Reminder...

I have been feeling a little anxious and nervous about the upcoming election as I find myself struggling with how to do the right thing. I am very unsure of what the outcome of this election will mean for me on many levels, and selfishly that includes personally and professionally. I also feel like this is one of the more important elections we have had in recent history with so many important issues at stake. Not that the issues of past elections weren't as important, but there just seems to be a tenseness around this election that feels different than those in my past. Maybe I am just a little older and care more because I have more at stake, maybe I sense an urgency about the world my kids grow up in as they get a little older and test their independence. Maybe I feel the candidates both have a little to offer and can't figure out why they can't put it all together into one big package. Maybe I feel that voting for the wrong person will make me a bad person, maybe I feel like voting for the right person won't matter anyway, maybe I feel I should write in the name of the person I REALLY want to win, even though they clearly won't. I'm not sure why this time I have been feeling so unsettled about it all...but then my answer came.

No, not in the form of a *robocall*, not in the form of someone knocking at my door, and not by listening to some skewed media channel bashing the other side. It came by the way of a piece of scripture. Actually, that shouldn't surprise me, because nothing surprises Him. He knows it all, how it will turn out, and what that will mean for all of us. Reminding myself of that, even as I write it here on this page, makes me feel safer. At the end of the day, He is all who matters. He will protect us, and what will be here on earth, will be. He never said life on earth would be easy, so for us to feel like we won't struggle at times isn't realistic. He does, however, command us as in the verse that has helped me so much these past few days...

"...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

It amazes me that God put these words in a place for me to hear them at exactly the time I needed to hear them. Somehow my fears are important enough to Him to let me be in the right place at the right time, to hear His words that can comfort me in an unsettling time. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who my president is, or who my congressman is, or even who my neighbor is; it matters who my king is, and that is Him.

Fall Fun

Recently we met Grandpa Jim and Grandma Irene at Kroul's Farm to do some pumpkin picking. The kids enjoyed playing on the huge hay bales and picking their own pumpkins (which we have yet to carve by the way...). When it was time to do the corn maze, Maddi decided to sit it out with Grandma and Grandpa, so Lars, Drew, and I headed off. Down the row we went, winding our way around, and found our first dead end. To make the maze more exciting, the Kroul family has added scarecrows at the dead ends, but they are not just any scarecrows, they are SCARY scarecrows--at least to a 6 year old. Lars wants so much to be brave and like scary things but he is still unsure if those things could really be real or not. Drew is old enough to understand it is all for fun, but for Lars there is just that little hint of doubt holding him back. We kept going but after about 8 different dead ends, Lars was done. Ready to pack it up and get the heck outta there. (Of course after we got out of the maze Lars talked the big talk about how cool it all was.)

All in all, it was a fun afternoon topped off with a treat from Dairy Queen. What more could you ask for??

I've Been Tagged...Again

Okay, so this time I have to tell you 5 things I hate to admit about myself, so here goes...

1. I am a MAJOR procrastinator, and it is getting worse. I really do start off with good intentions, but somehow I just can't bring myself around to having the motivation to follow through. Oh, I eventually get the task done, but I think to myself, "if I would have just done that when I first thought about it, I wouldn't have wasted so much time thinking about it and it could have been done by now." Do you see the horrible cycle of it all? It is so bad, that it even leads me to my next thing I hate to admit...

2. I am addicted to sticky notes. I possibly even have a sticky note problem. My biggest fear is that something will come up that I need to remember and if I don't write it down, I will forget. I make at least one list on a sticky note everyday. (**see point 3 below**) Now, does that sticky note help me not to procrastinate since what I need to do is written down and I can just go down my list, or does it in fact make my procrastination worse, knowing that I have my list to fall back on? hmmmm...point to ponder.

3. I am a list maker. Now, that is not a bad thing, but the fact that I make lists (on my sticky notes, of course) and rewrite them several times a day is where the *humor* lies in this. I have been known to make a list in the morning, rewrite it in the order I want to do it, and then actually add to the list if I do anything extra. If I have lots to do and can't do it all in one day, I will organize my list into separate days. Now, the best part about "the list" is that you get to cross things off when they are done, making me think I really have accomplished something. So, if I do something extra that is not on my list, I want credit for it so I write it in, then cross it off. It is very liberating. Or I am very wierd. Very possibly the latter...

4. I love reading People magazine. No explanation, I just do.

5. I had a big crush on Bobby Brown when I was in high school. HUGE! I actually got to see him in concert down in Dallas, TX and thought I was the coolest person EVER! Of course all my dreams came crashing down when he went and married Whitney, became a drug addict, and decided to choose a life less than appealing to me. Even his music stopped being good. (Maybe it never was good?) Oh well, thank goodness I wised up and was able to marry someone even better!! He may not sing as good, but hey, I'll take him!

Lars' 6th Birthday

Ok, I suck. Lars' birthday was last week and through all of the "festivities" we had for his birthday, do you think I remembered my camera just once?? Nope-not even once! (If it makes Lars feel better someday, I did the same thing the year we let Drew have his very first friend birthday party when he turned 5).

Anyhoo--I can at least recap for you all and you can use your imagination as to what the pictures might have looked like.

As you might have guessed, Lars started counting down the days until his birthday for about 8 days prior (a trait I think he may have inherited from me). Every morning he would wake up and announce how many more days until he turned 6. On the actual day of his birthday he went to school and I brought in some Star Wars cookies made by the infamous Cookie Mom Cookies lady. She rocks! After school, big brother Drew had a birthday party to attend for a friend but Lars was grown up enough to wait until Drew got home from his friend's party before digging into his presents. Awww...how sweet. But hold on--back to that in a minute.

Lars decided that on his birthday he wanted to have his dad take him to the park so they could play baseball together. Perfect thing to do to kill some time until Drew gets home from the party. Then we let him pick what he wants to eat for dinner-McDonald's, of course! (I was somehow able to convince him that an actual restaurant was more of what we had in mind, so we ended up at Okoboji Grill)

Ok, so several hours have gone by and the kid has done so well with not asking about his presents and such, but at dinner, Uncle Matt and Aunt Diana bring him a present. Opening one did it for him--he had gotten a taste of opening gifts, and he was done with waiting. We got home about 8:30pm and we were expecting Drew any minute. By this time, Lars was so over the whole waiting thing that he was staring out the window just watching for the car that was going to be dropping Drew off. The minute it pulled into our driveway, Lars sprinted to the kitchen and started tearing open presents. He was literally on his third one before Drew even walked in the door. Enough of this "waiting for big brother stuff" already.

It only took him about four minutes to open all of his gifts, but he was thrilled with all his stuff. So thrilled in fact, that he was up at 5:30 the next morning putting together some of his new Star Wars Lego sets. When asked if he was following all the directions for his legos, he said, "I only skipped one page because it was too hard." At this point I thought, "oh well, we can fix it later-I'm going back to bed!"

So now it is Saturday, the day of the big party. We invited his whole kindergarten class (21 kids) to the Iowa Gym Nest (a gymnastics studio) for the best type of party...one that tires them all out!!! It was perfect for busy little people of this age and they had a great time. When we told Lars that we were inviting his whole class to the party, he looked at me funny and said, "even Ann Marie?" and I said, "Yeah, everyone. Why?" His response was, "Well she's mean and she gets in trouble in class all the time. She'll probably steal all of my toys." I reassured him that this would not happen so he felt a little better, and was even happier when she didn't actually come to the party. I'm not sure what his big beef with her is except that he is very annoyed that she always gets in trouble and disrupts class at school. I think it makes him even more mad that she has never had to go to the principal's office because of her behavior. We had always told him that you have to behave in school or you'll get sent to Mr. Laures' office and be in big trouble. (I love the rigidity of rules in this age group). I'm sure he just can't comprehend why she keeps getting away with being naughty.

So anyway, we survived the party and the ridiculous amount of gifts he got, and Lars is thrilled to be 6. He had a great birthday weekend. And then, three days later he asked, "How many more days until I turn 7?"