Thursday, September 29, 2011

Happy Thursday! So this morning I thought it would be fun for the kids and I to attend story hour at the library...the emphasis on this post will be "thought." I am easily excited, sort like the daycare kids, but this morning I should have just stayed home.

The first problem was getting all 9 kiddos to the library, transportation wasn't working out like I had thought, but in the end I was able to make something work. The first incident that threw the kids and I into chaos was our ride showed up 15 minutes early. I was still packing a sack lunch for two of the kids that had to get to pre-school right after story hour. No one was ready! We all scramble to get our things on. I asked the big kids to help the little kids, but the little kids didn't want the big kids help...grrr! We managed to get everyone ready and out the door.

As we arrived to the library the turn to the main access was blocked off due to construction. I had no idea how to get around, but we unloaded everyone and headed out to find a way in. Thankfully another mom was bringing her child to story hour and told me how to get in. During this time, the wind seriously could not have blustered (if that's even a word) any worse that it was. Dirt was flying into the kids and I's faces and it was chilly. We managed to walk around to the other side only to be confronted with stairs. I had my two year old's in the stroller and was not about to attempt this task alone. I put on my assertive pants and asked the first person I saw to help me and to get directions to the library from the DMV office. The other 7 kids were getting pretty rowdy and definitely didn't have their listening ears on. Down the hallways we went, up the elevator, down another hallway, through the doorway and we were there. We arrived to the library at 10:50AM (story hour began at 10:30AM) only to find that it was canceled due to the construction! Our ride was coming to pick us back up at 11:15AM, so we had some time to spare to check out books.

At about 11:10AM we headed out to find our way back to the parking lot. I managed to get us to the elevator, of course with kids fighting to push the button and running off so they could hide from me. We were on the Lower Level and needed to go up, assuming that meant we went to the Upper Level. After two failed attempts to the Upper Level, yes loading and unloading everyone out of the elevator, this sweet lady came to my aide. When we arrived to the Upper Level there was no way to get out and the area didn't look familiar. I failed to remember what level we were on when we first boarded the elevator to go to story hour. After one more trip "up" she enlightened me with the "M" button for Main Floor. As we got off and the surroundings looked familiar I began to sing Hallelujahs at the top of my lungs and even jumped up and clicked my heels together. No, actually I didn't do that, but that would have been funny! The kind lady helped me carry the stroller down the flight of stairs and we were all off again to our ride, not to mention running 10 minutes. I forgot another important detail, it had begun raining too.

We did make it back to our ride, $20 later, wet hair and clothes, with no story hour made for one disappointing outing! Advertisers say that Red Bull gives you wings well Soy Lattes at Caribou makes you think you're Super Mom... and I'm not.

If you can learn anything from this blog post please call the library before you plan an outing to story hour with nine kids, it will save you some stress and disappointed children.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Season of Change...

The past month and a half has brought a lot of change to my life. I think it's safe to say that Summer in Minnesota is officially over and Fall is in full force. As much as I love Summer there is something about the crisp air, the leaves changing to stunning colors of red, gold & orange, layering clothes, going for a run without sweating profusely, pumpkin patches, apples with carmel and cozy comfort food that brings joy to my heart. I wish Fall would last until December, but that's not how it works here. I was reminiscing about what my life looked like last year at this time. I had just had Shane Taylor and my dad, Mike, and step-mom, Ruth, where visiting us, my brother, Lucas, and sister, Eva, had come to Minnesota to meet Shane as well. I wasn't working and Twyla was doing daycare for me at the house. We had taken a family trip to the North Shore which we planned to make a family tradition, but some life events this year has caused us to post-pone until next Fall.

Monday, August 15th is a day I will never forget. It's the first time in my life that I have truly experienced heartache. It's the day that my dad, Mike, died. I received a call around 1:30AM from my step-mom, Ruth, that my dad had just passed away from a heart attack in his sleep. It literally felt like a bad dream. I was inconsolable, I shook as I cried in Josh's arms. It didn't seem possible. He was supposed to be coming next month to see us, Shane's Birthday was 10 days away and I had just spend the day playing phone tag with him. So many emotions rushed through me at the thought of not hearing my dad's voice again or being able to touch him. Through this experience of loss and heartache I'm able to rejoice knowing that my dad is the presence of the Almighty God. He finally has a perfect body--eyes to see Heaven's greatness. I'm so thankful that our time on Earth isn't the end and that I will get to spend eternity in heaven with my dad. I still go to call my dad on a weekly basis, but then remember he's not going to answer. There are so many moments through out my day that I wish I could share with him. Words Logan says or new milestones Shane has reached. I want to call him to vent about life knowing that he will lift my spirits up and tell me that he's praying for me. I miss hearing about his weekends, singing in the church choir and going to Sunday Karaoke. I miss hearing him call me "Keekers" and telling me how much he loves me. I don't know if time will make any of this any easier, but for right now it hurts. I am thankful that I don't have any regrets with my relationship with my dad. We both did the best we could and gave it 100%. His funeral was two Friday's ago, September 16th, in Columbus, OH. It was a perfect celebration of his life. I was able to share some thoughts at his funeral that I would like to share with you. We don't know how much time on Earth we will have and I want everyone to be able to be confident to know where you are going when you die.
Below is my speech...

My name is Kelsi Timm, and I am Michael’s daughter. Today you will hear about how great of a man my dad was, people will share sweet memories that they had with him, funny stories about dad, his love for music & sports and how he loved his family and friends, but I am going to tell you about my dad’s most important relationship in life.

My dad has had a lot of relationships in his life. Relationships with friends, family, wives, alcohol, music, work, sports, exercise, but none had ever completely fulfilled him until he met Jesus.

I began to pray for my dad when I was in middle school that he would come to know Jesus as his personal savior. After eight years of prayer, my prayer finally was answered. I will never forget the phone call when dad told me he had entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You see it was not by my dad’s good works or by him being a good person, it was that my dad surrendered himself to Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For it is by grace we are saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Dad had tried to do life on his own for too long and realized that it wasn’t working. He needed something else and that something else was Jesus. Dad learned that Jesus loved him so much that he died on the cross for his sins; despite his shortcomings and poor choices. Jesus’ grace redeemed him and now dad gets to spend eternity in Heaven.

The last 10 years I have so enjoyed talking to him about what Jesus was doing in his life. He would challenge me in my walk with the Lord and would hold me accountable when I wasn’t living my life accordingly to the Bible. He became a prayer warrior for my family and I. Dad just wasn’t a dad anymore, he became a spiritual mentor to me. Dad has shared with me countless times that his greatest desire is for his family & friends to know Jesus as their personal savior. He wants us we all to spend eternity together. So on behalf of my father, I challenge all of you to think about where would you go if you died tonight. Are you confident that you would get to spend eternity in Heaven? The Bible says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life,” 1 John 5:11-13.

Dad has left his legacy of living his life for Jesus for his children and grandchildren. He is dancing and singing with the angels. He finally gets to see with perfect vision and is in presence of the Almighty God! I miss my dad so much. I’ll never get to hear him call me Keeker’s, say that I love’s me, that he’s proud of me or that he’s praying for me. I know that one day I will be re-united with him in Heaven and we will get to spend eternity together.