My family

Mr. & Mrs. Dane Wenzel

First came love! Dane and I met through a mutual friend. Although we had gone to the same school for years, we had never met before our friend introduced us. I was just shy of my 16th birthday. NO ONE thought our relationship would last! But love did prevail! Dane is the most loving, kind, sweet natured and generous person I know! He he is my best friend! No matter how hard times get, I can always look into his blue eyes and know that I am loved and adored. He has a special way of making my darkest most grim days sunny again! Dane proposed to me on my 18th birthday, and shortly after my 21st birthday we were married and off to Maui for our Honeymoon. Dane worked full time at his company that he and his brother-in-law established, Pharus Inc. The company was a web based quality assurance lab. Unfortunately the company only lasted a couple of years before Dane, Kim and another employee decided it was time to move on to more stable careers. Families needed a more steady income. During that first couple of years I was busy in the fast lane of work as a 911 dispatcher! And I loved it! Everyday was an adrenaline rush! It felt so good to put my multi-tasking to work. And of course I loved the fact that I was making a difference in peoples lives, heck a lot of the time I was helping to save their lives!

After a year of being married... infact it was on our 1st anniversary, we found out we were expecting. We were very excited, and a little bit scared of what to expect.

After nine months of being a prego hormonal dispatcher, :)ahh insert memories of cops bringing me Hershey bars to keep themselves on my good side :) I took my maternity leave. Christian Wayne was born on April 9th 2001 weighing 7lbs 4oz. I ended up having a c-section due to him being sunny side up! OUCH!! After about a week of being home I knew I couldn't go back to work. I was so in love with my baby, there was no way I was gonna hand him over to a daycare to raise him. Unfortunately work couldn't replace me right away, so I did work occasionally to fill in staffing gaps. I dispatched for 4 hrs once or twice a week. During those few hours away Christian, who was home with Daddy would cry the entire time.

Mr. Christian

When Christian was about 8 months old, I was away at work and Christian started once again to get cranky. Dane got out a Christmas train. It was the kind that ran on batteries, I believe it was an O-scale (big tracks). Dane configured the tracks into a circle and sat Christian in the middle. When I came home that night, he was the cutest little boy just sitting there watching the train go around and around him. His eyes would follow the train around until it passed behind him then he'd look to the other side as it came back around.

Dane said, I think he's terrified to move and crawl outside the circle. But no he wasn't scared he was enthralled!!! From that moment on he LOVED trains! Now I'm not saying that he just liked them as toys like every little boy does...no he was obsessed with them! I can remember at night we had a train in our town that would sound it's horn at about 11pm. In the summer time with our window open he would hear it and sit up in bed..."choo choo?" I DESPISED that train! We watched Thomas the Tank Engine movies all day long, he had tons of toy trains and track, and we did lots of train outings! Including the Mt. Hood RR (see left pic). I thought he'd never grow out trains. I was really getting sick of them! He did move on, and when he did I was very sad! I will always treasure those days! Who knows maybe some day he'll become an engineer! At about 6 yrs old he was into Star Wars (still is), and now he loves Indiana Jones. Yes, I know he's a little young to be watching these movies. The first time we watched "Temple of Doom" together, I thought for sure he would be scared! Nope didn't phase him! He can't get enough of the action and adventure in these movies. While we were waiting in anticipation for over a year until the big blockbuster hit "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull' (yes he was into Indiana Jones movies before we even knew this movie was in the making) we found other Indiana Jones movies. "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones" made for TV series. They are incredibly boring, that is at least to me.. but Christian sure likes them.
The hat that he always wears, he paid $50 online with his own money to get it. The leather jacket is a hand me down from his cousin Han. It used to have basketball patches on the arms, but Daddy took care of that :) His Aunt Jen made him a brown leather satchel, Daddy made him a whip, khaki cargo pants and a white shirt complete the Indi look.

Christian is now in 1st grade at Trinity Lutheran School (also our church). He is in a 1st/2nd split with a total of 11 kids in his class. He is very good at math (must get that from Dad), and he loves to read as well. Everyone always comments on how polite and sweet he is. He truly is a very kind and generous person! Always saying please and thank you, and always thinking how others feel... even his little sister who always likes to push his buttons! I am truly blessed to be his mother!

Miss Madelyn

Or Maddy, as she likes to be called. Was born on May 12th 2003. On Grandpa Wayne's Birthday. Infact we were celebrating his birthday & Mothers Day when contractions started comming on. Labor was not the plan, the plan was to do a repeat c-section. When I got to the hospital, I found out it was true labor and everyone was called to come up to the hospital. Maddy was born just after midnight weighing 7lbs 10oz with a full head of dark brown hair. She was whisked away to the nursery where she cried the entire time until they brought her back to me. We've been inseparable every since! She's very much a mama's girl! As I did with Christian, we co-slept until just recently. And she breastfeed for a very, very long time! She is by far more clingy than Christian ever was, but that's ok.. I know someday she won't be, and on that day I'll miss having her so close to me!

Maddy is a very sweet, but very head strong little girl! My mom likes to remind me all the time, that I was exactly the same way when I was young!

She just started kindergarten this year, and as a reward for being an independent kindergartner, the first week of school we bought her a kitten.... actually 2 kittens! She is a huge animal lover (again like her mama). Although she's not too creative with the names. We have "Blacky", and "Greyey".

Maddy is like two different persons. Shy around strangers and a firecracker with everyone else! I'm so proud to be her mother, and am truly blessed!

Mr. Samuel

We decided after Maddy to wait and see if we wanted another child. Having Christian and Maddy 2 two years apart was difficult. We decided to wait for at least 5 years! Well Maddy turned 5 on May 12th and May 15th 2008 Samuel was born :) His birth into this world was anything but smooth and easy! I was once again scheduled to have another c-section. This time the doctors wanted to be sure I didn't go into labor, due to the fact the doctors found something on ultrasound that could spell trouble if I went into labor. So, I was scheduled to deliver at 37wks pregnant, 3 weeks early! Only I had to have an amnio first to make sure his lungs were developed. Very safe procedure with only about a 2% chance of me going into labor. This simple 1 minute procedure lasted almost 10 min with this gigantic needle fishing around my abdomen to find the missing pocket of fluid! It was by far the most painful experience ever, as I had 2 contractions during the procedure. The doctor later told me that he had never had an amnio last that long :o Well shortly after leaving the doctors office (actually before I had even gotten into the car) I went into labor! This time it came on fast and hard! Good thing my mom was with me! She drove me as fast as she could to the hospital that was about 20 min away. By the time I got there the contractions were 2 min apart! I called Dane on my way and told him to meet us at the hospital. He must have been driving very fast as he arrived shortly after we did. He walked in just as the doctor started having me sign papers for the c-section! My mom was about ready to go buy a camera from the hospital gift store when the nurse told her there was no time! :( I was in so much pain I couldn't even sit up for the spinal block, the anesthesiologist had to do it with me on my side. But what a relief once I got that block! Now that I wasn't so concentrated on the pain, I was more in fear of how the baby was doing.

He first came out not doing so well with his breathing, so they had to take him back to the nursery for some oxygen. In recovery I finally got to hold and meet my little man!

Everyone that sees him tells me he looks exactly like Christian did as a baby, but I see qualities of Maddy too! The first couple of months were spent trying to figure out why Sammy kept having trouble eating and gaining weight. He was hospitalized and was found to have GERD (painful acid reflux) and a milk protein allergy. This was heartbreaking to me because even though I took all dairy out of my diet, he showed no improvement. So the doctors decided for me that breast milk was not best for him. Samuel has to stay on a prescription formula until he is at least 9 months of age. Even though he is bottle fed, he is very much bonded to me. He's already saying mama! We're working on dada! Sam's now at a very fun age where he is easily entertained by brother and sister, but not yet by the mobile! The next couple of months will be very exciting! Crawling, teething, talking, walking!

Halloween 08

Dane and Christian - Indiana

Maddy - Cat

Sammy - Monkey

Brandy - Mom

This Halloween was such a blast! The kids dressed in costumes around 2 pm, eagerly waiting to leave. The plan was to be at Auntie's house at 5 pm for pizza and doughnuts. Unfortunately, our car had a dead battery, so it took some time to get going. We ended up being a bit late, which made Christian very upset! Fortunately, the rest of the family was late as well, making us the first to arrive! Tehe, Wenzels are never on time.

Auntie Lo-Lo's house. Dane says the neighborhood reminds him of the Halloween Michael Myers movies, and it does! It's one of those rare 

neighborhoods where both kids and adults dress up to enjoy the spooky night. 

After everyone arrived and had their pizza and donuts, the grown-ups FINALLY said, "Yes, we can go now!" I went along for a few houses with our group of 15 but decided it was way too cold for Samuel and me to continue. BTW - No rain this time! The frozen kids returned at around 8:45 with their bags filled with a ton of candy! After sorting through it all, Ga-Ga (my mother-in-law) asked which kids wanted to go with her to Hardens Rd. At this point, Christian looked up at me with anticipating eyes. You see, every year Ga-Ga and Auntie Lo-Lo take the bigger kids back out for a second round of trick-or-treating to a neighborhood that gives full-sized candies. Extremely extroverted and can't stand to see the night end! Every year, I tell Christian, "Maybe next year." He asked me about this weeks ago, as he remembered my promises from the years before, so off Christian went with the big kids! Dane, Maddy, Sammy, and I stayed behind to watch scary movies (which ended up being cartoons after the kids started looking up at the TV).

YAWN! The older group got back around 9:30 pm! I'm sure they stayed out until the porch lights went off! Sammy and I very much wanted to get home and snuggle in bed!!! Next year, Sammy will toddle up to the doors with all the other kids.

Where do you find the time??? Coments PLEASE!

Since I started blogging, I've found myself reading others' daily blogs more often. I can't help but feel a tinge of "BLOG" envy. Where do you find the time to engage in all your crafts, budgeting, photography, blogging, and more? You all seem like Martha Stewarts, while I feel more like Roseanne Barr (I know I'm not that heavy, but seriously, Natalie, you're already fitting into pre-pregnancy clothes. I still haven't recovered from Maddy's pregnancy—I've got the Lloyd hips!). The only craft I've managed to complete in a LONG time is the Halloween decorations (see the bottom of the blog), and that was the most significant challenge ever! Sammy was crying for me to pick him up half the time, Dane was on the couch sick, and the mess from making the "spider egg" didn't get cleaned up until the next day!

I feel like I'm sprinting a marathon with no end in sight. Constantly picking up kids from school, attending doctor appointments for Sammy and me, cleaning (although my house always stays a mess!), homework, soccer practice, and games—AHH, the list never ends! My life is so hectic right now that I've even opted for a service called "Dream Dinners" to pre-make my dinners every month, so all I have to do is thaw and follow directions; otherwise, my family wouldn't eat :) I need comments on this one! What am I missing? And please don't tell me you get most of your stuff done after the kids go to bed at night! My head hits the pillow as soon as my kids are asleep (sometimes even sooner :) since Sammy wakes every couple of hours with tummy pains!

So, what is your secret? Comments, please... cousins, aunts, grandmas??

Halloween decorations!

This was a fun Halloween project! We made a spider nest out of a balloon and paper Meche' It's in our archway going from the living room to the kitchen. For this pic they had to stand on a chair. I'm small enough that I don't have to duck...but Dane always runs into the spider webs upon return from work. 

Points

This Sundays sermon was about how one gets into heaven. It went something like this:

The story is told of the lifelong Presbyterian who died and, upon arrival at the Pearly Gates, encountered St. Peter who said to him: "Listen, this is how it works. You need 100 points to get into heaven. You tell me about your life; I will give you a certain number of points for each incident, depending on how good it was, and when you reach 100 points, you're in."
"Okay," says the man with a certain relish. "I was married to the same woman for sixty years and never cheated on her, not even in my heart."
"Wonderful," says Peter, "three points."
"Three points? Well, I attended church all of my life, rarely missed a Sunday, tithed, was a Deacon, Trustee and Elder, and taught Sunday school--even Junior High Confirmation Class!"
"Terrific," says Peter, "one point."
"One point?" Okay, remember that meal for seniors that I not only helped begin, but continued to work at until my dying day?"
"Excellent," says Peter, "one point."
"Well, what about the homeless ministry I started and supported, not only with my money and by serving meals, but by actually staying over all night about once a month?"
"Fantastic," says Peter, "two more points."
"Two points? That's only seven points. At this rate, I'll never make it, save the grace and mercy of God."
"Bingo," says Peter, "100 points, come on in!"14
It's about humbly accepting the grace and mercy of God. The Pharisee stood before God in arrogance and pride, trusting in his work and demeaning others by comparison, and missed the reason for the law in the first place--lifesaving communion with God. The Tax collector stood before God in humility--knowing and declaring who he was, calling on God to be who God is--and found God's readiness to redeem and be reconciled. That is the power of humility.

My conclusion - it's not works that get you into heaven it's by knowing and believing in Jesus Christ that warrants us to be in his presence for all of eternity! See you there!