Rise Fest, Jamaica's Birthday, Father's Day & Coyer's Adoption Day

This past weekend my sisters & I had the opportunity to perform at Rise Fest in Orange City, IA, as well as walk, run & stroll in the Rise Fest Road Race that took place on Saturday morning.  Charlie also ran in the race along with my entire family.  It was a beautiful morning for a race.  The weather was perfect...a little cool but really no wind and it sprinkled briefly before the start of the race but then it did not rain again the rest of the day surprisingly.  Everyone did a great job and several in our family even placed in their age categories. 

The crew

Jamaica & Kasondra...running buds

Donut Kabobs to keep the boys occupied on the walk

Kansas strolled the boys for 3.1 miles...they ditched her

at the end though & decided the wanted to run across the

finish line like everyone else-it was so cute

Coyer runnin hard to the finish line w/ uncle Jeff next to him helping him along

And little Kedren was adorable...he took a little fall across the finish

line and just got right back up

Kelse & Kedren after the race

Charlie & I after the race

We all quick ran home and took showers and got cleaned up to be back at the festival by 1:00 p.m. for our performance.  We were excited as we had several new songs to share as we recently released our newest albums about 2 months ago.  We had a great time and everything seemed to go very smoothly.  Our dad helped on stage adjusting the levels of monitors (as he knows our voices a little better & can pick them out easier than someone that doesn't know our voices), Jamaica had fun watching from backstage, our brother-in-law Danny ran sound from the front of house, and our Mom, spouses & nephews were all out on the grounds watching our performance.  It was so nice that our whole family could be there and be apart of the event.  The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed taking in the event and supporting the other artists that performed.

Getting ready to perform

Prayin' it up

Kasondra & I with our wonderful parents

Dad helped set and adjust monitor levels for us during the concert

(It helps when someone can pick out each of our voices...it's a little difficult for others)

Our Brother-in-law Danny ran sound for us from the front of house

Our little sister Jamaica hanging out backstage during our set

Dad running our Merch table following our concert

Meet & Greet time

Jamaica joined us for the meet & greet

(she feels so special when she gets to sit by us & sometimes sign a CD or shirt)

 

Supper...I think our family just about took the entire 2 tables up

Jamaica won meet & Greet Tickets w/ Go Fish as she won 1st place

in her age category at the RiseRun that morning

Sitting on the hill listening to the other artists perform

Our biggest fans & supporters...dad & mom

That night Charlie and I headed up to the lakes at about 1:00 p.m. after he got off work.  My sisters and I sang at Round Lake the next day, and we had to be up bright and early, so we figured we could just as well head up that night instead of getting up super early.  We lead a service Sunday morning and that concert went great as well.  It looked like it was going to rain that morning and the service was supposed to be outside, but due to the fact that it looked like rain, we decided to move indoors in a big metal garage/shed.  We wondered how it would sound and if it would echo a lot, but it worked out just fine.  The rest of the afternoon we celebrated several special events in my family.  We celebrated my little sister Jamaica's 10th Birthday, Father's Day (as the weekend before did not work for all of us to get together), as well as my nephew Coyer's Adoption Day.  It was nice to spend a few hours enjoying the day and celebrating the events with the family.  Now we're looking forward to this coming weekend.  We will be spending most of the weekend up at the lakes with my side of the family, and then hopefully getting together with the Zomermaand side of the family on the night of the 4th!

Coyer's Adoption Day, Father's Day & Jamaica's 10th Birthday Celebration!

Kedren & I enjoying the lakes

Shopping Day with Mom

Friday I spent most of the day Shopping and enjoying some time with my mom.  We don't get time to do things together "just the two of us" very often, so I was looking forward to some alone time with her.  I needed to get some new clothes in my wardrobe, and with us girls having several concerts this summer it was about time for some new performance outfits.  My mom is very trendy, and I definitely am not, so it was so nice to have her along helping me find some new outfits, tell me what looked good, and what was trendy, not safe and boring :)  I tend to purchase whatever happens to be on the sale racks, is a neutral or basic color that will go with just about everything, and obviously is cheap.  So...when I need to get some clothes that are "in style" I for sure need to either take a sister or my mom with me.

Anyways...so we spent the day in Sioux City and had some fun shopping together, going out for Chinese for lunch-my favorite, and just catching up with eachother.  My mom helped me find a couple different performance outfits and I was able to find a couple outfits for Charlie too...so that was a definite plus.  For some reason, whenever I go shopping somehow I always manage to come back with more clothes for Charlie than myself.  I don't know how that happens, but oh well ;)  Anyways I had a great day with you mom and I'm looking forward to many more mother/daughter shopping outings in the future! 

Enjoying Chineese for Lunch

Checking out our purchases

I love the new outfits mom helped me find 

Charlie's First Call Out as an SRT Member...

This past week brought about a new experience for Charlie as well as myself...

On Thursday, I came home from work around 4:30 p.m., I got some things done around the house, and about an hour later I noticed Charlie pull up on the driveway in his patrol car.  He was in Orange City all afternoon as he had firearms training.  I noticed he stayed sitting in his car for a bit after he pulled up and thought that seemed a little odd, but I didn't think much more of it.  He eventually came in the house and we got ready to head to Rock Valley right away as we were going to go to an auction.  As we headed out the door, Charlie shared with me that he just tried to call his Chief, Sergeant, and dispatch as he heard over his CB radio that there was a shooting that just took place near Hawarden and he was wondering if they needed backup.  None of them picked up.  So, he grabbed his work keys "in case" we needed to hurry back and we headed off to Rock Valley.  We weren't even ten feet off the driveway and his work phone rang...we both knew what this was going to be about.  It was his captain calling stating that the SRT (Special Response Team)/SWAT team he is on was being called out to an incident that was taking place near Hawarden.  We quickly pulled back onto the driveway, Charlie hurried in the house and we both tried to grab his SRT uniform, gear and equipment.  As he quickly tried to pull his uniform and all of his gear on, suddenly both his personal phone and work phone started to ring.  First his SRT leader called to advise of the meeting location etc., then a fellow SRT member called to make sure he had received the word, and last Plymouth & Sioux County Dispatch called informing him of the details.  I could tell this was something a little more than his normal day to day duties.  Although Charlie was keeping his cool, I could tell his adrenaline was starting to kick in and that things were running through his head (as they were in mine).  I don't know how he does that...keeps so calm and collected, but I guess that is why he does what he does (and is good at it) and I do not ;)  I tried to keep my emotions under control, and to be honest I did well and kept it together as I was helping get him out the door.  But as soon as his vehicle left the driveway I just could not keep my emotions in any longer.  Tears just started to flow from my eyes as the fear of the unknown crept inside.  I didn't know where to go or what to do.  I was just antsy and nervous (especially since this with his first time being called out and I knew there was a shooter involved).  The majority of my family was out of town, but I was just hoping that maybe my sister Kelsie would be home.  So, I hopped in the Escape and headed over to my parents.  I was so glad to see Kelsie's vehicle sitting on the drive way.  I went inside and with tears in my eyes I explained to Kelsie what was going on.  After a little "cool down" with Kelsie I headed back home.  I spent the next two LONG hours aimlessly driving around town and sitting on the swing outside of our house just for something to do as I couldn't think about anything else but Charlie and wondering if he was ok.  At about 8:30 p.m. or so I received a short text from Charlie stating, "All good, we're done."  You have no clue how happy I was to receive that text.  Now I could relax and take a chill pill.  I could have sworn that I probably gave myself an ulcer that night from all that worrying.  Anyways, it was probably another good half hour or so until he finally came back home as they had a quick debrief following the stand off, but I couldn't wait to see him pull up on the driveway again.  It's crazy how moments like that make you really appreciate life and the ones that you love.  There is one thing I will never forget though...in the rush of Charlie getting all ready and heading out the door, he still gave me a quick hug and said I love you before he took off. 

God was definitely teaching me TRUST & PATIENCE that night, both of which I am not very good at, and that night I very much needed both. 

Below is a link explaining the situation that took place that night if you are interested in reading a little more about it:  http://www.siouxcountysheriff.com/11-7823.pdf


I hope this is a great reminder that we never know what situations we may come into contact with each day or what situations our loved ones may come into contact with.  ALWAYS remember to tell them how much they mean to you and hug them often...trust me you will not regret it.

Summer Running

So I'm a little behind in posting this blog, but oh well.  The first weekend in June Charlie and I along with some of my sisters and my mom all participated in the Sioux Center Summer Celebration Run.  I LOVE running!  I know some people don't understand why, but for me it is relaxing (well somewhat), it's a stress reliever, it allows me to push myself to reaching new goals, and it just gives me a sense of achievement.  Anyways, this year I have been able to run in two different road races so far.  In May I ran in the Orange City, IA Tulip Festival race along with my family, employers and co-workers and like I said the Summer Celebration run was my second race. 

At the end of last summer I started training for a 10K as I have always wanted to give it a try...it seemed like something that would be a stretch for me, but after training and running my first race....I haven't been able to give them up since.  So, I have been trying to get as many races in this year as I can.  Charlie enjoys going on runs with me too when he can, but often we have different schedules so we have to train on our own.  But, every once in a great while he will be lucky enough to have a specific weekend off and we're able to run a race together.  Charlie ran my first 10K race with me in Rock Valley, IA (After a little convincing)  He hadn't trained and he had only ran 6 miles one time prior to the race just to make sure he could still do it...lol.  It had been awhile since either of us had run that far...probably since Cross Country training in high school).  Anyways he was such a trooper!  He did AMAZING (beat me)!  It's just a little frustrating when some people can do that good with what seems like little to no effort at all, and there you are panting at the finish line after you have trained for months.  Oh well I guess some are just naturals and others like myself just have to work at it.  I definitely wouldn't have gotten as good of a time as I did without him though.  He kept pushing me and encouraging me the whole way.  I think that was probably the most enjoyable race that I have ran so far (besides the intense heat-yuck)!


We are both excited as this coming weekend we will be taking part in the Rise Fest Race (http://www.riseministries.com/risefest/) in connection with the Rise Festival in Orange City, IA along with our mom, all of my sisters and both of our brother-in-laws.  If you have never been to the Rise Festival I encourage you to come and check it out.  It's a great day full of live Christian Bands and Groups sharing their ministry of music and the words that God places on their/our hearts. My sisters and I will be singing at the festival at 1:00 p.m. and we'd love to see many of your out there!

I hope to take some pictures at the race and festival this weekend to be able to share with all of you, but for now I thought I'd share some of the pics. from our last race (The Sioux Center Summer Celebration)!

Those in our family that ran

Just the two of us :)

With my mom and younger sisters Jasmyn & Jamaica

Charlie...feelin' the love

I love that my 9 year old has started joining us in races-she's so cute

Sister Jazz & I (this was her first race after her ACL surgery...she did amazing)

Charlie running hard

All by my lonesome lol ;)

  

Jazz offered to run with little sister Jamaica (what a sister)

Jamaica almost to the finish line

Mom looking so strong

(I hope I'm still able to run as good as she does when I'm 50)

Almost to the finish line...

Jazzie placed in her age category

So did mom

After the race

We made it!

A special thanks to my dad too for being our support crew.

He has bad knees so he was unable to run, but he made several stops along the whole route while riding his cycle and cheering us on and taking several of these pictures for us!

Results from my Procedures

Good Morning!

Well, today I am happy to say that I am feeling quite a bit better that I have been the past couple days.  Sunday night I did not feel very well after drinking a gallon plus some of this liquid prep that I had to drink prior to my procedure (to be honest the liquid reminded me of drinking soap and it was very hard to get down-I felt like I was drowning after drinking all of that).  Then Monday morning I woke up and got ready to head to Sioux Falls for the procedures.  I was starving at this point and very nervous about everything so I just felt nausea and sick to my stomach. I checked into the hospital at 9:30 a.m. and I went in for my procedures a little before 10:30. The staff was friendly (at least most of them were), very helpful, and they really kept things moving which I appreciated as I was ready for it to all be over. Charlie said the procedures lasted about 45 minutes and it sounded like I did well through the whole thing. I don't really remember much of anything AT ALL after they started the "Sleepy Medicine" in my IV, but apparently I asked one of the nurses her name like 5 times, I kept asking Charlie questions when I came out of the procedure and would fall asleep half way through our conversations and then wake up and ask the same question again, and I guess I also tried to text my family off and on after the procedure too but I would fall asleep half way through the text so I sent some pretty funny messages-sorry Jazz lol :)

Very tired...

 

Fell asleep in the middle of replying

to a text message from Jasmyn

Anyways, all in all the procedure went well. I was very tired following and my throat still hurts from the scope they put down, but other than that I can't complain. They found that my esophagus is inflamed from acid reflux and that my stomach is situated higher than it should be or high then most people's are anyways.  They also took a biopsy of the stomach which we believe is to test for (we think celiac's disease). Like I said I was very tired and out of it. Charlie tells me that I was awake when the doctor said all of this and when the nurse gave me instructions on meds. etc, but I don't remember a thing, so I'm not exactly sure on all of the details. But, it sounds like we should have the results from the biopsy back in a week, so we should know more at that point and then be able to figure out what the best course of action will be.

Thank you all for your prayers & support. I'm look forward to hopefully getting to the bottom of this and feeling better soon. And a special thanks to my wonderful family & husband too for all of their help, love & support. I love you guys!

Resting at my sister Kansas & brother-in-law Danny's

 house following the procedure. 

Looks like Charlie was a little tired too as he worked a night shift the night before ;)

Jamie