Levi-isms

Levi's vocabulary has been expanding so rapidly lately and he says some of the funniest things. I thought that I better take some time to write them down so I don't forget them.

The other day Rachel picked him up from the babysitters and he was singing the ABC song. This is how it went that day: "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU train WXYZ." I wonder if he heard or saw a train near our house. That's not an unusual thing.

Yesterday after school we went upstairs so I could change clothes and put away some things and I told him I was going to put on some music and he said, "Put on some mucus!" I tried to get him to say music but it still kept coming out mucus.

Today when we got home he said to me "Mommy, I have a question." That was followed by a multitude of "What's that?" questions about everything and anything. Then he found a pair of his socks in the couch from last night and said they were the bad socks. I told him no they were just dirty socks from yesterday. He replied that they were the pee eew socks.

Sometimes we just can't help laughing at him!! His little boy vocabulary is way too cute!

Sum Hop Day

Yesterday we celebrated Levi's second Sum Hop Day or what is often called "Gotcha Day". I can hardly believe that 2 years ago my dad and I were in Vietnam! What a beautiful country full of beautiful people that gave me my precious little son who has stolen my heart and the heart of many others. I have many fond memories of the time that we spent there and someday I hope to be able to return with all of my family - Bret, Levi and Rachel.

We kept our celebration simple. I made a book on Picaboo that I shared with him. I'm not sure how much of it he understood but I know that as I continue to share it with him from year to year he will fully understand. Then, before going to bed, we read the book A Mother for Choco. It is a great story about adoption. I encourage anyone who has never read it to check it out at your local library and read it. It will bring tears to your eyes. It is such a sweet representation of adoption. We were given it by our social worker from Lutheran Social Services.

Thanksgving 2010

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name;
make known among the nations what He has done.
Remember the wonders He has done,
His miracles, and the judgements He pronounced."
Psalm 105. 1,5

This year I once again stand in awe at the faithfulness of my God and Savior! It has been a year of great highs and lows but through it all God has definitely been faithful and loving and forgiving towards me and towards my family.

Just yesterday, as I was cleaning the basement, I heard someone on the radio talking about Thanksgiving. He said something to the effect of this: Instead of complaining about your family, be thankful that you are not alone. Instead of complaining about your job, be thankful that you have a job to go to. Instead of complaining about the fact that it is Monday, thank God that you have been given another day to live.

So, where to begin to mention what I am thankful for at this point in my life:
1. my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ who came to earth as a baby and lived and died and rose from the dead to save me from my sins and set me free to live the abundant life He intended from the beginning of time. If you only have a head knowledge of Him but have never invited Him into your heart to be your Savior and Lord, my prayer for you this Thanksgiving is that you will come to the realization of how much you need Him and take this step. If you are unsure of how to go about it, please call me or post a message to me and I would be deeply honored to help you take this step.
2. my wonderful husband Bret who I married on February 12th of this year. I am so thankful for his love and his wisdom and his friendship and his strength and his care and compassion. He is all that I had been prayiing for and hoping for in a future husband all these years. He is my armor bearer and I will forever be grateful to God for the way that He orchestrated our coming together as husband and wife.
3. God's faithfulness in sparing my husband from death when on June 7th he had a heart attack and 5 bypasses. When we hear of how close he came to dying, we realize just how great God is and how much more He still has for Bret and I to do on this earth.
4. my wonderful children - Rachel and Levi - one born in my womb and the other in my heart. They bring me much joy and laughter!
5. my extended family who have continued to love me through all the ups and downs of life.
6. my church family
7. God's provision for us through the times when Bret has been off of work
8. a new job for Bret
9. God's forgiveness
10. my job
11. our home
12. our cars that get us to the places that we need to go
13. my trials for they bring me closer to God if I let them
14. my health and the health of my family
15. all the little things that I don't even give much thought to on a daily basis, like being able to take a breath easily, to walk with out pain, finding something that was missing like a pair of sunglasses that you really like that you thought you lost.


What are you thankful for this year?

Prayers for Bret

Please keep Bret in your prayers. This morning he woke me up at 4:10 this morning to tell me he was having pain in his chest, left arm and jaw and I needed to call the ambulance. They transported him to the hospital where we were told he had a heart attack. When he was stable they took him up to the Cath Lab where they found 9major blockages. They took him by helicopter to the University of Iowa hospitals where he is now having bypass surgery. They will be doing 3-5 bypasses. He went in at about 1:30 and they told us it would take 6-8 hours.

Even in the midst of this, we are thanking God for all the miracles he has already done on our behalf. Rachel has started a carepage where we can update on his status as they told us he would most likely be in the hospital 5-6 days after surgery. You can access the page by going to www.carepages.com and entering btegeler for the page you are looking for.

Thank you all for your prayers!!

Braces No More

Today was the day that Rachel and I had long been waiting for. Today was the day her braces came off. She looks great!!! It was a long wait but it was worth the wait and just in time for Prom and Senior pictures!! She was so excited to go to play practice tonight and tell her director that he wouldn't have an old lady with braces for this play!

The spring play is tomorrow night and Saturday night at 7:00 for anyone in the area. She'd love to see you there!

The pictures are the before the braces came off, the process and the after pictures. Isn't my daughter beautiful?! If you have never met her, you would realize that she is beautiful not just on the outside but even more so on the inside.

Spring Break

We had a great week off of school last week! We didn't go anywhere but the weather was beautiful here so we didn't really need to go somewhere else. Here's a recap of what we did last week:

cleaned all the closets, cupboards, drawers, carpets and windows inside and out;


hung out with friends and picked out bridesmaids'dresses for a summer wedding




had a playdate with aunt Jill and cousins Izzy and Jack;




painted sets for the spring play April 23rd and 24th;

played at School Park twice;


sliding




swinging




playing in the sand

went for a couple of walks;


played with our friend and neighbor Carter;




ate supper at grandpa and grandma's house;




read books with cousin Delaney and grandma T.;


built block towers with grandma D.;








colored Easter eggs;






looked for Easter eggs; and

celebrated the wonderful death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!

New Haircut

This weekend Levi got his first major haircut. My little baby definitely looks more grown up now.

He also got his first fat lip. We're not exactly sure how he did it but it certainly did bleed quite a bit.

Today while I was making supper, he wanted to sit on the bar stool and read his book. After the incident with the bar stool yesterday, I didn't think that was such a good idea so I told him to go sit on a chair and read his book. That's exactly what he did! He crawled up into the chair with the book and the pulled up the blanket on his legs. Then, he got off the chair and put the blanket over his head to "scare" his sister. She played along with it quite well and he laughed! We love his giggle!!