Our craziness begins!!!! SUMMER!!!!!

Ok....for those of you who don't know(I'm guessing, if you're reading my blog you know this, but just in case)...my husband Mike is a youth minister & summer is CrAzY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Anyway our summer is in full swing & the busyness starts!!!

This week we are getting ready for our first week of church camp! We leave for high school camp on Sunday afternoon.  I will be going & taking the boys.  We will stay in our camper & have lots of fun! We will still get to see Mike everyday & even hang out with him some!  Which is WAY better than staying at home & not even seeing him a little bit!  My little boys kinda like their daddy! So, that means I am busy getting the camper cleaned, loaded, stocked, etc...ready for the first trip of the year!  Also, laundry, shopping list for food, snacks, sun/bug stuff, toys, etc!  I TAKE SO MUCH STUFF!!! Gotta be prepared! Oh & a trip to Kearney to pick up supplies & such.  I am doing a jewelry making class at camp! We will be making earrings out of soda cans....lots of fun!

Oh  & part of our trip to Kearney is because Saturday is our 11th anniversary!!!! Where does the time go?!?!??!  11 years is a long time!  It's amazing!  So anyway, hopefully, we will get to spend some quality time together getting ready for camp, doing a little shopping & I think we are going to finish the day off with yummy Prime Rib dinner @ Cunningham's Feed in Arapahoe...oooh...maybe I will see what movie is playing too!

Soo for the rest of our summer we will be busy as well! I'm sure I will write more later, but here's a preview!!

June 5th - 11th ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!
June 6-11 HS Camp @ Lakeview
June 12 - Inflatable Game Rental
June 13 - My Parents ARRIVE!!! (sometime this week I think)
June 19 - my baby sister turns 13 & Mike has a wedding to do!
June  27-July 1st - BOONDOCKER CAMP
July 4th - Extravaganza with our super duper awesome friends...SOOO EXCITED!!!!
July 24-30...Mike has mission trip (not sure what me & the boys are doing yet! We might go visit him)
August 1-6,7,8, or 9 - Me & boys & Bri (super great youth group girl to help me) will be traveling across Nebraska & Wyoming to the Tetons for a little Roelfsema Family Vacation/Reunion.  We will probably do Yellowstone to!!! Pretty excited about this trip! Sad Mike can't come but WAY excited that Bri is willing to come help me with the boys....it's a LONG WAY to the Tetons from here!

Anyway, I will *hopefully* write about each of these events along the way!  Pleas be in prayer for all of this!  Pray for our ministry to change lives & reach kids!  Summer is crazy, but a super influential time in the lives of these youth!  We LOVE this!!!!  YAY for summer & CAMP!!!!

Ok....I lied!

So I lied!  I said I would never mow the lawn again...but I did...and I kinda liked it!  Last week we were getting ready to go for a youth ministry leadership retreat & Mike was super busy & so I though I can do it.  He had given me a few pointers after the last fiasco with mowing...so I tried again! The backyard was pretty easy!  The boys played in the sand box for most of the time while mowing!  The front yard however seemed to take forever! I was constantly having to stop to tell Justice "don't eat the sidewalk chalk...its icky" & to pick Justice up when he fell down. Lincoln does pretty good, except when he's trying to talk to me and I can't hear him! So anyway...I said I kinda liked it!  I did! I'm thinking it was HARD work & our yard is much bigger when you're mowing than it is when you're playing! I actually enjoy using the weed eater!  Anyway, I do need to mow again before we leave for camp on Sunday! So maybe....I might really like it this time!

Thing I learned today!

So, like usual, I have been wanting to post for awhile now & just haven't gotten it done!  But I learned so MUCH today that I had to take time to share!

1) When trying to serve my husband, I should stick to what I know well & am good at.  I HATE MOWING THE LAWN!!!!! Next time I feel like I should 'help him out, cuz he's busy", I will absolutely just bake him something to show my appreciation!
     Things I learned while mowing the lawn!

1. Do Not wear flip flops! No worries....no one got inured...just GREEN!
2. Do Not wear shorts!  Again...no injuries, just GREEN!
3. The mower gets clogged easily when our grass is wet. 
4. It hard to keep the mower started when it is clogged.
5. If an acrylic nail bursts off while trying to start the mower, it hurts & that should have been my first clue to stop trying to mow the lawn!
6. When there is so much grass that I need to prop open the back flap, I need to later re-mow it with the flap closed. (Sorry, Mike I was really trying to be helpful!)
7.  The mower is easier to push when I remember to hold the handle that engages the self-propelling part!
8.  Wet grass is slippery...esp in flip flops, trying to push a mower without holding the handle for self propel!

2) I learned that my boys will spend ALOT of time in the new sandbox this summer! And probably for many years to come!
     Things I learned about the sandbox!

1. I will need to have an outdoor bathing option, or my house will become the sandbox!
2. Boys & Girls are WAY different! Whether you are 1, 2, or 31!  I would fill the bucket & try to make a super cool castle & everytime the boys would smash it as soon as the bucket was removed to expose the super coolness that I had just made!  Then Lincoln would fill the bucket & I would help him turn it upside down & he would remove the bucket & tell me "Momma! Smash it!" 

3) Two year olds will say exactly what they are thinking! You never have to wonder! Examples....

1. Lincoln burst into my room & I asked "what are you doing?"  he replied "Momma! I'm looking at you!"
2. At the store when I was explaining to Lincoln that if he was good & listened to me then we could go get ice cream when we were done, he said "but Momma, I don't wanna listen!

All kidding aside!  I LOVE my boys so much! Yesterday during lunch we had already prayed but Justice folds his hands & says "EEE-sus" So we proceed to talk to Jesus again!  Lincoln joins in! "Thank you Jesus for my Momma! AMEN!" AWE....my heart melts! Well...he kept doing it...adding Daddy, Justice & Lincoln, but I'm guess about a dozen times yesterday I heard my sweetie say Thank you to Jesus for his Momma! THAT'S ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEST SOUND EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah!  I was also very productive today!  

1. I deep cleaned the boys bathroom!  Doesn't happen very often (don't judge...my boys are 1 & 2.5...I'm quite busy) It does get surface cleaned semi-regularly!  But today I cleaned out under the sink, toilets, floors, sink, counter, tub, washed the tub toys, washed the no slip bath mat! So, if you wanna see it clean I suggest you come see me tonight, tomorrow or Sunday, after that I'm not making any promises!
2. I made a valance for Lincoln's room out of the pillow shams that came with his comforter set!  I then took down the rod in Justice's room & moved it into Lincoln's room & hung his new valance. Then I found another rod to put Justice's curtain on (temporarily)! All of this before nap time! Once I took down the curtain in J's room, I had to finish the project so they could have dark rooms to nap in!
3. I MOWED THE BACK YARD! Yep, just the back yard, but I did trim the weeds too! 
4. I took a shower! Again...don't judge!  It's a pretty big deal to get a shower some days! Today though, being that my legs & feet were GREEN...it was a necessity!
5. I went to the store & then got ice cream with my boys!
6. Went to the Rock for the concert for a little while!
7. AND I WROTE A NEW POST FOR MY BLOG!!!!!

It's been a great day!  

 

Blogger on my phone!

Ok!  So I may have just found my new addiction!  I haven't tried it yet, but.....I did download an app for my phone to let me BLOG from anywhere...pics & everything!  We will see how it goes! Maybe I will actually post  more!

City Wide Clean Up!!!

Oh city wide clean up...how my thriftiness (cheapness) LOVES YOU!!!!

OK for those of you not familiar with Norton, KS...let me explain! Twice a year our CITY hosts city wide clean up! Basically on my regular trash day, I can set out ANYTHING (within the guidelines) and they will come by & pick it up...up to like 2 trucks full! AMAZING huh?!?! So, that's one way to look at it...Here's how I normally see it! I go treasure hunting, dumpster diving, trash digging etc...or let's just say shopping! HA!! I don't dig through trash etc. I simply drive around town look for things if I see something I like I stop & pick it up. Mostly things like furniture or kids outside toys! The way I have to do it though is to "SHOP" before my actual pick up day....so in the event that someone threw something out because it was really JUNK (not just old to them) I can set it out on my curb & have it hauled away!! So anyway, I am always hoping to find something great! I probably should be more inclined to get rid of my own junk rather than shop in others, but sometimes I find really great things! I will let you know what I find!

American Idol

Every year I cannot wait for the new season of American Idol to start! Ever since season #4 (Carrie Underwood-winner) I was hooked! I also thoroughly enjoy almost all of the "American Idol" winners music. Seasons 1,4,6,7,8 winners! (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, & Kris Allen) And I also enjoy other contestants(non-winner) music...ie...Chris Daughtry, Bo Bice, Phil Stacy, Elliott Yamin, & even sometimes Kelli Pickler!

Anyway...you could say that I'm addicted and I'm ok with that! BUT....here's my little issue with AI & my obsession. Every year they do a HUGE show called Idol Gives Back. They raise support for hungry & suffering people in America & around the world. It is truly amazing to see the video of some of these 'idols' & also the judges on the show go to these poor/suffering areas. I see the sweet babies in Africa who are dying from malaria, aids etc. & the orphans & my heart breaks! I don't know how many times during the show I said to Mike "I want to bring her home" "I want him" "oh....look" etc, etc, etc. I see these celebrities looking "normal" in appearance just wonder what must be going through their mind other than how sad it is that people actually live like this.

Anyway...they paint this incredible picture of poverty & beg for us to "give what you can" Which is all fine & good except for the fact that I just feel like they are putting a band-aid on the injury instead of giving true healing. I know this is most likely due to the fact that most of them also are just walking around with band-aids on their wounds...wondering if there is a healer!

I know that my passion for this is
1. Based on my relationship with Jesus & not wanting to ever go through life without Him.
2. Also because of giving money & sharing Jesus at the same time & just loving people the way I think that Christ would.
3. Having friends who have dedicated many years of their lives living in these poverty stricken areas for the sole purpose of spreading the Gospel of Jesus!

I don't want to sound cold, or harsh to think that this money is given in vain. But I just wish that something this big could be used to spread the message of the true Healer & not just pass out band-aids. I guess my prayer is that people who have benefited from the generosity of 'idol give back' could be connected with people who can lead them to Jesus!

OH...and I will continue to watch this season & my favorites are (in no particular order...or maybe alphabetical...just to be safe) Casey, Crystal, & Lee. If they aren't the top 3 I might be upset! And come next January I'm sure I will get all caught up in it again...even if Simon won't be there! OK....I'm done!

Randomness!

So I keep feeling the need/want to post, but I never seem to have much of importance to write about! The things in my head are kinda jumbled lately! So here are my random thoughts about the past month or so since my last post. (oh AND...my laptop cord is on the fritz & currently my lappy is dead! So that means I have no pics or videos to add to this post since I am using Mike's OLD laptop & it has fried USB ports so....frustrating)

JUSTICE is WALKING!!! So cute!!!

Easter was so much fun this year! The kids were so cute! We did get some really cute pics of all 6 Sander grandkids! They all had so much fun playing together! It was a beautiful day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus!!!

The next 2 weekends consisted of PROM (Norton & Northern Valley) For Norton prom I fixed 3 girls hair! Then for NV prom I fixed 2 girls hair! Also NV post prom rented inflatable games for us so Mike was busy with delivery & set up of those!

During this madness, my almost 2 year old nephew Dorian was taken to the hospital & later diagnosed with Epilepsy. Please keep him & his Mommy (Mike's sister Starr) in your prayers as this will be a long battle of figuring all of this out! She is very strong & can handle it, but it is quite exhausting!