Some Special People

Many people know that a month ago Nick and I had decided to take in a 17 year old girl. She is the eldest kid of the Gautlak family that we adore so much. Her family like I said back in June moved to Lincoln Nebraska to be by family but are stuck in a homeless shelter indefinitely. Nyador is a junior at Lincoln High school and is a rock star athlete. She wanted to finish out her last year and a half there where she has great team mates and coaches. Nick and I prayed about it and decided this would be a great opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus. So a month ago we became house parents to a seventeen year old!! I am sure I will be blogging a ton about how fun it is to have her live with us in the future but with her living with us I have been thinking and praying for ways to serve her and get her through that scary place called high school with knowing she is loved. I just remember when I was in high school, I didn't see beyond the school walls and only could see what this world has to offer. My hope for her time living with us is that Nick and I can teach her this world has nothing to offer her and high school will end, the boys, the girls, the sports, and all the hurt that comes along with those crazy hormones!! Anyway the point of this post was I have been thinking about all of the people in my life growing up that invested so much time in my life. I had many teachers, family and friends who loved on me but these few people that come to mind went above and beyond that.

Nancy Caruso

Nancy was my horse mom, I met Nancy through a friend when I was eleven. I had been in horseback riding for a few years and could never have my own horse because they are sooo expensive. So when I had met Nancy who lives one minute away from me, I had asked if I could come ride. Nancy whose only child just moved away wanted me to come ride to give the horses exercise. So for the next six year I would walk to the barn and ride, for three year I used their horses to give lessons to tons of young kids. Throughout those six years Nancy had taught me what it looked like to be selfless. Her and her husband Pete made me feel like I was part of their family, from coming to many of my horse shows to allowing me to use their camper at my equestrian team meets to just inviting me in after a ride to eat some homemade cookies. I think what I learned most from my relationship with them is they had a constant "Joy" or zeal for life. Their joy was not shaken by outward circumstances. I have grown up with alot of "Christians" in my life that I have never seen or heard them have joy in their life. Nancy and Pete were Christians who had a Joy they found through Jesus Christ. Their speech was Joyful, always speaking highly of people and always excited about what the Lord is doing in their life. Nancy now serves with a nonprofit that gets girls out of strip clubs and human trafficking. I am sure the Lord placed them in my life for a great purpose but I am forever grateful for their selflessness and Joy they showed me throughout so many years!

Bob King

Bob was a leader in our youth group who had started when I was in ninth grade. I could tell so many stories about how Bob served all of us at Faith but I wont because it would take days to write. One thing I do know is what he has taught me, he has showed me what a father, husband, leader, and servant looks like who fears the Lord. With so many messed up broken families in our lives I have appreciated Bobs influence and model of what I want for my own life! I have now chosen to merry a man who loves the Lord, not just a "Christian" man,(that word is lightly used) but a man who fears the Lord. Bob has taught me to not be judgemental, to love, serve and open your home to anyone and everyone. I know many people "Christians" who are so knowledgeable and really know the bible but do not live it out. Bob knows the bible and he lives it out in his own life. He truly serves as if he is the hands and feet of the Lord and has inspired me to do the same. He has four kids of his own, is a foster parent, serves in Haiti every other week(maybe not that much but it feels like it) and we use to joke and say he had 10 other teenagers. Another quality that many people say of Bob is he is humble. He may be the coolest guy in Texas but he sure doesn't know it! The people in his community are truly blessed to have the King family there!!

I have been thinking about these people a lot since Nyador has been living with us because I want Nick and I to be able to display these qualities that Nancy and Bob showed me growing up to her. Something I have heard recently and I cant remember where but "Your children may not always listen but they are always watching" I know I may not have listened or made the greatest choices in my past but I was watching and now realize why these two individuals lives were different and had such a great impact on my life.

The Wonderful Life

Thursday Novemeber 17th Nick and I had went to dinner and he kept asking me if I could meet him for lunch the next day, I wasnt sure why because I am a nanny and I have never had a lunch break. I have also never missed a day of work working for the family I work for. Then Nick dropped the ball, he said "She is going to kill me, but Chelsea will be here tomorrow at noon!!" I could have jumped through the roof, I was thrilled. He couldnt pick her up because he had a work meeting and didnt want her to sit at the airport for two hours until he could pick her up. Everett the two year old I nanny for went to pick her up and we spent the day together. After work Chelsea and I went to the womans coffee house at my church. It was so good to get together with 500+ woman and hear their stories of struggles and victories. I really identified with every women who spoke. Their was one woman who spoke, who was so encouraging to me. Struggles with something I struggle with daily, Anxiety. I also loved being their with Chelsea because she was able to see all of my closest friends. The rest of the weekend was filled with dinner at Olympic Flame, games and ice cream at Java Joes, and a visit to a creamy in Parrie. I had worked until seven on Sunday, so Chelsea and my wonderful husband made me dinner. Tuesday Chelsea, Nick and I were headed to Michigan for a ten hour drive. We made it to Iowa City and we got a flatt tire. We then ended up staying in the ghetto of Chicago, in a hotel. We all ended up leaving with bites all over us so we think we had gotten bit by bed bugs, yes it was ghetto! Good thing I was with Nick and Chelsea the funniest people I know and it was quit commical. We made it home safely the next day and I was thrilled to visit with family especially my Grandma who had been in the hospital for two weeks and had given us a scare with her stroke, it was so nice to be able to hug her. Friday I had a date with the kids and their Aunt Leone, Angel and baby Saydee at chucky cheese. Saturday I went and had a massage with my sister and mom than had a day at grandmas with Amy, Aunt Deb, Aunt Sharon, Anna, Mom and Sister. Nick was able to go watch football with my dad at Ford Field and had a mans night! Sunday I was able to go to my friend Jessicas baby shower for her new baby Hugo, he was adorable. Then Nick and I headed back home Monday!

Thanksgiving

I decorated my house for fall and even hosted our first thanksgiving. Nicks family came over last Sunday for a huge thanksgiving meal. We have Thanksgiving with his family early and it has worked perfectly the last few years because it allows us to go home for mine! His Aunt Beth started it because she goes to her Inlaws in Florida during actual Thanksgiving, but now she recently moved to Florida and someone had to take over the task of hosting and preparing thanksgiving dinner. So I thought I would try, I was super nervous to make my first turkey and googled every way possible to make one and looked up anyway something could go wrong. I had nightmares the week before about not getting up early enough to start the cooking or we wouldn't have enough food and so on. So Saturday night we went and bought a second turkey to ease my fear of not having enough. First thanksgiving and I make two turkeys!! Everything went smoothly and better then I had hoped, we had about twenty people, ate until we couldn't anymore and played games! Here are some pictures of my house decorated for fall, Halloween, Thanksgivingish! .....

Oh I forgot to mention Friday at 7:00pm at night our friends Bryson and Molly asked if we wanted to join them for the Michigan/Iowa game in Iowa city, seats on the 50 yard line and awesome parking for the day before our thanksgiving! I had two options be a horrible wife and say nooooooooo I have to clean, do homework, cook/bake and grocery shop to prepare for Sunday or love my husband and have a positive go with the flow attitude! I choose the second and I am so greatful I did because we had sooo much fun! I stayed up until 1:00am cleaning Friday night and went grocery shopping at 2:00 in the morning (not a bad idea no lines!!!) then woke up at 6:00AM to start are trek to the game(anyone who knows me well, knows I love sleep and I need 8 hours a night, so this was very difficult for me)! It was soooo cold but a great game to be at! Thanks Bryson and Molly for thinking of us!!

Jen and the kids come visit!

August came super fast and left super fast! Jennifer called me on August 20th and asked if her and her family could come visit that next week! She told me that was planning for her (a week in advance). I would take them if they told me they wanted to come tonight! This was super special to me because growing up, my family would go visit my Aunt Debbie in Tennessee at least two to three times a year and I remember how special those times were. Ideally, I would have lived in the same town as them to go on super fun dates every other day like we use to but I will take what I can get! So that next week they showed up, our week went as follows... 

Tuesday:
Chick-Fil-A
Hanging out at mall
I had school so nick took them out to dinner and a park that night    

Wednesday:
Chick-Fil-A
Living History Farms

Thursday:
I had to work so they hung out with me then went to see the birth place of John Wayne
Dinner at Outback (Jen and I love this place)

Friday:
They got up and left to go see where Walt Disney was raised in Missouri
They ate Chick-Fil-A

The point is we had alot of Chick-Fil-A. Here are some fun pictures of our time together!

Maverick took the camera and this is what you get.....

Here is the Cobra dance Maverick taught us.....

Here is the Rattle snake he taught us.....

They left Friday and we went up north to Nicks moms lake house on Lake Tatonka in Minnesota!
Nicks Aunt Beth and family drove all the way from Florida to come for Labor Day! I love going to the Lake house because we do a whole bunch of nothing! This time my wonderful husband stopped at antique stores with me and we played Bingo with all the town folk on Saturday! One of my favorite things about being married is driving in a car and taking long rode trips with Nick! I don't care where we are going, what we are doing but we have a lot of fun together being stuck side by side for many hours! We had a ton of fun being able to spend some good quality time with his family playing games, eating and just hanging out! Here are some pictures of that weekend!

Two in one week!

I am going to finish my month of July so I can catch up to possibly posting about August, September and October.

My birthday was July 30th and we had thought we would go visit our kids that moved to the shelter in Nebraska however my mom called me a few days before the weekend and said her and my aunt Sharon wanted to spend the weekend with me for my birthday!! It turned out to be one of my most favorite birthdays ever! It started off with Thursday night my husband grilled for the three of us girls and we sat and had dinner and just laughed our butts off! I am sure Nick was thinking he married into a family full of crazy women.

The past two summers Nick and I started a summer program in a government housing facility. We do a bible study, games and snacks with the kids. We usually have 20 to 40 kids a week that show up with 90% of them being kids of refugees from Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and other places in Africa. Well this year my friend Rianne helped out and her mom who owns a christian book store invited us to a christian concert for kids in Pella, Iowa. So since my mom and aunt were in town, the two of them, Nick and I, Rianne, Ryan, and a few of the kids that were chosen based on their attendance and participation in the program headed to Pella for a awesome kids christian concert!

Late Friday night around midnight the Gautlaks (the family that moved to Nebraska) came to Iowa. They called and asked if the kids could stay with me all weekend and of course I was super excited and said yes! So in our home we had mom and Aunt Sharon, and six of the seven kids staying with us all weekend! Saturday morning we met my good friends and old roommates Justin and Allison Meyer at the Downtown Farmers Market!  My Mom and Aunt loved it, its always something I like to take people from out of town to. Allison gave me an old suitcase full of stuff for my house! She could be the next Martha Stuart, she has such an eye for decoration. She can help a sista out when it comes to making a house "homey". Thank you Allison!!! We came back home and got ready for dinner  at our house with my in laws. Then we took my mom, Aunt and the kids to the hot air balloon races in Indianola. This was so pretty to see over fifty hot air balloons in the sky at once! The kids loved this!

Here is another story, Sunday we had my friend Heather Guck over for brunch! I just love Heather so much because she is a woman after my own heart. Heather had two orphaned girls from Columbia in South America come stay with her for a month, Derly who is 14 and Angelica who is 12. She did this in hopes they would be pursued to be adopted. Their month here they met many families interested and thank the Lord they are being pursued. We had them over because that Tuesday they were headed back to Columbia and I really wanted to see them before they headed back! So Sunday we had my Mom, Aunt, Heather, Derly, Angelica, Carla,(one of our sweet friends who translated for the girls) the six kids, Rianne, and Nick and I which made for a full house! I loved every minute of it!! Oh and I forgot to mention, Derly and Angelica were baptized Saturday, such a sweet moment for Heather and awesome to see many prayers answered!

I had cute toenails to go with the fun weekend thanks to my birthday date with Jenni Van Wyk who had a wedding the weekend of my birthday! We went the Monday before to get our toes done! Thanks Jenni!

Also the week before, my awesome friend Jill Trost decided I needed to have a phone that has style and bought me the cutest Juicy Couture cover! You Rock Jill!!

I had the best birthday ever!!!! Thank you to everyone who made it so sweet!

Second Half of Summer

Okay so like I said not good at blogging....

Two months later and here we are. After I am done blogging you will see why I have no time to blog. The month of July and August was one big blur, it was so wonderful though! I'll start off with my trip to New York with the family I nanny for. This was our second year in a row, and a five day trip. Ting takes me to help her out with the kids but loves to show me around the city so we both win! We stayed in a hotel about two miles away from her family. She has a huge Laotian/Thai family, that are so welcoming and loving. Friday we went to the Empire State building, Saturday we went to a family BBQ in upstate New York. That Monday we went to China Town, Little Italy, Time Square, and walked around SOHO to shop and have lunch! Ting's neices Isabella, Angel and Joslyn wanted me to   be a client in their beauty shop so of course I did. My nails and hair turned out beautiful, here are some pictures from that trip...

My boss asked me if I wanted to fly to Michigan or back to Iowa, of course I could never refuse a trip home! I then spent a week in Michigan, it was such a great time because I had nothing on the agenda. The only thing was my sister was due two weeks from the day I came in so I prayed my butt off to be able to meet my new niece! The Lord answered that prayer and she was born that Thursday with three days left in my trip to be able to love on her! Ruby Sue Combs, was happy and healthy and eager to meet all of us. The other great part of her coming while I was there is I could help out as much as possible with the other three! I took the Mega Bus to Chicago that Sunday to be picked up by my husband and spend the day with him in the city. Nick picked me up and handed me a big box (a week before my birthday) and I opened it to find a "I love Coke-Cola" shirt. I acted super pumped about my birthday present to open the shirt up and find a new IPHONE 4. For those of you who really know me I have never had a nice phone. I usually acquire phones from my little cousin Chelseas friends old ones. (I am Cheap) So this was such a wonderful sight for me, I totally appreciate my husband!!! After my present we went to a yummy Greek restaurant and walked around town! It was a great day date! Here are some pictures of my new neice!

 

Okay so that was just the first three weeks in July, I will have to finish July in another post! I dont want to make these into books, but my life for two months was just really busy!!:-)