Immanuel-God is with Us!

We love decorating for Christmas. . . but mostly we love what Christmas represents. "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6.

As we decorate, fill our days with shopping we pray that Christ will not get lost from Chrsitmas. And we pray that all of you will see God's amazing love in sending His son for a world of sinners.

Reach up to our Lord, praise His name, for Great is His Faithfulness!

We pray that all of you see Jesus this Christmas season. May God's love, mercy,grace,Glory and faithfulness show you the power of Christmas. He sent His ONLY Son to earth for us, sinners. (John 3:16)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Enjoying Fall!

What fun is raking leaves when you can't jump and play in them.

To jump in leaves right, Drew says you have to have a running start...

Jump with all your power...
...and keep your head up!

Then relax and enjoy!

Snow....already!

Who knew that just a day before Saturday we were playing outside in the sandbox...


Helping Dad trip trees...

and enjoing the fun fall weather...then

we woke up on Saturday to almost an inch of snow......

Can you believe it...it is only the second week in October!

We decided to enjoy the moment and play in the snow.

Drew's snow angel!!

Our new friend, Mr. Snowman!!

The boys chillin in the snow!

Good thing we are Minnesotians and can handle the snow!!

Matthew is Walking...with Mr. Hippo!

After weeks of Scooting...then crawling the bear crawl...Matthew is now getting more interested in the fact that he doesn't have to walk on all fours!

With the help of his Hungry Hippo Friend, Matthew is now getting around town!!

The Lazy Days of Summer.....WE WISH!

Once we hit US soil we thought we were in for a relaxing summer....maybe one day! We started our time back getting the kids back on track. This was much easier than our late nights in Turkey. We decided it was better to get sleep and slowly get back to MN time. So after one night we went to bed at 4:00 when the kids went down for their nap (bedtime in Turkey). We all woke up at 1:30. After a couple hours we decided to hit Walmart and Cub to get some food and a tent for our camping adventure with Grandpa and Grandma Enerson! I do have to say I had to stop myself from saying..."Jet lag is rough isn't it honey...just so people wouldn't judge our parenting, or lack there of!!
Either way, we got a great tent.."The Vacation Lodge" As you can see it is just as bigh as mom and dad's camper. Who needs a cabin when you have the lodge!!

Drew had a great time fishing, even though it was cold and windy. He cast out his little yellow fish and loved reeling it back in. He is quite the fisherman!

Since it was chilly, our fire kept us warm.

Dad and I went out one morning and got into some good fishing catching one every few minutes! Here is my 23 inch walleye!

The boys loved runing around the campground. Matthew chased Drew everywhere!

After camping we had a few weeks of being home, haning with students, swiming with cousins, checking out the zoo, Jake heading to canada while I painted and worked on the house to surprise Jake. We also made it to Como Zoo for a fun family day.

I headed up to Bemidji with Kalie (my sister) and worked on our Mom and Dad's house, painting the kitchen, cleaning out some things and giving my mom a heart attack as we ran around throwing things. We were good, we only threw stuff she was ready to get rid of.

Our next big event was the ENERSON FISHING TOURNAMENT!

Jake and I were in running for 1st, but our four little fisheys didn't add up to the 12 my aunt and cousin caught! If only we could have kept the 33 inch Northern Jake snagged!!

As you can see by the next picts, the boys are not only HUGE and growing too fast, but they had a great time playing with their cousins and just having fun at Granpa and Grandma's house. Every few days Drew asks if he can go back...

Drew learned that climbing trees is way too much fun!

After the extened family left, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Kalie and Lex, Uncle Mike, Cousin Raesa and McKenna and us all went to the Deer Park together. As you can see the kids had a blast feeding the animals and chasing after the deer! Well Matthew would say otherwise...he was just trying to survive them loving on him!! (Check the video below!)

Two Wheels are not for me :)

Hello all! This is Molly speaking to you directly from Cappadocia. Thus far, Cappadocia has been my favorite stay the whole trip. As a matter of fact, today was my favorite day of the whole trip. Sadly, it is our last full day here in Turkey before we start our travels back home.

Today, I and six others rented out some Mo-peds. I initially wanted to dominate the two-wheeled contraption with ease, but alas! I failed. I was pretty much cursed the whole two hours. First, my brakes were not exactly in the best shape. Second, my helmet did not fit properly so it kept falling off my head when I was going about 70-80 Kilometers/Mile out on the high way... :) AWESOME. And third, I did not anticipate off-roading with this dainty little machine. I biffed it TWICE right in front of our cute Turk guide, Edgoon. It was grand!

The first fall was more of a graceful fall. I was a little shaken, but then I got right back up again determined to dominate. The second fall was a bit more brutal. Which in turn, resulted in two amazing battle wounds; one on my right arm and one on my right leg. Once again, I got up and drove that baby like nothing even happened. The older guide, James, was a tad bit shocked at how smily and happy I was through out the whole cursed experience :P Edgoon just egged me on (and the rest of the gang) to go faster and faster even though he had already saved me about three times already. (The other save is insignificant. He just rode my Mo-ped out of a rocky area for me.) The two of them are too much fun. At one point, James let me lead the group... but then he told me to slow down... haha...

Through out this lovely fun filled afternoon, I was absolutely giddy to be out on the open road looking to what is ahead and at the beautiful Red Valley Turkish terrain. In the same way, I am looking ahead to what God has planned for me and my life and what beauty lies there. I am ready to be that better person and live life in the fast lane on the open road with God (in todays case: James) leading the way.

I am not sure why today was my favorite day... It really isn't normal for one to think that the only day they got hurt was their favorite day, but it was for me. James and Edgoon are still joking about how I need help traversing around our hotel so I don't trip and fall. Whenever they are around, I tend to trip up or down stiars, on an uneven tile, or run into a tree branch... oh dear! I laugh when I think about what they must think of me. It will be sad to leave them and my other Turkish friends behind. But, as said before, I am ready to move right on ahead into the great unkown and let God be the one to save me from my falls in life.

The Potter's Hands

Merhaba everyone! This is Jennica! I wanted to share an awesome story I was blessed to experience today. Just a few hours ago our team visited a pottery shop. We were able to watch a potter shape a lump of seemingly boring and normal clay into a beautiful plate in just a few minutes. It was incredible to watch just a few simple and smooth hand motions form an amazing new creation. I was totally drawn into the movements of his careful and gentle hands. After I thought I'd seen the most amazing thing in the world, we were brought to another room where we witnessed the potter make a beautiful vase and I was struck again!

The man showing us around saw my dropped jaw and invited me sit next to the potter to watch and told me that I was next! They handed me a pair of long and poofy pants so as not to dirty my jeans - so kind - and I sat down at the wheel with a piece of clay spinning in front of me. The potter showed me how to shape the clay, as I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and I started to get the hang of it - well, sort of. I smooshed my beginnings-of-a-vase once but the potter helped me smooth out the rough patches and mold it back into its proper shape. After a few minutes work, and to my amazement, I had a pretty decent (if I do say so myself) bowl in front of me! I thanked the owner and he said he had never seen anyone so interested and amazed about the pottery, and therefore I was merited a try at it myself. What an incredible experience!

The team was frequently laughing at my silly awestruck facial expressions as I watched the potter work at his wheel, but more than being amazed at his work, I was truly taken by the vivid pitcure of God as our Potter - THE Potter. As I watched the potter of the shop carefully yet firmly molding his clay into the vase that was hidden inside, I was reminded of how God molds us, his clay as we grow with Him in our lives. Though we may only see ourselves as an ugly and common lump of clay, God sees his beautiful creation inside. He pushes the wheel of life, and lets us spin around as his hands gently start to form our being.
Sometimes, we may stray from his design and mess up - causing an ugly bend in the smooth surface. The Potter willingly welcomes us back into his tender hands and uses that bend to create a new detail in our shape.

Sometimes, we feel that we are becoming dry and cracked, whether from weariness or resistance. The Potter, knowing all of his creation's needs, continues to add water to makes us wet and moldable again. God is constantly molding us throughout our lives, sometimes with a firm hand when he is trying to teach us to be willing to bend or stetch ourselves out to form a new curve in our shape. However, he never ceases to mold with care, precision and softness.
Other times, The Potter may feel that in order to further our shaping into perfection, we may need to enter into the kiln, where we will experience extreme and seemily unbearable heat - up to 3,600 degrees Farenheit. However, The Potter knows that we will never burn into a crisp or break apart. He knows we need to be refined through fire. It is a process that must happen in order to be brought to perfection. Just as it says in 1 Peter 1:6 -7, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed".

The Potter knows what is best and sees our finished product even before we are near our glazing stage. Then, after we have lived our lives reflecting the work of our Potter's amazing Hands, we will join him in His shop, with His many other completed and beautiful masterpieces. Praise the beautiful Hands of our gracious and loving Potter!

"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8