7.23.81 was a very good night. Married at 8 pm in Wimbledon. North Dakota, that is. Honeymooning by 10 or so. :)
How are we celebrating? Going to HEAVEN FESTthis weekend!
Category Archives: 3 Celebrations & Festive Events
The family loves Ry-Ry
Ryan playing for the work-team.
He had the most fans! ;)
I’m a daughter
Happy Father’s Day, daddio.
I am a daughter to a very important man, a holy man. He has been a pastor, boss, spiritual leader to hundreds, thousands of people. But he is my dad. Few share that honor. I first made him a dad. That is mine alone.
I don’t think anyone who knows me can doubt the power of the love between us. My dad is above all dads in my heart.
Happy day for me, because of the Father-of-Light, the Maker of Heaven and earth who adopted ME!
I am a daughter of the Most High.
Don’t you love how Jesus spoke to the persistent woman, the tired, worn out, woman who pushed through just to touch His clothing? I do.
“Daughter,” He said. I can hear it, “Daughter…” because she needed to know the Father’s love (and if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father). She needed to know, that even though she’d lost many resources because of her infirmities, maybe even her family and friends, that her Father, her real true Father (the One who’d fashioned her in the womb) – saw her, knew her name and would heal her disease.
His disciples thought for Jesus to try to see who had touched him was a ridiculous exercise in futility, but He continued to look around for her. He looked for her. He turned to look for her. He called her ‘daughter.’ And by His word (a word from the Word) she was whole – everything she was created to be, able and healthy to do all she was created to do.
I am contemplating the daughter thing. I am determined to be a daughter who pleases her Father. Or even just a daughter…
Happy Father’s Day to my sons:
Rocky, DP and Tristan, you guys are just amazing fathers and daddies. The proof is in the pudding. The grandbebes tell the story of children who are secure in the love of their fathers: Gavin, Guini and Gemma, Hunter, and Averi and Amelie – loved. Whole. It is beautiful.
And then – to the man who fathered my children. Happy Father’s Day, my lover and friend!
Tara wrote on FB today: As I sit here thinking about my Dad this morning it really occurred to me that he is one of my greatest heroes. He chose me not even knowing what the future might hold. He protects, he encourages, he provides wisdom, he always reminds me of… his love, he thinks I’m beautiful, he makes sure I’m safe, and he actually wants relationship with me!! Wow, sounds like a true father’s heart to me. Happy Father’s Day to you, Dad. I’m so honored that I was the one to make you a “Daddy” first!!
Today you will tend to all sorts of details of having the whole family over. You’ll make sure the grandbebes have toys and beverages and are safe in the pool with floaties. You’ll cook and fill the dishwasher and beam with joy, surrounded by your babies, the 5 we grew together, and the ones God sent to join us (and how we love them, too, don’t we??). You will have had this exhausting HF weekend and yet, you will not have wanted to trade the time and moments with the heritage God has given you. You love them. And they love you and honor you. And you are worthy of that honor. Happy day, babe!
Happy Birthday, Dave Powers!
The firstborn married so well. Tara got Dave Powers! So we got him, too.
Only I still love to remind her that I knew before she did…kind of. There was this early morning God-speaking-to-me kind of dream that involved Tara’s wedding day and all of dancing joyfully – just head-over-heels happy with the man she’d married. I can still hear God saying, “You’ll love him like you birthed him yourself.” I could not comprehend that, but it turned out to be true.
That night, after this vivid and beautiful dream from the Lord, quite serendiptiously, I actually met Dave Powers for the first time. Coincidence? No way. And just for another fun fact: he was born the day my husband proposed to me 31 years ago. Like God was getting Tara and me both set up! *Ahem!
Happy Birthday, David Michael Powers.
Thanks for hanging in there and hanging on. Thanks for bringing things to this family we didn’t even know we needed. Mostly thank you for marrying, for covenanting with my baby girl. Thank-you for fathering Hunter so extraordinarily. It is a blessed sight to behold.
This year, I have been taking a look back and re-reading the things I have written about each of you, mi familia, on your birthdays. It has been cool to see all God is doing, how He is moving in and through you each. So, for you, here is what I was reminded of today:
2011, the word-picture-DP. Man on Fire.
I crammed as many things onto a jpg as I could. Each one: true and heartfelt. I especially still love “spiritual iconoclast.” And “received.” You are. Both!
2010, true confessions
“For I am of the persuasion that the children we get are as much used by God to form us and train us as we are in their lives, And you, son-of-my-heart, are a shining example of it. You are courageous and bold and have invited to me to go places I never would have gone, didn’t even think I wanted to go and sometimes have been crazy-uncomfortable. Most of it, I wouldn’t trade. Some of it I am waiting for the day I can say, ‘Oh we can laugh about that now…’ Haha”
Will you ever quit challenging me???
2009, 28-things I LOVE about DP
And I could add 31 more at the drop of a hat. #28, still, really one of the main ones!
2008 and the Indiana Jones movie clip
Because Psalm 121 told me what to expect…for you.
Happy Birthday, Dave, son-of-my-heart. Happy birthday to a man who is both steady, worthy of trust and wildly abandoned and pliable and in the hands of God. Happy day to some one who is youthful and adventurous, with ears to hear the Spirit of God and eyes to see what God is up to on the earth. Happy and blessed days to an unassuming guy who holds the keys to the very heart of God, as well as to our own hearts. I don’t think people can know just by looking, perhaps not until they have been in a room with you – the depth of character and the strength in spirit you carry…
And on your birthday, I want to tell you what a good son you are. I want you to know that we see the spirit of sonship in you toward your earthly fathers, spiritual fathers. And we see that you have submitted your heart to the Father as a son who welcomes the training and discipline that comes with that. That is why, today and all your days, you will walk in the inheritance of the Father. All He has is yours. And I wonder if your anointing might not pull some earthly fathers back from the brink, out of bondage?
2007 – reflecting on what you brought
You walked in and re-ignited some lost passions and time-weakened dreams and became one of us, as if we’d never known a time before you. You consecrated our new home with worship and your voice from those early days continues to echo in my memory – the many weekends you’d spend here, your time off from the ministerial internship, guitar in hand…We could see God’s hand and blessing on you so clearly, we felt honored to offer this man of God our couch and a blanket. You did drive me a little crazy with all the questions and inquisitiveness, but you drew me back out of a self-imposed exile and honored me by receiving what little I had to offer.
Happy Birthday, Dave. You have brought a lifetime of joy and love and adventure and vision to our lives – in just 10 years!! So many years to go. Soon, for a baby of {as yet}mysterious origin, you will be a daddy again. And for this child, known well by God, planned and protected by His hand, you will be the miracle so needed. And you will do it well. I know this, because you have done it for us. For me.
You make us happy. We think you are wonderful to watch, to know, to love. Happy, blessed day! Love you SO much.
Mom
Dave & Tara – tonight at Rez in Loveland (4 pm and 6 pm) and tomorrow at both services (8:30 am and 10:30 am. With Kim Walker. Dave is speaking. It will be amazing!
Happy Birthday, Tredessa C. {Rhoades} Faaland!
Yet another gorgeous day to celebrate your birth. Just like the day you were born.
Here you came, born to us on the heels of your sister Stephanie (maybe you two were actually meant to be twins), to your madly-in-love parents and big sister Tara and a summer of good music and splashing with my baby girls in the wading pool and this fab hot-pink and white striped, ruffled-plunge swimsuit and finally feeling like adult, a real woman-wife-and-mommy. You had no idea your birth brought all of that, did you?
This year on each child’s birthday, I have been re-reading all the things I have written since I started this blog. From 2007 to the present, you have been one of my favorite topics. And as I read, I love how you have grown and how God has blessed you and how you remain true to your calling and God’s plan for your lives. It is beautiful.
Check out these glimpses of your birthday-blogs over the past 5 years. {click on the year-number for links to old posts}
2011, I am never at a loss for words about you
I was enthralled with the now-defunct picnik.com site and learned I could plaster words onto to photographs. So for your birthday, I tried to paint your picture with my word-blessings, how I see you.
I wrote last year (waxing rather poetically): “Dessy, Dessa, Tre-Tre, Dessy-Pooh-Pie – all names for the exotic, dark haired beauty who arrived just days before a most lovely summer in 1983. You were christened and accessorized in a wardrobe of sunshine-yellow and an earlier, milder form of Jeanie-green to set you apart, I suppose, from the lots-of-pink we already had in the family. You were baby-girl-number-three (thus, Tre) and I knew from the first moment I had alone with you, something very different, quite extraordinary and alluring lay there in my arms. The eyes, even at birth, showed an intensity of spirit; yet there seemed to reside in you, even as a tiny bundle, a quiescent repose, a knowing restfulness.”
2010 “And the Bible says…”
“Deep calls to deep…even at three, your main topic of conversation was “And the Bible says…” and your love for God and for His word have been the hallmark of all the days of your life so far. How pleasing it is to me to see how strong that remains in you. You are woman who is to be admired. You have my awe and respect.”
And the Lord gave me a song to sing over you, too.
2009, Tredessa the leader…
“We were in Wilmore, Kentucky…on Dessa’s birthday, gathering information and learning from people who have managed to keep a festival going for 40 years now. I got to watch watch Tredessa in action interviewing people much older and I was so impressed at her ease and ability to draw the most important information from them. She is soft-spoken and gentle, easy to talk to (and talk, they did), but she has the ability to harness millions of bits of data, opinion, strategy (both good and bad, both successful and disastrous) and infuse it into a leadership team of nearly 100 people who will make Heaven Fest all God has ordained it to be.”
And I wrote you 26 wishes for your 26th birthday and I LOVED re-reading those. My fav was #22. Hahahaha! You still really are!
2008, looking forward to the Mr Right-Faaland
I was praying for your Jim-from-the-office, your Mr Darcy, your Boaz.
2007 Every single June 13 since 1983, I see the beauty of the day
“You have chosen to live your life poured out based on the Living Word of God (Jesus) for Him and for others. Tredessa, you have great favor with both God and man. i know this because I am looking out the back door – the sun has burst forth, the chimes are singing in the breeze, yesterday’s raindrops are sparkling like confetti, the flowers are vibrant and the grass is lush. The heavens are apparently celebrating your birthday, too!”
I love you very, very much, o middlest of daughters. You are a treasure and treasure-keeper, a good daughter and family-builder. The tight fit between Stephanie and Rocky in the birth order has made you a glue of love for us all.
Happy birthday. Happy life. Happy insurance (*wink, wink*) and soooooo many more to come. Your mommy loves you, beautiful girl.
Gavin’s Skateboard Cake
It wasn’t an actual skateboard, nor was it “cake.”
But anyway.
Gavin, the skater, just turned 9. He wanted something made with Rice Krispie Treats. So we took a really easy, tasty route.
I used about 48 pre-made Rice Krispie Treats. Dave picked up a real skateboard with metal trucks at Target to use as a stand. I wrapped it with platic wrap and sort of smooshed the treats up together on the board, trimming the ends to follow the shape of the board.
Then I smoothed Wilton’s melting candy over the whole thing. While it cooled, I melted some of the red and piped/traced Gavin’s name over a template I had made, which I covered with wax paper. I popped his name in the fridge to cool. In retrospect, perhaps I should have used a mini spatula to smooth it out, but it is a casual cake.
Just before the chocolate covering was totally set, I placed Gav’s name on the board and Dave piped sort of a sunburst design on it. Peeled the letters off the wax paper and placed them on the chocolate-candy-coated board. 20 minutes in the fridge and voila!
Gavin told me he ate A LOT of Rice Krispie Treats. A lot.
We had a lovely time at the park, Gavin and his little sister and all the rest of us!
Gemma’s Doll Cake
GemGem turned 5 and her mommy and daddy hosted the whole family of us at a picnic party for her (and her big-brother, Gavin) on Memorial Day evening. Stephanie (www.maydae.com) took this photo.
The doll cake.
Some church lady taaught my mom to make the good, old-fashioned doll cake (or “barbie-doll cake”) the year I was turning 13. I hadn’t played with Barbies since I was 4, but my mom made me one anyway. I did not have fond feelings about them.
But Jovan asked for one in 2007 before she even had daughters and so I made it and discovered it was fun and easy. Then, for Guini’s 4th birthday in 2009, I made her a Cinderella cake. And it was a hit and I liked them more.
Gemma just turned 5 and has that dazzling head full of long, red, curly hair (which she always wants me to straighten, noooooo!). And as it happens, Disney’s Pixar is about to release a movie called, Brave, and the heroine is a gorgeous redhead named Merida. Voila – a cake that looks like the birthday girl!
Here is how it went:
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9″ pan, 8″ pan, 6″ pan and a 6″ stainless steel bowl for the top of the skirt of the dress.
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2 Confetti cakes mixes
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2 containers of strawberry fluff icing for filling
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a batch of buttercream and some food coloring
Her mommy told me Gemma wanted a very colorful princess cake. She is a very colorful princess, so that seemed right.
Baked cake. Stacked and filled cakes on a cake stand. Wrapped the Merida-doll in painter’s tape (so she wouldn’t be totally naked when we cut the cake (from an earlier lesson learned). Used a serrated knife to create ball-gown shape. Crumb-coated with some of the pre-made strawberry icing. Divided up the buttercream into small batches. Used a “leaf tip” to cover the whole doll in ruffles and then just used various colors and tips and started “making colorful.”
I suppose it would be good to start with a plan. But just doing whatever is so much more fun.
Plus knowing Gemma will just love it. And it looks like her! That is nice.
Amelie is always first in line to offer to take a swipe of the icing for us.
Steph took this last shot, which I LOVE. It was breezy and getting the candles lit and having them stay lit was challenging and I love how every girl (regardless of age) there was full of anticipation.
That is the cake for this birthday!
Happy Birthday, Gavinators! 9 amazing years…
O, Gavin – you little life-changer, you!
You were my first grandchild ever, the beginning of the age of the bebes. And now you are zooming towards double-digits and it has gone by in such a flash I can barely believe it. Happy Birthday, my little man. You are a such a great, great kid. You are bright and light and sweet and helpful. You take care and take on big jobs. You are energetic and engaging. You are gentle and thoughtful and such a good big brother and cousin. You work hard, you play hard you sleep so soundly. I have never seen anyone go to sleep as fast and hard as you do, at least not since your mommy was little.
You are the smile of my life.
Being 9 will be one of the most amazing things you have ever done and like everything you have ever attempted, done, touched or tried, you will do it soooooo well! I just know it! I hope you will remember how much I love you all the days of your life.
God created you for great things. So here are some things from His Word for your birthday. And His words are life!
So, Gavin Lee Kelley? Here is a great way to spend your life: Praising the Lord.
Because young men who live with reverent awe of the great things God has done also live very joyful lives, and they are happy obeying His ways.
Plus – when you grow up and have children of your own, they’ll end up successful and amazing in everything they try to do! Just because you worship and live for God, your family will be blessed and tons of people around them will be blessed!
Your love for the Lord and your obedience are just open doors of blessing for you! You’ll have your needs met and the cool things you do for others will always be remembered by the Lord.
No matter how hard things get in the world, following the Lord will make your light shine even in really dark places. You are so compassionate and generous and in such right standing with God. It is just gonna make good come to you and cause people to do good business with you. When people hear your name, they will say, “Now that is a good guy!”
Because you trust in the Lord, you do not have to fear bad news. You can believe it, Gavin – you can trust in the Lord! You can even be sure when the enemy comes against you that the Lord will kick-butt on your behalf! O yes, he will.
I love that you share so freely and are so generous with your things. That just sets you up to affect your generation and be well thought of for the rest of forever!
This is the life of a little man who will give God lots of room in his life. It is the life your Nonna is praying for you.
From Psalm 112
I love you like crazy, little man. You know I do. You are one of the coolest people I have ever known in my whole life! Love you, Nonna.
Memorial Day
Hey, Grandbebes~
You have family who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States of America. On this day, take some time to remember and thank God for them and for the privilege we all have of residing in such a great nation, even though we are really aliens and strangers from another Kingdom (1 Peter 2.11 ) just passing through. God has been good to settle us here. Never take that lightly.
Thanks to all of Nonna’s uncles (your great-uncles) and grandparents (your great-grandparents) and nephews (your second cousins) and aunts (your great aunts: WACs!) and friends (too many to name) who have served our nation faithfully. Especially a big thank-you and hugs and kisses to Uncle Ryan today! We love you, Ryan!
Gemma May – My Birthday Girl is 5 Years Old!!
oops…publishing this a day late :(
O Gemma May – the smiles you do bring!
FIVE kisses
Five hugs
Five wishes
And five lady-bugs just for you!
Gem-Gem, joy-girl. I love your smile. I love your sweet, lilty voice. I love that even when you run and jump into my arms with abandoned glee, you remember to pose in case some one is auditioning you. You are are outgoing, the bright light, the joyful sun, the happy-maker. You are gentle and sweet to the core. I treasure the school-time and o-though I celebrate your birthday, I am already jealous of your Kindergarten teacher. I love you bunches, sweet-pea.
You are my sweetie-pie.
Everything you do, you do with joy. Do you know how unusually amazing that is?
Here are some Bible words for you on the occasion of your 5th birthday:
Praise the Lord, Sweet-pea! Live your life praising Him with all you have got in you!
And sing to Him, too. Make up all kinds of new songs and sing them to all the people around you!
Just rejoice in God because He created you and He sure did a great job, don’tcha think? So, be joyful in your King. You’re His little princess. Make Him happy by your dancing and get out all the instruments you can find and play them for Him. Because that sure does make the Lord happy. When you are careful and respectful to Him, He makes you even more beautiful and saves you from your enemies.
Twirl around, Gemma May and be joyful in God’s glory shining right on you. Even when you go to bed, you should sing really loud to God once in a while (like your mommy did when she was a little girl). But – be sure it is ok with mommy and daddy! :)
Speak some really great words about God. Let those wonderful words come right out of your mouth about Him. Just praise the Lord, Gemma. Praise the Lord a whole bunch!
Psalm 149, paraphrased, naturally
Be still, my heart
