Blessed

Everyday I am blessed.  On this Mother's Day I find a minute to reflect.

Of course I was showered with gifts.  I mean, if we're honest here, what mother doesn't love a great gift?  Annie made a heart-felt card with homemade coupons.  One for a foot massage, one for a back rub and one for her to make the supper.  Does this girl KNOW me, or what???  Dylan gave me a potted pansy plant from school.  Kaytee surprised me with a bouquet of cupcakes.  Very creative.  And Dan brought home a hanging outdoor plant, which he confessed he bought at the last minute at Walmart.  And I'm good with that. 

Dan took the day off of work.  Off on a Sunday is something that doesn't happen often for him, especially in this season.  The kids have been asking for it though; wondering when we'll all spend the day together. I know that the summer months will mean long weekends for him on the river so his day with us is a gift.

A great day in Stillwater.  Lunch.  Walking the main street.  Window shopping.  Ice Cream. Hanging out by the water.

Church was, as usual, spectacular.  It's amazing how a "mega-church" (14 largest in the nation) can feel like a home.  The take-away for me was to always "speak the truth but speak it with love".  Many churches today preach the Biblical truth with out love for the souls affected.  As many others overflow with love and forget about the truth of the written Word.  My challenge as a parent (and friend, Christian, peer) is to always speak the truth with love in my heart. 

A Game-Changer

Today started out as "one of those days".  It was rainy and cold.  I felt lazy.  In fact, I layed on the couch in the morning and fell asleep a bit.  We set out to do errands and all I heard was bickering.  We were going to stop for lunch and they absolutely could not agree.  Anne actually cried at Dylan's decision to go to LeeAnn Chin's.  Cried.  Seriously?  We finally went to MY choice.  Caribou Coffee.  :)

We went shopping.  It didn't stop.  Dylan complained because he couldn't buy a toy.  Anne bickered because she couldn't buy a purse.  Ugh.  I was about ready to give up and go sit in front of the TV.  Finally I suggested we look for a waterfall and even that was met with resistance.  "It's too cold".  (I told you to wear pants).  "My allergies make my face hurt.  Let's go home". (Your allergies will still be miserable at home).  So we just went.  I didn't tell them where we were going.  I just drove. 

And THIS is what we found.  A few minutes east of Woodbury.  And it was a game-changer.

Still learning how to use my camera.

Anybody recognize this hidden gem? 

Finally got the settings figured out (I think).

Before the birth of his son Sampson, Manoah, prayed:  “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy” (Judges 13:8)

What I Do Best

I've decided that this blog will change the path of its original intention.  Those of you who know me understand.  Changing my mind is what I do best!  Here's the thing...

Yes.  We're still going to trek for waterfalls, but so much else happens in between the chance to go out waterfalling.  Dylan's paintball birthday was last week.  No waterfalls there so it didn't make it into the blog.  We have a very fun new trampoline in the backyard.  No waterfalls.  Not in the blog. 

So I'm going to take the lead from another Mom at http://www.mythreemuses.com/.  She uses her blog as a digital scrapbook for her babies (and life).  I do have scrapbooks and creating them is really fun.  It's time I spend with my sister and in fond rememberence of days gone by.  But the fact is, my kids are nearly teenagers and I spend a fair amount of scrapbooking time just trying to remember what happened when they were four, or five, or nine.  And that makes me sad. 

So although I really love holding the final product (a beautiful, frilly, completed scrapbook page) in my hand, I need more immediate satisfaction.  I need a way to record what's happening now instead of what happened years ago.  So, this blog, originally intended for the search for waterfalls over Summer Break 2013, has now become the official, forever and ever, not-just-for-waterfalls blog.  The cool thing is that there are companies who will make your blog into actual hardcover books.  Maybe someday (graduation, wedding, grandbaby birth, ???? ) I will have it published and actually present it as a gift to my babies. 

BUT I NEED A NEW NAME.  Eventually Anne and Dylan's Great Waterfall Quest should be retitled.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Help please. 

Paintball to the head.  Thank God for helmets or this party would have been over fast! 05/04/2013

Anne's first blog post.

Hi i'm Anne Harjes. so let me tell you a little bit about me. I'm a daughter,sister,and i'm also a third grade student.On my free time I like to hang out with my friends.And most importantly I  like to spend time with my family.And this is how we came up with the idea for a mom,brother and sister waterfall quest.So we were thinking about what to do when summer were to start. We thoght we should go on a hike and see what we can find.But we also wanted to see something you can't just find anywhere.So my mom said WE SHOULD GO SEE A WATERFALL.I said we shouldn't just see one we should see as many as we can in the whole summer.And that is how we got the idea of what to do during the long summer.

If you are wondering how many waterfalls do I want to see. well I want to see all the waterfalls in Minnesota.But it will take alot of effort to do all that we want to do.
so thanks for hearing the bizz so i'll get back to you soon.

SEE YOU SOON!

A Start: Goals vs Stories

I'm an employee.  I'm someone's supervisor.  I'm a daughter, sister and wife.  I'm a college student.  And I'm a mom.  It was during one of my classes as a college student that I was introduced to the musings of Donald Miller, a Christian author.  I was drawn to his writings on "living a good story".  Essentially, Miller writes that many of us set the same goals over and over again and fail again and again (think back to Jan. 1 of any year) because we fail to recognize that goals get met in the narrative of the story.  In his words, "a story gives a goal a narrative context and forces you to engage and follow through" (Miller, 2010). 

Fast forward to today.  I'm sitting in front of my TV, still in my PJs, make-up smudged from yesterday, thinking about how quickly my kids are growing up.  This is something that every parent does (although I understand that really put-together moms who never have smudged make-up do exist ... but I don't know any of them).  Instead of wasting away our years together, I want these next 5-8 years to mean something.  Anne and Dylan are 9 and 10.  Will I still get another 8 years with them?  8 years where I still get to decide what they do, who they hang out with and what's for supper?  Probably not, but I'm going to take what I can get and hold it tight and live a great story. 

Which brings us to Anne and Dylan's Great Waterfall Adventure.  Previously the goal would have been something like this:
1.  Spend more quality time with the kids this summer.
2.  Get outside more.
3.  Get more outside exercise in our very few nice MN months (read "lose a couple pounds).
4.  Explore the often overlooked beauty in the nature that is right outside my back door. 

Instead, the story has began to unfold.  This summer we will discover as many waterfalls as possible.  Will it be time well spent?  Absolutely.  Will it meet the four goals above?  Probably.  Will I ever get this summer to do over again?  Never.