Love and Marriage....

~Genesis 2:24~

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Congrats to Travis and Lindsay Hoover!! The wedding was beautiful! :-)



The love of family is one of life's greatest blessings....



The case of the Mondays.....
No I did not wake up at 7:00 to leave the house at 7:15, or was locked out of my classroom this morning because I couldn't find my keys in my other bag, I didn't forget it was picture day and have to put my make up on at school. I'm sure it will be quite an interesting picture. :-) Today after school I went to Target to buy my first yoga mat... I've never bought one before, so I bought the cheapest one it was pink and 8 dollars.



I'm trying yoga again for the second time, I think this will still be hard, but hopefully I won't feel like I'm going to faint like I did at the hot yoga class I attended last year. I hope I stick with it this time though. My goal is to attend more than one class. :-) I am looking forward to, "Tone up Tuesdays," so I'm going to start getting ready for bed. Here is one more picture from tonight LOML's best man came fishing with us tonight and they caught around 20 fish this time, but small little guys and we grilled. Kirby of course thinks he can be friends with anything and was licking them....



Blessings to all! :-)

Full Moon

The night of a full moon looks a little like this...


But it really doesn't do it justice, with the human eye it is clear, bright, and vivid. It will be the 3rd day of school tomorrow and with a full moon tonight, it makes me wonder how it will go and if the students have much more energy flowing though their body. This happens at least once a month, and very rarely but often times a full moon will come twice a month. Popular legend has it that the full moon brings out the worse in people: more violence, suicides, accidents, aggression. The influence of the moon and behavior has been called "The Lunar Effect." The belief that the full moon causes mental disorders and strange behavior is very well known. The "lunacy" meaning "insanity" comes from the Latin word for "moon." With that I always keep an open mind with my students knowing there is a full moon! :-)

This week is just flying by and we are getting ready to head out of town tomorrow for a wedding!! :-) Tonight, after the city came to update our meter, we went to the pond to fish for an hour of relaxation. LOML caught 10 fish, and I caught 1 (with his help!). I was in charge of the camera...

Fish 1....



Fish 2....


Fish 3...



Fish 4.....


LOML doing what he enjoys, and helping fish out by getting the hooks out of their mouth that they swallow and toss them all back.... (I also missed 3 pictures of fish, they squirmed out of LOML's hand before I could snap the picture.)



Fish 8....



Fish 9... (my fish) :-)



Fish 10....



Last but not least.... The best fish of the night.... Fish 11 was a CATFISH!!!!!



We ended the fishing on that high note, plus it swallowed the hook. Here is a video from tonight of the Kirbster. He always brings a smile to our faces!




Goodnight! :-)

2 Corinthians 12:2

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

Tonight I sit here in utter, jaw-dropping shock that school starts tomorrow for me. I have mixed emotions....

1. Am I ready?
2. What am I forgetting to do?
3. I wonder how much my little pumpkins have grown over the summer.
4. What will it be like with 7th graders this year?
5. It will be fabulous to get into routine again.

Ready or not though, the students come tomorrow morning!!! Which indicates our fun-filled end of the summer is over! Here are a couple of pictures of jet skiing, twins game, nephew's birthday, flooding, and the kirbster. LOML celebrated our 8mo. anniversary at the Twins/White Sox game when Thome hit a 2 run walk off home run in the 10th inning! :-) LOML helped me in my classroom until midnight one night rearrange furniture, and then when my parents came up this past weekend for their 28th wedding anniversary!! :-) Congrats mom and dad! Thanks for all of your help in my classroom! I also will post a picture of the dry erase board!! Thanks mom! :-)

















These next few are very sweet so I will narrate for you.... :-)

1st LOML gave his nephew his first Twins hat with Mickey :-)



And one of them together... :-)



LOML and I gave him some hooks, bobber, and fake worms. LOML wanted to take him fishing at the pond. Uncle Nolan helping with the pole.




Then we drove to the pond to fish, but didn't have the best luck, but all had fun! :-)





Well that's all I have for now! I must go because I left my charger for my laptop in MN and hope to get it tomorrow, but my battery is getting low! I must get ready for bed! Lots of energetic middle schoolers tomorrow!!!! :-) Gotta love them! I'll let you know how it goes! Much love to all!

The Benge's :-)

July, July... O where have you gone???

I'm shocked! I can't believe that August is really here! I was savoring every last day of July!!! :-) There is absolutely no way to completely catch you up, but a quick run down may be helpful!! :-)

The beginning of the month....

A wonderful vacation with the family, this one is all of us!! :-)



Focus on the Family, we dressed up :-)




LOML took a video going down the slide at Focus on the Family...





Garden of the Gods, was our next stop that day....







Next day... PIKES PEAK!!! :-) It was absolutely breathtaking, minus the part that I droped our video camera down the mountain had a meltdown and LOML went down to get it and all we lost was a battery down the mountain and the video camera is still working! AMAZING!!! :-) This is almost the last video we have from the camera from the trip, LOML praying to see a bear. :-)





LOML's prayer was answered... Our last night at the amazing bed and breakfast we all stayed at. LOML saw a bear!!! :-)

The trip was wonderful and absolutely breathtaking!! ;-)

Mid month to end....

Softball, selling flowers at the farmers market, garage sales, working, grilling, fun times with friends, Twins baseball, and building the fire ring in the back yard, laying out, swimming, weddings, Kirbster turned 5. Yes, I'm guilty of having a birthday for my dog. It seems so silly, but he absolutely loved it. We had to wait for daddy to get home with his cake. Kirbster had 5 dog bones on his can of wet food and he got a #1 stuffed trophy, steak that squeaked (it took about 20 minutes for him to rip the squeak out), and 3 tennis balls! We had a blast and the Kirbster put himself to bed with his stuffed trophy! :-)








Congrats to the UMTHUN's!!! It was a beautiful wedding and beautiful day for you two!

1 Thessalonians 5:11~ See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. vs. 16-18 Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.