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February Pictures

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?

[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!

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

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!

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

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!