Fishing with Poppy (grandpa)

Today we decided to finally go fishing. The kids have been begging to go for days. The weather has not cooperated very nicely. Rain, snow or too cold. We finally squeezed a day that wasn't terrible for fishing. We headed into Dillsboro to a river to drop in our lines. We had 3 working fishing poles between the 8 of us. That was not going to deter Karston from fishing though. He had made his own pole. (I'm telling you. This country living with a shop is so good for him.)

We walked the little path down to the river and the fishing began. Jon had given Karston a hook that is large enough to catch a small whale I think. But he put a worm on it and a little fish perfume and tossed it in. After a few tosses by everyone there seemed to be a need to keep looking for the perfect spot. So down stream we moved. And moved. And moved. And moved. Nothing. No bites. I did see a small fish jump upstream, but nothing that could every make its way onto Karston's hook. My father-in-law said something about being allowed to keep the fish we caught just below the waterfall and that we would have to release anything we got above the waterfall. I thought he was joking. He is like that. Nope. No joke.

Jon slipped and got his shoe wet and decided it best just to make the journey in his socks. It wasn't long before Karston joined him and they both went barefoot along the ridge. Then decided maybe they should wade a bit to get closer to where the fish in the middle were. Jack finally acquiesced and took his shoes off for a bit too. Karston was in for a bit but discovered that his feet began to sting. The water is c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-old!!! It hurt him bad. It hurt putting his socks and shoes back on. Jon? He kept wading. No feeling? I don't know. But he went past his knees and soaked his pants too.

Karston and Jed got the only thing of the day. They each found a lure. That was it. No fish. It was not a loss though. We went out as a family and had a great time together. I think that's what fishing is about...mostly. Relationship and experience. Catching fish is super exciting, but its not everything.

Poppy was teaching Jed the finer tips to fishing

Cousins

A fish jumping? Nope. Just having fun with rocks and splashing.

What did you do for fun over your Christmas break?

1 Dad, 4 kids, 2 flights.

I have traveled many times through the airports around the world and seen mom's with several kids in tow. Every time I think to myself, "Oh man. I am soooo glad that is not me!" Well, besides the mom part that was me on Sunday. In order to save a whole bunch of money we needed to travel this way. Jeanne-Ann has work and couldn't leave till Wednesday.

A 6:07AM flight meant we left home at 3:30AM! Of course that means I only gave myself 3 hours of sleep (classic). Jeanne-Ann dropped us off and we started our journey into the underground world of single-parent travel. It's a scary world if you are jumping in for your first time. It's not a world that many are eager to join, but one that many decide to because they have to. Thankfully I am only visiting this world. This is not a permanent trip.

We got through security relatively unscathed, although I was worried they were going to take away the sippy cups. Those are worth more than the guys' Rolex in front of me on a trip like this. They just needed to test them for whatever they are worried is potentially inside. Then to the gate with some tired kids and Pappa.

We got on the plane and were seated. Me on the aisle, then Haak and Nyah. Then right behind us was Karston on the aisle and Kynzi. I told the Littles it was time to go to sleep. Haak made it about 45 minutes and Nyah about 1 1/2 hours. Not bad. Then it was time for some games and  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iPad. It was a 4 hour flight to Chicago and Karston and Nyah switched for the last hour or so. They were perfect. Seriously.

Nyah is pretty much potty trained but we put a pullup on her just in case. When she has to go, there is not always an infinite amount of buffer time. She had to go during a bumpy part and so she kind went through her pull up and onto her cute tutu.

Changing kids inside of an airplane bathroom is not ideal...at all! Haak gave me a present too, thank you. Such givers, these kids of mine. There is a "table" you can pull down to lay them on, but when they are 2 it isn't as easy as it was when they were 8 months old. Crammed in with my head sideways to fit into this tuna can we somehow made it.

One of my regular flying "habits" is to bring a box of chocolates to the flight attendants. When I fly with the kids they always give it away. This has resulted in a lot of wonderful conversations over the years. When the kids do it the flight attendants always come and shower them with love and thank yous. This time they brought us fresh baked cinnamon roles from first class. Lets just say the kids were pretty excited (me too). Sometimes I feel bad for all the eyes that are watching as these kinds of things happen. I may have heard the guy across the aisle slurp up some drool from these delicious smelling/tasting morsels.

Then it was off to a 2 hour and 10 minute layover in O'Hare airport. I knew we had a chance of getting bumped and so I wanted to hurry over to our gate and get in line first to offer up our seats. We landed at concourse B and my phone had not updated the gate. I got onto the concourse and saw we were at gate F10...allllll the way on the other side of the airport. No trains, just lots of fast walking. At one point I decided to carry the Littles and have the Olders take the bags. We made it to gate F10 and there was a gate change. What!?!? Yup. Gate C22. We passed that a long time ago! NO!!!

So back we went. A little slower than round one, but still a pep in our step. We got to our gate and they had one open seat. They would not need the five of us to volunteer our seats. Lunch time then. We went to the food court and ordered Manchu Wok. Something for everyone. Yay. After I put the order in Nyah let me know she had to go. This time she was back to her underwear. I had a moment of panic. Do I just walk away from my order, grab all of our stuff and rush everyone to the bathroom? Do I send Kynzi with her to the bathroom and get the food and met her there? Do I tell Nyah to hold it? Do I use a lifeline and call Jeanne-Ann and pray she actually has her phone on her (lowest possibility)? This is where the veterans would know just what to do.

I sent Kynzi on ahead, paid for our food and realized I now had all of Kynzi's luggage and 2 things of food to add to what we already were carrying. Somehow Karston and I pulled it off and met them outside the bathrooms. We sat down by our gates to eat and when I opened the first box it was like a feeding trough. We all grabbed forks and started shoveling in what we could get. We got to our second box and and suddenly it started falling toward the ground. It was all slow motion. Somehow in mid-flight I grabbed it and pulled it back to safety. That was not before a 1/2 pound of rice made it to the ground. Not tragic by any means. I found a custodian and they took care of it and then we got onto our 2 flight.

It was a pretty uneventful flight as Haak and Nyah both slept the ENTIRE WAY!!! We arrived in Charlotte and headed to baggage claim. We waited for a while and then someone from United said that was it. What?! We didn't get a single bag! There were 25 others in the same boat so I thought something had to be missed. As we waited in line for 10 minutes he finally said, "Sorry. They just found a cart with several more things." Finally our bags began to arrive. One suitcase. 2 suitcases. 1 car seat.......Where is the other car seat? "Sorry folks. That's it." WHAT?!!? "Sir, do you understand that I am missing a car seat and I can't leave the airport until I have it?" "You will have to go to baggage claim and they can have it delivered to you." "Did you not hear me? It's not like a suitcase is missing and I can just go without brushing my teeth for a couple of days. My 2 year old can not ride without a car seat. It's illegal and dangerous. Yes, I know. I NEVER had a car seat when I was a kid either. You are right, I survived just fine. But it is almost 2013. That is how it is now." (no, I did not really say all that out loud).

As I stood in line for about 15 minutes a lady comes rushing in with the car seat and says, "I guess my radio isn't working. No one responded when I said I found this car seat." Whew. Now to find Granny (I can't reach her on her phone...perhaps she has the same issue as my wife...haha). Then we will be golden. Just a couple of minutes outside and there she is!!! Grandkids are happy. Son-in-law is happy. Granny is happy. Great reunion! What's this? You guys got a new truck? It only seats 5?! My text to Jeanne-Ann was replied to surprisingly quickly and it was just what I needed.

Well, I think the statutes of limitations are low on minor traffic violations, but I will just say that Kynzi and Karston fit "comfortably" or perhaps "snuggly" is the better word, between the Littles. It's amazing how a common enemy (lack of space) can bring people together. They sat on laps and did great for the 3 hour ride back. An almost immediate stop was needed for Nyah to go to the bathroom and then it was off to Chick-fil-a!! We were all SUPER excited for that!!! We get ready to pull up and...OH CRAP! It's Sunday!

With Jeanne-Ann's words ringing in my mind I turned the truck around and found the closest Waffle House and we enjoyed some yummy waffles! (not a bad alternative). With only 1 spill of a completely full glass of water it was a good and filling stop. We loaded back up and headed to Granny and Poppy's and made good time through the rain and fog. Vacation, here we are!

Don't Miss Out Just Because You are Distracted!

Tonight I got to speak at a youth group in Yakima, Washington for their annual Christmas party. I asked the question, "Have you ever missed something because you were so focused on something else?" One girl shared that she had such a strong addiction to Facebook that she missed out on real relationships. One of the guys said he missed his sisters concert because he was so deeply entrenched in Minecraft.

I think we probably could all share an experience that is similar. It may not be an addiction but certainly we have all been so focused on our own stuff that we have missed out on all sorts of things.

In the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

We have a God that cares deeply about us. He thinks about us. He loves us. He like us. He may not always like the choices we make, but He likes us.

When you read Psalm 139 you discover that God is everywhere we go. He knows our thoughts. He loves us even though he knows our thoughts and sees our actions. That's pretty incredible!!

We may have all sorts of plans for our lives, but God has a much better plan than we could ever come up with. Knowing this, you would think we would be really interested in trying to find out what He wants from our lives and spending time with Him. As it turns out, we don't do that very well.

Most all of us have at least heard about the verse in the Bible John 3:16. Basically it tells us that God loves us so much that He was willing to give us His one and only Son, Jesus, so that we could have true life. You would think we would look hard after God if we realized this to be truth. The Bible also says that if we seek Him, we will find him. That is pretty awesome!

So, we come to Christmas. The reason we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus, who was fully God, became fully human. This is our celebration of his birth. If that is true, why do we get so wrapped up into all of the other things that we completely miss Jesus at Christmas?

I asked the students if they ever feel like they miss Jesus in the midst of Christmas and one student raised his hand and said, "I think I have wanted to try to see Jesus at Christmas, but honestly I don't know if I have ever really tried hard and found him during Christmas. Maybe this year will be my year." He was honest. I appreciated that.

If we look, we might just see Jesus, the Christ, when we look at a homeless man in the eyes and hand him a meal. We might see Jesus when we visit a sick child in the hospital. We might see Jesus when we slow down and just listen. We might see Jesus if we open up His Word, the Bible, and read what He is saying to us. We might see Jesus when we give someone a gift that has meaning and we see the joy in their eyes at receiving it.

Will you look for Jesus this Christmas? Where will you look? How will you look?

Maybe this year will be your year. Don't miss Christ at Christmas this year. Seek, and find him!

Thanks to Simply Youth Ministry for the free graphic

Living Nativity

Last weekend Jeanne-Ann and I took the babies up to Fox Island and spent 24 hours with the Manns! It was a really great time to be together with some really great friends. We got there in time for church and sat under the tutelage of Josh again! I love being in different churches as it broadens my scope of how church happens outside of my own church.

After church was over we went to a cool pizza place for some lunch and then back to the house for naptime (babies) and hang time for the adults. (Kynzi and Karston stayed with friends as they had school on Monday). We chatted and chatted. So good to be with friends and refresh the soul. Then we decided to go to the living nativity in town. Last year they apparently had around 4,000 people come through the 2 days that they were there. They were expecting over 5,000 this year.

We had the option of doing the drive through or the walk through. It was suggested that we do both. After we turned onto the road where the church was holding the living nativity we decided to do the walk through, as the drive through line was super long. Well, as it turned out, the walk through line was super long too. It was also bitter c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-old!!! We went onward anyhow. Thankfully you could walk into the church for some snacks, hot chocolate and warmth while you were in line.

There were shepherds in the front fields with sheep and donkeys. A guy was riding around on a horse. Everyone from the church was involved and dressed as if they were from the time of Jesus' birth. There were town greeters (an elderly couple who had been doing this for 13 years...if my memory serves me right); people selling things like spices, woven carpets, etc.; people giving henna tattoos; angels singing and of course, the nativity with Mary, Joseph and Jesus!

It was a very cool experience. The church did a phenomenal job and it was cool to take our babies through it. As I think about Jesus, who was promised to come to earth thousands of years ago, I think of Kynzi and Karston, Haakon and Nyah and Mercy (the Manns' little girl) who were promises to us. Jesus was chosen and so were our kids. God chose each of them perfectly for our family!

Happy family

Bundled up

Angels tell of the birth of Jesus

I think Joseph looks like Zach Galifianakis

Jesus, who was fully God, became fully human as well. A concept that is hard to comprehend at times. You can read the story of Jesus birth here, found in the Bible in Luke 2:

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.  ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
 ²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Some of you reading this already know this story and it is part of your story; some of you have heard it but it is not part of your story; some may be reading this and you have never even considered this; you may even think it is all a bunch of malarkey. Wherever you sit, I hope that you would at least consider what this means to you. The reality of this story has changed my life. Of course it goes beyond the birth of Jesus. It includes His life on earth and his murder on a cross and His coming back to life and returning to heaven. That was needed in order to cover over my sins. I had to confess my sin and receive His free gift of forgiveness too. It includes the fact that He is still alive today and that I am able to have conversation with Him today (prayer). I think I will post my faith story in a blog in the near future.

Consider Jesus this Christmas.

Christmas Tradition...Festival of Lights

Traditions are important. We have many of them. How about you?Today I want to share with you one of our traditions.

Every year we bundle up and load into the van and drive through the Keizer Festival of Lights. It is the place I wish I lived in town this time of year. You see, they have a route set up through a neighborhood about 1 1/2 miles from our home where people put up massive amounts of lights and many people along the route participate. It is a Griswald dream come true.

I LOVE decorating for Christmas. If I could set up my lights with LED and program it myself I would. Alas, we live on a private street with 4 homes. There is not a lot of traffic on our street. That is a great thing when the weather is nice and the kids want to play in the street. It's not great if you want to set up lights for all to see. Here is a video of the kind of decorations I dream of doing someday.



That being said, I still set up lights every year and do it as nice and close to overboard as possible. I don't live in that neighborhood, so we all drive over and take the winding journey at 2 miles per hour behind hundreds of other lookie looers. One home has Santa and they do a canned food drive. That is pretty cool. Some have their families' names on giant wooden Christmas stockings or snowmen or reindeer. Some have music set up with changing colored lights. There are many blow up Santas and reindeer on roofs, etc. It's pretty great. There is the occasional home that has 4 or 5 strands of lights thrown on a bush here and there and you suddenly start to judge them. You actually start judging homes that would be knock outs in normal neighborhoods, but not in this one.

Jeanne-Ann also makes hot chocolate or caramel hot cider for everyone. This year Kynzi and Karston put down the seats in the very back, placed blankets and pillows on the ground and played games as they sang Christmas carols. Most of it was lovely, but I don't know the right term for this:


It was interesting to note that the Salem Christmas Lights Parade was tonight as well, but the kids wanted to drive through the Festival of Lights.

Jeanne-Ann would mention a particularly awesome house and the kids would look up from their games and then back to the game and singing.

My favorite. It went between 2 homes. Love that the neighbors collaborated!

I wish this was in the neighborhood, but it's from Chicago.

Could make a cool background.

I like the notes to Santa.

This was only in Wilsonville today. Not south or north of it.
Just there. Got me ready for the Festival of Lights experience.

Randomly at Bridgeport.

It was a really great night! Do you have any fun pre-Christmas traditions?

My Heart...Christmas Eve

In our home we mix traditions from Norway and the States. This year we started off the morning opening up one gift and then started into the full gift giving in the afternoon. We paused for a traditional Norwegian Christmas meal and had Risen Grøt, this is basically a rice pudding that is hot...basically. We put sugar, cinnamon and butter on top. In one of the bowls (this is a mystery to everyone) there is a peeled almond. The person who gets the almond gets a prize. It's great fun to pretend we have it and save the reveal until everyone is done. This year Karston got the almond (mandel in Norwegian). It was his first year getting it without "all the little kids get one."

The big winner!

Eager anticipation for the next gift

Then we jumped back to presents for a while. We decided to go to the 5PM service at church, as we would have been late for the 3PM service. I love going to Christmas Eve service at our church. It's a highlight of the year. We sing tons of great Chrsitmasy songs, hear the story of Jesus in new and creative ways and finish with anyone who wants to go on stage singing the Hallelujah chorus! I used to make fun of that until the first time I did it. I remember pulling my friend Steve on stage when we were in Atlanta and laughing most of the way through it. Now I truly love that moment.

Part way into the service there was a drawing of baby Jesus up on the wall. My heart suddenly longed for our babies in a way it hadn't yet. Oh, I've been longing for them for quite a while, but it had not hit me until that moment that I never dreamed we would make it to Christmas and not hear a word about our referral. Tears slipped down my face as I thanked Jesus for coming to the earth so that we would have the opportunity for forgiveness of sins and eternity in heaven when we leave this earth. I have been resting in Philippians 4:6 recently, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." I try not to be anxious about this process. I try to just thank God for the process and for my children and for the MANY people who have been part of our journey. I also present my requests to God. This night I was just sad as I longed for them.

That night, as Jeanne-Ann and I were talking she told me that she was crying and longing for our kids. She didn't know that it was happening to me too! Haha. They are coming. We will get a referral. For now, we just sit and wait. We live life, one day at a time. Each day praying the next will be the day we get the call. God is good...all the time. I know this to be true!

My sweet children, I know you are out there. I pray for you every single day! So do your brother and sister and mother. We can't wait to meet you and live with you as a forever family!

Christmas Wish List

What are you wishing for Christmas? An iPad? The latest droid phone? A Segway? An original Wrigley's chewing gum pack? We tell our kids that they can't go into a store and ask if they can have something, but they are welcome to tell us all year long what they wish for as we walk down the shopping aisles. We keep some sort of track of what they wish for and when Christmas or a birthday comes around we begin to ponder that list, we look at our budget, we talk about reality and then we make some decisions.

I love shopping for gifts for other people, because I love to give gifts. I wish I was loaded so I could give more and more, but with what we have, I love to get creative. I constantly see things and think, "I could make that." Then Jeanne-Ann gives me a good case of reality and says, "Seriously? You never do." That is true, but I could. Haha. Every now and then I actually do. I have an idea I am working on, but I can't mention it just yet, because I do have potential receivers of this gift who read this blog. (Yes, it's you I am talking about.) I am excited about it, because it is a cool gift and I can make it AND I think the recipients would really like it. I will let you know how it goes.

Want to see my wish list? I'll show you mine...will you show me yours? I would love to know what you are wishing for.

* Call of Duty Black Ops
* Belt Buckle
* Ted Dekker books - (Kiss, Boneman’s Daughter, Burn, Bride Collector or Immanuel’s Veins)
* Thumb Ring - Like Howie Mandel’s
* Red Sox knit hat
* Chair massager - one that hangs on your chair
* Anything Red Sox
* Fish eye/Macro lens for Canon Camera
* Great zoom lens with Macro for Canon Camera

Those things are all great and fun and all that, but the number ONE thing on my wish list?

A REFERRAL CALL from our adoption agency!!!

ps. A post on how I am dealing with anxiousness regarding this wait coming in the next week.

Christmas Plans have Changed!!!

We were supposed to fly out of Portland to head back to the east coast for Christmas today. Paula Smith was going to go up with us to the airport, but her flight got canceled yesterday so she headed down to California yesterday. Too bad, because our flight got canceled this morning and we were told we could not get out until the 25th! Well that threw a wrench into everything.

Long story short, every flight that is going out of Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Redding, etc. is booked solid and we can't get out. So, we got a flight out of San Fransisco tomorrow night. We will be driving a rental down there. It's about a 10 hour drive without snow or traffic. Hmmm. We will have to see what happens. The plan is to try to stay at Simpson University over night (free for Alliance pastors) and then drive down in the morning. That helps to break up the trip a bit. The problem there is I can't get a hold of anyone at the university. grrrr!

So we will drive and pray. Would you pray for us too? We could really use it.

Christmas Already?

I was driving back from camp the other day and stopped in to Wal-Mart to get some post halloween deals. To my surprise I heard Christmas music playing on the Muzak. What?! It was only November 2nd!!! Can I please get some turkey in me before we start this? I love Christmas. I mean I really, really love Christmas. It may be my favorite time of year, for sure my favorite holiday, but I am just shaking off the fact that summer is gone. I am not ready yet. I had this conversation with some people at the office and they are all for it. What? I argue that it should all start the day after Thanksgiving.

That being said, I saw this video this morning and was blown away. The creativity is unbelievable. I am so excited to see the church be creative and original. Check out some of the other videos by this guy too. The painting on (I believe it's Dex from All Together Separate) is amazing too.


Trans Siberian Element Only from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.


New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

Well, here we are. It is Christmas morning and we have only begun. We celebrate 2-3 times every year. The first round, which we just wrapped up was at the in-laws. I got a very cool dunder mifflin shirt. We broke tradition this year and decided between all four of us that we would get one gift to all of us from all of us. We got the Wii.

We figured the rest of the family would supply plenty of other gifts so our load would not be missed. We were right. I am really looking forward to busting it out and playing for hours and hours.

We next head down to my side of the family and do it all over again. The 3rd round this year will be at home. Santa left a note saying that we had asked if he could deliver the big gifts to our home so we didn't have to pack them on the way home. He is very easy to work with. So, when we get home, Kynzi will be opening a keyboard and Karston will be opening a drum kit. What is Santa thinking?! Does he not love us? :) (shhh...don't tell the kids. they don't know yet)

Last night we watched Christmas Vacation, which is a holiday tradition. I wet myself like I usually do. ;) The problem with movies like that is I know what is coming next so I laugh before it happens and when it happens. I tried to keep my pre-laughter to myself, thankfully Jeanne-Ann was laughing right along with me. I think that may be my favorite part...laughing really hard with Jeanne-Ann.