A Sudden Goodbye...

A week's hiatus after such a promising blogging start... Instead, we spent last Monday saying goodbye to my Grandpa. He passed away suddenly on Thursday, April 15 at his home from an apparent heart attack and last Monday was his funeral. Although the occasion was for a very sad reason, the comfort and joy I got from being part of an impromptu family reunion was wonderful. Just being in the room with all of my mom's family makes me feel so incredibly happy to be part of such a wonderful legacy...

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words."         - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

No, it's not hair-washing day... Yet...  :)  It's my new mantra for getting a rhythm down since I have all of this unstructured time on my hands. Last week felt like a lightning-quick dash to Friday. I don't think I've had a week go that quickly in ages! We got a lot of little things done around the house, but nothing monumental. And that's ok...

Josh is settling in quite nicely with this whole "stay-home day" schedule. We've had a couple of PJ days already and play dates with some pals. Jacob - on the surface - is not quite as fond of his little brother getting to sleep in and ride to school in PJs. But the smile on his face when he gets off the bus and bounds up the porch steps is like the cliche "window to his soul." I think he rather enjoys coming home to familiar faces. :)

The next few weeks are getting us all wound up for the crazy summer we have looming on the horizon. I know this time will be short-lived, so I'm gonna take it one day at a time...

Happy MONDAY!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life...

Here we are. For those of you that don't know, I (Amy) have voluntarily decided to leave my 13-year career at Hallmark to become a stay-at-home mom. Wow. I never in a million years thought that this would be my life, but I am so incredibly excited to begin this next chapter of my life. I will miss my friends at Hallmark (and my discount!), but I have been drifting in this direction since I went back to work after Josh was born. Jamie and I have been blessed in ways too numerous to count that made all of this possible. I honestly felt that saying "no" to this opportunity - as many improbable doors were opened - was being disobedient to God and His will for my life.

So, today is the first day of this new life. No case of the Mondays here! Jacob is actually out of school today for teacher in-service, so I don't think we'll have a true glimpse into the new life until tomorrow. This morning has already been active - thunderstorms rolling through at sunrise (yay!), taking Josh to a soccer class - and this afternoon is a movie date with my boys. Oh, yeah, and it's Opening Day, so we'll grill out for dinner! The sun is shining and the birds are chirping in a Disney-esque way to start the week.

After multiple promises to keep this blog updated, I think I have removed all of my obstacles (um, that would be "excuses" in non-Corporate America speak!). My 2010 objective is to live life to its fullest and spend time rediscovering my boys... Pool passes go on sale in a couple of weeks! :)

Annie said it best... "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Jacob & Josh's Christmas Lists

This will be the shortest blog post because Jamie is posting. The boys made christmas lists today, so try these links to see them. Let me know if you have any problems.

http://www.listideas.com/jldroeg/jacob?bki=fc300c0435069868cc35ddec3b0e4404f2fde2c6

http://www.listideas.com/jldroeg/josh?bki=fc300c0435069868cc35ddec3b0e4404f2fde2c6

Ready or not, here we come!

OK, so I've been really bad and really busy. But let's jump in like you know what's been going on. K? :o)

Only ONE day until our Florida adventure begins! We're headed out tomorrow night after work to Mom & Dad's where we'll celebrate Papa's birthday after we arrive. Boys are excited!

At 5am Wednesday, we'll kiss a sleeping Josh goodbye (he's getting his own adventure at Grammy & Papa's!) and embark on a multi-state whirlwind adventure. We're headed down through Arkansas and across on I-40 for a rendezvous with Memphis at the lunch hour. (Wonder how many Starbucks we'll need to drive through before we get that far?) Then we'll head eastward through Mississippi and Alabama, finally arriving for our first night's destination - Atlanta. We'll spend a quick night there (sorry, Jamie, no Braves game this time) and leave for sunny Orlando bright and early on Thursday morning! With any luck, we'll be in the Sunshine State by noon-ish EDT.

Once in Orlando, we'll be staying near Universal Studios, so we'll of course be hanging out at Universal for a couple of days. Jacob can't wait! Mom, on the other hand, is a little nervous for her stomach. See, Jacob thinks that he's all big stuff and is ready to take on all of the big, bad roller coasters. Of course, he is begging Mom to ride with him. Hmmm... We'll see about that...

Saturday brings the real reason we're making this crazy trip - the World Bible Quiz! He'll start the quiz at 12 noon and should finish by about 3p. We'll post his results on Facebook for sure, so check out that avenue for updates.

Saturday night we'll head out to Jetty Park near Cape Canaveral for a cookout with the rest of the GracePoint quizzers and their families. Looks like an awesome beach!

Sunday brings our return trip, but via another route for some different scenery. We'll be driving to and spending the night in Nashville on Sunday night. Then we'll head home via St. Louis on Monday.

Phew. I'm tired just after typing all of that! I'm sure we'll be going on some adrenaline. Oh, yeah, and some grande non-fat 2-pump mocha lattes from the 'Bucks. ;o) More updates to come as the trip commences... T minus 32 hours!

Happy trails!
J&A&j&j

Ack! One month, no post...

Well, that ends today. So much has happened these last four weeks that we have absolutely lost track of time. We'll blog about the fun stuff (spring break!) in a separate post as soon as I can get some photos added in.

We have had a very whirlwind last two weeks in a very sad way. On March 25, Jamie's grandmother, Alma Droegemeier, left her earthly home for the treasures and kingdom of Heaven. We are sad she is gone, but happy that she has been restored to full health and been reunited with all of the loved ones that have gone before. It was a crazy weekend in Ellsworth, KS, where we got snowed in at our motel, but fun to spend time with all of the Droegemeier family.

A short few days later, we unexpectedly lost Jamie's uncle, Daryl Mehl. We love him and miss him dearly, but know that he has been welcomed into Heaven with open, loving arms... Another trip to Norman, OK, (where we spent spring break) and back near Ellsworth the very next weekend for all of the services. Our hearts are heavy and thoughts are with JoAnn, Derek and Ross.

Now we're back to the daily grind with a renewed perspective on how fleeting this life really is. I know, very heavy for a blog about our two bundles of energy, but it makes the little things that much more special to us. Hope this finds all of you well and enjoying the spring (that never seems like it's going to get here, at least in Kansas!)...

Much love,
J&A&j&j

Florida bound??

Ok, so maybe we're crazy, but we're entitled to a moment of madness once in a while, right?!? Today Jacob competed in his district Bible quizzing meet and qualified to go to the World Quiz in Orlando in late June! We had pretty much ruled it out since it's in Orlando for goodness sake before today even rolled around. But today, after he found out he qualified, he was really excited and all but begged us to go.

So we did some number crunching tonight and said a little prayer that it would all line up. And, boy howdy, did it... First of all Grammy said, "Sure, I'll keep Josh for a few days!" (Thank you, Grammy!!) Then we went on priceline.com and low-balled an offer to the Orlando hotel market. Came back on the first try. $45 a night at the Hyatt across from Universal Studios. Hmmm... Guess we'd better start socking away a little cash for gas money, huh?

He's at a slumber party tonight and has no idea that we've already lined up everything to make this happen. We're going to make sure he signs a "contract" that he'll continue to study for three more months (even though he was just complaining about having to study so much this past week!). To save money, we're going to make the 17-hour drive straight through (at least our plan for now) and hope we don't spend all our money at Starbucks on the way down. :)

So, we'll keep you all posted. Kinda crazy, we know, but this is his only shot at going to the World Quiz as it only comes up every four years. Next time it rolls around he'll be too old... And it's honestly the kind of trip that lifetime memories come from... And we're not missing out on that...

J&A&j&j