Finally some Pics!

Thing One whispered in my ear the other day, "I've found the woman I'm going to marry when I grow up." It was too cute! He is smitten with our neighbor that I'm sure he is responsible for waking up more than once already this summer pounding through the house above her. She is 7 mos, big blue eyes and all around adorable. I'd be pleased to have her as my DIL some day! T1 has already brought her gifts of leaves, sticks and maybe a flower?

Girl's night out - this was the only man allowed to be with us!


They have the same name, same shirt and almost the same glasses - weird! I was a little offended that hubby didn't go change his shirt, he always does whenever we are accidentally matchy! What's up with that?!

Random "bubbler" (we are in WI now!) in the woods near our house.

Our awesome student team leaders and staff gather for training in our house last week. Notice the awesome retro-furniture, we are so hip!


Our front door.

Steps leading down to deck and lower apartment where our future DIL lives.

Reaching the World from the Dells

A single unplugged guitar and amped keyboard led about fifty of us in worship at our the first ever Nav Nite of the Wisconsin Dells. A small and humble beginning for what we hope to be a foundational summer for the lives of the students here and generations to come. Mike, a lifetime Dells native and father of a current Navigator student, shared about his experiences in helping make this STP possible. He put his reputation on the line networking with employers lining up jobs and housing for our students. Listening to him share reminded me of the privilege we have in being a part of something new and foundational. He shared this verse, "because a great door for effective work has opened to me,"(1 Corinthians 16:9a),
explaining that it described what God was doing in brining all of us here to impact the Dells, a historically very secular region. With about 5000 residents, an almost equal number of internationals in the summers and about 2 million tourists, the possibilities to reach many regions of this country and world with the Good News are breathtaking. Amazing that they are all living and coming here – all we need to do is be ready and willing to share!

 

Of course our ability to do anything rests solely on our willingness to Abide in Christ, and that is what hubby encouraged us to do in his message last night. He reminded us that abiding is surrendering our heart, mind and will to God continually. If we just simply go through the motions but don't engage God with our hearts, we are in danger of being destroyed. To illustrate he shared about some homes that were needlessly destroyed in a tornado; the homes hadn't been properly built. The builders were just going through the motions using staples instead of nails, rendering the buildings useless. Secondly, if we just simply take in the Word but don't let us change our thinking we are more like a pipe with water flowing through us rather than like the tree described in Psalm 1, that yields fruit and does not wither. We have to engage His Word with our minds or we will just end up being a rusty pipe instead of a flourishing tree. Lastly, we must be willing to let God prune us, surrendering our will to Him. Only as we fully abide in Him will we grow and be allowed to bear fruit. Truly, the harvest here is plentiful; please pray for us that we will be ready, abiding and willing to be reapers this summer.

 

The Dirtier the Happier - that is the way with boys.

Today we ventured out to Holiday Shores, the 150+ acre campground that 10 of our students will be working at for the summer. We were all delighted to sample their still warm famous homemade doughnuts and fresh coffee. The boys and I headed outside once the job training started since our presence would only be good training for the one lucky guy or gal who will be hired as the campground babysitter. I plan on spending lots of time with her (if it is a her) and the owner's grand kids that I'm told will be chauffeured around in a golf cart all summer from playground to playground around the camp. The 4-year-old grandson that we were hoping to meet wasn't there today but we still stayed all morning to wade in the water, slide down the big sand pile and play on the playground. The boys were filthy and happy and I was grateful to be outside after it rained all day yesterday. The property is beautiful, full of mature trees providing plenty of shady spots leading up to the boat docks. As we played near the water T1 said, "The tights are coming in! The water is getting wild." :) Well T3 is awake and the other two bickering...time for baths!

My Not-So-Exciting Day in One Sentence AND Ministry from My Couch

This morning I made my bed, assembled the new vacuum our landlord dropped off, picked up all the boys clothes off the floor and put them away in the dresser in the living room (their room is only big enough for bunk beds/ aka jungle gym), remade my bed (three Things happened to it), surprisingly kept my cool at Walmart and Home Depot with the boys, handled out Skittles before heading back to the van (they were mostly good and I use bribery to my advantage whenever possible), ran up and down the 110 steps 5 times BY MYSELF (I was needing some serious "I" time after shopping with 3 boys and a frustrating encounter with our plumber), walked up the road to get our mail that still has not arrived, drove 3 boys home after dinner out at Culvers with Dad and the team leaders we get to disciple (good thing I ran those stairs!), got every one's teeth brushed, diapers changed, pajamas on, then diapered again (why does he always wait to poop in a clean one?), read stories and Bible and then kissed three little heads goodnight which I knew by their not very sleepy eyes I would be seeing them again shortly for this and that.

After all this it was right around 7ish which is when I knew that our team was going out to do evangelism. I called hubby to see if another woman was needed and he wanted to switch out. They were already all en-route and had even numbers without me. A few years ago it would have been a lot harder to be home and not out "doing ministry." But now-a-days some nights I'm just too tired to mind. Tonight I could have rallied and gone, but I wasn't needed with the team. But I was needed at home. And as I snuggled up next to my boys and read them their Bible story I knew I was still "doing ministry." It wasn't on the street talking with strangers it was from my couch with three very familiar faces. And I'm okay with that. And I'm okay with my not so exciting day. I'm learning with motherhood that sometimes ministry looks like that.

110 Steps

Today we walked down the 110 steps to throw rocks into the river again. If the Things have their way this will become part of our daily routine. Wake up way too early (Things), drink lots of coffee (mommy), eat breakfast(mommy and Things) , walk down to the river (Mommy and Things) and back up again (Mommy carrying Things).

Of course the boys were picking up logs their full body length and seeing who could make the biggest splash - why is it everything is a competition with brothers? It is fun having new nature landscapes for the boys to be boys in. Last night as we enjoyed a bbq with our staff team at a local home the boys climbed higher than I thought was reasonable again and again in a real live tree (which isn't a feature of our home on the prairie).

Today we ventured to the library which looked to be brand new. They were having a kids activity which my one and only friend in town (OAOFIT) mentioned to me on the phone. We don't have any mail yet so we couldn't get a library card - but my OAOFIT was kind enough to call the library and ask them to let us use her card. The boys enjoyed the crafts, Thing 3 enjoyed the mints and pretzels and lemonade and I enjoyed the adult conversation with all the retired senior ladies who were running the event.

Four times in the last couple days the Lord has protected us from near disaster. Twice when Thing 3 got ahead of me and out those pesky automatic doors (they should have a minimum height limit for opening and closing if you ask me). The first time was at Wal Mart when with a fully loaded cart I had to let him walk to have room for them all, I was leaving the store and a water jug fell out of the bottom - T3 took that opportunity to run ahead and luckily the greeter employee was there to usher him back into the store or he would have run right into the parking lot. I'm considering getting a leash for him...any votes on a color? Yesterday T2 came in with a wooden board attached to his flip flop by a two inch nail. The nail had gone clear through of course and was just milimeters above his toes. Yikes! Thankfully he was not hurt. I'm currently trying to recall when his last tetnus shot was just in case this happens again.

We are having a few plumbing issues in our new cottage in the woods but the bright side is that all I have to do is call someone and they come and attempt to fix it. Hubby doesn't have to take time out of his busy schedule to do all the maitenance, a nice change of pace for him. Right now one out of the three issues is resolved and we might have to go without a kitchen sink (but hopefully not the one and only toilet) for the weekend!

Our New Pad

I took some pictures of our house to post but have no idea how to do that with our borrowed computer...sorry! I hope to get internet on my laptop eventually and will get them up soon. In the meantime I'll describe it to you -
It is white with blue trim, a stone chimney on the side, outdoor deck and steps that lead down to a second level apartment that our friends are living in. Unfortunately for them they live below three loud boys for the summer - I apologize now to their adorable six month old daughter who might be an only child as a result of their living situation this summer. I'm doing my best to keep the boys from jumping off the beds before 7am but I'm not always successful.
Our house is surrounded by trees and on the edge of a ravine with LOTS of steps down to a river (which I consider my free stair-master). So far the boys have been pretty good about staying within the boundaries we give them and are enamored enough with living in a forest. I try not to be too grossed out when the climb under the porch to retrieve a lost ball and have faithfully placed all soil ridden wildflowers picked for me into a vase on our wobbly drop-leaf kitchen table.
We have already explored one park in the area and inspected the Culvers - the frozen custard is defiantly up to par. Later we hope to take a hike and are anxiously awaiting the opening of the pool down the road - May 27th can't come fast enough for three little boys even though we have yet to get above 75 degree weather.
That's all for now as thing 1 just disconnected the dvd player (aka my only sanity) and now I must figure out how to get it functioning again -( add electrical engineering training to the required reading for a mom!).

Little House in the Big Woods

Well our van is packed and we are ready to head out on another adventure! Thanks to many helping hands we even have a clean house for our houseguest to live in this summer! In case you didn't know, we are heading to the Dells for the summer. If you want to know more about what we are doing, check out this link.
We are very excited to live in our little house in the woods for a summer, even though we will miss our house on the prairie! (Yes, I did always want to be Laura Ingles growing up). Having already experienced two summer long programs I know that there are many surprises and blessings in store. I'm especially excited about the opportunities to reach the nations and pour into the lives of the women around me (that is, between t-ball and swim lessons!). If you find yourself with the urge to hit the water-slides give us a call!

Exchanging High-heels for House-slippers

The morning of his seventh birthday I woke him up for school. As he stretched and raised his eyebrows, eyelids still shut, I could see the same face he used to make all the time as a tiny baby. Was it really seven years ago that I welcomed that cuddly swaddled bundle into my arms, full of dark hair and the cutest little dimple on his tiny right cheek? Was it really only seven years ago that I became a mom, because with three boys in seven years, my life has changed so dramatically it seems like way too much to have crammed into seven short years?

Eight years ago I remember sitting across the table from my husband in a nice restaurant discussing whether we were "ready" to start this journey called parenthood. (By the way we were soooo oblivious then to what a treat it was to go out to eat sans sippy cups, dropped crayons and impatient toddlers!) I had been convinced for about two years that I was ready to start parenting – but my hubby not so much. So that night when I expected him to say, "we just can't afford it yet" or "I'm not ready" instead he surprised me by saying, "I'm ready, but it is going to change your life much more than mine, are you sure you are ready?" This gave me pause for a few days, but in the end couldn't suppress that internal clock that was tick-tick-ticking! Today I realize that he was spot on – though I knew it only vaguely then, I could never have imagined how much my life would change with the new title of "mom."

For the first few years I wrestled with the change, loving it at times, struggling with it at others. In just a few years I had gone from a single woman in full-time ministry, to married and part time in ministry, and then – poof, a mommy not knowing what my ministry involvement should look like at all! Some days I loved the freedom of my schedule and being there to meet all my baby's needs. Other days I jealously guarded any "me-time" I could etch out and discontentedly compared my upside down schedule with my husband's who still seemed free to live life as usual. As I've grown into mommy-hood while my sons have grown before my eyes, I've learned to not fight against the changes, but embrace them as part of God's plans for me. I couldn't have put it in so many words at the time, but looking back this is definitely where I've come from.

Ruth Barton encourages me with her words about living within our limits in her book, "Strengthening the Soul of your Leadership." She says, "Living within limits is not in any way an acquiescence that is despairing, passive or fatalistic. Rather it honors the deepest realities of the life God has given us….Life in my family at its age and stage."(p.112,113). It has taken me seven years to slowly settle into this place. Ruth helps me see that my withdrawal from before-mommy-hood activities (like a regular eight hours of sleep) less like a regression in my identity and more like a progression.

The limits that mothering puts on my other activities, like our campus ministry and my writing, don't have to be negative or constricting as feminism would have me believe. Instead if I view them as Ruth does, and honor them as God given, I find myself embracing rather than comparing, enjoying rather than begrudging, and flexing rather than screaming at yet another roadblock in my day. I still have my days of frustration, but instead of begrudging my children of this time, or my husband of his, I'm trying to welcome these changes and take what lessons I can from them.

Feminism tells me to fight against this change, that I will surely lose my identity in exchanging my heels for house slippers. Yet I find that my identity is far from lost, if anything mother-hood is helping my uncover layers of my personality I was never required to draw upon before. My skill-set is only improving with each passing year of multi-tasking (reading to my four-year-old while tickling my two-year-old), budgeting (how many groceries can I get for the best price?), flexing (with the 2-yr-old tide), constant decision making (yes, you can flood the sandbox, no you can't put legos down the vent), (toy) negotiating and planning for the unexpected (poopy diaper)!

After seven years and several pairs of slippers I can say that my heels will always be there when I'm ready to put them back on but my children will not. This is my one chance to imprint on them all that they will need to succeed in this world and I'm happy to take on the job. It may be full-time now, but as I now know, six years can fly by in a blur and before I know it my "baby" is gone all day long. I'm no longer the one putting band-aids on his cuts and teaching him to share, sit still and follow directions. Other adults are pouring their time and energy into the bulk of his day and I'm left holding my breath and praying he has good experiences with them. He needs to learn to do this, to be on his own, this is what I tell myself as my heart constricts with each cutting of the apron strings. I'm sure he has no idea he carries part of my heart with him as he hops out of the van, with his bigger-than-him backpack bouncing along behind as he races up to play before the bell rings. I wouldn't exchange all that time with him for any amount of investment I could have made in others, or articles and novels written. Those will come in due season – for now I'm living within the "age and stage" of my family and loving it (most days); and my house-slippers are way more comfortable than my heels ever were!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day

My all time favorite mother's day video. Enjoy!

150 Cupcakes, Navigator-Jackrabbitus, and a crash course of Dave Ramsey!

Last weekend we had our second annual End-of-the-year-"picnic" (which in SD must be held indoors of course)/ Parent's Dinner. This year over 150 students and parents attended and a great time was had by all (myself included as a babysitter was on hand!). :)

Okay I know the pic isn't the best but our student emcees were! They were dressed in "crocodile hunter" garb and led us on an evening of observing the "Navigatus Jackrabbitus" and all their quirky eating and studying habits.



A couple crazy girls wanted to make all 150ish cupcakes for the event - they were delicious and all filled with yummy fillings! Amazing! Thanks again, Kirstin!


Group photo of students who attended.


We also had our some-what annual senior dinner at our place not to long ago. This year it was a whole flock of women and just a few guys graduating. They came out for dinner and training in helpful topics for transitioning into the "real world" (i.e. How to find a church and plug in, How to make a budget, How to reach out to co-workers...to name a few). We will miss each one and appreciated all they brought to the ministry!


And our last leadership team meeting for quite awhile!

Just for Laughs

Not long ago hubby was getting on a "tea cup" ride with Thing 2 and teasingly told him that he sometimes throws up on these rides. T2 immediately slid into his seat and folded his hands in prayer. When hubby asked what he was doing he replied, "I'm praying that you don't throw up!"