Life

We watched this movie last night based on a review I received in an email from http://www.pluggedinonline.com/. It was AMAZING. You really must watch this film. It was SO wonderful to watch a movie w/human dignity.

The following was quoted from the actor who plays Jose in the movie and is taken from the aforementioned site. How refreshing it is! "We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful. I wasn't born to be famous, or rich, I was born to know and love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ." —actor Eduardo Verástegui, star of the film Bella. Verastegui was a popular telenovela star in Mexico before he rejected the stereotypical Latin lover roles he'd been playing in exchange for more family-oriented parts. He's critical of unwholesome media, which in his estimation includes such films as Million Dollar Baby and Cider House Rules. "Art and morality go hand in hand," he said. "God does not use evil means." [catholic.org, 5/15/07]

On a very similar note, I received word of this pro-life commercial advertisement. "The ad aired on BET in Chicago on Inauguration Day. It has become an Internet hit with over 700,000 views in seven days. The ad was in the top 10 ‘most viewed’ category on YouTube on Inauguration Day last week" (from that linked article). It's a really beautiful ad but NBC didn't want to show it during the Superbowl... What more should I expect from the world I guess?

Grace

Me and the ladies in the bible study I go to are reading "Hiding From Love" by Dr. John Townsend. There was something in the reading that really applied to how I've viewed good things vs. bad things in my life and how I've thought about myself. I thought I'd share it. Perhaps it will encourage someone else.

From page 98-99:

For a minute, think of a person with whom you feel very free in your life. This person may be undisciplined. He or she have a lot of problems. But there is one sure thing: you know this person loves you, good and bad. You feel forgiven; your badness doesn't make your friend nervous, critical, or withdrawing. It's just apart of the attachment. For all that person's weaknesses, he or she has chosen the "good part" that Mary did: to love you. (If we have to err on one side or another, God grant us grace to err on the side of love.)

I'll never forget the clearest example in my life of this principle. I went through college in the South in the early seventies. Like some of my friends, I'd grown a pretty lengthy head of hair, for various reasons: peer relationships, rebelliousness, experimenting w/adult decision-making, and so forth.

Back then, the South wasn't particularly fond of long-haired kids. Though I'm sure I asked for it, I was hurt by the reactions of some people.

One weekend home from college I paid a visit to my grandmother, who lived in a tiny rural town. Granny was petite, not much over five feet tall and in her seventies. She wasn't well-educated by today's standards. She'd farmed all her life. She'd raised six children. Granny was culturally the opposite of the open-minded, issue-sensitive adult.

After a few minutes in her home, Granny motioned to me. "Come outside, come outside," she commanded. Perplexed, I followed her into the front yard, where she had me stand still. Then, looking up at me, she smiled and said, "I just wanted to see your hair in the sunlight. The color comes out so pretty in the sunlight."

I can remember crying all the way back on my drive to the campus. A part of me that had brought me a lot of pain had been cherished by someone. Something that had been broken in me began healing.

That's what grace is about: not being afraid of imperfect things in ourselves or others, because of the relationship of grace to imperfection: there is always more grace than badness. As the Bible says, grace can - if we let it - always triumph over sin or evil: "And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20). If imperfection is a large landmass in our lives, grace is an ocean that can swallow it up. Badness will never compete with grace. It's not in the same league.

I am that perfectionist that can't see any good in myself. I just see the bad. Therefore it's hard to see God's grace. You know how you know something in your head but it doesn't quite connect to your every day life and mind? This helped me to connect a little more.

So I wrote in my journal, "I pray that all of my failures, my shortcomings, my 'should's' would be swallowed up in the ocean of Your grace - that you cherish ME."

Friday afternoon dates

A while back in Sunday School we were doing a video called Love & Respect. Emerson Eggerichs suggested that if he didn't his wife to accost him during his "transition" times to and from work, etc., he should set aside a time for her to talk to him. What he did w/his wife was to sit down in their bedroom alone at some point in the evening and visit with her even though the kids protested. Terry's idea for us was to have a weekly outing on Friday afternoons.

We started out just w/coffee... Well, neither of us really drank coffee but you get the idea. But a few weeks ago we decided to have a late lunch at Runza. What is Runza you may ask? It's a Nebraska fast food chain that we have grown to really love. A couple in our church owns it. But at first we were like, "Runza gives you the runza" and we were scared of their food. =) But as I said, we've grown to love it and now we go every week - the coupons help.

So, what do we do w/the kids? you may well wonder since the whole idea is to be, you know, ALONE. Our good friend Kathy Hult watches them for us for one hour every week! She's awesome and Noah really loves her. A couple weeks ago when it was cold, and therefore boring, and we were stuck inside, Noah repeatedly asked to go to Kathy's house (I'm working on him saying "Miss Kathy" b/c that's just nicer and more respectful).

Kathy loves it too. We were at their house earlier this week to work on her husband's, Dave, testimony for youth group when I discovered some new toys. I gave her a hard time b/c I knew why she bought them - for Noah and Evie! But she insisted they're also for future grand kids since her daughter just got married last year. So sweet!

I really love this time alone with Terry. I also really love the time away from the kids. I love them but dog gone it, I love getting away. And I really love Runza as well.

"Kaffry's house!"

Terry ordering w/a coupon from the sister of our church secretary. She always calls him "Pastor Terry." So weird for me, still (the title).
She took our picture when she brought our food. Terry is incapable of just smiling in a photo, just in case you were wondering. He has to be silly. =)

Dessert. Apparently I can be silly too...

The look from the outside. I love what the sign says, "Don't be silly try our chili!" He he.

Though I felt really silly taking pictures like a Nebraska tourist, I think it will be fun to look back on this sort of thing when we're older...especially since Terry can hardly remember last week =). Sorry Terry, I'm being too hard on you. Love you dude!

new growth

When little Evangeline was born almost 10 months ago she had a very full head of brown hair. Since then it's slowly fallen out...all except for the very top. It's like reversed balding. It's perfect for a mohawk, as the boys at youth group like to point out.

However, it's long enough now that it gets in her eyes and since she's sick, when she wipes her nose, which is often, she gets it in her hair! Uh, yuck.


So I decided it was time to re-visit the Pebbles hairdo. How cute right? Much cuter than the original.

Anyway, my point is that once I got all of her "old hair" up and out of the way it revealed all the new growth going on underneath - it's blond! Well, I knew it was there but you didn't. What's interesting about it though is that the old hair is still growing very brown, even right down at the roots and it doesn't seem like it's going to fall out...but who knows, maybe it will. And if it doesn't I guess she'll just be two-toned. That's better than highlights right? Two separate, distinct colors...?

See that one long strand of brown hair? Yeah.


She's all blond on this side though.

she's a girl

I have to throw this in to give Terry a hard time...

Last night was bath night and I did half of it while Terry finished dinner and then when he was done he finished washing, drying and lotioning the kids up (their skin is SO dry right now) and I washed the dishes. I was finishing the dishes when I heard Evie just wailing from the other room. She just kept going so I asked Terry, "What's wrong w/her?" To which he replied, "She's a girl."

...

Yeah, that's right folks. Can you believe it? "She's a girl." Apparently that's all that is wrong w/our sweet girl. It's because she's a girl that she's upset. Yeah, riiiiiight.

No, I have to say that logic is wrong. What was the problem was that she was sick, not that she is a girl. But Terry insists she's much more tender about these things b/c she is a girl. Well, perhaps so but still...

the many moods of Evie

Blotchy girl.
Poor Evangeline blotches terrible when she is left to cry too long like she was this morning. This is nothing on how red the spots can get...like in nursery when her mommy simply walks by the door without stopping to get her.

Sleepy girl.
She was left too long to cry b/c she woke early from a nap and I was hoping she'd go back to sleep.

Angry girl.
"Mom, pick me up right this instant. You know the only thing I like right now is to walk on my own two feet in front of you while holding your hands. So WHY am I stuck on my bottom?!!!" To which I reply, "Well dear, you are stuck b/c I am taking your picture ['I am not adorable! (like my shirt says)'] but also b/c I am tired of walking aimlessly around the house."


Curious girl
Evie found herself momentarily distracted from her troubles when she spotted the camera.

driving in the sun

There was great weather in Gothenburg most of last week. It was in the 60s (it was 6 degrees this morning)! Noah was watching me paint my board last week when he spotted one of his Christmas toys that was still in the box. Yeah, it's an outside toy for nice days so we just left it there.

So anyway, I asked Terry to put it together and 10 minutes later, KAZAM, Noah's Plasma car was ready to roll, literally.

My mom bought the Plasma car on sale at Toys-R-Us after she'd seen our Thanksgiving photos where Noah was playing w/his second cousins who had one. I wasn't sure he'd be able to figure out how to make it go, but he did pretty well. You have to turn it w/your hands, sorta angle the handle bars back and forth. So you have to constantly move the bars left and right to move but you also have to steer to make sure you don't go into the ridiculously close street (thanks for that one Gothenburg, but I guess at least we have a side walk at our house when half of the town doesn't...in the future I may have to take him kitty corner from our house to the "bus barn" to play). But as I said, he did pretty well. He didn't even want my help, which is saying something for this boy.

The boy starting out east on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Once I pulled him safely across the street ("hurry up Noah, cars are coming!"), daddy came behind w/Evie to watch. We're heading west across the street from our house now.

Afterwards we went to the school playground since it was so nice but had to leave since it was recess. Noah played in the dirt.

Evie watched jealously. She wanted to eat the dirt.

6 much needed hooks

After a week's hard work, we finally have a coat rack - home aid nonetheless!

Thanks to the Sioux Falls Library courtesy of Megan for the idea. And thanks to Terry for doing most of the work that he didn't want to do in the first place ("Why can't we just use the chairs indefinitely...That cheapo, chincy Menards rack is just fine..."). Seriously, thank you Terry. =)

So, the problem has been that we always use our back door that comes in from the garage instead of the front door where the coat closet is located. Not an issue in the summer when we don't use the coats at all but in the winter when we have both light and heavy jackets, they tend to pile up. Last winter I continually walked back and forth from the back door to the front closet to get our coats and than hang them back up when we got home. I was all done w/that this winter. Just call me lazy but it's kind of a long walk. Seriously, our house is long.

So, I spied a similar rack on Megan's blog and set out to find a similar one at the one place there might have been one - Menards. There was not a sufficient rack, contrary to what Terry said =). So, I convinced him that I could make one, which of course meant that he had to do most of it. I really should learn to use power tools and then I wouldn't have to bother him w/these things... At any rate, we bought some hooks at Walmart, a board and discounted paint from Gburg Hicken Lumber, and some 2 inch screws.

I'm tired of explaining. Come to think of it, I'm just plain tired tonight and Evie needs a bath and I still have to dance at Coronation. Here's the photos.

Our coat mess.

Noah next to the board.

The empty rack.

The completed rack and clean chairs.

sad sick girl

Pretty sad, right? My little girl is sick! Yes, she's either teething or sick or possibly she's sick and teething. I'm feeling a little under the weather myself but nothing on her... She's almost 10 months now and has no teeth so it's very possibly the toothers coming through.

.

Poor little squirrel girl has red eyes even though she gets plenty of sleep and has not been crying. She's cranky in a most un-Evie-like way. She's running a fever. She's tired right after a nap. She's got a runny nose.

.

Yeah, poor Evie. Her BFF right now is Baby Motrin every 6-8 hours.

can't think of a title

Just some random shots Terry took one night when we were playing.

Evie checking out her foot and sock.

She was kicking the way babies do. So cute. Actually, she looks just a little over excited or something...
Noah playing behind the curtains of the bay window.

BFFs

Last night at dinner Noah said the most random thing. Daddy had had a busy day and was only home for an hour in between meetings. At dinner, Noah was in his chair leaning over the corner of the table holding on to Daddy as much as he could when he looked at him and said, "Daddy, you're my best friend."

!!!!!

Then he went on to say it two more times in the course of our meal. Talk about a heart breaker!

new face on my face

So there you go! There I am w/my "new face." I kinda like it. But, does my nose always look that long? I guess now that I'm out of that really-awkward-and-terrible-self-conscious-want-to-get a-nose-job-junior-high phase, I haven't noticed my nose in a while.

Perhaps I just needed a change when I looked in the mirror, but I think I look alright in my sweet new glasses. Of course, don't get me wrong, it would be sweeter to have LASIX and not bother w/the glasses at all and just get bangs or something for a change... But you know, glasses are less expensive right now. However, I am still considering the bangs...

Anyway, all my ramblings aside, I really needed glasses. Check these old babies out:

Yeah. The reason they're so bad, if you couldn't tell, is that they have two different ear pieces neither of which were bound to hold out very much longer. See, I got these from Pillen Optical in Rapid for $50. Not bad except both ear pieces fell off sometime after we moved to Gothenburg!!! So the nice ladies at our optometrist's office put on spare pieces and told me they wouldn't hold for very long. I especially like the thin one that doesn't even set on my ear - I think it's b/c the other ear piece is too short and jams down hard on that ear which raises the other side which is too wimpy to hold any weight b/c of how skinny the ear piece is and how heavy the glasses are - a tri-fold problem if you couldn't follow that... So obviously there was nothing I could do to make them straight on my face.

It's a bummer that my eyes haven't changed b/c the old lenses were fine. But they just weren't going to last... Listen to me. I'm trying to justify new glasses. I must have been raised by someone who didn't like to spend money (...ha! hear hear!).

And one more pic in case you wanted to see the sweetest little girl (not me BTW). Oh, and speaking of sweet little girls, now I understand what Bono meant when he said, speaking of his firstborn daughter, "You understand why wars are fought, you understand why men want to own land, you understand why women are so smart, because they have to be" (U2 by U2). Thanks Bono.

Bottle time?

The last time we tried a bottle w/Evie was sometime this summer when my parents were here. I thought she would do well, but she didn't. She didn't like it one bit. So I had never tried on my own w/her since. But when she was a little unsatisfied before bed on Saturday, I thought I'd give it a try. She loved it! She thought the bottle was great fun too.

Sooooo... This means I can possibly go back to work!!! Well, that is, if I can get my poop in a group, if there's any openings here and if they'll work w/my demands. Yes, my demands - ONE day-shift a week, if that. I will not work nights ever again. EVER AGAIN.

I had a bad experience at RCRH w/the shift work and the stress - I turned into a crazed insomniac. I thought it would get better when we moved but apparently that stressor only made it worse. So last year while I was pregnant w/Evie, I was pretty much a mess 24/7 living w/3-4 hours of sleep a night, consecutively. Yuck. And I'm still struggling. I'm still not normal yet. Ug.

Anyway, I think I would like to get out of the house like once a week or once every two weeks. The income would of course be nice, but just mostly for my sanity. Social opportunities are hard to come by for me...I can be awkward shy like I'm still in junior high! This way, I can't avoid them!

haircuts and bath time

We gave Noah a haircut Tuesday night... We decided not to take him to the salon anymore, that I should start doing it myself again. If you remember this, then you'll understand why.

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I am getting better w/the clippers, but the longest guard I have is only one inch, so his hair is shorter than I would like it to be. Perhaps some day I will learn to use the scissors. At any rate, he looks good. It just takes some getting used to.

Oh, and we had to give him a bath right afterwards b/c of the little itchy hairs leftover on his neck and face. Perhaps Noah gets that aversion from Terry - Terry also got his haircut that day, but not by me, and had to come home to wash his hair out in the tub. =) So that's what these pictures are from. Mostly Evie though =). Cute little squish, as we call her.

See? Look at how loveably squishy she is! Oh, and her hair is funny wet like that b/c Noah was pouring little bits of water on her head...

No bangs for that boy anymore...or hardly any.

I can't get enough of those cheeks baby.

Gummers

The boy haircuts.

Creature Cake

So, as mentioned before hand, here's our Creature Cake video.

**As an aside, I'm excited about posting videos b/c I just figured out how to embed them! So, if my overzealous excitement makes it seem like I'm too eager to share our creativity, just ignore that. I'm just excited.**

So, the video. It was filmed only a week or two into our (Terry and I) dating relationship - August 2002. We were hanging out w/some friends; Adam Crumpton and Joel and Julie Bates. Joel is Terry's bff from high school and Terry met Adam at Moody and he lived w/the Biers for a couple summers. Adam did most of the recording in the video so you don't see him much, except for the monster in the very first scene and his hand at the end.

Anyway, the premise of the video is that Terry and I are married and we're meeting my "brother's" (Joel) "girlfriend" (Julie) for the first time. But they never show up b/c the monsters get them... It's just kind of random and funny. I love it.

And by the way, it's so fuzzy looking b/c we couldn't get the VHS into a digital format so we just re-recorded it off the tv onto our digital camera...

Enjoy!



The "diddly doo, diddly doo" at the end is from Wayne's World...
Also, my face when he does that... It's exactly the same as it would be if he had done something silly now. Scrunch my face and eye roll. Ah, good times.

Dance War

I'll try not to be condescending...(ha ha) I don't think I've mentioned that I had the lead in my 7th grade play, Break a Leg. Apparently, I still have some acting skills, as this video showcases. Who would have thought that shy Eva was such a wacko?

Ever since Terry received Family Force Five's CD in the mail for the youth group and we listened to and loved it, we've wanted to make a dancing music video of their song Dance or Die.

Actually, the process was more involved. Terry had seen them in concert twice and liked them, even though they're completely crazy. Good for adolescent boys like the 2 he was with - lotza screaming and rolling around on the stage and dancing like maniacs. Anyway, Terry also has a history of making silly movies - 2 Cops and 1 Outer Limits and 1 Creature Cake w/me... I have to get that one up here as well (they're on facebook if you care to see them there). At any rate, all those experiences made us want to do something silly over Christmas w/our family. This is what we came up with. And can I get a high five for Terry for putting this video together so great? Super swell job hon!

fun in the snow

Sweet hat, right?

After lunch on Christmas day, while Evie was sleeping, we all headed out to play in the snow on the ranch. The snow from the huge blizzard in November was still there in the drifts, but they were bigger again b/c of all the snow they'd been getting since. It seems like there was never a white Christmas when we lived there! It was so pretty.

It had been below zero every day until this day so even though it was just above freezing (if that), it felt quite warm to us. Terry pulled Noah and I around in that huge sled behind the 4 wheeler (I have fond memories of doing this b/c this was what I did w/Terry the first time I hung out w/him when I came to visit Shari at the ranch during Spring Break 2002). We went in a few fields and on the gravel road. He only dumped us once, which is my favorite part. But I felt a little bad since I landed on my belly w/Noah directly underneath me. =) Snap, who we had scooped up since he was chasing us, ducked out before or during the actual dumping so he was safe.

When Terry took us back to the house for Noah to explore the drifts, Shari wanted to go so Jesse drove her and I. He did pretty well but slowed down enough on the road for us to catch up with him and then accelerated again which dumped us in the ditch. There was lots of soft snow there so we forgave him. I thought it was great! Shari on the other hand, didn't have on snow pants.

The super huge snow drift to the north east of the house. If you could measure down to the bare ground, it had be at least 10 feet tall. With the snow at the bottom it was probably closer to 6ft.
Noah exploring. He could just walk right over the barbed wire.

The lovebirds w/the sun to their back.

Nice. See how high up they are in relation to the trees and house?!

Apparently Shari's boots lacked traction b/c she biffed it. I think Jesse is laughing at her... =)

I jumped from the top of the drift w/Noah on my lap. He's okay - just looks smooshed but he's really not.

Snap jumped after us.

Jesse was throwing snow up in the air while Shari tried to block it and Terry tried to get the shot

I like this one b/c it kinda looks artificial - like that's a fake canvas background behind them in a studio.

Me relaxing in my sweet borrowed snow pants...and coat and gloves.