was that a big splash?”  She calls the below jump her “orca splash.”  I guess it reminds her of the orca whales at the aquarium.  Looks painful to me, but she insists it does not hurt.

 

Rassi Reunion

We had the opportunity to attend the Rassi Reunion again this past Saturday.  The reunion is every other year. It is Mike’s Grandpa, Arnold, and his siblings (he was one of 18 I think).  Anyway, just a handful of that generation are still living at this point.  This year we were at the Streitmatter’s farm and lake.  The kids had a great time playing in the lake.  I think that some of the kids were literally in the lake from 10am-5pm – but who can blame them, it was H.O.T. 

  

Ft. Myers

Mike and I had the opportunity to go on a short 5 day trip to Florida with our good friends, Duane and Alissa.  Our kids had what they called “our vacation” because they got to spend a few days at Grandpa and Grandma’s and a few days with Uncle Nic and Aunt Amanda.  Thanks so much to everyone who made our trip possible.

Getting set up to watch a movie while we waited to see if our flight was going to take off or not (it did – 3 hours late)

Eating supper at the beach

 

Watching the sunset