Bible Verse of the Day:

Sunday, February 28, 2010

A neighborhood explosion

What started as a nice chat with a friend at a local coffee shop last Saturday, turned into a very eventful day. Lindsay called me while I was sipping coffee and told me she was scared because Phil was outside in the driveway and there were people with guns going to blow up things.

"What?!" was my initial response. After talking to Phil, he assured me there was a small issue of a man in a house with a "gas issue". He told me not to worry, enjoy my fellowship and coffee and to take my time.

As I drove into my driveway, I immediately knew from the sheer number of emergency vehicles and news team all over the neighborhood that this was more than a small issue. These pictures are from the front of our house.





Apparently there was a disgruntled man 5 houses down that had been evicted from his home because of a divorce situation and he was refusing to leave. Not only that, he had opened up the gas line into his home and was threatening to blow up the house. And yes, Lindsay was correct. She had seen guys with guns. They were called the SWAT team.....

As Phil was telling me this unbelievable story, we felt and heard a rather loud boom.

I asked, "What was that?"

"That sounded like a gas explosion, " Phil calmly, but emphatically answered.



We walked next door where we could get a better look, and sure enough, there had been an explosion in the home. And the word was the man that was threatening to do it was in the basement when it happened.


A closer look.



A few hours later as the emergency workers moved debris around, the smoke and the fire engulfed the home.


We watched from a close distance as the firefighters attempted to put the fire out, but also tried to keep the neighbors home from igniting.
Here is some brief video coverage as it was burning.

The barricades were set up right by our house so we experienced much traffic throughout the day. One of our firefighter friends was working the situation and we told him to stop by our house at any time if he needed dinner.

When the doorbell rang later that evening, I was totally expecting Mike, but instead it was the Channel 13 newscaster we had watched earlier in the evening. His request? An interview. Phil said, "No way!" and walked back into the kitchen where we were frosting Timothy's birthday cake. I wish I could say I stuck to my initial "no" answer, but he (and the kids) talked me into it. Here is my 5 seconds of fame.

We were astounded to hear that the man had survived the explosion, the smoke and the fire. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital around 6:00 pm but he died shortly later.

How very sad that someone would have such hopelessness that he would rather die and destroy a home than give it to an ex-wife. We used the situation to talk honestly with our kids about selfishness, anger and revenge.

Material possessions and happy relationships will never ultimately satisfy anyone, but only faith in Jesus Christ's atoning death for salvation which gives the hope for eternal life in spite of any and all of life's difficulties.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Oh Savannah...

One of Savannah's favorite things to do is read and sing.







Dang, she's cute!


It's the rubber-booted princess.



A kiss for Royal (our friend's dog)


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

With church and the swim meet, we had a very busy Valentine's Day and a nice quiet date for Phil and I was pretty much not an option. So we shared our love with a nice family dinner and movie at home.


Balloons are always a hit.



Since our colors coordinated so well, I made everyone suffer through a family picture. Actually, I think the kids did better with the automatic timer. It's sort of like a game.



Sarah always feels the love when shrimp is involved.


Steak, pasta, pesto, salad, bread and sparkling cider rounded out the meal.



Not a very nice valentine's face......


....thankfully Savannah's crabby attitude didn't affect Tim's "steak dance"!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Three Days of Swim Meets

Allie and Sarah participated in the Casper-hosted swim meet held February 12-14. Allie swam in 8 events and a relay and Lindsay swam in 6 events and a relay. Both girls swam events for the first time and did very well.



At the end of this V E R Y long weekend, the entire family was exhausted!




Lindsay is waiting for her leg of the relay to begin.




Allie and Suzanna waiting for their events.



Lindsay could be found in one of three places each day: in the pool, in the hot shower or sitting next to me scrounging for food. I remember how much swimming increased my metabolism and appetite, however Lindsay seemed to never fill up!



Lindsay getting ready for her backstroke start. This is by far her best stroke.




That's Allie down at the end waiting for her next event.




Lindsay's race:


Allie's race:

Valentines for Cubbies

I signed up for heart-shaped snacks for Timothy's AWANA Cubbies class. He had a great time cutting heart-shaped cheese with me. I added some pretzels, crackers and cookies, and the kids enjoyed a great mostly-healthy snack.









Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Four delightful years of Testosterone

Four years ago today, I laid on a surgical bed having a C-section, anxiously waiting for my husband to announce the gender of our newest baby.


I could tell they had delivered the baby from my abdomen, and I could tell that Phil could see this infant, but he stood speechless.


Finally, the doctor answered my repeated requests, "What is it, what is it?".


"It's a boy," said the doctor.


Finally, Phil responded with a grin, "It's a Boy!!" And our life has never been the same. (He says he just needed confirmation of what he was seeing....)



His 3 older sisters were equally delighted and welcomed him immediately.



His birthday party will be on Sunday as Grammy and Grandpa will be here from Ohio, but this morning we celebrated with 4 candles in a doughnut.




Watch Timothy's surprise when the candles kept re-lighting.


He also got to open 2 presents -- 2 Star Wars Light Sabers. To say he was excited would be an understatement.


Ahhhh.....testosterone.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Awana Truth and Training Quizzing

Sarah quizzed at the annual AWANA Truth and Training Event held in the booming town of Lingle. She did VERY well receiving a perfect score on the oral portion and only missing one on the written! Great job, Sarah!





Kristy was her team mate and they quizzed in Book 2.
Lindsay went with us to see what quizzing was all about. She is eligible to quiz next year. She and Kindrid had fun playing while their siblings did all the hard work.

The Nachbar family (3 out of 9 of them) chillin'.


And the answer is.............A!



She was the only one from book 2 girls that received a perfect score in the oral. A large purple ribbon was presented to her at the end of the event.






Some of the other quizzers.





Taylor intently focusing on the question and her answer.


Brennen aced the oral portion and the written portion for Book 1.


Great job!


Kylee's serious-thinking face.


Taylor and Kylee after their event.


Our commander, Donna, was the official quiz giver. Here she is researching a dispute question.


The proud Sandberg family.


Coach Deb, Sarah and Kristy holding their 1st place trophy. Yes, Deb is an adult and Kristy is 10 years old - the same age as Sarah. And yes, she plays basketball.



Proud Mom!


Casper took six quizzing teams and received six 1st place awards. Way to go coaches!!!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Toddler Swim Time

My friend Lizz told me about toddler swim time at the Aquatic Center. We took Timothy, Savannah and her daughter Avry while Allie watched her baby Zain at the house.

It was so nice and calm for the little ones as there were no big kids splashing or jumping around them.


Savannah being a picture of CUTENESS!



Tim and Avry (who may be future spouses some day.....) enjoyed the froggy slide and the air bubbles at the bottom of the pool.


All dried off and ready for lunch!


Eat all your beans

Ahhh....the joys of motherhood. I am SO thankful for my many children that make me laugh often during the day. On this particular night, which was an AWANA night, we were in a hurry to eat dinner, and I was getting frustrated with Timothy for not eating his beans quickly enough.

I finally set the timer for 1 minute and told him the beans needed to be gone from his plate before the timer went off or he couldn't have a snack at AWANA (the horrors...).

I was washing some dishes and as I turned around, I saw Savannah leaning up beside him eating his beans off his plate!


He was encouraging her to hurry because he only had a minute for them to be gone.






She graciously completed the task for her older brother, and I decided to take pictures rather than get angry. Afterall, I realized I never said he had to eat them , only that his plate needed to be clean!!
And yes, he got a snack at AWANA, if nothing else than for ingenuity.