Big Fire

Friday night was our small group night. We decided to do a big bonfire with them. We had wanted to do it last week but the weather was awful so we postponed it. Friday was gorgeous! So thankful.

I have to tell you a fun little story about the preparation first though. I had gone to the store to pick up s'more stuff and hot dogs and Mark was home (kids were napping) and going to mow the yard. At the start of every summer we have trouble starting the lawn mower. It's been sitting all winter and it just takes a lot of work to get it going. This year was no different. Mark was getting super frustrated trying to get the thing working.

I talked to him on the phone a couple of times while I was shopping and I could tell he was frustrated with it. He'd been pulling and pulling and pulling and pulling and pulling and the engine wouldn't start.

I finally asked him if he'd prayed over it. It may seem silly to pray for a lawn mower but I've prayed for my vacuum before and Mark had prayed for his Civic so it wasn't completely out there. Mark said that he hadn't (and I'm sure was frustrated with me for suggesting it) but he went out and did it.

He said he sat in front of the mower and prayed. He felt a little foolish but he didn't care. He had nothing to lose. Then he tried it again. Didn't start. 2 more times. Didn't start. Then he said "I trust you to do this God!". 1 more time. Didn't start. One. Last. Time. It started! He said he just stood there smiling and thanking God for starting the mower. And we had a nice mowed lawn for our bonfire.

Here is my awesome, hardworking, praying husband putting the old wood from our old front deck into the already big pile.A few shots of the fire. Sorry for the dark shadows. It was hard to get a really good picture.

Many from our small group enjoying the fire from the deck. We had the Pendeltons, and their 3 kids, the Dombrowskis and the Krupas with their 1 little.

We had fun roasting giant marshmallows, eating a delicious dinner, jumping on the trampoline, blowing bubbles, playing bocci ball, talking and laughing and being family. I'm so blessed by our small group!

The next morning I got a shot of the aftermath. We now have a nice sized ash pile. Good for gardening I hear...

Fun on Friday - 6

I had wanted to blog this on Saturday but this weekend has been crammed packed and a blast! I'll just do FF today and you'll have to come back for the rest of the weekend, somewhat in pictures...

This FF we returned my shoes (didn't love love the velcro) and I got Chacos. Now I'm totally a granola...Then we headed to the park down by the river. The kids had gotten wind that we were planning on hiking and they were less than thrilled with that idea. We have lots of training to do. Our goal is to get them hiking by Labor Day so they'll hike with Mark's family on our Palmer/Priddy vacation. We've got lots of work to do...

So we played at the park then headed out on the river trail.
We bribed them with these - and I don't feel bad about it. They don't melt and they are yummy. I think it helped. It didn't eliminate the whining but it helped keep their mouths busy from time to time :)

We hiked down a ways to a little memorial that's right off the trail. They have a beautiful place set up with stone picnic tables. Mark ran ahead to get some Serious Texas for lunch and met us back at the place for a picnic.

We also have some training to do with our children and BBQ...if it isn't a hot dog they aren't overly thrilled. I seriously wonder where we went wrong...We have our work cut out for us.

But we weren't overwhelmed with tears and no one starved so I consider that successful.

Mark showed the kids the lego plant. The longs sticks that pull apart into a bunch of smaller ones. Kale thought that was pretty cool.

And you can never be by water without throwing every available rock into it. A most favorite pastime of our children. I think that's one of the keys. Promise to throw rocks at the end of the hike. Hmmmm....

We did our FF in the morning then headed home to prepare for our small group bonfire at the house that night. More pics to come tomorrow!

This and that...

I promise that there is more going on in our life other than church. And I didn't not blog since I wrote that just to make sure you read and reread that post everyday. This week has just gotten away from me! Does that ever happen to you? You make plans, figure things out, count on things happening and then BAM! The margins you had planned in disappear and life happens in a messy way. Nothing bad has happened. But lots has happened. So I decided to just post some pictures and fill you in on our week.

We spent part of it outside pulling weeds and getting the yard ready (still so far to go). Here are the helpers. Kale refused to come out so there are no pics of him doing yard-work.

Yes the shovel is way bigger than him.

We used a gift card that Mark had gotten for his birthday to get us some Adirondack chairs from the Depot. They are fabulous!

So are the models.

I documented one of Kate's outfits. The bottom half is what cracks me up. This was a church outfit. Thankfully the socks did not make it out the door [her decision not mine although I wholeheartedly agreed!].

Kale had a baseball game. The kids played in a little area by the field and it was perfect to keep them contained. Kind of like a kid cage. I only took a video of Kale so no pictures :(

One of the super-fansAnd a couple more pictures of the cute little bugger cause I can and cause I have them.

He loves to help me cook. I'm pretty sure because he's just like me in that he likes to lick the bowls and stuff.

So there's a bit about our week. We've also started a music class. A lady from our small group needed some volunteers so she could practice a Kindermusic class. We have 4 free music lessons and it's been fun {we had 2 this week and 2 next}. It's been good to get out and experience something new with the kids. They've enjoyed it so far. No pictures from there though. I hate to be that crazy parent with the cell phone camera.

Let's see...Mark had a softball game. I had a 6:15am meeting on Tuesday morning. We had a chiropractor appointment. I had another meeting Wednesday afternoon. Not much school has been accomplished although we are so stinking close to being done for the year. We have a fun Friday planned for tomorrow as well as a bon fire with our small group to finally get rid of our burn pile that has been accumulating for 2 years. We'll definitely have pictures from there. Kale had practice (as well as a game). And we've slept. I think that's about it. You're all caught up now. I hope.

Why church?

I get asked that question often. Not everyday but a couple times a year I think. That's often, I think, for a question like that. The conversation comes around to why do we need to go to church? What's the point?

As someone who loves going to church, being a part of a church, serving at a church, giving to a church and whose husband is employed by the church, I love answering this question. Cause I love my church! But I know I can't answer it like that for someone who doesn't.

Our last small group had this same discussion. Why go to church? I also recently talked with a good friend who asked what church was supposed to look like and what did God design church for.

After discussing this many times and sharing thoughts and scripture I think I'd answer it this way:

Because God created the church and the church body for His glory. At church is where we can corporately experience and share His glory. At church is where His glory is multiplied exponentially.

Does this mean God can't be glorified outside the church? No. Not at all. But I believe there is something special and unique about the way God uses a church and the people in it (if they allow Him to!).

Here's what I mean. In Matthew 14 Jesus and His disciples found themselves on a hill teaching 5000 men (and most likely women and children but only the number of men was recorded). It came time for them to eat. The disciples didn't know how everyone was going to be fed. The only food they were able to come up with was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Not enough at all to feed 5000 men (probably 10,000 people!). But Jesus knew what to do.

He took what they had and multiplied it exponentially and everyone was fed with 12 baskets of food left over!

I believe He does that at church. He takes what we have, what we give Him - our time, our talent, our money, our worship - and multiplies it exponentially. It overflows and blesses the city around us and our world.

Here's what I mean. When we use our talents for Him as part of a church body of believers He increases it. Mark, for example, has a great voice. A talent God gave Him. He could use it at home, use it in the car, use it in a park but it's greatest use is at church as He leads people in our congregation to worship! That doesn't mean God can't use that talent anywhere else, He most certainly can, but people are impacted by the worship He leads and it spills over into lives throughout the week. Touching way more people than Mark could do alone. Make sense?

Another example: Our pastor is going to be teaching a pastor's conference in Uganda in a couple weeks. They want to have 800 pastors attend this conference but they have to raise funds in order to rent the building, feed them etc...It's going to cost only $10 per pastor! That's crazy! Nothing in the US cost $10! So if I have $10 and I decide to, on my own, send it to Africa in hopes of helping a local pastor, how much affect do you think it will have? Not much. But if I give my $10 to my church for this conference it will pay for a pastor to attend and then go back to his local church and affect hundreds of people for Christ. My money goes further when God multiplies it through my church. Does that mean don't give if it isn't through a church? No. It just means God takes what we give at church and multiplies it exponentially.

I also think church is where we can be encouraged, challenged, taught, refreshed, supported, sharpened, prayed for, loved, blessed, and poured into. Church is my family of choice. I truly would be lost without these people God has brought into my life to do life alongside me and my family.

Many people will attend church out of obligation or guilt or habit. Many people will attend a church and think "what are they going to do for me?". Many people will attend church and hate it because it feels so empty and it doesn't fill them. Many people will question why even go to church.

I challenge everyone to think - What can I do for people at my church? What can I give to others? How can I bring God glory in my local church body?
What talent or gift has God given me to bring Him glory? I'm pretty sure if we look to help others instead of ourselves we'd enjoy church a whole lot more!

I think there's a place for each person in a church and that the church just isn't the same without each piece. When we can come together in unity, God can do incredible things and He will be glorified. He will multiply our small gifts!

Fun on Friday - 5

This was definitely the most expensive fun Friday we've done (and will probably do) so far. And mainly it's because we're preparing ourselves for many more WARM fun Fridays in the future.

As I blogged earlier this week, the weather here is crazy. The other day I laughed because I could've just looked out my window to see that it had snowed OR I could've checked facebook because just about every Durango friend I had on facebook made a comment about the crazy snow. I'm pretty sure we're all a bit done with it. However, I was reminded that about 3 years ago the Iron Horse bicycle race was cancelled due to snow and that's over Memorial weekend so it isn't all that uncommon for us to get snow late in May - but that doesn't mean I have to love it....

Anyway, back to my FF. Since it was about 40* here today there wasn't going to be any walking or hiking or playing at a park. And since we've already gone to the pool and the museum we didn't have many other options.

So we decided to shop!
That's a pretty fun Friday for both Mark and I.

We took the kids to Walmart to do our weekly grocery shopping (tried to make it fun!) then headed to a couple shoe stores. We were on the hunt for some hiking sandals. Ever since our episode last summer when Kate refused to wear shoes while hiking we've been trying to figure out a way to get her to wear shoes that will protect her feet and ones she'll like. Teva-type sandals, we hoped, would solve this problem.

But there is no way this cheap mama would pay Teva prices for kid shoes. Mark and I would wear the shoes for several years. The kids? Like 3 months! So we went to the cheaper stores first.

The boys found theirs right away. They're pretty easy going and aren't usually too picky (especially when they make shark shoes...). Kate? Yeah they only had one pair at the first store and they were "bumpy on the bottom". No dice.

So we headed to the second store. First pair of shoes "squished the top of her foot". Thankfully the nice sales lady was sympathetic to our plight and found another pair of sandals that worked! Oh and before we'd gone into the mall (the 2nd place) we prayed that God would find a pair of shoes just for Kate. So thankful for that answered prayer! And she's still wearing them! Good sign.

Here's their shoes. Great posed picture isn't it?The lighting wasn't so hot so it's hard to tell but Kate's shoes are pink. Jack and Kale have the same style of shoe but Kale's have sharks teeth on the edge. He LOVES them.

After the shoe store we played on the toys. And again, because I'm cheap I refuse to pay a dollar for a one minute "ride" on those things. So the kids have learned to use their imaginations while riding.We also stopped into Sears to check out microwaves. Our new-to-us over the stove one sparked like crazy the other day and when I opened it, I discovered a nice big melted hole in the side. Pretty sure it's dead. Great. We have another future adventure on our hands.

Then we headed to downtown to find some sandals for Mark and I. And so you can see how much fun we had, here are our picks:I texted these pictures to one of my sisters and she said we finally fit into the Durango granola society. Pretty sure we still have a long way to go in that area....

After shoe shopping we headed to Starbucks for a treat. Hot chocolate! Sadly it was cold enough for that.

The kids weren't overly impressed with fun Friday (especially compared to our other ones) but they learned that sometimes we just gotta prepare for the upcoming ones. And really it wasn't all that bad. I mean shoes and chocolate!

The Happiest Place

You may be thinking I'm referring to Disneyland but I'm not. My kids love the dentist. I seriously could probably take them there for a fun Friday and they'd be just fine. I don't get it - although I love our dentist and all the sweet, wonderful people that work there. It's just not my go-to happy place :) But I really am thrilled to the max that my kids love it. It certainly helps make the trips there much easier.

The love it because they love Gail the hygienist. She treats them like royalty. Gives them toothbrushes and floss and their own little bags. Wish I could get away with that at Christmas...She lets them play with her big, fake teeth {not her own but her models :) } and they love making them talk and brushing them with a giant toothbrush.

Kale talks her ear off. I'm amazed she can get him quiet enough to even get in his mouth (or mine really for that matter...we catch up on 6 months of life while I'm there). This is Gail working on Kale {and he loves that their names rhyme). He tells everyone that he really likes his dentist Dr Gail. She got a kick out of being called Dr :)Kate was already done by the time I remembered to pull out my phone for the blog. But here she is patiently waiting for big brother to be done, playing with her treasure from the treasure chest.Jack even got in the chair for a "ride" and a sneak peak in his mouth. When we'd say 'want to get in the chair Jack?' he'd say 'no' and then proceed to get in the chair. 'Wanna go for a ride Jack?', 'no' but he didn't complain when the chair rose. 'Will you open your mouth so we can look inside?', 'no' as he opens his mouth wide. He cracked us up as usual. And did amazingly, I thought, for a 2yr old.
And he enjoyed his pirate treasure afterwards.
Another reason they love Gail is because she gives them "dentist" stuff. The kids wore their masks and gloves home.
Thank you ladies at Dr Caldwell's office for another fabulous adventure. Fun Thursday!

One Semi-Warm Night

The weather here has been a bit on the duel-personality side. Warm one day, freezing the next, sunshine one day, rain/snow the next. It's a box of chocolates....you never know what you're gonna get when you wake up.

Sunday evening was gorgeous. So we took advantage of that. We unrolled the hoses, set them up, watered our little lawn, got out the water table and grilled burgers. It was wonderful (today, however, it is overcast and apparently there is snow in the mountains...).

As I was getting the burgers ready for grilling I heard giggling outside. I went out, peeked over the edge of the deck and found this...

Less is more (clothes-wise for these two)

And Kale was adjusting the sprinkler.

I can't wait for summer. Dinner outside. Sprinklers going. Garden harvesting. Cool breezes out back. I'm done with "sprinter" (spring/winter).

Fun on Friday - 4

Friday was another fun Friday. We decided to head to the Durango Discovery Museum for our outing. It was really cool - especially for Durango!

We...

made motorized Lego stuff using solar power,

made a non-motorized helicopter out of Legos,

climbed the big tree,

made rain sounds while we walked through the "rain",

laughed at ourselves in the silly mirror,

shot a ping pong ball high in the air using static electricity,

drew pictures,

played nicely together,

made fun movies frame-by-frame,

played in a tent and only looked out to scare photographers away,

and pretended to be an archeologist - hat and all.

After the museum we walked up to Burger King and had a nice lunch.

Here's Mark doing his best comical impression of Thor using props from Burger King.
I can't decide if he looks like the girl from Adventures in Babysitting or
the "real" Thor. Probably the real Thor....definitely the real Thor.The we stopped of at the swinging bridge to look at the "wiver"! (as Jack would say)

Another successful Fun Friday.