We had a wonderful time in South Bend. God is so good. I was able to "by chance" attend a few things. Friday afternoon and evening we were at my aunt's house. The kids had a great time swimming with their cousins. Some of my mom's cousins were in town, so this was a nice treat. My cousin Moriah (Mary Ann to many of us) is moving tomorrow to Colorado, so it was great to be able to see them before they move. They will be about an hour from my brother, so that makes it possible to see them. I'm trying to talk everyone into Christmas in Iowa since I am in the middle, but no one seemed to be very excited about it. I can probably guarantee a white Christmas.
Saturday evening we were able to go to a Sunday School party with my former ABF at Calvary. Their kids are my kid's friends, so it was a real treat. Sunday I joined my friends in singing worship and specials.
I am glad to be back. This is home. I had a great time with my family and friends, but I missed Dan. We're getting back into the swing of things. School starts before too long, and we have to decide what we are going to do with our kids for school this year.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
South Bend Bound
Tuesday morning the kids and I headed back to South Bend to stay with my parents for a week. It seems as if we jump in or dive in right away. Wednesday we went to Shippshewana for the day to go to the flea market. We ended with up with a beautiful day. We ended up at the mall. We do not have a large amount of shopping in Clear Lake, so we had decided to do some clearance shopping while we had a choice of a lot of stores. We were a little disappointed in the choices and fairly high prices of clearance merchandise. Kirsten did make out really well with some new tops for $2.97 each at JCPenney. What is neat is that she had wanted one of these tops before, but we held off because of the price. She got two of the ones that she had wanted before and one more that we liked too.
Wednesday evening I went to practice for Sunday. I begged for Ladies Prayz to sing while I am in town. Unfortunately two of our group won't be there, but we had fun practicing.
This morning, we went out for breakfast with my grandma and then to a local bookstore that we love. I helped my mom get some wallpaper off of the walls, and the boys got to go to friend's homes.
Tomorrow promises to be full as well. I will have to get some pics.
Wednesday evening I went to practice for Sunday. I begged for Ladies Prayz to sing while I am in town. Unfortunately two of our group won't be there, but we had fun practicing.
This morning, we went out for breakfast with my grandma and then to a local bookstore that we love. I helped my mom get some wallpaper off of the walls, and the boys got to go to friend's homes.
Tomorrow promises to be full as well. I will have to get some pics.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Visitors
Saturday Dan and Peirce went to DeMoines to the "Do the Right Thing" conference. It was put together by the Harris brothers, and from what I heard was a great time. The main thrust was to go beyond expectation; to not do just what is expected of teenagers nowdays. They hit a huge deluge on their way home, but they made it home safely with our visitors.
We fed the high school youth group from Calvary in South Bend, IN. For those of you that don't know, this was our old church, so it was a lot of fun. We had tacos and then went downtown before getting them settled at the church for the evening.
Sunday afternoon was the annual Lions Club chicken dinner. This is a huge deal in town with a few thousand attending. I think that I heard that they cooked 4500 1/2 chickens. Considering that this town has about 15000 during the summer, I thought that was pretty good. This is their only fund raiser for the year, so they make it work.
In the evening, we had another parsonage party with the 30-40 age group from church. What a great time. Well, I am going to call it a night as the kids and I are leaving in the morning for South Bend. I'll try to get some good pictures and post them.
We fed the high school youth group from Calvary in South Bend, IN. For those of you that don't know, this was our old church, so it was a lot of fun. We had tacos and then went downtown before getting them settled at the church for the evening.
Sunday afternoon was the annual Lions Club chicken dinner. This is a huge deal in town with a few thousand attending. I think that I heard that they cooked 4500 1/2 chickens. Considering that this town has about 15000 during the summer, I thought that was pretty good. This is their only fund raiser for the year, so they make it work.
In the evening, we had another parsonage party with the 30-40 age group from church. What a great time. Well, I am going to call it a night as the kids and I are leaving in the morning for South Bend. I'll try to get some good pictures and post them.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Time Flies
It seems as if some weeks just fly by. Well, most of them do, but others are gone before I know it. We had a wonderful time with John, Rhonda, Amy, and Christopher. We spent time walking around town, going to the beach, and getting ice cream at the local hot spot, The Viking. I need to get Rhonda's pictures from some of this. The day after they left, I came down with the stomach flu and spent two days in bed very sick, so today was spent catching up. Laundry, grocery shopping, laundry, picking up, laundry....Did I say laundry? Seems as if we all must wear 4 outfits a day for all the laundry that we generate. I am very thankful for my 2nd floor laundry.
On Tuesday, the kids and I will be travelling back to South Bend for a visit with family and friends. We are excited to be able to spend time with grandma and grandpa. I think that I have way too many things on my "to do" list while we are there. I'll probably be able to blog while we are there, and then we'll post pictures when we get back.
On Tuesday, the kids and I will be travelling back to South Bend for a visit with family and friends. We are excited to be able to spend time with grandma and grandpa. I think that I have way too many things on my "to do" list while we are there. I'll probably be able to blog while we are there, and then we'll post pictures when we get back.
Monday, July 14, 2008
South Dakota Trip
Last week, Mitchell, Kirsten and I made the trip to Rapid City, South Dakota to meet up with our friends that we had not seen in two years. Many of you know John and Rhonda Mullen, and of course, Amy and Chris. Kirsten and Amy have been best friends since the nursery. They were visiting John's mother in Rapid City, from their home in Oklahoma, so Kirsten went up to join them for the week. I had never seen Mount Rushmore, so Mitchell and I went along for the ride--a long 8 hour ride, but it was fun. For some reason I am having a rough time posting pictures, so the slide show will have to work for this. I'll make a slide show of our 4th of July doings. My pictures wouldn't post for that.
Well, the Mullens are here now until tomorrow morning, so I've got to get going to show them our town.
Well, the Mullens are here now until tomorrow morning, so I've got to get going to show them our town.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Carnival Time
The week of 4th of July is a big deal in Clear Lake. We kept getting told, "Wait until the 4th of July." Well they weren't kidding! There are a lot of visitors in town. People come from all over to go to the Carnival and see the parade and fireworks. I'll try to get a picture of our downtown tomorrow to post as it is hard to imagine what this little town does. The carnival is set up on the street around city park.
The kids (well, Mitchell and Kirsten; Peirce was in Salt Lake City) and I went with a few friends down to the carnival one day. I'll get some more pictures another day.
The kids (well, Mitchell and Kirsten; Peirce was in Salt Lake City) and I went with a few friends down to the carnival one day. I'll get some more pictures another day.
Fourth of July
The Fourth of July has always been a fun holiday for me. My grandma's birthday is on the 4th, so we always have had family get-togethers. Yesterday I was 480 miles away, so I was a little homesick. I called back to my aunts to talk to family and tell my grandma happy birthday, but I ended up very homesick for the first time that we moved to Iowa. Originally, we were to have friends visit, but their plans were changed. The day ended up being great though as the Fourth of July is huge in Clear Lake.
Small towns have a great way of putting on a parade. Tuesday night the grass near the street was getting saved by chairs and tarps. By Thursday night every available grassy area from the sidewalk to the street on Main Ave was taken up. We had never seen anything like this. The parade was great. There is a family from our church who live on Main Ave just a block from us who host a party during the parade every year. We had a wonderful time watching the parade, eating, and fellowshipping with a lot of people from church.
In the afternoon Kirsten and Mitchell and I went boating with another friend. The lake was a little busy, but as it is fairly large, it was fine. We went swimming for a while. What a gorgeous day! We really enjoyed this as we would have been out on the boat at Aunt Marlene's house.
The fireworks in Clear Lake are quite the occasion. People start putting chairs up down by the sea wall around 5 for the 10 o'clock show. We were able to sit with a group of people from the church. We had a lot of fun sitting down there eating and talking until it was time. They were great! Clear Lake has been a little bit more crowded this past week, but it has been a neat experience.
Small towns have a great way of putting on a parade. Tuesday night the grass near the street was getting saved by chairs and tarps. By Thursday night every available grassy area from the sidewalk to the street on Main Ave was taken up. We had never seen anything like this. The parade was great. There is a family from our church who live on Main Ave just a block from us who host a party during the parade every year. We had a wonderful time watching the parade, eating, and fellowshipping with a lot of people from church.
In the afternoon Kirsten and Mitchell and I went boating with another friend. The lake was a little busy, but as it is fairly large, it was fine. We went swimming for a while. What a gorgeous day! We really enjoyed this as we would have been out on the boat at Aunt Marlene's house.
The fireworks in Clear Lake are quite the occasion. People start putting chairs up down by the sea wall around 5 for the 10 o'clock show. We were able to sit with a group of people from the church. We had a lot of fun sitting down there eating and talking until it was time. They were great! Clear Lake has been a little bit more crowded this past week, but it has been a neat experience.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Summer continues
Does anyone else blink and miss a few days? I feel as if I am only getting four days a week right now. I know that there are seven there, but for some reason, they blend together.
On Friday, Dan and I went to Moline, IL to meet Rob and Jen again. Nathan joined up with them to head to South Bend/Edwardsburg to my aunt's house for the weekend. We went from there to pick up Kirsten and Mitchell at camp. They had a great time. There was a record number of campers last week with around 450 kids, so it was packed at the last chapel and dinner as parents came to get their kids.
Saturday was spent getting up at 4 to get Peirce to church for the youth trip to Salt Lake City. A nice new bus pulled up to get them. (They chartered one.) It made me feel great. I remembered the bus trips that I took in high school and college and the busses that we took on those. I thought that there was no chance for bus problems, but I was wrong. As they got started on Sunday morning, the bus broke down. Fortunately they were at an exit, which in Wyoming is a big deal, and they just had to wait for a replacement bus. They are now there, and hopefully Peirce is having a good time and learning a lot.
We are getting ready for the 4th here in Clear Lake. We are told that it is quite the place to be for the holiday. The carnival starts tomorrow. I will have to get some pictures to post. Seeing the downtown park taken over by carnival rides is quite a strange picture.
On Friday, Dan and I went to Moline, IL to meet Rob and Jen again. Nathan joined up with them to head to South Bend/Edwardsburg to my aunt's house for the weekend. We went from there to pick up Kirsten and Mitchell at camp. They had a great time. There was a record number of campers last week with around 450 kids, so it was packed at the last chapel and dinner as parents came to get their kids.
Saturday was spent getting up at 4 to get Peirce to church for the youth trip to Salt Lake City. A nice new bus pulled up to get them. (They chartered one.) It made me feel great. I remembered the bus trips that I took in high school and college and the busses that we took on those. I thought that there was no chance for bus problems, but I was wrong. As they got started on Sunday morning, the bus broke down. Fortunately they were at an exit, which in Wyoming is a big deal, and they just had to wait for a replacement bus. They are now there, and hopefully Peirce is having a good time and learning a lot.
We are getting ready for the 4th here in Clear Lake. We are told that it is quite the place to be for the holiday. The carnival starts tomorrow. I will have to get some pictures to post. Seeing the downtown park taken over by carnival rides is quite a strange picture.
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