Wedding for my "Brother"

Randy and I went to a wedding Saturday night. Not just any wedding...it was "my brother!" Well, not my real brother but a super good friend of mine that I used to work with at the school. Brandon and I have been pals for about six or seven years. Brandon is the youngest of four boys so I always teased him that I was the sister he never had. It's a weird dynamic of a friendship; I was married, he was single, I'm a believer, he is a seeker with tons of doubts, he's 14 years younger than me but we really hit it off and always had the best, funnest conversations. All of us thought he would NEVER get married but he fell in love with an awesome gal and while on a trip to Alaska last summer, he proposed out on a beautiful lake. Brandon and Shelly are attending the Ankeny site of Lutheran Church of Hope and I am praying he comes to know Jesus soon! It was a beautiful wedding with TONS of people. There had to be at least 400 there. They asked me to say the dinner blessing at the reception, which I was honored to do. The picture of the wagon and Belgians was the bridal party's transportation from the church to the reception. Pretty cool. Literally...it was chilly that evening. :) Congrats to my brother!

Happy Birthday Keaton

Where do I begin? Keaton turned 23 today and that means 23 years of laughter at the Eilers' house. Randy, Micaela and I all have a good sense of humor but Keaton brings the word funny to a new level! If he was not so obviously called to be a pastor, I think he could make it as a comedian!! He has a very quick wit and never fails to have a comeback. He can do some awesome impressions, not so much of famous people but of friends and family. Although, he does do a mean Chris Farley.

Keaton is smart, he's very good at math....totally gets that from Randy. He is good at sports, especially football. He sent more than one defensive lineman to their knees in prayer. Never challenge him in a cannonball contest because he will school you big time! One of Keaton's greatest talents is organization. He loves Rubbermaid containers, labelers and Sharpee's.

As a pastor, I have had the privilege of watching him grow in his ministry. He started working with me and some others when he was 14 or 15 and we could all see his calling right away. Not only is he awesome with young kids, he is great with teens, too. Babies do not scare him, either. :) I had so much fun ministering with Keaton and doing characters like his Professor Poof and Lonnie, the little brother of my Lucy character. There is nothing he won't do to have fun with the kids and communicate the love of Jesus.

Keaton is just in the beginning of his career but he has already had so much success because he is faithful and obedient to what God wants him to do. We are so proud of you, Keaton and thankful that we were chosen to be your parents. Thatsa ma boy! Have a wonderful birthday and your most awesome year yet!

What a Great Day!

My day started with a very productive trip to physical therapy! After my ER adventure, I wasn't sure how well I'd do today but it was awesome. I later found out that my friend, Debbie, prayed for me this morning that I would have incredible bending. She did a good job cuz God came through! I was able to start using the leg press, stair step exercises, can finally do a straight leg lift, can do a full revolution on the bike and my bend is a full 110 degrees!!!! I rode the bike for about 3 minutes with virtually no pain. My legs were a little noodley when I got done. :)

And then the day got better! Amy and Lisi picked me up from PT and off to Panera we went for a little lunch. As always, Lisi had us laughing from the start. After lunch, Amy treated us to manicures!! She was shocked to learn I had never had one. So fun and relaxing. Lisi was determined to get me to choose this gold glitter polish and I felt a little bad to disappoint her but it really wasn't me. We made a stop at the toy place by Archiver's for Amy to get a birthday gift and that was even fun. They have some of the most creative stuff for kids. Is the place called Creative Kids? Anyway...Lisi was such an angel the whole time. She was dog sitting for Iz, too funny.

Randy and I enjoyed a nice diner at Granite City before church and now I'm about ready to crash. I praise God for the progress I'm making with the knee. I praise Him for so many good friends who have been my wheels, meals, vacuum-ers, and encouragers!

Birthday Fun

Randy, Jerilyn, Ranay, Michelle, Micaela, Heidi, Keaton and Jacob

My darlings...ain't they cute?

Pre-party game of Life

Jerilyn...aka Irene. Pretty hair!

Pastor Keaton leading us in pizza prayer.

Keaton's gorilla hat gift from Michelle and Coop..very funny!

Pull the strings and it beats it's chest!

Katie Lou Who

Mic looking very serious!

We had such a great time celebrating our kid's birthdays on Saturday night. You will notice in the pics that we are NOT celebrating in our apartment. We are at the Main's house. How many people do you know that will just let you invade their house while they are out of town? Mark and Amy so generously allowed us to gather there because of our lack of space and our Nazi neighbor who complains if we breath too loud. Anyway...thanks Mark and Amy!!

We had Nick and Willy's, some cake and chocolate chip bars and a whole lot of laughs. Micaela's old friend from Berean and Becky's sister, Katie and her boyfriend James came out. It was kinda funny getting them there. They are both directionally challenged! Some other late comers were Nate and Angela who's dad pastor Glad Tidings AG. Mic brought two of her gal pals home, too. Jerilyn and Ranay are sweethearts and such good friends to Micaela. It was too funny, Jacob couldn't remember Jerilyn's name and ended up calling her Irene the whole weekend! Praise God for good friends and kids who don't mind their olf folks hanging out with them!

Happy ER Easter

I had an unusual Easter. I sent the first few hours of the day in the ER. I started having this terrible pain in my calf yesterday and after having it for about 12 hours and it getting increasingly more painful, at 6 AM I called the on-call doc from my surgeon's office. His advise...go directly to the ER. Do you know how hard it was to call my "boss" and tell him I wouldn't be there on Easter morning? Hated that phone call! Of course, BBopp was so understanding and glad I was going to get it checked out.

We had to wait for an ultrasound person to be called in to check it out. Thank God there is no clot but I still have this crazy tearing pin in my calf that I cannot get rid of! I'm calling the surgeon again tomorrow and see if there is anything else I can do to help it. The ER doctor told me to stay of off it, elevate, use some heat and watch it. Eeeek, more laying around! I'm so thankful there is no clot.

We were still able to pull off a great Easter dinner with some team work. Thankfully I had prepared most of it yesterday. It was so fun to have the kids here, as always. Hope you all had a great day remembering what Christ did for each of us. Thank you Lord for paying the price for all the stupid things I've done. Thanks for loving me as I am.

Happy Birthday Micaela

Thursday was my beautiful daughter Micaela's birthday. It's so hard to believe she is 24 years old already. I've been thinking about what all to say about Micaela and it's gonna be hard to keep this from getting too long!

First of all, I'm so thankful that my girl loves and serves Jesus! She is a passionate person by nature and it is true in her walk with the Lord. She is faithful in her relationship with Christ and I continually see growth in her journey.

Mic is my artsy-fartsy girl. I think she got her talent from Randy's side of the family, definitely not from me. She has a natural eye for creativity and uses it when she can to help others from designing t-shirts to creating logos. She's in school to be a graphic designer.

Micaela has a heart for missions. She has been on five trips out of the country and many places within the states to share the Gospel. Her ministry team at Evangel University, Oath, spends their school breaks traveling and ministering to various churches through music, drama, preaching, and service projects. Micaela's specialty is drama. In high school, she was the best "demon" in all their church dramas and always helped train the younger kids to minister.

Mic loves board games, amusement park rides, Target, Starbucks (I trained her well), shoes, "The Office" TV show and hanging out with friends. She loves to laugh and has a great laugh to share. She is a loyal friend and is very close to her brother. She has musical talent, too and is learning to play the bass guitar. These are only a few things that I love about my girl!

Mic...you make me proud and I thank God He chose me to be your mom! Happy Birthday.

Back to Church

Sunday was the first day I was back in service at church. It was good to see all the babies and friends but I sure was tuckered after the day! I missed four Sundays and it seemed like ten! I'm making good progress just not sure I should have done Sunday but I can only be down for so long. Here's a pic of some of the snackers. What would we ever do without Gold Fish? ;0

Mom's Funeral

We had a nice trip back to Sioux City for mom's funeral. Everything went very well with all the arrangements and the service was lovely with one of mom's pastors officiating. Pastor Lee from Morningside Assembly lovingly spoke about mom and dad, too, and it was a beautiful sermon about the woman she was. Randy's sister, Pam, wrote a special tribute about mom that our niece Alyssa read. It was nice to see friends and family members that we haven't got to see for awhile and so fun to reminisce about special times we all shared with mom and dad.

Our nephew, Brad, traveled back from North Dakota all by himself with his 19 month old twin girls. It was the first time we got to meet Georgia and Gihana and they stole everyones hearts! Aren't they adorable reading books with our good friend Diane and posing at the church? It was such a wonderful break in the sorrow to spend time with a new generation of Eilers kids. Can you believe I'm a great aunt?

All of the cousins made it back and I include a picture of them. They all LOVED their grandma very much and are rejoicing in her being home with Jesus and totally healed. Pam allowed me to have one of mom's rings to remember her by. It is a beautiful opal that I have always admired and now I can wear it and think of her.

Thanks to all who so kindly sent cards, called, sent flowers and helped with our trip. We have so many friends that have been there for us over the past few months that it is overwhelming sometimes to feel so loved and cared for.

Heaven is Richer Today

Heaven is richer today...my mother-in-law was welcomed home this morning. For those of you who have a had a loved one struggle for a period of time with declining health will understand when I say we almost feel a sense of relief. It is hard to watch someone you love suffer and fail and easier to say goodbye when you know they are going to heaven.

I'll never forget the first time I met Randy's mom. She welcomed me with open arms and was so genuinely excited for me to date her son. She lovingly kept inviting us to church as I was not a believer when we first met. She was never too pushy and always accepting and we ended up being such very close friends. She was so proud of me when I obeyed my call into ministry and super encouraging of whatever path the Lord led us down.

I appreciate the wonderful example she was to me as I grew in my relationship with the Lord. She would be the first to admit she was not a perfect mom but she did a great job with her four children and I learned a lot from her. She sure trained Randy right...I had it easy transitioning him from singleness to married life. :)

Mom was one of the most generous people you would ever meet. If you needed anything she would do whatever it took to make sure she could help you. When we were first married and oh so poor, she would do things like treat me to a trip to the salon for a hair cut or buy me some new shoes just for fun. She would just know when groceries were tight and invite us over for dinner or out to eat. I think the first 10 or 15 years we were married we never paid for a dinner when we went out with them! She would give you her last dime if you needed it! She would always be the first to testify how God honored those who tithed and she went above and beyond in giving to the Lord.

I will sure miss this amazing woman of God. I thank God for allowing me to be a part of her life and am also thankful for all the wonderful memories I have of our time together. She is now totally healed from Parkinson's disease and all that ailed her! She is enjoying meeting Jesus and all the saints who have gone before and she is back with dad. Randy's sister said mom was talking the other day and when she asked mom what she was saying she said she was talking to dad. She spoke as if he was in the room and I think it was kinda neat that she had that experience. She said grandma (her mom) was there too but wasn't sure she would stay. Interesting. We rejoice that she is home. We love you, mom.

How's This for Excitement?

I'm sitting in the recliner about 5 AM having been awake since 3 and so I decide after reading, flipping channels and trying to go back to sleep, to get out my beading project and play. All of a sudden, the fire alarm for the apartment complex goes off! I go to the door and check to see if it is indeed the fire alarm and then go to wake up my still sleeping husband. We quickly throw some clothes and shoes on, grab the keys and head out the door. As soon as we step out into the hallway we can see and smell smoke. We head towards the stairs and I'm trying not to panic thinking about getting down three flights of stairs quickly with crutches.

Randy and I seemed to be some of the first people out and I see a police officer pulling into the parking lot. I opened the door and let him know it's the real deal not just a false alarm. Other emergency people start showing up and people finally start coming out of their apartments. They quickly discovered that it was a car in the underground parking that was on fire. We had to wait about an hour before we could go back to our apartment as the fire was closest to our end of the building. The fire fighters brought in big fans to push the smoke out of the halls and foyers. They were all awesome!

When we got upstairs, we could smell the smoke in the halls but not in our apartment thankfully. Not really how you want to start your day but at least a happy ending! I honestly don't think we would have heard the alarm if I hadn't been up. Some people said they didn't know what was happening until the fire department knocked on their door. That'a kinda scary.

All Time Low

It seems our culture has hit an all time low in it's idea of entertainment. So I see a commercial for a TV program that I think must be pretty new. The title is "The Moment of Truth." Now let me clarify, I have NOT watched this show, just saw a couple commercials for it. I can promise you, I will not be watching it....ever. The premise, from what I gather, is that people come on and are asked point blank questions in front of their loved ones and the television world. I think they may be hooked up to a lie detector, don't know for sure. They must win a lot of money for doing it because I can think of no good reason to subject yourself to this than the love of money. Oh by the way, I recall a little book, called the Bible, saying that the love of money is the root of all evil, I Timothy 6:10.

Anywho, they are asked such questions as, "Have you ever had sex with your best friend's spouse?" "Would you leave your husband if you could reunite with your previous boyfriend?" Come on, who does this? How can you subject your family and friends to this line of questioning? If you have some horrible secret how can you go on a TV show and blurt it out and devastate your loved ones that way? People have been doing these types of things on talk shows for years but it appears to be getting more and more disgusting.


I guess it only shows how some people are drawing farther away from God. It breaks my heart to see these people who need Jesus so bad and their eyes have been blinded and hearts hardened toward the things of God. Anyone care to comment?

Great Day

I had a great day today. First, Angela and the kids picked me up to take me to the church for some more computer training. Not only did I get greeted with some happy faces but they had stopped and bought me my fav beverage, a skinny cinnamon dulce latte from Starbucks, baby! Rocked my world. Training went well even though I'm still pretty swollen. If you have ever worked with the Shelby program you know what I mean when I say multi-layered and not for the faint of heart.

Amy and Lisi picked me up after training and we stopped for a little El Rodeo! Yummo, my fav chips and salsa. Lisi had us in stitches as always as she kept "tricking me" with "I bit my thumb off." Lisi is a never ending story who is so sweet and stinking cute you just want to bite her cheeks. Love that monkey. :)

Then, I had physical therapy. I was concerned that after being so swollen that I might have lost some bend but she measured me while bending my leg myself and I got to 102 degrees! Yeah for me and God. I have permission to walk around home and the hallways with one crutch but still must use two for out and about. I have one more home visit Friday and then I'm out to an office that I need to choose tomorrow.

I have the best buddies in the world. :) Thanks everybody!

Oops

Well, I know you all will be shocked but I think I over did it. I had our State Junior Bible Quiz meet on Saturday and was planning on only being there just long enough for our coordinators meeting, which I thought would be done by noon. Our agenda was way bigger than I expected and so I was there from 8:15 to 3:00! Then, yesterday I had our Monday morning team meeting as usual and then the church arranged for me to be in a three day training to learn our church attendance/membership program called Shelby. I was supposed to be there from 9 to 4:30 again today but had to cancel. I was in a lot of pain but mainly was so swollen that the only pants I could get over my knee were sweat pants and barely those! So, I decided to set aside all feelings of guilt and duty and stay home and rest. I was planning on being back at church this Sunday but am rethinking that, too. I need to be smarter about my recovery than I have been in the past. So...think skinny thoughts for me knee! :)

Did You Know...

...that Richard Simmons has made available his "Sweatin' To the Oldies I and II" for purchase once again? That re-runs of the so-called comedy hit show "Roseanne" are on at 3:30 and 4:00 AM on Fox? That you could shop til you drop at 2:00 AM for lots of miscellaneous items of great (or not so great) worth? Chamomile tea has no effect on me other than to make me have to potty? American Idol Rerun is randomly on in the middle of the night so you can relive the talents of Clay Aiken? And shockingly enough not all people of African-American heritage can dance? Case in point...Soul Train, circa 1980! See...I'm nothing if not helpful! :) Can you guess who cannot sleep? Take note of the post time!

Good Times, Great Nachos

I had so much fun hanging out at Amy's for a little while last night. It felt great to get out of the apartment! Amy made these amazing jerk chicken nachos that I have to get the seasoning from Pampered Chef to make!! Some of the ladies worked on stamping or scrapbooking. I worked on making some bead bracelets (to earn some money for Keaton and Michelle's missions trip budget) and Amy's Stampin' Up pal demonstrated some super cute stuff. Angela is rivaling Lindsay for the cutest pregnant woman ever! I haven't got to see her for awhile so her tummy was a little bigger but oh so beautiful. Got to see pictures of the Rogness' little man, Evan....what a handsome boy!! Plus we had the announcement of another baby on the way....Todd and Amy! Wow, that was a wedding night surprise, for sure! It was just so great to catch up with my pals and laugh and play. Mark needs to leave town more often so Amy can have girl's night. Hee Hee! Thanks Amy, not only did she host...she came and picked me up.

Makes Me Laugh

Okay...it doesn't take much to entertain me! This always cracks me up.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vgtfC5LBAW4