Soccer 2010

I am officially a soccer mom and Brett is officially a soccer dad.

Kylie and Brayden are taking lessons with the Dubuque Soccer Club this Fall!

After his game, Brayden called Grandpa to tell him that he scored 2 goals!

The boys are trying to stay warm during Kylie's game.

Proverbs31:26

Proverbs 31:26-- "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness."(NkJV)

A group of ladies from our church made a trip to Chicago to see Beth Moore live!(my favorite speaker and writer) She spoke on Proverbs 31:26 and here's why she thought the Holy Spirit guided her towards this verse and this topic.
Exhibit A- We live in a mean world and it is only going to get worse- 2 Timothy3.
Exhibit B- ..."she openeth her mouth!"... Everything that we say is a published book on our feelings and thoughts and we cannot take it back(facebook, blogger, twitter, texting, emails, etc.) One huge problem here is that we do NOT have an editor, so we need to let the Holy Spirit be our editor! This is why we need to open our mouths with kindness!

8 Tastes of Kindness!

1. Kindness is not weakness!

Luke 6:35-36-- "But love your enemies, do good to them without expecting to be repaid full. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just like your Father is merciful."

Kind is not the same as nice, since Webster defines nice as-" not to know, or to be ignorant." Nice is fine but kindness is divine! In Psalms 41:5 we read,"Let a righteous man strike me, let him rebuke me." Kind does not mean nice and kind does not mean weak! You can fake nice, but you can't fake kindness!

2. Kindness is not an action, it's a disposition!

Kind means profitable, fit, good for any use, useful towards others, good natured. Kindness is the grace which pervades the whole nature.

3. Kindness wears down when we do!

When we are worn down, we need to be built up. We don't need our egos built up, we need our spirits built up. *Ephesians 4:12-Body of Christ being built up....* Ephesians 4:16- builds itself up in Love... *Ephesians 4:29- ...builds others up...

4. Kindness looks pain in the face!

5. Kindness is a Savior!

God works through us when He uses us as a benefit to others, but if you are being a "savior" to someone, quit today! Direct them towards Christ! Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY SAVIOR!!!

6. Kindness has good memory!

Psalm 106:7 "When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles, they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea..."

Understand that HE has never let you go-- but you need to let your past be the past and only remember his saving grace.

7. Kindness craves an outlet!

2Samuel 9: "When David became king, he wanted to do something kind to his family." Do something kind for others, be it small or be it big, just get it done!

8. Kindness leaves a legacy!

If our children grow up to be kind, it will be no accident-- because we live in a selfish, narcissistic world. Will our legacy to our children be one of kindness and love(Jesus), or will it be one of selfishness and rudeness (Satan)? Nothing has authority to take control over you, but Jesus Christ!!!

Beth Moore speaking

(it was tough taking a good picture of her, this woman moves alot during her speaches and she talks with her hands!)

Worship band! AWESOME!
Our group of ladies, having dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory.

AWANA

AWANA 2010-2011 started this week.

It's hard to believe that we have two kids in AWANA this year.

Kylie is in her second year of Sparks and Brayden is now officially an Awana cub!

He liked Cubbies okay mostly because he knows his teacher and the girls in his group.

* Colton was not exactly thrilled about his brother and sister leaving for Awana and leaving him behind at home.

SO...he cried at first....
...then he got really mad!...

...after that, he thought for a minute and realized: HEY, i have mommy's undivided attention!"

...he was a happy boy from then on! :)

KINDERGARTEN!

Our beautiful daughter, Kylie started Kindergarten this year!!!

After many discussions and much praying, we decided to homeschool; and we embarked on this exciting adventure on September 7, 2010!

We wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion by having a not so healthy, but oh so yummy doughnut for breakfast. We loaded everyone in the car and headed out to the Doughnut boy

*That's one of the many advantages of homeschooling, we can make our own schedule!

Kylie is loving Kindergarten and she is learning so much!
I usually do the lessons with her and Daddy does the homework.

The Lord has blessed me so much by allowing me to be my daughter's Kindergarten teacher! :)

Babysitting one month. date night the next month!

Those of you that have kids know that date night takes a lot of preparation: find a sitter, clean house, make dinner for sitter and kids, pay sitter (not always but sometimes) and you usually end up feeling rushed during your date night.

These are only few of the reasons why Brett and I decided to have date-night swaps with our good friends Benji and Abby Leverentz. This means that one month we have their kids overnight and they have the whole afternoon, night and morning to themselves and the next month they have our kids overnight and we have date night.

We love this deal because there's minimal preparation to take kids over to their house, we don't feel rushed during our date, it's free and the kids have a blast!!!

Last month we had the Leverentz kids over to our house and Benji and Abby had date night!

It just so happened that the night we had sleepover at our house, there was also a tornado watch and we ended up on the couch downstairs until it was safe to go back upstairs and finish watching Shrek 3.

Brayden is so silly! :)
Hmmm....
The kids slept in sleeping bags in the living room. Benson wanted to sleep on the couch like Brett.

Brett and Benson are buds!

Brett made pancakes for everyone the next morning! Thank you honey!

Aunt Kate was visiting us for the weekend and she was here during sleepover night!

Good buddies!

Colton, Brayden, Jackson and Benson

Playtime outside the morning after sleepover.

I think this is a brilliant plan and this month is our turn to drop off the kids and have a night all to ourselves! Wootwoot!!! ;)

Carley and Dakota's visit!

Dakota and Carley came to visit us this weekend and we had a lot of fun!!!

*Friday night we had a fondue/cooking potting night at our house for dinner. We invited our friends Benji and Abby to join us and we took our little gang of kiddies (all 7 of them) to church for babysitting night (our church's youth group has a free babysitting night every other month and we try to take advantage of it every time we can!) I forgot to take pictures of our fondue night and for that I deeply apologize :D

* Saturday morning we headed out to the Farmers' Market NOT so bright and early...

* After we were done walking around the farmer's market, we drove a few blocks down to "The 4th street elevator" which is the world's steepest, shortest scenic railway.

* When we got back home we had lunch and it was nap time for most of us!

* Brett took Kylie to Annalea Leverentz's birthday party while Dakota, Carley and I waited until the boys woke up from their nap and we joined daddy and Kylie at the bday party.

Slip and sliiiiiiiiide!!!

* We got back home from the party and we enjoyed dinner on the patio

(BLTs and sweet corn-yum!)

Thank you Carley and Dakota for loving on our kiddies, they lOvEd having you here!

After church on Sunday, we had lunch and our last chocolate fondue dessert(for now) and Carley and Dakota headed back to Ames.

It was so fun to have you both here!!!