Get a Grip Serena!!!


The past couple weeks have been tough for me. Cassie headed across the pond to Kenya. Bruce was in Alabama and this week Carter headed to Purdue. Then Cassie moved into a house with a friend to house sit for the next 12 days. Myself, well I stayed mom and reality hit me how much life will be changing. I was a mess! I'm not going to lie. I cried my eyes out. I didn't sleep well and I turned into a huge grump. I'm not ready for this. I love having my little family together. I love how we eat dinner together pretty much every night. Our table gets really loud with laughing and talking and you can count on not having a dull moment. I like do all the wash. I love cooking and baking for them. I love every second of it.


All this growing up stuff is forcing me to look at ME. For the past 18 years it's been all about my kids. Now my kids are doing their thing all the time. I sometimes feel like I'm not needed as much. UGH! Pretty sad moment. :(

Last night I had reached my limit of feeling BLAH with a captial B.

I had decided to text a couple of my friends to see who would be down for hanging out. I was starting to feel even more blah because it was pretty much looking like noone was going to be able to make it. Finally I got a text from one of my friends Kristi and we had decided to head over to Hacienda for a drink or two.

I'm so thankful that we were able meet up! Kristi also has an 18 year old and could totally relate to the whole "finding me." It's differant when your kids start growing up. It forces you to figure out what you like, which isn't a bad thing, but where do you even start? Kristi suggested I start a book club. I'm thinking that might be a great idea! I'm open to meeting new friends.......notice I say friends and not people because one thing is certain I will make friends quick! :) Not sure what else I will look into. I do know that I really need to get a grip and get a grip quick. No matter how many tears I shed or grumpy I get it still doesn't change the fact that my kids will keep growing up. Who knows! Maybe it's time I start making a bucket list and start crossing things off. This process in life is only going to be as painful as I make it. So here's to finding me and the next stage of life!

Oh the places you will go!

6.8.11

Ohhhh The Places You Will Go!!!

4 years ago Cassie became part of the Northwood Girls soccer team. As a freshman she became a swing player along with a couple of other girlfriends. These girls would start an adventure together playing soccer and kicking butts along the way. Not only would they give it their all on the field but these girls would encourage each other, try to give the best advice to the younger girls, laugh lots, pull pranks on their coach and become amazing friends!

About a year ago the idea was brought up that soccer team should take a mission trip to Kenya to work at the baby centre and teach kids how to play soccer.

Cassie started to pray about it. She knew she wanted to go but wanted God's hand in it. If you know anything about Cassie you would know she LOVES babies! She started to feel lead to join the team and sent out letters for support. At first things were slow going. We as family encouraged her and prayed about it. The week before her trip she was still short money to go to Kenya.

One day while on the phone with a cousin they asked about her trip and how fundraising was going. We told them that she still needed funds. She responded that Cassie should work her tail off the next week getting more funds and whatever she didn't have they would would pay the rest. After I got off the phone with our cousin I went to tell Cassie what what she had said. Cassie responded "mom, I just got a text and all my money came in!" I loved seeing her face when her prayers where answered!


The day finally came when Cassie and the team would leave! Cassie will never ever be able to say she lacks family support or doesn't have her own fan club! Her uncle Doug, Aunt Rene, Aunt Kelly, cousin Kaden, cousin Kenton, Carter, Logan and myself all met up at the church to say our good-byes.

I love this picture! It looks like uncle Doug is praying with Cassie but he's actually pretending to cry about her leaving. ha ha


Aunt Rene and Kenton getting ready to say good-bye!

Logan getting a hug in before she leaves.

Aunt Kelly giving hugs

It was so hard to say good-bye to Cassie but I couldn't be prouder of her! I love how she trust the Lord in his leading and gets so excited about all the great things he is doing in her life. I know this won't be Cassie's last trip. She may or may not return to Kenya but I know she will be on more trips to share God's love!

Here's pics of the team, their leaders and pics of the babies.



Brittany plays on the girls soccer team. Her parents Jolinda and Jamie have been to the baby centre several times before. Brittany has been there several times as well but I'm not sure how times.




Jamie will become "dad" to all the girls for the next 10 days. He has done a great job texting all the parents and keeping us in the loops!

Look at the sweet babies at the centre. I could love on them all day! I have a feeling my daughter will leave her heart in Kenya!

This is Jolinda and will be "mom" to the girls! I'm so thank for her and Jamie for putting this trip together! This will be a trip the girls will NEVER forget!

Phil Ummel also went on the trip with the girls. Phil has been Cassie's high school coach for the past 3 years and also will remain her coach for her senior year. Bruce and I are so thankful for Phil and his strong christian faith. He has not only has passion for the Lord but he has a passion for soccer!

We know Cassie is in very good hands!



This is a group pic of everyone going on the trip!

Cassie and her two favorite "ginger" friends! She has played soccer with Brooklyn (on left) for many years! Danae and Cassie have been friends since kindergarden! I'm so happy that these girls get to go on this adventure together! Oh places they will go! :)

Jolinda was going to try to keep the blog update. If you would like to follow go to

http://nmcandthebabycenter.blogspot.com

Why, Yes we would like free samples!

4.26.11

Last Friday I went on a little road trip to Grand Rapids Michigan to pick up our younger cousins Stephen and Allissa from Calvin College. Stephen and Allissa are Bruce's younger cousins but they happen to be the age of our kids. I went to pick them up so we could spend Easter weekend with them. Friday night our kids hung out with them at grandma and grandp's house. They went to Rulli's resturant for dinner and hung out and talked. Saturday the kids and mom Dyksen met me at Cassie's soccer game and then we went to mom D's house for lunch. After lunch Cassie and I took Stephen and Allissa to the Cheese Factory in Middlebury to kind of show them around a little bit and of coarse try free samples of cheese. They had never tried amish peanut butter but I think they both love it now!

After the the Cheese Factory we stopped by the Rise N Roll Bakery. I had never been there before but heard lots of people rave about it. I now know why!!! YUM-O! We of coarse tried all the free samples! My favorite was the chocolate crinkle cookies! Stephen probably had more than one sample of the monster cookies but he just wanted to make sure they were good with every bite. The kids also tried apple butter for the first time. It was a hit as well! After we finally left the Rise N Roll we had to make a quick stop at Forks County Line Store for extra milk. Stephen said he didn't like that store as much due to the lack of free samples! lol After snacking our way around Middlebury we headed home. The kids played soccer, roof ball, hit golf balls and messed around until dinner time. The kids ended up staying the night and going to church with us. We love spending time with Stephen and Allissa! They are such great young people! I miss them already!

Friends

4.26.11

Last week Carter got to hang out with one of his oldest and best friends Alec Kuck! This may not seem like such a big deal but Alec lives 789 miles away. Alec and Carter meet kindergarten year and have been buds since! Both boys were so sad when Alec and his family decided to move back to Georgia where his mom is from. It was pretty tough on both of them. The distance didn't stop them from being friends tho. They would write each other letters about every week (which was impressive since both boys are not writers) They would call each other and whenever Alec came to town to see his aunt they were sure to hang out. Every time they see each other it's like they were never apart! This time would be no different. The boys planned a poker party with all the guys on Saturday night and then Alec came back over on Monday and stayed the night. They played video games and just messed around! I'm so thankful for Alec and his family! I happen to think they are a pretty special family!

kindergarten



6th grade

8th grade

Freshmen

Live Like No One Else So You Can Live Like No One Else

Bruce and I just finished up The Dave Ramsey Class for the second time. For those who don't know who he is, Dave is a financial guy who teaches all about money. Good stuff! Ways to change your family tree! There's just one problem. I'm soooo not a numbers girl! My husband is! He's what you would call the nerd in the relationship and I'm the free spirit! He makes the budget and I show up for a 5 min. meeting to look over it! I'm thankful for my little number nerd! He always takes care of us! With that said, we have been working really hard to become debt free. It's not easy let me tell you! As Dave says "life happens" but it's our job to be prepared and to tell our money where to go. That includes the dreaded B word.....budgets! We have found ourselves here lately passing up going out to dinner with friends. If the money is not there it's not there. Yeah, it would be easy to pull out the credit card but we are done with that life style! It's not easy telling our friends no. I'm a social girl and I love them to pieces but that's the way it is. Being on a budget has changed how we spend. It used to be that we would go out to dinner whenever. If we forgot something at the store we would just go get. With having only having x amount for groceries once it's gone it's gone. This week for example I forgot bread. Yeah, it's just bread and it's only a couple bucks but that's not the point. We had spent our budget already.

So, I pulled out my bread recipe. It's just not any bread recipe. This recipe was given to me by a dear friend. The person who gave me this recipe was like family. Our relationship has changed and I'm not sure it will ever be the same, so every time I pull it out I pray for her. Today was that day. I pulled it out and I prayed and made bread. I miss her and hope some day we will be friends again. I would like to share the recipe with you. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures this time but I promise you will love it and it's easy. And if you think about it, pray for the someone in life that tugs at your heart!

Carol Hess Bread

3 1/2 cups flour

2 TBS Sugar

1/2 tea salt

1 egg

1 package Rapid Rise Yeast

1 cup hot water

Put 2 cups flour, yeast and dry ingredients in large bow and mix. Pour in water mix thoroughly. Add egg. Mix. Add next 1 1/2 cups flour. Make a soft dough ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover. Place in warm dry spot til doubles. On lightly floured surface knead five times. Place in greased loaf pan. cover til doubled. Take out of pan on cooling rack. Brush with melted butter. Sliced when cool.

I also made two more yummy things this week and I will share those recipes as well. If you're anything like me I'm always looking for new yum-o recipes!

Speedy Brownies

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tea salt

5 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tea vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

in mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake 350 until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 3 dozen

Last but not least.......Beef Carbonnade.......a new Dyksen favorite

Beef Carbonnade

2lb beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 TBS flour, 1/4 tea salt, 1/8 tea pepper, 2 T olive oil

14 oz beef broth

2 large onions halved and sliced thin

1 clove garlic crushed

12 oz dark beer or use can beef broth

12 oz egg noodles cook and drain

fresh parsley leaves chopped

Toss well in bowl beef cubes, flour,salt and pepper. Heat 1 T of oil in skillet on med hi. Brown 1/2 beef remove and repeat with other beef. Remove beef and add 1 can beef broth. Boil 1 min. In crock pot stir onions, garlic thyme and beer. Tom with browned beef and broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over noodles.

I hope you enjoy the new recipes!

SHMILY

Bruce and I once read a devotional about this sweet couple who played a game with each other. The goal of the game was to write the word SHMILY in a surprise place for the other one to find. They took turns leaving SHIMILY all around the house, and as soon as the other person discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more. Bruce and I loved the idea! We soon joined in the game and it was kind of fun when the kids would ask us what the heck that stood for. See, SHMILY stands for

See

how

much

I

love

you

Bruce and I have enjoyed this fun game for years now! It's always such a blessing to find a SHMILY note when you least expect it.

My husband actually left me a SHMILY note for the last 2 Saturdays! He has been leaving early Saturday for a men's bible study. When I got up I found a SHMILY note next to the coffee pot! How sweet is that! He didn't even drink coffee at home but took the take the time to make me coffee.

SHMILY notes remind us to serve each other and it's just so much fun finding that note when you least expect it! I'm so thankful for such a great husband!

I love you Bruce Allen Dyksen!!!!

Kenton Dyksen is here!

I'm so excited to announce that Kenton Dyksen is FINALLY here! He was born April 2, 2011 at 10:53pm. Kenton weighed 10lb 1.2oz and was 21in long. In his mom's words "he's perfect" and I agree! :)

I kept waiting and waiting to hear the news. Like Kelly didn't have anything better to do but update aunt Serena. GEEZ lol

This morning Bruce woke me up with the news that baby Kenton was here! Let me tell you I shot outta bed pretty quick to check facebook for all the details! Bruce said he wished I would get out of bed that quick everyday! Fat chance honey! lol

I was dying to meet this little guy. We had to go to church and had to finish up our last Dave Ramsey class not to mention we had a carry in lunch. Class and lunch were great but I had baby on the mind! Time seemed to drag on!

When class was over we went to pick up Carter from his buddies house. In my mind I thought we would head right to the hospital. When Bruce put on the blinker to head home I was like I don't think so! lol We headed right to the hospital. When we got there grandma and grandpa Dyksen were already there. Kelly looked great! Tom looked tired! Kaden had a melt down before we got there. He just didn't want this baby. I think getting some toys to play with helped! :)

I think they make a pretty nice looking family!

Here's more pics of Kenton

Mom and baby look great!

Carter and his new cousin!

The double chin on Kenton looks better on him than auntie Serena lol

Uncle Bruce and Kenton! Such handsome men!

Lark, Steve and baby Kenton. :)

I think Carrie may like this little guy!

By the time we got ready to leave Kaden actually sat down and held his new brother and started kissing him! It was so sweet! I love the picture of the Dyksen boys!

I'm so happy for Tom, Kelly and Kaden that they now have a new healthy baby! I look forward to watching my new nephew grow up not only physically but spiritually! I'm one lucky aunt! I now have 2 nieces and 3 nephews! All healthy and super cute just like their auntie! :)