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!!

One Year at Home

One year ago today we arrived home in Fulton after a very sleepless night. Thankfully, Levi slept quite a bit on the ride home and the rest of the time his new big sister entertained him. Shortly after we got home, he went from creeping to crawling for the first time. It certainly has been a year of amazing discoveries at our home!!

What a Boy!!

Today Levi was playng nicely with his blocks while I was cleaning. He came over to me and was motionng that he wanted his pajamas unzipped. I unzipped his pajamas and all down the front of his sleeper were his blocks. They were all the way down to his feet. What a funny boy!! I'm still not sure how he got them in there!!

First Sum Hop Day

One year ago this precious little boy became a part of our family. I love so many things about him - his laugh, his smile, his playfulness, his kisses and hugs, his curiosity. When we brought him home he couldn't crawl or walk or talk. Now he runs and jumps and climbs and is trying to repeat every word we say. One year ago he didn't want to sit and look at a book. Now he loves to bring books to us to be read and can sit for several books in a row. It amazes me how much God has blessed our family.

I am hoping to do something special for him today but I'm not sure yet what we'll do. I certainly would like to take a picture of him to see how much he has grown in a year. I was thinking that I might start a tradition of writing him a letter each year for Sum Hop day.

First Meeting One Year Later

One year ago today I anxiously and nervously climbed the steps to look into the face of my precious baby boy for the very first time. I will never forget walking through the door and seeing him sitting in the walker. I'll never forget picking him up and holding him for the first time, cuddling with him as he fell asleep in my arms. On Tuesday we will celebrate one year as a family. Where has the year gone?

One Year Ago Today...

my dad and I boarded the first of three planes bound for Vietnam to bring home Levi. I can hardly believe that it has been a year already. By this point we were nearing the LA airport. That airport is the most confusing airport. I'm sure if my dad reads this he will be getting quite a chuckle because we had a difficult time finding the international terminal and ended up in a place we probably weren't supposed to be. Thankfully we did make all of our connecting flights!!

Wedding Day Pictures

Pastor Chris is prayed for us and Rachel (my maid of honor) and Scott (Bret's best man) laid hands on us. I know that this brought me to tears and many others.


My bridesmaids


Bret and I with the ladies


Cutting the cake at the reception


Feeding each other cake - we were nice to each other.

We had the most beautiful wedding thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family. I cannot thank them enough for all they did to make this day possible. We know we could not have done it without them.

Cheese!!

Sunday we were on the way to church and Rachel had the camera out to take a picture of herself. From the back seat I hear, "Cheese!" Levi saw her taking the picture and has heard people tell him to say "cheese" for pictures so he was doing what he had been told to. He kept saying it until Rachel finally took his picture (and then some). This is how he looked! He is such a goof!!

One Week

First of all, I have to apologize to all my faithful followers who haven't found much of anything on my blog recently. With all the craziness at school, sickness, and wedding plans, I have not had much time or energy for doing anything extra.

The wedding plans are coming along and next week Friday, whether they are all finished or not, I will be getting married! Woo hoo! I can't wait!! It has been a long time coming and I really was beginning to think I would never get married again. But God always knows what He is doing and just at the time I had given up hope and wasn't looking because I was taking care of my little man, God brought Bret into my life.

A wise man from our church, when I was struggling with the decision of being open to having a little boy or switching countries to get a little girl, told me that God would bring the little man and then the big man would follow. He was exactly right!! Tahnks Bill!

Bret and I have both traveled a broken road to get to this point in our lives. We don't take lightly the fact that God is giving us another chance at love. One of the songs we are having sung at the wedding is The Broken Road by Selah. It is a song that reminds me often of what God has been doing in my life throught this long road of brokenness I have had to travel.

On a side note, Levi has gotten another tooth in this week. I can't believe how many teeth he has already. It seems like he has a lot for his age but maybe it's because it has been so long since I have had one this little. He also now tries to mimic nearly every word we say and does so quite well most of the time. The funniest was the other day when I went into his room to get him up and he had a stinky diaper that made the whole room smell. I said, "Wow"! He said, "Wow"! He now loves to say this word. He also says Jesus, God, amen, grandma, grandpa, and the names of a number of our friends.

Birthdays and Balloons

On a Friday 17 years ago yesterday, my beautiful daughter was born. It was an inservice day at school and I was to have the first of my weekly doctor's visits. The alarm went off but I figured I could sleep a few extra minutes seeing that I wasn't going to have students. However, as is often the case when you're pregnant, I had to use the bathroom. That's when I discovered that my water had broke. However, it wasn't until 9:18 p.m. and a C-section later that Rachel entered the world, 2 weeks early. I remember so much of that day (thankfully not the pain). I have so many wonderful memories of her growing up. I remember how much she has always loved books and how her grandpa started reading the "dogs" book to her when she was only a couple weeks old. She still loves reading. I remember when she was 2-1/2 and started taking dance classes. She couldn't say her r's or l's so one day when the babysitter was getting her dressed for dance "cwass" she was squirming and told the babysitter her "weotard was aw scwewy." She has a talent for writing and one Christmas not too many years ago she wrote poems for all of her grandparents and me. She made all of us cry!

I will always be thankful to God for giving me such a sensitive, caring, compassionate, talented daughter. What an awesome responsibility- but one I would never trade.



Two of Rachel's friends filled her car with balloons while she was at school. They also put some on her antennae and wrote on her windows. Last night she brought all the balloons in and put them in the livingroom/diningroom. There were 109 balloons altogether. Levi has been having a great time playing with all these balloons.

Christmas #4

On December 26th we had our last Christmas celebration with the Seniors. It was nice to see Andrea, Joel, Ariana, Cory and Alec again. We don't get to see them very often, seeing that they are 6 hours away by car.


Grandma and Levi playing with one of the toys at grandma's house - a toy that I played with when I was a kid as well.


Rachel helping Levi open his Safari truck from uncle Joel, aunt Andrea, and Ariana


Grandma and the grandchildren looking at the recipe book Rachel made for Ariana.


Alec, Rachel, Levi and Ariana


Levi in his new pajamas from Grandpa and Grandma