Proud Mama!

I don't believe you can every be TOO proud of your kids. Being a mom has been such an amazing experience. I know, it helps when you have GREAT kids, but really, when my kids do something special, I just beam from ear to ear!

Today was the last day of football camp. Jordan has been going with his friend, Lucas, all week. They have turned into great buddies and spend time talking on the phone. Color coordinating shirts was the topic of choice this week, so that they could be on the same "Razzle Dazzle" team. But somehow they always ended up being "skins"...

Camp was in Sioux Falls, so it's been a little chasing, but we did some carpooling and the boys had a great time. At the awards ceremony this morning, Jordan was told he had the best combined punt, pass, and kick distance. Total of 273'. Jo's comments were, "mom, I was shocked! I knew I had the second longest punt and kick, but I had no idea this was coming!" Anyway, he received an extra gift (a really nice mouth-piece that he can use for football this Fall), and afterwards he went up to Coach T and said, "Thank you for the mouth piece." Coach T said to me, "you have one of the most sportsmanlike kids I have ever had at camp. He is always willing to help someone out, even if he knows that they might not "score the touchdown" and he had the opportunity to just score it himself. He's always pumping the other kids up!" WOW!!! WAY-TO-GO JO!

Here is Jordan with Coach T and the other two winners - fastest 40m dash and fastest obstacle course time.

Official football practice starts next week Tuesday night. Should be lots of fun. Jordan is excited to have 5 kids from Viborg playing on the team this year. Games will be Saturday afternoons at Riverdale Park from August 22 through mid-October (with the exception of Labor Day weekend, no games then).

Bible School '09

We survived our week of Bible School. What a week it was! It was AMAZING to see God at work in the lives of the kids there. So privileged that Kevin was able to come along all 5 nights and help out. And thankful that everything went smoothly at the dairy while we were gone each of those nights. Needless to say, the chores were not finished by the time we had to leave at 5:00 each night!

We studied Go Fish "Backstage with the Bible" for the week, and for me to be the music person was just a total blessing. We learned the 10 Commandment Boogie, and to see preschoolers with the "light going on that these are from God" is just amazing. The kids favorite song was "Stories" which was great, not only because we could sing the familiar songs of Zaccheus and Only a Boy Named David, but they could jam out with "na-na-na-na-na-na WOO-HOO".

Kaylie loved the craft portion. Actually, I don't think there was a part of Bible school that she didn't like. Ok, maybe snack because they always seemed to "mix" foods together. She's much more content to eat them all individually and let her tummy mix them up inside.

I was so proud of Jordan. He was a trooper all week, and did a great job getting the kids in his group to SING! And do the ACTIONS! (not so easy for boys entering the 4th grade - not the "coolest thing" in the world!)

Wednesday night was a big night. We got in the car and he said to us, "At story time tonight, I went into a room with some other kids and Pastor Kevin prayed over us. It was awesome." We asked him why he was prayed over and he said he couldn't remember exactly what it was called, but he asked Jesus to be in control of his life that night. I told him "that's exactly what it's called, honey!" I can't describe the emotions that went through me when he said that. Intense, would be an understatement!

We have truly been blessed by the people at Good News. God is good, and the way He has been working in all of our lives during our time spent there has been wonderful. Life changing. We were able to meet on a more personal level some very neat people there through the VBS experience, and our whole family has been blessed by the experience.

VBS 09

Kevin and I are volunteering for the Vacation Bible School at Good News Church in Sioux Falls. It started last night (Sunday). After church, we helped take down the worship center and started creating "Backstage with the Bible". We took a short break in the afternoon and had lunch with Mom, Dad, and Kris to celebate Mom and Dad's 20th wedding anniversary. We went to the 26th Street Grille (shoot-off of Minerva's) for a yummy brunch. It amazes me how quickly time flies, and that they have been married for 20 years. Dave has been "dad" for longer than my dad. I'm very thankful that mom and him are happy and have been blessed with these years together.

Back to Bible School...Kevin is officially the "Bouncer" for Bible School. And he was used EVERYWHERE while we were setting up yesterday. You could here "where's our Bouncer" being yelled frequently - any time they needed a tall person, something hauled. And to say the least, he was more than willing to help wherever he was needed. He's so awesome...

Last night, we kicked off the Go Fish VBS series, Backstage with the Bible. I am blessed to be doing the music segment, and had a blast trying to teach the kids the actions and bee-bopping all over the stage. To say I was tired would be an understatement, but it was worth it all to see the smiles on the faces of the kids.

Vacation!!!

After last minute deciding to go to Minneapolis for a few days (because it was the only week the rest of the summer that worked out!), I'm thinking we weren't there long enough. The kids did very well on the trip, and we got to do some things that Kevin has never done, either. We headed up on Tuesday, and had made hotel reservations at the Water Park of America. If you have never been there, it's worth the trip if you are a water park fan! We spent probably 10 hours in the water park, bt it sure didn't seem like that long! Kaylie spent most of the time hauling Kevin up to the 5th story to go down he double tube slides, while Jordan and I went singly. The family raft ride was a blast, but climbing 10 stories of steps really proved to me how out of shape I am! Jordan was perfectly content to do some things on his own - he liked all of the individual body slides too. A couple of years ago, he would have freaked out if we weren't just an arms length away from him. My, how times have changed. As he told us when we got home on Saturday, "that was the best 1/2 birthday party ever!" that's when we realized he turned 9-1/2 while we were up there. Worked our pretty well, I'd say!

Wednesday morning, we headed out for breakfast and just happened to run into Chris and Colin Lang in the hallway. Crazy. Chris took us back to their room and told Kaylie to walk in and say hi to "scare Sherry". It worked. She was about ready to send her out and say "you have the wrong room honey". And then Aunt Helen called and Jordan talked to her. We could tell we really threw her off, when Jordan's responses were "Huitink", and "Kevin and Kim". What are the chances? Same hotel in Minneapolis, in the hallway at the same time...

Wednesday night we headed for the Metrodome to watch the Twins play. Kevin had never been there, and Jordan is officially addicted to Foxs Sports North, so we went and watched them play to the Yankees. Got on the Light Rail at the MOA, which went really well. the kids loved the train ride. Found our seats and Jordan was just in awe. He saw Joe Mauer come out and he was zoned. The game didn't go so well, the Twins lost 4-3, but it was a really good game. AND we got to see Joe Mauer hit a home run. AWESOME!

We all marveled at the whole game experience. We sat on the first base line, upper deck and no foul balls were hit our way, but Jordan was ready with is glove on!

New baseball terms such as "Span-sandwich" are being used at our house (thanks to the guys sitting next to me at the game). The kids couldn't believe when we left the Metrodome how "windy" it was. We giggled about that for a while, until we saw the line for the train back to the MOA. Yikes! Kaylie wasn't really in the mood to stand in line at 11:00 PM and then be packed in a train like sardines for 1/2 hour. After hitting the 28th street station, she sat down on Jordan's feet and fell asleep. Too bad we had to wake her up at the next stop!

Family time is so precious. It amazes me how busy our lives are and when we just stop, take a breath, and enjoy the time together, the memories that are created are priceless!