Highlights From Our Time in Iowa

#9. A Jet Ski Ride

#8. Playing on the dock after Dekalb Days.

#7. Iowa Sunset

#6. A ride to the River

#5. A Family Picture

#4. Throwing Rocks in the Des Moines River


#3. Devotions around the campfire:
The King Who Forgot to Say Thank You (that would be Hezekiah)

#2. A Ride in the Fire Truck!

#1. Swimming in the pond on a hot August day.

Elliot is Three Months Old

Elliot watched me make home made pizza this weekend. He looked so smart in his bibs I had to snap some photos. (Thank you Joel and Allison for the bib overalls!)

The Iowa State Fair

Everything is bigger in Iowa. At least that's what we learned last week at the Iowa State Fair. We enjoyed a day of celebrating everything Iowa. The folks at the Iowa State Fair (1 million visitors a year) come not just to peak at this year's tallest corn stalk or record breaking "big bull," but to celebrate things that are becoming harder to find these days - rural mid west farm communities.

Garrison Keillor writes about these rare fairs of the Midwest,

The state fair is a ritual carnival marking the end of summer and gardens and apple orchards and the start of school and higher algebra and the imposition of strict rules and what we in the north call the Long Dark Time. Like gardening, the fair doesn't change all that much.

See his Top Ten State Fair Joys

Also read his interview on NPR

I explained to Brian about all the youngsters showing off their livestock, and how it was important that you scrubbed them up well (think Charlotte's Web), kept the animal between you and the judge as you led it around the pin, how the judge looks for sound feet, wide bodies, high weight gain, etc., etc.

Each day they have varying contests in horticulture, culinary arts, baking, pig calling, watermelon seed spitting, tractor-pull, banjo tournament, Queen contest...and many others. Brian asked a good question, "What do you get in the end?" Most of the time you get a ribbon, and maybe a few dollars, if your lucky.

Except the Cinnamon Rolls contest. First place takes home $3,000, and is highly competitive, sought after title.

But pride is what most people are after. Who wouldn't want to be known as the winner of the Outhouse Races? Or the Senior Spelldown? Or the Mullet Contest?

Brian learned I had some history with fair contests too (Southern Iowa Fair)- the Pedal Tractor Pull, Homemade Ice-Cream (second place), a science fair project on growing soybeans (second place), the Fair Queen (third place), Bill Riley Talent show (third place) and Bible Bowl (second place). I entered pigs at the fair starting at the age of 10 years, until I was 18 (I never won that one).

Here are a few highlights of Ezra's second year at the Iowa State Fair, and Brian and Elliot's first...

(pictures of the contest winners taken from http://www.iowastatefair.com/)

The Hidden Face of God

The Hidden Face of God, is an album from Michael Card that I ran across while looking for worship ideas for dealing with mental and physical dissability. You can listen to it here: http://www.rhapsody.com/michael-card/the-hidden-face-of-god

The songs offer words for our prayers when we struggle to find God. His website says this about the CD,

When David laments in the psalms or Job complains to God, more often than not they accuse God of hiding His face. They know what we have forgotten; the answer to our suffering is never the specific solution for which we cry out. It is not some cure or provision that we really need. We never ask for what we really need, and so it is no wonder that we are so often disappointed in our prayers. Because what we need is Presence. We need to see the Face of God.This is a collection of songs about the dilemma of finding that hidden Face.

When visiting Dordt College in 2004, Michael Card said that he sometimes regrets packing so many words into his music, being "wordy" especially early on in his career. He is gifted at writing, and has a gift of putting biblical text to music in a very meaningful way. My favorite on this album is, "Come Lift up your Sorrows," a song that gives us the words of wilderness and despair and allows us to bring them to God - a God that was wounded too.

Eastern Michigan Vacation

We've returned from a great vacation near Huron National Park. In the past we've gone to Colorado for our off-road and camping adventures, but my family graciously decided to head for Michigan to first celebrate Elliot's baptism before driving to the more wild terrain of eastern Michigan.

The family in Lake Huron

On our way to a trail

Ezra fell asleep on an after-supper evening ride
Ezra (green) and cousin Elijah (red) ride their three wheelers The results of Brian's first wreck

A dirty face from riding in the dust Elliot with Grandma Jan

Baptism

Elliot was baptized last Sunday and we enjoyed having family at our house following for a great Iowa meal: BBQ pork, corn on the cob (from Iowa), and of course, Grandma Ochsner salad. Becky's brothers and dad sang for the service.

Underwear Dance.

This one needs no introduction.

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan is well known for vineyards, orchards, beautiful aqua lakes and senic drives. We drove 3 hours north of Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Traverse City area last weekend. We never made it to Traverse City, but enjoyed our time at Glen Lake, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Bar Lake.

Below, a picture of Glen Lake. North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan is in the background. Brian hiked across this island the summer of 2006


The next three pictures are from Sleeping Bear Dunes. Ezra ran, and ran and ran. He especially loved running down the hills. Our friend brought a kite to utilize the wind coming from Lake Michigan over the dunes. Little Glen Lake is in the background.


Ezra really enjoyed the weekend with our friend, Dick L., who invited us to stay with them an evening at their cottage.

Fourth of July Weekend

This weekend we visited the Grand Rapids Farmer's Market. Ezra loves berries, especially raspberries, and as you can see in the picture below, he was very eager to eat them. We also ejoyed a pool party and BBQ with friends, and got our first few smiles from Elliot, who from my baby pictures, is looking more like me

Reed's Lake 5K

Saturday I joined some friends in running the Reed's Lake 5K. It was the first time most of us had participated in a running event like this, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the morning. I ran a few miles on Thursday and Friday to make sure I would survive the race.

Over 1700 runners participated in the 5k and 900 runners ran the 10k. A microchip sticker they gave us to put on our shoe told me online that my time was a little over 38 minutes.

I don't have a fancy ipod like many of the other runners, so I enjoyed listening to the conversations around me as I ran. Just having labored with Elliot I realized that giving birth and running have a lot of similarities. The encouragement runners offer each other sound a lot like the coaching needed in labor, "you're doing a good job," "let's get to the top of this hill," "relax your arms and shoulders." After thinking this, I even heard several women joke about memories running evoked for them of their labor experiences. So you might wonder, why in the world would you want to wake up at 6a.m. and run three miles? Because discipline and hardwork reaps great rewards, confidence and lots of celebration after completing the race!

Several dads were running with their young daughters or sons and it was fun to hear their conversations. My favorite was about a 9-year old boy, who had enough energy to run circles around his mom ask, "can I sprint the next half mile and then wait for you?"

Now I have to convince Brian to run with me. In high school he was running 400 meters in less than a minute at State and the Drake relays....if I just gave labor three weeks ago, he has no excuse!

U - Pick Strawberries

The U-Pick fruit season has begun in Michigan. U-pick strawberries are first, and the cherries and blueberries follow. Peaches and apples are ready in August and continue into the fall. We picked a nice box of strawberries (u-pick is priced at $1.25 a pound) and canned one batch of strawberry jam. We froze a few bags for later to top ice cream or angel food cake later in the summer. Yum!

And an extra picture of Grandpa enjoying a book on Father's Day weekend. We thought this picture was funny.