Orphans

Tonight, Ken took the kids to dinner while I went shopping. (3 hours of shopping...all by myself, it was glorious!) As they were sitting in the restaurant, getting ready to order, Steven stopped Ken and said, "Wait, Momma's not here. Shouldn't we wait for Momma?"

"No," said Ken. "Momma went shopping, it's just us for dinner."

He looked around the restaurant thoughtfully, then asked, "Won't all the people be sad if they think we don't have a momma?"

Father/Daughter Winter Ball 2008

Every year, Megan and Ken attend the Father/Daughter Winter Ball put on by Megan's ballet school. It's a great fundraiser for the studio, with dinner, dancing, and auctions. This year, a couple of our friends took their daughters and the girls all got ready together.
Our friend Kelly came over to do hair.
I sewed Megan's dress. (In 2 days...)
She's growing up so fast. Today, we bought shoes for her from the women's department.
Off they go!

We believe that it's Ken's job to teach Megan how she deserves to be treated on a date. Beware the first guy who ever takes her out, because her expectations will be high.

And that's the way we like it!

3 Things

This week, Ken and I went on a business trip to Wichita, KS. (Yes, Kansas...as in we're not there anymore, Toto.) The kids stayed with our best babysitter, Kate. When we arrived home, Steven looked me squarely in the eye and told me very seriously, "Momma, I have 3 things to tell you."

"Okay." I said with one eyebrow raised. (Not everyone can do that...raise one eyebrow at a time. It's one of my special skills.)

"The first thing is that Kate burned the popcorn." ("Traitor!" says Kate. Apparently, the kids were quite incredulous that she didn't just push the popcorn button on the microwave. Of course, these are the same kids who when told that we didn't have microwaves when I was really little, asked me "Well, how did you make popcorn?")

"The second thing," he said, while counting off on pudgy fingers, "is that we went to the Yancy's, and Josiah gave me a truck and a shirt." (Oh, those Yancys...givers to the core, they would give you the last piece of bread off of their table, if you were hungry. Fortunately, there's enough bread in the Yancy AND Holsinger house. :)

"The third thing is that the toilet almost overflowed." ("Almost, but it didn't!" says Kate. Poor Steven has a phobia of toilets overflowing because of a particularly traumatic run-in with a toilet at church.)

So the moral of the story is...if you are a babysitter, be good. Because my kids tell us EVERYTHING!

God Bless America

This song was written as a prayer. Prayer is what our nation needs more than anything right now. And that's what our church has been doing for the last 21 days. Three times a day, 6 am, noon, and 6 pm, we have been gathering and praying for our nation as a whole and the individual states. We believe that prayer is effective and it causes miraculous things to happen.

Asking God to bless American means something to me. It is more than a campaign line or a platitude. It's a request from the deepest part of our soul, pleading with God to have mercy on this nation, to intercede on our behalf, and heal this broken land. No matter what happens after tomorrow, God is still sovereign and we will faithfully support and respect our leaders. But I also understand that my hope can never be in politicians, government, or even religion. My hope is in God.

And God, please bless America. Amen

FallFest Fun!

Uncle Sam and Betsy Ross costumes sewed by me! We had a blast tonight.

What the world really needs...

...less political debates and more of this. Go check out Jack.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto...

The pictures in our Seattle hotel room... (retouching done by yours truly)Our gorgeous hotel...
...And the "adult" shop next door...

Seattle is the Bomb!

We are totally digging Seattle! (Of course, I am taking lots of pics, but the computer cord is at home, right in it's drawer, instead of with us, so pics will come later.)

We flew in this morning, and took a taxi to our hotel. (No rent-a-car for me this time, we are hoofing it and working the public transportation.) Our hotel is a gorgeous, modern, Pacific-Northwest style hotel, right in the heart of downtown Seattle.

Our first stop was Pike's Place Market, which is this amazing, "ginormous" maze of an indoor and outdoor market. We browsed and ate lunch there. (Yummy clam chowder.) Then we headed to the Seattle Aquarium. The fish were abundant, the harbor seals were adorable, and the gift shop...expensive. But it was fun!

We ended our afternoon back at Pike's Place picking up french bread, fruit, freshly-made cheese, and salami for dinner at the hotel. The walk back to our hotel felt long and wet (Did I mention it started raining on the way to the aquarium? We we are in SEATTLE after all!) But we made it and a hot bath and fuzzy robe warmed our toes.

We are getting ready to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate before bed. Goodnight, Seattle!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

We're off to Seattle, this morning, for a Mommy/Daughter trip. Daddy is out of town and Steven is going to stay with our friends Kate, Krist, and Kelly. We are planning to blog our trip. Stay tuned!

Folding Sarah Palin

I love this! Print out and fold your own candidate. (The other guys are there too...and their wives...)

Shout out...

...to my friend and co-worker Kirsten Grove (of the infamous Simply Grove)! She is a decorator (officially OUR church decorator) and recently had a room in her house featured in Fellow magazine. Check her out! (Page 18)

Parental Guidance Required

As pastors, specifically over the children of our church, Ken and I are often sought out to give parenting advice. Now, we are the first ones to admit that we don't have it all figured out, but, our kids are pretty awesome and so we've decided that maybe we actually have something to say. I'm going through Andy Stanley's parenting series "Parental Guidance Required" and he definitely has some great things to say.

Here's a few things I've picked up...

Our kids often grow up experience-rich but relationship-poor. We spend so much time making sure they have the experiences we didn't have, and we don't spend enough time focusing on their relational health.

Here's what people never say:

"My problems in my life stem from the fact that my dad made me drive a used car."

"My clothes were so bad in high school that my self-esteem never recovered."

"I can't be successful in life because I didn't make the 5th grade soccer team and I went to public school instead of private school."

Are you pouring too much into the experiences your child has? Are the sports, education, trips, and lessons taking up too much of your child's life? Experiences aren't a bad thing, but if we are spending far more time on our kids' experiences, than we are on our kids' relationships, we've missed the boat. Are you spending enough time with your kids? Or are you substituting experiences for your time?

There are 3 questions we should be asking ourselves.

1) What am I doing to Enhance my child's relationship with me?

2) What am I doing to Advance my child's relationship with God?

3) What am I doing to Influence my child's relationship with others?

Parenting is tough, tough work. And we have to be intentional. What does successful parenting look like at the end of the day and how do we get there?

(Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been suffering from a severe shortage of things to say...)

Mmmm...s'mores...

Another Game Down

Our game on Saturday got rained out...which was really sad because my mom was in town this weekend and was looking forward to seeing Megan cheer. But they went ahead and rescheduled the game for last night. And we had the distinct pleasure of losing to a team with the name "Fairly Reliable Bob's". Ouch! But it was a fun game anyway.

So We Think We Can Dance

Sometimes, it really feels like we are living an extra-ordinary life. Last year, on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance", a girl named Sabra Johnson won. (Think American Idol, but with dancers.) Well, Sabra's mother happens to attend our church. And she happened to bring Sabra to church one weekend. And one of our staff happened to talk to Sabra and asked her to come teach a dance clinic at our church. And Sabra just happened to agree, and bring her partner Kameron with her. And my Megan just happened to attend the dance clinic that Sabra taught. It was pretty awesome...
Sabra is an itty-bitty thing.
There's Megan on the right (black leotard, pink pants).
Here's a video of Sabra and Kameron dancing in the show: