What A Week!

This week has been one of the craziest weeks since Jude was born, apart from him being hospitalized last month, of course!

We spent the first half of the week, Mon.-Wed., in Illinois for a staff retreat through our church, Grace Community Church. We stayed in a gorgeous victorian home, enjoyed fellowship and bonding with the other staff members, and got our 'batteries re-charged' for life in ministry. To see awesome pictures, click here. My great friend, Missy, who also happens to be an awesome photographer was also there. Her blog says it all!

Thursday and Friday were a blur, getting back into the swing of things, washing loads and loads of laundry, and snuggling with Micah. Instead of going on the retreat with us, he stayed with 'Papa', grandma. He had a great time playing with his cousins and riding in the combine, but I think he was ready to come home, and was somewhat afraid that we were going to leave him again.

Friday afternoon we got a call from our friends, Gabe and Missy, they were 'in the area'-BIG FAT LIE ;) and wanted to stop by with some Coldstone Ice Cream. Um, heck yes!!! We enjoyed their company, and their dessert! While they were over Gabe urged us to join them on their date that night. Missy didn't know what they were doing, but Gabe told Jason in privacy. After they left he told me what they were doing and we decided to tag along. We didn't even have to find a baby sitter, as they already had one lined up. We just took our kids over to their house and put them to bed before we left. We ended up in Cedar Rapids at a church. Missy kept guessing, but was SO clueless...even up until we bought the tickets at the door. It turns out that one of her favorite musicians, Andrew Peterson, was in town. Now, I admit that I was not all that familiar with Andrew's work. This didn't matter to me. I knew something Missy didn't know, we were spending the evening with great friends, and I LOVE music. Nough said. Well, I now know who Andrew Peterson is, and I love his work. He a gifted artist who has chosen to use his talent, and I mean TALENT, to glorify the Lord. He writes folk songs, and is quite talented in his 'story telling'. The evening flew by as we soaked in the rich words of his songs. Needless to say, Missy was blown away! I think Gabe earned a few Brownie points that night!

Saturday was an unseasonably warm fall day. We spent the morning as a family and then headed up to Cedar Rapids, again! There was a band competition where approximately 10 of the youth from Grace's YAM, Young Adults Ministry, were performing. We told Micah we were going to see the band, and he said 'Boom Boom?'. Once we confirmed what we were doing, he started marching around the house banging on a lid to one of my baskets. This kid has a knack for music, I'm telling you!

Back to the day though: We enjoyed watching 4 different marching bands perform. Clear Creek Amana, the school we went to see, did a great job! Micah wanted to stay, but Jude was getting tired.

Since we were already so far north we decided to check out a pumpkin farm, Sander's Family Farm, that came with a high recommendation. It was just south of Vinton, so a little bit of a drive, but OH SO WORTH IT! I think we found a new fall tradition, you know-cuz we need another one of those ;)

They have a huge pumpkin patch, heirloom gourds and squash, dirt-cheap indian corn, animals for the kids to look at, a HUGE pile of sand with shovels, dump trucks, and a slide. Micah was in Heaven! We didn't buy anything, as we already had a pumpkin, but we still had a blast!

Photo-op on one of the many benches on the farm. This family takes care of their customers and considers everything, from seating all over the farm to pumpkin spice air freshener in the port-a-potty!

He wasn't quite tall enough, so I had to lift him up. See me in the background?

"Look Mom! Dirt!"

I love this picture of Micah. He's has a cute little smile!

There were different areas like this all around for you to take pictures at.

See how sunny it was? 85 degrees was the high for the day!

Micah looking in at the goats. They had goats, an ostrich, pigs, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and calves. Micah loved the goats!

Micah enjoying the yummy ice cream the Isbell's brought!

Forest, a.k.a. Fo, enjoying the ice cream. He was smart and took off his shirt!

We had a great week, but are starting to feel the ramifications of not having a routine for a week! We're ready to get back into the swing of things, and get a little rest!

It was all worth it though!