Surprise!

Whew! I pulled it off and he was surprised! Yay!!! You may remember that last weekend on Chris' birthday he had to work the Harvest Hayride. This small fact made it quite hard to plan anything for his birthday. Instead I decided to try to surprise him with a party and ya'll I succeeded! I thought for sure it wasn't going to work out or that he would find out but he was so very very surprised! Wanna know details? Yeah?! Good! Here you go!

After weeks of stressing and trying to buy stuff for the party behind Chris' back, the day came. We had a youth event in the morning that was supposed to end at 4 pm and then the plan was to go to dinner and then come home to the party. However... why are there always however's in all my stories???... However, we didn't get home until 4:30 pm and we both still had to take showers, make it to dinner, eat and get home by 7:15 pm without it being obvious. Stressed is not even a strong enough word. Several times I almost just told him because I didn't see how it was going to work out. Boy am I glad that I didn't!

After we came home and took our showers, we headed out the door to go to dinner. We had a delicious dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Bella Mia, where Chris was asking questions like "Does Elianna really need a bath tonight or can you give her one tomorrow morning since she is so tired?" (No she probably won't get one since we are going to be partying) - Me: "I should probably give her one tonight though so she will sleep better" and Chris: "Do you want dessert?" (No! We have ice cream cake and cookies at home) - "Yes, I will take a cannoli. Can we go home now?" Terrible headache + cranky kid = we NEED to get home (to the party!).

When we got home, Chris took in the food and I was to get Elianna. I deliberately waited until he went in the house before getting Elianna out of the car. Apparently when he walked and they flipped on the lights and yelled "Surprise!", he was so shocked that he backed out of the house and was trying to catch his breath on the back deck. My friend took the perfect picture of him coming in the house and as soon as she sends it to me - I just have to share it with you all! It is classic surprise!

It was an enjoyable time spent with our friends and I just keep going back to the fact that I DID IT! Whew! Time to relax and never plan a surprise party again ... at least for a long time!

A Mozart in Training

The picture and lighting quality is terrible in this video - so sorry in advance!

Hello My Name is .... Cutie!

Harvest Weekend Fun

This past weekend at church was our annual Harvest Hayride. Harvest Hayride is a community outreach our church puts together and has games for kids to play (and win prizes), gives out food (pizza, hot dogs, funnel cake, fries and a bunch of other food) and hayrides, etc. Elianna decorated a pumpkin, rode in the kiddie train and hung out with some of the teen girls (thanks Amanda!).

Happy Birthday!

Pajama Day

One day last week we had no where to go so we had Pajama Day.

She loves to walk around and blow this whistle! It is pretty funny since she uses her whole body to blow that thing to see how loud she can be.

We are "learning" the color orange and this is one of her orange objects. Keep eating those carrots Sweetie and maybe ya won't need glasses. Right?

She was very fascinated by Chris' tie and kept trying to put it around her neck. When I put it on the "right" way, she took and off and did it back to her way. Oh boy!

It was a fascinating day to her apparently. She also wanted to wear Chris' water bottle holder and then she walked around drinking water out of this water bottle.

It's amazing to watch her mimic the things we do (ie: tie). Another teaching moment for me to be careful of the things I do and say because even at her young age, she picks them up. What a responsibility!

A Lesson Learned

A couple of days ago my Chris and I decided we would take a bicycle ride with Elianna after dinner. We had been doing this all summer long so we didn't take a second thought about it. We should have though considering that it is getting dark way earlier now. On the main trail it wasn't so bad - the light was coming in and you could see the road. However, there came a part on the trail when it was so dark that you couldn't see the road at all. I knew that at that point in the trail it was going to get a bit curvy ... downhill. Chris was kind enough to go in front so I could follow him. As we were riding back ... this time going uphill in the dark ... I got to thinking how this was kinda how life is right now. A little downhill with twists and some uphill ... all in the dark. I was so comforted and knew where to go when Chris was riding in front of me. I was reminded that no matter where I am on the road of life, God is there in front of me to show me exactly where He wants me to "ride" in life. As long as I keep my eyes on Him in front of me, I won't go careening off into the trees along the trail (I accidentally typed trial - ha!).

So what's going on Lisa? Well... Over the past year or so, Chris has been struggling with when to know it is time to move on in the ministry. We have worked with the teens for almost 6 years now and we truly do love working with them. However, we really believe that the teens learn much from their parents. That being said, if mom and dad aren't growing in their faith than their teens probably aren't either. Chris has a burden to begin working in an adult capacity. What exactly that means ... and where ... we don't know yet. Our church here has been very gracious to us and has told us that we are welcome to stay here until 1) we find a place or 2) they find a new youth pastor. We have sent several resumes out and have gotten letters from some saying that we are on the "short list" and we have heard from some saying "thanks but no thanks."

We are asking you to pray with/for us that 1) we would be open to whatever God has for us - no matter where or what that entails 2) we would have a clear understanding of where exactly God wants us and 3) we would wait patiently on God.

It is a scary, curvy sometimes downhill dark road, but we can "ride" assured that God is before us and if we continue to keep our eyes on Him, we will not be lead astray.

Sensory Tub

Recently I was introduced to the idea of a sensory tub. Basically it is a tub filled with different textures so that the child playing can become acquainted with them. Right now Elianna has a sensory tub filled with oatmeal. She absolutely loves playing in that tub and cries when I tell her it is time to go inside. Here is a short video showing how much fun she has in the tub.

Sisters

Elianna's Room

Recently I realized that I never posted pictures of Elianna's room. I have to say a big thanks to several very sweet, very patient friends who helped me paint her room just weeks before she was born. Remind me that stripes aren't as easy as it sounds in your head.

Looking into her room from the doorway towards the left

"Prayers for a Lifetime" above her bed

Looking straight into her room from the doorway

Men's Retreat

Sometimes I think my Chris gets cheated here on BergerBites since I am the one that is always writing. So here is a post dedicated to the Men's Retreat he recently went on.

Friday Chris and 5 other guys from church rode their motorcycles to the retreat about a hour and a half away in PA. However, due to some wrong turns and no-name towns, it took a bit longer than that to get there. Once there their weekend was filled with guy-intensity sports (indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc etc) and sessions. Their speaker was Jose Alonso who is one of our church missionaries to Columbia.

On the way back home Saturday, Chris rode back with just 2 guys. This trip was nice and slow through the hills of PA and they made it home without any additional "detours."

I'm so glad he has the opportunity to go and spend sometime relaxing and enjoying time with friends.

GiGi's House

Last Friday and Saturday while my Chris went to the Men's Retreat, Elianna and I made our way over to GiGi's house. We had a low key 2 days so there is not much to report ... unless you count Harley exhibiting extremely bad behavior. But as usual, we enjoyed our time spent with GiGi.