Annie's gettin' hitched

This coming weekend is one that has been anticipated for many weeks, months, and even years. I remember when I got the phone call. I was standing in the Atlantic Wal-Mart on the morning of Christmas Eve 2007. The place was bustling with last-minute shoppers. I was thrilled to actually be getting cell phone service, since nearby Elk Horn, IA is most definitely a dead zone. I was shocked when Annie made her announcement, since just two short months prior I had asked her on the phone, "So...should we be anticipating a 2008 wedding?" To which she quickly scoffed and said, "No. No way."
I was so thrilled for her...and for myself. I could now live vicariously through her and thus fill the wedding-withdrawl-sized hole in my heart. (Not that marriage isn't great, but that day goes by way too quickly!) Okay, but seriously, I am so excited for Annie and Ryley to make this life-changing and life-long commitment to each other. Marriage is a blessing and a gift, not to be taken lightly. Not that I'm all that wise or anything, but I do know that the Lord uses marriage to teach you so many things about yourself and about Himself. How awesome is that?
I'm honored to be able to stand up with Annie this weekend as she takes her vows and officially becomes Mrs. Bjustrom and I'm so thankful for her enduring friendship.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

In a classroom full of kindergartners, there's always funny and quirky things coming out of their mouths but it seems like I've forgotten most of it by the end of the day...unless they are truly classic. Today was a particularly good day for classics.
This week is homecoming week, so each day is designated as a different dress-up day. Today was deemed "Crazy Day", and the kids were supposed to dress in wacky colors, inside out and backward clothes, different shoes, etc. About mid-way through the morning, one little guy announced, "I've got my shirt on backward, my pants on backward, and my underwear on backward." Wowza. That's dedication.
This was also the day that a group of high school cheerleaders, athletes, and drumliners (my personal favorite) came to our school to do a pep assembly. The kids were so thrilled to see all this excitement live and up close! As the pep assembly ended and we were heading out for recess, I overheard a conversation between two of my girls---
"I'm going to be a cheerleader when I grow up. Are you?"
"Yeah! I changed my mind about princess and doctor."
Awwwwww...

They say a puppy is a good precursor to parenthood...

This is our sweet puppy, Rufus. Rufus loves to go on walks, play fetch, snuggle, and lick. We feel that, generally speaking, we have trained him well. He most often goes to the back door when he needs to go out, he walks pretty well on his leash, he's quiet at nighttime, he rarely barks, he has a great personality and he knows "sit". But, as we've discovered time and time again, Rufus's first love in life is toilet paper. He loves to pounce around and shred it into as many tiny pieces as possible, spreading it throughout the house, leaving a very convicting trail behind him. Despite our best efforts to have a perfectly well-mannered pup, we can no longer leave our toilet paper on the actual toilet paper roll. We often forget to tell our guests this important information, and likely leave them in a panic until they either look behind them and find the roll on top of the toilet tank, or resort to the unfortunate art of the drip-dry. Rufus will even create a diversion if he sees an opporunity to get his mouth on a sweet morsel of tp. He'll run to the back door as if he urgently needs to go outside, but as soon as we catch up to him, he darts back to his little treasure and rip as fast as he can. Of course, it's difficult to be angry with him because he's so darn cute and is has mastered the pet-store-puppy-dog look that got us to buy him in the first place. We'd really like to get this problem under control, so if you have any tips, please let us know!!