Eitemiller Christmas

We had the first of our family Christmas celebrations on Saturday, in Mitchell with Grandpa & Grandma Eitemiller.

We had a nice time hanging out with Casey & Heidi and crew, the kids got good and sugared up eating mostly m&m's and cookies, played with some presents, but mostly the toys that are always at Grandpa & Grandma's, and of course, the ever-energetic Grandpa Dave and Uncle Casey.

Here's some nice pictures from the afternoon:
Casey & Heidi

Maia & Rylie pigging out:

Matt & Xander playing X's new Bionicle Quest board game

I love this picture! Grandpa's telling stories again. At one point, Rylie says to Grandpa, "I'm not even listening to you!" -Right in the middle of a very long explanation of ... well, something.

Chase caught in the act with the m&m's, using the serving spoon as a personal shovel.




Here Chase was cracking us up because he was hiding a ball in his shirt. He was trying to keep it away from Maia, who was using the same tactic earlier. Rylie hollered, "You look like you're preg-a-net!" Chase later moved the ball up to his chest which gave him a different look entirely.


After the kids got all sugared up on cookies and m&m's, somehow they got into a tickle fight with Uncle Casey. He's good for that kind of thing.



Proof that Xander & Rylie can actually get along. This might be a first. They usually butt heads like two billy goats!


Here, Maia is upset because Grandpa is interrupting a perfectly good fit. So she plugged her ears so that she couldn't hear his wailing over hers.One of Chase's favorite toys of the afternoon: The Lincoln Logs cannister, which made a nice drum. I put a throw pillow inside it so that the rest of us could still function while he relentlessly beat that "drum" to bits! When we got there, the 6-year-old cannister looked brand new. Not anymore!

A good time was had by all. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for a good kickoff to Christmas!

Waxing Sentimental

Some nice pictures from the last year.
Story time




Cowhand in a Spiderman Cap

From when we tried Matt's goatee on everyone in the family

First dance with Daddy



Aw, aren't they sweet?

I have an announcement: I have all my Christmas shopping done. Ahhhh! What a nice feeling. OK, a nagging little voice tells me I have one more gift to buy- for my brother. They were out of what I wanted to get him when I went this week, and now I have to wait for another paycheck. AND I have to get some stocking stuffers. I am so going to take it easy with those this year! I went a little overboard last year, so I'm limiting it to $25 each. I buy my own stocking stuffers, that way I get what I want. That's not really the point, is it? Oh well.

We have an interesting Christmas eve/ day planned this year, we are going to do our Christmas eve service at Mercy- surprisingly traditional because we're doing a joint service with the Mennonite congregation that owns the building we're meeting in. After that, we're heading over to Bruce & George's (Matt's folks) to spend the night. The interesing thing is that they won't be there. They're going to Fort Dodge to stay at Papa Svale & Gramma Katie's, where we'll go the next day. Apparently, Rena & Troy & kids (Matt's sister's family) are going to do the same thing! So we'll have Christmas morning with cousins and Aunts and Uncles, then head over to see grandparents later. I guess we'll have to take our stockings with to Grandma Georgie's and see if Santa can find us there!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with Maia's big Christmas present. She's getting a SpongeBob toddler bed. I'm not taking that with us to Fort Dodge! I was thinking how cool it would be to have it out in the living room under the tree (well, not all the way under) on Christmas morning, so the kids could wonder how Santa got it down the chimney. But we're not going to be here. I don't really want to give it to her before we leave, because she'll want to sleep in it, and that would be mean. So I think we'll set it up under the tree for when we get back with a note from Santa.

Christmastime is Near

This season really zooms past, doesn't it? I have been enjoying Christmas card updates from friends young and old, and am trying to be in the process of getting ours written. I stalled out when I realized that we had to put a family picture in. Of course, we don't HAVE to, but we are going to, and I don't have one that will fit the bill. As a matter of fact, I had to go buy Xander new clothes yesterday because he has nothing to wear for the upcoming Christmas programs he's in, so I chose things that would coordinate well with the rest of us, so we can all look nice together.

Today, December 9 (Happy Birthday, Micah Hoeksema!) was kind of a fun day. It's a Saturday, so as usual, we started our day with a praise team practice at the church which took longer than it should. *sigh* We've got to whip these kids into shape! Check back in a year and see if that's happened yet. I'm betting not.

After worship team rehearsal, by dear friend, Amy Lu (from Sheldon) came over for lunch with her daughter, Gracia. They were having a girls' day out Christmas shopping day in Sioux Falls, and we invited them over for lunch. Gracia is a year younger than Maia, so sharing didn't go so well between the two of them, but we had a nice visit, though too brief. I think the two of us could just talk for days without stopping. We should have a slumber party like we did when we were kids. I doubt we'd get all the way caught up even then!

At 2:30 this afternoon, the kids and I walked downtown to witness 156 tubas celebrate Christmas in the 17th annual "Tuba Christmas." The weather was beautiful, over 50 degrees, and the company was great too, got to spend some time with our parents and friends- Jim, Marilyn, Bruce, George, Pete, Paula, John, his son, Terry, Lynn & Julie. They had come to town to hang out together, get some shopping done, eat at Minerva's downtown and see the Tuba Christmas.

There's nothing too fancy or sophisticated about the Tuba Christmas. From what I can understand (I couldn't hear the announcer, somehow I wound up sitting behind all the tubas, so his back was to me when he was making announcements), they send an invitation to any tuba or baritone/euphonium player in the tri-state area, regardless of experience or skill level, and
give them all a book of Christmas songs. The songs are not hard, just your standard Christmas carols, and they must not emphasize rehearsal or watching the conductor. A few phasing problems, and they sounded pretty bumbly a lot of the time, but hey, they're tubas. Many of the tubas were dressed up for the occasion, with tinsel, ribbon, garland and flashing lights. Several of the players wore stocking hats in various colors with TUBA CHRISTMAS knitted into them. There were sousaphones, concert tubas, baritones and euphoniums all piled together outside the Phillips Ave. Diner. Quite a crowd, too. Apparently a lot of people thought this would be a fun way to celebrate the Christmas season.

I think I should contact Lori Thomas, my bassoon teacher from USD and suggest that we do a bassoon Christmas. I still have my little bassoon stocking cap and scarf from when we played Christmas quartets and sextets at the USD holiday concerts. Good times.... 'course, I haven't played my bassoon in a long time. I think I still remember how. I'm not serious about this. The weather can't be this nice every time they do this concert. I don't like playing in the cold. We'd definitely have to play inside. And probably in Vermillion, since that's where most of Lori's students are!

My Christmas shopping is almost complete. I think I only have 2 or 3 people left to buy for. That's weird. This is usally when I start my shopping. I didn't do this on purpose this year, I just somehow accidentally planned ahead. Can that even happen? I guess I started noticing things that would make good presents early in the year this year (and by "early" I mean like October and November). Usually I wait until after my birthday (Nov. 23 in case you missed it. I'm still accepting gifts) to even start shopping. This is not a good idea, because the December paycheck is no bigger than any other paycheck, so it's foolish to think I could get something nice for everyone that way. What usually happens is that I cheap out and try to make gifts as thriftily as possible. That really makes people feel special. And I run my credit card way up. That's not a good option either.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little more on top of it this year, so that's a big relief. I just have Matt & Xander to buy for yet. And my Dad. Why am I procrastinating buying for the men in my life? Oh yeah, I don't have a gift for my brother either. So the truth of the matter is, girls are more fun to shop for. Good thing I have so many nieces!

Tomorrow, we are going to Mitchell to attend my brother's kids' Christmas program. AND we're going to Grandma Leigh Anne's to have homemade waffles beforehand. Promises to be a fun night. We got a lot of good pictures last year after the program, so this branch of the family is dressing in coordinating black and khaki and by golly, we're going to get a picture for the Christmas letter!

We're going back to Mitchell next weekend for Christmas with Dad & Marie. They always outdo themselves in the toy department. They love buying gifts for the kids. I've been trying to clean out the toy boxes in preparation for the onslaught of new stuff. Just what they need. More stuff.

OK, that's all I know for now. No new pictures. I haven't taken any pictures since before Halloween. What's the matter with me?

Cobwebs

It's been a long time. This website should have cobwebs on it. I have missed Halloween, my son's birthday party, and am finally getting around to writing the day after our first day on the job at Mercy.

Brief update: Halloween was good. Xander dressed as a Bionicle (no surprise to anyone who's tried to have a conversation with him in the last year), and Maia was a cute little fuzzy bunny. I forgot to take pictures. I'm a bad mom. Well, here's one from before Halloween. How cute is she? Here she was helping Daddy practice his "trump-trump."

We went scavenging (I mean trick-or-treating) in the neighborhood and, as I suspected, that was a way better deal candy-wise than going to the indoor comfort of the mall like we did last year. Plus we got to meet some of our neighbors (of course, the kids were wearing masks and going door to door begging for candy, so it's not like we started any deep relationships or anything. Did get the chance to thank our next door neighbor for tossing our lost t-balls back over the fence.

Xander had a great birthday party. We invited all the boys in his class, and 10 of them showed up (there are 17, so I counted myself lucky!) plus one girl from church, whom Xander referred to as his 'girlfriend' more than once (already? *sigh* well, her dad's a cop, so good girlfriend to have). My mom helped me out with games and it was nice enough to play outside. Family showed up at cake and presents time- 4 cousins, 4 aunts and uncles, 6 grandparents, and of course a sister, a mom & a dad. After presents the kids went home, and the family stuck around and we had pizza and talked for a while. We were able to have it at New Hope's cafe, which was a nice location for us. Fun.

We are officially back on the job as worship leaders as of yesterday. Actually, we started on Wednesday, but there wasn't much to do, just go enjoy dinner at the new church and join a small group Bible study. Saturday was rehearsal. Scheduled at 10, started at 11. That's gonna have to change.

We chose music according to what Shel was preaching on (Living as a Christian and Dealing with Illness). So a lot of "praise You even when things are awful" kinds of songs and "finding healing in Your presence" types of songs. A lot of what they've done before is Vineyard stuff that Matt & I don't know, so we were trying to be adaptable and do stuff that the congregation might know, even if we didn't. Turns out we introduced 3 new songs. Oops. This is not good. If you're going to worship, it's nice to be at least somewhat familiar with most of the music. Not to the point of doing by rote, but just knowing the song makes a heap of difference. Major faux-pas.

Sunday afternoon after church, we were headed out of town, but had time to eat out, which is rare for us. We chose a newer restaurant called Ci Ci's Pizza and were quite surprised to run into Hal & Martha there (Hal's the worship leader at New Hope), so we got to have a surprise lunch with them!

Then we went to Vermillion for choir practice. That's right, choir practice. Larry Torkelson, the retired choir director from USD, has decided to start a choir and do really hard music. He chose about 30 singers from around the region- most of which are alumni, and we get together and practice music for 2 1/2 hours once a month. This week, we worked on Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei," Leonard Bernstein's "Best of All Possible Worlds" from Candide, Mozart's "Laudate Pueri" from The Vespers Solennes di Confessori and a Brahms motet in German all about how youth is fleeting and you never get a second chance. Cheery little number. Great for an alumni choir.

We saw a few familiar faces. I still sing really loud. Nice to be back in the familiar halls at USD and do something familiar. I was back there 2 weeks ago for a music teacher's conference, and it was so weird because I didn't know anyone. There were only a handful of my professors who haven't retired. Made me feel old. Yesterday was better. Good times.

Looking ahead to this week... excited for only 2 days of school. I don't have to teach at USF this week, so my longest day is cancelled. I do have to play for one student on departmental recital this afternoon, then lessons all evening, and some more tomorrow after school.

We are heading to Bruce & George's (Matt's folks) for Thanksgiving Wednesday through Friday morning. We'll also celebrate my BIRTHDAY on turkey day (fitting), as well as Matt's Mom's and Sister's who had birthdays Saturday and Sunday. My mom's BD was last Tuesday. We like to clump them together. Excited to see Matt's Uncle Bob and Aunt Kris whom our kids have never met, as well as Uncle Dave, Grandma Katie and Pa Pa Svale, friend Julie, Matt's sister Rena & family, and who knows who else.... Glad I'm not hosting! Matt's mom is really good at that kind of stuff.

We'll go to my mom's place for Thanksgiving on Friday and Saturday. I get to help Mom start to decorate her huge house for Christmas. We won't get done, but we'll get it all out, and get started. She'll putter the rest of it up after we leave. Jim was in the emergency room last weekend with what turned out to be a vacuum-related injury, and thus is not allowed to vacuum anymore. You know what that means... the carpets are going to get pretty dirty.

I am stunned that Maia is sleeping past 9am. Which is why I've been able to get so much written. Mondays are my day off, kind of. Until about 3:00. So I have a lot of housekeeping to catch up on. Too bad I don't have a vacuum-related injury.

Blog Name Change

It looks like I'm going to have to change the name of my blog. I'm no longer considering myself quasi-unemployed. Funny, because last week I was asked the question, "Do you work outside the home?" I thought about it and realized that I'm a stay-at-home mom who works outside the home (USF), inside the home (voice and piano lessons) and in other people's homes (Premier Designs). If anything I'm over-employed!

Pastor Shel from Mercy Church called Matt on Wednesday and offered us the job. Matt tried to say yes right away, but Shel encouraged him to pray about it. Interestingly enough, I started to have some doubts. Everything looks right on the outside, but my spirit wasn't resonating with a resounding "yes." As a matter of fact, I started to doubt what I'd heard from God on Sunday morning, while we were worshiping. I was deeply immersed in the presence of God and cried out in my spirit, "Please don't take this away from me!" I felt like I heard God say, "See? I had something better for you." Which, as my friend Melissa Kessler said, "That's so like Him."

But then yesterday as I was praying and journaling, I started to wonder if he was saying, "Wait, I have something better for you." Which is something else entirely.

At the risk of sounding like a schitzophrenic, I try to listen to this voice and obey it when I hear it. So I voiced my concerns to Matt, who was sensing some kind of questioning too. We decided to take the day yesterday and pray about it individually, then pray together last night.

So yesterday evening, after Matt got home from work, and I got done with a very busy day helping out at Xander's school, teaching lessons at home and praying with a Mom's prayer group (Moms In Touch International), we started to talk about what we were wrestling with.

Matt said that he'd gone back to his notes from Shel's sermon on Sunday, about decision-making as a Christian. It was a very timely message with some really solid Biblical advice. The key point that I had already forgotten (my memory's like Swiss cheese) was not to pray for a roadmap, but pray for wisdom. That's a Biblical way to pray for guidance.

So Matt & I prayed together and it was a really wonderful prayer time. (We should do that more often). We both shared what God said to us during that time, and while neither of us heard "take the job" or anything like that, we both came to the same conclusion that we are supposed to take it.

So the job. It's a quarter-time position which we'll share. All this angst over that? Anyone who knows us, however, knows that we'll pour all of ourselves into this job, no matter what the salary or time commitment is. We're now trying to figure out how Matt's current job (fixing bikes) will work around his chosen vocation (worship leading).

Matt was commenting yesterday how cool it is, that he's a worship leader who fixes bikes and teaches a little trumpet. All the things he's passionate about. God is so good!

I guess I'm now a child of God, a wife, a mother, a worship leader and a voice teacher who sometimes sells jewelry. Life is good. I think my new blog name will simply be "Blessed." But I'll take more creative suggestions if you have them!

Artisans Road Trip

We had a fun weekend with Matt's family, as we headed to the Morrison farm south of Hartley, IA, to try to be a help for them while they were a stopping point on the Artisans' Road Trip. It was a lot of fun to be together with Matt's sister's family, as Lexi and Xander are practically inseperable, and Cassie loves to babysit Maia.

Here's some pictures of the farm and the fun we had:
The kitchen entrance to the house. There is a beautiful rose garden just to the left of this picture, and beautiful flowers and stepping stones all around. The red screen door is a new addition this fall.
The barn quilt. I guess this is a common thing in some parts of Iowa. They painted a piece of solid PVC with this star quilt pattern, and call it the barn quilt. As far as I know, that's all they use their barn for...

The chicken coop, now the cat house. Our cats, Maja and Morpheus, live here year 'round. They pretty much just lay around and look out the window all day long, climb in a little hay fort that Bruce made for them when it gets cold. Not too much different from when they lived in our house, but I think the chicken coop smells less like cat urine. Must be the good ventilation!

Here's Cassie with her cracked pot. She found a pottery shard in the ground out by the storm cellar, and now she thinks she's quite the archeologist. Cassie is Matt's sister, Rena's daughter. She is 13 years old this month!

Maia, what a little cheeser. You can see that her plate is full of food. Not even Grandma Georgie's cooking is good enough for her...

This is the "Crib Gallery." Bruce & George have made their old corn crib into an art gallery. Bet that doesn't happen very often! You can see that they installed some overhead lighting, and used old farm implements and stuff to dress it up a bit. It was just out of the wind that day, so it was a relatively comfortable place to view Bruce's work. You can see his actual artwork on his website.
Here's Matt holding Mud, the farm cat. She eats gophers and rabbits, but she gets in big trouble if she eats birds. They're cared for well at the Morrison farm.
Rena got to play the role of cashier all day, she would debate whether it was a warm, cozy place to be. Even the space heater at her feet didn't keep the chill away. She had her share of hot apple cider from the goody table!

Some of the bountiful harvest of gourds and pumpkins from this year's crop. If you look closely, you can see that George has made a cornucopia in the middle covered in prarie sage and wildflowers. We got to take a lot of gourds home for decorating. Pretty!
Xander came home from school on Friday with pinkeye, but we didn't let that stop us from infecting the rest of the family. I haven't heard about Rena's family, but Bruce and George were both sick on Tuesday after we left (the same day Matt got sick here). We like to share.

This is the outside and inside of the Potting Shed, or as Lexi calls it, The Pooh House. Outside, the siding is pressed tin, and inside is a cozy work shelf and seating area with handmade birch furniture from Lake Superior's north shore.
No Grandpa & Grandma's farm is complete without a tire swing. Cassie LOVES to swing, whether it's here or on the bench swing in the lean-to, which functions as a car port.



Another fun part of the weekend, was that we got to help lead worship at my friend, Amy Lu's church. Amy Lu (Verdoorn) Scheaffer has been a good friend of mine since I moved to Sheldon in the second grade. We used to sing together all the time in high school, we were a part of an All-State girls' quartet and and All-State girls' sextet (we always called it a "six-tet." Sounded more proper to us!). We were in tons of musicals together, in which Amy Lu was always the sweetheart and I was always the dingbat. It fit us well!

Anyway, Amy and her husband, Abe, live on a farm outside of Sheldon, and are a part of a Evangelical Free Church plant that has been in existance for a couple of years. They are meeting in the cafeteria of one of the buidlings owned by Village Northwest Unlimited, Sheldon's huge facility for care, education, rehab, etc. of handicapped individuals. I was surprised at how much physical manifestation the spiritual battle took on as we approached the weekend. I lost my voice completely the Sunday and Monday before we left, and had a terrible headache that only lasted through the rehearsal on Saturday... hmmmm... Weird.

Matt & I stole away from the art show on Saturday morning for a while, and went and rehearsed with their band. We had the challenge of working with a 7th-grade drummer on an electronic drum set. And we did a song in 3/4, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge for him, but he really did a great job, and was very consistent.

We had a great time leading their church in worship, and enjoyed singing with Amy Lu again for the first time in over 15 years!

Goofy Maia

Here's Maia pretending to be asleep after eating raspberries from Grandma Georgie's.















This is what she looked like coming out of the bedroom one morning last week. Pretty cool cat.

Ahoy Matey!

Xander attended his second class birthday party of the year for Cole. His family is supposed to be our mentor family at ACE. We haven't really gotten to know each other all that well yet, though.

The theme was a pirate party, and the kids were encouraged to dress as pirates, so I got Xander all dressed up- 'cause dressing up is a favorite thing of mine. Then Maia didn't want to miss out on all the fun, so she got to be a girl pirate. Xander let me put the shirt and vest, bandana, hook and eye patch on him, but he drew the line at jewelry... sigh. I guess that's OK.

I took him over to the park (just blocks from our house) and started to get a little nervous because none of the other kids that were there had costumes on... including the birthday boy! But it didn't take long for the pirates to start invading.

Tommy

Xander & Jaxon

And the kids that didn't come with costumes got some representative pieces like clip-on gold earrings (see, jewelry IS a part of a pirate costume!), and eye patches.
















Leo

Brody

Somehow, some kids got ahold of swords, so we got to have some epic sword-fighting going on.




































It was a drop-off party, but they played with water balloons, bobbed for apples, did a treasure (scavenger) hunt and knocked down a pinata. Maia & I went home, she took a nap and I cleaned the house because we had company come over after supper. When we went back, they were just finishing presents and cake & ice cream.



















Mason
































Cole (birthday boy)

By the time Maia had taken her nap, she was no longer in the mood to be a pirate, so we got her in the stroller and walked back to pick up Xander, play on the slides and stuff, then come home. A fun time was had by all, matey!

Day off...

Ah! I have a day off today. It was a little unexpected. I kind of scheduled Fridays to be my day off, though I wound up at Xander's school last Friday because I switched commitment times with another parent.

I have a few things to do, make some phone calls, get the brakes on the car looked at, etc. But otherwise, I don't have a whole lot on the schedule. Plus I can't find the cell phone, so it's kind of hard to make the phone calls I need to make. So I'm finally catching up on my blogging.

I'll attend my first USF departmental this afternoon, though I'll have to take the kids. I don't have any students singing on this one, so it will be a good chance for me to just observe and learn the proper protocol. A departmental is a department-wide recital for students taking any kind of private lessons. They usually are treated formally, the students have to dress up, have an accompanist, perform from memory (piano and voice only, I don't know why instrumentalists rarely have to memorize, but they don't) take a bow, etc. The students have to do one per semester, so the departmentals in the first few weeks are usually pretty slim in numbers, because nobody's ready to perform yet.

I only have 2 lessons today, but they're not until this evening.

Matt's out for a bike ride, he's worried about getting more than 75 miles in this month, and the weather last week was so rainy and cold, he didn't get out at all. Today is beautiful, however, and we're supposed to get into the 60's, so he'll take that opportunity to get out.

Maia's already watched 2 movies, and I'm still not completely done with getting myself ready for the day (haven't dried my hair or put on any makeup), so I suppose I need to get moving.

Preacher Matt

Matt got another chance to preach at the Church of the Brethren in Sheldon yesterday. He did a great job, and it's always fun to go back there and see several people that were a part of my formative years (this is the church that my family and I attended while I was in middle school through high school).

Matt spoke on the Yoke of Jesus, and relied heavily on Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis. It was well done, and he even stirred up some conversation afterward. I did the music, of course, and because it's a very traditional church, and due to the topic being discussed, I decided to sing, "He Shall Feed His Flock" from Handel's Messiah (later text includes, "Take His yoke upon you and learn of Him..."). Then, because I was on a classical vein anyway, I decided to do a Chopin piece for a prelude. Got to flex a few muscles that I don't usually use.

In other ministry news, Matt emailed the pastor of the church here in Sioux Falls that we're still in contact with about a possible worship leader job. The process is going very slowly (he applied in June). They've been very busy the last 2 months with their one-year anniversary, and will try to get us in to lead worship sometime soon (kind of an interview). I'd like to know what kind of timeline we're looking at here, because New Hope Family, where we currently attend would like me to do a children's Christmas program again, (and if I don't do it, no one else will), but I don't want to commit myself to something I'm not going to be able to follow through with.

I've also been asked by one of my new USF students about possibly putting together a worship set for her home church in Lester, IA (I'd guess the population of Lester to be around 200). I stressed how important it is to me to be committed to my home church (always an important thing for me with college students), and that I'm going to have to be gone at least 2 times in the next 2 months (last week, and the weekend of the ART) already, so it might have to be after Christmas...

The weekend of the ART (see previous post), we are going to have a chance to lead worship with my best friend from high school, Amy Lu (I was Amy Sue... we did everything together). She lives in Sheldon, and she and her husband, Abe are heavily involved in a new Evangelical Free church there. It's as fraught with difficulties as any church, and we're excited to be able to jump in and add to the complexity! At least for one weekend. More than anything, I'm excited to sing with Amy Lu again. We haven't had a chance to do that since high school --- quite a few years ago. I'm so glad we're still friends!

Raspberry Haven

We got to spend the weekend at Gramma Georgie's and Grandpa Bruce's in Iowa. Maia discovered her love of raspberries. Bruce & George have (estimation here) probably 3 rows, 2-sided, about 20 feet long of prolific raspberry bushes. They have been eating raspberries breakfast, lunch and dinner (and desserts, don't forget those!) for several weeks now. George sent us home with 18 cups of frozen berries, 2 jars of jam, a bottle of raspberry syrup and a bottle of raspberry vinegar (plus a jar of dill pickles and a bucket of tomatoes). So I guess it's my chance to get creative with raspberry food preparation. Just this morning, I added a little raspberry syrup to my cup of coffee... not bad!

Maia loved to follow grandma and eat the berries right off the bush as fast as she could pick them. George said that Maia should just stay and follow her around while she picks berries, then she wouldn't have to try and figure out what to do with them all!

Bruce & George are preparing for the Artisan's Road Trip coming up in 3 weeks. Their corn crib becomes an art gallery, showcasing Bruce's photographs, drawings, painting and silkscreens, as well as George's beautiful decorations, most of which have been grown on their farm: dried flowers, gourds, pumpkins, pinecones, etc. Fall is a beautiful time for this event, and if you live anywhere near NW Iowa, you should check it out.

Maja & Morpheus, our cats who live on the Morrison farm, will get a front row seat to all the activity. They reside in the chicken coop and spend most of their days looking out the window at anything that happens. We got to visit our kitties, which was very exciting to Maia. "Oh kitties!!! Hi kitties!!!" They have a pretty comfortable set-up there, though Morpheus has made several escape attempts over the last few weeks... I suppose I'd be a little stir crazy after having to stay inside the barn for a year and a half too...

Xander got to play baseball, his favorite activity at Grandma Georgie's. He also got to demonstrate his fierce temper, which is starting to assert itself. That's so fun. He says things like, "this is the worst day of my LIFE!!!!!" when you won't let him run in church. Or, "I'm going to pretend you're not my mom for 1 hour." Whatever. You can pretend, but I got news for ya'...

We've discovered a direct correlation between the amount of sleep he gets and how crabby he is. Other contributing factors may include: feeling gross from having a cold this week, more aggressive friends rubbing off on his behavior, and the ever-dreaded... Hormones! Xander has already started getting zits on his face! NO!!! It's too soon for that! He's got a big bump in the middle of his forehead, but we determined it's probably a bug bite from all the time outside in the yard yesterday (we don't do that very often...). Unfortunately, Thursday is picture day at school, so I hope it's gone down by then.

Beth Moore in Sioux Falls

OK. so how cool is this? Beth Moore! Only the best Bible teacher in women's ministry of our time and she was right here in Sioux Falls!

My mom and I went together, along with a group of about 8 women from my church (though others went who did not sit with our group). Several women from Mom's church in Yankton were there too. We saw a surprising number of women from Sheldon, including Katie Shelp, which was a fun -very brief- reunion. (Katie is the mom of my brother's best friend, John. And she was my high school Spanish teacher). The venue was sold out at 6,500 seats.

This was really fun. Of course, there was phenomenal teaching, but I also love the element that is added to corporate worship when everyone there really WANTS to be there. Travis Cottrell and his worship team did a great job of ushering us into the presence of the Lord and opening our hearts to His word.

Beth's topic this weekend was "Come to the Table" and there was a beautiful table set on the stage, which was used as a visual. One of the local stories that she told was that whenever she arrives at a location for one of these things, she's always starving when she gets off the plane. She asked her staff where they were going to go eat when she got to Sioux Falls, and they informed her that one restaurant had an invitation to her in their front window. Apparently a manager or owner of Casa del Rey put up a huge sign in their front window that said, "WELCOME BETH MOORE" so she went there. She's a huge fan of Mexican food anyway, and she said she had the best enchiladas ever, right here in South Dakota of all places! But the cool tie-in was that she was talking about "Come to the Table" of the Lord. She was invited (that's never happened to her before, by the way) to dine at a table in the Casa del Rey which translates to "House of the King." Pretty cool.

We had so much fun, and got some great solid Biblical teaching, and I understand that Living Proof Live is never the same twice. I highly recommend the weekend if it comes anywhere near you. The ticket price is totally worth it. Guys, it's not an exclusive club, but she really does talk to women, so it's really girly. 2 or 3 men were among the 6,500 this weekend.

Double Gap

Xander lost his other front tooth today. It's a good thing, because Matt was threatening all kinds of creative ways to pull it out. It had migrated to the center of his top row of teeth, where it hung kind of crooked. Very hillbilly. We all agreed that it was disgusting.

Hopefully, the tooth fairy will have an easier time finding his tooth pillow in his bunk bed this time. Maybe we'll leave it on his dresser for her.

The rest of the family is good. Here's Maia, not to be outdone by her brother... (although he tried, as you can see)














I colored my hair on Friday, and fried it! I double-processed it, highlighting light colored streaks in it, then dying the whole thing "Hibiscus." I was going for the streaky purply look (which you can't see here), but the texture of my hair is going to take some serious TLC. I've got it really smooth today with lots of conditioning agents in it, so it looks healthier than it is.

Matt is thrilled that the NFL season opened today, and he's making disparaging remarks at the TV like, "I hope Brett Favre goes 0-16!" He was highly disappointed in the Broncos this afternoon, but we got to hang out at church after services and watch the game on the big screen with carry-in food. So there were some bright spots in his day. Here's his position: (he's talking to his folks here)

Aunt Rene'

Our Labor Day weekend took an unexpected turn on when my Aunt Rene' was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night and passed away on Friday evening.

Rene' was my mom's youngest sister and had Down's Syndrome. She was 47 years old. Today was her funeral and it was an honor to be able to play and sing for it. We had a nice celebration of her personality and Jesus was very much the center of the activities. I was so proud of my mom, she gave a beautiful eulogy, outlining things we learned from Rene'. She talked about how we often saw how different Rene' was from the rest of us, but that she really was no different from us, she just didn't hide her feelings. She was always very exuberant, was never afraid to show her love for anyone. She loved music and loved to sing really loud and out of tune, and she loved to dance. When she was angry, everyone knew it. Her temper actually got her kicked out of more than one care facility! But she was not that much different from you and me.

Rene's death was actually a very peaceful event, and I was privileged to be there along with my mom, step-dad, my grandma, another aunt and uncle, two cousins, and my kids. She went into the hospital on Wednesday evening after an night of Keno at her care facility in Yankton, she got agitated, and started having trouble breathing, so they took her to the hospital (the same hospital where my mom works). She had congestive heart failure, double pneumonia, and sepsis, and after 24 hours of antibiotics and no change, it became evident that it was time to call the family in.

She communicated with mom early on Friday morning ("I can't breathe with this thing on!"), then spent the rest of the day asleep. Her oxygen levels were extremely low, even after putting her on 100% oxygen, though we discovered that once we started playing music, her levels got markedly better. Leigh Anne (grandma- Rene's step-mother) got there mid-morning, I got there with Xander & Maia by about 2:30, Aunt Jeanne (another of my mom's sisters) and Uncle John arrived around 5:30, followed shortly after by their daughters, Laurie & Leslie. They'd all been planning to spend the weekend together in the Twin Cities, where the girls live, but changed their plans and headed back to SD.

Once everyone was there, we had Mom's pastoral care pastor come in and read a Psalm with us, we prayed together, then mom took the oxygen off. She said later that she's never had such a strong sense of someone flying right into the arms of Jesus. It was like releasing a bird from a cage. The nurses came in and shut off all the monitors, while Leigh Anne climbed into bed with Rene' and held her tight and whispered in her ear, and Mom and Jeanne held her hand and stroked her hair and she was gone within a couple of minutes. I held Xander and explained what was going on to him and he was curious about what it would be like. After she died, we sang "Jesus Loves Me" and left.

My Aunt Sandi & Uncle Dick drove in from Virginia. They couldn't get a flight out because of the mess that Hurricane Whatever was leaving on the East coast. Ironically, my Uncle Tom, Aunt Shirley and cousin, Jocelyn were able to fly out of Florida just fine. So we've got family here for a few days, I guess Sandi & Dick are going to stick around until next weekend, but Tom & gang are flying home tomorrow morning.

I was so blessed to watch my mom in action and hear others' comments about her. She was really the reason that Jesus was at the center of not only the funeral, but Rene's actual death too. As an added benefit to her spiritual growth, my dad and step-mom were able to attend the funeral and Dad was even a pall-bearer, which Rene' would have liked (no, EXPECTED! As Leigh Anne put it).

I played the prelude, hymns and special music for the service. I made my brother, Casey sing Chris Rice's "Untitled Hymn" because it just fit the situation so perfectly. And also it's one of those songs that I can't sing without sobbing through. He did a great job. I sang "I Can Only Imagine." My mom requested that one, and it was also fitting. Rene's preference would have probably been country music, but I draw the line there, so she got what we preferred instead! We did finish the service with "I'll Fly Away" and "Do Lord" as they were favorites of hers.

In all, it was an emotionally exhausting weekend. I didn't expect this death to hit me as hard as it did, but I kept crying because I was so blessed by it. I really believe that Jesus takes care of his little ones. Even if they weigh over 300 lbs!