The Grady Family Archives II

Bowling for Birthdays

2012-01-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

by Rachel

Bowling…or the game of self-control thrown for Cassie, the birthday girl.

Just when we thought our family was done bowling for the year, we got an invitation to come bowling for a special girl’s birthday.

Cassie was turning 12 and her family wanted us to come and surprise the birthday girl at a local bowling alley with two hours of bowling fun!

Well, fun was an understatement…it was a blast. The alley seemed as though it was made for the likes of us, and we fell in love with it.

No more heavy bowling balls that drag you down the lane when they are being thrown. This was the life!

The Grady’s have all had horror bowling stories so this trip to the alleys was mild in comparison. Cassie's younger brothers are all naturally athletic and were bowling fast and furious to get in as many games as possible.

Cassie got her good bowling genes from her father. He had good tips on bowling for everybody. He even straightened out my bad left hook.

Everyone did well and tried not to be too competitive.

We were glad there were no professionals at the alley making us look bad. No one was too much better or worse…well except Tootsie. (ahem).

Tootsie surprised us all with lots of spares and even strikes on her last game which got her a score of 140. Many of her siblings were jealous of her scores compared to their puny ones.

Everyone took pizza breaks in between turns, and it was gone in a flash.

One ball got stuck in the gutter and had to be manually removed by the maintenance man. He came for a second visit for a pin stuck in the gutter as well. We didn’t see him visit any other lanes. I guess we’re just special!

One of the bowling balls was so light, it wouldn’t go down the tube to be taken back and no matter how many other balls were thrown afterwards, it wouldn’t come back.

At the end of our time there, Cassie opened her gifts. Even though she has many brothers in her family, she does enjoy girly things.

Happy Birthday Cassie! Thank you for taking us along to help celebrate.

Leah's Birthday

2012-01-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

After Rachel’s birthday party last spring, Leah assumed she should follow suit with a party of her own even though birthday parties are not standard Grady birthday procedure.

Leah had been praying for ages for a warm day so her guests could play games outside even though her birthday was in January!

God gave her a lovely, very 'mild for January' kind of day.

As soon as theguests showed up, the festivities began.

After Mr. Waldo trounced everyone at ping pong, the crew headed outside for a little“Everyone’s It Tag” with rubber bands.

Most people got 10 rubber bands to begin with, but as thegame progressed some were down to two and others had twenty.

The reason? Once you were tagged, you had to drop to the ground. On the ground all around were countless rubber bands lying hither and thither.

So while many players ran around shooting, somejust sat and gathered rubber bands. Odd alliances were formed and treaties applied between the fastest rubber band shooters and fortunate rubber band gatherers.

Theones who could release their rubber bands the quickest had the upper hand inthe game, namely the older players.

Once it got too dark to see the oncomingrubber bands, everyone headed in for tacos and a few less energizedgames.

Well...actually the sock game took a lot of energy.

The players each got one sock, beit short or tall to put on their foot.

When given the 'go,' everyone madly scrambled around on their hands and knees yanking, ripping, pullingand/or wrestling the sock off as many feet as possible. It is definitely not as easy as you might think.

Once the sockcame off, that person was out. The last person with his sock still intact on his foot won.

The sock game turned out to be a long and arduous wrestling match between the last twocontestants.

To help revive all the wearied players, ice cream was brought out and quickly devoured.

The game of the hour, Signalsrequired wit and subtleness instead of muscle and strength. Remembering everyone’ssignals was a challenge since there were so many of us playing. One signal thatalways got the middle person's attention was when someone tried to stick theirfingers in their ears and waggle their hands. Unfortunately, that was Esther’ssignal and she spent a lot of time in the middle. She actually made the record for being in the middle longest. Young people always regain energy at a surprising rateso after a few rounds of Signals, everyone was ready to head outdoors again for a game ofFlashlight Tag. This made the birthday girl very happy since she hadbeen dreaming of playing flash light tag for her birthday since the last time we played it in the early fall.. A few poor people losttheir partners and spent the rest of the game looking for them. Others went outof bounds without knowing it and stayed there a long time. They finally caught on when no one ever came looking for them. Everyone had ablast till the parents deemed it time to go.

Leah thoroughly enjoyed her birthday. Thefriends, the games and the gifts made her very happy.

Happy Birthday Leah!

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows...Psalms 45

Candids...

Tintin: Movie Review

2012-01-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

By Betsy

Tintin the famous boy reporter frames entire gang!

This is the type of newspaper headline you would grow to expect in Herge's world renowned comic books! To our family(poor comic deprived homeschoolers :) Tintin was THE comic(unless you happen to bring Calvin and Hobbes into the picture...:). Tintin books were highly prized in our family, and the owners had many oppurtunities to practice the character quality of generosity!

So the making of a Tintin movie was hailed with suspicion by our family, as HollyWood does not always stay true to the original!
Inevitably the movie makers botch the book(though there are a few exceptions to this rule:).

We entered the theater still suspicious, Leah, a full bucket of popcorn and I... and we(or at least I) left the theater almost floored, Leah, the twice filled bucket of popcorn and I! Also as a word of warning, I found you can eat WAY to much popcorn when you are not paying attention!

My hat is off to Steven Spielburg, the producer. The movie was full of the same endearing characters, Tintin the dauntless journalist and his curious, life-saving dog Snowy, Haddock the berserk captain, and the bungling inspectors Thomson and Thompson. Tintin and friends made their way through many hair raising adventures and daring exploits, all of them, if not true to the book still very Tintin esc! I was highly empressed.(I think the low expectations might have helped:)

If you are a book purest I will not recommend the movie to you...but I will say, this was one of the few films I have seen that actually stuck with the book 80% off the time!

The infamous bad guy and his evil henchmen!

Snowy

Thompson and Thomson!

Enjoy the film!

Thoughts...

2012-01-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

John Wesley said, "Don't look for a ministry, expect the fruit of a disciplined life." Focus on your hidden responsibilities, fruit will come...

Bob Schultz

Practical Happiness

The Last Warm Day...

2012-01-19T21:39:00.000-08:00

by Rachel

Grady’s have nevergone disc golfing for the skill factor. It’s more for the fun factor. If youwant to have a good laugh, you are welcome to come along with us. Just ask theprofessionals who came along with us last time. They had the choice of rippingout their hair in frustration or joining in the laughter. Thankfully, they chosethe latter because the first option would be painful. Each of us receivedtwo discs for Christmas and we were eager to try them out on thecourse. Despite the minor setback of an emergency room visit, we made it to thecourse to play on the final warm day of the week. Fast and furious would be twoadjectives to describe our game. There were so many of us it took a long timeto get every person’s disc thrown. The only problem with the fast and furiousmethod is that when we throw fast, our discs end up in all thewrong places...like the weeds or a deep gulley for example. Everyone was sobusy laughing at the horrible throws that they did the exact same thing,or worse. So join us sometime for laughing exercise…I mean a disc golf game.

Brightly colored discs are the best. They are the easiest to find in the weeds.

So we may not play disc golf well, but we can take pictures. Betsy nabbed the camera and tried her hand at Tootsie shots in the setting sun.

Then she lined everyone up for the grand group photo.

Photos finished...the children had more time to fill while waiting for the ER visitors to return so they opted for a bit of 'Everybody's It' tag...minus the rubber bands.

Another positive benefit of a big family...there's always enough people around for group games!

What a day! Thank You, God, for Your protection. You surround us with Your favor as with a shield...

Caitlin's Stitches

2012-01-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

by Benjamin (editing by Rachel)

On Tuesday, our afternoon was different than we planned. I had to do my violin lesson and everyone came along since we were going disc golfing afterwards. Everyone was playing outside while I had my lesson. Jubilee was leading her horse Ash down the hill. Ash kicked up his heels, and Caitlin who was following behind got hit. Caitlin ducked and it only hit her head a little bit. She still got a cut which was about an inch long.

Mrs. Miller stuck her head in the room and told us about Caitlin. I was fine for a while, but as I thought about Caitlin, my head started to feel funny, and I had to sit down. Suzannah said she felt funny too as Mom and Mrs. Miller washed Caitlin off. Everyone got in the van and went to the emergency room. Hannah dropped Mom, Caitlin and Jubilee off, then they went to the disc golf course. Mrs. Miller brought Christopher and I to the disc golf course when I was done with my lesson. When we got there, everyone was already done with the first two baskets so Christopher and I had to hurry and catch up. It was very fun when we caught up to them. We threw in turns and did very bad most of the time. (except Christopher) All of us laughed a lot. When we finished, we played 'Everybody's It' tag. Mrs. Miller, Mom, Caitllin and Jubilee left the emergency room and came to the disc golf course too. We ran over to where they were standing and looked at Caitlin's stitches. After talking for a while, we went home. What an exciting day!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Rod turned down an invitation for New Year's Eve festivities for the opportunity to spend a quiet family evening at home. He also really wanted to get the hallway tiling done downstairs.

When Betsy heard that Dad had turned them down, she decided to make the evening special for the whole family. She came up with a long list of activities and made all the little people have fun whether they liked it or not! Everyone was committed to staying up till midnight to welcome the new year…well, Caleb only made it till about 8, but all the rest stayed cheerful and engaged all evening.

Hannah and I were downstairs with Dad while he finished the tiling. When he got done for the evening, he came upstairs to watch 'Little Dorrit' with the kids and eat junk food! He didn't last very long and went to bed, but the rest of us watched 'Little Dorrit' till 2355. A member of the olders set their cell phone alarm so we wouldn't miss midnight. In the hour before midnight, this same individual got a call from a chatty friend, so we paused the movie. Betsy thought of the brilliant idea to pray while they were on the phone since we wanted to do that sometime during the evening. It was delightful to pray together, and several of the children prayed over their goals for the new year. One twinkie who shall remain anonymous prayed for grace for our older to be able to tactfully get off the phone. As soon as she asked, we heard our person say 'goodbye.' Ye have not because ye ask not! Thank You, Lord!

When the cell phone alarm went off, everyone rushed to help get the caps off the sparkling cider before midnight. We charged our glasses and watched the kitchen clock, but once again the cell phone saved the day for a more accurate New Year determination.

As soon as the phone beeped, we toasted in the New Year...and as soon as the last drop was down, we started hearing fireworks outside to the west of the house. We rushed to the window, but looking at fireworks through the trees and a window was highly unsatisfying, so we braved the cold and stood out on the back deck.

After 5 minutes of fantastic fireworks, we went back inside to finish watching 'Little Dorrit.' When we got to the end of the segment, it was singularly unsatisfactory so we had to watch another one. That put us to about 0100...and though several of the children assured me they could stay up all night to finish the movie, I unmercifully sent them to bed. Thank goodness church starts later tomorrow!

Thank You, Lord, for a very happy New Year...

Good Bye (for a little while) Alatheia

2012-01-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

by Rachel

The party idea actually came to Betsy and Anna as they wereopening their Christmas gifts for each other.

The look on their faces told me thatthey had a good idea just waiting to be unleashed and put into action. Sincemany of Alatheia’s friends wanted to see her before her departure to KS, Annaand Betsy’s going away party sounded like the perfect plan.

New Year’s Daylooked to be the best day for an evening get together. Sadly, several ofthe intended guests couldn’t make it so we ended up with a small, yet energizedcrowd.

The first game, called Celebrities, consisted oftwo teams and lots of slips of paper. Every other person belonged on team oneor team two. Everyone got three pieces of paper on which they wrote a person, a placeand a thing.

We told everyone to get specific. Boy! Did they ever get specific. One of them wrote “in my right red shoe.”

Each team had to guess exactlywhat was on the paper. The first round started with a person who pulled out a pieceof paper and tried to describe the phrase without using any of the words on thepaper. He or she pulled out and described as many as they could in 30 seconds.

Then the container of papers was handed on to the next player on the opposite team. For the second roundyou had to silently act out the aforeguessed phrases. During the third round you couldonly say one word to describe the phrase. Even if that word was “umm” you couldn’ttake it back.

By then your teammates had enoughof a grasp of what was in the basket so theycould guess correctly. After the game, the points from each round were tallied up with the high score winning.

Tacos and ice cream were the main fare of the evening which we enjoyed in between games. Since school was starting up the next day formany of the people present, it was not a late evening.

We had time for one moregame...Signals. This one was played in the Beasley’s loft where it was a littlecooler. People were dozing off in the toasty, warm living room in between turns,and we wanted all the players awake and alert for Signals.

To play Signals,everyone sat in a circle with the person who was ‘it’ standing in the middle. Every player had a signal…for example tappingon their nose or shrugging their shoulders. After all the participants learnedeach other’s signals, the person in the middle closed their eyes, counted toten, opened them again and started guessing who had the signal. We had many luckyguessers in our crowd who would open their eyes and point right to the unfortunateperson who had the signal. The person in the middle had to wait a little inbetween guesses otherwise the signal never got passed. Once they picked theright person, they were no longer ‘it,’ and they started the signal offas the new person in the middle counted to ten. Our group had a few false starts where several people thoughtthey received the signal when they hadn't so there were multiple signalsgoing around. Besides the confusion and debates over who had the signal, we hada great evening laughing and spending time with Alathiea before she headed offfor her new job in Kansas. Love you, Alatheia. We miss you and will be prayingfor you.

Hope things are going well, Alatheia. We'll try to keep your parents busy so they won't miss you quite so much.

Cars...

2012-01-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

I think the inspiration for this bath mat creation came from the movie 'Cars.' We have yet to figure out who did it!

We thought maybe Aaron left it out to be humorous because we were gone all evening, but tonight he said he had no idea how the semi circle of cars got there. It is still there...perhaps forever like Stone Henge!

Will the family culprit please stand up? .

On Christmas Day in the Morning

2012-01-17T18:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas day in the morning did not seem real. For one thing, we had to get up and eat breakfast. That shouldn’t seem strange except for the fact it was cereal Sunday, and we were having muffins and cubed potatoes as a special Christmas breakfast.

Number two, we went to church instead of the usual gift opening. Since Christmas is the holy day celebrating Jesus birth, that shouldn't seem strange either. We really liked going to services, but in hind sight, we should have opened presents on Monday verses trying to stuff it in late Sunday afternoon. For a small family, it might work. But we had so many people and so many gifts...

There were lots of guests, relatives and old friends visiting for the Christmas service...that was a special gift!

We put the food for lunch in the van since Rod had to count the offering after church so we were bound to be there for a while. With two diabetics in the crowd of lunch eaters, we really needed to have lunch on time.

Caleb,Abby and the Pickles joined us for lunch at church along with various hungry youth facing the prospect of a long wait till their own Christmas lunch.

...But we had all those presents to open, plus several other surprises so we needed to get home.

We didn’t even start opening gifts until 1500. Not enough time! Some highlights of the afternoon:

Tootsie’s mattress

Betsy’s 5 pound Hershey bar and Aunt Linda's gospel Hershey bars

Uncle Les’s lovely wooden book mark, purse holder and mirror set he gave to all the girls.

Elise got locked in the bathroom. Oops!

Yelena loved her reader. She carried it everywhere and sat down on everyone’s lap to read it.

Ebitt took his nap for gift opening time and when he woke up, he was afraid of all his presents…especially anything with curling ribbon.

Betsy’s ringing stocking.

Caleb ran ten miles the day before with all his brothers who are home for the holidays. He was SO sore! He started reading the sports page soon after we started opening presents. He's been to enough Grady Christmases...he came prepared!

As the afternoon sped by, Abby remarked that her little people needed to eat and get to bed. Yikes! The Grady dinner team needed to dive into action and get food on the table. Everyone in the living room opened their gifts 'free for all' style since it was already well after 5.

Once dinner was dispatched, we trooped into the living room, putting the white Elephant Gifts from Aunt Karol and Uncle Les into the middle of the floor. There were 22 gifts and only 16 of us, so Rod numbered the participants from 1-22 with a few left over. He gave A7 and Caleb numbers not only for them, but also for their children and for the one on the way! There are advantages to having a big family.

Highlights from the gift exchange:

The leopard spotted snuggies.

First , Grandma won one and then Rachel.

Rachel was always trying to trade hers away, but ended up loving it and wearing it the rest of the evening.

She and Hannah were SO funny sitting in the corner together.

No one stole any gifts for quite a while, but once Caleb picked a George Foreman grill, the struggle began.

Caleb wanted a grill, and Hannah and Betsy wanted a grill so they would swap and steal until Caleb and Hannah finally locked the prizes into their possession. Hannah only wanted the grill for Betsy and ended up giving it to her after the game was over.

Betsy picked for two. Hannah also picked for herself and Aaron, so both of them saw quite a bit of action.

Betsy won Hannah a medium size Husker T-shirt. Uncle Les quipped, he was very glad to get those out of his closets!

The prizes for the white elephant were sweaters, (one style, three colors)...

...Scented wax warmers combined with tights of various colors, one Husker sweatshirt and several Husker t-shirts, lots of snuggies and two grills.

All agreed...the gift exchange was great fun!

After the gift exchange, we opened stockings quickly and picked up all the myriads of wrapping paper, bits and bows. It was late...

Merry Christmas and off to bed!

For to us a child is born...to us a Son is given. And the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...Isaiah 9:6

GNC Christmas Gift

2012-01-16T22:51:00.000-08:00

For the last GNC of 2011, God gave the leaders a gift! The club sponsor put posters around the school advertising the Christmas party club, so a lot of new kids came.

Lydia was telling the Bible story…normally the gospel is woven into each story, but since the kids that regularly come are all Christians, they don’t always share it.

Rachel whispered to Lydia, “Share the gospel this time.” Lydia did. She made it very clear and God opened up the hearts of the children to believe! Six or seven children came back for counseling when they were invited and three little boys received Jesus as their savior! They really got the point. I heard the news from each child as they arrived home…three boys got saved, Mom, three boys got saved! How exciting!

Thank You, God, for adding souls to Your kingdom. Please continue to work in the children of our elementary school. Amen

Christmas Eve Chinese Style

2012-01-14T22:28:00.001-08:00

With the relatives visiting for the holidays, we needed some way to keep them in their exercise routines. Grandpa Bill needed his coffee and a walk everyday.

Our hills were a little too much for a 76 year old flat lander, so we opted to take them to the base gym. The last time we went to the base gym for the holidays was years and years ago with the Nelsons for a bit of basketball on New Years. Rod ended up breaking his foot…that was a very eventful day in more ways than one.

This year was nothing in comparison. The kids played soccer, then ultimate Frisbee on the indoor soccer field. Aaron and Anna joined us for the morning.

After lots of good exercise, we headed over to the volleyball court for some painful attempts to play. Everyone was a bit rusty, but we got more good exercise chasing the volleyball, and the relatives had some good chuckles.

We headed for home and lunch while Aaron and Anna headed out to join the Nelsons for the traditional Christmas Eve disc golf tourney. Caleb Nelson started the tradition many years ago with his brothers and invited Aaron along. Caleb probably felt sorry for him with all those sisters. Aaron has gone with them ever since come snow or shine. This year was balmy…no lost discs! The disc golf tourney fit in with Aaron’s other plans for the evening…he, he, he!

Mr. Rehm had given Aaron permission to ask Anna to marry him. We had discussed plans and prayed for God’s inspiration for Aaron to make his proposal memorable. God answered above and beyond what we asked or thought. We heard about it when the lovebirds got home with the ‘rock’ firmly insconced on Anna’s ring finger.

They came in the door during dinner, just glowing. Anna had called about 20 people to let them know so it was Aaron’s turn to relate the story. After disc golf and lunch, he took her up to the Dana College campus in Blair…the park there has a beautiful view and some lovely swinging park benches. They strolled along to one of them, where Aaron let Anna read his most recent journal full of letters to her. In the last entry, Aaron copied the words to a favorite country tune called 'Remember When.' He made up a new last verse which included the words, ‘Anna Rehm, will you marry me?’ She, of course, said, “Yes.” Praise the Lord for inspiration.

They came home to our traditional Christmas Eve Chinese dinner.

We had 18 for dinner this year…it gets bigger and bigger. The lady at the restaurant requested we call them the day before with our order so they could be better prepared!

We broke out Betsy’s pretty pottery bowls and chopsticks and after a very grateful thanksgiving, we dug in. The dining room table was taken up with the traditional Christmas puzzle so we ate on the floor in the living room…no disasters, thankfully.

The children tried to get our guests to eat in the traditional Chinese manner, though they were not willing to themselves. The pretty bowls did not hold much so some folks spent more time going back and forth to the kitchen than actually eating.

Aaron and Anna would not be with us on Christmas day so we had them open their gifts and stockings after dinner. A2 received hair cutting implements…a gift that keeps on giving for the rest of their life. ..well unless you drop the razor. I speak from experience!

Tootsie had Aaron for Christmas this year...she was very interested to see how he liked his gifts!

Aaron did a plumbing job for Bike Masters and traded it for indoor trainers for he and Anna to help them keep in shape through the winter. She was very happy with her gift, and he only had to spend his time! Good job, Aaron.

The next thing on the agenda was watching our traditional Christmas Eve movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’

It was VERY late when the movie was over and all the littles and middles willingly went to bed. We waited a minute or two and headed down to Betsy’s room to bring up the presents. It's almost Christmas...right around the corner!

Christmas Eve Candids:

Sam's Club Christmas

2012-01-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

Aunt Karol and Uncle Les were wondering what to get our family for Christmas. We weren’t worried about presents, but since she insisted on doing something, we told her the ‘Torkelson Story!’

The Torkelsons were a large homeschooling family we met in Alaska. For special occasions, the parents of this exceptional family would give each child $5 and take them to Costco.

The children were allowed to buy whatever food they wanted and then it would be shared for supper that night. If they didn’t have enough money, they had to talk a sibling into sharing the cost with them.

They had 11 children so they had a smorgasbord! When Mr. and Mrs. Torkelson came to visit our family here in the Lower 48, they did the same thing for our children. It was a blast…very memorable.

I told Karol about the idea, and she liked it. So the Friday before Christmas became ‘Junk Food Friday.’ I really hoped someone would opt for healthy treats, but unless you call pizza healthy, they went for the junk. A blessing with having junk food... Rod was more than happy to do all the cooking!

Thanks Aunt Karol and Uncle Les for making another Christmas memory!

Singing with Stangls

2012-01-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

We couldn’t remember how many years in a row we’ve sang together with the Stangl family at nursing homes during the Christmas season.

Even with going so many years, I still couldn’t find the right nursing home. We usually follow the Stangls. Good thing we left early for our tour of several west Blair neighborhoods!

With a new Stangl baby and two busy schedules, singing together this year may never have happened if it hadn't been for pressure from the younger set. They really wanted to sing...

The residents seemed really glad we came.

The Stangls have really been working hard on their instruments in the last year. This year, they brought two guitars, two mandolins and a violin to accompany us while we sang. Little Naomi used to be the one to sing Jingle Bells, but now her sister Chloe has taken her place! Mrs. Stangl shared the gospel , so we’ve been praying that the seeds planted would bear fruit.

The best part of singing at nursing homes is talking to the people afterwards. Justus and Benjamin greeted an old lady who wouldn’t stop kissing Justus’ hand! The older folks like children, though maybe all the kissing is going a little overboard! Most seem lonely and really want to talk if they are able.

The other assisted living home in Ft. Calhoun was even more enjoyable…we sang to them over lunch! These folks were much less debilitated and engaged with us and the children. One man I talked to knew right where I lived and even knew our neighbors.

Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to encourage these folks and spread some Christmas cheer. Please bring forth fruit from Your gospel…soften hard hearts. Thanks, Stangls, for your friendship and encouragement.

Christmas Nursing Home Ministry with MAC

2012-01-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Ables works so hard every year getting the music ready for Christmas.

The children practiced hard every Sunday for six weeks. Instead of just singing for our congregation, we got to sing for nursing homes here in Omaha as well.... Whatever you’ve done for the least of these, My brothers, you’ve done it unto Me.

The first performance was to a packed house. This nursing home is expanding to 140 beds so they have a lot of folks to come and watch.

These are Pastor Joe's flock. We sing for them every year.

Timeka's mother-in-law was having some physical therapy at the time so we got to sing for her too.

We also got to see Grandma Twila who lives at this nursing home. She sat on the front row with a big smile on her face and collected multitudes of hugs before and after the program.

Before the program, I talked to this man who had been a practicing pediatrician for 65 years, and retired for the last 10. After doing the math, he must have been a lot older than he looked. He was hoping we’d sing 'Silent Night' in German and wondered if I’d ever told my children the story behind the song. We chatted for quite a while. After the program, Mrs. Beasley came up to greet him. I introduced her and reintroduced the topic of 'Silent Night.' He told Mrs. Beasley about the ‘magic’ behind the song so Mrs. Beasley told him the real meaning behind the song and gave him the gospel. Lord, please give him ears to hear and a heart to understand. She had been talking to her children about the real meaning of Christmas on the way to the program, and the Holy Spirit had her on fire thinking about the wonder of it all. It was like standing on holy ground to listen to her.

For a first run through, the singing went very well. Just remember, children, speak into the microphone. These older folks can be pretty deaf!

This dear lady said that today was her birthday so everyone available gathered around to sing a rousing "Happy Birthday to You."

We went to a second nursing home in Millard after lunch. The second time through the program, everything fell into place.

Our audience

Between the songs, the children recited the Christmas story from the Bible.

Betsy got to direct a song while Mrs. Ables played with our 'raft' of violins.

Mrs. Ables gathered all the experienced violinists to play several instrumental pieces. They did a fabulous job.

Anna, dear, our intrepid accompanist...

The very long animal song...

Greeting time...

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Praise the Lord for these opportunities to minister...

Thoughts...

2012-01-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ruth did not allow her circumstances to dictate her behavior or responses...

Annual Bowling...

2012-01-12T22:36:00.000-08:00

Bowling had come to mind in early December for some unknown reason. It is definitely not the first choice for Grady fun and games...

The idea rambled around in the back of my brain, but stayed in the ramble stage since it is prohibitively expensive to bowl with a family of our size.

Then Mrs. Waymire asked us to come bowling for Cassie’s birthday. Hmmm…seems like confirmation to me.

We need to hone our bowling skills before hitting the lanes for Cassie's party. But how?

Living Social coupons! We got an email within a day or two of the Waymire invitation for Kelley’s North Bowl…$27 for 2 hours of bowling, pizza and pop! Thank You, Lord, for making a way!

I bought three intending to bowl during sometime during Christmas break... ending up with Monday evening, the day after Christmas!

We had a lot of fun. Daniel won the prize for most improved. His first game was...let's just say... not too good.

His second game, something clicked, and he was on fire, getting strike after strike and bowling with a lot of power. He had the overall high score with 135.

Matthew bowled consistently well. He accidently bowled for Betsy once...Ooops! That wasn't a bad deal for Betsy since he bowls well.

When they decided that to make it fair, she should bowl for him, that put a little pressure on! She got a decent score though...Yeah! Praise the Lord!

Christopher won the prize for best form...

Mrs. Miller tried bowling a few times with Katie’s shoes, but her family didn’t want her to hurt her shoulders so they discouraged her from doing too much. She was happy with two or three frames.

Mr. Miller bowled a few strikes, but got some amazing spares. He was very happy with his game and did a neat victory dance after a good throw.

Our people played respectably.

Hannah was the overall best Grady bowler. She bowled several strikes.

Mr. Miller said he was gunning for Hannah, but she outbowled him till the last game.

Rachel bowled left handed and either did great or terrible. She’s an impressive bowler. Both she and Hannah throw the ball with a lot of power.

Suz played on the little people lane with bumpers. At this bowling alley, the bumpers had to be manually raised and were up for all players for the whole game.

She was glad for them, but played pretty well despite them.

B and Caleb consistently bowled very well. Caleb won overall once on the bumper lane. He would purposely ricochet the ball off the bumpers and even got a strike doing it.

Leah started the evening off bowling a strike, but petered off due to fatigue.

Rebekah had a terrible first game. She is usually one of our best bowlers. I asked her if she wanted to keep bowling and she said, "Yes." Her next game was much improved. She remarked that she was like cheese, getting better with age. I pointed out that cheese also molds with age, but that did not suit her analogy!

Betsy won the most improved Grady bowler award.

She knelt before each throw and consistently left two pins standing. Earlier bowling scores from previous eras of life were usually between 30 and 60, but she did much better this time around!

Once folks got their feet wet, everyone was very encouraging to everyone. It was a delightful evening at the alleys.

The Millers came over directly after bowling for dinner. After dinner, the kids all signed a petition to get the dads to play Signal. Rod was too tired, but Mr. Miller was glad to play. We invented new signals and started an hour or so of festivities. The two families had a delightful time.

Thank you, neighbors, for such a great evening and for being patient with us.

Caroling, Caroling Through the Town...

2012-01-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas bells are ringing...Caroling, caroling up and down. Christmas bells are ringing.

We didn't sing that tune, but we sang a lot of others to our friends and acquaintances in the neighborhood. We went with Millers since this was their neighborhood too a few years ago. Mr. Miller said he likes his new house better, but likes the neighbors in his old neighborhood better. We agree.

Christopher led the singing, picking songs and starting pitches. He did a great job. Matthew was the cookie man passing out the goodie plates since Leah was a chicken!

Listener reactions ranged from shock to tears to singing along with us and asking for more. We had people come and listen in pjs and robes, shorts and t-shirts, barefooted or just coming home from work. We made 12 stops unless it was 13 and spent an hour and a half traveling about a mile! The caroling method that worked best was the first and second verse of a well known Christmas tune then ending with 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas,' but we played it by ear. Some folks wanted more and others looked embarrassed. If the singing didn't go over too well, we'd quit after one verse, hand them the cookie plate and with a 'Merry Christmas' or two, hit the road! There weren't too many of those.

The evening was beautiful...not too cold or windy. It couldn't have been better, except maybe some snow on the ground to make it seem a bit more like Christmas. I know we spread some Christmas cheer, but more importantly, I hope we spread the love of Christ.

When we arrived home, we put Leah's breakfast/dinner on to cook. Rod made waffles, Christopher scrambled eggs and everyone ate with gusto. Singing (or shivering) in the cold works up an appetite. The young folks discussed names and their meanings during dinner. Matthew pronounced the childrens' names in Hebrew and told them what they meant. Interesting...

Mr. and Mrs. left after dinner with an interesting snafu in transportation that left all the young people in Matthew's vehicle. That was supposed to mean that Matthew got them home at a reasonable hour! Christopher had two finals the next day, and Jubilee was going with us to sing at the nursing homes, but the clock in the living room was down for the Christmas season, so he had no idea what time it was.

We played a very hilarious game of Signal after Matthew and Aaron got ping pong out of their system. Daniel had the idea to make the signals more 'flamboyant' to keep the game moving. We made the signals flamboyant...mine was downright embarassing. Aaron really needed to get to bed since he has to work early so at 11, he reminded M3 of the time. Ooops! So much for the reasonable hour! We didn't mind. They caroled their way out the door and down the driveway, waving till the end.

Caroling with Millers made the top ten events for the year 2011. Thanks for coming with us.

MAC 2011 Christmas Banquet

2012-01-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 2011 Millard Alliance Church Christmas Banquet...brought to you in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the edification and encouragement of His body.

We usually have a Thanksgiving Banquet in November, but we had two weddings on the weekend the banquet is normally held so they opted to put it off a bit and call it a Christmas banquet instead.

The normal format for the banquet is for those who feel led to share special music or poetry or dramatic presentations. The flock has been very creative in years past.

One of the women's prayer groups shared a special vocal number. They called up sons for reinforcement.

Mrs. Larsen and Mrs. Beasley

John played 'O Come Little Children' on his violin to call the little people from Mrs. Larsen's class up to the stage. Good job, John. You were very brave!

Mrs. Larsen's class starts at age 2 on up. This was Elise's first time up on stage.

She didn't quite know what to do, but the rest of the kiddos knew the ropes. They have been learning a song about the 12 disciples so they sang it loud and long...Freely you've received, freely give...

Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them for to such belong the kingdom of God...

The Williams organized the Christmas Banquet, then had to be excused when the flu epidemic hit their household. Several families couldn't make it due to illness. Thank you for all the work you put in ahead of time.

Josiah and Emma took turns playing the piano. This was their last year with us since their family moved. We miss them. May God provide the perfect body of believers for your next assignment and come back and see us sometime!

I was looking forward to this number the most since they had been practicing together for the last several weeks, and I had heard bits and snippets in the hallway. The threesome played Canon in D taking turns with the various parts. It was beautiful. God has really enabled a lot of our youth with amazing talent and they use it to glorify their Maker. Praise the Lord!

Mrs. Beasley Tribute

The Beasley children did an amazing tribute to their dear mother...we only captured about half. Please forgive!

The Wissmanns did a number they performed last year as part of their Branson program. We had seen it on stage at their Seward performance, but it was even better up close and personal.

Matthias introduced his amazing brother Stephen who composed a massive Christmas piece of many, many pages. Due to a slip of the fingers, the piece ended up scattered on the floor.

Each member of the quartet scrambled to gather up the pages of music and after composing themselves, they began to sing!

But since the music was all scrambled, the singers were a bit scrambled mixing famous lines of many familiar Christmas carols in perfect harmony!

As they finished the music and discovered it didn't make much sense, they tossed it again onto the floor a few pieces at a time...

...Getting a bit more concerned with each toss. Their expressions were priceless! But all's well that ends well, and when the podium was empty of music, they looked at each other quizzically and finished in perfect four part harmony. Wow!

In between each number, several of the fathers shared meaningful scriptures along with what God had been doing in the lives of their families through the past year. There was much 'gold, silver and and precious stones' to be mined from all that was shared.

The Wissmann girls sang a hymn with their neighbor Diane...

The Ulmers chimed away as a family...they had a lot of fun. We've always wanted to try hand bells as a family, but chimes are much more practical.

Pastor Larry choked us all up as he shared about losing Caleb this year. We're glad Caleb faithfully finished his race, but we miss our brother in the Lord.

After sharing, Pastor Larry introduced the annual slideshow summing up the church's year in pictures. After recreating a new slideshow from scratch the day before...I will not go into detail about all the trials and tribulations I had...I recreated the slideshow again the day of the banquet. When the slideshow was put together with the music, it had several snafus that either were beneficial or hilarious. On the fifth or sixth try, we got a finished product running. Mr. Adams was famous for walking in five minutes before the show was to go on...now I know why. Slideshow software is cantankerous stuff.

Phew! Lord, this year was a lesson in perseverence...let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus! ...and thank You, Lord, for Your body at Millard Alliance Church.

Ladie's Christmas Party

2012-01-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

Every year, the ladies and girls of MAC gather at Christmas time for food and fellowship…to remember the year past and share lessons God has taught us. It is an evening of great encouragement.

Inevitably, I don’t have time to sit down and think until I get there, but this year, I had time to do some thinking ahead of time. With all the interesting things that have happened this year, I really needed to focus my remarks…to make them encouraging and useful to those at my age and stage and those with younger children that are watching.

The ladies talked about quite a variety of topics God has been teaching them. Barb shared very touching thoughts after losing her second son this year and cried. All of us cried with her. My secret prayer sister shared about her battles with fitting in and referenced the scripture, ‘do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God…’ She used the first part of the verse to illustrate her point and since I was sitting next to her, I took the baton when she was finished and used the later half of the verse, talking about the importance of being transformed by the renewing of your mind. The most important lesson of 2011 for me was how utterly helpless I am and how much I need God to act on my behalf…to renew my mind in my quiet time…how important that time is and how I can’t live without time with Him. I can function, but I cannot truly live.

Each Secret Sis got a gift from their Secret Sis and had the opportunity to guess who it was…I nailed mine! She asked, “How did you know?” ...because she got me ‘Jen gifts.’

For Christmas, Jen gave me the book 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. The first few pages gave me spiritual goosebumps, it was so rich and deep. Ann has a blog…www.aholyexperience.com which came highly recommended. That’s one of the benefits of the world wide web…a Canadian farmer’s wife can encourage us all in the Lord without ever leaving her home.

Thank you, Barb and Anna, for putting together the Christmas party even though you had just returned from a long Virginia trip. You are an amazing team. Praise the Lord for His enabling.

Happy Birthday, Leah!

2012-01-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

Therefore God, your God has set you above your companions

...By anointing you with the oil of joy.

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;

...from palaces adorned with ivory the music of strings makes you glad.

Psalms 45:7,8

Happy Birthday, Leah!

P.S. At 10:32 p.m. she was officially 12 years old! We woke her up (at her request) and sang 'Happy Birthday!'

Sam and Nicole's Wedding

2012-01-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

The Wedding of the Century...

We saw Sam and Nicole at Sam's Club the week before the wedding. I think at that point Sam was wondering if the wedding was worth all the trouble...but it was worth it. What a spectacular wedding. I also owe an apology to the lateness of the post. I will blame it on Christmas! I have been chafing at the bit to get started, so here goes...

The post will not suffer due to forgetfulness. The wedding was unforgettable...it had Sam and Nicole stamped all over it Thoughtfulness was throughout the wedding, and expressed itself over and over again in kind, sweet details. The ceremony was held at the Nielson Center in West Point, NE. (The only electric marquee in town!) The facility was fantastic...very classy. The guests were seated on all four sides of center stage, and everyone had a good view. The center stage was a simple raised platform with birch tree branches at each corner. The branches were draped with silver tulle and lights that looked like falling rain. So pretty!

Sam and Nicole are perfect for each other. Sam can be very serious and mature or super goofy. He has a heart the size of Nebraska and is an 'on fire, Jesus lovin' believer.' He's really indescribable...you just have to know him. Nicole is the perfect complement to him. They've waited a long time for this moment. Their faces exuded joy and sureness. They never quit smiling during the whole celebration, and every time I've seen them since, they still have the same big smile on their faces.

All the ushers looked sharp in their hats. Thanks, Dan, for finding us the best seats in the house!

With the room sectioned into four, no one was too far from center stage.

Pastor Larry officiated.

Nicole, fortunately, has many talented, musical relatives. Rachel and Elizabeth played the music for the processional...Be Thou My Vision and Canon in D.

Sam escorted his mother...

...And Nicole's mother into the auditorium.

Each one of the attendants entered from a different door.

Grace and Ragnar

Bethany, Nicole's cousin and Sam's brother, Timothy

Sam's brother, Jonathan, and Nicole's cousin, Kristen

Enter, the bride...

She's so pretty...

Nicole had the sweetest look of 'peaceful assurance.'

Pastor Larry spoke encouraging words to the couple...leaving and cleaving, 2 becoming 1, differences that complete each other...

They lit their unity candle and prayed together...

Then the couple gave each of their mothers a rose and a big hug...

See...that's the big smile I was talking about...now it's our turn to watch Sam smile. He sang the song 'I Will Be Here' to Nicole. Happiness! Two men singing to their brides in two days. (Ben and Lesley were married the day before.) My romance bucket was full to the brim.

The happy couple exited after vows, being proclaimed 'man and wife' with an A+ kiss. They got a lot of practice throughout the rest of the evening. Their wedding invitations asked the guests to 'be there with bells on.' We brought our bike race cow bells and shared them with several friends. For the guests that forgot theirs, a basket of bells was provided upon entry to the banquet area. Sam and Nicole were happy to get in a little more enthusiastic practice whenever the bell ringers in the audience so desired.

The reception area was enormous. The girls had been here for the Republican party banquet a few weeks prior, and they mentioned that the curtain on the stage was red for that event. Evidently, the curtain can be a variety of colors from the different colored overhead lights. Also, both sides of the head table had big screens where the couple showed their 'Save the Date' video.

Save the Date

They also had the ingenious idea of making a slideshow with the guests as the stars during the course of the evening. So many of the activities, food and fellowship offered at the reception were there because Sam and Nicole loved their guests...we all felt very loved. It was not a 'focus on the bride and groom' wedding. The love of God was 'shed abroad' in their hearts, and we were all rejoicing.

Pastor Doug was the emcee for the reception. He is quick on his feet...but he'd have to be to emcee Sam and Nicole's reception. Later in the evening, he put on a big 'Sam-I-Am hat' and had Sam repeat his vows Dr. Suess style...always ending with 'I will love her all my life, I will love her as my wife.' Sam remembered it all and even made improvements on it as he repeated it!

Dr. Suess Wedding Vows

Nicole's mother operates a gift shop with a florist department. Their florist made multitudes of lovely centerpieces, keeping with the birch log theme. Betsy brought one home since she helped with the reception...we enjoyed it for many days afterward.

Speaking of talented relatives...Nicole's uncle is a professional caterer and ran the kitchen end of things. The spread was incredible...three types of salad: waldorf, tomato and bow tie pasta plus honey butter rolls, green beans and corn, cubed red potatoes, ham and roast beef. Ooolala! There was no excuse to go home hungry. They also had a coffee bar with flavored coffee, chocolate covered strawberries, a corner to make s'mores over small burners, plus an Island Drinks bar with Icees renamed in honor of the wedding!

They also served the standard wedding cake...though with Sam and Nicole nothing had been standard up to this point. Why start now? They cut the cake with small power tools, and it turned out not to be vanilla or chocolate but jello cake!

As mentioned earlier, for the audience's entertainment, the couple had a slide show running intermittently throughout the evening...with the guests as the stars of the show. Sam and Nicole have quite a collection of interesting costumes which the guests could dress up in and pose for pictures. The photographer then uploaded the photos once in a while and voila...a very interesting and entertaining slideshow.

Tootsie, the jail bird!

My beloved husband...he, he, he!

Timothy, Sam's brother, in an effort to raise money for his brother's honeymoon, charged $1 for each of these fantastic balloon creations. The kids kept him busy for hours!

We couldn't stay till the couple left, but we heard their get away vehicle died, and they had to borrow a friend's. That just adds another memory. We also discovered that a party of well wishers wrote happy wedding sentiments not only on Sam and Nicole's car, but on all the other vehicles in the parking lot. One pickup truck was labeled 'Mater' on the back window!

See what I mean? What a wedding...

God bless them and keep them as happy in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years as they are now.

Photo credits: Mr. Larson, Christopher Miller and Aaron Grady

A big thanks to everyone who took the snapshots for me!

Engaged!

2011-12-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

She said 'Yes!'

Congratulations, Aaron and Anna

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!

A Batty Christmas

2011-12-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Aaron went out to the garage on the Friday before Christmas...he heard a very interesting noise coming from behind a piece of drywall in the garage. It was a high-pitched, rasping, breathy shriek. He unscrewed the drywall piece to find the source of the noise uncovering a semi-hibernating bat. It must have been having a bad dream!

He put the bat into his old fish tank (being careful not to handle it, right Grandma Judy!) The bat laid on its back and shrieked for quite a while. We could hear it all the way upstairs from the laundry room.. It didn't seem to be quite with it, so we just left it alone till it finally rolled over on its belly and lay there seemingly dead.

The next day was relatively warm so the kids took the bat out on the porch and left it. Uncle Les was the self appointed bat watcher keeping the cats away. He noticed some signs of life and came in announcing the bat had flown away. Poor bat...finding a new hybernating home in the middle of winter. Brrrr...

Bats would be an interesting subject to study over vacation. B learned they can live up to 20 years.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

For to us a child is born;

To us a Son is given;

And the government will be on His shoulders,

And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Come, Lord Jesus, come

Caitie Grady's Birthday

2011-12-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

Caitlin’s birthday fell during ‘flu week,’ but praise the Lord that she wasn’t sick on her birthday. Caitlin didn’t get sick till Sunday so she had lots of time to enjoy her birthday.

She had the added blessing of her brother’s presence on her birthday. (He did sleep through breakfast…but he was present in body!)

He remembered and bought her a gift…the best gift of the day.

At least Leah thought so. It caused quite a commotion!

Betsy also got to stay home from work for Caitlin’s special day…she worked till 10 p.m. the night before so she slept through breakfast too.

Rejoice with those who rejoice...come on, Leah!

We hoped to do some sledding with the Stangls in the afternoon, but that had to be postponed. Now that the snow is melted, it will have to be postponed indefinitely. Pray for snow, friends!

Caitlin’s birthday was very happy and also very memorable. Thank You, Lord, for our little nine year old.

Christmas Zoo

2011-12-20T22:27:00.002-08:00

'The Grand Canyon' at the IMAX theatre at the Henry Doorley Zoo…wow! We bought a zoo pass this year with the good intentions of going frequently to see the animals and the new IMAX movies. The IMAX came free with the zoo pass or we would NEVER go. At the rate we’re losing children off the top, we want to pack in as many good family memories together as possible. Nothing lasts forever…even though sometimes it may feel like it!

There were two new movies: The Grand Canyon and Incredible Caves. The cave movie was okay, but the Grand Canyon was amazing…probably because they had a lot of footage of white water rafting. After going rafting this last September, we felt like we were on the boats with them. We could feel the boats rise and fall, and the dousing white water as it overwhelms the prow of the boat. I’m there!

The film makers also took a different tack for this film coming from the angle of the human history of the canyon. Humans have only been in the canyon for the last 4,000 years! Sounds pretty biblical. It didn’t have all the evolutionary allusions either since they just dealt with the earliest evidence of man down through the known explorers in recent history.

The movie reinacted the first documented exploration of the canyon shortly after the Civil War. The leader of the expedition was a one armed officer that rounded up a band of brave young men to tackle the river trip through 260 miles of unexplored canyon...going where no man had gone before...and living to tell about it! The narrator read excerpts from his journal with observations of the actual trip. The reinactors went down the river in boats that looked like small dories. The footage of the dories hitting the white water was spectacular…and they made it through! Three of the men left the expedition, preferring to take their chances on foot verses facing more white water. They were never heard from again. The river rafters faced one more set of rapids and had smooth sailing for the rest of the trip. Hmm…that must have some application to the Christian life. Persevere.

God, You always do above and beyond what we can ask or think. If creation is this spectacular…eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man what God has prepared in heaven for those who love Him. That will be truly spectacular!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

We have quite a list of Christmas traditions we do every year.

Each activity needs a time and place in our December Christmas schedule...

Family traditions are very important to us.

Being military gave us few roots in the local area, but we could sink our roots deep in family traditions since we can take those with us wherever we live.

One of the children’s favorite traditions is making Christmas cookies.

This tradition comes from Rod’s side of the family. All the aunts would get together at Grandma’s house to bake big batches of Christmas cookies to be shared by all the families.

We’ve adapted the tradition, making bunches of cookies and sharing them with our brothers and sisters in the Lord...as well as the mailman, the trashman, the neighbors...

Some of our favorites include turtles, caramel, fudge and decorated sugar cookies. Fun! We try not to eat too many, but it is rather difficult.

We’ll give the plates out on Sunday to all the families in church…big plates for the big families and small plates for the small families and single people.

Someone once asked what the cutoff was to graduate from the small to the big plate. Well, the Emrichs finally graduated to the big plate this year!

Here’s one of our favorite recipes:

Christmas Sugar Cookies

4 Cups all purpose flour

2 Cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 Cup butter

½ Cup sour cream

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. vanilla

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs, vanilla and sour cream. Sift in dry ingredients and mix, mix, mix. We really just throw everything in the Bosch food processor all at once, mix and it’s done! Chill. Roll out (very soft) dough in plenty of flour, cut with cookie cutters and decorate with colored sugar and sprinkles.

Merry Christmas!

Coloring Queen

2011-12-15T23:49:00.000-08:00

Caitlin joined the long,colorful line of little Grady ladies...

The few, the proud, the Washington County Bank coloring contest winners!

The girls lobby to get the chance to enter their coloring contest pictures, but Caitlin had never had the chance so now it was her turn...and we got the big call only a few days after her birthday. She won! Yeah! Praise the Lord who made Caitlin a good colorer!

Thanksgiving #2

2011-12-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

We were very thankful to share the holiday with our family...now it was time to share the holiday with friends.

In keeping with the fall festivities, Betsy rushed down to the garage to finish her Thanksgiving wreath of beautiful, dried, ditch weeds.

Mrs. Miller said they were all ready to go early so they decided to take us up on our offer to come over and hang out before lunch.

We had been expecting them at 1230 and weren't quite ready. I was still tossing rotted, porch pumpkins in the chicken pen when they arrived!

The Millers dived right in, helping with lunch and entertaining the little people with round robin ping pong in the living room.

Lunch was dispatched rapidly...except for the 30 pound birdie. We didn't quite finish that!

Since the girls did the cooking, the young men jumped in and did the clean up. Being the competitive types, they set a land speed record of 15 minutes for ALL those dishes. Leah set the table with all the china so that is saying something!

Betsy was in charge of the entertainment. She wanted to play Signal and Killer Spoons.

We put a puzzle out on the bar which filled odd moments. Mrs.Miller, Christopher and Daniel are big puzzlers along with several of our people.

We had to drag the puzzlers away to play Signal.

We kept the signal going for quite a while with most of the guessers.

Jubilee had the added distraction of Leah next to her.

The key to capturing the signal was quick turn arounds. Those that rotated slowly stayed in the middle a mighty long time!

Killer Spoons took up the next segment of the afternoon. Betsy's the most competitive Grady. All the Miller men were competitive! They, of course, were also gracious, but gave their all every time. Christopher and Daniel had a good natured wrestling match over a spoon. B stayed in for quite some time…he didn’t want to play for fear he wouldn’t do well, but he was the last little person in the game. Leah hid the spoons behind couch pillows so the players couldn’t see them. M3 would dive under the pillows so he got a spoon every time. The last two were, not surprisingly, Betsy and Matthew. They went through almost the whole deck before Matthew got a match and flew down toward the spoons. Betsy didn't have a chance!

Someone suggested playing ‘4 on a Couch’ before dinner. The game was harrowing since very few could remember who was who for very long. This game is a real pressure cooker, but fortunately, no one made any disastrous choices. The other team won. I don't know if they won purposely or by accident, but we’d been playing so long, I prayed someone would just win!

After dinner, the puzzlers were just about done, but the last few pieces were giving them fits. It took about an hour to get the last 20 pieces in place...with Daniel holding out on everyone and keeping the last piece. He 'fessed up after enjoying everyone's frantic search for the lost piece when they were down to the last one.

With the puzzle successfully completed, the troops took up Caleb’s game of beanie baby football. They had a blast with Rebekah and Daniel serving as officials.

The Millers had to go soon after since Christopher had tests to study for.

We are very thankful for our neighbors.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen

The Old Dominon Dance Christmas Ball...

2011-12-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

...otherwise known as the Fezziwig Ball from Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol...

The Fezziwig Ball was the first Friday in December...oh, it was so much fun! We thought they might have a lot of new people at the ball this year since we saw advertisements for it at Hobby Lobby, but most of the usual crowd came which was still enough to fill up the enormous ballroom at Laurentzin Gardens. Having the ball in this lovely setting was a great idea. The dance was a bit more expensive than usual, but the facility was incredible, the staff provided refreshments and even an event photographer! (see their pictures on the link below)

Lauritzen Gardens Photos

The Duffs really like history and are very literary besides their other accomplishments, so they created the characters from Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol to grace the evening.

Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge had their famous dialogue during one of the breaks in between dances. All the main characters were there: the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future along with sweet little Tiny Tim complete with crutch!

It was also a costume ball so most people dressed up and a lot of our party took on fictional, period names and acted the part of a person from that era for the duration of the evening...some of the characters liked their personae so well, they continue to the present day...right, Winston?

Betsy went by the more formal 'Elizabeth'

Alatheia was' Anastasia'

Hannah became 'Suzanne'

The Hipps, brave souls, came all the way into town for the dance but had to leave early...

So I don't think they got new monikers, but Jubilee chose to be 'Catherine' for the evening.

Matthew was 'Richard', and Rebekah was given the name 'Lottie'.

Rachel was and still seems to be 'Charlotte' and Micah was Ernest...I hope he knows the 'Importance of Being Ernest...'

Winston, a British regular showed up at the Ball...

Along with Phillip who used to be 'Quincey' but defected to the American side and became 'Will'.

Esther remained Esther because it is a name for all eras. You do have to say it correctly though!

The remaining photos are candids from the evening. Enjoy!

Daniel came from a math test to the ball. That's dedication! And by the way, nice vest...

Rod and another dad he knew from work encouraged each other to dance with their daughters. Rod wasn't too keen on the whole idea of dancing at first, but by the end of the evening, he was dancing every dance. Upon leaving, he was heard to remark that he had a great time and wouldn't even mind dressing up in period costume! Wow!

Charlotte and Catherine taking a 'turn' in the gardens...

The evening also happened to be Emily Duff's birthday and several of the characters presented her with birthday flowers. We really appreciate all the time and effort the girls put into these events.

Tim went from the ghost of Christmas future...scary...to an average turn of the 19th century guy. His ghost costume was really convincing and a little intimidating since you couldn't see his face at all. He didn't scare off his partners dressed like this!

Suzanne dancing with Scrooge!

Hillary can dance and text (almost) simultaneously, right?!

The wonderful, live orchestra

Daniel's costume arrived just in time!

One of the Christmas ghosts...along with Catherine and Esther.

An intermission waltz

And a bit more vigorous intermission polka!

You have to watch out for the little polka people. It's easy to run them over!

Part of the train tracks out in the gardens...

What a lovely evening! Yes, Praise the Lord with dancing!

Hannah's Birthday Antics

2011-12-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

The morning passed in the usual birthday way. Hannah had the fake cinnamon rolls that Dad loves so well, and she opened her gifts.

One of the most remarkable gifts was ‘It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny’ from Rebekah, a children's book from Hannah’s youth that was read to death. Evidently, Hannah loved that book and was only too delighted to get it for her hope chest.

And her next sister gift made her very happy! Rachel bought her a gift card from Hannah's current favorite store.

Rachel included some Christian truth to negate the worldly gift card! Then the three olders were off shopping for the afternoon. They didn’t really find anything much at the ‘real’ stores, but Goodwill did not disappoint, and they especially had a great time together.

Hannah told the littles left at home to be sure and have her birthday food for lunch because she hated it when people left for their birthdays, and the rest of the family had to stay home and have SOUP! This conversation was unbeknownst to me, who did not prepare the planned birthday food for the rest of the children, but made them potato soup instead! When Leah told me what Hannah had said, I laughed! She hasn’t been a Grady for 18 years for nothing! I guess I'm too predictable~

Caleb, Abby and little people came out for dinner, and we had a delightful evening, spending a lot of the evening discussing difficult or hard to understand Bible passages while cutting and folding stars for the Christmas tree from the pages of an old book...an Abby 'Pinterest' idea! Hannah wasn't even there for that because she and Rachel had to get a shower and wash their hair so it could get curled...the next evening was the Old Dominion Dance Christmas Ball!

God bless you indeed, Hannah, dear! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Caitie Grady!

2011-12-08T19:57:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday, Caitlin...God has already started things off in an interesting manner. Family flu...poor you!

May God surround you with His favor as with a shield. May He hem you in behind and before...

...and lay His hand upon you.

May He keep you as the apple of His eye and hide you in the shadow of His wings.

May He be your shield and rampart. May He keep you in the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and having done everything to stand...

We'll see what God has in store for your birthday. May He put off the flu just for you!

We Are Very Thankful...

2011-12-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving with our small extended family up from Kansas. We all ate a bit too much and after letting the food settle for a bit, the children were ready for some exercise.

Rod had mentioned going disc golfing.

Aaron has 8 or nine discs somewhere in his possession, but when I explored his room they were nowhere to be found. Aaron was celebrating Thanksgiving with his future extended family. so I called him and asked after their whereabouts.

HE had them...in Kansas City of all the inconvenient places! Now what were we going to do for the lovely long Thanksgiving afternoon with all the relatives?

I suggested calling our neighbors. They play a lot of disc golf and would surely have a few discs they wouldn’t mind lending. Rod gave the okay, so I called, and they very kindly lent them

Rod got out when we arrived at our neighbors and chatted with them for a while up on the front porch. Rod brought the discs to the car, never saying a word.

One of the children noticed our neighbors pulling in beside us when we arrived at the park in Blair. Surprise! Rod had invited them along. I deposited Grandma Judy and Uncle Les on a lovely swing at the end of the course, got the camera out of the van and headed to the first hole.

Our neighbors, of course, are very good at disc golf. The girls let the more talented menfolk head out onto the course first.

Caleb was worried with such keen competition…but he had a decent game. Our neighbors creamed the us with about 5 over par and 7 over par. But when your children don't know what 'par' means you know you're in the beginners' bracket.

There's a beautiful trail around the back of the park that also leads to the parking lot so Rod led the troops the back way around. About halfway, a couple of the more athletic members of the party decided to run the smaller trail that paralleled the paved trail.

But lunch wasn't that long ago so most preferred the leisurely walk, the beautiful mellow wind and glorious midwest sunset.

Rod also invited the neighbors over for pie after disc golf unbeknownst to us. He's a sneaky guy! Of course, we didn't mind, because they're the kind of people that do your dishes, say 'thank you' and help clean up when the party's over.

We sang, played Apples to Apples. (Sneaky Suzannah won w/ Betsy a close second) and ate a snacky dinner.

While we played Apples to Apples, Elise invited folks to box with her.

She brought the boxing gloves and asked very nicely! Her opponents had a lot more exercise from boxing than Elise did. They let her land punches and then fell over backwards. She would laugh and laugh. They had a great time.

Little Ebbitt

Caleb

Niner-snitzel

Little Nina got a 'goose egg' on her noggin'...

After C & A and pickles left, taking Rachel and Hannah with them for early Black Friday shopping, the remainder of the younger set held a consortium in the kitchen to decide what to do for the last half hour before our neighbors had to leave. They came up with the brilliant idea of playing Signal. None of the relatives played, but they enjoyed watching.

Uncle Les

Signal is better played with a larger group, but we had just enough to keep it going. Each person came up with their own signal:

Grandma Judy

For example, Tootsie adjusted her glasses, Betsy snapped her fingers silently, and Bekah gave a cheesy grin. The person in the middle closed their eyes and counted to 10 while the signal got started passing around the circle.

To pass the signal, the person with the ‘signal’ looked at another person in the circle and did that person’s signal. That person had to ‘receive’ the signal by doing their own signal back to the person that passed it to them.

Aunt Karol

Then they picked another person in the circle and passed that person’s signal on to them. It’s received, and the game kept going until the person in the middle ‘caught’ a player passing the signal. Then the player who was caught was the ‘middle man.’

Half an hour passed very quickly, and it was decided that Signal would be the game of the hour the next time the neighbors were over.

After the traditional wave down the driveway, the evening ended. No more pie or turkey or games...just bed! Thank You, Lord for patient relatives and sharing neighbors.

Ben and Lesley's Wedding

2011-12-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Ben and Lesley got engaged in August and married in November. Finding a facility to house a large wedding at short notice is difficult. Both Ben and Lesley are the first respective members of their family to marry…which having been through that with Caleb and Abby…we know how they feel. Unexplored territory! You get to learn many new life lessons. The best thing to do is roll with the punches and stay flexible. Both the Hoovers and Stangls did just that. The wedding was truly a God honoring, delightful, family affair.

The wedding was full of friends, family and fellowship. Ben and Lesley are pretty special people... and after they finally get settled, they’ll be our neighbors! Ben will be working right down the road.

The bride's family and the groom's family could each invite 200 people, and it looked like all of them came. We talked to Mr. and Mrs.Stangl well before the wedding, and they estimated they would need a church that seated 700 to invite all the friends and relation they desired to invite. Rod jokingly suggested they have three weddings like some churches have three services and cycle people through! Maybe Ben and Lesley wouldn't be too keen on that idea!

Little Naomi got to be a flower girl

The Stangls have seven girls, but the Hoovers only have four out of 11...a lot less sewing to do! Good job Lydia with all those dresses.

Zach, the best man, had a football accident affecting his kneecap a week or two before the wedding. He was still hobbling before the wedding and after the wedding, but toughed it out for the walk down the aisle. He was also rumored to have forgotten his suit...but that's just a rumor!!!

Suzie passed out the beautiful order of service

Aren't they lovely?

Julia manned the guest book

Miraculously, Betsy got to come to the wedding. She asked earlier in the week if she could get Saturday off, but her boss couldn't promise her anything. The last Saturday before Thanksgiving is the biggest chicken/turkey butchering day of the season. Betsy left early, but called by 0730 saying the plucker was working so slow, it couldn't keep all four of them busy so her boss said she could leave! Praise the Lord and just in time. Her work is 40 minutes away, and we had to leave at 0830 for the morning wedding. She had just enough time for a shower.

We had the privilege of being seated by Isaac, one of Ben's many cousins. Isaac said the wedding was like a big family reunion. He hadn't seen so many relatives together in a long time.

Mr. Hess and Staci played most of the prelude and processionals.

The Stangls bought a camera right before the wedding, and Julia was the appointed family photographer. She had a lot better vantage point!

Hugs for Mom...

...and Dad

Waiting for his bride

All the bridesmaids in sparkly blue...

Ben's groomsmen

The little flower people scooted in so quickly, it was hard to keep track of how many came down the aisle. Between the bride and groom, they have 21 siblings, many of which are still very young. They had a multitude of youngsters to pick from.

We all rose for the beautiful bride...

Who gives this woman...

Little Magdeline is Ben's youngest sister.

Lesley's dad presided over the salt ceremony. I've seen couples use two different colors of sand before, but salt works better to illustrate the point. Salt was used to seal covenants.

The salt ceremony is also a picture of how impossible it is to separate a man and woman united in marriage. Only if the salt can be separated and put back into its original containers again can the bride and groom ever be separated. The point being...it is impossible.

Lesley's siblings are very talented musicians...

The pastor served the wedding party communion.

And Ben surprised Lesley by singing to her. He chose the hymn 'Lo, How a Rose 'Ere Blooming.' Wow. Ben has an incredible voice, and the song was so sweet.

The couples' first kiss...

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Stangl...Congratulations!

Some candids after the wedding..

The Husker game had started during the wedding, so one of the first things we heard after we were dismissed was the score!

Congratulations, Ben and Lesley, as well as the Stangl and Hoover families. What God has joined together, let no man separate. Praise the Lord!

Lesley's Bridal Shower

2011-12-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, Lesley and Ben have been married for over two weeks now...but the holidays have put me a bit behind so we have to back up a bit to Lesley's bridal shower the week before the wedding.

Betsy and Anna

The Stangl sisters-in-law threw the shower for Lesley. Most of them are quite young...it's hard to think of them in terms of 'sister-in-law.' That is such an old sounding word.

The Stangls were the perfect ones to throw a shower for Lesley...they know LOTS of people!

They have lots of family...twenty aunts and uncles on both sides of the family and over 90 cousins on one side of the family alone...Its a good thing they didn't all come!

It was a packed house quite literally. But most everyone knew each other from somewhere, and they were all friends by the time the evening was over if they weren't already.

They had friends from Millard Alliance, from their church, from the MOPS group, from the neighborhood, from Lincoln, from their extended family, from Lesley’s family!

Ellie, Ben's sister

Both Lesley and Ben’s sisters who are currently in overseas missions made it back for the shower and the wedding.

Showers in people’s homes are so warm and friendly. We’re really happy for the Stangls and the Hoovers.

Joan B. did the devotional complete with object lesson. She talked about how we start out in life like Cinderella living in the dust and ashes of sin. But when we accept Christ, we become a child of God…a daughter of the King. Being the daughter of the King makes Lesley a princess so she got a beautiful crown to wear for the rest of the evening.

Mrs. Stangl and her family thought of a great game…asking Lesley’s sisters questions about events and happenings in their courtship and engagement.

The sister with the answer rang a bell on the table, and if she got the question right she didn’t have to stuff another piece of gum in her mouth! The sister with the smallest wad at the end of the game won…only somewhere along the line, they forgot about the gum! Ooops! All three sisters tied anyway, so they had a ‘question –off.’ The questions were very thought provoking being in rhyme and somewhat obscure to the average person.

We all had fun watching Lesley’s sisters argue and laugh and insist they were right. Some of the answers were open to interpretation! Ashlee, Lesley's twin, who has spent the last year in Honduras, won the game. Missionaries don't have to be isolated anymore in the age of cell phones...

Lesley found the verse God used to persuade her that Ben was the man for her... Proverbs 20:6 Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find? Ben is definitely a faithful man...he's top notch.

The Princess with little Stangl 'sister-in-laws'

Lesley with her mother-in-law, Teresa

Lesley's mother

The punch servers!

Ben's land lady from his college days at UNL. How they found each other was another amazing story. Now she's become the MAC landlady for our members that head to Lincoln for college!

Thank you, Stangls, for the lovely evening. May God bless Lesley and Ben indeed.

Good Morning

2011-12-02T12:43:00.001-08:00

And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD;
and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13

Family Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T13:18:00.001-08:00

We are very thankful that our family could join us for Thanksgiving even if Uncle Les tried to rub off his Kansas Blue onto Leah!

We can’t wait to see what he’ll make out of our old dead pine tree either! Thanks for bringing Grandma and Grandpa up with you. Keep them out of trouble. See you all at Christmas time.

Thank the Lord for sisters!

Hannah Turns 18

2011-12-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

I always thank God for you...

...because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way...

...in all your speaking and in all your knowledge.

...because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed...1 Cor 1:4

You are a precious, steady daughter, growing in the grace and knowledge or our Lord Jesus Christ. Happy Birthday, Dearest. May God provide you with many special surprises!

Give thanks to the Lord....

2011-11-23T14:47:00.001-08:00

For He is good. His love endures forever! Thanksgiving is a time set aside for the sole purpose of being thankful (and eating turkey!) Sadly sometimes it reminds us of how we have lacked in telling God thank you for all that we have. You can always expect a very interesting answer when you ask what our little people are thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Betsy- I am thankful for trampolines.

Hannah- I am thankful for oxygen.

Rachel- I am thankful for the amazing, funny family that I have.

Suzannah- I am thankful that God didn't make everything in black and white. He made things beautiful.

Rebekah- I am thankful for me. I am glad that we haven't found the camera because I would have to take pictures.

Leah- I am thankful for Ron Brown praying at the last Husker game. And I am glad they (the Huskers) have done well so far.

B- I am thankful that God loves us.

Caitlin- I am grateful for the sun so we can see.

Caleb- I am thankful that God is always with us.

Psalms 145: 1-3
" I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom."

Betsy's Quilt

2011-11-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor, Mary, made a quilt for Betsy. It’s called a ‘Nickel Quilt’ because all the colored blocks are 5” by 5”.

On one of the children’s visits to Mary’s house, she showed them all the quilts she had made or was in the process of making. Mary is a prolific quilt maker! Betsy liked all the quilts, but the nickel quilt really caught her eye.

Mary said she had enough nickel squares left over to make two more quilts so she brought them over and let Betsy pick out over two hundred for her quilt. Betsy’s quilt is a lighter overall color than Mary’s original quilt…it is the epitome of bright and happy…just like Betsy.

The quilt also affords several games Betsy can play at bedtime! Since there are two or four of each color, (two triangles or four squares) Betsy can play ‘Find the matching block.’ And since there are so many different patterns, she can play ‘I Spy’ for ages!

Mary spent many loving hours working on this quilt, and it’s on the way to the quilters. We really appreciate our neighbor and all her hard work. May the Lord repay her many times over for her kindness to us.

Rod and Abby's Birthday

2011-11-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

Guest Appearance by Abby, dear, herself!

A work day does not afford much in the way of birthday celebration opportunities. A good friend at Rod’s work knew that it was his birthday. He took him out at lunch time for ‘porkies’ (pork tenderloin sandwiches) at Rod’s favorite hole in the wall restaurant. Hmm…I wonder who paid the bill!

The three older girls outdid themselves the night before decorating the dining room in a candle-lit fall theme. Pumpkins, pillar candles, wheat and Hannah's paper lanterns made the dining room truly lovely - always a challenge when you have 80's wood paneling on the walls :-).

Caleb, I and the pickles came out for dinner: steak and potatoes. Aaron and Anna made it too. Aaron was the steak chef extraordinaire, grilling those t-bones to perfection. When you only have steak once in a blue moon, it’s nice to have an expert grilling. Expensive ‘whang leather’ is what we eat if certain others have charge of the grill!

Elise helped Grandpapa open his presents. He was especially pleased with Hannah’s gift: Jelly Belly ‘Dips.’ Dips are cherry, strawberry and raspberry jelly beans dipped in chocolate. Everyone else was pleased with Grandpapa’s present since he is very good at sharing. Nina’s birthday was the Saturday before so she
joined in the birthday gifting fun. Yelena is good at opening presents.

Most of the evening was spent talking and talking and talking. We older sisters must have needed some time to reconnect.

Lord, thank You for family and the opportunity to get together...may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer...

Pumpkin

2011-11-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

Our friends, the Wissmanns prayed for apples and got boatloads. WISSMANN'S APPLES. We prayed for apples and pumpkins. We’re still waiting on the apples, but God delivered us boatloads of pumpkins. Betsy saw a field full of pumpkin and squash on her way home from chicken chopping. She stopped by the house and left the farmer a note asking if he had any use for all those pumpkins? The farmer called us back and said she was welcome to take as many as she wished! Yeah! Betsy wished to take many and arranged the ones she didn’t take into a large smiley face in the farmer’s field!

Sixty quarts of canned pumpkin later, we have pumpkins gracing our table, entry and front steps. We’re still praying for apples, but we are very grateful for our pumpkin!

So what do you do with all that pumpkin?

Pumpkin pie (a favorite for breakfast), pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins…

And one of our favorites...

Sunshine Rolls (Yum!)

5-8 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour

1 T yeast

1 T salt

½ C butter

½ cup honey

3 Cups warm water

½ quart canned pumpkin (minus the liquid)

2-3 T dough conditioner

Toss above ingredients in your handy, dandy Bosch Universal and add flour till the dough clears the sides. Knead with the dough hook for approximately five minutes. For lighter rolls, add a couple of cups of white flour instead of all W.W. Let the dough raise for an hour or so. Punch down. Form round rolls. With butter knife and a dab of butter, fold the roll over the knife capturing the butter in the middle of the roll. Let raise in a warm place until double. Bake at 325 degrees for 14-15 minutes or till lightly browned.

Thank You, God, for providing above and beyond what we could ask or think!

11-11-11

2011-11-14T21:00:00.001-08:00

In honor of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year of our Lord 2011, Abby read us the 111th Psalm on the way down to the Amish stores...We also stopped and watched 11:11 a.m. come and go on B's watch amidst some general whooping and hollaring!

Praise the Lord.

I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are His deeds, and His righteousness endures forever.

He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works, giving them the lands of other nations.

The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast forever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.

He provided redemption for His people; He ordained His covenant forever- holy and awesome is His name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.

At Mary's For the Big Game!

2011-11-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

Leah and Rod were at the Nebraska/NorthWestern game…close enough to the field that the cameras might pick them up!.

I hate to say that watching the Husker game was secondary, but for most of us it was. We wanted to see Dad and Leah. The only problem…the game was on some special sports network. We don’t watch much TV let alone pay for TV so we had to find someplace close to home where we could watch the game.

Our neighbor, Mary, had offered before to let us watch at her house when we couldn't get the game on our scanty free TV channels, so we invited ourselves over (we don’t recommend this except with very dear friends) for an afternoon of football, snacks and good company, hoping against hope that we’d see Dad and Leah.

Well, after a disappointing game, and not so much as a glimpse of our people, we took our few remaining snacks and headed for home. Thank you, Mary, for opening your home to us. I hope your kitties didn’t mind spending the afternoon in hiding!

Nebraska vs Northwestern

2011-11-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

by Leah (with editing by Rachel)

Dad and I had the privilege of going to the Northwestern vs Nebraska game. I was very excited about it and could not wait until we could start off! I wanted to leave as early as possible, walk around and look at everything. We left at 9:15 and got there at 10:25. Thankfully, there was no traffic.

When we were walking by the front of the stadium I saw that a gate was open leading onto the field. I asked Dad if we could walk on the field. Dad said that would be fine, so we went through the gate and started toward the field. None of the security guards stopped us from taking pictures on the field. It was so awesome! Never in a million years did I think that we would be able to walk on the actual football field.

Our seats were on the west side, 50 yard line, four rows up.

The huge screen TV or what Rachel likes to call the Godzillatron.

Dad and I on the 50 yard line

Me at the entrance to the tunnel walk.

Once off the field, we toured the trophy room. There were way to many trophy's to remember. I just put on a few pictures. I am not quite sure what the name of each trophy was.

In the middle of the Trophy room there was a waterfall with water running down the huge 'N'.

I am glad that we have cellphones now.

The orange bowl.

The indoor field.

The new work out room. Aaron was impressed.

Lots of people were standing outside the stadium waiting for something. Dad asked a lady and found out that they were all waiting for the arrival of the team. Once Dad heard that he was off to greet the team. We stood in a line of people and waited till they arrived.

The band waiting to welcome the players.

The cheerleaders came next. I don't see why they need cheerleaders because you can't hear them over the crowd.

'THE TEAM'. Tell me if you recognize any of the players. They look different in real clothes.

Most players had headphones on so they could focus and gear up for the game.

I think I got to hit the kickers hand. My goal was to try and slap as many hands as possible while taking pictures with the other hand.

I didn't recognize alot of them.

Everyone better know who this is.

Our kicker was cool to watch because he could swing his leg very far up.

The Stadium filling up with expectant fans.

The team came out and warmed up until tunnel walk time.

The big screen showed pictures of all the players so I took pictures of some of the ones I knew.

The marching band came out and performed before the players ran onto the field.

The camera man never did film our side of the stadium. We never showed up on the big screen. Sorry, family.

While the band was playing the fans took out the Big Red flag and waved it around until the band had to sit down.

Finally the players came running out and the stadium filled with lots of noise.

The band had to make a mad dash for their seats.

As they kicked off I still couldn't believe that I actually got to come and watch the game for real.

We did okay but, I was sad when they had to try for a field goal instead of a touchdown.

Once we got 3 points everyone let off their balloons . It was cool! I didn't get a balloon to let off, but it was fine.

At half time, the band performed again.

Half time went really fast ,and I wasn't happy at how sloppy we played in the second half.

The fans were sloppy too. A lady in the row behind spilled coke and then stepped in it. To make matters worse, she stepped on my seat to get over it and left a coke imprint on my seat. I had to stand the whole last quarter.

Northwestern's second quaterback was really good so I hoped that the other one would come back in.

One of our players down on the field. I am glad no one got seriously hurt.

A lot of the crowd started to leave when they saw that we were losing, but Dad and I said that we would stay till the bitter end. I am really sad that they lost, but it was still a good experience.

After the game we made a short stop at McDonalds for dinner and made it home in good time. At one point on the trip home I thought that I had left the camera behind but thankfully I hadn't. Thank you, Millers, for the tickets. I had a lovely time. Go Big Red!

First Haircut

2011-11-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

Aaron’s First Haircut

Or is it ‘Anna’s First Haircut…’

Or maybe ‘Aaron’s First Anna Cut’

Aaron had saved his long hair for quite a while. He wanted to look scruffy for the Sam & Nicole 'Hill Billy' Shower. He succeeded admirably! But now it was time to get a trim and break in his sweetheart to a lifetime of Aaron haircutting. He has a lot of hair to cut so she could get quite a bit of practice at one time. Anna has cut her sisters’ hair, so she's not a stranger to the art of haircutting, but there is something intimidating about cutting the hair of the man you love. It’s also very special like ‘baby’s first step’ or ‘losing your first tooth.’

I gave Anna some general guidelines and watched her as she did the sides. I think she has a perfectionist streak in her somewhere. She cut and trimmed and snipped till those sides were perfectly even. When it was time to begin the top, she started to get more ‘help’ from the peanut gallery. I never knew you could tease a person quite so much over something as simple as a haircut! We were rolling with laughter, and the ‘peanut gallery’ was very effective in getting a rise out of Anna. She later admitted she expected teasing from this certain ‘peanut,’ though at the time she looked a bit flustered.

Good job, Anna. You get an A.

Scary Beans

2011-11-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

We don’t do Halloween in any way, shape or form, but living in America at Halloween time, the kids are aware of what goes on. Living in the country also has its advantages since the arrival of trick-or-treaters is minimal.

Imagine our shock on Halloween night to get a ring, then a knock at the door. We looked at each other debating whether to answer. The younger set had gone to bed about five minutes previously, but trickery on the children’s part didn’t cross my mind!

Several of us headed to the door, where we were greeted by two white clad strangers with exceedingly bad teeth! They burst out laughing, revealing an ornery Tootsie and Leah. We use charcoal powder to clean/whiten teeth and these two bean brains had noticed their scary appearance at tooth brushing time and decided to take advantage of it! Goofy kids…

Amish Store

2011-11-09T07:35:00.001-08:00

The Amish stores have been a part of our lives ever since moving to Nebraksa. They are always a highlight in any trip and provide many nice gifts for people.

Dad and Abby's birthday had been on Tuesday and since we all love to draw birthday's out as long as possible we decided that a celebratory trip to the Jamestown Amish stores was in order. Abby received a little extra money for her birthday so she could purchase her share of cool things.

There were many lovely sights on the way in and through Jamestown. The Amish live simple, beneficial lives.

Our first stop of the day was the Amish furniture/ goods store. Most of us are suckers for a good piece of furniture.