Christmas in February

Yesterday we went to Dubuque for a very-belated Christmas. One of the gifts the kids received from Grandma and Grandpa T is a Mickey Mouse waffle maker! So naturally, we are having MM pancakes for breakfast. Thanks Grandma and Crampa T (as Gideon pronounces the word).

Meeting John Piper

I met one of my heroes while at the Desiring God Conference a few weeks back. I asked him to sign my book that I had rebound in India a few years back, and got my picture with him, too! So cool!

Gideon at the Williams Super Bowl

Just thought you'd enjoy Gideon's Chick-fil-a costume he found at Matt and Laura Williams house. He wore the outfit most of the night!

Geocaching in the Cold

In my quest to find all the geocaches in the IL-Quad Cities before heading over to Iowa, the entire family went to a very small park in Silvia to find two caches. The wind was brisk and biting, but we had fun.

The Symphony

Saturday night Kathee and I had the awesome privilege of attending the Quad City Symphony Orchestra! We had such a great time. We went out to supper with Doug and Lou Peterson, and their foreign exchange student from Germany, Julian, who is attending my youth ministry weekly. The concert was fantastic! I didn't know until last night that encores happened at symphony concerts. So much fun!!

Hope's First Hair cut

Today we went to Kristin Cornell's salon to get Hope's first cut. Kristin is Rhonda's daughter, who is one of my adult leaders and is a grandmother type to my kids! Hope did great! Gone is the mullet she had. Kristin is a magician.

Time with Dave and Lisa Wicklund

St the end of January I was able to attend the Desiring God Pastor's Conference. Rusty, our children's pastor and I went to Minneapolis, for a couple days. One of the evenings I was able to have scoot away from the venue and meet up with Kathee's cousin's family for supper (between seminars). It was so good to see Cousin Lisa and Dave again. And their two daughters are absolutely delightful.

The Kids

I think they are pretty cute. And how's this for perspective? Normally, I don't bathe the kids, so I don't see them in the buff very often. Tonight I gave them a bath and the thought kept hitting me that Hope is pasty white. She's not, I'm just used to Gideon's akin tone setting "normality."