Trip to Iowa

I made a very quick overnight trip to Iowa this weekend, mostly to see my sweet niece...the only chance I'm likely to have between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, unfortunately. But it was worth it, and she is cute as ever, of course.





Fascinated with my bling. And my painted toenails. The girl has style sense already.




So big! Nine months old and catching up from a birth weight of less than 3 pounds.




Love that smirk.




This was the first time I'd been to my hometown of Vinton, Iowa, since they were hit by a big storm in mid-July. The winds were 100-130 miles per hour, and I've heard they knocked out about three-quarters of the city's trees. Naturally, it looks very different, and there is still much clean-up to do.

The Great Minnesota Get-Together

It's a sure bet that summer's coming to an end when the Minnesota State Fair rolls around, but, despite that sad omen, it's still fabulous entertainment. I went with my friends Phil and Rachel, and their dear daughter, Annika.





It was a lovely day to go--not too hot, and manageable crowds.








We each indulged in our treats of choice: frozen key lime pie on a stick for Phil, orange-mango sorbet in a half-orange peel for Rachel, s'more on a stick for me. Plus cheese curds, obviously, since they're a main feature of the fair. Rachel has fantastic pictures of all of it on her blog, and Annika enjoyed her own snack as well.





Combined with the excitement of the evening, it was enough to knock her right out. She rode in style and got some good rest while we reveled.





Be sure to check out the wonderful pictures on Rachel's blog, including our very attractive paper fish hats from Gander Mountain. And look for more in the next few days.

More baby fun

We had a baby shower last weekend to welcome little Annika Claire to the world. It also served to welcome her mom, Rachel, back to campus, as she's been "up north" for the last year.


Here's Stephanie with the guest of honor.




And the amazing gourmet cupcakes made by the very same Stephanie. We all thought they were from a bakery because they were so beautiful. The diaper cake was Naomi's creation, and it looked just as good.




The rest of the food and decor was a group effort, with particular props to Naomi and Kristina. This was quite the collaboration, with most of the ladies in attendance contributing something to the festivities (other than a joyful presence).




It was a delight to have so many of the girls* back together again, as it had been quite a while since the ladies who had scattered for internship had managed to get together. This photo was taken by Rachel, the master of self-timed photos!




* Note to Lane: We missed you! :-)

Out and about

I mentioned my trip to Kansas City, and shared some pictures of our family gathering. Here's a bit of our exploits around town.


The sports complex, Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Chiefs football team) and Kauffman Stadium (home of the Royals baseball team).




The Liberty Memorial and National World War I Museum. We drove by without stopping. I hope to visit sometime.




And the beautiful architecture of Union Station.







I also attended another retreat of the Society of the Holy Trinity. It's always a delight to pray together. As a bonus, this was the first time I had been to the Christ the King Retreat House in Buffalo, Minnesota, when it wasn't snowy and frozen.


Beautiful grounds.




Statue of Moses.




Baby barn swallows. See Psalm 84:3.




Stunning sunset.

Baptism weekend

I know it was the Fourth of July, and a lovely holiday it was. But, for our family, my niece's baptism took center stage instead. I started out my vacation with a visit to sweet little Annika, made a stop in Iowa, then rounded out the trip with some time in Kansas City for Dayla's baptism.


She has grown so much since I saw her last, and looks even bigger to me after my time with Annika.




Big girls have to look after their animals and take care of their farmyards.




And now that she's eating some solid food, she wanted to skip straight to the lefse. The girl knows her stuff.




The baptism was joyous, as is always the case when Christ claims another child as his own. Dayla wore a dress that has been in my sister-in-law Sarah's family for almost 90 years, and has been worn by at least 36 people for their baptisms, so that was quite special.




And her other sponsor (besides me, that is), Sarah's brother, came prepared with baby goggles just in case full immersion was the order of the day. Turns out Dayla didn't need the goggles for the baptism itself, but how could we pass up a photo op like this afterward?




The family convivium after the worship service was beautiful as well, and Dayla had a grand time being passed from one loving person to the next.




She made a wardrobe change for her party, of course. It's only befitting such a princess. (And who wants to take chances with a 90-year-old family heirloom?)




It was a glorious weekend, and now Dayla Elizabeth is raised to new life, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever!

The Amana Colonies

Last week during my vacation, my dad and I made a trip to a fun Iowa destination, the Amana Colonies. It's a group of seven villages founded by German Pietists in the mid-1800s. They lived a communal lifestyle until the 1930s; you can read more about the history here. The villages are now a tourist destination with all sorts of cute shops, wineries, and restaurants, still with a German flair.





As we wound our way through the beautiful Iowa countryside, we ran into some kind of little parade of old tractors.





And eventually reached our destination, which was charming, as always, despite a heat index of almost 110 degrees. I was in search of wine, so we hit the Ackerman Winery and the White Cross Cellars.





The Amana General Store is always one of my favorite destinations. It's one of those overstimulating, overcrowded, enchanting places where you can buy kitchen things, knick-knacks of any kind, specialty foods, furniture, and just about anything else you could ever want. Like many of the Amana stores, they have a Christmas room, which was kind-of nice on such a hot day.





And, of course, we had to make a stop to admire the lovely furniture at the Amana Furniture Store, much of it hand-crafted locally. Here's my favorite room: so many beautiful clocks, inculding a wall of cukoo clocks.





One of our usual stops that we skipped today was the Amana Woolen Mill. They have a huge variety of beautiful clothing and housewares, but it was just too hot to even think about blankets and sweaters.

We did, of course, visit both the Chocolate Haus and the ice cream store, and I got some wine, so the trip was both enjoyable and successful.

Talking to little girls

I recently read an article about how we talk to young girls, and the impact our interactions might have on them. It seemed timely, given all the new baby girls surrounding me lately, from Skye to Dayla to Annika.

Lisa Bloom suggests in "How to Talk to Little Girls" that we focus too much on little girls' appearance, feeding into our culture's obsession with looks, especially for women and girls. I've caught myself doing this (as she says, little kids are just too darn cute not to notice it!) so I'm glad I have a couple years to practice before these babies are more interactive.

And, by the way, I think we do similar things to little boys, but the article happens to focus on girls. I'll have to start paying attention to people's interactions with boys vs. girls and discover how much difference there is.

More baby joy

First came my sweet niece Dayla Elizabeth, and now my dear friends Phil and Rachel (whom I visited in May) have welcomed their daughter, Annika Claire, now two weeks old.


Look at what a tiny peanut she is...not even 6 pounds and absolutely perfect!




Quite content.




And happy to snuggle.




Always coming up with interesting positions for her cute little hands.




Klaus the dachshund used Annika as a pillow before she was born, so it only seems fair that he now return the favor.




Happy family at rest.




And hard at work devising strategies for one-handed eating. Corn on a stick...it's like the state fair!




I'm delighted I got to visit dear Annika so soon after her arrival, and I'm even more delighted that we'll be neighbors for the first year of her life. I'll be working diligently as Godmother Extraordinaire, so I'm sure she'll be reciting the Small Catechism before we graduate next May!

(Bonus: my brother now has Skype, so Dayla can be in on the fun too! I'll be running some kind of baby academy before you know it.)

More on Memorial Day

I recently shared some thoughts and an article on observing patriotic holidays like Memorial Day. I wrote in favor of letting the Sunday observance take precedence over the holiday. In reality, of course, I realize that this isn't always the most appropriate pastoral move, and I must say that Pastor Dick Hegel did a great job weaving the two occasions together at Hegre over the holiday weekend.

In his sermon, he spoke of Memorial Day as an occasion of both remembering (bravery and sacrifices) and forgetting (old animosities), and he compared that to what God does for us, remembering (love and mercy and forgiveness) and forgetting (our sin and failures).

He compared the remembering we do at patriotic holidays to the remembering we do with the story of Christ...in both cases, it's about telling the story and letting the past affect our present and our future. It was very well done.

Meanwhile, Memorial Day weekend was a good chance for me to get away and spend time with family. I'm lucky that my grandmother lives close enough that I could easily spend most of the long weekend with my family without missing Sunday morning worship. So here you have it, Miss Dayla Elizabeth, my six-month-old niece.


With her great-grandma...




With her Aunt Amanda...




And cashed out...

Another trip up north

I finally made it back up to Underwood, Minnesota, last weekend to visit my dear friends Phil and Rachel. It's a long trip, but I made good time, and Friday was a lovely day for a drive. Saturday was rainy but I survived anyway (thanks to Classical MPR, the first radio station to interrupt my constant diet of CDs in six or seven years).

But I digress. I took a different route this time and noticed some churches with great Scandinavian names like Sverdrup and Tingvold (pictured here).





I also enjoyed the "Otter Tail County Scenic Byway" signs that have otters on them. Super-cute.





We had a great time just relaxing, which was a nice change from the frantic pace I've been keeping lately.





Rachel is on bedrest at 33 weeks pregnant, and Klaus the dachshund thinks the baby belly makes a good pillow.





We watched the action on the lake with the opening of fishing season (not much going on, with pretty icky weather).





And, on Saturday, a couple other friends joined us, one with this handsome 10-month-old in tow. The dog thought the baby was fascinating, and the baby thought everything in the house was fascinating (and tasty!). Never a dull moment!





It was a wonderful trip and much-needed getaway for me. And, hopefully in a few weeks, I'll return to meet the baby girl currently serving as Klaus's pillow!