As Thanksgiving approaches

As Thanksgiving is coming near it reminds me that I have much to be grateful for. Here are just a few things that come to mind that I wanted to share:

I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us personally and loves us no matter what.

For my husband Jason.
For my 6 beautiful children
for my home
for the electricty. I'm not sure how anyone lived without this.
for my parents being able to visit last week and have a Thanksgiving dinner with us.
for two running vehicles
for my comfortable bed
for my ability to exercise and become healthier every day
for Jason's awesome job and medical insurance. I realized just recently that he has great insurance that costs us very little and I'm so glad we are blessed in this way
for a dishwasher that works
for the food in our home so we can eat.
for running water.
for my asthma being gone. There was a time that I suffered with Asthma and it made life super hard.
for having healthy children
for being able to see and hear.

There's so much more, but these are things that come to my mind currently.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Return of the Turkey Trot--Marion, Iowa

It was super cold last Saturday in the 30's and a bit drizzly too, but the rain just happened to hold off for the hour of our race.

There were two races--a 4K (2.5 miles) and an 8K (5 miles)

Brenden ran the 4K and even though there wasn't official results for that race he still came in at an amazing time of 20:16 and from what I heard he was 7th. Way to go Brenden, so proud of you!




I came in 148th out of 329 women and 25th out of 50 in my age group. My time for the 8K was 46:58. I couldn't believe I was that fast, but it was all because of a couple people I was running with that were pushing me to run faster the entire race. Ray Moon from Wisconsin was on my left and MaryAnn Baldwin from Iowa was on my right and they both encouraged me to keep up with them. Thank you to both of them for the great race!

Here's Brenden crossing the finish line!

Brenden, Scott, Alyssa,Jared and I with a turkey!

Here I am about to cross the finish line. I was completely tired.

Surprise Party for Jason

Here is Jason just walking in the house after we yelled surprise.

Jason looking around to see all the people there.
Jason telling me, "your busted"


Group Picture

Andy, Janeen and Bella VanEtten (Bella is the little girl I watch twice a week)

One of Jason's gag gifts

4 of Jason's great friends
Jeff, Mike, Craig and Matt

More great friends. Lisa and Jeff Pauley, Loretta Parker, Catherine and Eric Anderson

Cell phones

There are many good things about technology but sometimes I wish some of what we have didn't exist. Cell phones being the prime example. I resisted getting one for years. I really don't feel the need to be in constant contact with the rest of the world. Nor do I feel the need for the rest of the world be be able to contact me at any time. I realize that I am a member of a different generation than today's youth who find the idea of not being connected horrifying, and as such have tried to keep my feelings somewhat to myself. Both Caleb and Dan have cell phones. Actually I am not sure why they are called phones at all. They are really just mobile texting devices, which brings me to the point here. I have been shocked to find out what Dan has been texting. The manner that he talks to girls (well, one girl) is rude, hurtful, and profane. When confronted with this, he merely said, "well, at least I'm not saying it out loud." I just stared at him in shock. Does he really think that writing something rather than saying it is somehow more appropriate? Where did he get the idea that you can treat a girl that way? Certainly not from me. He further went on to explain his profane language in subsequent texts to his friends in terms of being angry, "I was mad, I don't normally use those words, I was just mad." I really don't care how mad he was. What irks me most is that he apparently doesn't seem to understand what is so wrong about his actions. His argument to Michelle is that he has freedom of speech and should be allowed to say what he wants. He's right. He can say what he wants but freedom comes with rules. We are only truly free when we stay within certain bounds. When we stray outside those bounds, we are subject to the consequenses, which he is now experiencing. He has lost all use of his phone for the foreseeable future, among other things. What he really doesn't get is that if he had shown some remorse, his punishment would have stopped with the loss of his phone. Unfortunately for him, he just keeps digging the hole deeper and deeper. Perhaps someday he will grow up a bit. Perhaps someday he will be mature enough to use a cell phone appropriately. Until that day, he will not be seeing much of his friends either in person on by phone.