Wicked.... Good

Last week Rene' and I took the girls to Chicago to catch a performance of the musical "Wicked." It was outstanding. I would recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance. I asked Sadie what her favorite part of the musical was she replied with "don't ask me that dad, I loved all of it." Emma enjoyed it too. She sat through all of it and ate a whole bag of Twizzlers... Rene', well her love for anything theater goes without saying.
We love spending time in Chi-town. So much to do. This time we went to the field museum down by the waterfront. They were having a "severe weather exhibit" so Emma definitely wanted to see that (even though she is deathly afraid of storms). We took pictures by "Sue," the largest complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is enormous. The head is so large that they can't mount it on the display (they make a fake one for the body on display), so they put the head in it's own display upstairs. Here are some pictures from the museum since they don't allow any photos in the musical.....

Flood Pictures

Here are some pictures I took this morning in downtown Muscatine:


this one is looking down the main "drag" by the river with Sadie and Emma staning in the middle of the Avenue.

Crazy Weather....

A few of you have called (except members of our family:) and asked how we are doing in light of all the storms and flooding we are having here in Iowa. We are fine, but it is a mess around here. We live close (20 miles) to where many of the rivers feed into the Mississippi. Additionally we live on the Mississippi and it is rising, but we are pretty high up where we live and we are in no danger of being flooded. But.... getting around now is very interesting. Many of the roads are closed (even Interstate 80) and navigation is tricky. There is water everywhere as you get close to the rivers. I remember the flood of 1993 that effected so many here. I didn't live in Iowa then, but I remember it because Rene' and I were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and the only English channel we could get on our tv was CNN. The coverage at the time was focused on the flooding in the Midwest. I believe that our church even sent teams to St. Louis to help rebuild after the floods. I am hearing that the floods now are worse than they were in '93. They called '93 the 150 year flood and now this one is becoming the 500 year flood.
There are additional problems with the flooding that many people don't realize unless you live here. One is that we have had such a wet spring here that the farmers still aren't done planting. It isn't uncommon to talk with a farmer and have him (or her) tell you that they still have over 200 hundred acres to plant. Second, the floods can wipe out crops. Third, with the roadways such a mess, trucks are having a difficult time navigating through the detours (some detours are over 100 miles out of the way). This in turn will mean that the truckers will pass the expenses and we can expect to pay higher prices. It feels like this will never end.
Our prayer request is obviously for the people displaced right now and the farmers. Personally for us it is for Emma. I don't know if any of you have a phobia, and I mean a true phobia (one that completely suspends you from functioning), but Emma has one and it is thunderstorms. We live in a place where we have a lot of storms and Emma is truly frightened of them. She can explain how they work and knows everything about storms and tornadoes, but she is still frightened. Last Saturday we had a tornado warning here in Muscatine (the tornado was about 5 miles away) and when the warning sirens went off, Emma was outside. She took off running into the house and grabbed her blanky, big teddy bear, and Nintendo DS and headed straight for the basement. I happened to be gone at the moment and when I got home I went to the basement to calm Emma down. She was crying and screaming that she wants to move back to Oregon cause they don't have storms there. It was crazy. She finally calmed down and was relieved when the all-clear horn sounded. Last night was a severe thunderstorm. Emma lays on our bed, fingers in her ears, and cries until it's gone. There were a couple of cracks of thunder that were so loud it makes your entire house shake like you are having an earthquake. These are not fun times for Emma and I truly feel for her. It is a true phobia. Please pray that she can continue to deal with this as she get's older.

the Girls

I have been getting a few requests lately for some pictures of the girl's. It has been a while since I have posted any and the last ones they were all bundled up for skiing. Here are the most recent pictures we have of Sadie and Emma. These were taken about one month ago in preparation for their dance recital.
Sadie

Emma

A word about dance recital....
I love being a dad. I love my kids. I love that my kids have the opportunity to be in dance. I love that they enjoy dance. I am not so fond of the recital. Why? It is very long....... 3 hours for two nights. I don't sit still very well (my mom used to tell me this every Sunday) and the three hours of recital is a bit much for me. Now for others... it is outstanding. I will admit that as my kids have gotten older, it is much more bearable because they are in more dances. When we started this, I got to watch 2 dances out of 40, now it is up to almost 10 out of 40. Please don't get me wrong, the recital is done well, only it is long. This year I heard one husband, at the conclusion of the recital, look at his wife and say "I never want to hear you complain about the length of a football game again." Well said. I simply thank God, every year, for games on my cell phone, otherwise I may not make it.

One of the best weekends...

Rene and I got to spend one of the best weekends of our marriage a few weekends ago in Oregon. Growing up and living there for so long, Oregon is always fun to go back to. This time was extra special because of all the people we were able to see and all that we were able to do. We left our house in Muscatine at 2:30 in the AM in order to make our 6 AM flight out of Des Moines. We got to Portland in the late morning and went to lunch at the Rock Creek Pub. It was Awesome!!!! Then that night, for Rene's 45th birthday, we ate at the Cascade room at Timberline Lodge. It was a great evening with Rene' and her parents.

The next day we got to go to the Wedding of Lacey McGuire. It was a blat to be with people we haven't been with in years. We spent most of the reception enjoying reunions with people who have meant the world to us over the years. Jim and Susan McGuire did a great job with Lacey, now Adam takes over the reigns. Watching Lacey get married was a little weird for me because I have literally known her her whole life. I remember her sneaking into the Toy Room that I slept in when I lived with her family, to wake me up. It seems like that was yesterday, yet it was 18 years ago.
That evening we went out to dinner with Brad, Kim, Natalie, and JT Greenwood. What a night of laughs. We love hangin out with them. I would tell you more, but most of the conversations were inappropriate.
On Sunday we were with the Moore's. It was a great time to catch up on their life and glean advice from them as they get ready to put their daughter into College. I don't look forward to that day, but it is quickly coming.
On Sunday evening we got to be with the small group I had when I was an intern at Village. They called themselves the Breakfast Club. They were students at Hil Hi and were one of the greatest groups I have ever lead. They still, 16 years after high school, get together on a monthly basis. Now it is with their families. I love watching all of them chase their kids. It does my heart good....
On Monday I was able to go fly fishing on the Deschutes River with 4 great friends. Jim (former boss), Mike (former roomate), Dean (former worship pastor), and Buddy (always a friend), got together at 6 AM and were together until 8:30 that night. We didn't catch a dang thing, but the laughs were non-stop. We are all about 10 years older than the last time we fished together, but our humor hasn't changed at all. Great friends on a great day.