Ocho, Ouch and Other Fun

My favorite son turned Ocho (a little Espanol for ya) on Feb 21. The past 7 years we have done parties like this or perhaps like this, all equating to a lot of fun but also a lot of work.

So when Blake asked if he could invite a few of his best mates (a little "Aussie" for ya) to the BMX track to celebrate his 8th b-day; it took me all of 5 seconds to give a resounding, "Sure"!

The boys hit the trails with some hard riding...

The 2 hours of biking brought lots of fun, sweat (it was hot) and a few minor incidents....

Bike issues


And Ouch issues(there is a little "Mama" for ya)....I was the Medic on the scene and spent a lot of time applying "plasters"..aka....



Fortunately the injuries were all minor!

Afterward we headed to the Franzenfam home for swimming and ice cream sundaes.




And in other fun...many of you asked via fb about Blake's birthday "cake" request. Here is a photo of my first homemade Pavlova (meringue base filled with whip cream and berries)....


Everyone seemed pleased with the finished product.

Happy Birthday my precious boy....you are a vibrant and incredibly handsome guy!

P.S. I am more than happy to continue with the easy birthday requests!

A Failed Attempt

Recently, I attempted to share the story of William Carey with my children. Amazing guy, inspiring story yet the version of his story that I chose was not geared to ages 5- 10. After pushing through one page, I looked up to see my children wilted on the table in sheer boredom.

It was a failed attempt so we quit but not before reading his famous quote, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God!”

I’ve heard this quote many times before, in fact my Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome quotes it from time-to-time. Yet for some reason these profound words once uttered by the ‘Father of Missions’ struck me differently this time.

Expect great things from God….Attempt Great things for God…..

The first part seems rather easy, daily I expect God’s provision, His protection, His blessing… the fruition of His promises outlined in the Bible. It is the latter portion that seems to bring challenge. Interestingly, William didn’t use the word, “succeed” he used the word “attempt”.
I wonder if our fear of failure, of not succeeding, perhaps of “disappointing God” keeps us from attempting great things for Him?

If completely uninhibited, would we make more attempts? Definitely something to ponder and chat over with the Father. As I do that I will also attempt to find more age appropriate stories of "the Greats" to share with my kiddos. I want to inspire them with other men and women's failures and successes praying they never feel intimidated to make their own attempts!

I'll leave you with a question, 2 actually, that I've been asking myself....

What are you attempting for God today, this week, this year? Is anything holding you back from making these attempts?

Grandma Kraft

While Stateside the Franzenfam had fun partaking in various indulgences we don’t get here. Bet you can’t guess what one of mine was? Hee

For some of the younger fam members, they experienced new favorites.

Tori really fell in love with “Grandma’s mac and cheese”. I mean how could you not fall in love with anything that comes out of Grandma’s kitchen?!

The funny thing, she isn’t referring to the warm, gooey, fresh off the stove, homemade mac and cheese that Grandma does make, she means the prolonged shelf-life, stale noodles, powdered cheese packet, out of the box mac and cheese her Daddy makes.



Yep, America’s infamous, Kraft Mac and Cheese. Odd that my 5 year old claims to have never experienced this ‘wholesome food group’ until we visited Grandma (we live a very sheltered life- ha). I’m sure she had, just did not remember.

Guess we’ll be adding Grandma Kraft to our “America Wish List” for people to bring when they come over. Or forget the junk in a box and bring over Grandma.

The Only Way to Cross the Finish Line

Sittin’ in church on Sunday gettin’ my own little “work-out” when things began to strike a familiar cord....

No matter how spiritually “fit” we think we are or are not, no matter what the disappointment, the pain, the hurt, the obstacle….we need our Father in all His great love to wrap His arms around us and take us to the finish line.