Lessons God taught me through a 5 year old...

I was reminded that yesterday, June 13, marked the 21st year since my little cousin, Teresa went home to Jesus. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember coming home from a bike ride to find my mom in tears and then she told me the news. I was 15 (almost 16) and for the first time in my life someone too young to be gone, was gone. She was 5 years old.

I could write a list of memories of Teresa. I remember when we found out my aunt was going to have another baby (Teresa was the youngest of 4 girls), I remember holding her when she was little. I remember playing with her and her sisters. I remember the times when we were little and our mom's and Grandma would go shopping the Saturday after Thanskgiving and we would all stay at the Franz house and play. I remember taking pictures of her and her sisters (because at that time I was aspiring to be a photographer). I would line everyone up in the perfect pose and then take a picture. I remember calling her the "little German Army Tank" (though I can't really remember why). The list could go on.

I remember all of this with a smile because I know Teresa isn't hurting one bit today. The lessons God taught me through a 5 year old girl were that life here on earth can be short, sometimes way too short. He showed me that each person that touches my life is a gift. I may be blessed with that gift for a long time or a short time. But whatever amount of time it is, not to take it for granted, to hug them while I can. He taught me that when that time comes to an end I will grieve for what I have lost and that is ok. He also taught me that through that grief He will not leave me. He is the great comforter and no matter what goodbyes I have to say in this life, He will not say goodbye to me. I learned that the greatest joy when I get to heaven will be falling into the arms of my Savior, but after that it will be the reunion I will have with those who have gone before me. He taught me to rejoice in the resurrection, because our mourning will only last for a season.

The life of my cousin Teresa was short, the place she has in our hearts is huge, the joy in knowing that she lives because Jesus lives is amazing!

Backyard Water Wars...

Who needs a swimming pool when you have sponges, squirt guns and a bucket of water...

Rules to the game...

Fill them up and run...
If you get hit you must lay on the ground and count to 10...
Then get up and get them back...


Yep, that's about as much fun as you can have on a hot summer day!

Saying Goodbye part 2....

By now you may be looking back over the past couple of weeks and thinking that we are keeping ourselves extremely busy this summer... This is true. If we were to try to keep up this pace all summer I think we would all crash sometime around the end of June! Not to worry, however, we were simply taking the time to enjoy some much needed family time before another brief separation for the summer....

Today, Chad left for his summer Air Force Training. This summer he will be gone for 45 days, so since school let out we were enjoying being together. Once Chad returns we will be packing up and heading out west...

Pray for us, as the weeks apart are never easy... We thank God for providing for our family through the military training and we continue to pray for God's guidance as we determine how long we will continue with the military.

Saying Goodbye...

As excited as we are about moving the hard part is saying goodbye to some great friends. One of the places we have had to say goodbye to recently is our church family at Praise Lutheran Church. Praise has been our church home for the past 4 years and they have loved us and supported us through a deployment, the first 2 years of seminary and much more. We look forward to returning in a year and saying hello...

One of the families from Praise that has been a significant part of our lives over the past 4 years is the Gumbert Family. Dr. Jack and Ms. Lois have been good friends since the moment Lois introduced herself to Michelle when we first visited Praise. Over the years we have shared much with them and a summer tradition for us has been a day at their cabin in Michigan.

While there we get to fish, take a pontoon ride, swim, and enjoy the fellowship and fun of a day on the lake. We will miss them greatly and look forward to seeing them again when we return for our last year of school...

Here we are heading out for a ride around the Lake...Zeke with one of his many catches of the day... JJ with the turtle we caught from the boat...
Seth pointing out to Dr. Jack where all the fish were hanging out.

To Zoo or not to Zoo...

That has been the question of our spring... We are moving and the question came up, is it worth it to buy another family pass when we won't be around to use it all summer? We did some research and found a couple of places in Colorado that we could also use it, and decided we would use it enough this summer that the pass would be worth it...

So for our first trek to the zoo we went to Africa where we saw lots of neat animals like lions, zebras and giraffes and the kids hung out in the safari village...Then we went to Australia which has a great little splash pool, kangaroos and dingos, and a fun little explore what it's like to be an Australian animal room...Then we went to the farm where we saw horses, pigs and cows and got to pet the goats...
And we can't wait to go back and see more!

Kids Bowl Free...

Kid's can bowl free all summer long. Every day they get a coupon that is worth up to 2 games per day and you can pay $25 and get up to 4 adults that can come along and also bowl up to 2 games per day. Check out the website... There are centers all over the United States! This summer we have to pay for shoe rental, but even that is nothing compared to the normal cost of bowling with 4 kids... We have gone a couple of times already and the kids always enjoy a little friendly competition!

Noah's Birthday...

In case you haven't yet figured it out, we make a big deal out of birthday's at our house. Watching our boys grow is a blessing to us, and in a house with 4 kids, getting to be the center of attention doesn't happen often, so when a Birthday roles around we give each boy their turn to be in the spotlight!

Noah turns 6 on June 5.We celebrated with a couple of games of MiniGolf...A spin around the Go Kart Track...
A few games at the arcade...
Then the next day, our usual trip to Chuck E. Cheese...
And the next day we had cake with some of the boys' friends after a friendly game of baseball...
And since Chad isn't going to be home for his Birthday this year, Noah graciously decided to share the cake with Dad too!
And of course there were PRESENTS...
Happy Birthday Noah!