Spoke Too Soon

Well, I spoke too soon about the whole "my sunburn doesn't hurt too bad" thing. We're on, what, day 4 now? And I'm still limited as to what I can wear on my upper half. Give me a couple of days & I'll be leaving a trail of skin wherever I walk.

It's peaceful here right now... The children are bonding over a Disney video before bed, and Eric is at Celebrate Recovery. I expect him home earlier than usual tonight, as the leadership there is becoming quite competent... Eric is needed to do some of the speaking, but the rest of the leaders there are capable of doing everything else. This program has been totally God... I know I've said it before, but I'm just so amazed at how He surrounded us with people (recovering addicts) who have a passion to help others like themselves... We would never have guessed that we'd have a ministry such as this--and really, we don't. THEY do. These wonderful 8-10 people who are so passionate...they simply wouldn't let us NOT do this. Wow... it's so neat to watch God work.

Speaking of work, Tim Olson (our friend, church elder, and electrician) worked on our new office some more today. Slowly but surely it's coming together... and believe it or not, we don't even miss that storage area in the garage. It's incentive to keep getting rid of stuff, and, hey, if you have to STORE it, do you really NEED it????? "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths & rust (& mold) destroy..." As my dad says, "It's all gonna burn anyway..."

Speaking of my parents, it's my mom's 49th birthday today! Woooo hoooo! I told her she's getting old. She told me she was only 47 a year ago yesterday. I told her she'll be 50 a year from today. :-)

Tomorrow is Holland & Aidan's last day of "school." Aidan will return to Leaps 'n' Bounds in the fall for 2-3 days/week, but Holland will join Braden at Kaleidoscope Charter School for all-day-every-day kindergarten in the fall. I'm considering hiring a nanny of sorts for June-August, to help out around here with H & A on days that I need to work. Having Britney here 4 days/week in the office has absolutely saved my sanity. She's FABULOUS!!! And we're never going to let her leave us. (Said selfishly, only half-jokingly...) :-)

We're due for a thunderstorm, I think! How exciting!

God Bless!

Dip me in Ranch...I'm fried...

Well, whaddaya know... I'm the schmuck who got the sunburn yesterday. I sat in the sun for what seemed like a brief time, but apparently it was too long. My chest/shoulders and legs are fried. Sigh. I'm gonna do everything I can to keep from peeling, but it's probably a losing battle. The good thing: it wasn't bad enough to hurt. It's just kinda itchy and warm.

Braden caught himself five fish yesterday. A couple of them were 20-25 inch Northern. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

We all went to soccer with Braden last night. Again, we're very impressed with the coaching in this program. It's a drive, but Eric and I are both glad we missed the TRSA sign up this year (the local program he's been in for 2 years). Anoka's program -- and his coach -- is fantastic!

Well, it's a work day today. It's so cool to have 5 staff people here for Tuesday staff meetings now! Whoopeeee! God is GOOD!!!

Good Day for a Sprinkler

Ever since Eric told Aidan once that it was a "good day for ..." (I don't know what the original phrase was), Aidan likes to use the phrase. I asked him one (very cold) day why he was wearing shorts. "It's a good day for shorts," he told me.

Well, he and Holland have been begging for about a month (in like 50 degree weather, mind you) to get out the swimming pool. Today was my first day to sit out in the sun with the intent of getting some color on these pasty white legs (the temp is supposed to hit 80 today), and yep, here they came, "Can we go swimming?" No. "Can we play in the sprinkler?" No...well, ok. We have well water. VERY COLD well water. I knew this would be a great idea, but only for a short time. They got all swimsuited up and had a blast avoiding the sprinkler while I finished reading The DaVinci Code. (It's FICTION, people!!!) Now Aidan's in bed, and Holland is taking her turn on the long-awaited laptop.

Consistent with our relaxed approach to school, Eric picked Braden up at 1:05 and brought him home to get the boat & go fishing. Hope it's a successful & enjoyable trip for them...and hope they don't get sunburnt. At least they're wearing hats.

Speaking of DaVinci, we addressed the topic Sunday at church, with three guest professors: One from Northwestern College (my alma mater), one from Crown College, and one from the University of St. Thomas (Catholic). We had a great attendance (answer to prayer), and an excellent opportunity to hear these very intelligent men absolutely demolish Dan Brown's claims in the book. Eric interviewed the professors, asking relevant questions... It was very good. By tomorrow it should be online on our church website for your listening pleasure. But my thoughts on the whole thing? IT'S FICTION! Though the historical "explanations" can really confuse one who reads it as if Brown actually did research for accurate information. Which he did not.

Anyhoo, I took Holland to the performing line recital last night at the place where she performed last week. Our seats weren't super, but she loved watching the show. I think she was a little jealous during the finale, since she knew that dance (it was the same finale as her show). I think she was thinking, "I should be up there!" :-) But we had a fun time, just the two of us, and I'm glad I took her. She was able to see her teachers dance & give them hugs during the intermission.

Braden has soccer tonight, so we're letting him skip his school choir concert. Eric despised choir concerts when he was a kid, so apparently it's not high on his priority list for Braden, either. Holland will be another story. :-)

God bless you today! Don't forget to pray for our friend Adam. He gets a CT scan today, I believe, and we'll hear results tomorrow before he starts chemo. God can do miracles! Pray!

Dance Pictures

I'm not incredibly technologically savvy, but here's my best attempt at posting some pics of Holland's recital (actually this was the dress rehearsal; they won't let you take pics at the recital itself.) She was the first to remember the "moves" in this pic. from the ballet piece, "The Alphabet Song."
And this was from the tap song. "If you're happy and you know it."


And these are from the finale....


Here's a shot from the hallway backstage at the dress rehearsal...



And one with her big brother after the actual recital on Sunday...



And one with her biggest fan!

Mondays Keep Coming! YES!!

It's another Sabbath Monday here, but an unusual one.
Eric just headed to school with Braden. He is going to chaperone a field trip today. Braden's class is going to an old-fashioned school house. They were supposed to go back in April, but we had a snow day instead. Saturday was fishing opener, so Eric had plans to fish with Adam today...so as soon as school is out (2:15), he's picking Adam up on the way home & they're heading to the lake. THEN Braden has his first soccer practice tonight at 7:15 in Anoka. We had to do Anoka (about 20 min. away) this year, because TRSA filled up before we remembered to register. Eric will need a day off after his day off...but I'm sure that won't happen!

So Braden is on Team Holland with Minnesota Revolution soccer club. He's bummed that he's not on Team Brazil, as we originally thought, but we like Team Holland for obvious reasons. Plus, he does have a real jersey fom Holland, which is cool. Today we have to find his shin guards, though.

I can hear Holland coughing. She's still in bed. She had a big day yesterday, with church & then her dance recital. She was FABULOUS! She is quite the leader of her group (she and a friend named Charlie were the only second-year dancers in her class--from DOB, anyway). Shen knew her moves & sang loudly, too. :-) We were (are) SOOOOO proud of her. Her songs were If you're happy and you know it (tap), and the Alphabet song (ballet). Eric & I, Braden & Chrissie had front row seats, so we saw faces very well, but couldn't quite see feet. Don, Janice & Cassie Berre came also, and had seats right behind us. Braden brought his game boy, but didn't even play it. He surprised himself by enjoying the show. (Originally he had all kinds of evil plans about how to trip the dancers....as he wasn't excited about going.) Dancin' on Broadway puts on QUITE a show. They do 9 recitals over the course of a couple of weeks (they have 2 locations of dance schools). Next Sunday night, Holland and I will be going on a "mommy-daughter date" to the all-performing-line show. I know she will LOVE it, and it'll be inspirational to her. Those kids can DANCE.

Holland just emerged from her room wearing the new jammies & carrying the new purse notebook the Berres gave her yesterday at her recital.

Aidan got to hang out yesterday afternoon at his friend Raymond's house. He was very excited, and had lots of fun. We were very glad that he didn't need to go to the recital with us. That kid is a mover & shaker.

On behalf of the Dykstras, have a great day! Walk in Jesus' steps. It's one of the few "safe zones" in life. (for more info. on that, you can listen to Eric's talk from Sunday at www.crossingatwoodland.com.) :-) It should be up later today.

Blessings!

Dancing & Fishing

Well, I did survive Eric's retreat, and amazingly he survived mine this past week, although he did manage (with the help of Aidan) to lose the car keys & had to take all the kids to school late on Tuesday morning, when he finally got ahold of our friend Keith to drive them. Then he got ahold of Dave to take him to pick me up, but a minute later he found the keys behind the kitchen door. So he flew to pick me up about an hour late. Fine with me, but he was pretty frazzled. But he took me to Perkins for brunch & we had a very nice chat.

Today is FISHING OPENER, so Eric and Daemynn are on their way to Tennison, but the high is 50 today, and there's a 50% chance of rain. It is a NASTY day for fishin', but since he's been waiting SIX months for today, he's out there. This morning we had Holland's dress rehearsal for her dance recital tomorrow. It's about a 20 minute drive from here, in Osseo. Aidan & I took her. She did a great job & is very excited about tomorrow.

On Thursday, nine of us from church had the fantastic opportunity to go to the Relevance conference at Eagle Brook Church in Lino Lakes. It was an inspiring day & a little bit educational, too. Britney & I did the Marketing & Communications breakout at the end of the day, so we're excited about implementing a few ideas we gleaned. Cool!

I have a headache & the kids are listening very loudly to Mr. Henry's Bible Stories & playing hot wheels in here, so I'm off to the (relative) peace of my bedroom to make a grocery list.

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!

It's Pathetic, Really

I have just made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It's my favorite.
But I am waiting till I'm hungry. Then I'll eat it for supper.

Having Eric gone on a "sabbath" has done a number on me. I've been poking around here all day. Not supposed to work, etc... but without my favorite pastime hanging around to communicate with, I'm at sea.

Chrissie's coming over tonight to play Scrabble. And watch 24 with me, though she & Garrett gave up on the show some time ago.

If you haven't checked in lately, go by Adam's caring bridge site & read an update & pray for Adam's healing. www.caringbridge.org. Click on "visit", and sitename adamprest.

Lonely Monday

Well I'm without Eric today. I know, I live, love, parent, and work with him 24/7/52, so I have no reason to complain about a measly 42 hours that he'll be gone. But, sniff, sniff, I'm spoiled.

Eric's at Pacem in Terris (www.paceminterris.org) (it's Latin for Peace on Earth) for a silence/solitude retreat. It's an amazing place; I'm going next Sun-Tue, and Dave's going the week after. Dave & I went at the same time last time, and they thought we were married (eek!!). Fortunately when you're there, you never see anyone else who's there. (Though Eric and I can't go at the same time because, let's just say, the nuns would certainly frown on the behavior I'm certain Eric would attempt.)

Pray for Eric as he's there... that he would be rested, refreshed, and hear from God. I always LOVE to hear what he has to say after he's had some extended time with God. Eric is the most exciting guy I know--- he always has a great idea. Seriously, whenever he says, "I've been thinking..." I drop whatever I'm doing & listen up. 'Cause it could mean we're moving to Georgia. Or Pennsylvania. Or Iowa. Or another place in Iowa. Or another place in Iowa. Or another place in Iowa. Or Minnesota. Or another place in Minnesota. Or another place in Minnesota. YES, these have all happened.

Fortunately, we're pretty committed to this place. So it's generally something cool about our relationship or something new about God, life, our kids, or our church. :-) He's SO COOL.
Eric, I mean. But God too.

It has been raining here FOREVER. I'm waiting for the river to head across the field & into our basement. (That wouldn't be cool.) But the rain is directly proportionate to my "bad mothering". I'm letting my kids WATCH TV. Public TV, of course, but quite beyond the usual Arthur at 7 am or Clifford at 8. But we had a long day yesterday, and I'm drained, and so are they. Braden claimed he was too tired to go to school today. I would have believed him if he hadn't gotten up at his usual time, without being awakened. I think over this whole school year, we've awakened him maybe twice. He's an early bird. Always has been. When he was like 18 months old, he'd hand us our glasses and tell us to get up.

We drove him to school this morning & then went to the bank, where Holland & Aidan got suckers for breakfast. (!) Back home again for the end of the cereal, bagels, and, well, Sesame Street.

I'm off for a restful Sabbath Monday. This blog has been brought to you by the letter "R". As in Rain, Rest, Relax, and Really lonely for my husband. :-)

THE VAN IS FINE

According to (probably) the only two people who read my blog, the "van turned pumpkin" thing was misleading. The van is FINE. I just meant we arrived home right at midnight, at which time the fabled carriage turned back into a pumpkin.