Psalm 151......by Kelsey

Proud Mommy moment.....Kelsey came home from school today and explained to me that her teacher had the class go outside and individually spend some time in the woods at the park writing their own Psalm. They have been studying the book of Psalms in Bible class. So she read me the following which was what she wrote. I was gulping back the tears. This came from her heart and from what she experienced during her time sitting on a log in the woods. She had a Bible handy but said that she never opened it for any help. WOW....please enjoy what this amazing not so little girl articulated onto paper what was on her heart. She is such an inspiration to me!

She decided that since there was 150 Psalms in the Bible that hers would be the 151st

(Unedited)
PSALM 151 BY KELSEY HALLBERG OCT. 7, 2008

Oh Lord, I love you with all my heart!
I praise you with all my soul.
You are mighty in your sanctuary.
As I watch your creation, rustling leaves, scampering squirrels, the sun shining, trees bending over me filling my heart with your creation and your love.
As I look around and think of your mighty creation, of all the works of your hands, O God, you are to do anything you wish.
I praise you for everything, from bugs and microscopic animals to your glorious Heavens.
You are lovely to do anything.
I will praise you forever and ever for my family, friends, teachers, animals, and everything you have made. Take me and make me one of your angels, servants, anything you want me to be.
How amazing is your creation and how amazing are you and I will love you for all my days, and serve you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
O Lord as I hear the birds squaking and everything that is singing out to you be lovely in your presence.
Let everything that you have made remember you and sing to you with all they have.
If it’s just moving or doing anything let it be praiseworthy to you.
I will follow you all my days and I will love you.
I will let you lead me through my troubled times.
O Lord you are lovely and awesome and wonderful!

Aug/Sept Wrap up

O.K. so this shall conclude my "being behind" in the blogging world. Here is the rest of it all in one shot!

August is such a busy but fun time for our family. We always enjoy looking forward to the fair! We are there everyday, having fun on the rides and enjoying the entertainment. We also cater all the meals for the entertainers so it is busy as well. This year we had the treat of having PaPa from Tennessee join for the last 3 days of the fair. You see PaPa is a huge fan of Chicago and has gone to many of their concerts. So he decided to combine a visit with us and see Chicago in concert and because of some close inside connections he was able to meet the band, get a photo with them and hang out a bit. He was so thrilled and we were glad to share the experience with him. We always enjoy our time with him and are thankful he took the time to come and hang out with us! We love you PaPa!!! (sorry it took so long to get this blog up)

This is a picture of us with the Newsboys....awesome concert!

PaPa and Brian with the kiddos

Daisy and I on her favorite roller coaster!

Brian going on a "pukey" ride with the kids!


Some sprinkler fun before PaPa had to leave on Sunday.


Run Daisy!


Some random dancing in the rain....



Quarterback #12 Jake Poag starts football season in August...




A couple of weekends ago our children decided to become entrepreneurs. It was the last really warm nice weekend we had in September. The neighbor boy across the street set up a lemonade stand as he has often done before. It was a Friday night and it was early evening and I had a friend and her two boys over for pizza. Before we knew it all of our kids were across the street making signs to help the neighbor sell his lemonade. After awhile they asked me to contribute some juice so I did. That stand shut down and the remaining kids came over and set up a little stand with stools on our side of the street in front of our house. We wrapped it up for the evening. The next morning our kids were full on about doing their own stand. So we obliged and I went and got a two gallon container from the hardware store and lemonade from the restaurant. We set up a table, made signs, added a tablecloth, had fresh cut lemons, a cooler with ice, red solo cups and bags of chips. It was a beautiful day and these guys stayed out there till dusk selling lemonade and chips. They made 40 bucks!!! I couldn't believe it! Their were some very generous customers I might add. I did let a few people in on the event so they would be sure to get some traffic, but they had plenty of passerbyers without my help. The thing I loved the most about this wasn't that the kids made some money.....it was the learning experience that went along with it and they were so receptive to that part of it. I helped them understand the investment part that was the two gallon container I bought for 20 bucks and they understood that their first 20 dollars had to go to repay for the supplies. They willingly without complaint brought me the money, I was so proud of them that I decided to gift that to them and they kept their profits. Guess what Jake wants to do every weekend he is here now?? Yep..... it doesn't matter if it's cold or raining.......

These two three year olds were adorable! (notice Daisy's upside down sign)

HA HA HA!!

The stand at the neighbor's

Uncle Chad was thirsty and needed a bag of chips...



Oh yea....I almost forgot....and Tennessee football started.....my enthusiasm lasted for the first game.....apologies to my "T" family, I tried!!

Daisy 1st day of preschool....X2

This week was so busy and so EXCITING for Miss Daisy! She started pre school on Thursday!! She has been waiting so long for this day! I have been wondering for so long how she would do....beings she is unlike any other child I have ever raised! To our surprise she was wonderful! I walked out of her school and looked in the window and said to Brian, "Who is that child?" We certainly didn't expect her to walk right in and over to the kids and start playing. You see she plays this "shy" card all the time and it drives me crazy, because she is far from shy at home! Anyways we had to tell her to hang up her back pack and she breezed by us and to the hooks as if she was a veteran at this school thing! I guess the normal question with sending your last and youngest off to school is if I was sad? One word answers that....NOPE! Now that sounds cold, but honestly, I know that this is probably what Daisy needs and will be very good for her and mom...so sad for something that is good, nope.
So I had been tossing around the idea of putting her in a 2 1/2-3 1/2 Friday morning class that my sis in law is teaching at our church. I decided Friday morning an hour before class started that I would give it a shot. So she is actually going Tues and Thurs. mornings at the Gingerbread House and Fridays at Tiny Treasures.

Orcas Island

The next highlight in our summer was our extended family gathering on Orcas Island. It was so much fun....the weather was incredible.....the time spent around family was pleasant.....soaking in God's wonderful creation was a blessing beyond measure.....celebrating birthdays, and anniversary's.....being blessed by the generosity of our loving grandparents who made it possible for us all to enjoy a wonderful time away from home! Here's a recap of the fun in pictures....it's a rather long slide show as it is all the pictures I took while there, so beware!!

First Day of School!!

It just doesn't seem possible, but the kids had their first day of school today! What seems even more impossible is that we have two in fifth grade, one in third, and one starting preschool!! Where or where does the time go? The girls love school, and always eagerly anticipate the first day....what they're going to wear....who's in their class....what are the teachers going to be like.....and so on. Jake on the other hand, it's not really his thing, I think if he could just play sports everyday all day he would be just fine with that :) Daisy will start school next week at the Gingerbread House. This is the preschool that both Kelsey and Madison attended when they were her age! It will be fun to see her in this environment too!


The girls before we left....

And Daisy looking on at her sisses...

We got lucky this morning, as Jake was getting dropped off for his first day of school we were able to snag him for a quick picture and walk with the big middle schoolers to their classes....

Kelsey getting her locker prepared ....oh this is so exciting :)

Madison excitedly posing by her desk(she's surrounded by boys where she sits)

And her lil sis helping her organize her desk!

Ooops......I forgot about Alice!

Oooops! I need to back up a tad. Here I gave myself credit for still having my mind about me, but I forgot the actual next highlight before our Moses Lake trip! While I was gone in Honduras, Kelsey and Madison started their first of a two week theater camp. For those that have been following my blog for at least a year, you may recall them doing this last summer. So for two weeks they practice 4 hours a day with a group of about 40+ kids. This year and last they do a rendition of a Disney play. This year it was Alice in Wonderland. So upon my return they finished up their last week of practice and then they have 2 performances on the weekend. It really is so amazing how these kids and directors can pull this off in such a short time. The kids are solid in their lines and it is quite entertaining! Kelsey, I might add, is so comfortable on stage, it blows me away! It is so fun to watch the kids find their area of giftedness.....enjoy a recap of our two little stars on stage!








Can you find them?

Moses Lake Vaca Getaway '08

Yep...still not doing too well "catching up"! My husband noted the other day that I have been averaging one post a month...thanks for the reminder, hon! Well at any rate, thankfully I still have a fully functioning mind in which I can recall the next event in our summer. Shortly after I returned from Honduras, the girls, myself and Brian went to Moses Lake over a long 4th of July weekend to cheer on Jake and his team in the Cal Ripken State Baseball Tournament. It was so beautiful there. We stayed in a hotel that was right on the lake, it was hot and the pool at the hotel was so enjoyable. The team did very well, ending up in third place. So enjoy some pixs of our family get away.

The girls dipping their feet in the lake...

Strolling through a park on the lake.

Chillen in the hotel room


The girls!

J.P. playing right field

Up to bat...



On base....