Easter morning (4/12/09)

He has risen...Alleluia!!

We'll be going to the 7:00 A.M. worship service. Jim and Logan will be playing their trumpets, and Brett will be singing with the Jr. Choir. We'll stay for the 8:30 A.M. worship service. I love Easter! God bless your day!

Good Friday (4/10/09)

Thoughts on Good Friday

We went to most of the Tre-Ore Service this afternoon at Mount Olive. I love that service. It's so contemplative. We have seven different ministers preaching on the 7 words from the cross. This year we stayed to hear from Pastor Ronald Meyer, Pastor Wurm, Pastor Bruce Harmann, Pastor David Paape, and Pastor Ryan Rupe. Brett and I walked out together. When we got outside he said, "Well that was awful." I must say, I was a little confused. Brett doesn't get a whole thought out of his head. He keeps one guessing. So I asked, 'What do you mean?'

Brett: I don't mean the service. What they did to Him was awful. I have always gone to this service and didn't get it. I mean I was fighting back tears in there.
Mama: You get it, Brett! I told Katherine this morning that you can't have Easter without Good Friday. All the sadness today will turn into joyful rejoicing come Sunday. Praise the Lord!
Brett and I had a moment, and I thank God for his faith!
In the van I said that I saw Mrs. Paape (my first grade teacher). Brett didn't know who I meant. Logan said, "You know, her son is the guy who did a good job preaching before Ryan." So (I guess) Logan enjoyed the service, too.

Wilhelm Visit (4/6/09-4/7/09)

Jim has 7 Wilhelm cousins. The oldest, Jeff, is a pastor in Greenville, Michigan. His middle child is doing some college shopping in her Junior year of high school. Jeff & Grace, Mary and Matthew toured Concordia-River Forest yesterday. They got here in time for supper. We had lasagna and garlic bread. Then the boys ran downstairs to watch "Chuck." Then, of course, since Mom was not watching, the boys played on the Nintendo Wii. I guess that was their way of being good hosts, even though the rule is "No Video Games During the School Week!" They all ran up for dessert: moist brownies and pumpkin pie. Because shopping is hard work, Mary fell asleep on the loveseat. Jeff was not feeling well and slept while we watched UNC defeat Michigan State.


*Logan, Brett, and Matthew playing on the Nintendo Wii

*Mary and Lucy resting

This morning, Matthew went to school with Logan. He had a good time and loved not having homework! The rest got to relax in the morning for a bit. Jeff & Grace visited Katherine's third grade class. This is the year for Mount Olive's Social Studies Fair, and Katherine's class is learning about Japan. Jeff & Grace lived there for 3 years (20 years ago).

*Lucy and Grace having a morning moment.

*The kids learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Japanese.
*Third Grade clas with Jeff & Grace. Nice picture, Mary!

While I voted, the kids played at Center Street Park. Then they had an after-school snack and played football out front.

*Logan, Matthew, Brett, Katherine after school

Brett had volleyball practice at 5:00 P.M., so he waited here for Jim. Logan, Katherine, and I took Matthew out to Oconomowoc by his Uncle Bill & Aunt Bobbie's house. We heard about the "shopping" that was done today. Wisconsin Lutheran College is now at the top of Mary's list. She has a year to decide and more schools to visit, but we are so happy with the thought of Mary continuing her education right here in Milwaukee. The kids and I stayed for a wonderful meal made by Bobbie...salad, porkchops, steamed broccoli, corn, hot cross buns, and applesauce. Her famous chocolate chip cookies were for dessert.

*Isaiah, Katherine, and Ben

*Logan, Stephen, Heather, Elsiana

*Matthew, Mary, Grace, Jeff, Bill

Mary, Katherine, Matthew, Isaiah, Heather, Ben, Jeff, Grace, Logan, Bobbie, Elsiana, and Bill

Cyrus' Confirmation (4-5-09)

We started our day by attending Mount Olive's 8:30 A.M. Palm Sunday Worship Service. Katherine marched in with her palm branch with the other 1-3 graders while the congregation sang, All Glory, Laud, and Honor. Then the kids sang the first and third verse of Hosannah, Laud, Hosannah. I love these songs! Kyle decided to sit with us. I'm sure it was a nice treat for his Mom! Pastor Wangerin sermon title was "Peace March." He talked about Jesus entry into Jerusalem with the Peace that passes all understanding. I'll post the service once it is up on Mount Olive's site.

Here it is: http://www.mtolivemke.org/index_files/RadioBroadcasts.html, click on the Palm Sunday service.

After church we drove to Our Father's Lutheran Church on the south side of town. Our nephew, Cyrus, was being confirmed at the 10:45 A.M. service. He had three rows of relatives/friends there for him. Quite a few of our Albanian relatives were there. Two even came all the way from Hackensack, New Jersey. It was a very special day for the whole family! What a wonderful witness! After a lot of pictures, we went to the lunchroom for a meal prepared by Daut. The kids had a good time running around the dark gymnasium with their good clothes.

Kujtim & Helime Gaba, Adile & Gezim Bermema

Katherine, Fatime, Jim, Ruth and Emily, Susan, Cyrus, Daut, Bedull, Logan, Vera, Ali, Brett

*Daut, Pastor Fabrizius, Cyrus, Susan

*Cyrus and Aunt Adile

*Proud Daut with Cyrus

*cousins Ali and Vera

*Bedull, Susan, Vera

*Vera and Fatime

*Ali and Bedull

*sisters Adile and Fatime

*Cyrus and his cake

*cousins Logan and Vera

*cousins Brett and Vera

*cousins Katherine and Vera
At 8:30, I took Logan and Brett down to the train/bus station. We surprised Helime and Kujtim. We wanted to say good-bye before they left for NJ. It was so nice of them to come!

*Kujtim, Brett, Fatime, Logan, Helime

Grandma & Grandpa visit (4/4/09)

Jim's parents recently returned from a month long trip to Ohio and Florida. We invited them over for supper on Saturday. We made chop suey and then had brownies & strawberries for dessert. After watching Michigan State win their game, we took a drive to Trader Joe's. We love that store! Katherine and Brett like walking around trying to find Millie the parrot. Once they find it, they tell the manager where it is to get a treat. We left there with four bags full of goodies. We headed home and said our good-byes. It was so good seeing Jim's parents again!

*Grandma and Brett

*Logan actually eating the chop suey

*Katherine found Millie hiding behind the basketball hoop!

*Jim bagging his Mom's groceries

Katherine's bedroom (3/31/09)

We had been talking about painting Katherine's bedroom for a while. We finally decided to get going on the project knowing that Jim's cousins were coming for a visit. Katherine was allowed to pick out the colors. Our 8 year old girls wanted yellow for the ceiling and turquoise for the walls. Can you believe it?! Jim painted the ceiling last week. A couple days later, Katherine and her Daddy worked on the rest of the job: taping the edges, unscrewing the outlet covers, and painting the walls. Brett came up to help, too! Logan and I were babysitting for Kyle and Ella. When we got home the job was done. The next day, the three kids and I ripped out the mauve colored carpeting. The burgundy mini-blinds are gone, too. Now we are on a hunt for curtains and/or blinds. I'll post the "after" pictures when the work is complete.

*Katherine in the room with the yellow ceiling
*Katherine painting


*Brett painting
*Jim getting the high parts

Wave Game (3/29/09)

As you may know, Katherine loves soccer! She and I went to the last Wave (indoor) game with Liann and her Dad. Liann is in her class at school. We had great seats...third row, on the left side of one of the goals! Unfortunately the Wave lost, but the girls had a lot of fun!

*This is how close we were to the field *Katherine and her friend, Liann