A Call to Change

Life goes up and down and fast then slow. It seems just like yesterday I was in college. Brett and I have been married for 6 wonderful years. We have been called by the Lord to serve in Metropolitan Baptist Church for those 6 years. Brett and I have been praying about what the Lord would like to see us do. We have spent the last 6 months watching God open doors to a new ministry and a change in life.

What is this change you ask? Well we are selling our home, moving closer to downtown Fargo, and planting a church in the heart of town. River City Church; is going to be our focus in sharing the Gospel of Christ with the people of Fargo, living life with the people of Fargo, and building a community of people within our city that love God, serve Christ, and serve each other.

Rocky Mountain High

It was a great blessing to take a week and go on a vacation with my husband and our good friends Steve and Kami Pederson. To top it off it was with no kids...I will tell about the girl's vacation with the next blog. We took a road trip to Colorado. We first stopped off at Mt. Rushmore, but it was so foggy that morning we were unable to see anything :( We then took off for Denver and spent a day and a half in Denver exploring downtown. We then continued our journey to Colorado Springs and stopped in to see the amazing rock formations of the "Garden of the Gods". When we completed that journey we went around many windy roads and ended at our cabin 35 miles west of Colorado Springs. We stayed at a beautiful 2 bdrm 2 bthrm cabin. We spent one day just resting and relaxing. It was absolutely fabulous to not have to get up early and not have any commitments for the day

The next day we went golfing just outside of Colorado Springs. Our last day we traved up to Pikes Peak, and elevation of 14,110ft. Wow talk about altitude sickness! First we took a train up the mountain (roads were closed) it was a blizzard up on the summit and about 30 degrees. It was beautiful scenery and a great ride. We were a little bit dissapointed that we did not get to see any wild life on the ride. None the less is was a great trip.

My 1st sewing adventure

Well here is a picture of the 1st thing that I sewed for my girls, it is a nightgown for Aunika.

"I do it all by myself"

Well that says it all, I do it all by myself. My daughter Aunika seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day. My favorite thing to see from Aunika is some independence as she gets older. Aunika's independence has gone to the extreme at times and other times I don't understand why she needs help!
For example; when getting dressed in the morning there is no helping her. She loves to pick out her own clothes and put them on. I am not sure how she picks out some of the combination she does, but they sure do look funny - and cute at the same time. I use to go to shopping (before kids) and see toddlers and kids dressed in the craziest and funniest non-matching outfits. I would always tell myself and others, that my child will never be seen in public like that. Yea Right! Once they learn independence there is not reason to pick a battle of matching clothes vs. non-matching. I did draw that line once when she came to me with one dress shoe on and one water shoe on! I was not going to let her go with non-matching shoes.

So now this brings me to a time and place where she is fully capable of being independent, but chooses not to be. Aunika is potty trained, but when is comes to pulling her pants down to sit on the potty she cries for help! Now we have gone to using pants that she can pull on and off easily. I have tried time and time again and still she must have "mommy" help. I know it will take time and I am sure that she will be able to do that step all by her self.

Easter

Seasons come and go, holidays come and go, birthdays come and go, but the one thing that matters in the life is we have been redeemed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What an amazing thing. Our girls celebrated Easter with us this year, and one thing I always want to remember is to tell them what Christ has done for us. Not to just tell them what Christ has done when "Easter" comes but to tell them all the time. As a parent Christ has put it in our hands to bring up our children knowing who He is not just when it is Easter!

Terror-ific Twos

Our daughter Aunika turned two and I think that the mood swings began shortly after. One minute she is the sweetest and cutest girl, the next she is snooty and crying and throwing a tantrum. It reminds me of a light switch. You are not sure what turns it on or off but it randomly goes on and off! With the two's we are starting to notice the want for independence. She would like to do everything herself, and if she can not do it herself first, the light switch is turned on! That is she throws a tantrum. It is always "Aunika do it" or "I do it" it is so much fun to see her want to gain independence.

Since she wants so much independence we decided to start potty training. After 2 weeks of potty training I think we are there. Except for night time and for nap time, she tells us when she has to go. We have had a few accidents here and there and I am sure there will be more to come. For example when daddy had to take her to the potty...she insisted that he put the smaller potty lid on the big potty, but he couldn't figure out how it went. So by time he got the lid onto the potty Aunika was standing there and couldn't hold it any longer, so oops her pants were soaked. Those Daddies they need to work a bit faster for the little one's bladder.

My favorite example of independence is Aunika's need to help out with everything. She loves to help us put the dishes away. She will hand us the dishes and tell us where they go if she can not reach its spot. Aunika also insists on helping make dinner almost every night now. If she can not make it she still pulls up a chair to the counter and climbs up and watches. What a big girl.

Influenced Easily

t is great to see our 1st daughter growing up. At times we forget that at the age of two they know so much more than you think, and they sure pay attention to everything around them. One night I was busy doing something downstairs, working away. I came upstairs only to find my husband on the phone and watching UFC on the television. Now, if you don't know my husband, he is a sports crazed man. I have tried to tell him, that he needs to pick only so many sports to follow, otherwise it just becomes too much for me to handle - all the sports that is. UFC is not one of my favorites. I don't understand the point of watching people beat the living daylight out of each other and then call it a sport? Well, anyway I could go off all day on why I don't like UFC. So back to my story. I came upstairs only to see our oldest daugther (2 years old) watching UFC with her dad. I began to yell at Brett while he was on the phone about how I don't agree with UFC....and then shortly after that, Aunika went up and kicked at the man on TV that was in the middle of a fight! SHE KICKED THE TV! NEED I SAY MORE! We both just stood there is shock and chuckled a little bit, before we had to try and explain to her that you can not kick the tv, and that fighting is not nice. She also has a tendency lately to push down the daycare boy (which I think she picked up from UFC)

So need I say more that it is important to start screening what your child watches at a very early age. It is also important to make sure you explain things to your kids, and help them understand God's way. How do you explain that UFC is something God would smile down on? I don't know??? Maybe that is a question for my husband Brett!