Toddler Mania

Marcel: Mom, I have dirty hands.

Mom: Ok, you can go into the bathroom and wash them yourself.

Two minutes later, Mom started to wonder why the water was still running in some far off corner of her world.

Three minutes later (due to a stratigically placed whole roll of TP by the favorite 2 year old):

Marcel got clean hands, and Mom got a clean bathroom floor. Oh well, maybe we'll just move floor washing day to Thursdays.

Daddy's Grocery Getter

Dad & Kolbe & Jozef decided to go on a little adventure on Monday. We loaded up the bike trailer with groceries from Mom's list at the local Pig. It was a stunning success!







I told Mom we should consider getting a three seat bike trailer in order to allow Joe a little more room.

Super Gap

A bit ago I posted a picture of Kolbe (since fondly referred to as "Gappy") after he lost a prominent baby tooth.  Things have steadily digressed for him.  Corn on the cob is a bit of a problem these days...

Fulfilled Dreams

Life. Is. Busy.  

Between meals and laundry and dishes and a trip to Michigan and unpacking, the blog has been sitting here. 

Languishing.  

Sorry.  

Now, on to the good stuff.

The truly wonderful thing about dreams is, one person's are completely different another's. While simply thinking about and imagining a dream of mine helps me to feel excited about life, you may think my dream is crazy, irrelevant or silly.  That's the beauty of God's creation, we all have different dreams. Sometimes, drastically different.

One dream that Nate and I have for our family is to work to incorporate exercise as a part of our lives.  Without good health, life is difficult. We want exercise to be a natural part of their lives.

To enjoy some activity together we decided to undertake a family bike ride!  As i mentioned in my previous post, this dream cost us money, but also time (in searching for the products that were right for us).  The rewards, however, are sheer fun!  

After a bike tuneup for me, an upgrade for Kolbe, and a purchase for Nate, we're up and mobile!  With our current setup, we can only tow 2 of the 3 riders that we need to.  But, we're looking to get another trailer to pull Jerzy as well.  

Another dream that we had, as a family, was a project that Nate and Kolbe had begun in Nebraska.  Kolbe really wanted a loft in his bedroom.  Upon arriving in Wisconsin, Nate and I really made finishing that loft a priority.  Now, he's dreaming his dreams, up in his loft.

I'll be sure to post a "finished project" picture up soon.

On The Importance of Achieving Dreams

For the last few months, Nate and I have been working on our Dream Book. It's a small notebook where we write a dream on each page. We share a book so that our dreams become shared as well.

Matthew Kelly is the author that has really spurred us on our dream quest, if you will. His premise is that the Author of life has put these dreams in our hearts. By achieving our dreams, we are truly living out His will--to become the-best-version-of-ourselves.

The thing about dreams is, they don't achieve themselves. Let's face it, how many of us have a dream that we'd love to achieve, and only need to walk into the next room to do so? Dreams take work, attention, and planning. We have to move to achieve them (see prior post on "motivation").

This week, we've brought to fulfillment two of our dreams (pictures will follow in a separate post). Life feels full and fulfilled when we work together to achieve our dreams. We are better individuals, a better couple, better parents, and (I pray) better followers of God's will.

Motivation

Have you ever come to a point in your life where you really need to find motivation?  The drive to exercise and eat healthy.  The drive to be a better parent.  The need to include prayer throughout your day.  All of these are good things.  They all require momentum and work.

As humans, we're inclined to take the easy path.  Like rocks, we don't move unless a force stronger than the object (our will) pushes the object in the direction it needs to go.  We could go on sitting there, like a rock.  But God is calling us to be better!  To move forward!  Towards Him and His desires for our lives.

Today I'm pondering these things and praying that I can begin taking steps on those momentous journeys. 

Anyone know who's the patron saint of get-moving-in-the-right-direction-ed-ness?