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Family Trip to Oklahoma

Each summer we visit Suzanne’s family in Oklahoma.  This year, we mixed it up a bit by attending a few days at a family camp at New Life Ranch in Colcord, OK.  Suz worked there one summer in college and signed us up for the first time as family campers.  Since the trip would take close to nine hours from our home in Illinois, we spent a night in Springfield, Missouri, where we swam at the hotel, ate at Lambert’s Cafe (where they throw food at diners), visited the Bass Pro Shops headquarters, and were nearly eaten alive by wild camels at a safari animal park.

We all had a great time at New Life Ranch.  I believe there were about 50 families there during our camp, and each family was assigned a staff member to help however the family needed assistance.  The first morning of our stay, for example, Suzanne and I took a trail ride on horseback into the hills for breakfast, so our staff assistant, Mr. Luke, took the kids to breakfast at the dining hall and had them ready to go for the rest of the day when we returned.  Sweet.

Each day began with a brief  group worship time after which the kids went off to age-appropriate Bible lessons and activities while the adults spent time learning about parenting.  Our speaker was Chip Jackson from Fellowship Northwest Arkansas church–he was terrific. Suz and I came away encouraged and with some good things to help us continue in our parenting journey.  After lunch, we had the afternoon free to explore the camp’s numerous activities and facilities: ropes course, climbing walls, swimming pool, waterfront with huge slides, mountain biking, horseback riding, rifle/shotgun ranges, and more.  Evenings involved more teaching time and group activities.  Although we spent only two and a half days there, we were all exhausted from late nights, early mornings, and full days.

From Colcord, we went on to visit Suzanne’s family. We’ve posted a few photos from our trip here, and there’s a video below of Suz and I going down the zip line at the ranch.  Although we signed up everybody to ride the zip line, only mom and dad were brave enough to climb to poles and go down.

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Shhh! It’s Liam’s Birthday

We have had a history of having themes for each of the kids’ birthdays.  For Liam’s birthday this year, we did a “secret agent birthday bandit” theme.  It was rumored that the Birthday Bandit had been lurking in the neighborhood, stealing presents from birthday parties.  Sure enough, while we were outside playing with Liam and his guests, the Birthday Bandit found our house and stole the presents.  Fortunately we found enough clues hidden around the house to recover the gifts and unmask the thief.   Here are a few photos from the preparations and day of the party.

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A Thought on Vaccinations and Travel

In preparation for our (eventual) travel to Ethiopia, I had to get immunized today: meningitis, yellow fever, hepatitis (A&B), typhoid, and polio.  Yes, that was five vaccinations–two in the right arm, three in the left.  The doctor also wrote me a prescription for an antimalarial drug and an antibiotic for bacterial diarrhea.  If you get diarrhea while traveling, it’s the result of having eaten something you shouldn’t have.  The doc recommended I get the H1N1 flu vaccine and a pertussis (whooping cough) booster as well.

I was also given a TRAVAX Traveler Health Report that details most if not all of the potential health risks and immunizations a traveler to Ethiopia should consider.  The report contains a “travel advisory” as well, compiled from sources like the US Department of State, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  The report lists a number of threats and warnings for visitors, including:

  • “the presence of land mines, civil unrest, and the threat of terrorism”
  • “the highest rate of traffic fatalities per vehicle in the world”
  • “highway banditry and armed carjacking” outside major cities
  • “small bombings and explosions”
  • “pickpocketing, bag and jewelry snatching”
  • lots of other things

To summarize, I’ve received immunizations for diseases to which, under most circumstances, I’d never be exposed at home and been warned that Ethiopia may be a frighteningly dangerous place for visitors, especially those from the West.

Adventure anyone?

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Erin’s Tenth Birthday Party

Another weekend in April means another birthday.  This year Erin hit double digits: she’s now a decade old.  To celebrate, she invited her girlfriends (and their American Girls dolls) over for a tea party.  Suz prepared some delicious treats for the day: cream puffs with chocolate syrup, heart-shaped brownies with powdered sugar, and fruit kabobs.  The girls played American Girl trivia, did some weaving, and went home with a tea cup filled with nice little goodies.

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Maura: Birthday and Bike

Maura celebrated two significant events this weekend: her sixth birthday and her success at riding a “two-wheeler.”  She had several friends over on Saturday for a “Princess and the Frog” themed event.  Suzanne, as usual, made an excellent cake for the party.

The girls colored pictures, ate cake, blew bubbles, played with sidewalk chalk, had an Easter egg hunt (not often that you get to do that at a birthday party–Maura’s idea), and played on the swingset.  Quite a time.

After church on Sunday, Suz took Maura and her bike out to one of the local baseball fields.  We’ve found that a baseball field has been good training ground for learning to ride a two-wheeler: the infield is firm enough to ride on but much more forgiving than the street when the kids fall.  Not much later they came back home and Maura was eager to show off her new skills.

Six years old and all grown up.  (BTW, Maura picked out her own clothes today….. )

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Swim lessons

The kids have been in swim lessons the last two weeks, which has left us all a little more tired than usual (thanks to later bedtimes).  Worth it?  You bet.

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So I went to this women’s conference…

I–Michael–attended my first women’s conference this past weekend, the Hearts at Home annual conference in Normal, IL.  As detailed on their web site, Hearts at Home

…believes that motherhood is a valid profession. From beginning to end, our events professionalize the career of motherhood. We want to make it worth your time, because for most moms, spending a full day away from home isn’t always easy.  Our speakers, workshops, and exhibitors are all selected for their high quality and pertinent information.

I didn’t attend as a participant but rather as a photographer.  Suzanne has been attending for the last several years and, by coincidence or providence, we happened to cross paths with Mark and Jill Savage at a marriage retreat last fall.  Jill is the CEO of Hearts at Home.  Over the past several weeks, we’ve been conversing with Jill and some other staff members at Hearts about assisting in various ways with the event.  One thing led to another and Suzanne found herself on stage speaking to 4,500 women on Friday (I’ll let Suz tell her side of the story) and I was photographing the event on Saturday.  You’ll find a brief post and some photos over at my photography site.

What was remarkable to me about the event was a) how well organized it was and b) how moving it proved to be.  I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at the organization of the day; after all, they’ve been doing this for well over a decade.  But it’s an event that’s run almost entirely with volunteers and what they do is truly impressive.  I’ve attended some other conferences (that, by the way, cost significantly more than the registration fee for this event) that did not run nearly as smoothly as the Hearts at Home conference.  Kudos to Jill and her staff and volunteers.

I was also unprepared for the emotional impact the event would have on me.  I alluded to this on my photography site.  As I was making photographs during the worship segments led by Christy Nockels, I wanted to join in with the singing.  As I listened to the speakers made photographs during the workshops, I wanted to take notes.  Later in the day, I told Jeanie Fields, the marketing director for Hearts, that I couldn’t imagine a husband not wanting his wife to attend this event.  It’s that good.

We’re grateful for the good work God is doing through Hearts at Home and would encourage all wives and moms to attend this terrific event.  To get a look at what took place on Saturday, here’s a brief slideshow for you (if it doesn’t show up, just refresh the page).

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It’s Suzanne’s birthday–surprise!

It’s not often that I can surprise my wife.  In a good way, that is.

Suz has planned and pulled off two surprise parties for me in the last few years–I’m a little slow on the uptake when it comes to paying attention to birthdays.  For my 40th birthday last summer, she invited some friends over and, even after they’d arrived, I still wasn’t aware it had been planned.  Duh.

Suzanne celebrated her 40th birthday last week and, with this milestone occasion, I felt we needed to do something special.  With the help of some of her friends, I began laying the groundwork several weeks ago for a surprise party on Friday.  I checked with her girlfriends to make sure the date was clear–no problem.  Friday, Feb. 26, was good.  The main issue was getting everyone to the house without blowing the surprise.  Normally we have Family Movie Night each Friday, which means we’re all in our PJs and the kids stay up later than usual.  I didn’t want to have guests show up unexpectedly while we were all in “relax mode;” that wouldn’t have been the good kind of surprise.

As it turns out, though, Ryan, the husband of Suz’s friend Deanne, shares the same birthday as Suzanne.  Deanne and I reckoned that we could get Suz to invite them over on Friday for a mutual birthday celebration.  Perfect!  This was the last piece we needed to keep the surprise a surprise.  So Suz and Deanne made their plans and everything else fell in place.

Instead of our usual movie night, we played a game with the kids and put them to bed earlier.  Ryan and Deanne came over around 7:45 and the other guests were instructed to arrive at 8:00.  As friends began appearing on our porch, Suzanne had no clue what was happening.  Mission accomplished: she was surprised.  In a good way.  She even said it was the best 40th birthday party ever.

Many thanks to Deanne, Ryan, Shannon, Rob, Chantell, Eric, Rachel, Natalie, and Bethany for being available, bringing food, and being our friends.  Thanks for making Suz feel loved.  And happy birthday to you, wife.  You are loved indeed.