winter fun

warning: the following is random & unorganized...my skin is crawling just thinking about it...however, since my separation from facebook...i will be doing a little catch up, and will try to update this blog at least weekly...

 me and a girlfriend took our boys to pando a few weeks ago...

buiskool boys + vruggink boys = 1 rowdy bunch!

                                                                                    

our passes were good for 3 hours...this is after 2 hours...they were cold, wet, & tired...PERFECT!

 boys and their toys...dawson (9) plowing with the 3-wheeler...dodge (7) blowing with the tractor...

doug (41) retired :)

 some of our friends at the races...bundle up!

let it snow! this is our christmas tree - we always put it up in the woods - we are due for a snow day...maybe this week?!

the winter months can be so L-O-N-G....kind of excited to be able to break it up with snowmobiling & racing...

C H O O S E

i was talking to a girlfriend the other day, and she did a really neat thing in her bible study...instead of a new year's resolution, they had to come up with one word that would define them...influence their decisions...and in general...keep them accountable.

what an interesting concept...in my bible study, we are studying the book of isaiah, and one theme seems to keep popping out at me...CHOOSE.

we have so many choices, dont we?

from what i wear, to what i eat, to how i spend my free time, how i give, where i work, relationships i want to invest in, parenting....the list goes on forever.

but there is a difference in how i make decisions and how others may make their decisions.

i'm by NO means perfect...not even close. but i pray every day that i make choices that bring me closer to God...positively influence others for Christ...that He would be glorified in the choices i make.

sometimes i fail miserably in a choice i make. i ask Him for forgiveness and wisdom.

other choices i make are just plain "out there" to some people.  i only want to please Him.

some choices are scary.  He says, "do not fear".

choosing takes on a whole new meaning when you have kids...or little eyes watching you...

Joshua 24:15...

 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

facebook

Facebook (stylized facebook) is a social network service and website launched in February 2004 that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.^[1] As of January 2011^[update], Facebook has more than 600 million active users.^[5][6] Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile.

"How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?"

At age 102, Ivy Bean of Bradford, England joined Facebook in 2008, making her one of the oldest people ever on Facebook. An inspiration to other residents of the care home in which she lived...At the time of her death in July 2010, she had 4,962 friends on Facebook and more than 56,000 followers on Twitter. Her death was widely reported in the media and she received tributes from several notable media personalities.

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wow. can anyone remember life without facebook? it's almost like trying to remember life before cell phones...life before e-mail...life before computers...life before mini-vans...most people know i am not a fan of technology...most people know i wish i was born 150 years ago...most people know i don't text (my cell phone is a dinosaur)...but i DO own an i-pod touch (shocking, i know)...and it has this little ap that makes it so-super-easy to check my facebook!!!

you see, i have a hate-hate relationship with the phone. e-mails helped remove some of the phone hassle of coordinating birthday parties & etc...but facebook made it FUN! you can put pictures of your family on it...private message long lost friends & relatives without bothering with the phone...its an awesome way to connect with people...maybe people you never even spoke to...while all this "connecting" is going on...i was slowly getting sucked into everyone elses "lives"...looking at their pics...seeing what their friends were writing on their walls...knowing what everyones is doing on any given night...comparing my facebook life to their facebook life...comparing my facebook kids to their facebook kids...wondering why that person wouldn't "friend" me (yes, it really happened...and i actually felt bad...so silly)...and wondering who in the world from pakistan wants to friend me (yes, that happened too...i hope it was some creepy mistake)...realizing, that i am checking that darn facebook EVERY TIME I HAVE A FREE MINUTE.

dont get me wrong. if you love fb, thats great. there are a lot of things i miss about facebook. there are a lot of good things about facebook. this might be a permanent break-up with facebook...or maybe i'll go back and really restrict how i use it...i'm not sure yet.

it was time for me to deactiveate. so i did.

and fb showed me profile pics of all the friends that would miss me if i decided to push the "deactiveate" button.

i dont know if fb knows this or not, but my friends are living breathing people that live in houses...not in my i-pod. geez.

lets go racing!

so...a long time ago...1994....doug & i were dating, and he was starting a new adventure: SNOWMOBILE RACING!...racing is in the guy's blood...he is super competitive...in fact, one of the very first things he ever spoke to me was this:

 "the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death"

yikes.

because of a several reasons - he only raced that one year - then life kind of happened...his money found other places to go...ya know, marriage, houses, cars, student loans, having babies...you get the picture :)

fast forward to a few months ago...a guy who raced snowmobile previously, just couldn't do it anymore...he hurt his leg in an accident...and wondered if doug would be interested in driving his race sled.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

ummmmm.....yeah!

so, here we are...doug is racing a vintage snowmobile class...all the races are close by...only an hour north...every other weekend...totally family friendly...short sprint-type racing (not the 200+ laps like he used to do!)...it is so exciting!

this is before his very first time out on the track...posing with our very proud boys...i can definitely say racing this time around is SO MUCH MORE FUN!

grandpa & grandma beld all bundled up with dodge & dawson...i dont think it got much above 9 degrees that day, when you factor in that we are there all day, plus a little wind...it can get mighty cold

although, cold doesn't seem to affect kids much...front row seats!

#67

if the boys weren't watching races, they were wrestling in the snow. crazy.

this brings back memories: who doesn't remember getting a cold wet mitten on with your teeth?

dawson

pulling up to the start line

after every race, the boys would run up to the track to give doug a high-five as he drove off ... dodge jumped on the back for a little victory drive :)

speaking of victory, doug placed 1st, 2nd & 2nd in the three races he ran...

here's dawson, proud as a peacock!

oh...dodge was a little excited too!

so, yes it was F*R*E*E*Z*I*N*G, but oh, so much fun...another adventure beginning...

funny, sometimes when a phase ends in your life, you kind of wonder, how could it get more fun...be as exciting...or even be possible...and then God surprises you.