The Friesen Family

Good Bye Sweet Iowa

2011-10-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

We moved to Iowa in the spring of 09. And we quickly fell in love with the people there, the church, and the beautiful seasons. Dan was the youth pastor and worship pastor at Glad Tidings Church in Cedar Falls, IA, home of the UNI Panthers. By God's grace, these two ministries flourished well. It was exciting and unforgettable to see how Jesus grew the church and grew us into many of the members lives. Dan and I also grew ourselves tons! Jesus introduced us and allowed us to form an amazing network of friends and accountability with the state offices there. Leaders that were so stellar. We had formed such close relationships with so many around us. Dan and I both found that Iowa people in general are the most kind, caring, generous, sociable, relational, genuine people we have encountered. So it was very hard when God began to stir our hearts to pray for what was next. Dan and I both know there is a calling on Dan's life to pastor, to teach. We have always had the strong desire to plant a church. We would pray and talk, pray and talk. Both really not wanting to hear to leave because we so much loved the church and congregation. We were so excited to see the weekly growth. So we prayed for a little over six months even. Then knowing it was time to move on with heavy but in some way excited (of what God may have next for us) hearts Dan put his resignation in at Glad Tidings Church in July. It is hard to make life long lasting friendships, but I honestly believe we made many in Iowa that I am so thankful to Jesus for. The next few weeks were extremely emotional and hard. But we were overwhelmed at the support and love through dinners, texts, emails, letters, gifts, and help we received from our dear friends in Iowa. Many tears were spilt as we began to make our transition out. Glad Tidings church family put together a good bye party for us on our last day. It was absolutely wonderful. Thank you guys for all your love and support.

Mrs. Amy who formed a tight bond with Mrs. Halle!
I could not believe all that came to express their thanks and say good bye. Someone was pointed out to me that Paul must have been burdened to leave church families and go to another. But that they always kept a place in his heart and he prayed for them. Glad Tidings will forever hold a place in my prayers and heart. We love and miss you all dearly!

There will be another post soon on where Jesus sent us next.

Iowa State Fair

2011-10-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Just a few days before we packed up our whole house and moved to GA. We spent a whole family day at the Iowa State Park. It has to be the largest Fair I have ever been to. It was very hot but oh so much fun!

swings with Daddy that kept going and going and going and going, too funny!
This was the world's largest pig.

This was a little farmer walk through. They had to go through all the daily routines farmers may go through, from planting...
to harvesting...
to tractor driving...
to milking the cow...
to riding the cow! And then at the very end they were able to sale their products they harvested and the milk and eggs they gathered then purchase something from the store. Loved this!
We had fried oreos!
We met up some of our dear friends, Jonathan and Erica Bartholow and kids. Also Nathan and Vanessa Schadd. We stayed and watched The Band Perry.
What a sweet memory we will never forget. The girls were wiped!

First Black Eye

2011-06-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Serving the City

2011-06-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

Winter this year has not been as harsh as last year. But the numbers show different. This year we have a total of 50+ inches of snow. WOW! There has not been much picture taking this winter because we have been stuck inside. But we have ventured out to do a little sledding. Although it is short lived it sure is fun. Here are some shots we have of us sledding with our dear friends the Lathrops. Halle loves sledding. She is not scared at all. She laughs the whole time. And immediately says she wants to do it again. She has always been our little adventure seeker.

Christmas in Paradise

2011-02-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

We had the gift of going on a cruise for Christmas. And it was nothing short of AMAZING! We were so greatful for the opportunity. Dan's parents gave us the cruise for our Christmas present and also to celebrate Dan's brother, Mike's graduating from South Eastern University. The girls and I flew in to Miami to meet Doug and Karen while Dan had to stay back and take care of the Christmas program. We boarded the ship the next day. Dan flew into Mexico and met us on that Tuesday. We were at sea on the Liberty of the Seas for 7 days. Are visiting ports were Costa Maya, Belize City, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We ate and ate and then ate some more. They endless buffets full of amazing food for breakfast and lunch. Between meals we would visit the endless snack bar or bottomless ice cream cone machine. Then we went to our room where there was cheese trays waiting on us or fruit plates. Then an hour before dinner we went and enjoyed appetizers in the concierge room. On to dinner where we enjoyed a four course meal. We were stuffed all the time. I think Halle had 3 to 4 ice cream cones daily. If we were not working out or on shore you would definitely find us at the pool soaking up the sun!!!! Dan, the girls, and I had our own room across from Doug and Karen and Mike's room. Their room was so comfortable. They had a balcony over looking the massive Caribbean ocean. We felt and knew we were tremendously blessed. Dan, Mike and I were able to go on shore in Belize City and go tubing on the river through caves in the rainforest. Yes, that was sooo cool! The hike through the rainforest was picturesque. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face. We learned so much about Belize City on the ride to the caves. Belize is a third world country. We were riding through all poverished areas where houses had no windows or doors or even roofs. But everyone we passed had smile on their faces. Yet again on this trip I felt and know that I am extremely blessed. My heart went out to these people especially as I listened to a young man's story I got to hear over lunch. He told me how you have to pay for public school there and he was saleing stuff to tourists so that he could send his siblings to school. I bought a beautiful handmade bracelet from him and his mother. It is made from cocoa beans that they grow on their farm.

The rest of the week was just wonderful. We spent a few days in Miami before going home right on South Beach. Thank you Doug and Karen for yet again another amazing vacation. That one will never be forgotten not just because of the wonderful cruise but because of the company we got to spend it with. We love all of you!! Thank you!

Here is the link to see all the photos from the vacation:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1615952275&aid=86292

I brought it!

2011-02-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

Last September I set out on a 90 day endeavor to get in shape and lose 25 pounds. My motivation was of course the cruise we were taking for Christmas. I was determined to be in a swimsuit by Christmas! My ever so sweet, good looking, absolutely gorgeous, healthy mother lent me the ever so difficult P90X program. I tell you the truth it was insanely hard in the beginning! After the very first day, I could not move! I could hardly do even close to the reps those on the video were doing. I could hardly finish the 30 second intervals on the plyometrics or Yoga training. The thoughts of quitting sure crossed my mind. I thought surely this is way to advanced for me. But you know what I stuck with. I just kept saying I will do my very best. And you know what, I made it and I made it well. I can now do all the reps needed, I moved up in weights, and can last through Plyometrics (which is the toughest video) with energy at the end to do more. Praise Jesus he gave me the strength to go on. At the end I was in the best shape of my life. I saw muscles I never knew I had. I lost 25 pounds and two pants sizes. Not only could I tell an outward difference but I felt great; more energized, more confident, better mood and stronger. Since Christmas though I have had a lack of motivation. I need another cruise to whip me back into shape, the work outs have been sporadic. I am so thankful for my mom keeping me in check for those 90 days. She was a great accountability! Thank you Jesus for giving me the strength and discipline to finish.

After:

Before:

Back 2 Work

2011-02-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

Since Halle was born I had become a stay at home mom. I cleaned a few houses on the side. Last October Dan and I decided that I need to intently look for a more regular part time job. We were trying to find something that would fit with our schedule so that Dan would be able to stay home with the girls while I worked...somewhere. I opted to take on a night job. I was hired at a hotel for night receptionist. ON my scheduled day to start training my Pastor's wife mentioned there was an opening at the Cedar Falls Lutheran Home for a part time breakfast server to the Assisted Living. I immediately called and got an interview set up. I was hired and I have never enjoyed going to work sooooooo much! I only work MWF and every other weekend from 7am to 9:30am. It works out perfect. Dan is able to watch the girls and then I relieve him. I continue to clean a hand full of houses every other week on Dan's day off. I serve the residents by serving drinks, fixing whatever they want to eat, and cleaning up and reseting the cafe before I go. I've actually become the expert egg frier. The residents smile and say "oooo, she cooks some wonderful eggs!" :) I serve around 16-17 residents and I have come to love them so much! The above picture is of my sweet friend, Jen. She has so much wisdom to share. I do not leave with a dry eye the days I sit with her. Thank you Jesus for providing a great job!

Fall Semester 2010

2011-01-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

With two babies under 3 and Glad Tidings growing, the Friesen household has been super busy! I am so sorry I have not kept up with the blog but I really do not want to miss posting about some things. So I will try to cover some highlights for you from this last semester in this one blog post. Here we go!

Daddy's Girl

Dan started a journal for Halle. A journal that he will fill the pages with sweet remembrances and love letters to Halle. He will then give it to her when she turns 16. I hope this time goes by very slow though. She will love it. Dan is an exceptional writer. I cannot help but cry every time I read a post he has made in it.

Back 2 School Bash

Dan organized and put on a back to school bash with 3 other churches in the area for the youth. It went amazingly well. We had around 300 students the first night that packed out GT church!!! The first night was held at our church, GTC. Our youth State Director was the speaker and Open Bible's youth band led worship. It was an amazing night!! Nearly every young person was on their knees in the alter after the service. A prophecy was given over a young mans life that night. He had influence in one of the largest gangs in this area. If he were to live out his life for Christ and listen to His voice he would win that whole gang to Christ. We would see revival in our city!! WOW!! What an amazing way to start out that weekends events. The next night we held our services at Celebration Assembly. Dan and his band (the seas resound) led worship that evening. Dustin Cox, the youth pastor there gave the message. Proxy youth did drama. Again we saw the alters flooded with young people. Attendance was around 300 that night as well. The last night we held our service at Open Bible youth building in downtown Waterloo.The worship was again led by Open Bible worship band and a powerful message delivered by Dan. Again long time afterwards just praying for students. We held a block party that night afterwards. Throughout the week we had amazing dramas, crazy wacky games,and super sweet connecting time. The week was truly exhausting for us but so amazing and strengthening at the same time. A week before this went down Dan threw out his back. He was in severe pain and could barely walk straight. He was limping around terribly. I felt so bad for him. he had one of the biggest weeks ahead of him. He put this whole thing together so everyone was looking to him to lead it. he was in bad shape. But he completely put his trust in Jesus and looked to him for strength. Miraculously Dan had supernatural strength that carried him through that week and carried him very very well. He did an amazing job of putting this together and leading with the heart of Jesus. Jesus spoke to many teenagers that week LOUDLY. Jesus encouraged Dan and I as well. I can't explain what supernatural strengthening we had. We had gotten absolutely no sleep but felt so pumped and excited to face each day. We could not wait to see what Jesus was going to do that night. The following Sunday after the eventful week Dan led worship form a barstool. The spirit of God was so eveident in the service. He was very near. The prayers and excitement of the youth rally that week was carried over and evident in our GT family service. We shared all that had happened and GT family worshiped there hearts out in total adoration. And we firmly believe that we heard from Jesus that week. There WILL BE revival coming to the Cedar Valley. We are ready and want to be a part! Here are some pics:

the first night at GT church
Dance the second night at Celebration

Games at Open Bible, Ground Zero
Worship at Ground Zero
Dan speaking the last night at Ground Zero

Dave petting the horsey...I don't know!
the block party to end off the weekend.

PRAISE JESUS for all He did and spoke that week. It was so exciting. I am ecstatic for next year.

Halle turned 2

and same as last year she cried when the cake came out, hahahaha! Not sure why really. She likes to blow out candles in the house and she no doubt loves cupcakes. Oh well, can't wait to see how it goes next year. We just had a sweet little party at home with just the Friesen fam 4. I love my little red head. I am so thankful for her!

Chill Time with Daddy

He's a great daddy!

A Trip to Bloomsbury Farms with the Lathrops and Hospos

We have decided to definitely make the trip to Bloomsbury farm a tradition in our home. We love this place. It has an animal farm, pig races, tractor rides, hay rides, scary house, the largest corn maze ever, pumpkin launcher, corn pit, bouncy thingy (my fav), yummy fried food, fun house and much more. So much fun. We took the Lathrops and met the Hospodarskys there.

We also took a trip to the near by apple orchard where we picked some apples, rode another tractor ride, and sipped on some apple cider slushes, yum!

Our First Friesen Pumpkin Carving

This is actually my very first pumpkin carving as well as Halle's. Daddy drew the design. He did a great job!

Dan has Back Surgery

Dan had another bulging disk that has been acting up for a while. While playing golf with some students near the end of August Dan really hurt his back. We went to doctors and specialists who both gave him lots of pain meds. I had never seen it this bad. He was layed out in bed for days. They ordered an MRI and found that his disk below his fusion he had 8 years earlier was now bulging into the nerve. They recommended surgery and fast because he was in some intense pain. The surgery went very very well. The back surgeon said the nerve was purple and very aggrivated and that it was a good thing that we went a head and did the surgery. He was only in the hospital for one night and had an amazing recovery. Thank you Jesus for keeping your hand upon Dan. You are the Healer. He is pain med free.

Bekah Joy is Dedicated

We thank you Jesus for our sweet gift we've been given in Bekah Joy. She is precious.

Best Buds

Bekah's eyes are still fixated on Halle all the time and Halle is always looking out for Bekah Joy.

Halloween with the Nelsons

We had our sweet friends, the Nelsons over for some HOT chili and then we went door to door around our neighborhood. So much fun! Halle and Denver wanted to eat every single piece of candy as we received them.

Bekah has started eating solid food, yum!

She is not so great at it yet! But she sure loves to do it herself already! She does not really like the mushy stuff, but she does much better with more solidity to the food.

Indoor Park Opened

When the winters hit hear in Iowa, it is hard to find stuff to do. We are stuck inside! The rec department has a wonderful indoor park for the kids. We love to visit there with our friends Ashley and Denver.

4Thanksgivings

We were so blessed this past year and were invited to 4 different Thanksgivings throughout the week. The Dahlager's from our church had us over the Saturday before for a very yummy dinner. The Barthlows' from Chi Alpha and the state office had us over the Friday before for a yummy dinner with new friends. Carol, our church secretary and dear friend invited us over Thanksgiving morning with her son and family. And then Thanksgiving evening we got to spend with our dear friends and nearly family the Warbrittons'. We were truly blessed and FULL!

Halle loves our church secretary Carol. She climbs up in her lap often.
Halle's new friend, Abbey, Carols' granddaughter.
The Warbrittons's home, wow did we stuff ourselves with great food that evening.

Decorating the Tree

hot chocolate and cookies

even Bekah Joy got to help

Sisters

2010-10-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

These girls are so sweet! Halle loves her sister Bekah Joy. Halle wants to hold her, put lipstick on her, share her snacks with her, read books to her, have conversations with her, kiss her, tickle her, hug her and share all her toys. When we go to leave the house she always makes sure Rebekah is with us. She will say, “Mommy, you got Bekah?, Okay” She will tell me when she is crying or smiling everytime. Halle will always quickly notice when Rebakah is out of the room and asks where she is. She has most recently learned how to play peek a boo with her. Halle still loves to help with every bath and diaper change.

But this definitely isn’t one sided. Rebekah will not take her eyes off Halle. Her eyes follow Halle and her every move. She wiggles in excitement with lots of smiles whenever Halle comes close and interacts with her. She now even is trying her best to talk to Halle. And then of course there is that occasional nervous flailing as Halle is covering her in toys or trying to pick her up or stuff something in her mouth.

I’m so ecstatic that there is already a bond between my two girlies. love em!

Halle likes to share her toys with Bekah.

P90X...Bring IT!

2010-10-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

I’m not able to fit in any of my clothes at the moment. I am still wearing maternity stuff. So I have started the hard core program of P90X. It is my 90 day trek to get in “the best shape of my life,” they say. Currently I am at the end of the sixth week and have not missed a day yet. I have lost 15 lbs already and shedding inches. The workouts are so intense but they are getting easier...well not sure if I can use that word “easy” when talking about P90X. It is tough! I sure do feel good once I get through one though. I wanted to let you guys know about it to have another form of accountability. My mom passed this program on to me. She has went through the program three times. She is now doing the next one called insanity. She is insane. But it has been great receiving accountability and encouragement from her everyday. And she looks and feels amazing! She is a great accountability partner. I look forward to letting you know of the progress and results throughout the next 90 days. BRING IT!

Happy 28th Birthday to my Baby

2010-08-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Dan's birthday on the ninth of August. I planned a surprise get together at one of his favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse. I was honestly overwhelmed with joy at the response I got when I invited everyone. Everyone gave an immediate yes. I was so happy everyone came. We had a great time. I hope Dan knows how many people appreciate and love him. Happy Birthday Baby! LOVE YOU!

At Texas Roadhouse they make the birthday boy ride the saddle as they serenade him with song. Is this also another reason I chose Texas Roadhouse?...Maybe :)

BFF's

2010-08-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Every place Dan and I go we seem to make BEST friends with a couple who end up hanging out with all the time. Trent and Laurin are two of our AMAZING youth leaders in Proxy. They are newly weds , fastly approaching their one year anniversary soon. Halle adores them! She is always asking if they are coming over for dinner or to play. When talking on her telephone, it is Trent or Laurin she is always talking to. Halle actually has a little girl crush on Trent. When Trent is in the room she says his name over and over and over until he turns to answer and then she turns her head and cuts her eyes as she sticks her finger in her mouth out of shyness. IT is really funny. She will run up and hit his leg and run away just grinning and laughing. They are both amazing youth leaders. They are always hanging out with the youth outside of church and there to help with Proxy every chance there is. It is truly seen that they genuinely love the students and care about their growth in Jesus. We really love them and are so glad to know them and so blessed to have them involved in Proxy.

We went to a petting zoo with them the other day which turned out to really dirty. I mean I grew up in south Georgia in the country surrounded by animals but this was DIRTY! They had a chicken in a cage with just a simple paper sign saying, "Chicken being tested for West Nile, PLEASE KEEP AWAY!" What? Like every child can read and keep their hands away from the cage which is not out of reach. But we still enjoyed the company.

G-ma And Papa John come to visit

2010-08-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

We were so happy to have all three sets of grandparents visit this summer. My mom and her husband Jon came to visit us for a few days in August. It went by way too fast. They were only able to be here two full days but we made sure to pack those days full of time spent together, early mornings to late evenings. Here are some pics from the time we spent with g-ma and papa Jon.

We all took Halle to an art Pavilion here in town. It was so cool! We all found something to do and were pretty amused.

We lost Papa Jon for a second and turned round to a loud cajun voice screaming about losing his car and saw this. All three floors of the museum heard him talking about his lost car. Papa sure makes things exciting and fun.
We then of course spent lots of time at parks, taking Halle on the swings and slides. Papa Jon had lots of fun going "weeeee" too.
My momma's so pretty.

Our little Rebekah Joy is so beautiful.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Those two beautiful girls!

We took some evening walks in the neighborhood. Bekah Joy enjoyed the ride.
Papa Jon fixed us some amazing homemade Louisianna Jambalaya one night, so good! We played Catch Phrase one night, couple against couple. I really enjoyed getting to know Jon more. He is a joy to be around. We were so grateful that they came. We had so much fun and loved having there company. We have watched too many people leaving down our road this summer saying good bye. Miss you G-Ma and Papa Jon.

Papa and Manda's Visit

2010-08-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

It has been a summer full of grandparents visits. We've had so much fun. My Dad and Amanda, my stepmom came to visit us for a whole week. We loved their stay with us. We went swimming, took Halle to parks, ate really well, went hiking, took lots of pictures, and toured the city and countryside. Halle helped Grandma Manda get ready every morning and got some lotion and perfume. Daddy chased and played and tossed Halle around the whole week. She loves them so much. We are so glad they drove all that way to see us. We miss them so much. Halle asks about them all the time. And gets excited when we mention their names. She'll run to the door and ask if they are here. Amanda is an amazing photographer. Here are some photos from the week. It was a week of relaxation and just enjoying the company.

We can't wait for them to visit again. MISS you guys ALOT! Thanks for a great week.

Our gift of Joy arrives

2010-06-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

Rebekah Joy

Our little Rebekah Joy arrived Tuesday June 15th at 5:26pm weighing in it at 7 lbs 7oz with a little bit of dark hair and dark blue eyes.

The day before is when everything started to begin. Monday morning I started having contractions. Which I thought were surely just Braxton Hicks because they were not painful at all just annoying. But they were consisitant. After lunch I noticed I was still having them so Dan and I started timing them. They were consistantly 20 minutes apart. We were still going about our daily activities. Dan's grandparents had just got into to town and were staying at the Casino Hotel in town which had an indoor pool. We ended up sticking around at the pool and watching Dan and Halle swim all aftrernoon. The contractions were still there. They actually started gradually growing closer together like 12-13 minutes apart but still not painful at all. I still felt that this was surely not it. BUt my hopes were high. After a LONG afternoon of swimming in that HOT...HOT room we all headed to dinner at the Olive Garden. I felt that the contractions were a little bit stronger now but still not close to painful. We started timing them on Dan's cool and very useful iphone app. Turns out the contractions had grown to 7 to 8 minutes apart. Yeah!!! We all got kind of excited now and a bit anxious hoping this was it. I went a head before calling the doctor and ate as much as I could of that yummy pasta!!! We got on the phone with the doctor and they said to take a warm bath and 1000 mg of tylenol. So I headed to the jacuzzi tub in Grandma's hotel room. After an hour in the tub, the contractions were still there and still consistent. I held off going in until they picked up in pain or grew closer together. I actually got a great night's sleep and then woke up at 5 am to some more painful cramping but still 7 minutes apart. These I actually had to breath through some but nothing that wasn't bearable. Dan and I decided to head in. We found out I was dilated to a good 5 and completely soft and contractions were coming on consistently. They admitted me at 8 am and moved me into a really comfy room. Dan and I did some walking and played alot of scrabble on his ipad for the next few hours. They gave me the epidermal around lunch time and shortly after that broke my water. We started the pushing around 5:10pm. I only had to push 3 times and our beautiful baby girl Rebekah Joy arrived at 5:26pm that Tuesday evening. We were blessed to have such a smooth pregnancy. It went sooo great! The hospital was amazing. The doctor and nurses were wonderful. We conversated with the doctor and nurses the whole time. They were so kind and so helpful with everything. They brought me cheesecake at every meal and warm cookies for snacks. YUM!

Rebekah was a great baby from the first moments. She latched right away and has been an incredible eater. She nurses so well and so fast. She slept through the first night for one four hour stretch and has not had her nights and days mixed up at all. She has done so well at night. She hardly ever cries and she likes to sit in her bouncy most of the day and watch me chase around her big sis Halle. She sleeps very well in her crib. Rebekah Joy has had such a sweet personality and countenance from day 1. She loves to look at you and somewhat smile quite often, with the occasional coo. I was not sure how I would be able to love another as much as I love Halle, but I totally can and do. My love for her is growing more and more everyday.

At Rebekah Joy's first doctor's visit (at 2 weeks old) she had gained two pounds! I was concerned because she was only eating for about 10 minutes total (both sides) and I could not get her to eat anymore. I was afraid she wasn't getting any of that hind milk. If I tried to get her to keep going, she would spit it all up...projectile! But evidently she is just a fast and effective eater. Because her doctor seemed happy and astounded at the weight gain. It is a real blessing with having to take care of Halle also. Halle would eat for 40 to 45 minutes when she was this age.

Grandma Ruby and Bob (Dan's mom, Karen's mom and step dad) were able to visit and be here when Rebekah Joy arrived.
We were so blessed to have Karen and Doug there to help take care of Halle when we were in the hospital. This is Halle meeting her baby sister for the first time.
Uncle Mike was able to be here too.
Here is Grandpa Bob with our little Joy.

This was Rebekah Joy's first bath.

We had to cancel PROXY that Wednesday night but all the leaders came to visit! It was special to have all the visitors and kind gifts in the hospital. We are blessed to be surrounded by some incredible people. We love you guys.
So all together Halle seriously probably got more gifts than Rebekah did during the months and days leading up to Rebekah coming and even the days after. She got sooooo much stuff! It was so sweet of everyone to think of Halle and how she would be feeling with a new little sister in the house. Thank you so much. Dan and I also brought some bags full of goodies home for Halle from the hospital.
Here is sweet Aunt Beverly from Kansas City. Her and Grandma Doris were able to come and visit. This is Dan's dad, Doug's Aunt and step mother. They of course came with bags full of goodies for the girls. They are soooooooo sweet. And I was so happy they were able to come and see Rebekah Joy.
Here is baby Joy with Grandma Doris. Thank you guys for coming to see us and celebrate with us.
Rebekah Joy with her Grandpa Friesen.
Baby Joy with Grandma Friesen.

Thank you Jesus for another gift that we are so undeserving of. She is a beauty. Grant us the love, strength, patience, wisdom and knowledge to parent Little Rebekah Joy. Her life is in your hands. May we not do this on our own but look to you for guidance and instruction. Give us the grace to teach her about you and love her with your love. May her life be full of your blessings and may it be full of your Joy. We love you. Thank you Jesus for your grace. You are all that is good!

Waiting for Rebekah Joy to Arrive

2010-06-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Friesen came to stay with us for two weeks waiting for baby Rebekah Joy to show her beautiful face. It was so great having them here. We always love the time we get to spend with them. It goes by too fast. Halle really REALLY enjoyed having them here as well. She was the center of attention. She got lots of playtime, hugs, kisses, suckers and ICE CREAM!!! Karen was so amazing and helped keep the house together, our tummies fed (really well), laundry done, and a peaceful home. She wouldn't let me do anything...fold clothes, cook, clean up...nothing! It was such a blessing to have her here. She is such a servant and generous giver of her time, heart, and resources. Jesus shines through her. Thank you Karen! We love you!

Halle also got plenty of attention from mommy and Daddy too leading up to when Rebekah Joy arrived. Daddy took her swimming alot.

Uncle Mike also came for a few days to hopefully meet Rebekah.
Getting ice cream became almost a nightly thing. Halle sure enjoyed it along with everyone else.

Grandpa had to take a short business trip the first week and came back with some goodies for Halle.
Halle loved playing chase with Grandpa or she called it, "runnin." They would stand on opposite sides of the room and count from 1 to three together and then run into one another in the middle or Halle would slip right through Grandpa's legs.

Halle looked forward to getting weighed on Grandma's scale every morning along with getting a spray of perfume and lipstick from her.

We were so blessed having them here for those exciting two weeks. Thankfully Rebekah Joy did make an appearance before they left. Details to follow in the next blog post.

Happy Father's Day to one Awesome Dad

2010-06-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

"Train up a child in the way he should go;even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

A special Happy Father's Day to my Daddy. I have the best memories of growing up with my Dad. I could tell stories for hours and hours about time spent with my Dad and have the biggest smile and most laughter telling those stories. I always loved when we slept in late on Saturdays and he would come in and wake us up by tickling and wrestling us for hours. He was always so much fun and showed us so much attention. I could always tell he loved to be with us and spending time with us more than anything else he could have been doing. I have always felt and known that my Daddy loves me a whole stinkin lot. He not only showed this love to me, he has also always made a point to tell me how much. He always told me and shown me that God loves me no matter what. I love him so much and wish I could be with him today. He is one wonderful Dad!!!!!! I couldn't have even dreamed of better.

I love you Daddy!!!

And Halle sure does love "PAPA!"

We can't wait to see you in two weeks.

I am Head Over Heels for this Guy

2010-06-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

A man who loves the Word of God and loves the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind. He would love his wife like Christ loves the Church. He would love his family UNCONDITIONAllY and would "...not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

A special Happy Father's Day shout out to my husband, Dan. I am incredibly blessed to have Dan as my best friend and the Daddy of our girls. I could not love a human being more than I love Dan. He is the best man there is. Dan has been given so many gifts and talents that he continues to grow in everyday. He is an incredible teacher, friend, servant, worker, creator, leader, inventor, manager, singer, guitar player, dreamer, son, HUSBAND, and FATHER. AND he loves JESUS! He teaches me more more about Jesus everyday through his words, actions, and love. I am proud of him and honored beyond all words to live, love and serve beside him.

We love you Baby and I fall more and more in love with you everyday. You are the best Daddy to our girls.

That is one handsome Daddy!!

We were given an incredible gift this past Tuesday...Rebekah Joy!

I walked in Halle's room last night after feeding Rebekah to see how Dan was doing putting Halle to bed and this is what I found. I have to be honest and tell you I was kind a jealous.

HALLE adores her DADDY!

"The righteous who walks in his integrity-- blessed are his children after him!" Proverbs 20:7

playing "I-an get you"....

38 weeks and about to bust

2010-06-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted at all yet on the new baby and second pregnancy yet. Shame on me. So now that I am at the end here some tid bits from the pregnancy. A funny thing is, there is a couple in the church who we are great friends with who got married the same exact day, year, and time that Dan and I did. That same couple is having their first child due the very same day ours is due to arrive, June 13th!!! It has been so cool to share this with her. She is an incredible lady and friend. We also have the same doctor and are still measuring right on together. So funny! We are always joking with one another that we may be there side by side rooting each other on. As time is winding down this is becoming more of a possibility. Love sharing this special time with these special people.

How far along: 38 weeks and 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: I'm not sure, haven't been keeping track...not really wanting to this time around! But I know that I haven't gained anymore in the past few weeks.
Stretch marks: none thus far, fingers are crossed!
Best moment this week: spending some quality time with Halle before baby comes
Food cravings:First trimester was pickles and dairy, like milk and ice cream. This whole pregnancy I have craved citrus fruit. I have ate tons of grape fruit! These last couple of weeks chomping on ice and drinking lots of water to cool me off has been a definite favorite. I take a glass with me wherever I go.
Gender: Baby girl!
Labor signs: Some BH contractions. Alot of crazy pressure on the cervix. I have been dilated at 2 for 3 weeks two and half weeks now and 50 percent effaced. I feel like the baby has dropped alot.
Belly button in or out: Doesn't even seem like there is one there but still in.
Current mood: Super tired. Not getting much sleep at night, tossing and turning...and snoring Dan says. I feel like I can't breath. I have had crazy heartburn this pregnancy, but thankfully it has let up some the past couple of weeks. I was eating tums like they were candy. It has been super hard lately to keep up with Halle, especially going anywhere alone with her. I feel bigger and bigger everyday. We are super excited to see our new little girl. I can't wait to meet her. I am a little anxious for Halle's sake and how she will feel and how she will do with a new baby in the house. Halle has been super clingy to me lately, more than ever. And anxious about being a mom to two and loving the new baby girl as much as I do Halle. I can't imagine loving another so much.
What I am looking forward to: Deciding on a name for our new baby girl. Saying goodbye to heartburn and sleepless nights....oh yeah, nevermind that. I think that is the way God prepares you for those sleepless nights ahead. I'm looking forward to holding our new baby girl and seeing what color hair she has...ha! I can't wait to kiss her and squeeze her.
Milestones: the huge one is fast approaching

Fun in the Sun

2010-06-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

Halle loves to be outside. She will gab her shoes every morning and run to the back door. She'll tell me "outside?"...short pause then say, "Kay!" LIke I said yes or something. But who can resist. So we have been soaking up alot of sun and overly getting our daily doses of vitamin D in the back yard. She loves to play in the water hose and her kiddie pool. Then follow it up with ice cream.

We've recently been visiting our friends Katrina and Zion at their backyard pool and sprinkler! They have a slide on their pool...lots of fun!

Here's Z and Halle dancing.
Yum....ice cream sandwiches!

So Halle likes to eat ice just like her mommy. Yes this may scare alot of you. But she does really well with it. She had dropped some of her ice on the ground here and got some dirt on it which Halle has always proved to be a girlie girl. She does not like the dirt on her food, hands, or feet.

cute!

I love these times Halle and I get to spend together. She's my girl!

"WEEEEEEEEEEE!"

2010-05-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to get outside and play after the snow melted. Halle has discovered the parks this year. It has been so FUN! The only thing is ,is she wants to go ALL the time! All she talks about is "going weeeeee," "slide," and "swing." Don't ever mention it unless you are actually planning on going or you have one upset little girl. We have been trying every park around town. And we have found that Halle is fearless. She will RUN up the stairs and the jungle gym and always wants to go to the highest slide. And she wants to do this all by herself. She does really well. She sits and scoots to the slide...whew...thank goodness. I still can't breath whenever she is up there. We of course love to go with our friends Denver and Ashley too. Halle also loves the wagon rides.

Denver is so excited!! Love this face!

Halle could really swing for an hour and just talk and talk and talk away.
Daddy has fun too!

Here's a short video of Halle RUNNING to the top slide as Dad tries to keep up with her.

We look forward to a summer full of playgrounds.

Easter

2010-05-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

I realize that it is now June but I never got to post on Easter. I don't want to pass these sweet moments up to share with you. I will never forget this past Easter Sunday morning. We were doing a painting during the Sunday morning service. I had the paint buckets filled in the room to the side of the stage. Halle of course was right on my heels the whole time we were getting everything ready. I ran into the room with the paint for a split second and then turned and saw almost as if in slow motion Halle taking a fall right into the black paint...new Easter dress and all. It scared her sooo bad, poor thing! But luckily it was just her arm. So the sleeve of her sweater was the only thing ruined. Unfortunately I was so frustrated at the moment that I didn't snap a picture of this memorable moment. But it will always be remembered.

Our church puts on a community Easter egg hunt each year. It is always a huge hit. This year we had over 500 people come through the doors. It went so great. We had over 20,000 eggs stuffed with candy and door prizes. We gave away 6 bikes and TONS of TOYS. Halle of course loved picking up the Easter eggs once she realized there was candy in each one.

Daddy of course jumped in and helped as well.

This was Halle's first year dying Easter eggs.

I think the stickers were her favorite part.

Jesus is good!

"Wawee, SWIM...YAY!!!"

2010-05-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

We are so happy swimming season is coming. Halle really liked and enjoyed being in the water last year. Just recently we have introduced her to the indoor pool again after months of not having her in the water. We want to try and get her ready for The Falls when it opens in June. The Falls is this really nice water park facility they have here in Cedar Falls. It has a LARGE wonderful kids area.

Halle has been talking and understanding more and more everyday. It is truly amazing to see her personality unfold all the more. She is precious. So, with her understanding more we also have to be careful what we say. She doesn't quite understand the words "tomorrow" or "later." So if we know we are taking her to the park or taking her swimming later we refrain from saying so earlier than that very moment of leaving and actually going. If we do not wait, Halle runs and gets her shoes and says "play," "weeeee," "slide," "swing," "swim," or "Waweee" (aka:water) FOREVER!!!!!! And gets pretty angry when it doesn't happen. When we are heading to the pool she of course is sooooooo excited! She talks about it the whole way there. "Mommy, mommy, mommy?" (me) "Yes Halle?" "Wawee, Wawee and Daddy in Wawee.....jibberresh that we don't quite understand....swim, Daddy, swim in the wawee!" (me) "Yes Halle Water, we're going to swim in the water" Halle then always says, "Kay, Kay" and then repeats everything. Really cute but also REALLY repetitive! Although I have to say her excitement is pretty contagious and puts BIG smiles on our faces.

Dan has been working with Halle on her holding her breath under water. She has recently learned how to and it has truly amazed us. She will actually hold her breath long enough to reach down and grab a toy at the bottom of the pool. So we want to share these special videos with you. Dan is an amazing teacher with Halle. He really knows "HOW" to teach her things well. I have alot of learning to do from him. Halle is also a very quick learner and a determined little girl. Here they are. Please enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

I am blessed with an amazing husband. There is really no better, He is the best! And we have been blessed with the most precious little girl, Halle! It's hard to imagine loving another one like I love these. A women's heart grows and stretches with her belly. I keep learning a deeper and deeper love. Thank you Jesus for the joys you have entrusted and given to me. You are the giver of the best gifts.

Dan and Halle came home yesterday with these beautiful flowers. Halle looked so excited to give them to me, sooo sweet! She kept stressing over and over to me that they needed water.

Then Dan slaved for over an hour in the kitchen on this awesome meal. It was sooooooo good! Yummy!

You two are the best!! Thank you for such a memorable day! I love you!

Spring Break in South Georgia

2010-04-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not posting in a very long time. Having a toddler run and around and being in my third trimester has me pretty tired lately. I want to post as much as i can before the baby gets here. So here goes a try to do that.

Back in March, we went to South Georgia for Spring Break to visit all my family. We had so much fun. It had been a whole year since we had seen our family. They were definitely ready to see Halle. And Halle ate it up. She LOVED all the attention she got for the week and the presents too.

There were so many pictures taken that I wanted to share so I've put them all in different slideshows. The following one is of the time that we got to spend at my Dad's house. Halle had a blast with "Papa", "Manda", and "Katie!" Halle spent LATE LATE nights up with Papa playing chase, legos, or with her new baby. Aunt Katie showed her video after video of herself (Halle) and let her play with her phone as much as she wanted. She was in the spotlight of Grandma Amanda's camera the whole time. Halle got whatever she wanted with Manda and Papa. She had tons of chocolate, candy, and cookies to dig into at their house. We always feel so welcome and have an amazing time at Daddy's. Halle found a new buddy. Her and Aunt Katie were attached at the hip.

Our time spent at Grandma and Jon's house was so much fun too. We were able to enjoy some great food cooked by Mom and Jon. Halle loved the "farm." She was thrilled by all the animals she got to play with and meet. She never wanted to go to sleep here either. We were so surprised and blessed to have my Uncle Tommy and cousin Angela with her two kids come and visit from Jacksonville as well. Halle got to meet her cousin Maria and they bonded immediately. Halle also got to hang out with Papa and Meme. In some of the pics you'll see Halle playing blocks with Papa. I was amazed at how comfortable Halle was around everyone. She went to almost anyone as long as we were in sight of course. She was very social the whole trip. There is also a picture of two drawings that Jon and Mom surprised us with. This lady that goes to school with mom did them for her. They are amazing and we're completely blown away when we saw them!!! We love them. Our time with them was blessed. Had so much fun!

We were able to take a day to Tybee beach with Daddy, Amanda, and Katie. Halle was everywhere. She ran right into the water, no fear at all. She just kept running and running and running! We got to feed the birds, look for seashells and soak up the sweet sweet smell of the ocean. Oh how I miss the beach...aagghh! Enjoy these beautiful pictures taken by Amanda.

That evening we went to Dan and I's favorite place to eat in Savannah, The Crab Shack. This was the place of our first date. I LOVE the food here. I have missed good seafood. This is definitely the place to go to get it. Halle got to see all the cats, birds, and alligators that live there. She ate 4 pieces of their corn on the cob. Some of our close friends from Atlanta just so happened to be vacationing there at Tybee. We were so happy to get to hook up with them to visit and see there new precious little boy Caden. We sure do miss them alot. A visit to The Crab Shcak will definitely become a family tradition of ours.

Daddy took us to the St. Patty's Day parade. This is a very unique celebration to Savannah. The parade is the third largest St. Patty's parade in the U.S. It turned out being pretty chilly that day but alot of fun! Halle really enjoyed the parade. I really enjoyed the sweet tea. There was this cafe across form where we sat that sold the best sweet tea I have ever had...yummmm! It was alot of fun. I'm so glad we got to go. Savannah truly has it's own culture and city life. I had missed it. Enjoy the pics! That evening Dan was asked to speak at our home church RCOG in my old youth group 24/7. Les and Tressa (my old youth pastors) are HUGE heros of mine. We were honored and blessed to take the opportunity. Dan did a great job. So proud of him.

We really enjoyed our time in South Georgia. We were overwhlemed to get off the plane and see 15 people waiting to greet us and give us lots of hugs! It went way too fast. We were so thankful to beable to go. Thank you fam, we love you and Halle misses all of you alot! She always goes through all the names and animals she met there and just talks and talks about it. She wants to see the pictures over and over again. Thank you, it was such a blessing to spend the week with you. We can't wait to do it again!

Valentines Day

2010-02-20T07:39:00.000-08:00

Halle and I woke Daddy up EARLY Sunday morning with heart shaped pancakes, a little gift, his favorite cookies, and this Card. Dan had to speak that morning on one of the hardest stories in the Bible. We wanted to encourage him and tell him we sure did love him and he was our valentine. Look closely and Halle did make her remarks as well in crayons.

We took some cute cute photos with our friends for Valentine's. It was so much fun but also challenging. It is definitely getting harder and harder to get our toddlers to remain still to take a photo. I think we were all sweating after this one.

This is our friend Denver, he is only one month older than Halle. He is so adorable and we LOVE hanging out with him and his mommy and daddy. nelsonfamilynest.blogspot.com
She's an angel.

Here is our friend Zion. Halle is only a few days older than this handsome guy. He loved smiling at the camera but wow...was he active!!! You had to be super quick to capture it. I'd snap the picture and then he would quickly charge me and tackle me. There was truly a distinction between a girl and a boy 18 month old that day. He is a wild man and so much fun!!! We love him and his mommy.

She's my porcelain baby doll.
Halle has officially been spoiled by everyone who knows her, especially her grandparents! We received a package at the door the other day. Halle saw the brown box as I pulled it through the door and her face immediately lit up as she ran into the living room and proceeded to show me where exactly to place it. She patted her hand on the ground rushing me to put it down so she could open it right away. It was soooo cute! She knows what brown packages are!! Well she got tons of Valentine's gifts from Grandpa and grandma Mock in this little brown box. Thank you guys, she loved all of it soooo much. She would not put that sucker down for two hours. She wears her necklaces everyday and has taken a special liking to that black bear. Her cookie has long since been devoured. It was incredibly sweet to get this for Valentine's Day. Thank you.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

A Magical Christmas at Disney

2010-02-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

Dan's parents flew us to Orlando Florida for the week of Christmas this year for our Christmas present. It was an incredible week. We stayed in a condo with the back porch opening up to a pond with a constant running fountain. The place was amazing and so comfortable. Unlike we would be able to do at a hotel we sat down at a table to Dan's mom's great cooking all week. We spent the week relaxing, watching movies, eating, sight seeing and just soaking up the nice weather. Dan's parents live in Germany and we are currently of course in snow stricken Iowa. So the 70 degree weather was wonderful, almost indescribable how much we enjoyed the nice weather. We got to spend a couple of days at Disney World. We loved it, especially little Halle! Here are some pics from the week.

Halle found a new bud in Uncle Mike! She loves him!
The first day we went to Disney, within minutes of being there, Halle took a BIG fall. We thought oh what a cute picture spot. Although this did end up being a good pic, it was not worth it. Halle lost her balance when trying to touch the frog's nose and fell head first into the concrete. Immediately her head started oozing with tons of blood! Of course this scared Dan and I to death. We were running frantically trying to find help as blood is now all over Dan and Halle and she is screaming. The paramedics came and looked at her very quickly. What we thought was surely a stitches worthy wound ended up being nothing but a couple of "scratches." Deep scratches but still scratches. After all the commotion and frantic mom and dad calmed down Halle was just fine. She enjoyed the rest of the day thoroughly. Thank you Jesus for looking out for little Halle!
This is our second day at Disney with Grandma and Grandpa!
Having a ball!

Halle enjoying her time with Grandpa Friesen!

This is Halle riding It's a Small World with Grandma and grandpa. She danced the whole way through, so sweet!

Okay she was sooooo cute with Mickey. She wasn't shy at all. She ran right up to him.
Halle loves her Minnie.
We opened presents on Christmas day at the condo. This was the first time that Halle realized what going on with opening presents. She was thrilled.
After our amazing week in Florida, we flew to Kansas City where all of Dan's family lives. We spent a few days there visiting all their family. This is the first I was able to meet them and get to know them. It was such a special time. All of his family were incredibly sweet and enjoyable to be around. Every house we went to had a gift waiting for Halle.
And of course she loved everyone of them.
This is sweet sweet Aunt Beverly and sweet sweet Grandma Doris who just adored Halle. And I adored them. Too bad we don't live near these two jewels. They are incredible women.

We then came home to Iowa and spent a few days at our place before Dan's parents had to make the trek back to Germany.

We really enjoyed our vacation with the Friesen's. Thank you sooooooo much Doug and Karen. The couple weeks spent with you were wonderful. We are so thankful for the awesome Christmas you were able to give us. We love you and will not forget Christmas 09.

When the Weather Outside is Frightful Blizzard of 09

2009-12-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

This past week we celebrated my 25th Birthday and it just so happened that the worst blizzard the Cedar Valley has seen in over 20 years rolls in the same day. When Dan and I moved here, the one constant thing that comes up in conversation when meeting people are the winters here and how dreadful they are. Everyone around here has been talking about how fortunate we have been because we had not received a snow yet. They say there is usually a good snow in November. Well the snow held off for a BIG one. For a whole week before the storm came people were talking about it. The days leading up to Tuesday, the weather channel was flashing blizzard warning alerts. This of course got Dan and I excited but also a little nervous. We went and purchased a week worth of groceries and rented some movies. They were telling people it was safer to stay inside by Tuesday afternoon. Well when the snow started...it kept coming and coming and coming for hours and hours and even days. The winds reached up to 45 mph and the temperature down to -20 wind chill factor. The snow fall accumulation topped out at 18 inches and plus in some places. There were snow drifts 8 feet high. What a way to have our first Iowa winter snow. We were stuck inside on Wednesday, my birthday. But it was a wonderful, beautiful day spent at home with my two favorite people. Our street was plowed by late Wednesday night and we were able to get out Thursday morning. If this would have happened in Georgia, I think everything would have been shut down for a week or even more. Wow it is way different and something to get used to to drive in the snow. It was a beautiful storm.

Here is a picture of our street late Tuesday afternoon.

One of our awesome friends Jeff surprised us with pizza on Wednesday when everyone else was stuck inside. We were blown away at how kind and thoughtful he was to think of us Georgians.
Halle decide it was too cold for her to attempt to walk out the door.
This is our back yard on Wednesday.
This is the same shot as above of our street just the next day.
Yep, that snow is really up to my knees.
Here is our driveway after being snow blown. Look how deep that snow is.
This is our front yard.
And we finally got out in it, Halle actually loves it. She helps us find all her snow gear in the house when we are headed out. We have to hold her back from falling out the door she is sooo excited to go out.
Dan had built a ramp or slide for our new sled in the front yard. It is REALLY pretty cool. Halle likes it.
Daddy does too!
Here is a short video of the flight down the ramp, slide, or trail thingy.

It has really been a beautiful winter wonderland. I'm pretty sure we are going to be getting tired of the snow soon. But as for right now, we are just giddy over going outside to play in it.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

Halle loved helping put up the Christmas Tree this year and she also likes taking it apart too...everyday. She's a good little helper.

This picture is of Halle helping us at the church with the Christmas decorations.
Here is a short little video of Dan chopping down the Christmas tree for the church. Wasn't quite as easy as he thought it would be.

I just love this time of year!

Thanksgiving in Minneapolis 09

2009-12-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

We were not able to go and visit family this year. But Dan's brother was able to fly up and spend a whole week with us. We REALLY enjoyed Mike's being home with us. It was an awesome week. On Thanksgiving day we drove to Minneapolis and stayed the night in a hotel with the largest indoor water park. We all had a blast that day in the water. The next day we drove across the street to the Mall of America...and on BLACK FRIDAY. This was pretty crazy and bold of of us to do. The mall was packed of crazed inpatient shoppers and the lines were ridiculously long. But it was a great day. It was fun to watch Dan and MIke go at the pranks and competitiveness and bonding all week. Halle loved having Uncle Mike here. She followed him everywhere. And she loved to lift up his shirt and show him where his belly was over and over and over again. We really really loved having Mike here over the break. It was sad having to take him back to catch his flight. Uncle Mike you are welcome to come and see us anytime!!!! We love you.

Oreos, Milks Favorite Cookie

2009-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

So I couldn't go too long without showing Halle a woman's delicacy. We enjoyed nearly a third of a package of oreo cookies together dipped in milk...the best and only way. By the looks of it Halle really enjoyed it...head to toe!

Corn, Corn, and more Corn

2009-11-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

There is one thing that is not lacking here in the great state of Iowa and that's corn. A couple of friends, Alli and Scott went along with Dan, Halle and I to a corn maze an hour south of here. It was a super COLD day but we ended up having a really great time.

This thing was so much fun. It was a huge bouncy "thing" coming up out of the ground. Halle loves to jump.

Halle is mining for gold...and mommy is rooting her on!
This is go cart racing in the country, miles and miles away from anything.
This is something Halle has become very familiar with.
Yes, they had a "corn on the cob gun"!
The pig races were soooo cute! Actually this was the highlight of the trip for me.

They had a petting zoo with llamas, pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits, and more probably. This llama looked like he was going to spit on me any second.
Is Halle going to be a animal lover like mom?
This contraption may look a little crewel but it was pretty cute to see the goat hall tail up to the top when he saw us coming.

Halle was scared of the corn at first and unsure what to do until she saw Scott take a dive in and make corn angels. Then she was all game.
Dan lassoed the bull on the first try. I am so Proud. LOL

Can't wait til next year when we get to go back.

The Crunching of Leaves in the Fall

2009-11-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Okay I realize it had been way too long since I have posted and I am incredibly sorry. With a new baby in the oven I have been sick, extremely tired, and BUSY! But I wanted to make sure and not miss out on sharing some sweet moments we have had this past fall.

After supper Dan, Halle, and I took walks around the neighborhood. The weather was perfect and the fresh air always feels nice.

Halle loves her Daddy. She is growing up soooo fast! She looks like such a big girl here.
How could you not enjoy leave pile jumping in the fall? We were able to hang out with our sweet friends Katrina and Zion and do just that.

Halle loved playing in the leaves right away. I think all the excitement from everyone around her was just too much for her to take in.

sweet sweet sweet!
Dan is being the prankster Daddy again.

Pumpkins, Leaves, and Apple Cider.....I love Fall

2009-10-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love fall. I could hardly wait to get to a pumpkin patch. Because of the weather steadily growing colder here, when we found the weather Friday sunny and nice we jumped on the opportunity to go. We asked our sweet friends Ashley and Denver to come along. Here are the pictures to help tell the story of the day.

Halleis looking so BIG and turning into a little girl!
The farm had animals you could just look at.
This one is for you Grandma Debbie!

Peekaboo!
This is definitely one of Halle's favorite things to do! As she slides down she says, "WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Buds forever! They had a hay ride that took us around the fields.

Being surrounded by TONS of corn here in Iowa, there are plenty of corn mazes. We finally got to venture out in one. This one was quite interesting and not really a maze at all. It was more like a pretty path with periodic breaks that had some freaky "children of the corn" displays.
Halle did not like venturing out in the corn.

Yes, this is exactly what you are thinking. They shot off pumpkins from this "pumpkinator" into an old school bus.
For those of you who have never visited Iowa, there is CORN and SOY BEAN fields ALL over. You can even see corn in the middle of town, ON the golf course, and in your back yard. We've been able to watch the corn stalks grow and mature over the summer. Now it's harvest time!

An afternoon spent with Halle, the Nelsons', hay rides and the pumpkinator is an afternoon well spent for sure.

Whew....There went September!

2009-10-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

September has been an incredibly busy month. I apologize for not keeping up to date of stories of our little Halle. I have been getting calls from my family begging for new pictures and updates. Here are just a few tid bits form September.

Who knew that Iowa actually had "hills." Some good friends of ours here in Iowa took us to Back bone National Park for a scenic hike to show us a little more of Iowa. It was beautiful and so refreshing to hike again.

The trail was pretty rocky so Halle got the royal treatment by her chauffeurs.
This handsome guy is Cedar. He is Justin and Deedra's sweet puppy. I love spending time with this pup. He has the best personality.

This is our friends Justin, Deedra, and Cedar. Sweet Family! A true joy to be around.

Cedar likes to help Halle with her ear cleaning. Cedar and Halle are actually really good buds. Cedar provides plenty of entertainment, kissses, and love with Halle while Halle provides plenty of her food.
Yep, he took a dive in the water.
We had an awesome day! Thank you guys!

This is the first full month that Proxy has launched and it has been a good one. We have been so busy trying to get things organized and off the ground running. Dan has been working hard. I have to brag on him and say he is doing a great job. Jesus is good. I have heard the students saying that they look forward to it every week.

Every week we have to transform a multi purpose room in to Proxy. We've finally got alot of the signs done.

Halle is getting so big and is changing everyday. She is growing into a little girl with the cutest spunky personality.

Dan and I celebrated 4 years this past month.
We were able to take a date night. The first in a very long time without out little Halle. It was so wonderful!!!!!! But I loved coming home to this sweet smile.
Hopefully this next month I will stay on top of blogging. Love you all.

Everybody....Let's Party!

2009-09-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share some....well lots of photos form Halle's birthday party. We had the party in a park in downtown Cedar Falls. The weather turned out to be pretty nasty. It was 53 degrees with 20+mph winds. We had people going to get coats at the good will up the street. But even through the cold IN AUGUST the party was so sweet. I had so much fun planning this little party for my sweet girl. I loved being able to save and do something big for her. I love her so much and she deserves the very best we can give her. She is such a good sweet girl. Many of Halle's friends and their families came out. We had a crowd of 25+ people. We really missed having our families there but our friends here are so great, they felt just like family. Everyone had a great time while chattering their teeth and watching Halle enjoy her day. Thank you to all who came and shared this milestone with us and made it extra special for little Halle.

Of course hug and kisses all around.
Halle is always chasing the big kids around. She says,"Hold up guys wait for me!"
While everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her she was blowing kisses.
Yep, the cake is nearly bigger than her.
"let me try a little of this green stuff"
"Nope Mommy, I don't like it, please take it away!" Halle did not like her double layered chocolate cake. Even when we got home that night she would have nothing to do with it, no way.
Halle opening up her presents.
But once the xylophone was out that was all she wanted.
Yes, of course Halle got lots of beads and she wanted to wear every single one. i didn't really see it going any other way though. She loves those necklaces.
And then she was trying to put on all her new clothes she got. Halle has definitely turned out to be our little girly girl.
uuummmmmm, she likes those lolli pops.
She is so blessed. Thank you everyone for the gifts for Halle. She could hardly go to sleep that night because all she wanted to do was play.
Halle's new tunnel and castle she got from Daddy.
Halle is such a lover. Here she is loving on her, "Ba-By."
She got a mini baby stroller and she tries to take this thing everywhere. It is amazing how quickly they catch on to things without even showing them how to. She immediately knew what this was and where the baby went.
my sweet birthday girl

invitations
I spent much time making these decorations for the party and did not even get to use them because of the wind. I was extremely bummed.
I guess I will get to use them next year. hehe!
Happy Birthday Halle! I hope you enjoyed your day. We love you and so do many others.

Happy Birthday My Beautiful Baby Girl

2009-09-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our Halle turned one year old last Saturday. I cannot believe it has been a year already since this amazing bundle of joy came into our lives. I will never ever forget seeing Halle for the first time and the overwhelming amount of love for her that immediately comes over you and in you. I am humbled, yet so extremely grateful for the gift God has given me in my daughter Halle. I have not been able to stop thanking Him for her. Dan and I took her name from the word "Hallelujah" meaning "Praise Ye the Lord." That name has proved to be right on. We are so blessed. Thank you Jesus!

I have learned so much over this past year. I am amazed at how much having Halle as taught me. My strengths and weaknesses are made known to me more and more everyday. She inspires me to do better and be better. I will never forget the night Dan and I found out we were going to have a baby. We both were ecstatic in tears and laughter and then looked at each other saying wow, we have alot of growing to do. I have grown in my relationship to Jesus and in my relationship to Dan. The depth of Jesus' love for me has become more and more evident. I have never loved Dan more! I love him more and more everyday. He is an amazing father! I am so proud of him.

Halle is growing into a beautiful girl. She is such a sweetheart, thrill seeker, dancer, cuddler, and an ambitious little girly girl. When we are in any store she will not pass anyone without saying "Hi" really drawn out and with a huge smile on her face, while scrunching her nose and showing her teeth. She gives out hugs to everyone and pats them on the back as she gives out the most darling smile. Halle loves to share. At every meal, it never fails, she will try to give us some. Even if it is french fries (which she loves) she will try to hand them over. She started walking a few weeks before turning 10 months! Halle is now RUNNING and I can't keep her out of anything. She is definitely a talker! She is now saying, "DaDa," "MaMa,""HI," "pretty," "Weeeeeee," "Baaa"(which is ball), "Uh-Oh," "Kitty," "Pu-Pie (puppy)," "Ti-T" (which I'm pretty sure that means thank you), and "BaBy." Halle goes nowhere without her bow on head (by her choice now) and beads around her neck (by her choice too). Dan and I never taught her to put on these necklaces either, she just picked them up one day and she was all about them ever since taking them on and off herself. My baby girl loves music and loves to dance. Any music anywhere comes on, she's turning in circles trying to stomp her foot. She will go down slides with no hesitation over and over. She even pushes herself off. The thrill seeker inside of her pushes her to jump off the side of the pool by herself. Even though Halle's an adventurer she is still our little cuddle bug. She loves to be close to mom and dad. And just here lately she has learned to give the sweetest kisses in the whole world. I seriously think my heart could burst every time.

I have been quite emotional lately. I am so happy she is growing into a smart beautiful sweet girl but I think it is going way tooo fast. It is a little letting go everyday. Here are some early pictures of our little sweetie!

Halle looking at Daddy for the first time.

awwww....look at those lips and that cute little button nose.
CHEEKS!!!

Thank you Jesus for Little Halle Grace! I pray you will give me the wisdom,strength, knowledge, and grace to be a good mommy to our little angel. I pray she will one day choose you and serve you with her whole heart. I love you so much!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Presents from Grandma

2009-08-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

So, a few days before Halle's birthday we came home to a SURPRISE....two BIG packages with Halle's name on them signed by Grandma Debbie and Grandpa John. ALL THREE of us were pretty excited to get inside and open them to see what was inside. And of course, even if there was no return address on these packages we would still have no doubt these were from Grandma Debbie (my mom). Why you ask? Well take a look for yourself.....

A porcelain doll on a HORSE!
AWESOME cowgirl boots that you wear while riding a HORSE!
Halle really likes them, she always brings them to me and says "pretty" as she so insistently tries to communicate to me to put them on her.
And finally none other than a five foot long stuffed HORSE! This thing takes up her whole room
So we added the horse, that we haven't named yet, to sit right next to her growing horse collection from Grandma Debbie!

Thank you mom and John so much for sending those packages, it was soooo sweet! She loves them. I will get up pics soon of her in her boots. Halle says," thank you G-ma, you rock!" We love you! Oh and thank you for the HOT flip flops you sent for me, love em, so comfy!

Proxy Launchs

2009-08-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

When Dan, Halle and I moved to Cedar Falls and joined the Glad Tidings Church family, there was actually no student ministry within the church. Glad Tidings church went through a rough stage with the last pastorate and lost 100 to 150 people and that was all with in two to four years. Pastor Joe and Tonya Henson accepted the position as Glad Tidings' lead pastor about one year ago and started revamping everything within the church. They are great servants of Jesus and really love His Bride. They love the city and the church and have grasped Jesus' vision for the future of Glad Tidings. Jesus has grown Glad Tidings now by 100 in the past 8-10 months. Even greater thing is that many are new believers and have made the decision to follow Jesus and serve in His church. We are so excited to see the amazing things Jesus is doing inside His church. We are looking forward to all that is ahead. Dan and I moved to Cedar Falls as Dan accepted the worship/student pastor this past April. With no student ministries in place at that time, Dan decided to put all his energy into helping on the administration, small groups, leadership groups, web site and worship for the past 5 months and start up the student and college ministry this fall when school began. This past week Proxy Student Ministries of Glad Tidings Church met for the first time and it ROCKED! THERE WERE 60 PEOPLE there! PRAISE JESUS! The night went great. Granted there were alot of mess ups and alot of holes but still rocking.

Dan preached JESUS and what Proxy stood for and was about.

Deb Corkery did an amazing job leading worship for us. She is extremely gifted and talented.
Many of the students came out to hear the guest band, "Short Notice."
Beautiful Katy!
We spent all week on signs to go up all over the room and only one of them dried in time. The Valley Cafe. Dan and I were BLOWN away at the help we had and the generosity shown this week from many people in the church. We couldn't have done much of this stuff without those key people's help. Thank you guys!!!!
The guest band was "Short Notice" This was there very first time playing live and they were AWESOME! I'm serious, they were really great! That girl can sing!!

Our one sign that dried in time.....woohooo

Looking forward to great things in Proxy! We'll keep you posted!

July's fireworks and watermelon

2009-08-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

July has been one busy month. So busy in fact I have not found the time to post much. Which is really too bad. Halle is changing and doing something new every single day. I could post every day and have something completely new and exciting to tell you about our growing pretty girl. I couldn't let July pass without sharing some of these pictures and memories with you.

On the 4th of July Dan, Halle, and I sat on the lawn on the University campus with our friends from GT Church to watch fireworks. This was Halle and friend Zion's first firework event.

Zion and Halle love to play and be the center of attention of course.
They haven't quite learned how to be gentle with one another yet. We have to watch them pretty close.
This is Zion and his beautiful mother and our sweet friend Katrina.
I love Iowa sunsets.
Zion seemed to enjoy watching the fireworks.
Halle was unsure at first, but then warmed up to it and then actually began pointing them out to us and saying "OOooooo."
This is such a cute photo, look at that face!

A few weeks later Halle and I took a walk with Denver and Ashley to a park and brought some watermelon along. Ashley and Denver are some new great friends that Jesus has brought into our lives. We are so privileged to know them. Ashley and her husband Steve are youth pastors at another church here in Cedar Falls. They have a son named Denver who is just one month older than Halle. We wanted to get a simple shoot of the kids munching on some watermelon which turned out to be not so simple. Well for Halle, not so simple.
Halle was interested in the watermelon at first.
Denver was definitely liking the watermelon pretty much immediately.

...but then I knew Halle couldn't stay still for long. Since she has started walking you can hardly keep her from exploring every free chance she gets. So the watermelon shoot lasted probably just a minute with Halle.
But she'll try to feed Denver. Halle likes to share ALL her food.
Denver was actually pretty upset when we decided to end the shoot and head home.
We ended the day with a good wash down. We really enjoy the time spent with the Nelson's. Thank you Jesus for friends you bring into our lives.

RIght On Our Heels

2009-07-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Halle is literally on our heels anymore. She is practically running! She loves to be outside in an open area to just go for it! These videos may not be the best of quality. They were filmed on the macbook. And please excuse my over exagerating the word, HI. I was trying to say it the way she does so that she would repeat it. Dan is right when he says parent hood is the death of cool. Ha! We are so proud of Halle Grace.

My ambitious little baby girl

2009-07-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Halle has been walking since two weeks before she turned ten months old and she is only getting faster. I think she just couldn't wait to hang with the big kids at church and run around with them. She is now chasing the cat around. My baby Halle is no longer content in my arms, she only wants to get down and waddle everywhere which means we are overdue to safe proof the house. This is just a tid bit of a video. Much more is to come. I have so much to show you guys and so much to share. I can hardly keep up with little Halle.

Oh and funny thing about this video. Halle loves necklaces. She will not take it off. She will wear one all day. And when you take it off, she immediately goes to wherever you dropped it off and puts it back on herself. One thing that'll make my baby happy is a necklace. She is my girl.

I am so proud of my ambitious little baby girl.

Sturgis Fall Parade

2009-07-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we were able to participate in a famous yearly parade part of the Sturgis Falls festival here in Cedar Falls. Dan led the GT Church band in a 17 song set in a 45 minute route throughout downtown Cedar Falls. The band did an AMAZING job. I was sooo proud of GT Band and SUPER proud of my hotty hubby Dan! We received so much positive feedback from people that saw us. We even heard people passing by talking about how rockin the music was coming from the GT Church float. PRAISE JESUS! So glad we could rock it out for Him. The decorations were designed, started, and completed the day before the parade. They turned out pretty good for one day of work. But the silhouettes of our trees at the ends are not seen in these pictures because a few minutes before the parade started they were chopped in half by the wind:( My camera went down right before the parade started so I was unable to get some good float in action photos. The pictures below were taken by one of our church members who was in the crowd. I wish I could have got some closer but am thankful for being able to retrieve these. Sweet, beautiful Amy! SHE"S GETTING MARRIED in DECEMBER!
GT Church...A city within the Cities. Taylor looked really enthused.
Deb, our piano player and her cutie son Brennon.

There is Carol Smiley, the sweety that she is justa smilin and waving.

There were a few close calls of falling off when the truck jolted.
We had some kids follow behind the float with signs and balloons and their KMotion T shirts.

We've Become Fish

2009-06-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

So far in the past week, Dan, Halle, and I have went to a little CHEAP water park here in Cedar Falls called The Falls three different days. The temperatures have gotten so HIGH here along with the humidity. It has really been CRAZY HOT! So The Falls has literally been calling out to us every time the sun has been out. Halle loves it here. As soon as we walk through the front gate her arms go up and down, up and down in excitement!

When the sun comes out here EVERYONE goes to the pool!

Halle likes the thrill of jumping off the side.
She loves the water!

Okay the lazy river was really the LAZY river for Halle. She almost fell asleep every time.
AHHHH....the lazy river!!!
Halle had sensory overload with all the kids, water, slides, toys around.
She would not stay still, she wanted to walk everywhere and see everything. " No time for lounging Mom."

To Young to Play with the Big Dogs

2009-06-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Dan and I took some of the students in the church to a place in the middle of nowhere Iowa to play some paintball. The boys had fun getting welted up while little Halle and I watched in amusement. Dan got SO many battle wounds. He actually came away bleeding in two spots with a hole in his shirt where one of the paint balls actually went through...OUCH!! Dan was sour for days but wants to make it a once a month thing...BOYS!?!...or I mean MEN?!? Proud of you honey! You really took the field out there.

Halle of course wouldn't stay out of the mud and grass. She truly is momma's girl. She loves the outdoors. She got SO muddy.

We were all pretty wiped when we got home that evening. Made for some great naps!

Oh... The Randomness of Our Lives

2009-06-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have not posted anything in a while because our lives have been so busy. I have so much to catch up on to share with you. So much has been going on in the Friesen home. So here is just a few tidbits in our lives over the past few months that I really have wanted to share.

Mom, here is our little friend that I told you about that was on that step pigging out everyday, never failed. Halle, Kat and I loved to watch him go to town.
The lights went out one night for a long while (during the finale of LOST...ughhh). So Dan entertained Halle and I with making shadow puppets on the ceiling.
First off, take a look at that grass. The grass here in Iowa has amazed Dan and I. It is soooo GREEN! It's beautiful. Halle is a really happy little girl when she gets to hold a stick.
This is Halle's little friend Zion. Zion is just a few days younger than Halle. Zion is the nephew of the pastor's wife. He is such a sweetie and a cutie!!! Halle and him really like to interact with one another.
Dan is part of the church softball team. we have games every Tuesday night. We have not won a game yet but it sure is fun hanging out with everyone on these cool summer nights. Halle likes to watch Daddy hit it out of the ball park:)
Halle loves to be around little kids. She gets SO excited when she sees any aged little kid. She immediately wants to get down and start running everywhere with them. Here is Silas and Abrium, the Pastor's sons. They are real close buddies of Halle's.
Dan and GT church Band got to play at a festival in the park in downtown Waterloo, IA. They did such a great job. They were by far the best band up there all day, I may be a little biased though. But I really am proud of Dan and the band. They rocked it out and lifted up Praises to Jesus that literally rang throughout the city.

Alright those were just tidbits but much more is to come.

Halle's Crawling

2009-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our little baby Halle is CRAWLING! Well...she's got the gimp crawl down so far. We no doubt have to keep our eyes on her at all times now. She scoots across the room pretty fast. She seems to be fascinated with electrical outlets as well. It's definitely time to make the house Halle safe. We're so proud of her. She's growing so fast. There is really so much I need to video blog during these special times. There will surely be more to come. But here is a short and sweet video of our gimp crawler. Go Halle, GO!

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

2009-05-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago Halle was introduced to a bubble bath and she LOVED it. She laughed and laughed at Daddy blowing bubbles in her face. Dan would go under the bubbles and then burst out to surprise Halle. It took Halle's breath away of excitement and laughter. This little beautiful girl loves water. I can't wait to take her for pool visits this summer. I couldn't help but post all these pics...her face captures the excitement!

Mommy's Day

2009-05-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had the best "first" Mommy's day ever! My really sweet husband and adorable daughter came home Saturday night with flowers in one hand and a card in the other. The card had a certificate for a one hour massage inside and a very unique signature from Halle. When Halle and Dan arrived I was confused and curious to why Halle had a sock on her hand. Was she okay? Did something happen? Then I opened the card to find her precious little hand print and a recorded greeting from Halle and Daddy. But that's not all. Saturday we went and got a gym membership and then they took me to my newly favorite restaurant, Hu Hots! On top of all that Halle said "mama" all day long!! I have the sweetest hubby and daughter a gal could ask for. I am tremendously BLESSED!! Being a wife to Dan and a mother to Halle is the best thing that has ever happened to me apart from my Saviour Jesus. Being a mom is the BEST job in the world! There is not a day that goes by that I don't stop and thank Jesus for the awesome GIFTS He has given me in Dan and Halle. Thank you Jesus!

All Dogs Go To Heaven: A Tribute To Mickey

2009-05-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

I will never forget the day we brought Mickey home from the pet store. He was so small that you could just fit him in the palm of your hand. He was the cutest little (mini) Yorki that I have ever since seen. As soon as he hit the ground at his new house in Belgium he went to rolling around and chasing Misty (our former cat) around the living room. Once he had finished chasing Misty he went to his new best friend, my mom.

Mickey really was one of the sweetest dog (don't ever let my mom hear you say he was a dog. She is completely convinced he thought he was one of us, even at times calling him my brother (even though I never saw a picture of me with a tail)) I have ever known. Whenever I came home from school while I lived at home Mickey would always meet me at the door. We would always greet him with "Hey Mickey" and he would just get so excited, I swear he was smiling at us some times. Whenever we would sit down to watch tv in the evening he would always hop up in our laps. And before he would take a nap on our legs he would be sure to give us kisses as if to let us know he was happy to be enjoying the time with us. However if mom ever entered the room Mickey was sure to leave who ever he was with to join her where ever she planted herself. As Mickey got older and was unable to jump up on the couch to join us, he would let us know that he wanted picked up. After we brought him up to our level he was sure to show his appreciation. For being such a small little guy (no more than 8 pounds) he sure had a lot of heart. When ever a big dog approached mom on a walk Mickey would turn into a ferocious little animal, causing the German Shepards and Irish Wolf hounds take a step back. When it was bed time, he slept at my moms side every night. Every morning when my dad woke up and got out of the shower, Mickey was sure to be there to help dry Dads ankles. Again, even when Mickey was old and had a hard time getting out of his bed he struggled and worked through the pain to get over and "dry" dad off.

My brother and I have always joked that Mom loved Mickey more than she ever loved me or Michael. Though this was only a joke the bond between Mickey and my mom really was some thing I had never seen with any other pet we have had, or any other pet that I have ever known. Wherever mom went, Mickey was just a couple of steps behind. When Michael finally headed off to college, mom had no one else to take care of but Mickey. So when I came home for Christmas over the past couple of years I was amazed at all the special treatment that Mickey was receiving. He had his own set of stairs that he used to get up on the couch. He had a new little bed next to to fire place so when it snowed in Iowa he could stay warm. If Mickey could speak and if he were asked who his best friend was, it would have without out a doubt been Mom.

Over the past couple of months Mickey's health has been deteriorating. His knees have gotten so bad to the point where he could barely walk. His throat had become swollen and made it hard for him to breathe. For the past several days Mickey has spent his time in my mothers lap as she would sit. Although I was not there, I imagine that my mom did not stay very busy, and stayed inside most of the time because she cared for Mickey so much. I can envision her sitting on the white chair in her house reading with Mickey resting on her legs, giving her kisses. Mickey's apparently had a really good time on Saturday and was able to muster the strength to chase a squirrel across the yard before his health got worse that evening.

On monday, Mom took Mickey in to the vet for a sad prognosis. Being that Mickey was in such pain mom could not bear to see him struggle any more. As they put Mickey on the table and put the needle in he began to kiss mom on the lips over and over again. Slowly Mickey went to sleep.

I really am going to miss Mickey. I know my mom is likely crying on and off these days. I remember watching the movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven" as a kid. Though I am not sure that there is any theological evidence to make any such conclusion, if there ever was a dog that might make it, and that I would wish to see again, it would be Mickey.

In Memory of the greatest dog in the world, Mickey Friesen.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

"Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

'Many Women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.'

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the gates."

Proverbs 31:28-31

My mom is so beautiful. My mom is so smart. My mom is creative. My mom is diligent. My mom is a hard worker. My mom is dedicated. My mom cares. My mom is mother nature herself. My mom is a wife. My mom is a great mom. My mom is a lady that could pass as my sister. My mom is the person I look most like. My mom is the one person I talk to on the phone nearly everyday. My mom loves Jesus. My mom loves her husband. My mom loves me. My mom is my BEST FRIEND!I love you mom! I am so thankful that you are my mom. I am so proud of you and the accomplishments you are making and how hard you are working. Just know that you are loved. Have an awesome Mother's day!

My step mom, Amanda is the best thing, after Jesus, that has ever happened to my Dad. She is such a JOY to be with!! She has the softest, most warm and loving personality. She is such a wonderful wife to my Dad and that makes me extremely grateful and proud. She has made her home welcoming, warm, cozy, and beautiful. Amanda, you are one of my best friends. I love to be with you. You are such a sweet person. I love you very much and am SUPER proud to call you family. Have a wonderful Mother's day!

My Meme is AWESOME!! There are too many great words to describe Meme to even list. She has to be the sweetest, most caring person I have ever known. My Meme has always looked out for and cared for everyone else. Jesus truly shines through in Meme. She has played a HUGE part in who I have become today. I am so PROUD to call her my grandma. I love you Meme so much. Have a wonderful Mother's day! ...and God bless Jesus! (inside joke:)

Mother's Day brings on a whole new meaning this year for me. Being a mom myself makes it all the more real to me how blessed I am to have such wonderful women as moms in my life. I am honored to look up to these women.

Thank you Jesus for great moms! You give the most amazing gifts! I love you so much!

My Mom

2009-05-09T19:09:00.001-07:00

I will never forget when Jess and I found out that we were having a baby. It was one of the most exciting and frightening times of my life. Within an instant of seeing the little line on the "pee stick" my world was completely changed. I was ecstatic at the thought of being a daddy. I was worried if I would be able to provide for her properly.

I always knew that I have had a good mom. When I became a parent myself I came to realize this truth all the more. As I watch Jessica as she tirelessly takes care of Halle Grace on a moment to moment basis I become painstakingly aware of the time my mother gave of herself to me. I never realized how many poopy (incredibly rank) diapers she had to change. I never realized how many times she likely had to change her own cloths as a result of my pukes. I never realized how many countless hours of sleep she likely lost when I was sick or running a fever and she stayed of with me as I screamed.

My mom taught more than I currently realize as I am stepping further into the shoes of parenthood. I look forward to Halle growing older so that I can do some of the same things with Halle as my Mom did with me. I can't wait to do "Daddy Dates" with Halle bug like my mom did "Mommy Dates" with me. These are some of the greatest memories I have as a kid.

Mom getting me out of school to go to Show Biz Pizza.

Mom waking me up by tickling me till I nearly peed the bed.

Mom watching me do all the goofy things that I did as a kid (home movies, special recipes, swinging from breaking vines, chopping trees down in the backyard.

Mom reading me the children's bible before I went to bed.

Mom letting me eat the cookie dough from the bowl.

Mom making me read books with her on puberty (definitely not a favorite!)

Christmas

Mom watching TV with us in our forts that we would build in the family room

Mom taking us to the pool in the summer

As a child every boy grows up taking what he learns from his Mom and basing that off of how to choose a spouse. My mom taught me what to look for in a wife and best friend. And because of that my Mom helped me find the best gift in the world in Jessica. And now Jessica is a mom. And the more I watch my incredible wife grow into an incredible Mom, I am continually reminded of what a great mom I had and continue to have. Happy Mothers Day Mom.

Dedicated to Karen Denise Friesen.