O wondrous love that will not let me go!
I cling to You with all my strength and soul;
Yet if my hold should ever fail,
This wondrous love will never let me go.
O wondrous love that's come to dwell in me!
Lord, who am I that I should come to know
Your tender voice assuring me
Your wondrous love will never let me go?
O wondrous love that sings of Calvary!
The sweetest song this sinner's ever known:
The song of Your Redeeming Son
Who's wondrous love will never let me go!
I'm resting in the everlasting arms,
In the ever-faithful heart, the Shepherd of my life.
You carry me on Your mighty wings of grace,
Keeping me until the day I look into Your eyes.
O wondrous love that rushes over me!
I can't escape this river's glorious flow!
You overwhelm my days with good.
Your wondrous love will never let me go!
They had FAKE preggo bellies hanging in the dressing room, so Jules joined Jenny in giving us a little fashion show.
I love all the beautiful colors! I love being able to open all the windows all day to let in the clean crisp air without worrying about the house getting too hot or too cold. 
I love the smells that accompany the season change. I love seeing the farmers out in the fields (mostly just the ones with red tractors ;) heehee!) 
I love breaking out the new season's cozy sweaters and sweatshirts. I love eating soup or sipping on hot chocolate with marshmallows when I'm cold, and being warmed from the inside out. 
I love lighting candles around the house to give it that 'home sweet home' feeling. I love that Josie gets a ton of fur and looks like a mini golden bear. 
I love that almost anywhere you choose to eat, you now have the option to get pumpkin-whatever-you-feel-like: ice cream, muffin, pie, bread, cake, chai! mmm...I love getting my brand new pretty books for the school year and putting my into brain high gear for the semester (even though it can be stressful at times). I love anticipating the holidays when all the family comes together...
I remember when I was little and we lived out on 8 to 10 acres in Truman, it was such a chore every fall to rake all those leaves (of course, we only had to do a couple acres), but it was so exciting at the same time, because we kids knew when we were done that we would have loads of leaves (piled high and wide behind the chicken house in addition to a pile under the crab apple tree) at our disposal to do whatever we wanted with. Of course, initially we did what every kid does: jump in them, bury each other in them, hide in them for a long time and then suddenly jump out and try to scare everyone...but we girls would then tote them around (much to mom and dad's dismay as we recovered the lawn with all the recently raked leaves) to make leaf "nests" and play stories....visiting each other's nests... Haha! Yeah, we were wierd girls - poor Jason.... 
On November 4th, Jason turned 28! Since none of us were going to be able to be there to help him & Julia & Kaden celebrate, Julia planned a party for him at our house a few weekends ago. Here he is with his chocolate cake and one candle. Heehee! He only got one this year - I guess that's what happens when you can't fit them all on the cake anymore ;) J/K, Jason :)
Jason being silly at Jenny & Jordan's wedding rehearsal..JPG)
This picture was actually taken Sunday morning, but I'm putting it first cause it's the only picture we have from the weekend with our whole family in it :)
Jason, Jenny & Jordan.
Julia wrapped Jenny's gift in such a cute gift bag, so we had to get a picture of her with it's pinkness. Of course, Jason and Jordan were making fun of us girls for being picture heads, so they had to get in on it = Jason's ugly face and Jordan's hand....silly boys...
Saturday we had a party for all the birthday kids with some of our friends! Jenny is 25 this year and Jordan is 26! Getting old...
Here's the birthday boy and Julia. Jason got his own chocolate cake as well. (and a glass of milk, of course) ;) Jason turned 28 this year! Getting old (I have to say that cause I'm the youngest ;))...but he's still lookin' good if you ask me....
The boy table at the party: Jordan, Adam, Jason, Justin & Taylor.
The girl table at the part: me, Jenny, Tara, Jules & Julia (mom was there, too, but she had already gone upstairs at this point)
My beautiful sisters - Miss you, girls!
The 2 little puppies: Kaden & Macy (Kaden wasn't always so sure what to think about his hairy cousin...)
Friday after the pumpkin patch excursion, Jules had to stay at Kiddie Kollege till her work day was over. I stayed for awhile to help get all the kiddos down for nap time, but left soon after to do some napping of my own. After being up since 3am, I was ready for a good 2 hour nap which I got and then some! haha! When Jules got home I had to totally remake myself after sleeping so hard - haha! ewe...and then we went out for coffee w/Beth and some other friends of Julie's from her college days at Maranatha.
Left to Right: Kim, Esther, Beth, Lindsay and Jules. These girls had me cracking up quite a bit over the course of the night. I never attended Maranatha, but I attended a Christian college and lived in a girl's dorm, and therefore could relate to most of their stories.... We were at the coffee shop till closing and then stood outside talking and shivering convulsively for another hour or so. :)
Saturday morning Jules and I got up bright and early for a day of shopping in Milwaukee. Okay, it wasn't that early...we got up in time to get ready at a relaxing pace and start our shopping day with lunch. I had never been to the Cheescake Factory, so we went right at 11, opening time, so we wouldn't have to stand in line. Julie said it gets really busy, and sure enough as we were sitting there eating it started filling up quite a bit! I love the big beautiful double-door entrance!
Here we are outside of the Cheesecake Factory ready to walk off all our lunch and cheesecake as we shopped the malls. I say mall-s because we shopped through the entire Milwaukee mall with no luck since it was EXTREMELY GHETTO! haha! So we went to another mall nearby that was more up our alley ;) We each found something there! :)
We did get our nails done at the Ghetto mall, though, and they actually turned out the best either of us have ever had over anywhere else! It's our sister tradition to get our nails done whenever we go shopping together. :)
We shopped till we dropped and then headed to Watertown for supper with Doug at Noodles and Co. and then got to hang out with him for the rest of the evening! Notice I'm in the middle, that's cause I'm their chaperon - J/K! I'm just their babysitter...heehee! ;) Miss you, Doug!
Sunday we went to church at Calvary where I got to see Doug's parents again (they're so sweet!) and meet his youngest brother, Ben and his girlfriend, Jill. So I have finally met his whole family :) The Pastor preached from I John 4 about "Love." 
We went to a park with a crazy name - one of those Wisonconsin-Indian names :) - to walk off our food. We had a nice stroll through the path in the woods to the lake, and then along the lake where we spent time lying on a deck over the lake. It was a beatiful day!
I took a picture - Julie wasn't ready...
There we go! There's me in my ruffle shirt. I got a shirt at Forever 21 (how fitting!) cause it looked so cute on the hanger (the dressing room line was over 10 people long and the workers there weren't too motivated to keep things moving) and it was WAY cheap, so I just got it! Turns out when I put it on Sunday afternoon, the ruffles were a bit overwhelming. O well...I wore it anyway, and then made myself wear it Wednesday, too. It's got to be worn for what it's worth, so I figure if I wear it one more time that ought to do it ;) Haha! I call it my Jabot.
Here's Julie soaking in the view. It really was beautiful out that day! 87 degrees and sunshiny!
Here is a picture of both of them in Kiddie Kollege when Bryce was feeling good. Aren't they just a couple of the cutest little boys ever!? They've got cute little 'all boy' personalities to match! 
Our first stop was Target (because it had the closest parking places - Laura is so wonderful to shop with, because she likes driving around for close parking places just as much as me! and the only person I know who does! Heehee!) 
We found some funny coats we wanted to try on, but were having a hard time getting a picture in them. Self portraits are too close to get the whole look, but the mirror thing obviously wasn't working out for us either. We would have asked that employee to take a picture for us, but she was already doing us a favor by letting us take pictures in the first place - you're not supposed to take pictures in most stores, especially with their merchandise. I haven't much of a clue as to why, but I've been told plenty of times in about every store not to do it...but I always "forget" ;)
We found these cool reading glasses in Contents. (It's a really cute crafty store). We decided that when we get old and need reading glasses, we will get fun ones like these. Then you can have a wild moment when you write a check or read a mall directory, or whatever....I don't know why I tried on a pair with a tag on it...
We saw these super comfy slipper boots in Herbergers and HAD to try them on! We were laughing when we first saw them because they looked so hideous, but once we tried them on we both wanted to get them! SOOO COMFY! but also....expensive.
Laurala and her boot slippers
Me and my boot slippers
Towards the end of our shopping trip we got stuck in the Halloween store - these aren't even all the pictures we took AND we didn't even take pictures of all we tried on! It's quite addicting and SO lifelike! We were laughing and getting creeped out at the same time! (and - confession - trying not to think about all the people who had done the same thing...I never did get sick, though, so I just see it as a time for building up my immunity - haha!)
Creepy old lady
HAHAHA!
VERY creepy old man!
One of my favorites! Laura is Curly and I'm the Family Guy. :)
AND I got to see the President! ;)
...and had a very large selection of food layed out on a flat bed trailer :) Very country :) Heehee!
Andrew, Laura and Duke
Laura and I (the only normal picture we took - we forgot to take a picture together on Sunday :( boo)
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And then, of course, there's Jason, too! ;) Haha! What would we do without him? I feel so bad for girls who don't have the privilege and blessing of an older brother. This was at your wedding rehearsal dinner. This picture cracks me up! It's one of my favorites - a typical Jason moment. I've always enjoyed observing the Jason/Jennifer dynamic. You guys very much shared the typical brother/sister relationship - you were so perfectionist and motherly and Jason loved picking on you to the point of tears and then he wouldn't leave you alone again until he had you laughing or something to that extent. It was quite a show for Jules and I. Haha! But then, I guess, Jules and I put on a good share of our own shows for you guys - it all makes for good and funny memories ;) A personal favorite: "Healing Water." Haha!.JPG)
Your Wedding Day..jpg)
This was the first time I saw you after you got married. I was up at Nland for camp and you guys came over to the dining hall for one of your meals. It was so exciting to see your homey little apartment and spend time with you as my MARRIED sister! heehee!.JPG)
This was the opening activity my freshman year of college. I remember Laura and I were so excited but deep down I was so nervous, too! You and Jordan were always so nice to let us hang around with you! I was so thankful to have you there!
My first artist series. Laura and I went together and we ended up sitting right next to Megan before we even had any idea she would end up being one of our best friends! :) It was so exciting during the intermission to go back and take the pictures by "the wall." Heehee! I remember thinking you and Jordan were so cute and I was so proud to be related to you! :).JPG)
What at first was one of my least favorite things I had to do while away at school, actually became something I looked forward to because you always made it into a special day. Every 3 months I had to go for what seemed to be a forever long injection of Remicade at the clinic. You always sat with me for those long at least 3 hours and kept me comany: talking, playing games with me, flipping through magazines and sharing what we found interesting, and you even made me personalized word search puzzles! (one of my favorite time killers!) heehee! I always appreciated your willingness to sit there with me cause I always had an oversized comfy hospital recliner or bed while you had a dinky little chair. Anyway, when that was over we would go to Applebees (remember the guy that wouldn't serve me mac & cheese? ...jerk! haha!) and then shopped till we dropped. Then we would stop for some Culvers ice cream on the way home. I actually even miss those days!
My Nland college days were over, but I got to be up at Nland with you once again the summer I worked at camp. I was so thankful it worked out for me to be your assistant in the maintenance office during power jobs. My favorite part was our mail runs on the golf cart (especially when u let me drive it - heehee!) and our occasional dates when we had time. I always appreciated being able to share everything with you and know that you were praying for me.
Here is a pic from when you and Jordan came to visit us all after camp and before college started up again. That was such a fun weekend!
We got to enjoy some of your cooking! 
There for my best friend's wedding. 
It was so wonderful to have you and Jordan back with all of us cousins for Tim & Tiff's wedding this summer - it had been way too long! We all really missed having you guys in on our Gonigam get togethers for the past 3 years!
Shopping with you this summer! Shopping with sisters is the best therapy in the midst of a busy life. :) It takes your mind off everything else and just allows for some fun girl time! Walking and talking, chatting over a wetzel pretzel, trying on things you can never afford, but that make you feel pretty....
....or trying on things you would never wear, but make you feel hippie. Haha!
...doing things you would never do if you were all by yourself....
Showing how much we love puppets - actually, just being silly...but it went with what I said above about loving puppets. Heehee!
Me and my puppet gang
Sara and the gang
Why don't we get to have heart tongues?
This puppet is my favorite. Last week, she was played by Charise as my puppet's mother. It was difficult not to laugh because she is so much bigger than the other puppets and has a rather large dent in the left side of her head...and...she just looks funny :D
This week, Charise played the character of my puppet's friend, Pete. I have so much fun doing puppets with Charise - she is constantly cracking me up!
Here's Sara with Lucy - my puppet's sister. Sara is one of the singer puppeteers!
Me and my puppet, Fred - doesn't he have the greatest hair ever?! haha! I love it!
Cute Charise and Pete.
I got a picture of them before we drove into the garage. Aren't they both so cute!? I love Kaden's jogging pants! Heehee! I had such a fun time with JaJu for the rest of the weekend - I always do! Thank you guys for letting me come! 
Here's cutie Kad on our way to Fellowship Baptist Church Sunday morning.
Kaden and Daddy after church
We went out for lunch at the Mexican restuarant in Tama. Jason was being silly when I was trying to take a picture of him and Julia. He still loves see-food. Haha!
He really was cracking us up, though, actually - as always! 
Kaden was getting a kick out of it, too! He loves it when Mom and Dad are funny!
I didn't get to stay very long on Sunday afternoon. But Julia and Kaden were kind enough to let me interview them for my ASQ school assignment. It was fun! Kaden is such a big boy! I am amazed at how quickly he is getting bigger and learning new things - I'm so proud to be his aunt!
The nice thing about my school schedule this semester is that my weekend starts on Thursday morning...so I left Thursday after class and found my way to West Des Moines driving all by myself (that is an accomplishment in and of itself :) heehee! I've never been good with directions, but Jennifer explained them so clearly! She could be the GPS lady!) 
I made it just in time to see The Dark Knight with Jennifer. Batman is my favorite super hero - especially Christian Bale Batman (heehee!), but I must say I was disappointed in the course of events in the second movie! I'll just stick with Batman Begins and pretend The Dark Knight never existed unless they make a third that redeems the series. (much like you have to do with the Anne of Green Gables series: the 3rd one simply does not exist...if it does - that is NOT Anne of green gables, it's just some other movie that Megan Follows is in).
Anyway, Friday morning Jennifer and I went out for breakfast at Panera. She blogged while I did some HW so I could relax and have fun the rest of the weekend. 
This is a picture of our cheerleader section. Our team won the first game but lost the second :(
(small picture of Jason pitching- it was the best I could steal from I can't remember who - heehee!)
I think we lost the second game because Jason - the pitcher - ended up getting his hand broken when he was hit by a line drive. Someone else had to fill in - but they just weren't as good as him :)
Kaden was a hit, too, in his little wagon being pulled by "Little G." He is simply the cutest little boy EVER! Two more softball games followed the parade, and our team won both - winning the tournament! Julia made the winning catch for the first game, and Jordan for the second. YAY!
We had a grill out that evening at Jason and Julia's and then stayed out in their front yard to enjoy the Fairfax fireworks (their 4th of July celebration had been postponed due to the 
Sunday morning, we went to church with the Horaks in Monticello and had a picnic at a beautiful garden park for lunch. Above is a picture of the Horak clan - Luke and Anna came, too!(Mr. Horak had to work that weekend, so we didn't really get to see him at all) :(
Anna and I had a lot of fun hanging out together that weekend, especially while watching the fireworks! She was so nice to let me stay in her room! Thank you, Anna! I hope to see you again soon!
We stopped by JaJu's after we left the Horaks. Julia had made a cake to celebrate her Mom's Bday. However, she had run out of cake candy alphabet letters, so she could only make the cake say "I love you, birth mom" instead of Happy Birthday, Mom! Mrs. P's response: "As opposed to your other mom? - being who?" HAHA!
We stopped by a gas station on our way back to JoJe's so Macy could take a little "break" ;) Jenny and I spotted a cowboy statue on the other side of the parking lot. I asked Jordan if we could go look at it, just in case it was John Wayne (the reason for my infatuation w/Cowboys and Westerns). Jordan was nice to humor me, so we walked over. But it was soon obvious that this guy was no John Wayne - in fact he had absolutely no name or information. He was simply a tree man with no gun or horse, yet holding a saddle...hmmm...I took a picture with him anyway.
Before turning in for the night, Jenny and I realized we hadn't taken any pictures together all weekend! :( So we took one right outside the apartment. We both definitely look like we've a had a day...but it's all we've got ;) I even still have my dangly black Sunday earrings on with my super casual outfit. O well. That's kind of a Sunday routine for me - I always change my earrings throughout the week, but for some reason I can never remember to change my earrings on Sunday afternoons. 
On my way home I met Jules (who had been at home visiting Mom for the weekend) for brunch in Albert Lea. (or as Julia would say, Albert Leah - haha!) I got there first and found this cute little Lakeside cafe. We met at the mall first and did some shopping, then came here to eat.
Julia and a couple of her friends put everything together for the retreat and it turned out to be a fabulous time! I forgot to take any pictures the first day (I know! So UN-Rabe! haha!), but I have a few from the second day. The only downfall of the weekend was the fact that it rained and poured the whole time. However, that did not hinder us ladies from getting in some good shopping time ;) Our first stop on Friday was the Tanger Outlets! We really did shop till we dropped! One of the funnest parts was putting clothes up to Kaden! He would hold his head up high and put on an adorable smile like he was modeling for you! As soon as you hung the item back up, he would go back to doing his own thing. It was so funny! 
Saturday morning we moved to a beautiful rustic restaurant (above) which I can't remember the name of. 
In between sessions we were able to do some touring of the amana colonies. We only really had time to go through a few shops, but it was so interesting! It would be a fun place to go back to when you have more time. We girls really got a kick out of one of the women's clothing store we walked into! We discreetly took this photo of the girls' top choices ;) haha! I must say, I did find one item that I really honestly wanted - an absolutely beautiful pair of gloves! I felt very sophisticated when I put them on - there are very few everyday gloves that have that kind of power. But I didn't get them - they were 22 dollars! I will get them someday when I'm rich - after all, my name means "wealthy." Heehee!
Here are Jennifer's shoes! She purchased them while we were shopping and wore them the next day! Aren't they so adorable!? Especially on her little feet! I love shoes!
At the end of the day, we had to say goodbye to Jennifer, (I guess Jordan wanted her back ;) and Julia and I headed back to Cedar Rapids! Such a fun and refreshing weekend!
