American pride

I've been playing around with this blog site, trying to get my page the way I want it, and it's frustrating. So things are still not quite right, but bear with me until I figure this all out. There are some really cool pages out there, and I'm just trying to figure out how they did it all...I want a cool page too!!
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Today I was reminded that there are still soldiers in Iraq. It's part of the world today--war.
As I drove to work today I was made aware that soldiers were coming home to Litchfield today, as signs, flags, yellow ribbons, and well wishes, lined hwy 12 from Dassel to Litchfield. It was amazing. "Only 3 miles to Litchfield" one sign read.
Once I got to work, the hotel was full of parents, spouses, family, children of the soldiers, some stayed at the hotel in anticipation of reuniting with their loved ones today. I continued to work and then just shortly after 12 noon, the sirens of the police cars sounded, and I looked out the window towards the hwy and saw the train of police cars, leading the soliders, which were in 2 buses, into Litchfield. What a feeling of pride for these soldiers, who are now home.
They served their country well, and Litchfield welcomed them home. I was glad to have witnessed some of the action, as it allowed my mind to remember those still in Iraq, those still away from their family and home, and how hard that must be. I am even more thankful for my family that is here with me, and appreciative of the soldiers that are in Iraq.
Below is the story written about the homecoming from Kristin Holtz (she attends our church), writer for the Litchfield paper.

It was a pretty awesome day.

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Soldiers receive heartfelt homecoming
April 30, 2008 - 4:55pm — Kristin Holtz
Filed under: Military


Dressed in fatigues and fresh off a five-hour bus ride from Ft. McCoy, Wis., 95 Minnesota National Guards soldiers stood stiff and straight at attention inside the Litchfield Armory Wednesday.

Twenty feet away, a solid white line taped to the floor separated hundreds of anxious family and friends who couldn't stand still in the crowded armory, as they attempted to catch a glimpse of their soldiers.

They waved flags and snapped pictures. Some clutched signs. Others shook in anticipation. And a few couldn’t hold back the tears of relief.
Joyful welcome
Then, that long-awaited final command.

Dismissed.

The moment sent a buzz through the gym, as couples, parents and children raced across the line to be united with their missing pieces. After an 11-month deployment to Iraq, the soldiers were safely home in the arms of their loved ones.

“It’s probably one of the best days of my life,” said Staff Sgt. Don Ommodt of New London, holding his youngest daughter, Gabriella, in his arms.

Spc. Michael Kisner of St. Cloud just reunited with his wife, Brittany, and 7-month-old son Dominic shared similar sentiments. “It’s too good to be true,” he said.

The soldiers arrived in Litchfield shortly after noon Wednesday escorted by a motorcade of police, fire trucks and motorcycles. People gathered along main street to greet the newly returning soldiers. The scene at the armory was one of similar excitement, as hundreds of people waved flags and raised ‘Welcome Home’ signs as the soldiers emerged from the buses.

“Getting here and seeing the crowd around the armory and ... hearing the hootin’ and hollerin’, it’s a pretty good feeling,” said Spc. Ryan Johnson of Eden Valley.


Anxiously waitingIn addition to emotions of happiness, the soldiers said after a year away they were ready to get on with their lives. Johnson said he plans on starting his live over, which includes relaxing with his 2-year-old son James and studying law enforcement in college.

Sgt. Brandon Anderson and his wife, Sarah, of Cambridge said they look forward to spending quality time together--though they will have to wait as Anderson must head to Ft. Knox, Kent., in a couple of days to rehab a broken foot. Sarah said she believes the separation actually made their relationship stronger.

“It’s been a really long time,” she said. “I’m glad to start our lives. ...I'm looking forward to taking care of him again.”

Sgt. David Kauppi of Litchfield was in a hurry to have lunch with his wife, Darla, and their children - Hailey, Mikaelah, Keaton, Sydnee and Hallie. It’s the every day things, like sharing meals together, he’s most looking forward to, he said. The kids added a family vacation to Florida to the list, too.

Kauppi said he believes the unit was able to do good things during its Operation Iraqi Freedom mission.

“We went and we accomplished what we had to do. We made friends along the way, and we had a positive impact on our area,” he said.

The 849th unit, which is part of the 682nd Engineering Battalion, headquartered in Willmar, served as a security force near Baghdad. The soldiers also provided coordination and guidance for renovation and construction of three schools, a Marketplace with 20 stores and several sanitation projects totaling more than $1.5 million.

The company also operated, supervised and controlled the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Base Defense Operation Center 24 hours a day, supporting all force protection issues in coordination with the 5th Group Special Forces.

hockey bums

Bailey's hockey team had a close game againest Waterloo, Iowa on Sunday at the Braemar Arena in Edina. They are a exceptional team, and we had in our best goalie, so we held our own. It was another fun game to watch, because of the closeness. Even though we were outplayed, we kept the score within a goal, most of the game and lost 3-4. Our goalie had 50 some shots on goal, so he played awesome to help our struggling team out. We got a few shots off, and Bailey had a nice goal.

We went out to eat with some of the team at Buffalo Wild Wings, and then headed to Minnetonka to play Blaine. Since we had about 2-3 hours between games, after we ate Hannah and I went to Kohls, while the boys goofed around at the rink. Hannah lasted a whole 10 min. in Kohls, before she was whining to leave. She picked out some cute flip flops and then she was done shopping. She is a terrible shopper lately. I guess I have to wait a few more years until she might enjoy it more. It's hard to enjoy it when I tell her "no" to everything she wants to get. Oh well.
We headed back to the rink and watched the next game. We played our second best goalie this game and he had a tough time, we lost 3-7. They were also a good team, and maybe if we had in Dommonick, our better goalie, it may have been a little closer game. Jared scored a hat trick and Bailey was on a line with all the first year kids and just didnt' have any chances to do much, he did get a couple of shots off.
Depsite the loses, I think the boys had fun.

I took a few pictures again, but they never turn out too well. I haven't figured out how to take a quality picture of a subject that's moving, even when my camera is set on the action mode. I do believe it's time for a new camera. Steve has been using my camera for work, and it has been dropped once already. He said he would buy me a new one for my birthday.....whenever we have some money.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to some wonderful people, my parents.

It's Lou's 6th Birthday!!

Taking some time out to post some pictures of our 5th family member, our dog, Lou. He's an important part of our family and today is his birthday. He is 6 yrs old and in dog years, he's at about mid life....or in his 40's.

He is a handful at times, but has turned out to be a wonderful pet. He's is overly friendly, and loves to be loved. Despite his desire to do the spring "run away", and his year round allergy ordeal, he is fun to have around. Now that warmer weather is here he loves to be outside and run around the yard and take walks with me. His favorite spot is cuddled up next to someone on the couch, and his favorite toy is his new stuffed "Patrick",(from spongebob). Most of those stuffed toys he rips apart, but this one has stayed intact so far. Gotta love the well made dog toys.

SparkPeople Quote Of The Day

Take a minute and think about your self-esteem. Do you think highly of yourself? Are you always giving 110%? Do other people look up to your positive attitude? There are times in all of our lives when we could use a self-esteem boost. It is easy to get discouraged in our fast paced society. It is crucial for you to remember that you must always think highly of yourself because most people only see how you treat yourself. So, think about it. Are you giving a message to others that says, “I am successful, I give 110%, I like challenges, etc.”

weekend accomplishments

Thursday was my birthday!! It came and went so fast. Thank you to all that made it seem like my birthday and sent wishes my way on a day that seemed a bit like any other day, but the day also included a sick kid. Hannah was sick on my birthday with a stomach virus of some sort, and wasn't feeling better until Friday night, and then by Saturday seemed more herself again, with maybe a lack of appitite all weekend though. That didnt'stop her from playing with her neighborhood friends.

I'm also thrilled to say that I have lost 20 lbs, it has been a long journey so far and I still have quite the journey to go. I've been working extra hard these last few weeks to reach my mini goal of 20 lbs by my birthday. Focus. Focus.

It was a tad windy but sure nice out the last few days. I got the garage cleaned, at least to a point that you can tell it's a garage again. Got quite a bit of sale stuff marked with Hannah's help, she is very insistant that she needs to help, and I cant' put on one sticker without her throwing a fit. She's in charge. We seem to have our own little store going on, with all the stuff we've accumulated again.

With the nice weather, also involves the dog running away again. I'm a vet tech and cant' even keep my own dog in my yard. uuggh. Believe me I've tried several times, but havent' been consistant with training until he's gotton it. He was brought into our home as a 10 week old puppy, and we also had a 10 mo old baby and a 4 yr old....some how I did find the time and did the puppy class and beginner training 2 different times, but he has never been one to listen very well, esp with the running away part. It has gotton easier over the years, and the training did help some, in that he'll most times just run to the neighbors across the street now, and I usually find him in a certain area, and after a few attempts, he does come to me, where as before he didnt' even hear me and when he saw me, and he'd run the entire city of Dassel. He likes his freedom I guess, but knows that it's best to come home. It's still frustrating though. He gets out of the back yard, when the door gets left open or blows open, but I guess, he knows he can get away with it. It's not a typical spring without the dog running away a few times.

This last week and weekend, Hannah is doing much better on riding her bike, we learned last summer somewhat, but it's been awhile again, and she could never get started, or just go on her own, but I think we got the kinks work out, and she is a soon to be pro. Practice Practice.

Bailey had a good hockey sunday. Hannah and I stayed home to get to church this week, plus Hannah was just sick. (and sick of hockey). So we decided to skip hockey this week, which is how I got the garage cleaned, or that wouldnt' have happend yet. I was glad to hear though, that Bailey's team won a game, and tied the other game, and Baily had a goal. Gives the kids some deserved energy for the season, not to always be on the loosing end. 2 hockey weekends left--then a few months of baseball games.

Spark People Quote

Even though I wonder where life is taking me right now, I am also reassured that God is guiding me.



Legend has it there’s a study out there that says 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass. Whether that study is real or not, it’s most likely that this statistic holds in your life. How much of our lives do we miss because we’re agonizing over what might happen down the road? How often do we fail to act – even if it’s the right thing to do – because we fear any number of possible consequences? Fretting over the future doesn’t solve any of those impending problems. It only paralyzes your actions of the present. It stresses you out, makes you mentally and physically tired, and saps all the fun out of what could have been another great day. Next time you start to worry about what might happen, think of this: You can prepare, but you cannot predict. So do what you can, and forget what you cannot.

Some words of comfort & strength

Life to the fullest:
by Holley Gerth

Your future is full of.....

JOY- because God has a plan for you.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord,.."plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

PEACE- becasue God will be with you wherever you go. I am with you always
Matthew 28:20

HOPE- becasue God is working on your behalf. In all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Romans 8:28

LOVE- becasue God deeply love you. How wide and long and deep and high is the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:18

STRENGTH-becasue God gives you everything you need. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

CONFIDENCE- becasue God made you who you are. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

COURAGE- becasue God can do more than you can imagine. With God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26


prayer:
When I face difficult days, Jesus, remind me that you faced the dread that I deserve for my sins. And you took away the guilt of them all. I rejoice to be able to depend on your love and power to get through every difficult day and look forward to a bright and glorious future! Amen



Hang It On the Cross


If you have a secret sorrow,

A burden or a loss,

An aching need for healing…

Hang It On the Cross.

If worry steals your sleep

And makes you turn and toss,

If your heart is feeling heavy…

Hang It On the Cross.

Every obstacle to faith

Or doubt you come across,

Every prayer unanswered…

Hang It On the Cross.

For Christ has borne our brokenness

And dearly paid the cost

To turn our trials to triumph…

Hanging On the Cross.

kid central hub

Today was really nice. It really feels like spring is coming, oh yea it's already here. I can tell because after school, I have 9-10 kids at my house. The kids can get outside and play, and Bailey's age group seems to have more freedom now, and he has 3-4 girls from the neighborhood that are stalking him now. He says it's getting frustrating, but he's also been to their house down the block, so I think he enjoys the current game of cat and mouse, the girls being the cats. Oh so silly, but I guess I remember my first liking boys in abotu 4th grade. Those girls are sure aggressive though. :) Our house seems to be the central hub. I think I'm getting a bit frustrated, but as long as they all stay outside and they all seem like good kids. Hannah friends I dont' mind in the house, they just do girlie things. I can handle that, except maybe when they keep changing their minds and go from in to out to back in, etc, bringing in all the dirt, sand and mud.

sale--tables needed

I'm gonna try a Memorial weekend garage sale this year, mostly for the fact that I hate all the clutter we still have and we need money SO bad. I may still do my annual Labor Day sale, but I had the thought of not doing it this year, so we'll see how this first one goes and I may still do it. We dont' get as much traffic through town as the city wide Labor day sales, but people are out and about looking for sales early in the year, and being that it is a holiday weekend, some come through here to go to lakes and cabins. The only thing that worries me is the weather as Memorial weekends can be chilly and rainy, but they can also be beautiful, so I can hope for that.

I am in need of tables. I am not gonna use the church tables for this sale, too much work to get them, so if anyone has any sort of table I can use that would be helpful. I'll be asking around soon. A big task will be getting the garage cleaned up, my next good weather task. Usually I have all summer to get it sale ready, now I have about a month. It'll be fun though.

open wide

Hannah had a dentist appt. to have a cavity taken care of today. She did good. Dentists to me have always been a little tramatic, well lets just say I've been through alot when it comes to my teeth, and remember cavities not being so fun as a kid. So I didnt' say anything to her, although Bailey's had a couple and he said it doesn't hurt. I never went back with Bailey so I never knew how they do this all now days.
She went in there pretty confident. They put that relaxing gas on her nose, she didnt' like how it kinda blowed in her eyes a little, so she just kept them shut, and she was done in about 20 min. They dont' even have to numb it on kids or at least this time. Seemed simpler than I remember as a kid. Our dentist has all the latest equiptment and such too, so I was impressed. Hannah said it didn't even hurt. She will loose this tooth that the work was done on, but it's a tooth that is kinda overlapping another one, which is where the cavity occured, and it's just a precaution for further problems with the area where the tooth is. She also has a small cavity between her front teeth, which she will also loose those teeth soon, and it's more of a cosmetic fix on that tooth, so we will just leave that one alone for now.

Hannah lost her first tooth 1 year ago, April 20, and the permanent tooth still has no sign of coming in, although it's just under the surface on x-ray. The dentist says sometimes it can take awhile...I just never heard of this taking so long. It's like a baby now, waiting for her first tooth to come in, we've been waitin a long time though. She has no real other loose teeth yet either, a few are sorta loose, but not really. :)

He shoots, he scores!!!

On a happier note, Bailey's team won one of the 2 hockey games this weekend. For those that may not know, this is Bailey's 5th year skating on the LDC--MN Showcase hockey team, which is optional. Steve has been involved in coaching since the first year. Doug is the main coach, who's son, Jared, also has been on Bailey's team from the start. This is the 2nd year playing on the Squirt level in Showcase. The team this year consists of this years A/B squirt teams and those kids that will be in Squirts next season. We have a team this year of about 17 kids, more than we've ever had. Makes for alot of lines. A majority of the kids were Mites last year, so they are having a tough time adjusting to "game play". Most Mites dont' get the chance to play many games, esp. with line changes and penalties. So this is a new experience for most of them. Baily started Showcase in the spring ever since he was a 1st yr Mite at age 6, so this has all been a natural progression for him and the few teammates that also started with Bailey. They are the stars of the team this year. :) Even though him and his Squirt A teammates had a tough regular season, the 2nd yr Squirts moved up to the Peewee level, which leaves Bailey as one of the players that can show some of his talent now.

The team certainly struggles, but they pulled off a win againest Rosemount, in the 2nd game on Sat. at the Bloomington Ice Gardens. It was so thrilling to watch them finally play a team about as good as them, and they won 3-2. With 2 goals by Bailey and another by Jared. They were kinda wimpy goals , nevertheless goals!!! Bailey scored the tie breaking goal for us to win with about 3 min left in the game. Rosemount took out their goalie for the last minute and a half, which gave them 6 players, and we held on bearly, for the win. Us parents usually don't have too much to cheer about, but this one was fun. It's fun when they are competitive and we WIN !!! The kids sure deserved it and were so happy.

In memory of our little fuzzy guy-- "Harry"

He brought smiles to our kids faces on December 20 , 2005--died April 12, 2008

It's amazing the emotions our family felt this past weekend over the loss of our pet guinea pig. It's always a sad day when a pet dies. I kept telling myself it's just a stupid guinea pig, but he was OUR guinea pig. It was way tougher to deal with, than I thought, and as I write this the tears are flowing.
We came home Saturday night, about 8pm after a long day of hockey in the Cities. When we left I remember checking on Harry, as I always do before we leave all day, and made sure he had food and water. His house was tipped over, so I tipped it back for him and he crawled in.

When we got home I started tidying up a bit, put the kids to bed, and then tidyed up some more. I came to Harry's cage about 9:30pm or so, and saw Harry laying outside of his house, next to the side of the cage, not moving. Immediately, I knew we was gone, but kept thinking, is he still alive? He was still soft, yet limp, but obviously blueish and not breathing. I couldn't feel a heart rate either and just broke down. What happened? He was just fine. He was healthy and only lived about 3 yrs, instead of the normal 5-6, and we only had him a little over 2 short years. I wrapped him in a towel and laid him in the porch for the night, just sad at the thought of telling the kids in morning. I have a soft spot for all animals, guinea pig or not, he was our buddy, we enjoyed his squeeking when we opened the refridgerator, Hannah and I were just laughing at him a few days ago as he jumped inside his tipped over igloo house and then put his feet up on the edge and jumped out and then ran around and did it over about 5 times. It's hard too because I took care of him, cleaned his cage once a week, made sure he was gettting food/water, and the extra Vitamin C he needed. Just about 2 weeks ago I gave him a bath and fluffed him up, cleaned his ears, trimmed his nails and let him run around the playroom. He was an awesome little pet and we'll miss him.

It was hard to tell the kids, but I let them get up Sunday morning and get ready for sunday school, I had to work so I wanted to tell them in the morning. They got all ready and then about 15 min before leaving I told them. I had a hard time telling them, and they took it pretty hard as well. Bailey instantly was sad and Hannah it took a minute to comprehend, both were tearing up and asking why? I didnt' have an answer for them. They wanted to see him so I went to the porch where I laid him the night before and unwrapped the towel. He was stiff and hard by now, and the kids calmly cried some more.
So off we went to Sunday school, after some nose blowing and wiping tears, they survived, but were sad.

I came home later Sunday afternoon, kids were still noticably sad. They both made notes for Harry, that read, " Our favorite pet, Harry, we will miss you, good bye. I decided to go ahead and bury him just to get him out of the porch, and Bailey found a small shoe box, and we put him in, and buried him in the front flower garden underneath my lighthouse, and the kids put their notes out there too. It was tough to bury him and all our emotions came back.
I cleaned out his cage last night and washed up all his stuff. The kids want a new pet, but yet they dont', because they want Harry and no other guinea pig will be Harry, they said. I think we will wait it out and see. It's too tough to loose pets, but yet they bring so much joy, that I dont' think my life will ever be pet free. The kids appreciate Lou, Keaton and Wylie more now, and Bailey almost instantly after finding out about Harry, gave Lou a hug and petting. Bailey took it a bit harder than Hannah, she knows Harry is gone, but almost has a different approach to it all than Bailey.
In time we'll be pretty much over it all, but always a sad memory for the kids, as they will remember this always.

A Bad Day

Hi, this is Bailey, today was sad because I found out my guinea pig died. It's going to be different, because I won't hear him sqeeking. I was at hockey yesterday, and when I came back I went to bed. So my mom told me this morning before church

hello

I decided to start one of these blog pages as well. We'll see how it goes, I hope to get the whole family involved with ideas, stories, things going on, important messages, and fun stuff.
Check back for more. Bailey is pretty good with typing on the computer and likes to write stories, and Hannah is just learning all about the computer and is getting good with words, so I will try to get them to type somethings too, and maybe Steve will add a goofy thing or 2 once in awhile, cuz of course he can't be too serious. I'll probably do the majority of it though. Have a great weekend and don't get too bummed with the sloppy mess outside, warmer days are not far away. :)