Another lake adventure

What a wonderful weekend we had! I know it's already Tuesday night, but I'm just now getting around to the blog. We spent this past weekend with our community group from church at a lakehouse in Nebraska. We had such a great time! I can't even begin to explain how much we treasure this group. Michael and I consider community to be vital to our family's life, but because we have moved so often in our 9 years of marriage, there have definitely been times when we have not had a strong community of friends. This last move (already 2 1/2 years ago!) proved to be the most difficult, and we were beginning to feel like we would never have good friends. But God's timing is always perfect, and He has blessed us beyond belief.

Our group consists of 5 couples with 13 children under the age of 6. Yes, we all stayed in one house, and I think we still like each other. Things were understandably a bit crazy at times, but there was also such a sense of peace. There is just something about spending time with a group of people who love the Lord and want to glorify Him in all they do.

Here are all of the kiddos looking so happy to be getting their picture taken. I actually bribed them with ice cream. Can you believe that there were hardly any squabbles all weekend? Clearly it was a miracle.

All the men...

All the sunbathing beauties...

Hanging out in the lake...




Making s'mores...

Eating some homemade ice cream...

I just couldn't resist adding this one. Isn't he just the cutest little thing?


On the way home Michael and I decided that we weren't exhausted enough so we decided to stop at the Omaha zoo. It is such a great zoo and although it was blazing HOT, we had a great time. Did I mention that it was hot?

Graham was more hot than impressed with the animals

We did lots of walking and the boys got really tired! We had to carry Graham and let Levi sit in the stroller.


After the zoo, we were all thoroughly exhausted and really excited for the 3-hour drive home!

Beware of picture overload

We're home!

Our family returned last night from a 10-day trip to the lakehouse at Bay Lake in Minnesota. We go every summer, and it seems like each year we have a new little baby boy. Not really, but it sure does seem like it. This is a place so rich in tradition with Michael's family. He grew up spending his summers here and has so many great memories. I love watching him share this special place with his boys.

We had such a great time! The boys absolutely loved it. We had perfect weather the entire time...warm and sunny during the day and cool at night. Levi and Ben played outside all day - in the sand, on the boat, on the swingset, trampoline, and with all their second cousins. I think they each ate about 20 popsicles a day. I was laughing as I looked through the pictures because I don't have a single one with popsicles in their mouths. I don't know how that happened since they had one about 80 percent of the time. And the boys did better than we expected with all of us sleeping in the same room. I've already forgotten about the fact that Ben woke us all up at the crack of dawn every morning. Well, maybe I haven't forgotten.

I have so many fun pictures from the vacation that it's hard to choose just a few. So, here are LOTS of pictures to recap our time at the lake.

My little beach bums...

A true little beach "bum"...

Taking a paddle boat ride...

Fishing with Daddy...

Ben and Daddy tubing...

Playing in the sand...(This is where the boys spent most of their time - making sandcastles, rivers and lakes. We didn't allow them to take any toys with them to the lake so it was lots of fun to watch them get creative and just play.)

Boating fun...

Playing on the trampoline with Papa...

Just being boys...

Another family picture...

The entire Rothwell family...

My hubby still has his barefooting skills...

Levi wants to be just like Daddy...

Graham is ready to go tubing (Just kidding, Grandma!)...

Papa is such a great babysitter!...

Taking a nap on the beach...

And here they are playing putt-putt...

This was the first year that we were at the lake on the 4th, and we had such a great time. We had a family "Bay Lake Olympics", complete with relays, uniforms, prizes and medals. We shot off our own fireworks on the 4th and then watched the awesome fireworks show on the lake from our yard on the 5th...

One of the highlights of our trip was having our friends, Chris & Sarah, and their 3 little boys come to visit us for about 24 hours. We were good friends when we all lived in Fort Worth, and they recently moved to Minneapolis so they made the 2 1/2 hour drive to spend some time with us at the lake. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years, but it felt like we had just hung out last week. They are pregnant with baby boy #5 (they left #4 at home with the grandparents), so I was full of questions for them. I just wanted to sit and learn from Sarah because she is such a great boy mom. Oh how I wish I had more time to watch and learn from this precious family. And don't think the fact that we hadn't seen each other in years kept us from getting close. In fact, all 10 of us slept in one room. 4 adults and 6 kids in one room...now that's good friends!

As we were packing for the trip and making the long drive with 3 little ones in the car, I wondered if it really was worth all the work. The answer is Yes! It was definitely worth it. There is nothing like getting away from it all and just spending time together as a family. No phones. No television. No computer. Just us. I treasured every moment. And now we're back home where our lives are filled with distractions. But home is also a good place to be.

The adventurous life

I have always been a dreamer. As a little girl I spent lots of time imagining what my life would be like...my husband, kids, career. I would picture myself living in exotic locations married to prince charming. And as I grew up, the dreaming continued but became a little more realistic.

The one thing I always dreamed about and desired was adventure. I didn't want the status quo lifestyle. I wanted to experience new things, travel to new places and explore the "road less traveled". In college I really felt as though the Lord was calling me to something different, and I began to dream about missions. I remember having lunch with the Young Life director of South American countries and longing for the time when I could go. Nothing sounded more exciting.

There was one little problem...it just didn't seem to be what God was calling me to do. One of the evidences of that was a handsome guy named Michael. As much as I prayed that the Lord would take away this "distraction", He didn't. In fact, God continued to affirm this relationship and strengthen my feelings for him. I will never forget sitting in my apartment discussing the possibility of me going to South America with Young Life for 2 years when Michael told me to stay. I clearly remember him saying, "wait for me". And it wasn't in a jealous, prideful way but rather a prayerful suggestion that it just wasn't the right time.

So I didn't go, and the Lord had different plans for us. Greater plans. Fast forward about 11 years and here I am...a wife to a businessman, stay-at-home mother of 3, living life in the middle of the suburbs. Right back in the city where I grew up. A little different from the adventurous life I had planned, right?

But maybe not so different.

A couple of days ago we had a very chaotic evening (surprising, I know). Michael was away on a conference call and I was trying to get the 3 boys ready for bed. Levi and Ben had been very energetic so I turned on Veggie Tales in my room to get them to calm down a bit and so that I could do a few things in Graham's room and then get him to bed.

I was sitting in Graham's closet going through his clothes while he was crawling around the floor, pulling all the clothes off the shelves. Everything I would put up, he would remove. Meanwhile Levi and Ben didn't seem to be calming down and kept running in the closet, adding to the mess. The house was loud. Really loud.

And as I sat in the middle of the noise and mess, I felt a little stirring in my heart and it was almost as though God tapped me on the shoulder and whispered that this is my adventurous life. I could almost hear him say to me, "I have given you what you always wanted. I have given you adventure." l giggled as contentment flowed through me.

Tears rolled down my face as I fed Graham before putting him down. Have I missed it all this time? It's not that I have longed for some other kind of life or that I have regreted any plans the Lord had for me. I just thought my life didn't quite meet that life that I once thought I would have. But as I thought more about it, my life is definitely full of adventure. These 3 boys so close in age are more than an adventure!

"Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart". Psalm 37:4

He did give me the desires of my heart. Not in the way that I had planned but in the way He had planned. He knew the desires of my heart because He put them there. They were put there for Him to fulfill.

For the last couple of days I have been meditating on His revelation and praying that He would show me more. The truth is that even if I had 2 kids spaced a nice 3 or 4 years apart, life would still be adventurous because life with Christ is the adventure. There is no adventure more real or fulfilling than that.

A suburban housewife wasn't what I pictured for myself but it's more fulfilling than anything I could have dreamed up. In the midst of laundry, diapers, playdates and tantrums, there is a great adventure going on and I don't want to miss a minute of it.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the adventure you have given me and for the adventures that are waiting. Thank you for loving me and giving me the desires of my heart. I could think of no greater gift than the privilege of knowing Christ and living His great adventure. Help me to find the adventures you have waiting for me each day no matter the circumstances I am in. And help me to instill in my chidren a desire to walk in obedience to you, that they may also know the adventurous life.

Happy Father's Day!

Michael, I hope you felt extra loved today. We didn't do anything too exciting. We spent the morning at church and then went out to lunch. Today was one of those lunches that made us wonder why we ever eat out with these 3. You definitely didn't have a nice, relaxing Father's Day lunch...sorry about that! You ran a couple of errands this afternoon to take care of car stuff (typical of you to take care of us on your special day!) and then you were able to relax and watch some golf until the little ones woke up from their naps. It was a beautiful evening so we picked up a pizza and went to the park. As always, I loved watching you play with the boys!

Our boys are so blessed to have you as their Daddy. Honestly, I couldn't imagine a better Dad for our little guys. Their eyes light up when they see you, and they have more fun with you than anyone else. You are a kid at heart, and it shows when you play with them. Whether it's wrestling on the trampoline, playing at the park, going on bike rides or playing golf and soccer in the yard, you have just as much fun as they do.
But you aren't just fun. You are dependable and trustworthy. Gentle and full of compassion. Most of all, you love the Lord and seek Him as we raise these men. I'm so thankful that my boys have you to look up to and emulate. And I'm so thankful that I get to be on this parenting journey with you because you make me a better mom. We love you!

Gahweh is His Name

So I haven't been blogging much lately. I don't know why. I guess the truth is that I just haven't had much to blog about. Life has been busy but not spectacular. Does that make sense? Maybe I just haven't felt all that inspired. All the sitting-around-the-house after Levi's surgery sucked all of the inspiration out of me. Or maybe I'm just trying to figure out how this blogging thing fits into my routine.

Lately I have discovered that I'm doing a bunch of stuff but not doing any of it very well. And I don't like that. While I would love to be involved with everything and friends with everyone, this stage of life (or any stage for that matter) just doesn't allow it. I realized that I didn't have time to call some of my closest friends, but I was taking time to write posts on my blog. That didn't make sense to me. And I wasn't taking enough time to just sit and read books to the boys. To lay on the floor and play with them. To go on long walks. To build tall towers. I was being a decent mom but not a great mom.

So I decided that blogging needs to be an "extra". I enjoy it and find that it meets many of my needs, but I don't want to do it if it means that I'm not doing the most important things well. So if I'm able to blog every few days, great. But if not, then that's just fine too.

Right now our house is living in the world of Vacation Bible School. I love it. I absolutely love it. It's probably not cool to love VBS so much, but I do. It brings back so many memories from my childhood. All the neighbor kids and I piled into my mom's station wagon and headed to our Baptist church. My mom was always in charge of the music, and I thought she was famous. And I worked so hard to win an award for all of the friends that I invited. I still remember the sheer joy in receiving the sticker on my nametag for each verse I would memorize. What fun! I'm so glad that Levi gets to participate now. He's having such a fun time at Outrigger Island. I wish I could say the same for Ben and Graham, but since they are so little, the mornings have been very long for them. I have to hide from Ben every time I walk past his childcare room because he grabs on to me as though he's been away from me for days.

The boys have been walking around the house singing, "Gahweh, Gahweh is His name!". It cracks me up. I've been trying to get them both to say, "Yahweh", but they don't get it. Oh well.

And I was just distracted from blogging because I looked over at Levi playing with his cars and noticed that his hair was covered in baby spit-up. Then I noticed a big pile of it on the hardwood floor right by where he was playing. I do remember Graham spitting up all over the place about an hour earlier. I had cleaned Graham up but not the floor. Now Levi smells just delightful.

My life is glamorous. It really is. I need to clear my head. I think I'll go spend some time with Gahweh...

Forget about being a soccer mom...I'm gonna be a wrestling mom.

We have had an eventful couple of days.

We went to the childrens hospital on Wednesday morning for Levi to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. It was such a tough decision for us. We went back and forth on whether or not we should have it done. I think I always knew it was the right thing, but it was just scary to think about him going in for surgery, and obviously I didn't want to do it if it wasn't absolutely necessary. But listening to him sleep every night, I knew it was what we had to do.

We were expecting the worst, but we were pleasantly surprised in the pre-op as Levi was very cooperative and happy. He even agreed to wear the hospital gown. He wasn't exactly happy about that part, but he did cooperate. He didn't even cry when they wheeled him away from us. I was so nervous in the waiting room, just praying my heart out.

The surgery went great. It lasted about 45 minutes, which seemed like an eternity to me. I was so relieved when the surgeon came out to the waiting room after surgery and said Levi's adenoids and tonsils were both huge. That really affirmed our decision. We had to wait about another hour to see him, which seemed like more than an eternity.

They finally came and got us as they were wheeling Levi into his recovery room where they said we would spend about 4 hours. Or so they thought.

Levi was so happy to see us and just wanted me to hold him. He seemed to be in so much pain and was a bit delirious. The fun part began when it was time for the nurses to give Levi his medicine. Let's just say that he wasn't very happy about it. It literally took Michael and I plus 2 nurses to hold him down so that the medicine could be forced into his mouth. It was absolutely terrible. Poor Levi's throat hurt so badly that he didn't want to swallow a thing. One of the nurses said that she had been a pediatric nurse for over 40 years and had never seen a child protest quite so much. They kept commenting on how strong he was and then the other nurse said to me, "Have you ever thought about getting him into wrestling?" NO! I have not, and I don't plan to think about it. A future of watching my son roll around on mats in tight clothes doesn't sound appealing to me.

The nurses hadn't been able to get Levi to drink anything, but they thought maybe we would be able to convince him. They definitely don't know our Levi. You can't convince him of much once he's made up his mind. So the next several hours were spent with nurses tempting Levi with every fun drink they could imagine. Michael and I just shook our heads, knowing that nothing would probably work. If chocolate milk and sprite weren't going to work, nothing would. Levi would drink when he was ready, and he definitely wasn't ready yet.

We realized later that evening that we weren't going home, and they admitted us into an overnight room. Levi was completely out of it and in pain. Because of the risk of his throat bleeding and dehydration, we couldn't go home until he was drinking and taking his meds. Thankfully, my mom was at home with Ben and Graham.

Levi slept most of the night, and we had many more battles with medicine. I am sure that there are Levi medicine stories being told around town by sweet, innocent nurses who had to witness the battles. Poor things.

Levi woke up Thursday morning and seemed to be feeling a little better. We got him to take a few sips and then came the climax...he took his medicine without a fight. The nurse was so excited that she went and got him a "prize". I expected a little trinket or sticker, but she brought back a brand-new, still in the box, big truck. Levi looked at her, smiled and mouthed "thank you". We decided that it was time for us to go home. Although he still hadn't met the requirements to be released, we asked them to let us go because we thought he might do better at home.

And, yes, he sure has. He started drinking a lot better yesterday and even had a few bites of pudding and macaroni & cheese. He slept great last night and woke up happy today. He has spent most of the day watching movies and playing trains. He even played outside for a while and asked to ride his trike. Tonight he seems like his old self again. Well, maybe not quite that good yet. I think it will be a while before he's back to normal.

And now Levi is milking this for all its worth. "Remember Mommy, the doctor said I can have as much ice cream as I want," he told me. And all he wants to drink is Sprite and juice, neither of which we have ever kept here at the house. We are going to have some lovely habits to break! Ben is benefitting from his brother's surgery as well...juice boxes, popsicles, ice cream, mac & cheese, lots of movies. He owes his brother big time!

The next 10-14 days will be filled with lots of videos and ice cream. And since he's not supposed to participate in any strenuous activity, we'll try to keep the wrestling at a minimum.