Truly a George Adventure-- The Outer Banks

This past week, Matt and I had the opportunity to join his family on their very first family vacation! That's right. The whole George family had never been on a vacation all together. Since Dad George is a farmer, it obviously is difficult to get away. Whether it is planting season, harvesting season, or feeding-the-cows season (every day of the year), there was never a chance for everyone to all go somewhere on a vacation.
So this trip was monumental. And I believe it may become a tradition! :)

We began our trip at 10 pm (not something that I would willingly do again, mind you). The plan was that the children (ages 7 weeks, 8 months, 3 years [in a few weeks] and 5 years) would sleep happily in the car the whole night through, without constant crying or having to stop for 27 potty breaks on the way there.
Well, that plan went mostly smooth. However, I felt like I was going to be the one to start crying because of the bar that I was sitting on in the backseat... it proved difficult to sleep soundly on the way.

But, just as all hope seemed lost, we crossed the bridge onto the island and found our breakfast place-- Stack 'Em High.
Well, we found it after we sat at an abandoned Stack 'Em High for a few minutes waiting for it to open. :)
Nevertheless, we got inside, ordered our pancakes, and started eating. After one of the waiters took our first family picture of the trip, Mikayla (age 5) wanted me to take her to the restroom. I didn't mind another chance to stretch my legs, so I went with her. When we stepped back out into the restaurant, to our chagrin, we heard wailing coming from the direction of our table. And of course, it was Mikayla's sister, Madisyn. Zach, her dad, was holding her on his lap with a napkin pressed to the back of her head. I knew it wasn't a good sign when I saw blood on the back of Madisyn's shirt. Poor girl. Not a half an hour out of the car, and it was time for a trip to the ER.

Well about 2 hours, 2 staples, and 2 princess stickers later, we were back in the car heading to our beach house. We had to wait a few hours to check into the house, so we stopped at the beach to relax while we waited. The wind was probably blowing 35 mph, and the sand was whipping our faces, but we didn't let that discourage us. "Natural Exfoliation" is what we called it. :)

Despite the multiple other injuries-- Dad's severely sunburned feet, Mikayla's fork jab to her leg, and Lyndsey's seafood poisoning-- it really was a relaxing vacation! :) A couple days we left the Big Kahuna and explored the aquarium, visited Roanoke "The Lost Colony," ate at Dirty Dick's Crab House, went mini- golfing at Mutiny Bay, and took pictures of the Brodie Lighthouse. We spent our days on the beach, trying to learn how to use a boogie board, collecting shells, building sand castles, and playing a game called kubb.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

At the aquarium

Building the sand turtle

Siblings

Eating at Dirty Dick's crab house

Crab hunting

Brayden

Brodie Lighthouse

Big Kahuna- the middle house

Sunrise

We had a great time and are grateful for the time that we got to spend all together. God's amazing creation reminded me of His grace and mercy towards us. Think of how big the ocean is...yet God loves little people like us. :) This song was in my head a lot last week: 

                       

                       Could we with ink the ocean fill,

                   And were the skies of parchment made; 

                       Were every stalk on earth a quill,

                        And every man a scribe by trade;

                        To write the love of God above

                           Would drain the ocean dry, 

                     Nor could the scroll contain the whole 

                        Though stretched from sky to sky! 

So thankful for the love of God and the love of our family. :) The week truly was a George adventure! 

Great Grandparents

This Easter, we (Erin, Elise, and I) were able to make a road trip to Minnesota. We haven't been all together at the Fred home since our sophomore year of college! (And THAT was a long time ago!) Haha :) The 5 hour trip was a good time to catch up on our lives and sing at the tops of our lungs to our new favorite musical. :)

On Saturday, we went with my parents to Bloomington, MN, where my grandparents live. It was wonderful to see Grandpa and Grandma both at their house and at my parents' house the next day. Although age takes its toll and sometimes slows people down, it was good to hear my Grandma laugh and make us laugh until we snorted! Just like when we were kids! Haha :) And of course, it was good to hear Grandpa pray and make his funny jokes that he always tells.

We went to see our Great Grandma, who turned 100 last July, in the care/nursing home that she is in. It is definitely different seeing Great Grandma in a bed, rather than walking spryly about. She was tap dancing on her 99th birthday and only started using a walker sometime last year! But again, despite the setbacks that she has experienced because of her age, she was still praising God for His faithfulness over the years. We sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and "How Great Thou Art," and she barely missed a word!

 I am so grateful for all  my grandparents (and Matt's grandparents) that love the Lord and have taught their children to love Him too. I hope when Matt and I grow old, we can have that said about us too-- that even when time and age change us, we will never stop loving and serving the Lord.

Working Out

One of our (Matt and me) New Year's decisions was to exercise more consistently. A couple friends of ours invited us to compete in an 8-week fitness challenge made by the writers of sixsistersstuff.com. The challenge involves getting points for drinking enough water, eating enough fruit and veggies each day, NO SUGAR, keeping a food journal, and exercise. I think the most difficult thing for me has been not having sugar-- I just never thought about grabbing a handful of m&ms, snagging a warm cookie right off the tray. But this challenge has made me think about what I am putting into my body every day and how I am taking care of it.

But a thought that keeps coming to my mind as I am exercising or refusing a delicious-looking dessert is, How am I taking care of my spiritual body? Am I aware of what I am putting into my mind and heart every day? Am I striving to exercise my faith and knowledge about my God?

1 Timothy 4:8 says, "Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness profiteth all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

Now, Paul wasn't saying don't exercise your body, because it doesn't do anything anyways; we ARE supposed to take care of our bodies so we can better do what God wants us to in our lives. But when you compare only exercising your physical body and exercising your spiritual body-- they can hardly compare! When we are building our spiritual muscles, we are not only going to profit the rewards on this earth, but we're also going to see the rewards in heaven!

2 Peter 1:5-8 talks about adding character qualities to our faith. We should be continually growing and building our spiritual bodies. "Giving all diligence (that means I have to work at it), add to your faith virtue;  and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound (are continually growing), they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

When we work at taking care of what we put into our bodies, and strive toward getting in shape (the shape it's supposed to be in :) ), we will see our bodies CHANGE! Also, when we work at learning more about Christ and striving to be like Him, our lives will change!

Since we've started this challenge, I've had some bad days...(no exercise and 3 1/2 cookies), but that doesn't mean that I quit because I failed one day! We can always start fresh each day because God's mercies are new every morning... Great is His faithfulness!

We are now on the 5th week... Keep going strong!! :)

A New Year

 2013 came quietly for Matt and I this year. Mainly because there were 2 little girls sleeping upstairs (our nieces, Mikayla and Madisyn), and we didn't want to wake them with any loud outbursting of "Happy New Year," and such like. We were able to spend the week before Christmas with my family in Minnesota, and thoroughly enjoyed the white Christmastime there and time with our family. We kids got Dad and Mom an iPad-- so we spent a lot of time trying to figure out Siri and Words with Friends! :)

Silly Olivia

Dad opening his gift from his grandkids :) 

Little man Logan

We made the trek back to Watertown to split up our trip a bit, and a big shoveling job welcomed us back. Matt and Christopher shoveled, while Erin and I unloaded the car and got Jimmy John's. Erin and Christopher left to go to Maryland that afternoon, while Matt and I celebrated our own Christmas. :) We exchanged our gifts and then watched a movie and ate waffles (made by my waffle-maker from Matt!).

Then we packed up Lanta and made the drive out to Pennsylvania. We had a great time at the Christmas Eve Candlelight service and having our own George family Christmas. And apparently, PA didn't want to be left out of the White Christmas, and it snowed on Christmas. :) 

After our hike up the big hill

Matt and Lanta

The farm

We got to go sledding (or as the Pennsylvanians call it "sled riding") with Mikayla and Madisyn, although Madisyn REFUSED to even get near the sled!

After New Year's, Matt and I went back home. It was about 9:00pm when we got home, and I went up to the door to let Lanta in, before we started unloading all our stuff. I thought something was wrong with the door because it looked like it had frosted over! "Did the heat go out?" I wondered to myself. Then I looked closer and it was obvious that the whole window was shattered, and the window had been broken in around the doorknob. I turned the doorknob, just because I thought, "No way, this couldn't have happened..." and it was UNLOCKED! Then my heart started pounding and I squeaked, "Matt? You might want to come look at this." 

Anyways, we got acquainted with some of the nice local police officers (after they went in to our house with their guns and flashlights drawn), and it looks like the only items that were stolen were our 2 coffee tins that were filled with mostly pennies, nickles, and dimes. :/ 

So after that unnerving welcome back to our home, the new year has begun! :) With the new year, comes new resolutions-- I will write later about those.

Matt has started his third semester of his master's program and I am continuing to work in the admissions office at MBBC. We are grateful for God's continued leading in our lives and we are striving to please Him in  every aspect of our lives. Happy New Year! :)

Champions. . . with or without the banner

I can not express the full emotions and feelings that I am going through as I think back on the past season. I started this volleyball season a little apprehensive, unsure of how this new coaching thing would go. :) There were times that I would have much rather been on the court-- it is so much easier sometimes to just do something yourself and not have to explain where someone should be or what they should have done differently.

I definitely gained a new respect for coaches and what they have to deal with! :) I was nervous before each game, just like I was when I was a player. I don't know why... no one looks at the assistant coach and notices when they make mistakes-- it's not quite as obvious as when a player makes a mistake on the court. But I wanted the girls to do well soooo bad! I knew how much and how hard they practiced each week!
It was so encouraging when the girls would do something that Coach or I would tell them... and to see it work!! Now isn't that something! :)

Another aspect I had to learn how to deal with was "coaching" my peers. Since I had played with the seniors of this year (and Erin!), it was hard to know when I should tell them something and when I should just keep my mouth shut. I knew these girls knew as much and more than I know about volleyball, so it was interesting... I definitely learned more from them than they did from me- thanks, seniors! :)

My freshman year was the only year I went to nationals. And it was only because we got the at-large bid. I don't think I quite comprehended what was going on. :) But this year was so exciting!!!
We made goals at the beginning of the season--
1.) To be in the top 4 in the NAC 2.) To win Regionals 3.) To win Nationals.
It was so thrilling to see the girls reach these goals. To be number 4 in the NAC in our last year of being in the conference was awesome. And... beating Lincoln in the championship at Regionals was amazing! The emotions of that game (it went to five games and we were behind 6-0 in the fifth set...) were crazy!

So the girls earned their way to nationals-- number 2 in the NCCAA DII behind Clearwater.
I can't write about each game, but it was so fun to keep winning and to beat Lincoln again to get to the semi-finals-- and to beat Kentucky to play in the Championship!
The final game was a tough one to lose against Clearwater, but the girls didn't just hand the game over. They fought hard and though the outcome wasn't necessarily what we wanted, I believe that the Lord was honored and glorified in the way we played and acted.
That was our goal as well this season: "For You alone are worthy, Lord, of my whole-hearted praise! So may this life bring you glory always."

And that should be our goal in life-- no matter if we win or lose, in easy times or in hard times-- we need to strive to glorify God in everything that we do. Because He alone deserves the glory.

Walking by Faith

As the leaves change colors and the weather becomes beautiful fall weather, I've had a lot of opportunities to take walks with my dog and think and pray. Lately, there have been so many people going through difficult times in their lives, and we've had so many things to ask God about. I have never prayed so hard and been so affected by the trials of others as I have recently. When I think about how I might respond or feel in those same situations, I wonder if I would be able to respond with the strength that these friends have shown. 

No one can say why these things happen or what immediate good can come out of them. We only know that God sees all things and is in complete control. It is only through God's strength that we could ever get through the trials that would give us reason to despair. It is only through Him that we could find the courage to move on. He gives the grace that is needed during these times! I'm so glad that we have the hope of the One who holds eternity in His hands. 

There are moments on our journey following the Lord
Where God illumines ev’ry step we take.
There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us,
As we try to understand each move He makes.
When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall, The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow.
And there seem

s to be no reason for the suffering we feel;
We are tempted to believe God does not know.
When the storms arise, don’t forget we walk by faith and not by sight.

BOW THE KNEE;
Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
BOW THE KNEE;
Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity. And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King,
BOW THE KNEE

Joy through Trials

Last October, my dad was complaining about his leg hurting. Thinking it was just a tennis injury, he tried to play through the pain. But when the pain got worse, my dad finally relented and went to the doctor (a very rare occurrence).  The doctor thought it was a hematoma (a pool of blood in the muscle), and that it would heal eventually. 

 As the months went by, it was clear that Dad's leg wasn't getting better. So this June, Dad went in to the doctor again, and he was sent quickly to the U of M to a doctor for soft tissue cancer. We found out that Dad had a cancerous tumor in the back of his thigh (or hamstring, I guess). The tumor was successfully removed and Dad was very glad that his leg didn't hurt anymore. But the way the tumor looked, the doctors knew that the tumor had come from another place in Dad's body. They started the search for the origin of the cancer and found that the lymph nodes in his lungs were affected and were probably the source.

Now, after a long summer of searching and not knowing, Dad is having his first chemo and radiation treatment today. He will be undergoing an aggressive 6-7 weeks of both chemo and radiation. Thankfully, his doctor is one we know very well already! Dr. Laudi, who treated my mom during her bouts with lymphoma, is going to be Dad's doctor as well. God has a very good reason for putting Dr. Laudi into our family's path and maybe we'll be able to see that reason soon! 

It's hard to believe that this whole cancer thing is going on again only with my dad this time. . . I've been trying not to ask those "what if" questions, because it doesn't really do much good. But I do know that no matter what happens, that God does have a purpose and plan that is for our good and His glory! We sang a song in church yesterday that was such a blessing to me (especially the part that I underlined). It's called O God, My Joy by Paul Keew and Brian Pinner.

 

O God, my joy, You reign above in radiant splendor and beauty.

Your Word has drawn my heart to love the awesome sight of Your glory.

Your blazing Light and gospel grace shine brightly from my Savior’s face.

No other wonder would I see than Christ enthroned in His glory!

Sustained by joy in trial and pain, I trust Your wisdom and mercy.

Through suff’ring that Your love ordains, more like Your Son You will make me.

For Christ embraced the cross of shame, beholding glorious joys to come.

O give me faith like His to see that suff’ring lifts me to glory!

Compelled by joy, I fight the sin that turns my gaze from Your glory.

Your Holy Spirit dwells within; His presence arms me for vict’ry.

Let death and hell against me rise; through death I’ll gain eternal joys.

All pow’rs of hell will bend the knee before my great King of Glory!

Please pray for our parents as they go through this journey again. And for Ann and Mark as they are the only ones of us kids there to help them. Also, pray for Dr. Laudi's salvation-- maybe he'll be able to see the joy of the Lord and realize that he could have that too! It's so good to know that we can have joy and strength through trials because we have true Hope!