The bags are packed, the dog is at the "puppy resort", and Kyla is at Grandma's house (sad).
Our plane leaves Omaha at 9:50am, then we're off to Orlando, Florida. We will spend one night in Orlando and then we get on the Carnival cruise ship "Sensation" on Sunday afternoon. We'll be at sea for 5 days with two stops in the Bahamas. We return to Florida on Thursday and will fly back into Omaha on Thursday night. I'm looking forward to sunshine, beaches, relaxing and reading. :)
Not sure if we'll be able to get on the internet or phone (I think everything is avaiable for a certain cost... so we'll see). It will be a much-needed break from everything here. It will be difficult to leave my baby girl and my mom, but I am really planning on enjoying myself with my wonderful husband!
My mom has the most important job in the world right now... taking care of our Kyla. And she will love every second of it! If you're able, be sure to check in on her. Although she's cute and smart, Kyla is a 1 1/2 year old, sometimes naughty, little girl... she may need some respite ;)
Thank you all for your cares and prayers!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Prayer Please
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
On Sunday evening, my dad walked out on my mom. He "hasn't been happy for a long time." "Nobody knows what it's been like." He says he's been wanting to leave for a long time.
I hate it. I can't stand not knowing what's going to happen. I can't stand not having any control.
My mom is a mess. She says she can't live alone. She thinks she's not strong enough to handle this (though, she is, she's an amazing Christian woman.) She wants my dad to come home.
I'm strong. That's what everyone keeps telling me. I'm giving it my all to hold everything together. I support my mom. I talk to my dad. I listen to my sister cry and swear. I try to read my brother. I keep my aunts and uncles informed (they are all so supportive!) I listen to ideas, I give advice, I pray. But I don't cry... much. It is so surreal.
I don't hate my dad. But I HATE what he is doing.
I want everything back to normal; if not for my mom, then for myself. Maybe it's selfish. I want to bring my children to Grandma AND Grandpa's house for holidays. I want my sister to enjoy a future wedding day to the fullest. I want my family to stay together, as a promise was made before God nearly 28 years ago.
There's more to the story, but I'll leave it at that for today.
Please pray for continued strength and peace for my mom. Please pray for my dad as he is confronted with the most important decision in his life. Please pray for patience for us kids. PLEASE pray for my family.
P.S. I believe God has put this song in my mom's life- It's definately her prayer right now. Just wanted to share.
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
On Sunday evening, my dad walked out on my mom. He "hasn't been happy for a long time." "Nobody knows what it's been like." He says he's been wanting to leave for a long time.
I hate it. I can't stand not knowing what's going to happen. I can't stand not having any control.
My mom is a mess. She says she can't live alone. She thinks she's not strong enough to handle this (though, she is, she's an amazing Christian woman.) She wants my dad to come home.
I'm strong. That's what everyone keeps telling me. I'm giving it my all to hold everything together. I support my mom. I talk to my dad. I listen to my sister cry and swear. I try to read my brother. I keep my aunts and uncles informed (they are all so supportive!) I listen to ideas, I give advice, I pray. But I don't cry... much. It is so surreal.
I don't hate my dad. But I HATE what he is doing.
I want everything back to normal; if not for my mom, then for myself. Maybe it's selfish. I want to bring my children to Grandma AND Grandpa's house for holidays. I want my sister to enjoy a future wedding day to the fullest. I want my family to stay together, as a promise was made before God nearly 28 years ago.
There's more to the story, but I'll leave it at that for today.
Please pray for continued strength and peace for my mom. Please pray for my dad as he is confronted with the most important decision in his life. Please pray for patience for us kids. PLEASE pray for my family.
P.S. I believe God has put this song in my mom's life- It's definately her prayer right now. Just wanted to share.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
New(er) Car!
Here's whats new in our life- a 2010 Saturn Outlook! We've been thinking about a different car for the last few months. We wanted a 3rd row seat. We were thinking either an Acadia or a Traverse. This is pretty much the same thing, except it is a Saturn. And it is fancy! My brother told us about it- it was at the dealership that he works for. Everything turned out good, so we traded in our Chevy Equinox today. I'm kinda afraid to break something. It's the nicest and newest thing I've ever driven! I love it!
In other news: It's cold. I'm ready for summer. We're all couped up in this house without anywhere to go. I'm excited to take Kyla to play at parks, ride bike, and go for walks. Same with the dog- we miss the dog park!
We do leave in one week for our cruise! It will be just Greg and I. Kyla will be staying with my parents. Mason will go to what we call the "puppy resort." I know I'll miss Kyla terribly, but I'm excited for the adventure!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Merry Christmas/ Happy New Year
I've fallen quite behind with my blogging...
Christmas was a lot of fun, especially with Kyla! We gave her a play kitchen set, some books, an Elmo DVD, and an Elmo shirt. Pretty sure that the Elmo shirt was her favorite of them all... she would wear it everyday if we didn't hide it! She got tons of stuff from my parents too- a 4-wheeler, Elmo DVD, a Peterbuilt truck (like my dad's) and I think some more stuff that I am forgetting... anyway, she should be entertained for a while! She had already gotten gifts from Greg's side over Thanksgiving. We had to have my grandpa build us a new big toybox this past month. Haha :)
I had Christmas Eve and New Years Eve off of work. It was nice to have a little more time with Kyla than usual. She's getting to be quite the little girl. Smart and chatty and sometimes naughty, but lovable!
Now, Greg and I have our Bahama cruise to look forward to (in 18 days!!) Kyla is going to stay with my parents. I'm starting to get sad thinking about leaving her, but I know she'll have fun too with Gamma and Papa. I gotta start thinking about packing...
Christmas was a lot of fun, especially with Kyla! We gave her a play kitchen set, some books, an Elmo DVD, and an Elmo shirt. Pretty sure that the Elmo shirt was her favorite of them all... she would wear it everyday if we didn't hide it! She got tons of stuff from my parents too- a 4-wheeler, Elmo DVD, a Peterbuilt truck (like my dad's) and I think some more stuff that I am forgetting... anyway, she should be entertained for a while! She had already gotten gifts from Greg's side over Thanksgiving. We had to have my grandpa build us a new big toybox this past month. Haha :)
I had Christmas Eve and New Years Eve off of work. It was nice to have a little more time with Kyla than usual. She's getting to be quite the little girl. Smart and chatty and sometimes naughty, but lovable!
Now, Greg and I have our Bahama cruise to look forward to (in 18 days!!) Kyla is going to stay with my parents. I'm starting to get sad thinking about leaving her, but I know she'll have fun too with Gamma and Papa. I gotta start thinking about packing...
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Lights
What is it about lights at Christmas time? I love Christmas lights. If it were up to me, our house would have thousands of little glowing bulbs, but I'm afraid of the ladder.
Kyla loves lights too. "oooo, pretty!" she'll say.
Tonight Greg, Kyla, Mason, and I got in our PJ's and loaded into the car at about 8pm. We drove around Sioux Falls for an hour looking at lights. Such a weird thing, but amazing. Family time and Christmas beauty. I would recommend it, especially Falls Park. I've never seen so many lights in my life. It was heavenly, I would say.
Kyla loves lights too. "oooo, pretty!" she'll say.
Tonight Greg, Kyla, Mason, and I got in our PJ's and loaded into the car at about 8pm. We drove around Sioux Falls for an hour looking at lights. Such a weird thing, but amazing. Family time and Christmas beauty. I would recommend it, especially Falls Park. I've never seen so many lights in my life. It was heavenly, I would say.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas is this week?
We're still getting ready for Christmas even though half of our parties are over. We still have the Van Veldhuizen party which we are hosting on Christmas Day, then we have the Wallenburg party on Sunday at my grandma's house in Inwood. On Sunday, we are also opening gifts with my siblings and parents.
It's been much to fun shopping for Kyla this year. I know she will love everything and gets really excited, especially about ELMO! She's a riot right now.
Hopefully I can get the last few items bought tomorrow, since I have been avoiding weekend shopping around here. Greg's parents are coming for a couple days this week from Montana. I'm sure they will babysit if they're not up for shopping :)
On Friday, we had an "Ugly Sweater Party." It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Lots of friends and family came over. I think we might make it a Christmas tradition.
It's been much to fun shopping for Kyla this year. I know she will love everything and gets really excited, especially about ELMO! She's a riot right now.
Hopefully I can get the last few items bought tomorrow, since I have been avoiding weekend shopping around here. Greg's parents are coming for a couple days this week from Montana. I'm sure they will babysit if they're not up for shopping :)
On Friday, we had an "Ugly Sweater Party." It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Lots of friends and family came over. I think we might make it a Christmas tradition.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Trip to Washington
We left Thanksgiving morning and flew with Greg's brother and his family to Seattle, Washington. Greg's sister, Becky lives with her husband and 2 kids in Burlington, Washington. Greg's parents drove from Montana.
Kyla did very well on the plane (mostly thanks to her cousin, Hannah, who is 6 years old and is Kyla's new best friend!)
While in Washington, we got to stay in a wonderful house on Camano Island (compliments of our brother-in-law's family), celebrate Thanksgiving, witness the baptism of our new nephew, Dillon, celebrate an early Christmas, and spend lots of family time with Greg's entire family, which doesn't happen often enough.
On the day after Thanksgiving, grandma and grandpa babysat while we did some crazy shopping. I love doing this and we got some good bargains... (a Garmin GPS, a label maker, some random clothes, and a Coach purse for me :-)
On Saturday, we took a ferry to San Juan Island. Greg, Kyla and I had done this last year, which we loved. There are some amazing sites from the boat.
On Sunday, we went to Dillon's baptism and spend the day at the Cabin. In the evening we celebrated Christmas with pizza and presents. Kyla loves her new blocks, "Laptop", and Elmo!
On Monday, we spend the day in Seattle. We rode the Tram and went to a Children's museum. I was thoroughly impressed and all the kids loved it!
Tuesday we travelled home, and Wednesday it was back to work. (Hard to go back after almost a week off!)
Now we have the rest of the holiday celebrations to look forward to. I love Christmas shopping and am doing a little here and there whenever I am off work. This is a huge benefit of living in the "city." Although, it's probably not healthy for our bank account!?
Kyla did very well on the plane (mostly thanks to her cousin, Hannah, who is 6 years old and is Kyla's new best friend!)
While in Washington, we got to stay in a wonderful house on Camano Island (compliments of our brother-in-law's family), celebrate Thanksgiving, witness the baptism of our new nephew, Dillon, celebrate an early Christmas, and spend lots of family time with Greg's entire family, which doesn't happen often enough.
On the day after Thanksgiving, grandma and grandpa babysat while we did some crazy shopping. I love doing this and we got some good bargains... (a Garmin GPS, a label maker, some random clothes, and a Coach purse for me :-)
On Saturday, we took a ferry to San Juan Island. Greg, Kyla and I had done this last year, which we loved. There are some amazing sites from the boat.
On Sunday, we went to Dillon's baptism and spend the day at the Cabin. In the evening we celebrated Christmas with pizza and presents. Kyla loves her new blocks, "Laptop", and Elmo!
On Monday, we spend the day in Seattle. We rode the Tram and went to a Children's museum. I was thoroughly impressed and all the kids loved it!
Tuesday we travelled home, and Wednesday it was back to work. (Hard to go back after almost a week off!)
Now we have the rest of the holiday celebrations to look forward to. I love Christmas shopping and am doing a little here and there whenever I am off work. This is a huge benefit of living in the "city." Although, it's probably not healthy for our bank account!?
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