30.6.11

First Black Eye

Unfortunately little Halle Grace tripped and fell into the van door a month ago and hit her eye on the edge. It immediately swelled up to the size of a ping pong ball. The swelling stayed for a couple of days and then it began slowly turning all sorts of colors. Well Halle still has a hard bump under the skin in that spot. We took her to the doctor yesterday and found out that she has a calcified bruise :( The doctor says this could take years to go away if it even will. We are praying and hoping that it does. She sure was brave and a BIG girl through the whole thing.

Buddies

Halle has been blessed with two great friends here in Iowa, Denver and Zion. They are all three within days of each other, the same age. We really really enjoy hanging out with these guys and their mommies. Halle asks about them everyday, talks to them on "her phone" everyday, and prays for them every night. She will be talking about going to the park with them days in advance. Both moms are speaking that their son will one day marry Halle. We really love them and thank Jesus every night for their friendship.

Biker Sunday at GTC

What a fun day Biker Sunday has been every year. I love having church outside and I love having the bikers join us. Glad Tidings has done this for the past few years and it has turned out to be such a success. We take pictures of the bikers and their bikes, give out Harley prizes, bless the bikes, and then they take off for an afternoon bike ride together. Last year we brought it outside with a feast afterwards. It went so well we decided to the same this year. It was a beautiful fun day.






CMA bikers join us! I really love hearing stories from these guys.

A Sweet Short Visit from Grandpa, Grandma ,and Aunt Doris

A visit from Aunt Beverly and Grandma Doris is always welcomed BIG time. These two ladies are AMAZING! They are soooo sweet! Doug, Dan's dad was driving up from Oklahoma for a couple of days. So he stopped off in Kansas City and picked up these two beautiful ladies. They stayed the night over and brought tons of goodies for the girls! Doug was able to take Halle on a date that next day to the movies. She loved it and still talks about it. Then we were able to catch the fights that night on pay per view with Doug. It was a sweet visit. Cant wait to do it again.

29.6.11

Serving the City

This summer PROXY has decided to serve our city for the entire summer through different events. INstead of taking an entertainment trip we are taking a three month missions trip to our cities, Cedar Falls and Waterloo. A few months prior to the summer we studied the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah loved Jerusalem, his city, and longed to and worked hard to see it restored and put back together. We had the students bring only one cardboard box and one can food item that Tuesday evening. They of course had no idea what was happening. We then told them they were staying the night outside and had only that box and that food to last them through the evening. The night was perfect, beautiful weather. The next morning we went and served breakfast to the assisted living home, where I work. After breakfast they painted the ladies nails. Then for lunch they traveled to the salvation army to serve the homeless lunch. It turned out to be very impactful for them. They all were texting and messaging us afterwards of how it opened their eyes to many things and they were super grateful that we did it. And they did AMAZING!! I was super proud. They jumped right in there and went to work. I look forward to our many more missions projects this summer. Jesus is doing BIG things here in the Cedar Valley. We honored to be a part.



Blank Park Zoo Visit

It seems that we are heading to Des Moines quite often. The state offices are there and he often has meetings there during the month. This one particular time, we took Halle on her very first zoo visit. It was a blast! She called many things a big horse. She was just like her daddy. She didn't stay long at each exhibit. She had to hurry off to the next one. She fed the goats, played in the jungle gym, laughed at the monkeys, barked at the giraffes, rode on the train, and rode in the wagon. BIG day for the girls, they loved it and so did I.








A gals Sushi Night

GTC ladies splurged and went out to get some sushi. Although most ladies who came did not get any. But boy did we enjoy all the food any way. I personally love the Hawain roll there, ahhh, so good!!!

I'm so glad Katie got to join us.


I cant wait for the next one!

sweet visit from Aunt Katie

Aunt Katie came to visit us all the way in Iowa. My sister Katie spent her few college dollars on a plane ticket to Iowa to spend 5 days with us. She loves my girls, and my girls absolutely LOVE her. Katie is a beautiful young lady who loves Jesus and who I am so proud of. She has a sweet spirit and has nothing but kind things to say ever. I enjoy so much being around her. I hope that she comes to visit many many more times. We laughed, we cried, we sweat, and slept. We had so much fun!

We played some frisbie golf in the park.
We took a LONG bike ride with the girls. I enjoyed laughing and sweating with her as we found out the gears were not changing on the bike, so we were literally peddling to nowhere.
We passed this awesome field of blue flowers and I am so glad we went back to grab these beautiful pics.

We love you Aunt Katie! Please come back to visit again soon.

Easter 2011

Easter was celebrated so well at GTC!!! All glory was given to Jesus and his resurrection was celebrated. The worship was LOUD and EVERYONE was singing and rejoicing. It was truly a celebration! Dan's parents were able to join us for the week. We were so glad to celebrate with them. We serve the one, true reigning King and He is amazing!



Party like a Rock Star Egg Hunt at GTC

Glad Tidings does a egg hunt every year open to the community with thousands of eggs! This year we had 20,000 stuffed eggs full of candy!! The theme this year was "Party Like A Rock Star." So the kids came dressed up as a rock star. It was super cute. WE had a rock concert, kid style, games, prizes, and was able to tell the kids about Jesus. We had nearly 500 people there that day, WOW!!! The inlaws were able to make it over for Easter. It was so sun having them hunt for Easter eggs with Halle and Bekah.

It was of course freezing!
She so stinkin cute and he's so handsome!
Uncle Mike was helping Halle get the most eggs that she could.



Halle the rock star!

Longest Winter EVER!

This past winter seemed to be so super long!! We are still having way cool days in June. The girls and I are screaming to get out of the house. We found a few indoor parks in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City this year that we enjoyed often.