Michelle Wegner

Top 10 Moments From the First Week Back to School

1. Isabelle hugging her sisters tight every morning before they leave for school.  She really misses them.
2. Rob swinging on a trapeeze during his sermon.
3. Sleeping in on Saturday past 7am
4. Sleeping in on Sunday past 7am
5. Watching Whitney hug her teacher, whom she adores.
6. I started writing for the GCC writing team.  I especially love the leader of this team.
7. I started writing for an  online magazine. 
8. I made a new friend.
9. The Twitter world saved the day once again.  Maddie's in the door/ER crisis handled with love from all my Tweeps
10. My friends think My Dad and Mom are pretty cool people.

When Schools "Go Green"

When schools go green, I will most likely roll over in my grave.  My grave?  Yep.  I think it will take them that long to take advantage of a little thing called the Internet that most likely every person in our school district has in their home.  Today was the first day back to school for my girls.  It may sound weird, but one of the things I dread the very most about them going back to school is all the paper.  Forms for this and that.  Newsletters.  Permission slips.  PTO announcements.  Market Day forms....you get the idea.  These papers stress me out and make my life very complicated.  Where do I put them?  Are they important?  Do I really care about Market Day?  Maybe I really should, but I don't.

This is what came home in my girls' folders today. 

I counted about 40 pieces of paper.  I decided I'm going to do an experiment.  From now until the end of the school year I am going to keep all the papers the girls get sent home in a bin.  How many trees will be cut down to supply my two girls with endless forms to fill out and redundant announcements about How to drop off your kid in the morning and the new food policy at PHM?  We'll just have to see.

Finally...

I mentioned in a previous post how our darling Isabelle has the amazing ability to talk non-stop for hours on end. Her favorite thing ever is when we are all in the car together. She's got 4 sets of ears that can't sneak away...pure delight for one who is super-charged by listening to herself speak. Sharing a room with her again this weekend proved my theory...she talks all day AND night...even in her sleep. After 4 hours in the car, We're 10 minutes from home and she finally gave in and fell asleep. I'm sure she'll have lots to say when she wakes up.

See that black line above her head?  She fell asleep with a marker in her hand.  She's a busy girl..awake or asleep. 

Vocal Amazement

Three and a half hours of our road trip to Indianapolis, and Isabelle has spoken incessantly without more than a 30 second break the entire time. I am amazed, and admire her vocal capabilities.

The Best Days of Summer

 

Here are some of my favorite summer memories.  It's been a wonderful summer.  We've had tons of time together as a family, and made lots of memories.  God is good.  Being busy making memories and  hanging out with your family is the best kind of tired there is.

Sleepy Days Coming to an End

The house is quiet...everyone's busy doing something else.  I don't think this has happened the entire summer.  I realized this morning that there are only two more weeks until the girls head back to school.  This is going to be grueling for them.  Last night we let them stay up until 11pm, which is unheard of in our family.  Since Rob and I have had children, an early bed time for all has been the rule.  Since Maddie and Whitney are getting older, they can handle staying up a little late because they actually sleep in a bit in the morning.  Isabelle is our sleepless wonder.  She can go for days and nights with no sleep.  It is amazing. 

How do I gear up for this early fall?  I have no idea.  I function best going to bed at 11pm and waking up at 8am.  I am not sure why the 6:30am thing is so difficult.  I strongly dislike having to wake my girls up, feed them, make sure they are clean, have their homework, library books, lunches, water bottles, gym shoes, snow boots and pants, hats, gloves, mittens, pencils, kleenex and erasers by 7am.  It's no fun really.  How do we make this a fun and happy time?  Anyone have any ideas?  Has anyone truly had success in this area?  I would love ideas...and no, controlled substances do not count!

God's Trick on Me

Sometimes life as a Mommy is very tiring.  When you are married to a husband and have children who NEVER run out of energy, it is even more tiring.  Today is a typical day in the life at the Wegner household.  Here's what we all did.

7:30 Belle wakes me up.  I tell her to wake Daddy up instead

7:45 I force myself up and into the shower.  Belle wants to come in the shower with me.  I tell her no.

8:00 Belle wants a bath...give her a bath

8:15 Houseguest of the day, Michael comes over

8:20 Belle's first Breakfast

8:45 Leave home for my small group

9:15 Lead most excellent small group of spiritually disciplined women

10:30  Chiropractor appointment

11:30 Pick up family to take them Horseback riding

12:00 Eat McDonalds in Car

12:30 Ride horses with family in 100degree heat for two hours...I abstain due to previous chiropractor appt.

2:00 Tractor ride with family while Rob rides off wildly in the woods with Dan

2:30 Tire swing...almost puke.

4pm Ice Cream in Caryn and Don's small...very small town

4:30 Rob gets pulled over for speeding through small town...no ticket, just a warning.  I think that is his 9th warning.  How does that happen?

5:30  PB&J Dinner

6:00 Vacation Bible School Drop off

6:30  Dinner w/Dan and Lisa

8:00 Rob picks up new exercise equipment he bought on Craig's List...Installs it in garage with Jason

8:30 VBS pick up

9:00 late night swim at Mimi's

10:00 Girls in bed

11:00 Rob is still playing RockBand

 

I am tired.  Sometimes I think God is playing a trick on me by surrounding me with people with never-ending energy.   I don't think it is funny.

Life Lessons in the month of July (part 1)

This is the face of a truly sad girl.  Maddie and Whitney have been working very hard all summer dog-sitting our neighbor's dogs.  It really has been hard work, and I am proud of them for sticking with it even when it comes to cleaning up puppy poop.  More than once I have caught them gagging cleaning it up...it's pretty funny really.

We decided to take them to Michigan City today to let them spend a bit of their money on school clothes.  After about an hour at Limited Too, and after trying on about 10 different things, Maddie decided on one necklace that she really liked.  It was her own money, and she was very proud of it. 

After shopping, we decided to hang out on the beach for a while.  We changed in the public bathroom, trying not to touch or be touched by anything, then went out to hit the waves.  After a few minutes, I remembered Maddie had her necklace on and called her in from the waves.  As she was coming toward me, I realized she didn't have it on.  I was sure it was floating somewhere in the lake.  When I asked her about it, her face got very sad.  She said she left it on the hook in the bathroom.  Rob took her back to the bathroom to check, and sure enough it was gone.  Drama unfolds....

She came back to our towel with the above scowl on her face.  Not only did she get her necklace stolen, but she got stung by a bee on her ear on the way  back from the bathroom.  Double ouch.

She was done swimming and wanted to go change her clothes.  As we were walking back to the car, I noticed a suspicious man standing next to our car.  He kind of wandered into the parking lot when I walked up to the car.  When we walked over to the bathroom, he walked back to the van.  I stared him down, and he quickly realized I was watching him and walked away again.

I went back to the car, and grabbed all our "valuable" stuff the guy might be interested in and walked back by Rob and the girls. 

As we were walking back, I started to talk to Maddie about the situation.  I said, "You know Maddie, the Bible says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him....even getting your necklace stolen."  She looked at me kinda funny.  "If it hadn't been stolen, you would be in the water playing and we wouldn't have noticed that guy trying to break into our car.  Maybe my purse, credit cards, your purse, and all our new clothes would have been stolen.  Maybe God thought the necklace would be the easiest thing to replace, so He let it happen the way it did." 

It didn't make her feel any better, but I think the truth of it sunk in.  

Not A Normal Life

We put on a lot of miles today and got a lot done.  We pulled more weeds at the ball field in Englewood for Pastor Bone and his little league team.  Read the amazing story of how we got the same dirt as the Chicago White Sox on Rob's blog.  It is on days like this that I shake my head in wonder at God.  Two phone calls, and these boys from one of the worst neighborhoods in America will be playing on the best dirt in America.  God is awesome.

As I was pulling weeds and getting blisters from raking mud, I could not help but pray for those boys.  Pastor Glenn and Carla don't look at themselves as coaches to 30 9-11 year old boys.  They see themselves as the only hope these boys have to stay out of the gang/drug scene which leads 99% of the time to jail or death.  That was my motivation to push through the heat and the blisters.

As we were cleaning up the field, the neighborhood drug dealers stood on their corner watching us.  I was within hearing distance to them, and I heard one say to the other with a smile "They are cleaning up this field!  Can you believe that?"  He couldn't believe it.  One of them let us use his hose to rinse the kids off after they waded in the mud all day.  An old man walked up and down the road shaking his head and talking to a few of the adult leaders.  I  asked one of them what he said, and she said the man told her that when he was a young man, he had a vision for saving the lives of the boys in the neighborhood just like Pastor Bone.  He had a team and they played on the very field we were working on.  He said his heart has been broken to see the field destroyed by lack of care.  He was so excited to see us fixing it up for the neighborhood.

As we were driving in the car today, I said to my girls, "you realize you do not have a normal life."  They nodded their heads and smiled.  Instead of the usual "What I did this Summer" essays, Maddie and Whitney's will read something like this:

   

"This summer I went to middle school camp and helped kids pick up trash.  All of the kids loved Jesus, and loved me.  Then I went to the worst neighborhood in Chicago where the drug dealers like to hang out.  Right across from their watchful eyes I pulled weeds and swept a puddle the size of a lake away so inner-city boys will not join gangs and end up in jail or dead."

Not a normal life. 

Tomorrow we hit the American Girl Cafe for a celebration dinner.  My girls deserve it.  They have been amazing troopers this summer.

How the Girls Spent Their Afternoon

Seriously Worth It

By Thursday night at camp, I was seriously wiped out.  For whatever reason, I could not sleep more than 2 or 3 hours in a row, so I was sleep deprived, not feeling well, and emotionally spent. Even despite all of that, I knew God's purpose was for us to be there as a family.  Proof of that came Saturday morning.  One of the counselors handed me and Rob a note.  Here's what it said:

Thank you for everything you have done for me.  Not only have  you provided me great wisdom and knowledge about Christ, a strong woman model who serves Christ passionately, but also you provided me an amazing model of a healthy marriage.  Growing up in a broken home, I don't really know what healthy is, and you give me a picture of it every time I see you.  Thanks for your passion.  Know I will continue to pray for you both in your faith journey and passion you both have to keep changing people's lives.  I love you both and am here if you ever need anything whatsoever.  I love you...

I will treasure those words for a long time to come.  It makes sleeping with bugs and having to go outside to use the bathroom in the middle of the night seriously worth it.

The Light of Life

 

This is my Maddie.  These few photos capture the essence of her so well.  This photo in particular captures her.  Her eyes are so seeing.  She sees in insightful ways that a lot of adults don't.  Her perception of the way things are is incredibly mature for a 9 year old.

She is free spirited and funny at the same time.  She adores her little sister. 

I love the lighthouse photo.  Since Maddie was about 4, her favorite Bible verse has been, "Jesus said I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness but have the light of life."  John 8:12

Maddie is light and life.  She brings both to everyone she touches

~photos by Rob

Things the Wegner's take to Camp Adventure

I am overwhelmed at the thought of it.  I love camp....once we get there.  The worst part of the year for me is the 3 days leading up to camp.  This year is even a bit tougher because whenever I walk anywhere it feels like shards of glass are poking my foot bones.  This should be fun.  Here is what I need to get together and pack for the week at camp.

• 5 toothbrushes
• 21 pairs of panties
• 21 pairs of socks
• 13 pairs of jeans
• 13pairs of jammies
• 5 flashlights
• 12 bathing suits
• 36 shirts
• 10 sweatshirts
• sunscreen
• bug spray
• 3 fans
• 2 power cords
• 10 Barbies w/accesories
• 10 Polly Pockets w/accessories
• 5 coloring books
• 100 crayons
• 10 pens
• 3 notebooks
• 5 sleeping bags
• 5 sets of sheets
• 2 Leapsters
• 2 laptops
• 2 cell phones
• 1 Zune
• 3 ipods
• 9 stuffed animals
• 6 pillows
• 5 pairs of crocs
• 5 pairs of gymshoes
• 5 pairs of flip flops
• 15 towels
• wet wipes
• bandaids
• 3 cosmetic bags full of beauty products
• coffee pot (this is essential)
• refrigerator
• 3 storage bins
• 5 Bibles
• batteries
• Books to read while girls are sleeping/napping...Any ideas?

This is the "off the top of my head" list.  I'm sure we will think of many more things in the next 3 days.  Anyone want to come over and help fold laundry?  I'll be your best friend!  I promise!

Wegner Camp-Out '08

 

    

I'll let the photos tell the story of our camping trip.  Lets just say, Rob said out loud to the girls at least 3 times,  "Doesn't Mommy have the best attitude about this?"  I bit my tongue and forced a smile a lot of the time, but secretly I still had a good time.

Into The Wild

You may have seen the movie "Into The Wild".  Rob and I read the book years ago.  Well, that's us tonight.  We're going camping "Into the Wild" somewhere in the vast wilderness of Indiana.  I hope we make it out alive.  I told my doctor about this yesterday.  He laughed and said my husband should bring a stretcher for me.  Hilarious.  Pray we make it out alive.  That other guy didn't do so well.

Why It's Hard To Be My Friend

Being married to a Pastor and balancing my friendships is a tricky thing.  One thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is my friendships with other women.  I love my friends.  I adore them.  I wish I could spend hour after hour with them just hanging out.  If you are my friend, or if you are close to someone whose spouse is in full-time ministry, you'll sorta see what I'm trying to say. 

There has to be a lot of grace given and taken in these relationships.  My life is never the same day to day or week to week.  The times Rob is home with me and the girls is "retreat" time.  It's time to back away from people, regroup, reorganize, and rethink.  Before all that happens, we just need quiet.  At the end of most days, Rob and I are just quiet.  We're tired.  People can be draining.  Trying to save the world is hard!

I can't tell you how many appointments I have had to cancel or reschedule because of Rob's schedule.  I've had to reschedule breakfast with the same friend 10 times or more.  Does she get mad? Nope.  Grace has grown in our friendship over time.

Have I lost friends because of this?  Yep, more than have stayed around.  They did not like it very much that family, marriage, and ministry were so time consuming.  Not only time-consuming, but energy consuming.  When I looked at them and said, "I am so sorry, we just can not put our kids with another babysitter tonight., " they packed up, left, and never came back. Ouch.

But, the friendships that have lasted these 16 years of ministry are the strongest and best I could ever ask for.

If you know a family like ours who is in full-time ministry, extend them extra grace.  They really do like you.  As a matter of fact, they probably love you more than you could know.  That's why they do what they do.

Third World Summer

How I would love to say, "Now that we've settled into our summer routine..."  There is no routine!  It is driving me seriously crazy.  I have realized more and more that I am a routine person.  I do not do well in the realm of the unexpected.  What is odd about that is how well I can adapt in a third-world setting.  I  can fly into India and be perfectly at home in minutes.  I think maybe because the unexpected in places like India is the expected. 

These summer days are killing me.  I never know what's happening or what is going to be happening next.  One week is different from the next, and in the midst of it all I am getting nothing whatsoever done.  I think the fact that my girls are more independent makes it harder too.  I trust them to walk down to the neighbors or play at a friends all day.  I used to be the one making up the routine.  They liked to be with me.  We'd go on walks, play play-dough, etc.  Now I play to their routines.  I guess it will take some getting used to.  I'll probably be used to it by the end of summer when it's time to get into the school routine again.  So, I guess I will be adapting to the third-world culture of summer for the next few weeks.  Pardon my jet-lagged eyes.

If I Ever Write a Book About Raising Girls...

This will be the front cover.  I love it!

Redeeming Grandma

After the crazy story yesterday, I felt I needed to share another story I had written about her a while back.  She really was an amazing woman...really!

A Turkey Platter and a Bible

My Grandma was not a wealthy woman.  She lived in small homes her whole life and had only a few "precious" belongings.  I was her one and only Granddaughter.  Grandma had a few items marked out for me that she wanted me to get when she died.  As she got older, it became sort of a morbid obsession for her.  She would say to me, "Now when I go, you make sure you get this Turkey platter."  And "When I go, you make sure I am buried in this pink dress and not the blue one.  I know they will want to bury me in the blue one, but I look terrible in blue. I would just laugh and roll my eyes at her.

 

She said she was telling me this, because as soon as someone in her retirement home died, all the old ladies would go in and clean out the apartment.  By clean out, I mean wipe out.  They'd take blankets, pillows, anything they could get their hands on. 

 

One time when I was visiting her I heard all this hammering.  I asked her what that was, and she said that Millie had died last night and Mable took the plate off of Millie's wall and was nailing it to her wall.  Pretty funny.

 

When my Grandma did die, there were not many possessions of hers that were desirable for anyone to get.  I did end up with the turkey platter., thank goodness.  What would I ever have done without the turkey platter?

 

Another thing I got as my inheritance was my Grandmother's catechism book from  when she was a young girl. My Dad actually gave it to me the day of Grandma's funeral.   I opened up the front cover, and their was written in old ink  the scripture that read, "He that is faithful to the point of death will receive the crown of life."  It was a note from  her pastor when she was 12 years old.  My Grandma did stay faithful to Jesus, and to her family her whole life.  That Bible is a token that will help me remember the essence of my Grandma, more than the turkey platter at least.  I'm thankful for my inheritance.  Grateful for the legacy of faith that has been left to me. 

ADORABLE

It was my nephew Caleb's first birthday today.  He is the most laid back baby I have ever met.  He fell asleep eating his own birthday cake.  I love this little guy (and his parents) to death.