Micah Wessman's Funeral

Since going to baby Micah Wessman's funeral a couple weeks ago, I have wanted to blog about it. God really impacted my life through Micah's life and death and the truths the pastor shared during the service.

When we were seated in the church pew, we began watching the pictures of 9 month old Micah scroll across the big screen at the front of the church. The grief I felt watching those pictures, knowing that God took his little life so soon, felt unbearable. Keep in mind I was a total outsider to this little boy's life and I barely knew his parents. How much more unbearable for his parents, I thought.

The service was at Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, were Cory and Heather Wessman go to church. The pastor (Kenny Stokes) did a phenomenal job of leading the service. He retold the story of what happened to Micah and interjected so much of God's truth throughout. As the funeral went on, I found my grief becoming bearable and my trust in God's goodness and soverienty growing steadily. This may sound weird, but it felt like the pastor had planted a tree that kept growing taller and stronger as the service progressed.

One of the specific things that impacted me was when the pastor told Heather (who struggled with guilt, wondering what more could she have done to save her baby's life), "This is not about you. This happened so that God's glory could be displayed." Much like in John 9:1-3 (which the pastor also shared) . . .

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

This renewed vision of God's sovereignty has really freed me in my new role as a mom. I don't need to work so hard at protecting my son from getting hurt or sick or losing him. And I don't need to worry about him (or worry that I am going to die in a bad storm, like I did when we drove through one last night!). God is going to do with his life - and my life - what He desires, for His glory.

I swear I knew this stuff before, but God used Micah's story to cause the truths of God's soverienty and goodness to go down deeper into my soul. I left the service with a much greater trust and confidence in who God is and how good He is, even though He just allowed a 9 month old baby to die.

You can actually listen to the pastors message at the funeral on Reed & Rachael Wessman's
blog. I highly recommend it! You can also read more of Micah's story here.

On the Road Again

Yes, it's true . . . After being home one day from our weekend trip to the farm, Kate and I loaded up all the kids on Tuesday and took a trip back to our home town (Carson, Iowa). We wanted to visit our cousin and her new baby before the kids went back to school. And celebrate Brady and Sydney's birthdays with Dad and Mitch.

But, we first stopped by to see our grandparents on the way . . .
And we ate lunch with Grandma.

Grandpa always gets teary-eyed when we come. I think he wasn't looking at the camera because he didn't want to show his tears!

Tuesday was Sydney's actual birthday. When we arrived at my aunt's house, she had gone all out with balloons . . .

. . . and bubbles!

Baseball with Uncle

The birthday girl (with her caterpillar cupcakes)!

Dinner out on the patio

My Aunt Janell really wanted to get a picture of the three of us with our babies.

My cousin's baby, Courtney Lois, is ready for the party.

And so is Grey!

The fam

Uncle and his biggest fans

Papa loves his baby boys . . .

Brady has wanted a guitar for two years and finally got one (that I picked out from my dad). He loved it!When I drove into Kate's driveway on Wednesday, this is what I saw . . .

A Trip to the Farm

This past weekend we took a little trip to the Ehresman farm (my brother-in-law, Mark's, parent's) to celebrate Brady and Sydney's birthdays (August 2nd & 4th). Jason and I had been wanting to visit the farm for quite awhile because Mark and Kate and his parents have invited us a number of times.

Saturday afternoon, Mark, Kate, Jason and I loaded up and got the full tour with Eric, Mark's brother. The first stop was Eric's house, where there were berries growing . . .

. . . and a two-day old baby calf being taken care of in the back yard. Not sure what I was cracking up about . . . we all laughed a lot during our little tour!

Of course I was not about to stick my fingers in the calf's mouth, but Jason tried it out.

Here is just one of the many cow lots that Eric and his dad have.

Eric telling us about these cows . . .

I'll spare you all the other pictures I took of cows! You might think that visiting a farm would be boring, but it was not at all. In fact, it was quite intriguing! And I'll tell you something . . . Good farmers are SMART. I mean really smart. It was fun to ask Eric many questions about how taking care of cows really works. Farmers have to be incredible managers and really good with numbers. That is just the start. Figuring out what types of feed to use and how to rotate the cows in different pastures to maximize the growing grass, etc. Jason and I were very impressed.

After the farm tour it was time to set up tents in the back yard for all the boys (including Mark and Jason) to sleep in. I think "camping" was Brady's birthday wish (just like last year).

After dinner the boys (which included several of Brady's cousins) played football in the front yard. I think Jason's arm is still recovering . . . but he loved it!Mark's sister has two boys in junior high and Mark's brother has seven kids. One of the seven is Levi - Brady's best buddy. Seriously, they are attached at the hip whenever they are together. And they are quite the redneck boys. After waking up from camping at around 6:30a, they shot two sparrows with the BB gun . . . and it was all they could talk about the rest of the day.And lots of wrestling together . . .

A beautiful sunset after a great day.

Greysen had fun hanging out at Grandpa and Grandmas. Mr. Krinkle Nose! Sydney blows out her three candles!

Brady got a cowboy hat for his birthday.

And my favorite picture from the weekend . . . I got Syd (at a garage sale for $2) a pair of roller skates you wear over your shoes. Here she is with her new Dora backpack, trying out her skates in the garage, not knowing anyone was around. Oh the simple joys of a three year old. Adorable!