Dad Retirement

 My dad, after 25+ years on the fire department retired this year and he had a party at his home yesterday in Colorado Springs.  Joel helped plan the event and is was pretty disappointing to not be there.  It is definately one of the biggest struggles with not being near family.  Since we couldn't attend, I asked for everyone to send me video clips and I spent a bunch of time creating the video above.  I may not be too great at video editing, but I was reasonably happy with how it turned out.

Jaden, ambassador

Jaden was nominated to go be an ambassador for his class to a visiting "celebrity". He got a jump rope out of the deal, but he was very excited to be viewed like that by teachers in the school.


A cool memory for him today.

Kristen Birthday

Kristen celebrated her birthday this year with Oreo cookies (she love Oreos and we had been keeping them out of the house for a little while in an attempt to eat better), cards and a beautiful picture frame that the boys picked out.

Then Kristen decided that she wanted the family to go bowling.  While we had a wonderful time, it didn't end up being the best idea for Kristen's shoulder.  It throbbed for a full week after the day of the bowling.  And even though it was Kristen's birthday, I still couldn't let her beat me...so, she may not have got everything she wanted this year, but hopefully it was a fun day.

(Isn't she a beautiful woman?)

Over the weekend, we also got to celebrate Kristen's birthday with her sister's family and went out for Mexican food together.  Kristen got some more cards, a CD and I got a picture of her in the hat....despite her reluctance to wear it :)

Not too shabby

Just wanted to share that I did get to participate in the go-kart activities as described yesterday...I took Jacob in a two person car and away we went.  Unfortunately, we were too fast for Kristen to catch any pictures, so I thought I would share the Lap Times print out that they gave us as we finished.

We smoked everyone in our session and then, as you can see above, posted the 5th fastest lap time of the day.  Considering we only got to do one race and all the people on that list were going over and over and over again on a day pass kind of deal...I thought that was pretty respectable.

It was also a ton of fun.  I think we may have to go again...even if it was a 45 minute drive.

February Vacation Fun

Today we went to an indoor go-kart / arcade / mini golf / bowling facility.  The boys did not "do" a lot for their February break, so we wanted to have some fun on the one day that Kristen had off from clinical work and school.  The picture above is a pretty decent shot of 90% of the track.  Lots of turns, lots of fun!

Kristen and Jude rode together in a 2 person kart and Jaden was able to drive on his own.  All of them  went in the same wave together.  Jaden was really excited to lap them and was one of the fastest on the course at that time.

 This was the really neat little bowling lane that was part of the arcade area.  They used little balls...like the ones for candle pin bowling, but the pins were just mini versions of the regular bowling pins.  The most interesting part of the unit was the way the pins were held by strings to do the set up and clearing of the pins on all the shots.

Kristen was getting into all the games.  She took Jude for a skateboard ride and spent quite a few coins on the "Deal/No Deal" game where you could win tickets.  She also won the bowling game against the boys...so. overall, I think she had a good time.

Sweet Valentine

Kristen asked me to post something about Jaden's Valentine's Cards....so, here it is :)

Mom was certainly very appreciative of the thought and effort Jaden put into writing and drawing on his card for her:

He wrote how proud he was of her....

Note the drawing includes Kristen with the stethoscope around her neck!  A beautiful, skinny, nurse.  Now you see why she had such a smile on her face :)

Valentines Day

Had a great valentines day with the family today.  Above is a compilation of the valentines cards I received.  Jaden drew everyone individual cards with pictures on them, Jacob filled out his school valentines for us as well and Kristen gave me a very nice card as well.  It is neat to celebrate any and all times that we can together.

Kristen always does such a nice job of laying things out for everyone and making everyone feel special.  Cards for each of the boys and candy...all set up beautifully

.

My honey loves me so....
She knows I love Snickers!
Of course, she does too...so she bought the giant one that has to big pieces in it so that I could share with her :)

The boys loved getting to open their cards.

Holding Pattern

image from :  http://safeintheshadow.blogspot.com/2011/08/holding-pattern.html

holding pattern - a state of inaction with no progress and no change;

I was talking with my sister last night and I referenced the fact that life felt like it had been in a bit of a holding pattern because two years ago we had decided that Kristen's school was an important thing we really did want to do and that our other life choices, (behind God and family) was going to be subjugated to that priority.  I explained that I felt that we were coming out of that time because now we were asking ourselves..."What is next?".  Up to this semester, we had not needed to ask that question.  But now, we are 14 weeks away from Kristen's graduation and that question is actually looming very large for us.

As I spent a little time thinking about holding patterns though, I think it was only partially accurate.  Based on the definition that I pulled from a website up above, we definitely were not in a place in our life with no change or inactivity.  We were even making progress, however, it was really only visible in the kids ages and in Kristen's class number.  It could appear we had been in a holding pattern because we have been doing essentially the same thing for the last 2 years:  Kristen and the kids are in school, I am working and doing ministry and everything else is as we can fit it in.  

So, now with a mere 14 weeks left, things have an opportunity to change.  That is both scary and exciting.  

What is our bigger life goals and how does the next step fit into those plans?

Has God been using this time to prepare us for something particular?

How do we line up personal, professional, familial, financial and all  other goals together?

And so on...

When we had made the decision to do school, that set us on a direction and we really became very reactive in life to everything else.  Now, we have to become proactive, because reactive will no longer help us towards any goals...it will simply keep us in a true holding pattern.  So, to continue the analogy...we need to figure out which runway we are landing on, or if we are re-fueling in mid-air and which way we are going, quickly.  We have 14 weeks of "fuel" left and the pilot and co-pilot better figure this out real quick.

Answered Prayers

Kristen saw this number posted to her grade for last semester at about 3:30pm on Friday.  After anxiously awaiting the results since she took her final on Wednesday, the answer was finally here.  She had passed.  And again, it was by the smallest margin imaginable.  Just like in May, Kristen got exactly what she needed on the final to continue to the next section.  One could think that she just has a knack for it, but we know of the innumerable people that had been praying for Kristen specifically for this test over the course of the last 4 weeks and we attribute her success as being the combination of Kristen doing her part with the immense amount of prep work that she did, all the prayers of us, friends and family specific do this test and to God hearing those prayers and answering them.  

We have to mark this down now, much as what happened in May so that we can trace this journey back later. The improbability of how these last two semesters have played out have left us not only worn out physically, mentally and emotionally, but I think that both Kristen and I have had the opportunity to reflect on how we have felt God's presence and hand in these circumstances.

Isaiah 55:8-9(NIV)

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Ultimately, I know that this can be misused, and misapplied....but it does at least speak to the fact that God is ultimately in control and that we get to partner in things when we do our part.  Kristen did and now she is one semester from graduating.  We both are looking forward to seeing where God is wanting her to be once she is graduated...you have to think that there is a special place that God has in mind for her and is making sure she gets to where he is going to be able to best use her for the glory of His kingdom.

Riddle me this, Batman?

Jude, Jaden and Jacob sporting their Brasil shirts - January 2012 

How is it that I never played soccer...don't watch soccer...in all reality, have no affinity for soccer whatsoever....live in America, and have only let each of my boys play one season of organized soccer each (I think...though Jaden may be at two)...and somehow, all three of my boys LOVE the BRAZIL soccer team and want to wear these shirts as often as possible?  I am at a loss.  (BTW, I am not at a complete loss...since I know Jaden's friend Alex loves soccer and that has influenced jaden...and of courese, Jaden influences his brothers...but, COME ON!!!!!) :)