The Month That Got Away!

Hi blog world. I'm back...did you miss me?

Not to make excuses for my absence, but September was the busiest month of my life.  I didn't realize how used to my summer schedule I was until the new school year started and I was launched back into the full-time work day.  Although I had such wonderful intentions to blog... anytime I had a moment where I could have sat at my computer I fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion! 

September also saw a couple pretty big decisions for us as a family.  The biggest one of which was our decision to accept the position of college age pastors at our church.  This launches us fully back into youth ministry and since we're still heading up the worship department and all our other responsibilities too, our plate is beginning to resemble more of a serving tray!  But we are also really excited - we just have to figure out how to balance it all with our family time too!

Rather than try to recap the entire month I'm just picking my three top events of the month to talk about today.

1.  FAMILY CAMP
Our annual trip over Labor Day weekend with approx. 150 people from our church is ALWAYS a blast.  And this year with the beautiful 90+ degree weather every day made this trip one of the best yet. We swam, we played LOTS of games, we hung out with friends just relaxing, and we enjoyed the air conditioning in Dave's mom's tent trailer that we borrowed for the weekend.  Besides the fun of being with my family and close friends ~ Hayden also learned to ride his bike (actually pedaling alone) and Elijah figured out how to walk behind a little push toy which kept him quite occupied the ENTIRE weekend!

2.  WARRIOR DASH
Earlier this year Dave heard about this extreme obstacle race called "The Warrior Dash" and got really excited about participating in something like it...then we found out it was coming to Portland and so he got a small group of friends to register with him and on September 11th he competed and conquered his first Warrior Dash.  It was a 5k race with 10 different obstacles throughout including jumping over logs in waist-deep water, climbing over piles of wrecked cars, climbing cargo nets, running through tires, climbing over walls and then crawling through a mud pit under barbed wire - and Dave did GREAT.  Over 7000 people competed in the event, with heats of 400 racers starting every 30 minutes over the course of two days.  Some people competed for best time.. most competed to say they did it, and the funnest part was seeing all the crazy costumes as groups of people came dressed to impress. 

3.  Baby's First Steps.
I should point out that these three highlights were listed in chronological order, not in order of importance... because I'd put this at the top of the list otherwise!!!
Elijah took his first steps on Wednesday, September 28th at 16 months, 4 days old while in the church nursery with his Auntie Jodi and Grandma.   I thought I'd made it ABUNDANTLY clear to the child that he should let me be present for this milestone... but I missed it by 2 minutes.  But I've definitely got to witness plenty of it since then...so I've decided to forgive him.  I videoed this clip the next day as he showed off his new skill.

 

And that's a wrap people! 

Here's to a slower October...hahaha...who am I kidding?!

Special K & Kids' Camp

I'm known as some variation of Kelly, Kells, Kell-Bell most of the year round, but come the last week of July each year I take on a new identity...

I am...

SPECIAL K.
Camp Counselor extraordinaire!

The girls from my cabin this year.

 8 years ago I attended my first Kids' Camp from our church as a camp counselor and was nick-named Special K by the leaders there, and the name has stuck. Now Dave (AKA Brotha D) and I go each year, and have slowly taken over most of the responsibilities.  We lead worship, we teach, we plan activities, and make sure the kids have the time of their lives. It's three full days and nights of go-go-go and we bring a bus load of 5th & 6th graders home completely exhausted at the end, but it's wonderful.

The whole crew - 16 fifth graders, 6 sixth graders, 7 counselors

Showing off our silly sides

This year was an especially great year - everything from the theme, the teaching, the activities and the kids response to the Lord was easy.  Our children's pastors said that in the 17 years they'd been doing Kids' Camp that it was among the very best and I'm really glad we got to be a part.

It's not just fun for kids either - us counselors have the time of our lives too.  The beautiful thing about this age group is that they're old enough to be semi-responsible for themselves and yet young enough that they still listen to everything you say.  This is how we could send our kids to bed each night in their rooms and tell them to go to sleep... and they would.  This is also how us counselors would stay up for several hours longer playing card games, eating totally unhealthy snacks and laughing until the wee hours of the morning.

Serious frisbee golfing

 It's also how we were able to allow the kids to keep making runs on the Alpine Slide while we got in a game of frisbee golf down the hillside of Mt. Hood.

And it's where I got this nice sunburn after telling all my girls to wear sunscreen and then not applying any myself!

Sometimes not practicing what you preach is painful!!

However the view to get that sunburn was WELL WORTH IT!  We took the kids up to the Alpine Slides for the day and riding the ski lifts up the side of ski bowl gave us the most gorgeous view of not just Mt. Hood, but also Mt. St. Helens, Rainier and Adams all in Washington, and then also Mt. Jefferson and Sisters ridges on the Eastern side of Oregon. 

Riding the chair lift up

Part of the track of the Alpine Slide

View of Mt. Hood from the top!

The whole weekend was tremendous...and I'm so grateful to the Lord for the ministry He did not just in the kid's lives, but in mine too.  It's a beautiful thing how you spend all this time preparing to teach the kids and the Lord turns around and teaches you too.  Kids' Camp is a great platform for me to be stretched and move out of my natural comfort zones... while I've been leading worship for years now, doing more of the teaching/preaching side, prophetic ministry and leading pre-prayer still gets me a bit nervous, but the kids were responsive and the Lord was gracious and I'm already pumped up and excited for next year!

Leading pre-prayer before our first general session.

Having an awesome worship time with the kids

Teaching Saturday morning on "knowing who we are in Christ."

I was also so very proud of my dear husband, who has NO problem whatsoever in teaching/preaching/prophesying/ministering because he's AWESOME and was in rare form this past weekend!  Oh what an amazing man I married.  Watching him in action makes me fall in love with him all over again!

My cutie-patootie preaching machine of a sexy husband!

Who need s'mores when you've got something as sweet as him???!!!

Yep, I think Special K & Brotha D will be returning to Kids Camp for many years to come!

What I Made Wednesday: Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Chunks

Coming into summer and BBQ weather, it's always great to have a few quick BBQ friendly dishes you can put together for entertaining, or taking to a friend's or potluck.  My sister first introduced these bacon wrapped pineapple chunks to me and I've been hooked ever since.  They're always a crowd-pleaser - and they're easy to make too.

Okay so technically this post should be called, "What HE made Wednesday" because this was all Dave!  I'd like to think I was rubbing off on him and his culinary skills were being honed right here in my kitchen, but the closer truth is I was too busy with dinner/kids/dishes/anything else to come to his rescue for his mens' bible study BBQ where they were all supposed to bring a side dish ~ so he made these himself.

The most adorable chef I've ever seen!

And because I'm such a wonderful wife, I infuriated him further by insisting that I take photos of him throughout the process so he could be forced into being an (involuntary) guest blogger of mine. But isn't he cute... he smiles really good on cue.  I've trained him and my children well. And by trained I mean, they have learned to smile right away because they all know I'll keep snapping photos until they do.


Here's what you'll need:

Yep that's it... 1 package of bacon, 1 can of pineapple chunks, brown sugar (approx 3/4 cup) & toothpicks.

First thing to do is cut the package of bacon in half...right down the middle so you'll have twice the amount, in shorter lengths.

Please excuse the blurry photo... my hubby was in "action" and would not be slowed for photo taking!

Taking a half length of bacon dredge it in the brown sugar on both sides.

Then wrap it around a pineapple chunk and secure it with a toothpick.

Now rinse and repeat... oh wait, that's different directions.  Just keep dredging, wrapping, securing until you've used all your bacon, or all your pineapple, or both!

IMPORTANT STEP: Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack over top.  Do not be like Dave and just go for the naked broiling pan... because sugar, combined with pineapple juice and bacon caramelizes REALLY well onto the bottom of said pan.  Foil is your friend!!  Lesson learned.

Now throw these delightful appetizers in your oven to bake at 350'F for approx 30-35 minutes, or until the bacon is cooked through thoroughly.  If you like a crispier bacon, you can broil for a couple minutes at the end too.

And that's it... throw them in a paper towel lined dish and enjoy... they're delicious!!!

Good job honey, you can make these any time you like!!

BACON WRAPPED PINEAPPLE CHUNKS

Ingredients:

1 pound of bacon

1 20oz can of pineapple chunks

3/4 cup of brown sugar

toothpicks

Directions:

1.  Cut your bacon strips in half.  Dredge each strip of bacon in the brown sugar on both sides and then wrap around a pineapple chunk and secure with a toothpick.

2.  Line a baking tray with foil and place bacon wrapped pineapple on wire rack over tray.  Bake at 350'F for 30-35 minutes, or until bacon is cooked thoroughly.

Happy Father's Day

Today I want to pay tribute to three special father's in my life.

1.  My daddy.

March 1978

June 2011

The best father a girl could ever ask, pray or hope for - and I got him!  Someone who loved, doted, disciplined, embarrassed, challenged, adored, taught, trained, rewarded, believed, generously gave and molded me into the person I am today.  My dad is one of the most giving, most loving, most respected men I know.  A godly man of integrity, of character, of wisdom with a great sense of humor and a passion for his family.  He is admired by many, loved by many... but none more so than by me! As a little girl he was my hero, as a teenager and young adult he was my biggest fan and now as a married woman with a family of my own, I am blessed to have him as a friend too.  He is known by many names, Wayne, Mr. Wilson, Ref, Boss, and one of his favorites... Papa to all his grandchildren ~ but he'll always be daddy to me. 
  
I love you daddy, love you more... yes-huh, yes-huh!


2.  My husband.

Elijah - May 2010

Hayden ~ Jan. 2008

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day weekend 2011

Long before we were even married I knew Dave would be an excellent father some day... and sure enough - He is!  The excitement and reaction I got when we found out we were pregnant is a memory I'll keep with me with and cherish almost as much as when he saw our boys faces for the first time at their birth.  Watching him with our boys, wrestling, playing, teaching, praying, reading, snuggling, feeding, cleaning, picking up after - and all with no effort is so rewarding to me.  As a mom, you want the best for your kids and I believe they have it in their dad!  Babe, I love that being a great daddy is so natural to you, and our boys are so blessed to have a father like you.  One who will train them up in the way they should go... it makes me fall even deeper in love with you when I see you loving them.

I love you babe... and I love having a family together with you.


3.  My heavenly father.

How can I think of Father's day and not give glory to the Lord for the many blessings in my life.  He is a GOOD Father, who loves to give GOOD things to His children ~ and today, among all the things I'm thankful for like salvation and His grace and mercy, I thank Him for the gift that my father and husband are to me, and to my children.

10 Things - Husband Edition

To my darling Dave,

This post is about for you!

You are amazing, you are funny

you are a great husband, father and spiritual leader

and you have the biggest servant's heart.

And although you have some weird idiosyncrasies

and you sometimes drive me crazy

I have to admit that 98.5% of the time it's crazy-in-love!

Thanks for being you...

and for loving me!

1.   He's a giver.  Dave is one of the biggest servants I know.  He's always volunteering to help people out, always busy doing something nice for someone else and I'm fortunate that a lot of the time - it's for ME!   Just in the last two weekends he's roto-tilled an older couple's entire yard for them so they could plant new grass, changed oil in vehicles for about 10 different people as part of a free oil change day at our church, volunteered his time and energy in work days for our church on a major construction job we're undertaking, and then this week he's helping some friends move into their brand new house.  Not to mention regular ministry things at church and all the things he's done around the house this week including building me a beautiful garden box in our backyard to plant a vegetable garden and helping out majorly around the house. And he never complains about it...he's my hero!

My new garden box... ready for dirt...and vegetables!!!

2.  He's handy!  We discovered Saturday we had water leaking out of our water meter box... never a good sign!  But this is where it's very nice to have a husband who works for the water bureau because he knew exactly what to do!  Instead of having to call a plumber he dug up the entire thing himself, found the source of the leak (a cracked PVC coupling), cut out the bad piece, replaced it with a brand new coupling (thanks to Home Depot), filled in the ditch he'd dug and good as new... we were good to go!  It was really cool watching him work,listening to him show our neighbor what to look for if something like that ever happened to them, and seeing what he does on a daily basis in person - HE'S A WATER STUD!

Digging up to find where it's leaking.

Using the shop vac as a pump to get rid of the water.

Leak spotted... a crack in the PVC connector piece to the copper pipe.

Jigsaws... very handy tools!

Quick trip to Home Depot, some new PVC, and some pipe glue and VOILA! Fixed!

Hayden proud of his daddy!

Filling the hole back up.

Good as new! 

3.  He's a perfectionist.  Sometimes to the point of laugh-ability.  When he was finishing up the water pipe I noticed he was digging out a whole new area before replacing the concrete meter box. When I asked him what he was doing, he got a funny smile and said that it had always bothered him that our meter box wasn't perfectly parallel with the neighbors... so he was taking the opportunity to fix that.  I had never noticed that, and I don't think it ever would have bothered me... but he was excited to finally have the sidewalk view looking "perfect".

Beautiful even meter boxes... I bet our neighbors are SOOO relieved now!

4.  He cleans!  And I'm not just talking tidying... oh no... Dave loves to clean.  He's the master of our vacuum, king of organizing and de-cluttering and can and often deep cleans like nobody's business.  Today I was thrilled to come out and find him spraying and scrubbing our carpet intent on getting out some stains that seem to always appear on our very light colored carpet with two small boys.  Yesterday he was scrubbing our shower. And it's always self-initiated which makes me even happier.  Yes ladies, go ahead and be jealous - he does dishes too!

My very own "Mr. Clean."

5.  He's social!  This is big to me because I'm SUPER social.  We love to entertain, and to go out to friends houses.  I love it that on any given week night Dave wants to know if there's anyone we can invite over for the evening to BBQ or play games or whatever.  I think it tickled me the most when I was away earlier in the year on a scrapbooking weekend and he invited a couple and their kids over for dinner (which he made) and hosted them on his own.

6.  He's the fun parent!  As much as it pains me to admit it, I can't hold a candle to the excitement that Dave brings when he walks in the door from work each day.  From wrestling, to baseball, basketball and the Wii... Dave's got me beat in the fun department.  But it's not a competition, and I bring some unique talents to the table too ~ but since this is about Dave, I'll just say that I truly appreciate how wonderful he is at entertaining and keeping the boys busy while I'm trying to finish up dinner ~ that is priceless to me! And I love listening to the squeals of "happy" going on when my boys are all together!

7.  He loves a good meal.  I'm blessed to have a very non-picky husband when it comes to food, I can be as adventurous as I like in the kitchen and he will try almost everything.  But some of my favorite moments come from his compliments. As a "words" person I love hearing that he's enjoying something I've made him, but he truly takes it to the next level.   I'd compare Dave to that scene in "What about Bob" where after every bite he lets out a huge "mmmmmmm", "Oh this is so good."  "Mmmmmm!!!!!"  It's comical at times.  My favorite line to date, "Oh my goodness... this is so good I just want to wrap it in seran wrap and hang it on the wall for everyone to see."  It's easy to cook for someone like that!


8.  His nose doesn't work.  Dave has had a deviated septum which has caused him some breathing issues growing up.  Before we were married he had one surgery to correct the curved cartilage that was blocking his nasal passage, but he needs a second surgery and he just hasn't made an appointment yet.  Because it's a struggle to breathe through his nose, it sometimes affects his sense of smell.  This has it's ups and downs... on the good side ...poopy diapers never bothered him much; on the flip side... they had to be REALLY bad before he'd notice them too.  However, I'd never thought how it may affect his sense of taste until a recent incident.  We had both our mom's over for a pre-mother's day dinner and Dave made coffee for everyone.  I use a flavored creamer at home but Dave prefers half & half, as does his mother.  My mother-in-law took a drink of her coffee and said it tasted weird.  She asked if we were using a different type of coffee and Dave assured her it was the same we'd always served her before. She kept commenting though so Dave tasted her drink and told her it tasted completely normal to him.  At the same time my mother was getting ready to pour herself a cup and hearing Karmen's comments smelled the half & half to find it was completely sour. Dave had been drinking it for a week and had never noticed... EWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

This somehow lessens my excitement over #7 - hmmm, what does my food taste like to him?  Should I be questioning my own cooking abilities now.


9.  He loves pickles.  I hate pickles. And not just a little hatred, I really loathe and detest them.  I can detect and smell a pickle on someone's breath from long distances.  I can tell if they've been on a food item, and removed (don't try to trick me hamburger joints when I ask for a burger with no pickles -  I can tell).  Dave on the other hand grew up not only devouring pickles, but then drinking the juice straight from the pickle jar.  (Just picturing that makes me want to throw up a little.)  The whole pickle thing was almost a deal-breaker in our courtship (okay, so perhaps that's exaggerating a little... but did I mention how much I abhor pickles???)  However, I knew Dave loved me when he gave up pickles. Not because I asked him too, and I've never asked or expected him to do that - I've even offered to buy them for him (when he goes away hunting of course) but he said it was worth it to say goodbye to them to earn my kisses instead.  Say it with me, "Awwwwwwwwwwww."

And to be clear... I've never asked him to not eat them.  He's free to eat whatever he wants.  I'm just glad he chooses to not.  I like kissing him way too much!


10.  He's a fighter!  But not the kind you may suppose.  He fought LONG and HARD to gain my affections, and I didn't deserve them at first.  Prior to the beginning of our love story, there's an awkward period where he pursued and I tormented him and he patiently, lovingly and with true grit - persevered.  I'm so glad he did.  I'm glad he didn't listen to all the people who told him to give up on me... and SO grateful that he kept fighting.  He eventually broke through to me, and he won my heart - and it's his forever!!!

I love you babe... with ALL of my heart!

My Man

I want to take a moment to brag on my hard-working husband.

In 2007 Dave took a job with the City of Portland working for the water bureau.  He started as a Utility II Apprentice (AKA grunt man) which is not a glamorous job at all.  Digging ditches, fixing water mains, flagging, working in freezing temperatures and/or out in the rain day after day is probably not what he imagined he'd be doing when he graduated from Bible College with his Bachelor's degree in Theology.

But it was a great opportunity for a steady and secure job with incredible benefits, and he did it for our family.

Dave ~ January 2007

Fast forward four years later, two kids and a mortgage and Dave has earned himself a great reputation at his job amongst the crews and co-workers. He has a great work ethic, learns quickly, works fast and gets along with everyone.  These attributes and more recently helped earn him a nice promotion to a crew leaders apprenticeship.  After a written test, a physical demonstration test and a formal interview... he was ranked 2 out of 400 applicants.  Not too shabby!

The city hired on 8 people for this new position and of course Dave was selected as part of that list.  Also on that list was another friend of ours who will be brand new to the City of Portland and is excited for the opportunities this will afford him and his family too.  So this past weekend we went out to dinner together to celebrate promotions, and jobs and FAVOR!

And well who can help celebrate when you're at Red Robin, their fries alone are a party in your mouth!!

Sam & Dave ~ The Water Bureau's newest Mechanic Apprentices!

Dear Dave,

Thank you for being such a hard worker and doing everything you can to support our family.  I know it's not your dream job but you never complain about the work, or getting up early, or the commute or the weather conditions.  You are an amazing provider and a great example of someone who's making his workplace better just by being there.  I love your attitude towards your job, your co-workers and how you see the bigger picture in everything.  I love you with ALL my heart, and I'm SO proud of you.

Your adoring wife,

Me.

How it all started...

Last night I was in a reminiscing mood.  Dave and I started discussing plans for our anniversary this year (six years of wedded bliss this June) and it got me thinking of how we began...

You see before there was this:

Family Photo - Fall 2010

Or this:

Our wedding - June 11, 2005

Or even this:

Getting engaged - December 17, 2004

There was this:

My brother and his best friend Dave circa 1996

Yep, I'm the girl that stole her brother's best friend!


Dave and Jay met in the 6th grade (1993-1994) and became instant friends.  All through jr. high, high school and into college they remained close (and still are).  From 8th grade year through their last years in high school Dave spent most weekends at our place, and even came on several family vacations with us. At least that's what I'm told...

You see, here comes the interesting part - I don't remember him AT ALL!  I can not recall even one instant of him being at our house or ever going on vacation with us.

This is what happens when your brother's best friend is FOUR YEARS younger than you.  And being that I was ahead in school, we were FIVE GRADE levels apart.

I'll help you do the math - when I graduated from high school Dave was finishing 7th grade.

Does that make me sound creepy?
Ewwww...it really does!

We won't even talk about this:

Spring 2000

Except to say FOR THE RECORD this is NOT a couple photo.
Oh far from it!

This was me chaperoning the homecoming court lunch my first year working at Country Christian School - and posing with the 2000 homecoming King.  I can't tell you what I was thinking in this picture, but it was definitely NOT, "Hey one day I think I'm gonna marry this guy." It was probably more along the lines of, "I hope they don't put this in the yearbook" - which they did!


It was not until Dave came back from his first year of college and joined the youth worship team with me that I noticed him as someone more than just "that kid that hangs out with my brother!" We became friends working in youth leadership and I fell in love with him watching him worship.

And now we lead worship at our church together as heads over the worship ministry and I just have to smile when I think about how blessed I am and how he is just the perfect one for me. 

So thanks Jay - thanks for being best friends with someone that needed to be in my life (even if I didn't notice he was in it for all those years)  and thanks for sharing him with me now.

And thanks babe for loving me even though I completely ignored you growing up!
I love you more than words can say!