Thanksgiving

I wondered why I was so tired after Thanksgiving until I started posting all the pictures. It was a major holiday this year involving haircuts and birthdays, wiffleball (of course, doesn't every get together?) in funny hats and pants, the "Game" which they are inventing in teams of two and including Austin involving physical challenges, trivia and emotional battering and mental toughness that can be played for years to come. Also, treats brought back from a trip to Mexico by Adam, a football game with some of us just watching, time with Austin on Skype from Afghanistan, a great turduckin thanksgiving meal with all the fixins, a baby shower for the first grandchild due in February with some unique gifts (thanks Uncle Blake, it's perfect), and decorated onsies (see the G'pas having fun? Paul's had a beard of course.) Lots of our friends came to celebrate with us.We missed some of the rest of our family, but some of them came to see us, which was nice. Whew! Now I'm tired again after writing all this. Sure was fun....when can we do it again? I'll hold the baby.

Trying Something New

Jacob tried Futsal this winter...indoor soccer in one of the elementary schools in town. It's a fast paced game on a small court. The spectators have to watch carefully cause they kick hard and it really hurts if you get caught not looking and get hit by the ball! His foot skills improved a lot in the eight games they played. We might do it again this spring. It's a switch from regular soccer which he likes and hopefully will play for a long time.

Choir

Jacob is in choir again this fall. I'm glad cause I like his voice. Not sure where the bow-tie idea came from though, he is an unique kid. He's in a boy's choir. The girls sing the same night so we ended up at Heyns for ice cream with the Burdens. Heyns is a music tradition...

12 years later

I can't believe it's been twelve years of work on Jacob's mouth for his cleft lip repair and the dental work that goes with it. He was born with an aborted cleft which means his lip was split but joined up again before he was born. There was such a little notch...I remember asking the doctor why we had to fix it, it didn't seem that bad to us. I guess it would've just gotten worse with age, so at 2 (most people fix them at 3 months) we had his lip repaired due to lack of insurance until then. It actually was better because there was more surface area for the doctor to work with and it turned out well. He had arm braces on so he wouldn't touch the sutures and Jay and I took turns sleeping in the recliner with him for a month because he had to sleep on his back (that's an advantage of doing it at 3 months, they can sleep in their car seat). Laying on top of him to put antibiotic ointment on his lip was fun because he squirmed a lot. But he got to drink chocolate milk while on a liquid diet for many days.
Then we moved onto bone graft surgery for the cleft a few years later that was in his gum line to help support the tooth that needed to come in there. His hip where they took the bone hurt more than his mouth.
We just went through his second set of braces and overlays on some of his front teeth to make canines look like incisors that were pulled.
Jacob's been to many doctors and dentists - I think about 5 orthodontists because we're at the U, but one awesome surgeon who is retired now which is too bad, he was great..He's given lots of blood and some spit (along with the rest of the family) for several studies he's in to find out the causes for this genetic and environmental birth defect. He's had cameras where most people don't all to help the cause. We are grateful he doesn't have speech or other problems.
The pictures above - one with Alex and Penny to celebrate their birthdays and he being done with his work. The other is with his last orthodontist that did his overlays. He is now taller than the last two who worked on him.
We are so grateful for all the great help we have gotten. We thank God he has provided the resources he has for us. We are excited to see how this has grown Jacob (he's a great patient)as a person and how God will use it for his glory in the future. And we're glad we're done we hope!

Basketball Season

Basketball was fun this winter. Jacob was on the C team. There was no pressure and he got to play a lot. He had some good shots, and was good at playing guard too. We noticed how many different body types and abilities there really are in junior high and how they don't always match up the way you expect. It was fun to watch him just have fun and not worry much about the competition. Especially when his parents are way too competitive themselves.

Watch Out World!

Fall

Here's some of the things we were doing this fall. Jacob played football for school. He's the little guy in the middle pitching the ball. He played quarterback and did a good job this year. We went hiking around town on a nice fall day when the leaves were falling. It was a nice afternoon. He also plays soccer. His friend Shelby is in the picture here with him. She plays defense, so the object was to score against her (we didn't). We also resumed our tailgating before the high school football games in the local church parking lot. We meet other friends there and throw the ball around and eat whatever people bring to share. It's a fun tradition.

Three Generations

I got to go spend some time with Laura while Adam was traveling this fall for work. We had no plans, but seemed to fill the time easily. Lots of walking (I sure needed it), cooking, watching football and baseball (yes, even without the boys there), baby shopping, and just talking. We don't get to be just us girls very often, hope we get to do it again. There's something special about hanging out with all my children and enjoying them doing simple things, connecting, and talking about how God is working in their lives (and ours). It was such a blessing to me. Blake, that second photo is for you from Laura.

Family Reunions

We had a couple of family reunions this summer. One for G'pa's sibling and their families. Jay and his siblings are standing with his cousins on that side.It was a beautiful day out in the country and we wished we could've stayed longer, it was so peaceful and one because Elise and Ben came home to visit and all the younger kids were there. Jacob is now the oldest of the group. The younger boys are trying to prove they are just as tough as he is...The pictures at the top are of a bonfire Marv and Jan had when Loren got back from Afghanistan. I think Jan is trying to get in on Mary's new financial adventures (if you don't know what I mean, ask Mary :) ).

First Days of School

Jacob started school last week and Blake starts tomorrow. We always take the porch picture through 12th grade, I should make a collage...hmm. Anyway when we took Blake we hung out on the football field for awhile where the W is and I was thinking how my loyalties have reversed with children. I went to and cheered for a green and gold school and now we only wear red and black at out house, no green and gold allowed. When I was looking at the W in the middle of Blake's field now and liking it, I was remembering the W that some Wartburg students burned into the middle of our football field at Luther with gasoline so it couldn't go away for about a year or so. Funny how things change....

Teeth

I saw all of these retainer cases stacked up yesterday and thought, wow, the focus is on teeth right now for Jacob! We've got regular orthodontic retainers (clear), we've got a mouthguard for football (purple, cause we had to go to North Central to get fitted instead of the cool City High red ones), more orthodontic retainers (clear) for some specific work he's having done right now, and an empty case to take to school for the retainers during lunch. Shoot, there better be some pretty teeth when we're all done!

Salsa

Salsa. That's all I have to say....good memories, best ever batch I think.

Summer

It's hard to believe summer is almost over...:(
Here's a few pictures of what we did. Blake worked at the Iowa City baseball fields again, mainly at Mercer Park taking care of the diamonds and getting them ready for games. He also took a class to help out with his schedule in the next year. It's fun to hear his heart for Jesus and what he's been learning about Jonathan Edward's interpretation of scripture. We enjoy him a lot and love hanging out with him and will miss him when he goes back to school.
We celebrated the 4th of July again this year with breakfast, parade and wiffleball and fireworks later with friends and family. Our other kids also do this where they live so this tradition is spreading across the nation! I think the competition has become how extravagant the invitation is! Jacob played club baseball again for the Little Hawks. He's kind of a utility player playing many positions including pitcher. When he's not playing, he's swimming or gaming or eating or being a fun and generous with the hugs kid. Our other kids Laura and Adam are in Boone growing our new grandbaby to be born next spring, we're so excited to be grandparents! We also helped out at the county fair this year for the first time. We had a booth for Operation Christmas Child to help promote it in the community. It was a great event even though it was hot, but many learned about helping to present the gospel to children around the world through Samaritan's Purse, a relief organization that does a lot of good and tells people about Jesus as they do. Jay was excellent with the kids especially, he has a way...he'll make a great G'pa.

Boone 2011

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Easter

I'm not sure why Julie and Betty are stealing candy from the kids, but James doesn't notice and Joe's coming to help himself!
Easter egg hunt with the cousins....can you see the blue egg?
The under 30 crowd got designated to the deck for lunch. Joe, Philip, Loren, Martin and Kevin to the right out of the picture.
That basket just keeps getting harder to find every year....

I know it's a little late, but better than never right? We hosted Easter this year. Most of Jay's family came and my mom and Paul and Penny. Strange that Jacob was our only child here. It was a nice day though. Good food & lots of laughter. Glad we got to celebrate Jesus with you all!

Starting Well

Wrestling started this week. Not exactly sure how I feel about it. It doesn't seem that long since Blake was out there. The conditioning and discipline will be good for Jacob and he actually pinned his first guy in his first match on Tuesday. He went in with a scrape under his eye from practice, maybe it helped make him tougher cause it did hurt.