Wanted: Dead or Alive

When we came home from V-ball today, this is what we found posted on the garage door...

...and on our bedroom door...

...and all over the walls....

...and on my study chair....

....and on the upstairs TV.....

...they are also on our front door, on our fridge, and a couple of other places in the house.

Vacation time in Bemidji, Minnesota!

The home of legendary Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. Yah. That's what drew us south to Bemidji. We can now scratch that off our list of "things to do". Actually, Rich said, "Let's take a week of vacation. See if you can find a nice hotel with a pool and a buffet breakfast at a decent price in a city within 5 hours of home that has some historical interest and some stuff to do." There. That was my assignment. And it led us south......to Bemidji.
Which is, I might add, a kinda neat town. It's got some beautiful old buildings, and some pretty run down sections. But, it met our requirements and kept us busy and happy for 3 1/2 days. Our hotel backed onto Lake Bemidji which was covered in ice fishing shacks (see above) and which also sported 10 or so rinks which looked like they were being prepped for some sort of winter festival or hockey tourney. We took a nice walk along the lake, enjoying the view of the gorgeous lakefront properties and the quaint little touches covered with a fresh layer of snow.

The local Science Centre was a little hokey.....basically one big room full of homemade-ish science "stuff" - but we loved it! Everything was hands-on so we spent a coupla hours trying out the echo tunnel, the bubble wall, the "dug-out" where we could throw a pitch and the speed was recorded, petting the animals, taking apart the insides of a human "body", watching the fish and the lizards and snakes, playing mind games, testing our balance, etc, etc.


Food was a big part of our trip. See a sample menu above. Boy we ate well......... ;)

We also went to a museum on our last day - it, too, was a little hokey, but again, we loved it! Not too big, so no one could complain of sore feet or that it was taking too long or that it was boring......okay, so maybe Corin said all those things, but none of it held water. I loved this little display about Coke :)
This picture of Caleb with the pow-wow dancer holds immense significance for our family but every way I try to tell the story it comes out all wrong and sounds inappropriate, so I'll simply leave the picture and hope we'll remember the story ourselves.

We swam and swam and swam. All of us loved it. After our delicious breakfast we'd head up to the room, get on our swimsuits and race to the pool. Most of the time we had the whole place to ourselves! There was a pool, a splash area with a frog slide and lots of pouring/spraying/ bubbling water and there was an amazing indoor/outdoor hot tub!! I didn't think I'd like it - I dislike small hot tubs where you sit too close to people, so I wasn't too excited about this part of the pool area. But it was great! It was nice and roomy and you could lift the plexi-glass partition and float right outside where the wind was howling and the snow was falling!
Okay, so this isn't the most flattering picture of me......especially since Rich looks like he's being squished.....b/c he is........ But at least it proves that I was actually on this trip since it's the only picture of me. And it shows that Rich and I can still have fun together :)

Luke's new friend :)

Beautiful hotel. Great breakfasts. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate whenever you wanted it. After swimming we'd all get a cup of our favourite hot beverage and then take the elevator up to our room where we'd get changed and snuggle into the beds to watch the Insp channel - usually Little House on the Prairie :)

I love my family.

So many things to remember about this trip. So many little things - Yvetta marching down the hallway in her bathing suit, Corin standing beside the hotel attendant in the breakfast room waiting for her to finish re-filling the sausage tray, Luke tenderly holding Yvetta in the pool, Laura and Caleb talking away in the back of the truck, everyone eager to get dressed and start the day, Caleb offering to babysit the littles in the splash area so that I could join Rich in the hot tub, the medical part of the museum that had oldies musical hits with medical themes like "Love Potion Number 9" (which the kids played over and over....). Too many things to mention. But all evidence of God's grace in our family - giving us a closeness that we cherish and a love of spending time together.

It's Over Now - Sons of Korah

The week before Valentines Day I told Rich not to buy me any expensive, marked-up Val.Day flowers. In the days that followed I had some secret regrets, b/c my dear husband faithfully - and lovingly, not dutifully - buys me lovely bouquets b/c he knows I love flowers. So, when the day arrived, I was oh, so, happy that he went by the "spirit of the law" (not to buy expensive, marked-up flowers) and not the "letter of the law" (to not buy me flowers at all).
He brought me this lovely potted flower that added a much needed splash of colour to our home :) Love it, sweetie :)

And, for the rest of our VD events, we have our devotional reading from the night before to thank. We've been learning about our love for God and our neighbour and we were challenged to think of an act of kindness to perform for someone we don't normally think of as our neighbour. Caleb, who was sitting beside Laura, jokingly said, "How about Laura?" Rich and I jumped on that idea, since siblings often don't place each other in the category of neighbour, whom they must love as themselves. So, they put their names in a hat, each drew one name, and had to think up an act of kindness for that person for the next day - Valentines Day.
Act of Kindness #1: Corin had Yvetta's name and drew her a special picture, which he then hung on her wall with a piece of tape :)
Act of Kindness #2: Luke had Corin's name and spent over an hour drawing with him. Drawing is one of Corin's favourite things to do, and the only thing that tops it is when someone else draws with him.
He was pretty happy :)
Act of Kindness #3 : Laura put her culinary skills to work and melted a mixture of milk chocolate with almonds and bittersweet chocolate to make these "kisses and hugs" chocolates......for Caleb - who thanked her profusely and then downed it in 2 bites :)
Act of Kindness #4: Yvetta had Laura's name. So, she put together a tea party for her. They had tea together and chatted for awhile, making both of them happy.

As a little interlude, Yvetta spent a coupla hours fast asleep on the floor in the livingroom and since I had the camera out all day, I took some pics :)

Act of Kindness #5: Caleb had Luke's name and went straight to the "stomach" of the matter - making him a giant cookie with a face :) He cut the recipe down to 1/4, but somehow the flour amount wasn't quite right and it turned out......well....like this. But we all got a good laugh at it, especially Luke, so it turned out just right after all.

And I did my traditional lasagna meal with a killer chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Small things, but done thoughtfully and with love for each other, looking for ways to make someone else happy and feel cared about. Amazing how easy it really is and yet how seldom it's done with intention. Best example of intentional love in action? Christ. Word made flesh. Dwelt among us. Died for us. Rose for us. And is coming back for us. Love.

Stormy's growth (Caleb's post)

This is the dog that is in our dog run today. Below is the dog that was almost in our dog run (We hadn't purchased him yet). Lots of growth coming from Stormy.

By: Caleb

Randy Stonehill - Farther on

Feeling a little nostalgic today...

C.H. Spurgeon - The People's Preacher