Cousin Weekend!

It was SO much fun to have Lauren and Stephen come stay with us for the weekend! They came all the way from the twin cities and took time out of their busy college schedules. I'm so glad it worked out!

(Can you find the third person in the picture below?)



We played volleyball . . .

 

 . . . did each other's hair (just the girls, of course!), visited, and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather . . .

 

 . . . bobbed for apples and played some "harvest party" games . . .

 . . . played telephone pictionary (what a hilariously fun game!) . . .

 . . . and tried star-tripping and painting with light (the latter is pictured below).

 

Cousins!

You are welcome again anytime, Lauren and Stephen! I hope that we get to see you again SOON! :-)

Quick Update . . .

Hello friends! I just wanted to let you know that I am home after a wonderful time at the Passion4Christ Summit in Ohio!! I learned so much, and enjoyed the fellowship, theme dinners, volleyball, small group Bible studies, and lots more! I will be posting pictures soon, once I get a link from the photographer (may be a couple weeks). On our way home me and my friends had quite the . . . adventure . . . getting stuck in Chicago when our van broke down! But that's a story for another time. :-)

For now, I'm super excited to be getting the house ready for my cousins Lauren and Stephen to spend a couple nights! I'll have lots to update on later! :-)

40 Days For Life

Have you heard of the 40 Days For Life Campaign? If not, I'd urge you to check it out!
http://40daysforlife.com/about.html

It's running this fall from Sept. 25th - Nov. 3rd. So far an estimated 69 babies have been SAVED from abortion! As Christians, it is our duty and responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. If you don't have the time to actually go to your local abortion clinic to pray, you can fast and pray from home, you can give money to your local crisis pregnancy center, and spread the word about 40 Days for Life! Don't let lack of time stop you - we all need to be doing something to help stop the curse of abortion in our country.

Proverbs 31:8,9

"Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy."

Check if there is a location near you!

http://40daysforlife.com/location.html

Trip to Canada!

This past weekend we traveled north of Winnipeg to visit some friends of ours. We enjoyed going to a Provincial Park and hiking, rappelling, playing volleyball and frisbee, and more! It was a great weekend.  Here are some pictures from our time at the park . . .

The viewing tower overlooking Lake Winnipeg

  

 

Karlen, Ethan, and Lydia watching Caleb rappel.

Clifford rappelling

 

And Caleb decided to rappel upside down!! Yes, my brother is crazy! LOL :-)

 

 

Caleb's shadow . . . looks like there's no rope, eh? ;-)

Delmar rappelling

 

 Mrs. Penner and mom visiting

Darlene throwing the frisbee! She has a beautiful smile! :-)

Climbing along the shoreline

Shooting pictures (and no, that is not my lens that I am using - I wish! lol)

 Back row: Daniel, Clifford, Delmar, Caleb, Lydia, me
Front row: Ethan, Karlen, Darlene

Crazy time!

 

 

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of us meeting with some other friends at the park in Winnipeg on the way home because we were so busy visiting! Maybe next time. :-) I did get one of this deer as we were pulling out . . .

 

As much as I REALLY enjoyed stepping foot in Canada for the first time, it's nice to be back in the good old USA where we use Fahrenheit and miles per hour on the highway! ;-)

Trip Out West

We just returned home from an amazing trip out to Washington state for my cousin's wedding! She was a GORGEOUS bride, and the wedding was so God-glorifying! We had fun helping out with the decoration of the reception hall. The theme was so incredibly cute!

 

Here's my family at the wedding (Caleb had to stay at his place in Fargo and work, so he couldn't come).

That weekend we also got to visit with our aunt, uncle and cousins - we had a BLAST! I only wish they all lived closer and we could get together more. :-)

The cute couple :)

All of us cousins!
Daniel, me, Sarahanne, Jordan, Katie, Mindy (the bride), Lydia, and Ethan in the front

We enjoyed going to the ocean one day and seeing this old sunken ship.

 

 

 

 

This is the 3rd time I've visited Multnomah Falls in Oregon - so beautiful (and this picture is only the bottom half of the falls)!

On our way home through Montana we stayed at Glacier National Park for a couple days. It is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen! I just LOVE seeing God's marvelous creation.

First time on a paddle board - and the most beautiful lake I've EVER been on!

Yes, the mountain goats were THAT close!

We took a long, hot hike through the beautiful mountains . . .

. . . . crossing streams and seeing pink and yellow wildflowers . . .

 . . . to see Hidden Lake! It is so worth it - and a lot like being a Christian, wouldn't you say? It's not always easy following in Jesus' steps, but it's always worth it!