Back in Minnesota for the Ostercamp's

Alise is Eleven!!

2012-01-11T13:16:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to Alise! Our sweet girl turns 11. We are so happy to have Alise a part of our family. She is a beautiful, smart, and kind girl! Alise is a great friend to all!

Busy December

2011-12-16T18:32:00.010-06:00

The Stockings are Hung by the Chimney with Care!

Thank you, Cindy, for the great pattern! They were a lot of fun to make.

Christmas at the Court made it's first annual celebration. We had many church people over for a great time of singing and fellowship. And of course we had the eggnog and Christmas cookies.
Lovely flowers sent from Ostercamp Parents. Thank you! They made the home feel more Christmassy!

The tree is ready courtesy of Dave chopping it down from the back yard. First and last time for that. :)

Many of the cookies were provided by our friend, Bev, from church! I also have to give my mom, mother-in-law, and myself credit. Group effort!

Happy Birthday Luke! 9 years old!

Luke with his buddies from school. We kept the party simple and had 3 friends over for a fun scavenger hunt (sisters against the birthday boys) prepared by his dad.

The inspiration for the cake was the hunt that they would be taking, thus the treasure chest with question marks cake was what Luke requested.

Posted by: Anita O.

Christmas Countdown 2011

2011-12-01T22:55:00.004-06:00

We are back on the Blog! I would like to give a shout out to Greta! Thank you for your patience. :) We have had months of change so the Blog has suffered! But, now it is Christmas time and posting on the Blog is a good idea. Here we have our Countdown to Christmas chart all ready to go for another year. Emily was hesitant about being in the picture so her dad had to administer some persuasion. The kids and I finished the work on the chart and then their dad quickly wrote the surprise under day one while they hid in the basement. Alise was the lucky on to pull of day one. Lucky for them it was their dad that wrote the surprise for today because I would have written "Each kid gets 5 m&ms" and that would have been fine. But, instead they got to go to Dairy Queen with dad.

Coming up we have quite a large weekend. Luke turns 9 years old on Sunday. We are having a few of his friends over on Saturday after Christmas program practice of which I am helping to direct. Then on Sunday is our Church Christmas open house at our home. I love this time of year!

Natalie's 6th Birthday Bash!

2011-03-25T14:16:00.005-05:00

Here's a quick recap of Natalie's 6th Birthday. Josh and Holly and Seth and Angie were here! We had Natalie's 3 friends from the neighborhood join us for the celebration.

Natalie got nail polish and boy did she have fun with that! Can you guess which number is Dave's feet?

Below is Ana, Wesley, Natalie, and Linnea at Chuck E Cheese. Fun!!!!??
Natalie insisted on a Kung Fu Panda cake this year. This was my attempt.

Cousins & Emi Basketball

2011-03-12T09:31:00.005-06:00

I had to get a picture of the Bergmeier and Ostercamp Cousins all together. We had such a nice visit to Kentucky. We swam and walked and talked and played! Thanks for the fun, Bergmeier's!

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Peterson 5 -6 Girls Basketball Team made it to the Playoffs! They were coached by Dave Ostercamp and Matt Ostercamp. One of their captains and talented player was Emily Ostercamp! It was a fun season and wonderful effort by all!

Back Row: Dave, Chichi, Marissa, Mercy, Katarina, Taussin, Isma, Emily, Andrea, Matt

Front Row: Hannah, Reagan, Sophia, Emily, Amena, Amira

Posted By: Anita O.

Awana Contest

2011-02-22T13:34:00.005-06:00

Wacky Hair Night at Awana proved to be a success for Luke and Natalie! Natalie won the girl's division with a large ring as her prize. And Luke won the boys division with a toy car prize (of which he gave away to a boy that cried really hard when he was not the winner).

Of course, it helped that they were boosted by each others vote because who wouldn't vote for your own sibling? :)

And as usual, Natalie always has a silly pose to give.

I needed to post our trip to Kentucky, but I thought that I would slip these pictures in quick so be looking for Kentucky pictures tomorrow or the next day!

Posted by: Anita O.

Time to Update!

2011-02-17T16:15:00.005-06:00

Dear Friends and Family that are so kind to check our Blog every once in a while!

We have been terrible Bloggers lately!! There is not much to report from here, but I will try to give a summary:

Emily: Playing basketball with great leadership and skill! Still gets herself up early in the morning for band and basketball practice on most mornings. Enjoys youth group at church and hanging out with her dad at home.

Alise: Learning Spanish after school 2 days a week. Can't wait for running club to start. Patiently teaches her sister,

Natalie, all that she can. Loves hanging out with her friends and wishes for 3 dogs. Shopping is her favorite activity!

Luke: Needs more space to run and sport around. Loves his time in the gym after church every Sunday where we usually drag him out of all sweaty and happy. Has a talent for drawing! Is a super North Park Vikings fan! Still talks a lot!

Natalie: Loves anything that her sister, Alise, enjoys. Is learning how to read and write better. Loves to make friends, especially friends above the age of 18. Knows how to make her brother yell. Will gladly clean anyones kitchen floor and dust the whole house - busy work is her forte!

Dave: Finishing up his last semester with gusto! Looking forward to May 14!

Anita: Loves the warm weather this week! Financial Aid is still the best job!

All for now! Hopefully the next Blog Update will be soon and exciting. :)

Seminary Friends: Natalie, Emily, Luke, Ethan, Karsten, Alise, Kyra, Amara

The Great Viking Fan!

Looking Fancy

Emily #12

The kids

Birthday present to add to her dog collection

Posted By: Anita O.

Happy Birthday Grandma Pizza

2010-12-18T16:18:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to my Mom! I hope you are having a fantastic day and I wonder if you can figure out the meaning behind these pictures?

Kid Update

2010-11-08T23:57:00.006-06:00

Mya Williams came to Chicago in October for a visit. She did come with her parents and we all had a really great time. Natalie loved having her turn to hold Mya. Natalie is my busy girl. She loves a task whether it be cleaning floors, putting away groceries, or holding a sweet baby. She is eager to help. Today while I was cooking dinner, Natalie declared that she was "usable". I questioned her definition and sure enough, she said that she was bored but that she could be used to help out - usable.

Alise had a 4th grade project due a few weeks ago. She was to research Harriet Tubman and write facts about her, make a puppet, and then dress as Harriet Tubman to do a presentation before her class. Alise was very impressive! Of course, I am a bit bias. I tried to put the video of her on this blog update, but it didn't work. I'll work on something for you, Mom! :)

Emily and I went to Minneapolis to visit my sister and meet her new baby girl, Hannah. What a joy it was to spend some time with my sister and her family. Emily was a great help and she was a joy to travel with!

Luke has often said that he would like to be a professional colorer when he grows up. I have talked him through this and he agrees that being an architect would be fun. So I think that it's all settled. Luke is going to play professional baseball and then retire and be an architect. :) Well, wouldn't ya know! Luke entered a fall coloring contest at a local park and today we found out that he won! His winnings: big pack of DOTS and a gift card to Dunkin Donuts! I'm just sad that I never took a picture of his coloring exhibit.

Another festive Halloween: Emi and Alise are dice, Natalie is a Home Depot worker, and Luke is Darth Vader.

Posted by: Anita O.

Chicago Marathon

2010-10-11T08:23:00.005-05:00

Hurray! I had a goal to run the Chicago Marathon this October. I had decided that training for the marathon would give me a chance to have more discipline and fitness in my life. I knew that if I was going to run a Marathon, I would have no choice but to routinely exercise. I had a rough last month of training because of a pulled leg muscle, but I just wanted to finish what I had started. I finished the marathon in 6 hours and 48 minutes! It took longer to finish than I would have liked, but my goal was to finish so I am very happy! I am so thankful to God for getting me through it! I can't tell you how many times I called out to Him. :)

My running buddy! Dave ran with me the last 5 miles and what a great help that was to me!

I was told that after they saw me at mile 5, Natalie announced that they were finished and it was time to go home. Good thing she had no idea how long she still had to wait. :)

This is my cheering section. I should have a picture of all of you cheering for me from home too! Your words of encouragement and prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

Quick Update from Anita

2010-08-17T16:40:00.004-05:00

Natalie and Dave enjoying banana cream pie in Lake Geneva, WI

Luke, Emily, Alise, and Natalie at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Ostercamp and Bailey Cousins

The Family

Ostercamp, Lenz, and Bergmeier Cousins with the Grandparents

Yes, it's Anita again. Please continue to bug Dave to make more posts! I'll keep putting pictures on to keep the blog as current as possible, but Dave is the real writer! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the past months. We hope your summer has been great! Enjoy this last month before fall!

Picture Summary of our Past Month

2010-06-15T13:01:00.008-05:00

In reverse order from May 28 to June 12, here is our summary. I tried to compact it all, but you can click on the pictures to see them better.

We had to say good-bye to Oscar and Lina. They went back to Sweden and will finish their studies there. We are so blessed to have had these friends here during our first two years at North Park. We will miss them greatly. (June 12)

Blackhawks Fever (June 11)

For our Marklund good-bye party, we went to play Whirlyball. So much fun! (June 9)

Dori and Sylvia came to visit us. We took them to the Shedd Aquarium and enjoyed having them hang around Chicago with us for a few days. Natalie and Sylvia even fell down outside the Shedd and scraped their knees up at the same time. True friends. (June 7)

Grandpa and Grandma O came for a weekend visit and we went to Lake Michigan. The kids are always up for a swim even in cloudy and cold weather! (June 5)

Alise ran a 5K run with her Girls on the Run group. She and I ran together and Alise was great! (June 5)

We enjoyed some Willmar fun in the sun over the Memorial weekend. Emily got to hang out with her friend, Kayla, all weekend. We also had a nice visit with my family, but I was a poor picture taker in Bloomington. (May 30)

Ahhh, the Twins! We enjoyed a game at the new Target Field. The Carlson's and William's joined us in Minneaoplis to watch the Twins. Our night was super fun!! (May 28)

The Pains of Losing a Tooth!

2010-05-05T13:34:00.007-05:00

Look at this loose tooth! For weeks, no, months! - we couldn't look at Luke's smart face without seeing this dangling tooth that lived in his mouth. We tried to bribe Luke with extra money if he'd let us pull the tooth out. Even people outside of our family tried to convince Luke to let them pull his tooth. One night, Dave tried to yank out the tooth while Luke was sleeping! (Probably not a good parent moment, but Luke doesn't know because he never woke up.)

I got so desperate to get the tooth out of Luke's mouth and convinced him to tie a string around it so that he could easily yank it out of there (I took some tugs too). As you can see, that didn't totally go over well and it didn't even work!

Finally! On Sunday morning, Luke bit into a donut and out came the tooth. Who would have thought that a trip to Dunkin' Donuts would do the trick!

Posted by: Anita O.

The Perks of Living in Chicago

2010-04-18T13:52:00.004-05:00

Recently, I have witnessed 4 perks of living in Chicago. I have pictures to prove it! The first 2 pictures show off the first perk: when the Twins are in town, we can easily head to the Cellular field to cheer them on. Someone in our family actually enjoyed attending all three of the games that the Twins played. (Picture 1: Lonnie Moore was here checking out NPU.)

My dear friend, Marybeth, whom I've known since high school, contacted me as she was on her way to Ethiopia and would have 5 hours in Chicago. So I picked her up at the airport and we enjoyed Chicago pizza together. I was so glad to connect with Marybeth again - another perk of living in the city of Chicago.

Dave was handed four free tickets to the Cubs game last Thursday. So, we cleared our afternoon schedule, made a plan for the kids, called a couple of friends to join us, and headed to Wrigley field for a beautiful afternoon of baseball! Yes, the third perk is a baseball thing again, but that's our family for ya.

The fourth perk is FAMILY! Dave's sister and family came down to Chicago for Saturday as she lives a short distance away in Milwaukee. So we went to the Aquarium together and it was a very fun day! Dave's brother and wife live two miles away (Matt went with us to the Twins game last week but I don't have picture proof), and it's just so fun to have the siblings close! Becky and Krista - you are close to us in our hearts. :)

So there you have it, Chicago does have it's perks!

Fun Friday

2010-04-10T00:32:00.007-05:00

The kids and I went downtown for a Dairy Queen treat today as they had today off of school. I had gotten some coupons for blizzard treats so we took the L train to the Thompson Center. These are a few pictures to show off our day. Natalie is showing her grumpy face when she discovered all of the icecream was gone. But, then the next picture shows how quickly she can get over her sadness.

Sleep

2010-03-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

I like to think of myself as a fairly optimistic person. The only time my optimism seems to fail me on a consistent basis is the first hour of every day. If you are one of those people who wakes up with ‘Folgers in your cup’ excited for all the possibilities of the day, I have a hard time relating to you. My seven year old son Luke, however, you could be best friends with him. For him each day is an adventure to embark upon. This means that he and I often do better in different rooms in the morning, as I’m not always ready for his level of optimism. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want him to lose his enthusiasm for life, I just want to make sure that he keeps it to socially acceptable levels. Ultimately my goal is to learn from Luke and to eventually be able to meet him in the middle. Although at times I enjoy my less than enthusiastic approach to the morning (and lets be honest you kind of enjoy it as well, right?); however, I do not believe it is a good thing. Thankfully I think I may have stumbled on a solution that doesn’t involve coffee.

Recently I was struck by how Jesus and his disciples use the word for sleep in the Bible. By my count the words for sleep are used 40 times in the New Testament. 21 times they are used to mean sleep like you and I do every night, well for some of you I should say most every night. However, 19 times the New Testament writers use the words for sleep where the words for death would be much more appropriate. Of course this was as strange back then as it would be now. Imagine if someone close to you died and you tell a friend who responds with the line, “they are not dead they are only sleeping”. (Matthew 9:23-26) One could see how some sarcastic laughter might be in order at such an occasion, which is exactly what happened to Jesus. They laughed at Him for his choice of words because everyone knew that the person wasn’t sleeping. That person had died (Matthew 9:23-25). Only a child would confuse a dead person for a person who was sleeping.

There are some similarities to sleeping and death is there not? As a parent I love to watch my kids sleep, they are so comfortable, beautiful, and peaceful when they sleep. They do not seem to have a care in the world, which is just how a parent wants their child. Plus it is super fun to mess with them when they are asleep by lightly tickling their face, giving them a kiss, moving their arms and legs, or pouring just a small amount of water on their forehead. Try it on someone you live with if you haven’t already, they will love you for it.

If you think about it, it is pretty crazy to lay down each night and allow yourself to slip into an unconscious state where you are totally vulnerable and oblivious to the world. Also amazing is the ability to maintain confidence that each morning you will awake to life. It really is like a miracle! And that is exactly the point the New Testament writers were trying to make. As we approach Easter this spring may you be reminded that each day you wake up and smell that “Folgers in your cup”, remember that death is not the final answer. The miracle of the resurrection is true (John 14:1-3; John 3:16, etc.)! If this reminder each morning of my future does not help cure my morning blues, well, I just might have to start drinking that lousy coffee. Sleep, for Christ followers, is in fact a better word than death. For just as you arise each morning, you will arise again to eternal life. Only a child would mistake a dead person for a person sleeping. May you have the faith of a child.

Olympics

2010-02-20T00:20:00.004-06:00

At North Park I have a new job in which I oversee the athletic chaplaincy program for University Ministries. Our goal is to support coaches and athletes by providing a chaplain for every sports team. In an effort to provide spiritual support to this important group of people I am writing frequent e-mails to encourage and challenge our athletes and coaches. Here is the first installment.

My family and I have been swept up in the Olympic Spirit this past week. There have been some great stories. Lindsey Vonn won gold in the downhill despite battling a serious injury to her shin. Chicago native, Shani Davis, became the first man to ever win back-to-back gold medals in the 1000-meter speed skating race, and another Chicagoan, Evan Lysacek, upset the favored Russian figure skater, Plushenko, to claim Gold for the USA.

What has been really interesting to me has been the post-event interviews of the athletes. A tearful Lindsey Vonn stated, “I’ve worked so hard for this. It means everything to me that’s why I work hard, that’s why I’m in the gym.” When Shani Davis was asked what the win meant he said, “Shows that hard work pays off.” Now, I do not doubt that these athletes worked hard. I am not arguing that their gold medals show hard work paying off. I believe they are right. Paul says in Galatians 6 that a man “reaps what he sows.” I grew up in Nebraska and Iowa so I know without a doubt that if in the spring you plant one seed of corn then in the fall you will not harvest wheat, or soy beams, but in fact you will harvest corn. That is simply just how God has set up the world because God has set the world up to run by set principles. For example, if you jump out the window, you will fall. If you stick your hand on a hot stove, your body will immediately let you know that that was not a good idea. If you are the hardest working athlete in the world or on your team, you will experience success. You reap what you sow. In fact the principle of reaping and sowing tells us that in this world we reap what we sow, we reap later than we sow, and we reap much more than we originally sow. I’ve been involved in athletics my whole life and experienced a lot of good things because I sowed such things into my career as hard work and maximum effort. This is what Lindsey Vonn and Shani Davis experienced and referenced in their interview, and it is what many of you have experienced in one way or another in your life.

What struck me though as I watched the interviews was this thought, “What would have the losers said if they had pulled out a win?” There was a gal from Sweden who was one jump away from a coveted silver medal in the down-hill; however, she experienced a crazy wipe-out going over 60 miles per hour. Instead of a gold medal, she received a knee brace. In the same race another gal from France tore a ligament in her knee no more than 10 feet into the race of her life. A Japanese figure skater broke a shoelace in the middle of his Olympic routine. Are you kidding me, a shoelace ruins a life long dream? Did these athletes lose because they spent one less day in the gym than the winners? I don’t think so. I think that if things had worked out differently, these athletes who lost would have rightly cited their hard work and maximum effort as the reason they won a medal. I think everyone in athletics knows stories of a freak injury, a bad call by an official, an unlucky bounce, or frayed shoelace that derailed dreams. Unfortunately, this is all true in life as well because athletics mirrors life. Sometimes the righteous suffers, and it doesn’t make sense to us because that is not the way the world is supposed to work. In those instances we reap what we have not sown, and it is confusing and disheartening. I believe that this happens because this world is a broken place. There is sin in our world and things do not always happen as they should. Now I don’t want to be a complete “Debbie Downer”. There is good news. The good news is that the principle of reaping and sowing holds true. We do in fact reap what we sow even in this sinful world. We know that there is so much joy and reward in working and sacrificing for a goal that in the end we achieve. The other good news is that God is the one thing in the world that we can completely trust and count on. Jesus has defeated sin (John 16:33). God has assured us that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5) and that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:31-39). God has promised us that one day sin will finally be done away with forever and we will live with Him in a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21).

The question that we all must face is one of trust. Since I have already fessed up to my farming heritage, I’ll make reference to one more saying that is heard on the farm. The saying is “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Of course this isn’t a good idea because if you slip on something the cow left behind and drop the basket, all of your profits and breakfast is gone. I am thankful that in this world where “not putting all your eggs in one basket” is good advice, we have a God who can be completely trusted with everything we have. The question is what or who are you trusting for your joy, your purpose, your self-esteem, and your salvation?

Finally

2010-02-08T13:58:00.004-06:00

There is not a lot of news to report here in the Ostercamp household. Thus the reason why our blog has been so quiet. We have had some visitors in the past month, but my picture-taking has not been great. Angie B. came on January 7, the Carlson's came on the 16th, and Janell came on the 29th. We had much fun with all of them! Now we are in the school and Seminary routine. Emily has been busy with band and basketball. Alise has been taking piano lessons and she is in knitting club. Alise is also looking forward to being in the running club at school starting in March. Luke is still talking a lot. He enjoys reading and anything sports with his dad. Natalie loves to play with her friends and siblings, but she also plays really well on her own at home. I here her whispering as she plays "school" by herself right now. Natalie and I had a photo shoot just now so that you would have something visual from us. Our kids are looking forward to spending some time with there Aunt and Uncle and cousins this weekend! They have 3 days off of school this week so they are headed to Milwaukee. Fun!

Ostercamp Family Christmas Program

2009-12-27T10:09:00.003-06:00

Aunt Becky and Aunt Sarah used their accomplished early childhood education skills to organize an excellent reenactment of the Christmas story with the nieces and nephews. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas from Iowa!

2009-12-26T18:10:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas, friends and family! We are having a festive time here in Iowa. The snow and fun has been plentiful. The above is a snapshot of our time on Christmas vacation so far. From top: Emily and I in the new tunnel that Dave and uncles made, Natalie and Jonathan in the tunnel, all of the kids at the kid table on Christmas day, Alise - Natalie - Luke - Emily on the snow mound, the snow, all of the Ostercamp grandkids around the tree, playing art with Aunt Sarah, Dave and Katelyn, Emily making pies with Aunt Unity, Jonathan and Natalie.

Posted by: Anita O.

The Blizzard Ball Drops...

2009-12-25T20:31:00.004-06:00

The Blizzard ball drops to kick off the celebration of the "Blizzard of the Century!"

2008-2009....You're Unbelievable!

2009-11-12T14:13:00.002-06:00

The other day a picture flashed up on my computer that showed me and 29 of some of the greatest people on God’s green earth kneeling and smiling in front of a beautiful Ecuadorian river. When I saw the picture, I just froze and stared at it, struck by all the drastic and tragic changes that have happened to those 29 people, their families and friends, and me since that beautiful Ecuadorian afternoon.

I clearly remember the day the picture was taken. The picture captured my last mission trip to Ecuador with First Covenant Church. Going into the trip I was excited to end my twelve years of ministry with a mission trip, but I knew it wasn’t the smartest idea. You see it was already going to be hard enough to leave all these people that I had loved and had grown so close to. I knew that having the shared experience of a trip to Ecuador so close to when my family was moving to Chicago was only going to exacerbate the problem. However, this trip had been planned long before I got the hair-brained idea to move to Chicago so I had decided to maximize my enjoyment of this last experience. The day we took that picture was definitely a bittersweet day as I knew that in two weeks my moving van would be loaded and we would be moving from the only town my family had known. I wasn’t looking forward to that.

What I thankfully did not know was that grieving the nine-hour separation between Willmar and Chicago would only be the beginning of our grief. It was a normal November morning when I received a terrible phone call that informed me that Morgan Cline, (the red-haired young lady in the picture kneeling in front of me in a black sweat shirt) who was a loved & cherished young woman in our youth group for the last six years, had been tragically killed in a car accident. I was shocked and stunned and I immediately made plans to fly back to Minnesota. A day or so later I landed in Minneapolis for Morgan’s funeral and as soon as I landed, I got a call from two of my best friends in the world Matt and Janell Williams. I was expecting to visit them that day to see their one-week-old baby Ethan. I was hoping to celebrate with them as they waited for Ethan to undergo surgery before they could take him home for good. Instead the day turned into a day from hell. On the phone Matt managed to tell me that during the night Ethan had experienced massive bleeding on his brain and was in serious trouble. I immediately went to the hospital. That horrible Saturday ended with Ethan leaving this world to be with Jesus. The people of First Covenant Church then experienced four days straight attending either a wake or a funeral as we mourned together. After the four emotionally draining days we reluctantly went back to Chicago.

Unbelievably the phone rang again, a short nine months later, on a random August afternoon. Again it was terrible news, Jenna (the tall blonde girl in the yellow sweatshirt) another beloved youth group member had died in another car accident. I literally fell to my knees and wept. I view the students in my youth group as if they are members of my own family. I have always felt so blessed to have such a large family, and I couldn’t believe that Jenna and Morgan had died. In twelve years I had now buried four of my students, four members of our family. Unbelievably two of those 29 people were gone in less than a year. In August 2009, we again gathered with our First Covenant family and mourned together before returning home to Chicago.

I recently heard a pastor say in a sermon that loss is a part of life but that we were never meant to experience loss alone. I think that there is a lot of wisdom in those words. I am very thankful to say that we have not had to grieve alone in our new home. We have been supported by many of our new Chicago friends who are literally from all around the world. Grief as it turns out is a world-wide phenomenon. We have also been supported by our amazing family, some of which now live very close to us and others who have visited us and spent a lot of time with us during this year. Finally, we have been supported by what I am certain is a seminary record number of visitors. From the day we moved into the Seminary last August until now we have had (not counting our families), visitors in our apartment for at least 72 days! That is 2 and ½ months worth of visitors! On average that is almost one day a week for the entire time we have been in Chicago! What a humbling, life-giving, and needed support this has been to my family. I believe that the people you need in your life the most during a time of grief are those people who are grieving with you. We are so thankful for all of you who have taken the time, money, and energy to come and spend some great days with this crazy family in Chicago. Your pictures flash up on our computer often and for you we give thanks.

FUN-EXCELLENT-REALLY FUN (Luke's title)

2009-11-06T16:33:00.008-06:00

We had a super fun time with Matt and Janell Williams. They surprised Emily and brought her very good friend, Kayla Rudie, with them. We enjoyed playing games, visiting the Shedd Aquarium, and eating a free Chipotle meal (by putting tinfoil on your person, Chipotle paid the bill for a burrito!). On the day that we went to the aqaurium, the kids all dressed in their costumes just to be festive. I'll not say more and let the pictures do the talking!

At Shedd wearing the penguin outfits (except for Natalie because she's a pickle head)

Alise, Kayla, Emily, Natalie, Luke

Janell, Anita, Lina, Oscar, Dave, Matt

Posted By: Anita O (and Luke)

IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!

2009-10-27T23:18:00.002-05:00

[pictures are here!]

The best/worst thing about teaching is that it is difficult to tell someone else to do something that you aren’t doing. The best/worst thing about teaching the Bible is that it isn’t just cute information to tuck away in the recesses of your mind but instead it messes with your life!

So last week I’m teaching a class on the Ten Commandments, we were on the Sabbath command, and before I knew it I say something like, “We are missing the boat if we discuss the commands but don’t make any changes to our everyday life.” AHHHHH now I had to do something.

Frankly, I haven’t been a very good Sabbath keeper lately. Ohh I know there is worse but I didn’t have much time in my life for rest. I would go to Church (a GREAT Sabbath practice by the way), watch some football (a marginally good Sabbath practice), take a nap (a good Sabbath practice) and then do a lot of homework (a terrible Sabbath practice).

So in a grateful response to a God who created us, sustains us, came to earth to live for us, died for us, conquered sin, death, and the devil for us, and gave us all the many good things in our lives I decided that we going to keep a Sabbath. After all if the Almighty God has done all these things for us then I think it is safe to assume that God has our best interest in mind.

A Jewish Rabbi once told me that Jews believe that they have spent 1/7 of their lives in heaven because every Sabbath they have spent worshipping God and spending time with friends and family. I also find it interesting that they start their day with rest as each day starts at sundown. Hey it’s Wednesday time to go to bed. It’s a different way to live. It seems that rest is viewed as a gift, something to look forward to, and cherish. It was instituted at creation (God rested the 7^th day) and given to the people in the commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Interestingly it is the longest commandment as it is very concerned that the powerful allow the less powerful a chance to rest as well. For those of us, like myself, who are powerful in our culture it is our own dumb fault if we don’t take time to rest so last Saturday we, The Ostercamp’s, began to celebrate the Sabbath!

We decided to follow fairly closely to a Jewish model as they have been doing this for a long time. So last Saturday we went out and bought two very large candles. You see our goal is to prepare for the Sabbath as if it is a guest that is soon arriving to our house. We will strive to clean the house, prepare the food, and finish our homework as the time arrives for the guest to come. At sundown on Saturday the oldest woman in our house (on Saturday it was my wonderful Mom who happened to be in town for our first ‘official’ Sabbath celebration) lights the two candles.

Why two candles? In Exodus the commandment starts with remember. In Deuteronomy the commandment starts with observe. The remember candle points to the Exodus to remember the wonderful and amazing things God has done in our life, remember God’s grace! The right response to an amazing gift is to observe what the gift giver tells us. So each Sabbath we remember who God is and we remember why and for what reason we observe!

After the candles are lit the eldest woman says a prayer for the family and we read a blessing that says, “Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to be a light to the nations and who gave to us Jesus our Messiah the light of the world.” We then read the Scripture passages that will be read in the Church the next morning as we begin to prepare for worship.

Until the sun goes down on Sunday night our goal is to do very little work. Cleaning, cooking, homework, work pertaining to our jobs, doing bills, etc are to be avoided. Part of the point is trust. Do I believe that if I take a day off my world is not going to fall apart? Do I believe that I am not that important to the office, my studies, the family routine, etc. Instead we worship God and do activities that improve the lives of others and bring life to us. On the Sabbath we go to Church, spend time with friends, play as a family, watch football, nap, play a sport, garden, volunteer, and try in vain to beat Anita in Settlers.

The big question is of course how committed to this are we? That’s a question I am asking myself even today. It’s cute and fun for one week but could we actually live our lives this way month after month and week after week? Only with great intentionality, and only if we begin to really value the Sabbath. This will continue only if we work so that we can rest instead of resting so that we can work. I realize that we made a pretty significant change in our routine which makes it much more difficult to continue over the long haul. We will see where our Sabbath practice takes us, where is your Sabbath practice taking you?

Hashkiveinu

2009-09-26T22:26:00.005-05:00

This summer I took two classes of Hebrew. One of the best parts of Hebrew is that it was obviously created by a fellow left-hander! No more smearing my writing while I drag my hand through the letters I had just scribbled, no more curving my wrist in a feeble attempt to please my 3rd grade teacher by getting my letters to slant the 'correct' way, and no more flipping through the pages of my book awkwardly with my right hand! Hebrew books are read from the 'back' to the front and the sentences are read and written from right to left. This is obviously the divine language!

I say that of course somewhat in jest, but it is one of the languages that our Lord and Savior spoke. It is mind blowing to read and write as Jesus did when He lived amongst us. Hebrew is not only very beautiful when it is written or spoken, but I think it is especially beautiful when it is sung. During one of our class periods we had a guest professor come and teach us a song in Hebrew called, "Hashkiveinu." It is a song that is sung by many Jewish families and is a regular part of Jewish worship. I was told that this song has been sung in the Synagogues for hundreds of years, in fact it dates all the way back to the first century. This of course means that there is a decent chance, maybe even a very good change that Jesus Himself would have sung this (of course to a different tune) at His synagogue or even at His house with His mother and father. I thought that this was pretty incredible, so I immediately taught it to my kids. I mean, if Jesus might have sung it, I figured it wouldn't hurt us to learn it - right? Hashkiveinu, I'm happy to say, is now our regular bed time song. The words simply mean, "Lay us down to sleep Adonai (Lord) our God in peace, and raise us again our King to life." Here is a rendition for you to enjoy. I'm sure Mary, Joseph, and Jesus would have made this sound a whole lot better, but we're working on limited resources here...

Good Times in the City

2009-09-21T22:06:00.008-05:00

Here we are at the Rock N Roll McDonald's in the downtown area. The kids had been begging to visit this McDonald's, and I have to admit that it was quite impressive. This double-decker McDonalds has been around for quite some time, and now it is nicely remodeled. The ambience even made up for the "no refills" factor.

Oscar and Lina came along with us on our tangent to McDonald's.

Here is the main reason for our journey to downtown. We enjoyed a boat tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. This was a seminary trip for students and families. Thanks for the fun NPTS!

My attempt to capture the city lights. Can you see the '14' on the (I think it's the AON) building? That would be the countdown for the big Olympic location decision.

Posted by: Anita O.

Our Sink Story

2009-09-13T22:17:00.003-05:00

This was how our bathroom looked before Alise had the encounter with the sink. One recent Friday night, I asked Alise to go wash her feet in the sink before bed because they needed washing. It was only about 2 minutes later that I heard a horrible crashing sound coming from the direction of the bathroom and Alise quickly exiting with fright in her eyes. She kept repeating, "It's all my fault."

Yes, Alise caused the bathroom sink to crash to the floor and break into smithereens. Poor Alise had quite a cry because she felt so bad, but I assured her that is was just as much my fault because I should have chosen my words more carefully and had her wash in the tub. I had witnessed that the sink didn't have the most sturdy feel, but I was shocked that my not-so-heavy child could cause this much damage!

Thankfully, North Park came and fixed our sink and look at how nice the replacement is! Now we are trying to decide what to have Alise sit on next. Ha! Maybe our van!

The Kids Are Back in School!

2009-09-12T23:21:00.002-05:00

This year our kids are all in school at the same time for 7 1/2 hours a week! Wow, we have had a kid at home since Emily was born in 1999. Natalie is going to Preschool this year for a couple of hours in the morning, three days a week.

Emily: outside of Peterson Elementary School with her friend Tiffany

Emily says that she would rate her week of school as a 9 out of 10. She likes being back at school, but she is not liking the homework.

Alise rated her week at school a 10 out of 10. She says that she has made 3 new friends in her class this year. She says that Ms. Hauge is still her favorite, but her teacher this year, Ms. Pak, is quite good.

Luke is the most enthusiastic about school. He loves to play with his friend Stella at recess and he thoroughly completes his homework each night.

Natalie says that she will not be afraid to go back to school on Monday morning. She made one friend, but she doesn't know her name. Natalie's big commute to Preschool is to walk across our street, Christiana Avenue, and into the doors of the church! So convenient.

We are praising the Lord for another great start at Peterson school. We are so thankful that each of our kids have good teachers and enjoy attending school each day.

The Latest Adventures

2009-09-08T10:17:00.007-05:00

MINNESOTA TRIP

The kids and I took the Mega Bus to Minnesota in August. We spent some days with my family in Bloomington and Natalie was a flower girl in my cousin Julie's wedding in Duluth. Our adventures included seeing the Extreme Makeover Home in Superior (airing this fall), watching Natalie do a lovely job as flower girl, visiting with extended family, boating with Grandpa G., and shopping at Build-a-Bear.

Can you see us? Anita, Luke, Alise, Natalie (Emily was taking the picture)

Here we are viewing the makeover house.

Sweet Natalie

Cousins: Deb, Krista (my sister), Brenda, Anita, Carolyn

Great times in a Minnesota lake

Luke and his cousins: Ben and Micah

The kids shared a Build-a-Bear as their keepsake from the Minnesota vacation. They had so much fun picking out the perfect stuffed dog and outfit (of course they chose a Twins outfit).

IN CHICAGO WITH THE CHAPIN'S

The Chapin's came to Chicago for a weekend in August. We had much fun with them in town!

Dave C, Dave O, Luke, Mike

Natalie and Anne

Sara and Emily

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

We finished up our summer fun by going to Kentucky to visit Dave's sister and family. The kids enjoyed their cousins and it was fun to see a different part of the country. Thanks Bergmeier's for a fun weekend!

We walked to the McDonalds for a sweet treat together.

The kids with Aunt Becky and Uncle Chaun

Churchill Downs home of the Kentucky Derby!

I should also mention that we enjoyed a weekend in Willmar, Minnesota, this past August. We went to Minnesota to be with our church family as we mourn the death of our dear friend, Jenna Van Buren. The weekend was special because we did get to be with so many great friends, but it was not a picture taking weekend.

Posted by: Anita O.

Chicago Summer

2009-07-28T22:48:00.006-05:00

We have had a fun summer so far. I'm not sure why we haven't posted more regularly, but here are some pictures to get everyone caught up on us.

In June, we enjoyed (even though they lost) a Twins game with Dave's brother, Matt. Joe Nathan showed us his Minnesota Nice and gave out some autographs. Our kids each got their glove signed by Joe. Super fun!

In mid-June, Matt and Janell Williams came for a visit. We tried out something new with them and went to a movie in one of the Chicago parks. We all set our chairs and blankets over the lawn and the park district treated us to a free movie and popcorn.

Angie Beckman came for her 3rd visit to Chicago! We all went for a bike ride to Navy Pier. This activity is now my favorite thing to do in Chicago. The lake is lovely, the town is busy and striking, and the excercise feels great! Plus, there is a McDonald's on Navy Pier so the ice cream is fun too.

We took time away from Chicago and journyed to Ohio for Josh and Kaitlyn's wedding. Luke was a great ring bearer and it was so fun to see Willmar friends. The picture below is so sweet, I had to include it: Alise taking a dance with TJ Perry. :)

Our friend, Joleen, from Minneapolis came in July with her daughter Zetta. We enjoyed a Sunday swim in Lake Michigan. Pictured kids: Luke, Zetta, Tiffany (Emi's friend), Emily, and Natalie.

Shawn and Judy came to see us last weekend (here we are by the Buckingham Fountain). We got to enjoy Venetian Night with them where they had a boat parade and super fireworks right by Navy Pier. I think that you can tell how tuckered out Natalie was at the end of our day.

Posted by: Anita O

KIDS!

2009-06-24T11:19:00.006-05:00

Did you know that I have four kids? Wow, that is a lot of kids, but thankfully they are the best kids in the world!

A cynical person would say "Every Dad says that they are the luckiest Dad in the world so doesn't that just make you normal." or "Kids have been learning to walk, talk, go the bathroom on their own, grow into adults, for thousands of years so why are you so excited that your kids are doing the same things?" On some level I suppose they are right but I would bet you some good money that the cynic quoted above has never had children.

Sure my kids are only four of millions upon millions who have mastered a language, learned to walk, and have thankfully learned to control their bladder on their own but they are my kids. The fact that they are my kids makes all the difference in the world!

Most of us who are fortunate enough to be parents may not think of this very often, if ever, but I think one of the major reasons that our kids are so special to us is that we intuitively know that our kids are a gift, that in truth they actually aren't ours at all. They are simply a miracle that we did not earn or deserve. A husband and wife comes together in love and out of that love miraculously emerges this little person who somehow arouses all the love that resides in every cell of their mother and father's being.

The gift of children is almost too good of news to be true. These beautiful little lives are given to us to care for, to bring joy to, to train, to nurture, and most incredibly to get to know and share life with. It truly is a picture of God's grace. Our God is a gift giving God, His giving knows no bounds.

So yea my kids are definitely the best kids in the world and I am so very proud of them. :) Moving to Chicago has been very hard on all of us but Emily, Alise, Luke, and Natalie have put their trust in us, their parents and have been faithful in following us wherever we bring them. If you ask them they will tell you that they terribly miss all their friends (adult and kid) in Willmar, that they miss life in a smaller town, they miss their big house, nice yard, running the halls of FCC, and even their disobedient dog. But through it all they have faithfully followed.

When Jesus says that we should have the faith of a child He knew what He was talking about. It seems that as Anita and I brought my kids through this incredible journey they have just continued to believe. They have spent very little time complaining or whining. In moments of frustrations they have not shouted, "Why did you do this to us," as I fully expected they would. Even during the bad days they have continued to believe Mom and Dad when we told them that this is what God wants us to do. They have believed us when we tell them that they will be protected, that they will find new friends while keeping their Willmar friends, and that no matter how hard it gets Jesus would not leave them or forsake but that ultimately He would see them through each day and each month of this new adventure. They believed and God has proved faithful. It is enough to make you want to dance!

Thoughts from Dave

2009-06-23T11:33:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone! I realize it has been forever since I have written on the blog. In the next few weeks I hope to share many thoughts as I look back on my first year in seminary. It has been an incredible year in so many ways. These next blog entries will be as much for me as they are for you as I take time to reflect on our experiences these last ten months. Overall God has proved faithful and we have learned a lot!

GRADES!

The goal of coming to Seminary was learning a lot and getting a degree. A Masters of Divinity degree to be exact. I am happy to report that I am on track to complete this goal. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to focus solely on my studies. Anita and I have been blessed by God and by so many of our friends and family who have allowed God to use them. Because of this it was financially possible for me to use this year to focus on my family and see them through this year of transition and then to focus on taking as many classes as I could. During this year I have read countless pages and have learned so much. I continue to be impressed with the knowledge and passion that the professors at North Park possess and I have strived to soak up as much of it as I can!

This fall I took fifteen credits which amounted to five classes. Here is a summary of each of them:

Spiritual Journey

Was a one credit pass/fail class which I passed! It was taught be a very wise retired prof. He was from Nebraska so I was surprised that he possessed so much knowledge! After each lecture we had small groups to discuss the lecture. In my small group is where I first met Oscar (he and his wife Lina) are our good friends from Sweden) and Julio who is from Columbia.

Greek

I had a great teacher for Greek who made the class fun, interesting, and applicable. The first semester wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I made it through with an A minus.

Christian Heritage I

This history class met every Tuesday night for three hours. Let's just say I hope to never take a night class again! In the fall semester we looked at the Church from the time of the early Church until the Reformation. It was interesting to me to see the development of our faith to what it is today. Many of our creeds and confessions came from the Church working hard to correct and defeat the many heresies that inflitrate the church. We should be thankful to all the people who devoted their lives to the study and teaching of the Gospel and to the many hundreds who gave their very lives in defense of the Gospel. I managed to pull and A minus in the course.

Christian Theology

Probably my favorite class in the fall semester. Our professor led us in some very interesting class discussions as we worked through the different areas of theology. Our professor was careful to lay out what beliefs were unbiblical and what different people believed within each area that was Biblical. It was then up to us to read, study, and decide what we believed. It was a very challenging and thought provoking class. I received a B plus in the course.

Communicating the Faith In A Contemporary World

I really enjoyed this class as again our class time was filled with many interesting discussions. We looked at how evangelism has been done in the past, in the present, and how it will be done in the future. It was a good opportunity to look at our world and our culture and discuss how to be present God's word to our world today. I pulled an A in this course.

My fall GPA was a 3.670 which I was very pleased with. When I was in undergrad I quickly learned which books I had to read and which ones I could get by without reading. This year was the first time in my academic career where I read and enjoyed reading every book that was assigned. Again I really appreciated being able to have the time to really dig and in and learn as much as I possibly could. Having come from a lengthy ministry experience I found it very easy to see how the knowledge I was gaining would eventually be put to use in a ministry experience!

The spring semester was a different animal. The fall semester was really slow paced whereas the spring semester quickly launched into high gear and never really let up. One of the main reasons was that I tackled 18 credits instead of the 13 I had in the fall. Here's a synopsis of how it went.

Ten Commandments

A great class taught by our Theology Prof and our Old Testament Prof. We looked at how the ten commandments were given after the Israelites were saved from Israel and were offered to the Israelites as a charter of freedom. Grace always proceeds the law, it does now and it was the same in the Old Testament. The pattern is reflected in Christ willingly dying for us on the cross to save us and then offering us a new way to live if we choose to follow him. Grace always proceeds law. I got a B plus in this class.

Interpreting Old Testament I

In this class we looked at Genesis through II Kings. I really enjoyed our professor and I learned much about the Hebrew people and the Old Testament in general. In this class I received a B.

Religions and Cultures

In this class discussed all the major religions of the world. I was able to attend a Jewish Synagogue and a Buddhist Temple. These experiences were very interesting and somewhat surprising. I never would have imagined that a service at a Buddhist Temple would have been structured very much like a Church Service you or I might attend. While their theology as much different they had a piano prelude, sang hymns, had a sermon, did responsive readings, and gave announcements. I was a very western service and was very interesting to be a part of. I got an A in this class.

Introduction to Preaching

In this class we had a most interesting prof and I'll leave it at that. I enjoyed really looking at preaching, what it is, and how to do it effectively. Much of the class was spent in listening to classmates sermons and then giving two of my own. After each sermon we offered feedback to each other which was a great experience. I am working harder at s-l-o-w-i-n-g down when I preach. In this class I received a B.

Christian Heritage II

We still met every Tuesday night, did I mention that I hope to not do that again? This semester we started at the reformation and went up to present day. I received an A minus in the spring semester as well.

Greek II

Greek definitely got harder this semester. Our whole class paid a price for having a month off during Christmas time! Most of us were scrambling from the beginning of the spring semester as we quickly found out the first semester was just a warm up! Down with Greek Verbs!! They are not much fun! I scrambled through and pulled out an A minus for the class.

So the Spring semester ended with a 3.447 GPA and I was happy to escape with that!

This summer I have taken an amazing Eschatology (end times) Class and I will take six credits of Hebrew in six weeks starting July 6th. So in one year I will have finished 40 credits! I believe the whole degree is approximately 95 credits! It is safe to say that I am well on my way to completing my degree. Again I really want to thank you for all your prayers, financial support, letters, and visits. It has meant so much and with out it this year would not have been possible!

Catching Up on News from Us

2009-06-06T16:55:00.005-05:00

Whew! We have had a busy few weeks. I am just now sitting down to update the blog, but there is too much to report so I'm going to have to summarize because there is supper to prepare and Dave's parents are here with us this weekend. To get more detailed pictures, I'll have them all on my facebook by the end of the day.

Two weekends ago, we took our Swedish friends and headed to Minnesota for a wedding. We stopped by at my parents house and stayed the night. This was a perfect time to get a picture of all of us together since it's not too often that I see my parents and sister's family.

Matt and Janell hosted us while we were in Willmar. He we are outside of the Dairy Queen because it's a real treat since they aren't very common in Chicago. From left to right, here we are: Oscar, Lina, Anita, Dave, Janell, and Matt.

Last weekend, we Ostercamp's all met at Wisconsin Dells. Here is the cousin's picture. We had such a fun time playing in the water and visiting with Dave's parents, brother, and two sisters.

Here are my kids with their aunts. We had just finished swimming for the day and it was time to head back to Chicago. It looks like Luke is quite tearful, but he actually has pool eyes from keeping them open in the water too much.

Today, Emily and I ran in a 5K (3.1miles) with her Girls on the Run group. We had a very fun time and it felt good to accomplish even just a short run. Here we are before the run.

Here are some of Emily's group from Peterson Elementary.

Here we are after the run. Yeah! We did it! There were about 3,000 runners.

Natalie is typically on Dave's shoulders as we walk around Chicago. Sometimes if Uncle Matt is around, she will beg a ride off of him. So here Uncle Matt is getting some pay-back.

Here we are with our cheering section. From left to right: Larry, Sandy, Matt, Unity, Dave, Anita. Then in front: Emily, Luke, Natalie, Alise.

Oh, yes, here we are waiting for the bus and waiting and waiting! It took us about as long to get home (5 miles) on the bus as it would have to drive from Minneapolis to Willmar. We tried to keep a smile on our face and the kids are in to identifying cars (they're really good at Toyota, Honda, Volts Wagon, Ford, and Chevy) so that kept them busy.

Posted by: Anita O.

Oh, the People We Will Meet...

2009-05-13T10:16:00.003-05:00

Alise's friend Diana and her family came to our home to stay the night last night. They did a little sight seeing of Chicago yesterday, and it worked out perfect for them to stop in here for the night (they were on their way back to Willmar from North Carolina). Alise was in her glory! What fun to have a sleepover with her treasured friend, Diana. Alise and Diana had Kindergarten and 1st grade together in Willmar, and Diana came to Wednesday night church with Alise a lot last year, so they had become great friends. I admit that we all had met the family before in Willmar, but last night we got to host these friends at our home. Even though their English is not perfect and our Spanish is almost nonexistent, we did get to know each other better. God bless Ruben, Noami, Jonathan, and Diana!

The two pals

Group shot (Luke and Natalie had gone to bed, they were too tired)

Diana, Jonathan, Luke, Alise, Natalie, and Emily

Buddies for life - these girls are so sweet.

Happy Mother's Day to You

2009-05-10T14:34:00.004-05:00

On this Mother's Day, I can't help but post my beautiful kids. These pictures were taken at the church across the street from us. I dropped Luke and Natalie a big hint about my wish for Mother's Day and Luke came through. When Dave went out to get my card a few days ago, Luke boldly told him exactly what a I wanted. Today, I was not disappointed. A new umbrella was just what I wanted! Now I am ready for the unexpected rain that seems to come just when I am ready to leave work. Dave made sure that I also received many flowers and meaningful cards. Thanks family!

What is new in our world? Dave is counting down the days until the end of the semester. He has 12 days to go! A lot of reading, 3 or so papers, and 3 major tests - then he'll be done. Our kids are growing and doing well. Their new activity is playing softball with Dave any chance that they can get. Natalie claimed the other day that she would have to bat all of the time because she didn't know how to catch. Of course the others put of quite a stink about that, which was just the reaction that she was looking for.

That's all for now. God bless, Anita

Weekend in Winona

2009-05-02T20:38:00.005-05:00

Kyle and Tony came down and they were great! They included the kids and it was so fun to see them both. (Missed you, Adam) Here is Luke and Natalie with Kyle.

The girls... Janell, Becky, Anita, and Holly

Alise, Holly, and Seth (Alise didn't let Seth too far out of her sight)

Two things that you have to do at Becky Rice's house (if you are a kid): read books and get your toe nails painted. Luke only participated in the former.

Matt, Janell, Emily, and Dave

We enjoyed watching some Twins togeher. We did squeeze in a Settlers game. The guys of course were able to play 18 holes of golf in between the rain. And the hot tub was super. Great fun! My camera gave out battery power just as we were lining up to take the group picture so I'm sad that I can't display all of us, but you can see some of our faces. Thanks for the fun, Friends!

Posted by: Anita O

Happy Birthday Dave!

2009-04-29T09:01:00.006-05:00

Dave really did get a little surprised with this "birthday treat". Alise got a little pay-back time on her dad. I didn't get the camera rolling quickly enough, but you can get most of the picture on how it went down. (I apologize for the annoying female voice in the background!)

We also all enjoyed going to Wrigley Field the night before. Dave's brother, Matt, went with us, and it was great just being together. Oscar and Lina went too. Dave had fun teaching them the game of baseball. The Cub's lost, but Wrigley is always a joy!

A Grand Easter Weekend!

2009-04-14T11:26:00.007-05:00

Happy Easter to you all! We had an Easter to remember. I love this time of year when my thoughts reflect on the story of Christ and His resurrection. What a gift He has given us, and it brings so much joy to my heart! We went to the Willow Creek Easter service on Saturday night with our friends, Oscar and Lina. Before we headed to the service, we enjoyed dinner together. I fixed a real ham (the kind with a bone in it), and the kids colored eggs. Our dinner was quite enjoyable, and Dave and I decided that we are going to have our Easter dinner on Saturday night as our tradition. Sunday morning was bright and beautiful. We went to our Ravenswood Covenant Church for Easter breakfast and then enjoyed worshipping with our Ravenswood congragation. I admit that we left the service a bit early so that we could change from our Easter attire into our Twins attire quickly and head to our train. What a fun afternoon we had (even though our team lost!) at the outdoor US Cellular Field! It was so great having our Minnesota Twins in town! I've decided that we are definitely a baseball family. (Of course, we love our basketball too) If any of you missed it, let me know because we also got on Minnesota tv, and we were circled by Bert! That's been my goal for several years! You can view our small clip of fame on my facebook page.

Picture Descriptions: Easter supper arround our dining room table, Our family picture taken at Willow Creek Church, Standing at our Damen train stop waiting to board the southeast bound train, Dave and Natalie with lunch in hand, View from Cellular Field looking towards the big city of Chicago, Twins fans - Emily and Alise, Luke - after a great run around the bases (after the game - ha!)

Posted by: Anita

Emily Turns 10!

2009-04-06T18:39:00.008-05:00

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago, I became a new mom. I'm amazed at how fast the time goes and also how many changes occur in 10 years. We celebrated Emily's birthday in great fashion. Carla and Kayla Rudie came to visit us, and they helped us celebrate Emily's birthday. Kayla, Emily, Carla, and I went to the top of the John Hancock for dessert on Friday night. I knew that Emily would love that experience and she didn't let me down. She exclaimed to Carla in a hushed and awed voice as they were looking out one of the windows, "This is the best night of my life!" On Saturday, Emily's actual birthday, we all (minus the scholarly fellow that I live with) went to the Children's Museum. Emily opened her presents that night and was so excited about getting a new Bible (which thrilled this mother's heart). Then we ended the day with cake and ice cream.

What does this mean?

2009-04-03T15:53:00.003-05:00

In the Covenant Church we have the affirmation that says, "We believe in the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, as the Word of God, and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct." What does this mean in 300 words? Here is my attempt at an explanation:

The affirmation means that we as followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; as followers of the God who came to us incarnate in Jesus Christ have been given a Word. The Holy Scriptures is not the only Word of God per se as Jesus Himself is described as the Word of God and God speaks to us in many different ways, but I believe that what this affirmation is saying here is that this written word is truly from God as it is actually God’s Words. The word "holy" points to this as well, as only something perfectly good and righteous can rightly be describe by the word holy. This affirmation uses the words: holy, the Word of God, and perfect to make a strong case for us to trust the Scriptures. Through these words the affirmation urges us to have confidence that the Scriptures will in no way lead us astray, that we can entrust our very lives to them.

The affirmation helps to clarify what these authoritative Scriptures are in the Christian faith so that any ambiguity might be avoided. Is only the New Testament authoritative? No, the Scriptures we rely on are the Old and New Testaments that have been agreed upon by our brothers and sisters who have gone on before us. There is to be nothing more and nothing less.

These books alone contain what we need for the essential things in our life. As I reflect on this affirmation it is a bold and powerful statement. All that we need to believe and trust in God, all that we need to be taught concerning the principles of the Christian life, and all that we need to know what standard of personal behavior is required of us can be found in the Old and New Testaments. This affirmation loudly and succinctly tells us how important and invaluable our Scriptures really are.

Snow in March

2009-03-29T15:41:00.003-05:00

We woke up to a snowy day! The kids are standing next to our apartment's front door. The snow was lovely and it made Emily want to sing Christmas songs, but we are ready for spring and bike rides! The great news is that we are forcasted to be in the 50s this week so the snow will not last long. Emily made me promise that the snow would be melted by her birthday. I could give her a confident promise, but my name will be MUD if the weather turns fowl towards the end of the week! Dave has two midterms this week so he lucked out on some great studying weather.

Genesis

2009-03-26T14:09:00.006-05:00

This term I am enrolled in an Old Testament course that I am enjoying very much. Each week we have a writing assignment and I figured I might as well share a few of them with you. In this assignment we were supposed to tell the story of Genesis in 600 words. Here is my 603 word effort!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Everything was made by God and nothing was that was not made by God. Human beings were created in God’s image and God breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve who were the first two created persons. Adam and Eve eventually lost trust in God and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in direct disobedience of God’s command. As a result they were banished from the tree of life. Their new reality was one in which sin, anxious toil, disease, and death were all present. Adam and Eve then began to populate the earth with their offspring.

As the generations passed the people of the earth’s sinfulness greatly increased to the point that God was grieved that He had made man. Noah and his family were the only ones who were faithful to God. God instructed Noah to build a huge boat in which God brought pairs of all the animals. After all the animals were safely inside the boat along with Noah’s family floodwaters from underneath the earth and above the earth were unleashed until the whole earth was covered in water. Once the flood subsided Noah’s family and the animals on the ark began to repopulate the earth once again.

God made a covenant with Noah that He would never again flood the earth in this manner. The rainbow is the sign of this promise.

Once again the people of the earth began to increase. The people of the earth began to work together to build a magnificent tower that reached high into the sky and the Lord then scattered them all over the earth by giving them different languages. Because of this the tower was called the tower of Babel.

The Lord found a faithful man who was named Abram. God called Abram to leave his homeland and asked him to travel to an unknown land. God then renamed Abram, Abraham and promised to make his descendants into a great nation even though Abraham and his wife Sarah were nearing a hundred years old and had no children. God fulfilled his promise to them with the birth of Isaac. Isaac was blessed with two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob was the youngest son but God blessed him and it was through him that the line of God’s chosen people continued. Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. Jacob’s second youngest son was his favorite son and his name was Joseph. God favored Joseph as well and because of this Joseph’s brothers became jealous to the point of hating Joseph. An opportunity arose when the brothers were far from home to sell Joseph into slavery and they did this very thing. The brothers told their father that Joseph had been killed and Jacob grieved mightily for Joseph.

Joseph continued to be faithful to God in all his ways and God blessed him greatly. Pharaoh, King of Egypt, had a troubling dream that no one could interpret. Joseph was brought in as he was known to be able to interpret dreams and God showed him the meaning of the dream. Egypt was soon to have seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Joseph was suddenly exalted to second in command in all of Egypt to prepare for the seven years of famine. During the years of famine Joseph’s brothers and father Jacob were dramatically reunited with Joseph as they came to Egypt in search of food. Soon Joseph’s whole family was together living in the best land Egypt had to offer.

Natalie's Birthday!

2009-03-19T13:02:00.005-05:00

I wonder if all cultures celebrate the day of birth? In a way it is like celebrating the Gospel message. If you have been blessed to experience a birth, you know how much of a miracle it is. It really is a gift that is ultimately out of our control. Life is something we simply cannot recreate on our own. Life is extremely precious, fragile, and truly priceless; it is something we never could earn or deserve, and it hurts us very deeply when life is taken away. Life on earth is a precursor to the new life that awaits us in heaven as that life too is precious, priceless, and miraculous. Mercifully it won't be fragile but instead miraculously eternal. This is news almost too good to be true.

So today we celebrate the birth of our youngest daughter! God has created her and entrusted her into our care (we can debate the wisdom of that later), and we celebrate the miracle of her birth and we rejoice that we will only temporally be separated from her by death! I am thrilled that by the grace of God I might get to enjoy Natalie forever. Natalie was born on that State Championship Saturday just hours before Blake Harffarber experienced a miracle himself. Yep, I watched him hit that state championship winning shot from his butt holding my brand new daughter! I've always thought that surely this is some kind of sign... Speaking of butts (sorry Mom but it is relevant to this tale), I had Natalie pick her brackets for the NCAA tournament today. Comparing all of the children's brackets, Natalie's is by far the best because of two reasons. First, she always picked the team I said to her last and the team I said last was always the better ranked team. She's a smart one! Secondly the other kids have too many friends who love North Carolina and have convinced them that the Duke Blue Devils should lose every game they play. Natalie however, took Duke to reach the final four but to then lose to Butler. Butler is Natalie's downfall, it could very well be the only reason that she will lose the contest. You see Butler's first game is against LSU and I read Butler's name first because they are the lower seed. Usually Natalie would have said LSU but instead this time she said "Butt" and smiled. Every game I read Butler's name first because they aren't very good, and every time she picked them to win because, "she liked their name."

Our life is a miracle but our sin nature is evident right from the beginning isn't it? Natalie is our little tournament rebel, giving my mom more gray hairs. Picking the Blue Devils in the final four and saying BUTler breaks two of her rules in just one little innocent exercise! What can I do? I can't punish her, it's her birthday after all! Oh yeah that reminds me, Natalie thinks that people only grow taller on their birthday. The above picture is Natalie showing you how much she thinks she is going to grow on this, her one growth, day! Thank you all for being such a large part of our blue eyed miracle we like to call Natalie.

2009-03-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

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February Pictures

2009-03-05T23:16:00.028-06:00

A quick picture summary of our February: Natalie, Alise and I (Anita) went to MN to see my sister's new baby boy, Caleb. Alise was especially glad to excercise her baby-sitting skills. Then we took the eLTrain with our friends, Matt and Janell, to the Lincoln Park Zoo. What a great zoo! We'll be spending many days to come at this awesome, free zoo. In fact, the following weekend, we went back with more MN friends, Mallory and Matt, and we got to see the giraffes on that visit (behind the kids in the last picture). Oh, and you'll also notice how tiring all of the eLTrain riding was for Natalie. :)

Is Willmar Heaven?

2009-02-08T18:14:00.005-06:00

[On Facebook I have a group site called "Deeper Thoughts with Dave" where I originally posted these thoughts. I mention this as some of you might be reading this for the 2nd time and others of you might be interested in finding my Facebook group.]

So I was reading the Bible with my four kids tonight.

**Aside** Now before you go thinking that I am "Super Spiritual Dad" the truth is before this month it was probably about six months since we have read the Bible together. We pray every night but we don't read every night, which is sad because kids that our my kids' age fire away with some really great questions. If you our looking for a Bible to read I highly recommend "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones, it is excellently written. And I highly recommend reading the Bible with your kids as we strive to do! ***Aside Over***

Tonight we read on the ten commandments, which was interesting because next week I start a class on the ten commandments and this week I have been reading three books on the commandments. I was explaining to the kids that the commandments are there to show us the right way to live but they are mostly there to show us that we are not perfect. A the kids readily fessed up to not keeping the commandments except for 3 year old Natalie who claimed perfection. The other kids quickly set her straight. I told them that the commandments show us that we will not go to heaven. This threw Alise for a loop and she did not let me finish my sentence. she seemed to have thought that her eternal destiny was secure but now she wasn't so sure and this rightly troubled her. I calmed her down by explaining that this is exactly why Jesus' life is such a big deal. The commandments show us that we are in a lot of trouble and we need rescuing as we can't do it by our own effort. Jesus is the rescuer whose death covers our sin making us perfect before God and making it possible for us to be with Jesus in heaven. There's the magic word to get my kids talking - heaven!

3 year old Natalie was the inquisitive one tonight. She furrowed her brow and held her hands out and said, "were not all going to die?" I broke the bad news to her. Natalie then says, "Why are some people not careful and we are?" I guess she was thinking that only the non-careful people die. I again broke the bad news to her. Then Natalie says, "My Grandma Great is not in heaven." The kids quickly broke the good news to her that she was. Natalie was really thinking now and says, "Is Willmar heaven?" We laughed and laughed and I broke the bad news to her that it is not and then she cried and cried. No, she didn't cry because Willmar is not heaven, she cried her big three year old tears cause everyone was laughing at her! We all apologized and I asked her if she had anymore questions and she said she did. Then she asked "Well, where is heaven?" I'll give her credit she was bound and determined to figure it out. Luke clues her in by letting her know that "heaven is in outer space." I'm sure that helped.

I told her that we don't know where heaven is right now but we do know where heaven will be one day. Is heaven going to move? That's what the Bible says. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and other passages tell us that those believers who die are with Jesus right now but they are also not in their completed state and are waiting with the rest of us for Jesus to return to the earth. Revelations 21 and other passages tells us that once Jesus returns heaven will move to earth and earth will be restored. Life will be somewhat different on earth however as in no sin, death will not be allowed in, sickness will be left out, sorrow and grief will be no more, etc. On earth though is where we will be in perfect communion with each other, the animals, and with the Trinity.

So I got to thinking actually Natalie might be right! Willmar is on earth and so someday in someway Willmar will be heaven after all! I look forward to my visit there. Natalie was very pleased that her question wasn't so silly after all. Emily was just concerned that if we were in perfect communion with the animals she wouldn't be able to eat meat. That's my girl!

Losing!

2009-02-03T10:04:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I won the title Biggest Loser! No I didn't lose a bunch of weight, well actually I probably did, but that's only part of the story. It was a much anticipated weekend as our good friends Josh and Holly Carlson came to visit from Minnesota and I managed to spend the whole weekend losing!

During the weekend we played our favorite board game Cities and Knights 6 times and I managed to lose ALL of them! The real cruel part of it was when we were playing our last game literally minutes before Josh and Holly had to leave. They let me get a big lead and I was getting all happy. I was thinking that is was so appropriate that I should be able to finish off my weekend of losing on a good note when somehow all the sudden (I am currently looking into allegations of cheating) Josh pulls out this 5 or 6 point turn to send me right back to my miserable reality.

On Friday we took Josh and Holly out for some famous Chicago Hot Dogs at our local hot dog joint called Wolfy's. I managed to lose those during the night. Thankfully the sickness only lasted one night but I'm not for sure if I'll be able to go to Ralphy's again.

Saturday we went to a famous Restuarant called Ed Debevick's. It's a unique 50's style place where the waiters are paid to be rude. Our waiter was appalled that our kids had not tried to run away from home yet or that they were not being paid for their grades. He gathered them around and spent a good twenty minutes helping the kids to negotiate with us until we had a written contract signed by all parties agreeing to a future pay-off for grades. The kids were pretty excited about their good fortune while I contemplated my future losses. I'm now encouraging my kids to do less and less homework.

I have always held an athletic advantage over Anita so I was finally very excited when on Saturday she challenged me to a match of bowling on Josh & Holly's Wii. I put up a very respectable score of 170 which should have been good enough for a win but Anita got all competitive and just squeaked by me with an amazing score of 210! Unfortunately she was quite happy.

Times like these are when you really cling to verses quoted out of context like "The first will be last and the last will be first." I kind of felt like one of those guys who thinks they are going to be the next American Idol and end up being featured as the next American failure. That reminds we made a video during the weekend that I think you'll like. It can be found at this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uh8HJxH7NY

The Cold Days of January

2009-01-19T21:22:00.012-06:00

Hello friends! I have heard a few requests for an updated blog and so I will respond. The husband is up to his elbows in Seminary work this week. He is taking a 10 Commandments class that runs 9 hours a day, Tuesday through Saturday. What a scholar! Our kids continue to enjoy school. We are trying to pass these cold days in our apartment without getting on each other's nerves too much. We have headed to the ice rink a few times and it has been a really fun family event. Alise took her friends one of the times that we went. As you can see, Natalie continues to simulate everything Alise does, likes, and wears. Sometimes that drives Alise crazy, but I am glad that out of all the people in the world, she has chosen to look up to Alise. :) The Financial Aid world is great. I get to go to a workshop all day Wednesday to learn more about the regulations and concepts of FA. I know that sounds a bit nerdy, but I'm okay with that. I must sign off for now and leave you with a few pictures: our new fish tank, the great 2000 piece puzzle successfully put together, and our attempts at ice skating. Blessings, Anita

Alise Golden Birthday!

2009-01-11T22:01:00.003-06:00

We made a video in honor of Alise's Golden Birthday with a classic youth group finish!

It would not upload on the blog but you can watch it on youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao6MfLlpmzY

Enjoy!

Gifts

2009-01-06T10:18:00.005-06:00

1996 and 2008 turned out to be real similar years in my and Anita's life in that they both consisted of a whole lot of change. However, in those years Anita and I also saw God working in our lives in ways that were evident, powerful, and downright miraculous.

My family is now in a fairly unAmerican position of depending on others. While this position is hard for us as it is so unAmerican, it is not an unChristian position. In fact the act of being forced to rely on God instead of ourselves is actually much more helpful to our faith than the American dogma of "you can do it yourself." Through these months we have seen how God is a giver of gifts. I don't know if our friends and family who have given so much to us have thought of themselves as God's agents, but that is really what they are. The whole idea is pretty amazing to me, but I am convinced that God Almighty has given to us and He has chosen to do it through some wonderful human beings who are striving to live their lives for God. We are humbled and thankful to God and to all of those who give as God has given to them. This year has been an incredible learning experience for us. I plan to blog a little more in depth on all I have been learning about giving and receiving gifts in the near future.

Anyway, this envelope represents one of the more creative gifts we have been given. Before Christmas the envelopes kept showing up with gift cards to different stores in them. They were always written by kids or by adults with very bad handwriting, or by an adult who is right handed but really, really wants to be left handed. (That is a totally understandable desire).

The envelopes have been stamped by post offices in Denver, St. Cloud, and Sioux Falls. We are about to break out the microscopes and turn loose all our CSI equipment on the case. It has been fun to strive to expose the mystery giver, but so far their anonymity has remained intact. This blog is our way to say thanks to the mystery giver and to all of you who have blessed us with prayers and support.

Our journey continues into 2009!

My Mom

2008-12-18T14:06:00.009-06:00

Today is my Mom's birthday! My Dad always told me when I was growing up that life isn't fair. I'm glad that he is right 'cause for some reason I was blessed with a much better Mom than I deserved. There is a very long list of things I love about my mom, some of my favorites is her passion, her innocence, and that she is so fun to get 'riled' up. My Mom has always made me laugh a lot and that is a great gift.

The name of the first High School I went to was the Wayne Blue Devils. My Mom wouldn't let me bring anything into the house with a blue devil on it. She didn't want the devil to be in her house - NO WAY! It was always fun to see Mom's reaction when we would try and sneak 'blue devil' gear into the Ostercamp house. My Mom isn't a Duke fan either.

My Mom has a really hard time sitting still. I don't think she has ever sat through a whole movie. It is hard for her to go two hours without cleaning something. My room and I always enjoyed this quality of my Mom.

One time my Mom had a new habit of filling a water bottle and then keeping it in the refrigerator. She was real proud of her new plan and enjoyed many long deep drinks of cold water after hard days of cleaning. I fell off the couch after watching her take in a long cold drink of salt water one summer afternoon. My evil concoction worked to perfection! I really enjoyed my trick for twenty-four hours. Looking back I am disappointed in myself. I really should have known that my coke-a-cola the next evening at supper was actually cold coffee.

Once my Mom actually drove into a drive-in bank.

I don't think my Mom has ever said a bad word. Once my friend got a new dog and it was a shitzu. It was always fun to ask my Mom what kind of dog my friend had cause she felt real guilty about saying it. Once my Mom got her mouth washed out with soap though. No, she didn't say a bad word, she was cleaning and thought the yellow liquid on the counter was warm melted butter. Both my Mom and I like warm melted butter so my Mom scooped it up with her finger, but it was shampoo. I think the taste lasted a whole day. My Mom never said a bad word again.

My Mom has taught me many valuable lessons. One of them she taught me was that if you want to really enjoy life you better be good at laughing at yourself. Life is too stressful if you take yourself too seriously. My Mom always brings everyone a lot of joy and laughter, and she is good at laughing at herself. My Mom has a really special gift with children. Not many people know what my Mom does for a job; she works with under-privileged children at a preschool in her Iowa town. Take my word for it, these children have the best preschool teacher in the nation, and I'm not just saying that because I should.

Have you ever noticed that in life people who do things that truly matter are rarely noticed and people who do things that don't really matter are often noticed a great deal? Jesus said it would be this way. Jesus says caring for children, the poor, the lonely, and the defenseless really matters. Almost all Moms do this, and my Mom has done this her whole life. When it really matters she will be noticed for it. I think she will be the official reader of kids books in heaven cause she is really good at it.

In honor of Mom's birthday may we take ourselves a little less seriously, may we all do something that won't get noticed by many but will really matter to a few, and someday may we all be as close to Jesus as my Mom is.

Love You Mom, Happy Birthday!

ps. That should be good for one or two extra gifts this holiday season don't you think..?

Chicago Snow!

2008-12-14T19:05:00.005-06:00

Our 'Countdown To Christmas' chart actually said 'snowflake mania' today. So we got to create our own snowstorm right here in Chicago. I realize that it doesn't compare to Willmar's snowstorm, but we tried to get close. :) We are counting the days to when we get our Willmar company (Angie B. and Mallory M.) this weekend, and then when we can travel to Bloomington, Willmar, and Iowa for Christmas! See you all soon!
Posted by: Anita O.

One Unique Birthday Party

2008-12-07T16:55:00.006-06:00

Luke turned 6 on December 4th. We invited his 6 closest friends from his new school, and the craziest thing happened. They all came! It was especially crazy since they all got their invites two days before, but the craziness didn't stop there. Five of the moms, one great Aunt, and a seven year old brother all decided to stay as well. This made Anita a little nervous, but I thought it was fabulous! The neighborhood we live in never ceases to amaze me and this night was no exception.

In our living room was a mom (Sherri) and her son (Ben) from Japan, and a mom (Sue) and her son (Elijah) from Korea. We also had a mom (Aishe) and her son (Barkey) from Turkey, and a great aunt (Manita), seven year old brother (Razseen), mom (Nur) and her twin daughters (Farshene & Noshein) from Bangladesh. Finally, there was a Northern European (Annika) and all of the Northern European Ostercamps!

The moms from Japan and Korea had been born in the USA, but the rest are first generation immigrants. It was a beautiful representation of the Kingdom of God. Japan, Korea, Turkey, Bangladesh all right here together under our roof. I never would have imagined 12 months ago that Anita and I would be hosting this sort of birthday party. :)

It was great to get to know all these wonderful people from all over the world. These Moms did not know each other so I felt like a community organizer of sorts. :) What an amazing country we live in! We really are a country of immigrants - a conglomeration of so many cultures. Luke had a great global birthday party, and we look forward to getting to know our neighbors better in the future.

A man at Church told me that our zip code 60625 is know as the most diverse in the world. I feel that we are blessed to live in this neighborhood for these three years. What an experience for us and our kids. Please pray for us as we seek to know and love those who live around us.

I Love December!

2008-12-02T22:05:00.005-06:00

Oh, I love this time of year! I can sing my favorite songs! The air is crisp, and the lights are lovely. As we anticipate Christmas Day, we have put up our tree and have made our Advent Calendar. I'm having so much fun sharing all of the wonders of Christmas with my kids. They are so grown up now, and they are just as thrilled as I am. We put up our Chicago Christmas tree - I'm calling it that because it's not the tree we have used in past years since I significantly downsized this year. Our apartment does look adequately decorated, and it only took us an hour to get our tree up and ornamented! I am so glad that we can celebrate the birth of Jesus in such a festive and beautiful way!

Posted By Anita O.

Cleaning Day!

2008-11-26T14:27:00.002-06:00

Unbelievable

2008-11-23T16:52:00.003-06:00

There are only a certain number of days in your life that you will never forget. Some of those days are for the best possible reasons and some are for the worst. I am not going to dwell on the circumstances of this past weekend as most of you who are reading this blog know them all too well. I want to reflect on some of the good that I saw admist the evilness.

Sunday Morning my family and I arrived at Church right at 11am. It was the first time for my kids to be back in Willmar and they were super excited. One of Alise's good friends was standing on the steps and Alise ran right to her. Luke bolted out of the car and just sprinted into familiar territory. I was afraid that he might be sprinting right down the center aisle of Church but figured it would make for some good memories.

It was strange to be there and to not be on staff. We sat in the very back and looked at things in a much different light then ever before as we were now "visitors" so to speak. What my family and I witnessed that morning was a beautiful thing. Pastor Dan appropiately had changed the plan for the services as he dealt with the sudden tragedies and grief head on. What I saw was a Church living out Romans 12:15 when Paul tells us to mourn with those who mourn. It was evident on Sunday that the Church's heart was aching with those of its body who were hurting, it was a beautiful thing to see.

It wasn't just Sunday morning either. The whole week I saw the true love that the people of FCC held for each other. My family and I were welcomed back warmly by the pastoral staff new and old. I enjoyed working together with Rocky as he takes the baton and continues the race as he nows leads the youth ministry of FCC. My family is so blessed to have so many great friends and that was very evident this weekend. It was wonderful to see everyone and we were so humbled and grateful for the welcoming back that we received. Cliche as it sounds it blew us away.

All in all there was just a lot of love in the air in Willmar this last week. It is beautiful to see people allowing God to transform their lives. People who give control of their lives to God to be used as ministers of his grace and this is what we witnessed. It was harder than ever to leave, knowing that the people you love and care for are dealing with so much grief. I can relate to many of our college students who struggle to deal with tragedies such as these as they live in a place where no one really can understand. However I am comforted knowing that our friends back home who are dealing with so much pain are surrounded by so much love. Thank you for showing us what a true community of Christ followers looks like. May we all continue to love and pray for those around us who are hurting.

United States of America

2008-11-05T15:29:00.004-06:00

I am continually amazed by the number of immigrants that I meet here in Chicago. The night before the election I was walking to my house, and I passed three adult guys who were definitiely not Swedish. My best guess is that they were from the middle east or southern Europe. As I past them, I was surprised to hear them conversing with each other in heavily accented English. I only heard one sentence as I passed by, but I felt it was an interesting one. The older man said, "This is the only country where you can say what you think."

In my short time in Chicago I am getting a better glimpse of the uniqueness of our country. From talking to a few immigrants and using my own imagination, I am getting a clearer picture of how hard it must be to leave everything that is so familiar and attempt to take up residence in a distance land. These brothers and sisters must only do this out of pure necessity for I have to consider what it would take for me to leave the USA and my extended family to live in Bulgaria (to pick a random country). The USA is still the land of opportunity and freedom which is simply not found in so many other countries in our world today.

This was proved true again last night. No matter the politics, I am proud that our country has been able to move from slavery to having an African-American as President. Yes, some might say that it took a long time (and we still have work to do in areas of race relations), but if you take into consideration human depravity, history in the end might look back on this day as happening quite quickly. Regardless, I am happy that this barrier has been broken and am excited to see what positive effects this might have on the African American community. May God Bless America!

Pumpkin Video!

2008-10-31T08:47:00.007-05:00

Hi Everyone!

I couldn't get the video to load on the site so here is a link to it. It is about six and half minutes long, but I think you will find it enjoyable.

We intentionally picked the music - extra bonus points for anyone who can name the first number. Everyone likes extra bonus points!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8O58agv72I

Have a great Day!

Happy Fall to you All!

2008-10-29T11:13:00.009-05:00

From pumpkin carving to accumulating lots of candy, our kids have had great fun. They went to Milwaukee over the weekend and got so much candy and it's not even October 31! Here are a few pictures to share.

The kids emptied out their buckets and wow, Aunt Sarah, you really know how to get the candy.

Coke & Sin

2008-10-16T12:09:00.007-05:00

Emily loves Coke and I do too. For the most part Emily puts up a fight when it comes to household chores except for one specific chore that she will always do willingly and with much excitement. The chore is pouring her dad a Coke when asked. Of course there is something in it for Emi as she collects her "payment" by swallowing at least two ounces of my beloved beverage, but this agreement has worked quite nicely for us for a while now as it allows me to remain seated on the couch. Emily's other habit is not looked upon so fondly though. If I look the other way or leave the room for a moment, she preys upon my vulnerable glass of Coke like a lion does a vulnerable zebra. She evens gets so desparate for the delectable concoction that she will at times just take the glass out of my hand and help herself! Lets just say we have had some stern conversations about these manuevers.

Last night Anita and I were cooking supper which consisted of hamburgers and chicken. On the stove was a glistening red can of Coke. I'm sure Emily was secretly eyeing it for a while. Suddenly the moment of opportunity arrived as I went to the sink and Anita opened the frig. Like a lion pouncing on her prey, Emily darted in and grabbed the Coke anticipating the satisfying taste of the forbidden fruit. Unfortunately for Emily in her haste to commit the crime, she ignored all of the warning signs. Why was the can sitting on the stove? Why was the can rather warm? Why was the top of the can all dirty? Maybe it was because there was not Coke in the can after all but about 4 ounces of grease! Oh yes, we did laugh heartily as she scurried to the sink to spit out her "Coke" and hurriedly drank about 20 ounces of water!

Thankfully the grease was no longer boiling hot and hopefully Emily learned a valuable lesson the easy way. In this everyday occurrence can you see some similarities to the Adam and Eve story? You see, ultimately I am for Emily. I want the best for her, as God wants for us. And so a sin against God is ultimately a sin against ourselves as Emily found out in trying to "steal" my Coke. Adam and Eve's downfall in Genesis 3 really came down to a lack of faith - a sin against God that ultimately hurt themselves. They did not believing that they had real freedom. Some people, like Adam and Eve, might think that real freedom is being able to choose between good and evil. Maybe real freedom is only found when one can only desire the good? Adam and Eve certainly appeared more "free" before the fruit.

Escalators and Germaphobes

2008-10-13T22:17:00.016-05:00

We encounter more escalators in Chicago. The new adventure for five out of the six Ostercamp's is to see if they can get on and then off the escalator without ever touching the railings. At first I thought this was a test of their coordination and over-all physical abilities. I was all for this training as it was at least one redeeming thing to do while immersed in the otherwise unredeemable activity of shopping.

However, after inquiring about the activity, I found out that the source of it came from our friend, Janell, and did not have anything to do with athletic training at all. No, I guess Janell is a germaphobe (one concerned with germs) and convinced my kids and my wife that the rails where filled with germs and that one should risk falling and breaking an arm, neck, or worse yet getting sucked into the undergirth of the escalator beast in order not to contact a few measly germs.

To prove the irrational thinking behind this, my common practice is to now firmly plant both hands on the escalator rails, ride it safely, and then lick my hands. Yeah, I know it might seem a little gross, but I strongly believe it is the responsibility of a Father to make sure their kids understand the truth. So if you hear any reports of any escalator related injuries involving Ostercamp's, you will know why and I should be exonerated of any fault!

Changing the subject, but I would appreciate your prayers. All of the sudden on Monday I came down with a horrendous cold. It is taking all of my energy, and I really want to be out and about with the rest of the family. Praying it won't last too long!

Blessings,

Dave

PS. Anita thought that I should not joke about prayer. My disclaimer is to state that while the story is true, it is intended to be humorous. I always covet your prayers. Just reading this story should show you how much I need them! It is okay with me if you pray for wisdom rather than health. :)

Conversations

2008-10-09T23:07:00.009-05:00

Natalie and Culture

So Natalie and I were talking about the dogs next door, and I told her that they wanted to lick her face. She said, "If you're married and you kiss that's gross, but if you're not married it's okay." It was out of the blue so I asked her, "You can kiss if you're married, right?" And she immediately and matter-of-factly replied, "No, if you're married it's gross, but if you're not married it's okay." WHAT? Chicago must be corrupting her.

Emily and the Pres.

Emily's 4th grade class had an election for class president. It turned out to be only a two person race between my Emily and some other 4th grade chic who I'm sure was all talk and no substance. Not to mentioned, she had no previous political experience and what she promised she most surely could not deliver (I mean a pizza party EVERY day, lets be realistic here!), but she had a lot bigger pocket book backing her campaign, so she won. Okay sorry about the rant, I guess I'm a little bitter, but when all the votes were counted, Emily came in second to this other girl. [Who by the way, I am trying to like. :)]

Since it was a two person race and it was so close they decided to make Emily the Vice President. The scene is Wednesday night dinner at the Ostercamp's. Emily entered the room eating a breakfast sausage with her fingers.

Anita says, "Why are you eating with your fingers?", insinuating that Emily should definitely know better since it has not been a common practice in our household. Emily then proceded to tell us the above vice president story. I told Emily that I was going to start calling her Sarah. Emily said "what" and then smiled and said, "Oh Sarah Palin." Anita not hearing Emily said, "Sarah, Sarah who?" She was trying to figure out why I would call Emily, Sara Chapin as Anita was pretty sure Sara Chapin is not vice president of her class even though she, with her heritage, would be more than qualified! :) We let her think and think about it and she couldn't figure it out. We said then it was a famous Sarah and so then she started thinking about my sister. Guess you're famous, Sarah O! :) The gears were starting to smoke so the next hint was something like president.... Finally it clicked and Anita said "Oh Sarah Palin!"

We laughed heartily, and Alise who had been somewhere, I guess in 'lala' land this whole time perked up and said in a surprised and concerned voice, "Sarah Palin eats with her fingers?"

So there you have it, I guess our potential Vice President candidate is from the Middle Ages, at least according to Alise. Of course she is from Alaska maybe not a lot of difference...

You probably had to be there, but rest assured we all had a big laugh as we tried hard to keep our food in our mouths!

Craft Time With Natalie!

So Natalie wants to be craftie like her mother and today's activity was painting! You know those little kid water color paints where the paint is all dried up and you have to use a wet brush to try to get some paint on the paper. To use this paint of course you need a little cup to wet the brush and also to clean the brush for your next failed attempt of trying to extract a little bit of dried paint from the plastic tray. Anyway, Natalie got herself all set up and was painting away.

This is when I enter the room, right when Natalie realized she was very thirsty. All of the sudden, I see her pick up the paint glass, which surely looked a lot like some kind of exotic juice to her, and take a big sip. I was proud of myself as I kept a straight face while I chewed her out!

Fantastic Friday

2008-10-04T11:03:00.005-05:00

Yesterday proved to be a day of days! I had such a nice experience that I had to blog it. First, I had my first NPU student come to my desk for Financial Aid help because my boss says that I'm officially trained. The gal's situation was easy enough for me to solve, and it was such fun to interact with a student. Then after work, I traveled about 5 miles south to meet a gal about a television that I spotted on Craigslist. I've been "shopping" on Craigslist for about 18 months now, but this was my first actual in-person pursuit. I talked the gal down a bit so I saved $10 and she threw in a DVD player, and now we have ourselves a big, but working television! The kids think that it's Christmas. Next I changed our room around just a bit by moving a bulky night stand out and letting the girls take it to their room. It's amazing how even the little rearranging of a room can give me a greater spring in my step! Try it! This next endeavor is my favorite. I am no longer a "recipe off of the bag" chocolate chip cookie maker! I haven't been happy with how my cookies have been turning out lately, so yesterday I tried a new recipe from my trusty First Covenant Cookbook. I am now a Mike Buer chocolate chip cookie recipe follower! Thanks Mike! Everyone agrees that they are yummy! As if the day wasn't successful enough - I ended it with a Settlers win against Dave and our friends, Oscar and Lina! Goodnight!

Posted by: Anita

Winona

2008-09-26T23:33:00.007-05:00

Sorry, I have not posted for a while, and now I give you a couple at once. I'll try to spread them out next time.

Last weekend we were able to go to Winona, Minnesota where Bryan and Becky Rice live. Their son Adam came (not pictured - not sure why he isn't pictured - he is a real good looking guy so its not like it would have ruined the picture or anything - plus he is available! My bad Adam, this blog is so popular you probably just missed out on at least 3 or 4 dating opportunities. Okay, time to end the longest paranthesis break ever in a sentence - sorry English teachers!)

Josh, Holly, and Seth Carlson were there. It was very fun to see people we know and it made us even more excited for our (Dave and Anita only) trip to the Twin Cities and to Willmar in October. We are very anxious to see all our family & friends in Cardinal country!

Enjoy some pics from the hot tub and apple orchard!

Twins!

2008-09-26T23:21:00.004-05:00

Wow! What a week for the Twins. Now that they are in first, Emily made a Twins magic number count down. Hopefully it will be down to three after Friday night! We are able to follow them on the internet, the radio, and on the TV some. The only bad thing is that this exciting finish is hard on the study habits. Oh well...

If the Twins and the White Sox tie, then they play a one game playoff in Chicago on Tuesday! I think I might have to find a way to cheer my Twins on in person if that happens. Oh, I better go... I need to call my professor and give him a heads up about the really bad cold that is going to hit me about 9pm Monday night.

Go Twins - more posts to come soon!

Floods

2008-09-15T12:32:00.007-05:00

On Saturday, September 13, we had almost 6.7 inches of rain. The total for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was over ten inches in some places in Chicago. The 6.7 inches in one day was the most ever recorded in Chicago, and we were here for it! Isn't that special? I have never used an umbrella as much as I have here! The umbrella, by the way, is an excellent invention.

For all you FCC youth group members and leaders, this video is taken from the bridge over the little river that we had to walk over to get to North Park's campus during our summer trips. It is not the bridge that we walked over to get to the showers, but this is the same river. This little river has flooded many Chicago neighborhoods over the last few days.

Luke ran up to the river when we made this video and then immediately turned around and said, "All this water makes me really have to go to the bathroom!" Ha-ha.

Curious Natalie!

2008-09-12T19:11:00.016-05:00

Yeah, I know I had a perfect opportunity to use alliteration in the title of this post, but Anita and I have committed not to make that her nickname.

My kids like to watch the cartoon Curious George. And, growing up I used to love Curious George as well as the Man with the yellow hat. It was my favorite book. However, as I have grown up (I use that term loosely), I have become increasingly frustrated with the yellow man and the monkey. Everyone, but aparently not the yellow man, knows that George's curiosity is going to get him in piping hot water at some point in the half hour show. I feel like the yellow man should be able to anticipate George's trouble as those of us transfixed to the screen can easily tell when something mischievous is about to happen. But, maybe in real cartoon life it isn't that easy. The show would be a lot less fun to watch if the yellow man excelled at anticipation. The reality is that to really control George there would need to be someone constantly watching him every minute of every day. I suppose he could be put in a cage. A cage would be appropiate for a monkey, but I think that if we used it, we would quickly get locked up by the Chicago PD, whom by the way, we are working hard at not meeting again. :)

So the other day Natalie had some time on her hands, which is rarely a good thing. Quick side story here - Natalie was hungry tonight and she came up to me wanting me to feel her stomach while commenting, "My tummy is begging for food." Quite an interesting and very cute way for a three year old to say that she's hungry! - So back to the afternoon, you know the one when she had some time on her hands. She must have been thinking the same thing about her stomach. So being the problem solver that she is, she found a tortilla, put some american cheese on it, and put it in the microwave. Natalie was working on making a quesadilla just like she has seen her mom do many times.

Unfortunately, Natalie seems to be not very good with numbers. Soon our noses began to tell us that something was wrong. The smell led us to the kitchen where we found a quesadilla in the microwave with 58 minutes left to cook! Believe me, the apartment had an interesting aroma for the next 12 hours or so!

I wonder if the cage we ordered is really, really nice...

A Word (or two) From Anita

2008-09-05T21:40:00.008-05:00

The time has come for me to get a word in! :) We were so happy to have my parents come for a visit last week. We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday with a cake, Chicago pizza, and a trip to Lake Michigan. Grandpa G. is a big fan of the Great Lakes because they have the best beaches. He showed the kids how to bury each other in the sand and they had such fun!

We are staying busy and enjoying the sites of Chicago. God has definitely gone before us, and we feel safe in His care! Having Dave's brother and his wife only two miles away has been really special. I am also really blessed by my new job. I have completed three weeks of work in the Financial Aid office at North Park. My job has offered some variety, much brain challenges, and a sense of community. All of these aspects are super for me. Dave is able to stay with Natalie while I am at the office and our tag teaming has even worked out great. Thank you for your prayers! We can feel your love all the way over here in the big Windy City!

Trusting in Him, Anita

School In Chicago!

2008-09-04T19:20:00.008-05:00

The kids were served their traditional "last meal" before their freedom ended and the daily grind of school began. Emily was the most excited for school as the other kids had found friends in the building to hang out with. Emily, however had no luck meeting someone her age so she was bored and couldn't wait to get to school. Of course a bored Emily isn't great for in-house relations so let me tell you, everyone was excited for school!

The kids were excited but also nervous as they bravely marched into their new surroundings on Tuesday morning. Each of them had a positive experience which is an answer to prayer!

This neighborhood is proving to be a most interesting one. It is comprised of many nationalities. The town of Willmar was a good primer for us with its population of Latin Americans, Somalians, and Northern Europeans. This neighborhood seems to be filled with countless nationalities. One of my professors who lives near me told us that he has six neighbors from six different parts of the world!

Being at the school, I could not honestly tell you which nationality is in the majority. There seems to be a population from the Asian countries, people from India and Pakistan, Middle Eastern people, African Americans, Southern Europeans, Northern Europeans, and Latin Americans. People almost literally from all around the world! What an opportunity for our children, I hope they become friends with some children from a cool place in our world. With my luck, they'll all be friends with Iowans! Guess you can't get much cooler than that!

Oh by the way, today Emily came home with an assignment. She needed to go to a library and check out a biography. We walked two blocks to the nearest library, got a library card, and checked out a biography on Michael Jordan!

Blessings,

Dave

Story of a Basketball Father's Failure

2008-08-28T18:43:00.001-05:00

So we sat down for dinner tonight after a big day. The biggest news of the day is that after much work the kids are finally registered for school! Each child had to see an Illinois doctor (which took three hours yesterday), had to have their transcripts sent, and had to get a very official birth certificate sent. The birth certificate we still do not have, but that is a story in itself. The point is they are registered!

Luke's teacher is Mrs. McFarland (trying to convince him that she has to be at least some kind of relation to Mr. [Ronald] McDonald but he isn't buying it). Alise's teacher is Mrs. Chung, and Emily's teacher is Mrs. Jordan.

So at supper I said to Emily that maybe her teacher is Michael Jordon's wife and her response stung me and made me realize that I have truly failed as a basketball father. :( Emily said, "Who is Michael Jordan?" Now you have to understand that we are a basketball family. We have spent a lot of time at the gym, and we talk about it some around the house - okay a lot. Michael Jordan is basketball - how could I have failed and not educated them about this great man whose town I now reside in? It was a blow.

Then Luke saved the day, or so I thought. His blue eyes got huge and even though I was a mere 20 inches from him he loudly and enthusiatically (Luke is enthusiatic about everything even seeing dogs and a squirrel running around while at a zoo - true story) proclaimed that he knew Michael Jordan! Instantly I was proud of my son. Of course the girls might not know of Michael but my son - he does. I was relieved that I was not a total failure.

Right behind the feeling of pride though, came a feeling of doubt as Luke does have a history of being enthusiatically wrong at times. So with some trepidation I asked him how he knew about the great Michael Jordan. Luke now was feeling pride in his own expertise as he could see in my eyes how proud I was of him. With equal enthusiasm he yelled, "He plays for the Willmar Basketball team!"

Suddenly I realized that I had truly failed. Luke does not have any idea of who Michael Jordan is. I'm sure Jordan Smith who does play for the Willmar Cardinals would appreciate being compared to MJ but I'll be the first to tell him that although he is very good, he is not the next coming of Air Jordan.

No, I have to come to grips with the fact that my children truly have not seen Michael Jordan play, nor do they even know of his existence. Wouldn't it be sad if at the end of your life your kids didn't know, not about MJ, but about Jesus? That you as a parent never introduced them to their Savior? Thank goodness it was only MJ we forgot to tell them about.

Anyway, did you see Luke's form in that picture? Michael Jordan move out of the way...

Blessings,

Dave

Fun In Chicago

2008-08-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

Well good evening to you all. Greek class went quickly from 1st grade to 5th grade. I think we will be in High School in the next day or so. Things move rapidly but so far so good. The best news about that class is that I can take it pass/fail so I do not have to worry about it messing with the GPA.

The professors at North Park seem very enjoyable. All of them have made a good first impression on me and I very much look forward to learning from them.

I figure everyone likes pictures so I included a lot of them with this post. Twice we have taken the family on the El Train. The kids get a big kick out of it as do the big kids. Natalie likes it when it "goes really fast" (said with a Natalie lisp). She likes to stand and ride the train without touching anything, which shouldn't surprise many of you. Of course as it stops and starts, she gets thrown into many different people. Her light weight, contagious laugh, cute looks, and million dollar smile makes even the tattooed, multi-pierced people smile at her.

The pictures are of us taking the train to a Cold Stone Creamery, then down to Millennium park where this stainless steel bean makes everyone look weird. Then we took the kids out for Chicago pizza at a famous Chicago eatery called Gino's East. It is also infamous because in 2004 I made the youth group walk about six miles to find a restaurant right next to it. We got lost this time but probably only logged 5,294 feet this time.

Well I better go read some books - I have a few I need to peruse. (working on my seminary vocabulary :) )

Blessings,

Dave

First Day Of School!

2008-08-25T21:48:00.000-05:00

So the first day of school finally arrived today! I donned my new clothes, grabbed my new backpack, gobbled up the eggs, bacon, and pancakes Anita made for me, took my first day of school picture and then headed to class!

Anita threatened most of those things but thankfully the only one that happened was the new backpack. That was purchased on a somewhat humbling trip to Target as I got in line right behind a couple of 5th graders. The eggs, bacon, and pancakes would have been nice but totally out of character. It was good to keep everything somewhat "normal" on this day. :) Anita thought I should wear a blue shirt and brown tie to look like truly seminary material. As tempting as that was I resisted.

Appropriately my first seminary class was Greek at 10:45 in the morning. The professor was very engaging but suddenly I began having flash backs to first grade. We learned all the letters of the alphabet, we learned the alphabet song, said what each letter sounds like out loud after the professor and then wrote each letter about twenty times. I included a picture of the worksheet for you so you would believe me.

I told my kids about it and they laughed. I think they now think less of me. They were surprised that seminary sounds so cool and important but is actually just like first grade. The biggest disappointment for me however was that there was no rest time, snack time, or recess time after all our alphabet work! My how the times have changed, I would hate to be a kid now.

Hopefully my three classes tomorrow will help me regain some respect around the apartment!

Blessings,

Dave

Raw Talent

2008-08-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

I have now quit saving any money for my kids college education. As soon as you see this video it should immediately be as clear to you as it was to me that we are looking at four full ride scholarships! All in one family can you believe it!! Just think how good this would be if they actually knew the words to the song - incomprehensible I know. Too much talent for one Chicago apartment to handle - don't you think? Looks like my musical talent has been directly inherited - aren't they lucky?

Uncle Matt came over for a visit one night and we were treated to this performance of a lifetime. Enjoy!

Lake Michigan

2008-08-24T10:40:00.000-05:00

From what I can tell about Illinois it seems to have about one lake in the whole state. Thankfully it is fairly large and we are only 3 or 4 miles from it. The beaches are huge and the sand is amazing. When the wind is up the waves can be rather large which the kids really get a kick out of. It is some great free entertainment. The only downside is that it takes 20 to 25 minutes to navigate those 4 miles. Here is a little video of the Ostercamp's @ the one lake in Illinois. Notice how Alise and the music are in perfect synchronization - a stroke of editing genius some might call it, 0r just blind luck. Enjoy

Disclaimer: This video does not endorse any political candidate and no monies were received for the making of this video.

The Apartment!

2008-08-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some snapshots of where we now reside. Finally on Saturday night it was basically ready to go.

For your added entertainment we have hidden a Cardinal (For Willmar of course) in each snapshot. See if you can locate it!! Isn't that fun, it's like a high tech cereal box.

We were pleasantly surprised with our space. It is bigger than we thought, everything fit, and Anita's ideas worked! (I should not have been surprised by this last one, but what good husband isn't just a little skeptical some of the time?) She made a bench out of a church pew so our dining room table would fit comfortably in a corner of the dining room, giving us much more space. We also got a table from the youth room, which we love, and she fit it in the kitchen somehow! It is great - enjoy the pics! ~ Dave

The Move In

2008-08-15T10:48:00.001-05:00

Besides experiencing a good 'ol Chicago traffic jam and then getting the Chicago Police called to arrest me in the first ten minutes of being at our apartment the move went GREAT!

Of course we were finally about 20 minutes from our new home when the traffic went from flowing nicely to stop and go. It probably delayed us an hour - welcome to Chicago!

I was excited to find an open spot for our big moving van right in front of our apartment for us when we arrived.

My parents were there, my sister from Milwaukee, and my sister-in-law Unity from Chicago. Shortly my brother Matt (married to Unity) arrived as well. The first person I met however was Lisa Peterson, who I had last seen in Ecuador. In 2005 her husband Kurt had been one of our translators on our Churches missions trip to Ecuador. They are living right below us for the next few months as Kurt is now working at North Park.

After we arrived we went into the apartment to check it out and then came back out to the truck to find out that our neighbor was not in a good mood! I guess my budget truck was blocking his driveway. He chewed us out, we moved the truck, and I guess he called the police. He neglected to tell us about his little phone call but 20 minutes later or so a cruiser came to visit. The police officer was very nice, (more frustrated with my neighbor than anything), we chatted and he welcomed me to Chicago. Thankfully without the handcuffs, billy clubs, mace, tazer, and anything else one of Chicago's finest might carry!

The bad news is Mr. Grumpy (Our affectionate term for our new neighbor) has two large and equally grumpy German Shepards. The good news is that he will allow me to live out some Scripture. You know the ones like love thy neighbor, and do good to those who curse you... etc. We'll be friends, we will just have to see how long that takes, I have three years. :)

The other good news is that my neighbors in the building to the south of us are an extremely nice couple in their 60's. They will hopefully allow us to live out Scriptures like send your kids to thy neighbors house so you can catch a nap...etc. I'll get the reference for you on that one a little later. :)

Seriously they are very nice and I look forward to getting to know them better.

We arrived to our apartment around 4:30 on Tuesday and had everything moved in by 7:30pm. This happened thanks to my brother and his wife. (Matt and Unity). Their friends came and helped us move in, as did some fellow seminary students. That was wonderful! After everything was in we wrapped up the day with some Chicago pizza! Nothing like Chicago pizza! We were very thankful for the help and for the great food. Thanks to all!

The last few days have been consumed with trying to get settled in the apartment. We hope to wrap that up today, Friday. We haven't really done anything "fun" in Chicago yet. The plan is to wrap up the apartment today and then see the city a little bit over the weekend.

In the next couple days we will be able to post much better pictures of our apartment. It seems bigger than we thought so that is good!

In Christ,

Dave

The Farewell

2008-08-15T10:19:00.001-05:00

Our farewell was very humbling, fun, happy, and sad.

The next day was Ecuador Sunday, it all made for quite a wrap up to our time in Willmar.

Thanks to all who helped to organize the night and to everyone who took the time to be there with us!

The Move Out

2008-08-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

Monday Morning was the big moving day!

As you can see we had a lot of great help getting our budget truck loaded.

It was a little surreal but by 2pm or so we were on the road to Chicago.

2008-08-06T11:29:00.000-05:00

Twelve years ago, exactly one week and one day after our wedding, Anita and I arrived in Willmar not knowing what to expect.

We found a wonderful Church family and an excellent community to start our own family in. Now after many years of ministry and four beautiful children, we are embarking on a new beginning as we move to Chicago for three years of seminary training for Dave.

It has been a difficult decision and a tough transition but we are confident that this is the path God has for us at this time. The big day is approaching quickly as the truck is set to roll out of town on August 11th.

At this blog we plan to keep you updated on our journey. It will be the site to see and read the lastest and greatest happenings in the Ostercamp family. We look forward to keeping in touch with all of you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your prayers, support, and friendship.