Kenosha's Open House

Last October Pr. Tamm came to our congregation.  We hadn't had anyone in charge of our congregation in almost a year at that point.  We were taking care of the day to day operations of the congregation, but no growth was happening.  One of the first ideas Pr. Tamm came with was to host an open house to bring awareness to our church in the community.  He started having Worker's Meetings the first Monday night of each month and designated different people to handle the different activities.  Food, Children's Activities, Marketing, Media Planning, and a Choir Concert to finish off the day.  We worked within our own activities and also helped out in the other areas as well.


Pr. Tamm was in charge of making the sausages that we grilled.  He hosted a "Sausage Fest" afternoon where anyone was welcome to go and make the sausages.  Literally grind the meat, mix in the seasonings, and then put them into their casings.  Kristin Elmore and Joyce Tamm worked on the rest of the menu.

Zandre and Mercedes worked on marketing.  They designed our flyers and organized areas for us to go out and canvas.  They organized radio adds and newspaper adds.  Put out boxes for collecting donations for the Shalom Center out of Kenosha, WI.  (They are a non-for-profit organization that helps those in need.)

Maxine and I signed up to canvas with the kids one afternoon.  We walked (and drove) all around our neighbors subdivisions and put flyers in their mailboxes.  (Well not in because that's illegal, but stuck in the flag or in their advertiser boxes where possible.)

Robin, Maxine, Judy and I worked on the kids activities and crafts.  We rented a bounce house, came up with 2 crafts (bookmarkers and hats that also are horns), and Maxine hired a balloon artist to come to  the open house.  She was the best balloon artist I have ever seen - and the coolest thing was that she taught herself how to do this from watching YouTube videos.  Amazing!

Pr. Upmann was in charge of media.  He brought in 2 computers and a tv.  He made a slide show of pictures from the past 10 years, had a short movie of our church's history overt the past 150 years, and then in the other room had different movies from our past events (mostly Christmas programs) running a the tv.  We also made 2 different collages on the walls of our past pictures and poster collages so we could share our past memories.

Ernie (Pr. Tamm's son) came up with this really cool looking logo for us to use.  Janet and Cheryl took on the task of having shirts made for all of us.  Then from there the idea also came to have a photo booth set up.  Jean drew the background and Maxine painted it.  We took everyone's picture that came, printed pictures for them, and made them into magnets so they can always remember what a great day we had.

Jerry worked out all the details for our concert.  The choir sang 4 songs and the orchestra (I say loosely because it was a tuba, flute and cello) played 3 songs.

On top of all this Mercedes has signed up to host a Dave Ramsey seminar at our church in August.  She was also promoting this event at our open house.

We were prepared for all of Kenosha, Racine, and Northern Lake County, IL to come to this.  We rented a port-potty.  Worried about parking.  Planned on running to the store because we ran out of food.  All of this and we didn't need the porta-potty, didn't run out of parking spots, and never had to run out to the store for more food.

Now you may think that we failed.  We even had some of those same thoughts throughout the day.  Sad that more people didn't come.  We thought that all of our efforts were for nothing.  We even went out to the road and started waving at the cars going by with our crazy balloon hats on.  (Not sure if that helped or hurt us. lol)  But then we got over ourselves and saw what God had done for us.  We realized that sometimes you have your own thoughts and ideas, but they are not God's ideas for you.  After we had our "Come to Jesus" moment we started to really see all that has come out of this.  We had 15-20 guests that came to our event.  Other members from other congregations came to support us.  Our congregation grew by leaps and bounds through the planning of this event.  We got to know each other so much better and were given the opportunity to see each other's gifts and talents that may have gone unnoticed otherwise.  We finally have a sign on our church to let the community know we are there.  And we brought awareness to our neighbors of our presence.

Rome wasn't built in a day and our little Kenosha congregation isn't busting at the seams after our first big event, but we aren't going to let this get us down or stop us.  It's only the beginning.  Our congregation is full of love and life.  We have ideas bursting out of us.  I am so excited to be a part of something so big.  We may be small, but we are mighty!

Changes....

So this started hitting me on Friday - When Cherise drove out of the driveway.  Thursday night Jason said to me, "It's going to be weird without Cherise here all the time.  I don't know what we're going to do without her."  Not that I didn't agree with him, but nothing had really started sinking in at this point so I answered to him, "She's not dead.  It's not like we're not going to see her."

Then  Friday came.  I was still fine until we we're all getting ready to leave.  Cherise was going home and we were going to our friend's house so we were all leaving at the same time.  She's saying goodbye to all the kids and Collin just looks at her, waves and says, "Bye" as if it's not any different of a goodbye as the week before. But the thing is - it was.  Cherise and I hugged as if we were never going to see each other again.  We promised to FaceTime together and visit as soon as she gets settled in.  We got all teary eyed and had to hold it in so I wouldn't start gushing.  

My cousin Cherise has been coming here to help us with the kids 3 days a week for almost the last 2 years.  She took care of the kids with love, strength (which you need in this crowd), creativity, and passion.  She became more than a cousin or a babysitter.  She became an extension of Jason, the kids, and I.   And not only would she come here, but then she would bring along her brother Gregg sometimes, or her sister Shannon, or her boyfriend Matt.  But it didn't stop there.  Then she would take turns bringing the kids back to her house for a weekend at a time.  They then became an extension of her family too. I know that we are all family, but there are different levels to family.  Because of this relationship we have become so much closer to my Aunt Heidi, Uncle Scott, Cherise, Shannon and Gregg.  Like it use to be when I was a kid.   How wonderful this has been for all of us.  So I guess as it turns out Jason was right.  It is kind of like loosing someone close and there is a bit of grief happening.  I don't think it's really hit the kids yet.  Next week will be hard.

Now don't get me wrong.  We are so proud of Cherise and this new chapter of her life.  This is exactly what she needs to be doing.  Her journey has been long and she has searched far and near to find this job.  I know everything is going to start falling into place for her now.  It's only the beginning.

So that brings me to tonight.  The littles are starting daycare tomorrow.  I have to admit I've been almost giddy about it.  Sometimes they are just a lot to take at once.  But in all honestly I stated thinking about how they are going to be somewhere else all day long.  I won't hear them in the next room playing, laughing, crying, fighting, or just watching TV.  Ben won't be busting into my office asking if he could talk to me for a minute.  Collin won't running up to me to hug my legs every time I walk out of my office.  It's going to be strangely quiet around here tomorrow.

Jason made a very good observation about Ben tonight.  We think he's a little nervous for tomorrow.  We had my family over for Mother's Day lunch today and with every person that left to go home today he asked if he could go home with them and sleepover.  He'll be fine after he meets some new friends, of this I am sure, but it kind of breaks a little bit of my heart over this.

I know that this will be good in the end, but change is hard.  I can deal with the idea of change, but once the day comes I am nervous myself.  You start to ask the questions if you made the right decision?    Are they really going to be ok?  Are these people really going to watch and care for our babies in the same way that we have?  That Cherise did?  Now I can tell you these are my emotions talking.  I can answer all these questions logically, but my heart strings are still going to be pulling all this week until we are all comfortable with our new situation.

Keep all of us in your prayers that the adjustment will go well for all of us.  Let Cherise be ok in Rockford, let the littles be ok in daycare, and let the rest of us be able to change and be strong for the others.  Thank you.

Crap, Crap, and more Crap! The story of my life.

All over mom's house!

I swear I'm not making this up!  I couldn't if I tried.

I'm talking to my mom on the phone today and Riley brings me over her permission slip to take a train ride with her class.  On the permission slip is a big hot steamy pile of poo!  I start yelling, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  NASTY!!!"  Plus probably some other words to.  My mom is on the other line laughing, "I'm sorry.  I know you have to go, but you've got to tell me what is going on over there."  Me, "COLLIN JUST CRAPPED ALL OVER RILEY'S PERMISSION SLIP!"  More laughter from the other end of the phone.  Thankfully he pooped on the description part, not the part we're suppose to send back to school.  How lucky for us...

So then Ben comes up to me, "Mom, Collin crapped on the benches in the kitchen."  Me, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME.  OUR NEW BENCHES THAT WE JUST MADE NOT EVEN A WEEK AGO!  OH LOOK, IT'S GETS BETTER, CRAP ON THE WALL.  THAT'S RIGHT.  HE WIPED HIS ASS ON MY WALL!"  More laughter from the other end of the phone.  Not sure why I kept her on the phone.  Maybe it felt good to have another adult at least hear me going through this.

Clean that up, then...  Ben again, "Mom, There's crap on the floor."  Now I know I should be telling my kids that crap is a bad word, but when you going something like this sometimes you just need to hear the word "crap" come out of a 3 year old's mouth.  More laughter from the other end of the phone.  She was crying she was laughing so hard.

Clean that up, then... Wyatt, "Mom, Collin has crap by his eye."  I thought my mom was going to loose it at this one.  I go over there, wipe his face off and tell my mom, "Could be crap?  Could be peanut butter?  What ever...  It's off him now."

This is not the first time he's done this.  Our 1 year old is now potty training himself, although he doesn't seem to ever use the toilet.  The kid won't go in a diaper anymore.  Tells me he has to pee, goes to the bathroom, and pees all over the floor because he can't reach the toilet.  Can't use a gate or a lock to fix this problem.  I'm pretty sure Collin would even be a challenge for Super Nanny.

I told my mom, "If your ever feeling bad about your life, just call me.  I'm pretty sure that I will have something going on over here that will trump whatever you are going through."  She agreed.

I really hate bedtime! and more...

I used to love bedtime.  My kids were always so easy to put to bed.  We go in their bedroom, read a story, pray, turn the lights off, and I'm done for the night.  Now we have Collin and all is changed.  Typically I get a visit from him at least 10 times a night before he finally stays in bed.  Tonight Collin got Ben on board with him.  I'm sitting upstairs thinking to myself how nice it is that I haven't been visited tonight and I occasionally hear this banging coming from somewhere.  I ignore it for a while enjoying the peace.  Then it comes to a point that I have to go and check it out.  I start walking downstairs and I hear Ben, "Help!  Help!  I gotta get out of here!"  I follow the sound to the bathroom where the littles are trapped in there.  I open the door and a smiling Collin face looks at me at says, "wet.  wet."  He says wet because he is sitting in a sink full of water with the faucet running.  So I get them out of there, change their wet clothes, put them back in bed and leave.  ....  I hear the banging start again.  This time I go down there the lights are on in their room and they are in the playing in the closet.    Ben says, "It's play time, not bedtime."  I put them to bed at 7:30pm.  It is now 9:11pm ... and I scared to go downstairs to see what's next????  

Other stories:

Ben told Cherise yesterday, "Cherise, I told Collin I'm sorry."  She asks for what?  "Putting toothpaste on Collin."  Apparently he put it all over Collin's back.

Riley and Wyatt spoiled me over the weekend.  They had their room clean (which was a disaster) by 8am on Saturday morning.  Then when our friends called at 8:30am to ask us to hang out with them for the day, we could go.  Then they surprised me with dinner.  I was on the phone and Riley came over with a pen and paper, "What would you like for dinner my lady?"  "I don't know."  She asks, "Salad?" "Yah that sounds good."  I thought we were just playing restaurant, but I went into the kitchen to find them chopping up lettuce for me.  What a surprise that was!

Well - I know it's been a while since I've written, but things are nuts around here.  I am working full time now, and starting next week I'll be taking night classes to get my IL real estate license 3 nights a week.  Collin and Ben have us running from before sun up to way after sun down.  And lets not forget just keeping life together.   Our house no longer resembles anything tidy or put together.  You turn around and Collin is dumping something else on the ground, with a big ol' grin on his face.  So any who... this is why I've been silent lately.

Home Improvements

Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Handy Erika..... (To the tune of Handy Manny)

Yesterday I installed a new toilet seat.

First - Put the littles in the bathtub so I can keep an eye on them while I work.  They were DISGUSTING anyways from eating chocolate chips.

Second - I tried to pry off the back nobby things from the toilet.  That didn't work.  Ah Hah...  They are screwed on.

"All-righty...  Now I see how this is connected."  I think to myself.

Next thought - "So how do I unscrew this?"  Go get the pliers from the garage and a butter knife.  Butter knife you ask...  To pop off the top nobby things of course.  Got it!  Oooh.  I can use a flat head screw driver.  Go get that from the garage.

Come back.  Fish my pliers out of the tub where the littles took it.  "Now, What is the best way to unscrew these from such an awkward position?" I think.  Hmmm.  "Hold the pliers at the nut and twist the plastic screw."  Not as easy as it looks.

Try to move and slip from all the water on the ground that the littles have dumped out of the tub.

Yell at anybody moving.  Turn to get the pliers and find them in the tub again

Go at this again.  Finally get one screw undone.  This is taking for ever and my arms feel like they are ready to fall off.  Not to mention I am throughly disgusted at the grossness around these screws.  EWWWW!

Get splashed with water from behind me.  Yell some more.  The bigs come in to see what's going on.  Yell at no one in particular and rip the toilet seat off the toilet.  Does this help?  No.  The other screw is still stuck.

Fish the pliers from the bathtub again.

FINALLY  - both screws are out.  Putting the new seat on was not big deal after that.

Start doing the happy dance and chanting, "Mama Got It!  Mama Got It!"  While all the kids start singing and chanting with me.  SUCCESS!!!

(Reenactment)

Then today Jason works on installing some shelves in the office closet.  While he is working on that project and I am working at the computer.

Then Collin decides he wants a cup of coffee.  He sets his bottle under the coffee maker, tries to put the grounds in, and starts the water flowing.  Jason comes into grounds all over the floor and counter and a bottle where a cup should be.

We clean this up and gate off the kitchen.  Enough is enough.  Or so we thought.  Collin takes off his diaper (filled with poop), climbs into kitchen, puts crackers all over the kitchen floor, squats, and finishes his crap.  Jason walks into a pile of crap on the floor surrounded by crackers.  Who wouldn't think - I want a snack and I have to take a crap.  Let's kill 2 birds with one stone and do it all on the kitchen floor???  Seems perfectly logical to me.

After this Jason was finally able to finish the shelves.












Riley ate her hammer.









Ben looked through his telescope at the tv.










And Wyatt ate the crackers that Collin had crushed into the living room floor.  (Thankfully poop free.)











All in all.  One productive weekend.

Oma - You'll Be Missed

Yesterday was a hard day.  My mom called me in the morning to let me know that Oma had passed away.  We went to the nursing home and spent time with her until the funeral home came to pick her up.  My mom said that she just knew she was still there and she started telling Oma about what was going on.  She read a beautiful email sent that Pr.Tamm forwarded us from Ev. Lemke.  It read as follows:

Ernie,

I am leaving for vacation tomorrow early in the morning for a week out of the country. Please extend my feelings to Karin. Erika and Alexander.

Her mother was surely one of the loveliest women I had the pleasure to know. She had a grandmotherly laugh and smile that always made the day brighter. Her demeanor was always calm and a feeling of happiness hung over her like a beam of sunlight coming through the clouds on a grey day. I think of her every time I drive down Capitol Drive where she lived in Brookfield. I'm sure you will miss her, but it will be wonderful and it won't be long until we are all together again. May God comfort you during these times. You and the family are in our hearts and prayers.

Grant and Christina

This pretty much sums up how everyone remembered my Oma.  So many people have shared their thoughts and condolences with us and they all say the same thing about her, give or take a few words.

Oma was all that is described above, but also so much more to my mom, brothers, sister, me, and the rest of our gang.  She was Oma who came down every Tues and stayed until Thur every week after my parents divorced.  She went grocery shopping with my sister after Alex and I went off to school every week.  My sister would always want a package of hotdogs every trip and have to eat at least one out of the package in the store, then she would want another, when she would ask for the third Oma would finally tell her no because she said the check out person was going to think that she was eating them too.  They would finish their outing with a trip to the bakery and then home again.  She made the best roladen!  She would sit a peel apples and oranges for us at night while we watched tv because she knew this was the only way to get any real fruit into us.  She was nervous and embarrassed easily by the motley crew that she was surrounded by.  She didn't like us to get to wild and crazy.  She liked neat and orderly (all of which the rest of us are not).  How she put up with us over the years is just beyond me, but we could always feel her love no matter how nuts we made her. 

Oma would do anything for any of one us.  We have been blessed to
have such a beautiful person in our lives.  Now and forever she will live in our hearts.  The sorrow for her loss is great, but the happiness we feel that she is free of her earthly, broken body is wonderful.  

Oma - Say hi to Opa for us and feel free to come and visit every once in a while.