Our start to 2008

A little DDR and fun with cousins, aunts, and uncles on New Years Eve!

Yes, that is a Hasselhoff Tom Seleck(same dif Daron!) picture on his shirt!

I haven't had a chance to post pictures of the beginning of our 2008 when we were in MN yet, I thought today would be a good day to do that. School is out today because of a snow day and we are all doing our own lazy day thing.......

We also got to stay with the Roesler's house one night when we were in MN. We both have three kids, and their birthdays are 6mo, 1 mo, and 2 days apart from ours. Our youngest are both Ella and they think it is pretty cool to have a friend with the same name. Since they were known as "the Ellas", they started referring to the other kids as "the brothers" or "the sisters" when they needed to tell on them. It was funny! The adults played as many games as we could and two of us got to go shopping at Hot Mama and two went to the Timberwolves game- you will have to guess as to who did what.

I also want to wish a belated happy bday out to my mom in-law last week, Mary, and another one out to Deb, yesterday! Happy Birthday Ladies!

Praise of the Day!

Our extended family is all so hopeful and thankful for some very encouraging news about my Uncle Scott. He was told last week of five tumors that were very aggressive thoughout his body and he was to prepare for the worst. Yesterday he received the news from the biopsies that it is indeed cancer, but Lymphoma, and not Myeloma. They were told that for the cancer that he has, there are treatments and a probability of a cure! Praise God and thank you for your prayers!

K

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart!" Psalm 37:4

Geography lesson 101

I thought it might be helpful to post a map of Africa on the blog, as well as a map of Ghana, to help some of you get a better idea of where we are adopting from. Ghana is in West Africa and on the coast surrounded by Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Ghana is about the size of Oregon. We plan on traveling there to bring home our little boy after the agency (AAI) gives us a referral and the adoption is final. We are hoping to get a referral for a little boy that is somewhere between the ages of 0-4 in the next couple of months. After the referral, it could take anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months to bring him home. Let's hope it is sooner rather than later.

Jo Jo's Shave Ice

Our family was reminiscing today while we were having dessert with my Grandma Gwen (unrelated, but thought I would add her name into my post today). The kids were eating some sherbet ice-cream and we were talking about our favorite desserts. Jo Jo's came up. Two of the last three winters we were fortunate to travel to Kauai with my family. There, we found a local hot spot of shave ice. We don't have anything like it here. Some amateur shave ice chompers might compare it to snow cones, but that is just for amateurs. They literally have a huge block of ice that they shave off into yummy perfection. They must have had at least 100 different concoctions you could come up with. My favorite was the rainbow with cream on top. Not whipped cream, just a spoonful of some sort of fatteningly yummy cream that just kind of melts on...........ummmmm. I wish Kauai was a ferry trip away. Instead, we took the ferry over to Seattle today to meet with Grandma for a game of Skipbo, lunch, and sherbet.

Psalm 143:1

I feel a bit beat up these days. There have been three deaths recently that have affected our family. Besides our grandma, there have been two little girls near us that have died in the last week. One of Greta's 7yr. old friends, Serena, died unexpectedly from severe asthma. It was such a shock to all and she was really a sweet, sweet girl. Her funeral was beautiful as we got to learn more about her and her strong faith that she already had at such a young age. And yesterday, a 3yr. old little girl, Madeline, in our area that we have been praying for died. We weren't personally friends with their family, but our dear friends are and we have been praying for this little girl for the last 5 months or so. The parents are such strong people that have been such a witness to many. Lord, I lift up all of these families as they are grieving for the ones that they love and miss!

So the other person that has been on our hearts and minds terribly this last week is my Uncle Scott. He is my dad's youngest brother and is actually closer in age to my brother Brad. Anyway, he was having pain in his hip and leg for a little while and recently this week was nauseous. After an MRI, they told him he has multiple tumors all over his body. It is most likely stage III Myeloma, Cancer. Hmm. We are praying for a miracle and for something that can be done once they get the results from the biopsy, but it is very aggressive the doctors said- it is grim. Please pray for my Uncle Scott, Aunt Lynne, and teenage cousins Daniel and Becky. They fortunately are strong and faithful followers of God, but this is more than devastating to them, our family, and their friends. They live in Santa Cruz at Mount Herman Bible Camp, where Scott is a financial director and Lynne is a nurse. They have a wonderful prayerful community already, but I pray that they are able to find comfort, peace, and love in abundance right now.

Psalm 143:1 - "O, Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy: in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief."

Great Grandma Greta 7/6/1920-1/1/2008

Grandma Greta with David, Sarah, Justus, Gunnar & Greta over Christmas!

2008 started out with a phone call at breakfast that Grandma fell and wasn't doing well. Luckily we were still in MN and Daron had just spent the previous night reading her Christmas cards with her and his Aunt Char. It was a special time that he is now so thankful that he had. We had been with Grandma Greta a few times the previous couple days and got to hug and laugh with her. Unfortunately, she died soon after we all got to the hospital to say good-bye. We were all mixed with emotions of being sad for ourselves with her passing and happy for her that she is now in heaven with God and Grandpa Harold, who passed last winter.

Us with Grandpa Jake, Harold, & Grandma Greta 3 1/2 yrs. ago

Grandma and Daron always had a special relationship and luckily I was blessed with getting to be her granddaughter too when I started dating Daron 15 years ago. She always had a knack for making everyone feel like they were her favorite. She did many crafts, quilted, baked many breads and tea rings, gardened, fished, started square dancing in her 60's and did so until she was almost 80. She was a jokester and her kids and grandchildren have endless stories about her. Most importantly, she had a strong faith in God. She is someone our family looked up to and are thrilled to have our Greta named after her. She will be greatly missed, and remembered joyfully!

Greta & Great Greta

Highlights from the end of 2007!

We had a wonderful time in MN. for the last part of 2007! We jetted over there on Christmas Day when the airports are fairly quiet and everyone that is working is in a pretty good mood since they are getting paid for overtime. The morning we arrived, we ate Swedish pancakes and started our Christmas celebration together as a family by having Grandpa J. read to us the Christmas Story in the Bible. It was a special treat to have Great Grandma Bredberg there to celebrate with us as well.
Sarah and Brooks were in from New Zealand for a couple of weeks, so we all soaked up the time we had with them! Our kiddos love their aunts and uncles!

The girls were thrilled with their matching pj's Grandma made that had mini-me sizes for their dolls as well. I don't think there was a night that they didn't wear these when we were there. Grandma was so busy this year sewing because she also made all her grandkids aprons, blankets, and fleece pillows of their favorite sports teams. I even got a Bears blanket to warm me up for the 3hr. ride from the airport.
There was lots of snow there, so the kids played in the snow everyday making forts, sledding, and snowboarding down a small hill. Justus also got to go ice fishing with his Great Aunt Katie and he caught a 16 inch Walleye.
Grandpa cleared the ice by their cabin and we also had a family friendly game of broomball!
Many nights ended with card games and board games! Some favorites this year were Settlers of Catan, Tsuro (sp?), Rum Dum Rummy, "Swedish" Train with dominoes, 500, and Texas Hold 'em.

We had a blast hanging out with family and enjoying all the things you can do at the farm! Grandma and Grandpa took us out to eat a couple of times, (umm......Jake's Pizza!) and to Starbucks (or as the locals call it , Fourbucks-nothing under $4). The kids especially loved getting time with their cousins and special attention from their aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa!