My Big Boy......And the Rest of our Happenings

So poor little Nathan's hair was getting kinda scraggly. He was in dire need a haircut. Fortunately...or unfortunately for him, mommy is also the hair stylist in our family. So after mentioning to David that I was planning on giving him a little trim I allowed myself to give into David's request to go commando and buzz it all off. This request has taken place many a time on behalf of Micah....but Mommy in her wisdom has not allowed this to happen. I think all the pent up desire to buzz our little boys hair transferred to him. David gladly stripped away the little innocence of my baby as I sat and got teary eyed through the camera lens. I have to admit....hair or no hair he is still just as cute. It's just the thought of my little boy turning into not so little anymore that makes me sad. David since then has continued to request that we do the same thing and buzz Micah's hair....but I just can't do it. And everyone that we know tells us never to cut it because it's so cute. I told David he had to find 10 to tell me that I should cut Micah's hair short (5 of them being our family members). So if you are reading this please feel free to join into the poll! Yesterday night we had fun as a family doing the traditional Easter egg dye. We have been trying to get across to our kids the importance of this time. We knew that we needed have a little discussion when we asked our kids why we celebrate Easter. Elijah's response was "so we can get presents from the Easter Bunny." This actually made me sad. Grace new that that wasn't the reason and it had something to do with Jesus. Honestly, Grace and Elijah both understand what Jesus has done for them as far as dying on the cross and raising from the dead....but didn't get that we specifically celebrate it at this time of year. I suppose their is some truth their....we should celebrate this every day!

Happy 30th to the love of my life!

David,


There are so many things that I had thought about doing for you on this day.....and most of them didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted them too. I hope you understand just how special you are to our family. For those of you that don't know I always have to be sneaky with David's birthday or surprises because he is just too smart. This year I obviously wanted to give him a huge surprise for his 30th. Usually, I am the conservative one in the family when it comes to gift giving. This year I decided to order a mountain bike online and have it shipped to a friends house. I knew he would love it because he has been talking about getting one all year long....and of course he would never suspect that I would actually buy it. I picked the bike up from our friends house and brought it to a local store to have them put it together. My plan was to drop David off at a trail on his birthday where friends would meet him for a ride. Needless to say, my 3 boys were with me when we brought the bike to the store and picked it up. Although I had passionate discussions with them about how we didn't need to say anything about our little secret....you can imagine it didn't really happen. David got back from his TDY in San Antonio and the next day we were sitting at the table for breakfast(last Saturday). Elijah pointed out that we had a surprise for David but couldn't say what it was. Micah then chimed in.....and said "yeah and it's a bike". So, I guess the moral of the story is if I want to surprise David......don't have the kids with me. So we actually gave him his present last week. This Friday we got to surprise daddy at work with a cake that said "yes, David really is 30." This is in reference to the fact that everyone can't believe that David is actually this old. Some people tease
him and call him Doogie.

Back to you honey, the most important thing that I want you to know is how much I love you! You really are the most amazing husband and father. I am so blessed that the Lord brought you into my life. I can honestly see that the Lord has used you in so many ways to refine me into the woman He wants me to be. I just want to know how special you are. Although their are countless reasons I could give for why I love you....here are 30!

1. You truly love the Lord....and seek to do His will

2. You are committed to me and our children

3. You do everything to the best of your ability....and everything you take on such as skiing....or mountain biking, or house repairs, you aim for perfection.

4. You confess your sins to me and ask for forgiveness

5. You provide for our family

6. You have integrity at work

7. You look for every opportunity to serve me...i.e. you give me a backrub even when you don't want to

8. You love to have fun with our family and look for ways to make memories for our children

9. You always say sorry first....and you always forgive me before I ask for forgiveness

10. You help out around the house when I don't have time to do it all

11. You spend time working on the house after work when all you want to do is relax.

12. You are super goofy

13. You listen to me when I have concerns about how we should raise our children

14. You always tell me that you love me

15. Your such a hottie

16. You call me in the morning just to make sure I am awake.

17. You are the most disciplined person I know

18.You always speak highly of me....even when you know and I know that I can be a pill sometimes.

19. You want to spend your time with me

20. You take care of all the little things that I don't like to do....and we would get in trouble for if we didn't do

21. You tell me I am beautiful...when I really don't believe it myself.

22. You encourage me to seek the Lord about all things

23. You help with the kids...i.e. bathtime, reading them the Word of God, wrestling, biking, playing, dancing around to music, getting them ready, feeding them etc. etc.

24. You help me with all the things I have no clue how to do on the computer.

25. You download music for me to put on my ipod
26. You spoil me wrotten every Birthday, Christmas....or any other holiday where you could give gifts.

27. You randomly come home with flowers, and treats for us to eat.

28. You always buy the biggest, most, or things I normally wouldn't buy....because you love us and want to spoil us.

29. You seek to make sure that I am happy in all things....and would give me the world if I asked.

30. You are a kingdom builder, a man after God's heart, you seek to be used by God in powerful ways, you study God's Word and apply it to your life, you have a heart for the lost, you want to live up to your God given potential.

I am proud to be your wife! Happy Birthday Honey!

Nathan's New Trick

So I truly believe that Nathan is trying to catch up with the rest of the gang. It appears to me that he is over being a baby in so many ways. Today was a little bit warmer so Elijah, Micah, and a little boy I was watching went outside to ride bikes. I was watching them from the patio window where Nathan had his little nose sticking to. While he has not perfected the word outside yet....I knew that his babbling was telling me that he wanted to go outside too. So we decided to go check it out. Nathan crawled all the way to the carport where they were riding. I was so proud of Elijah who was so kind to give him a very safe ride on his bigwheel. He loved the ride. This only confirms that from the womb I knew that he was going to be laid back...yet a mover if that makes sense. Or maybe what I am trying to say is that he is nowhere near the will my other children have. He is always....with maybe only a few acceptions happy and easy. Although, he has a part of him that likes to move. His latest trick as of late is climbing up and down the stairs. This is the first time we have ever had to contend with stairs....so needless to say I have encouraged his safe passage up and down them. I think he is pretty darn good at it. But again, I really have no idea when kids do this because we have never had stairs for the other kids. I just think that he is so darn cute.

Happy Sweet Sixteen John Jacob Gilbert Burmeister!

Okay I am really really getting old. I remember when little Johnny was born when I was Yes 15!!!!!! I wanted him to be a little girl so badly, sorry Johnny. My parents tried to appease me....involve me, whatever you want to call it by letting me help pick out his name. So, I wanted his name to be Jacob...(which of course had nothing to do with the fact my certain 7th grade boyfriends name was Jake). At any rate they didn't quite want that name for his first name. So then they could say I could choose the middle name....and then they decided to honor Grandpa and give him his middle name.....but of course they couldn't go back on their word. And so, this is why my brother's full name is John Jacob Gilbert Burmeister. I always had hoped that we would give hime the nickname JJ....but that didn't ever happen either. So sorry John. I know that you will forever remember me when you are filling out all those SAT things. At any rate it is so hard to believe that you are officially a full fledged teenager. I have to say that I am so happy that God knows best and added you to our family instead of a girl. For one thing I have secretly loved being the only girl. More importantly, our family just would not be the same with out our little baby brother. You are such a sweet, fun, brilliant, talented, athletic kid. You have never given mom and dad half the problems we have given them. We are so proud of you....and wish that we could be there for every bandee and baseball game. Keep up the good work. Oh and you know that we love all your sweet little girlfriends that love to babysit for us when we are home. More than anything we love that you are excited about your relationship with the Lord. Our prayer for you is that you continue to walk in His righteousness as you are guided through your difficult teen years. We love you very much and wish we could go to Snuffy's with you. Sorry we have missed out on your birthdays. We have managed to find a picture of you. Even though you have the distinct Burmeister teenage boy trait of avoiding the camera. All the kids want you to know they wish you a Happy Birthday. The check is in the mail.

What we have been up to

So, we have had a pretty great week. And an even better long weekend. David and I once again hit the slopes with some friends on Friday. Elijah had a lesson and happily went up the lift....and a little reluctatantly went down the lift. He did go by himself a little. We would take turns waiting for him to ski to us. Sometimes he forgot you have to do a big pizza to stop.

Gracie had school and then hung out with her little best friend again until we got home. Saturday, Gracie was super enthusiastic about the cheerleading camp she got to go to at the local highschool given by the cheerleaders. I can't say that her performance at halftime of the highschool basketball game was up to the level of "Bring it on".....however she had so much fun.

Sunday we had church, a meeting, and then our small group at our house. And then Monday Grace had school off....so we got to head back to showdown and ski again. Grace and Elijah both had lessons in the morning and afternoon. Elijah made great improvement...but is still a little hesitant about skiing down the mountain himself. Grace however, blew us away. By the third run she was skiing all the way down the mountain by herself. Pretty impressive considering it was her first day skiing ever! We had such a fun weekend as a family. God has blessed us with this place, and David's schedule. Remind me not to second guess Him! This week we are attempting to get some major work done on the house. We are finally planning on painting the upstairs bathroom. If we get real ambitious maybe we will even start painting downstairs. We will keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Aunt Tina!

It's your birthday Aunt Tina! We are thinking about you and missing you. We can't wait till you get to come and visit us here so we can we do lots of fun stuff like camping and hiking! We just wanted to let you know how special you are. We wish that we could live by you and get to see you all the time. Hopefully, we will in the future. Until then we will have to settle for getting to see you every chance we can. Enjoy spending your birthday with Uncle Dan. Your present is on it's way. We hope to make you smile on your birthday. Here's a little list of the things we miss the most about you.

1. Hanging out in our Pajama's together
2. A nice warm lap that's always open to sit on (for the kids I mean)
3. Nobody plays Barbie's like Aunt Tina
4. Free babysitting :)!
5. Your compassionate heart ready to listen to the same story about star wars 14 billion times.
6. Your laughter
7. Your heart for Jesus
8. You hold your tongue when I (Ann) probably deserve a good rebuke.
9. Your always ready to make fun memories as a family
10. Being able to spend unlimited amount of time with you because you are such an amazing person....and even if you were not our sister and Aunt we all would want to be your friend.
11. Oh and one last unorthadox eleven.....you are just like David!!!!!!


The kids and I thought it would be a good idea to send you a little birthday wish as well. So here goes......

Lord, teach us to pray!

I figured it's about time to update our spot. On the outside it appears things have been pretty low-key around here lately. However, I believe a very significant thing is happening in our lives right now. Last Sunday at our church we kicked off the "40 days of prayer" campaign. The entire church has started reading a devotional study on how to pray. David and I will be leading a small group discussing this study, the sermons will be on prayer, even our children are learning about how to pray during their kids service. So, far I have been completely energized by being devoted to spending time with the Lord every day. Imagine that. I have realized although I have walked with the Lord since I was little.....I am still a little child when it comes to praying. There is so much that I know the Lord wants to teach me. This move to Montana has been such a period of growth for David and I....and the family. More than anything I desire that my children understand what prayer is. It's not just something we "do" before school, at dinner, or at bed. It's about our constant relationship with the Lord. I am praying that they will begin to understand this relationship....and grow in their faiths. I am looking forward to see lots of fruit! I couldn't help asking my kids what they thought about prayer.