Love My Littles

Back some 4,909 blogs ago – not kidding – I started writing so I could share our youngsters' growing-up years with my family. They grew. The nest is empty. But I'm still blogging. Lucky you.

Now, 14 years later, I have a new crop of youngsters to keep my eye on. After garnering parental consent, I can share a few more fun photos from the R Family Reunion this past weekend. I adore my great-nieces and great-nephews. You know. They're great!

Little T was climbing up everything. No fear for this girl!

For this one either. M does not mind heights or swinging or flipping. She's a gymnast in training. For real!

When South Dakota and Minnesota girls get together, they become instant besties!

So, so adorable!!!

L wants a turn at climbing, too! Based on his height at under 3 years old, he's going to reach that bar soon!

"Take my picture! I'm cute!"

Batman was here!

Concentrating on the climb!

"Let me show you a trick or two."

Keep trying, T3, er Batman!

So much courage and energy with these kiddos!

Q shows her girl power!

T2 is diggin' this park!

T1 talking about the old days with Grandpa Ken!

Q's turn to climb!

Why yes, that is a hot metal slide.

You're safe, N. Just go down fast!

Let's go fishin'!

Grandma Nell baiting the hook for A.

"I caught a snail without using a fishing pole!"

Any bites yet?

"Got one!" There's a lot of excitement when M catches a fish.

You can just hear Q saying: "Ewwww!"

The boys aren't sure it they should touch it or just look at it!

Now everyone's looking at the fish swimming below the dock, wondering how they only managed to catch ONE!

Relaxing with some yard games. Gotta capture that Hedberg competitive side! Don't worry, we all still loved each other at the end of the day. Just a blessing to see all the littles after at least a year.

And now there's one more little...

On Jim's side of the family! Little E joined the family yesterday! Congrats to our nephew Colin and his wife for bringing this guy into our hearts. I bet somebody's going to be a super big sister to him, too. How exciting.

Thanks for all of them (and the ones not pictured), God. I trust You to keep up with them. Lord knows I can't!

The First Immaculate Reception

I got distracted by Mother Nature and forgot to share my column from this week's church bulletin. The fun about writing about any of the Gospels is the most of us know all the stories. We just don't always think about how they relate to our daily lives today.

The First Immaculate Reception 

Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who found the Super Bowl a bit on the boring side last Sunday. My main excitement was checking the scores at the end of each quarter to see if I was getting any returns on my, uhm, investments. (I did, by the way.)

Usually, my reprieve from a less-than-stellar game is the commercials. Everyone releases their really good ones for this incredibly large viewing audience. This year, though… meh. Nothing that great, if you ask me.

One commercial that did stand out? The one where more than 40 current and former NFL players appeared in the league's tackle-filled commercial, called “The 100-Year Game.” It culminated with, what else, one of the most famous plays in the history of American football – the Immaculate Reception. It even had former Steelers fullback Franco Harris in the scene to re-create that historic and controversial play. Pretty cool.

In today’s gospel reading, we read about a different kind of “catch.”

We find ourselves by the Lake of Gennesaret – a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee. Jesus sees some fishermen who have had an unsuccessful day of it. He urges them to cast their nets one more time. Despite skepticism, they do it. And soon find themselves knee deep in more fish than they know what to do with. They’re thrilled and, at the same time, probably pretty freaked out by what just occurred.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to them, “from now on you will be catching people.”

Catching people? Yes, catching people. I remember a song we used to sing in Sunday School when I was a girl. “I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men, I will make you fishers of men – if you follow me…” (There were even some fun actions, too, that I can demonstrate when no one’s looking.)

And what made for a good catch? Oh, people like you and me. Not perfect, but humble enough to know we need God’s help, guidance, and love to get us through life. Willingness to open our hearts, let Him in, and share His good news.

Did Jesus and his team do an end-zone dance after every catch? Probably not. But I’m sure they were joyous and thankful. In God’s eyes, catching each one of us has been an Immaculate Reception. Praise the Lord for that!

Blame the Heat

At 6:15 a.m. it was already 77 degrees so I knew it was going to be a bit wicked again. I know it probably got to 90 again but, in typical Wisconsin fashion, the temps will plunge to 49 degrees tonight and this heat wave will be nothing but a memory.

Probably a good thing. I had some "senior moments" today that I am much too young for... so I'll blame the heat. The baseball team had some non-energy moments (a lot of them) tonight... and I think we can probably blame the heat for those, too!

Had a big loss tonight and have one more makeup game for league next Thursday. Hopefully we'll finish on a strong note!

Carter was pretty wiped out tonight but I can't blame him. It was his first day at "Adventures in Leadership" so he got to go fishing at the hot lake (twice) and go swimming at the cool pool in the fitness center. No wonder he was a bit tuckered out!

He's not complaining, though. He caught (and released) 3 fish today and was very excited about the experience. He got his fishing pole and tackle box as a birthday present last year so it's about time he puts them to some good use.

Something tells me he's going to have a great time in Iola this summer. Again.

And yes, the first day and he was already asking to go to Shivers or King Cone. Unfortunately, we just didn't have time when we picked him up! (Good thing Dairy Treat was open after the baseball game.)

Where the wild things are

The position of being the baby of the family comes with its perks. Despite my tales of hardship and woe, my older siblings claim I had a spoiled childhood ... or at least had many privileges they did not.

Carter happens to be the youngest grandchild (he doesn't like it when I say he's the "baby"). This means that while most of his cousins are grown men and women who may or may not have gotten into trouble now and then, Carter can still charm his way into the hearts (and homes) of his aunts and uncles. This includes, but is not limited to, extended stays or what we call vacation.

Last summer, he had such a great time during his "Up North Vacation," getting passed around from sister to sister while acquainting himself with Jack Pine Savages, he decided to do it again. Mission control was once again at my sister Romey's house in rural Grantsburg, Wisconsin.

Somehow, throughout the course of his stay earlier this month, he managed to do something special with my parents and each of my siblings (except Rayna in Texas of course -- but he spent Spring Break there on his "Down South Vacation.") He went to the fair with Grandma and Grandpa, played at the park with Auntie Nell and cousin Anthony, had lunch at the wildlife park with Aunt Rachel (see photo above), went to the fair (again!) and four-wheeling with Auntie Ro and Uncle Ken, stayed at Auntie Lene's and went mini-golfing with her and cousin Ashley, then capped off the week at the Vikings scrimmage with Uncle Ron and cousin David. Somewhere in between all that, while staying at Romey's, he spent quality time with a bear in their yard, went fishing and lazed around in their pool.

With all that excitement, a kid would be hard pressed to pick his favorite highlight of the week. But he really just can't stop talking about that baby black bear that visited Romey and Rick's a time or two that week -- and even took a nap while they were in the pool. Romey took a picture to prove that Carter was "sort of close" to one. He assured me he was safe. "Mom, they're harmless!"

Really? Harmless? I don't think he knows too much about the wild things north of Highway 8. He does know about being spoiled. And I know about a pretty special family who takes the time to make some great memories for my "baby." Thanks, everyone!