First Dip of the Season

 Today was a hot day.

We took a dip in Kev's pool.

The water was still really cold though.

We opted for floating around on the tube and the raft for a little bit.

Making some precious memories before Tiz leaves for Ethiopia on Tuesday.

Soliana is finally coming home

It has been a roller coaster of emotions.

It has been a ride with the lowest of lows and now, the highest of highs.

After losing Natnael in January before he was able to come  home,

our sweet little Soliana will be on her way home soon!

This is a picture taken when Courtney, Paul, and Tizita met Soliana on their first trip to Ethiopia in April.

Just look at those two sisters!

What a fun household awaits the Van Aukens in the future.

This is Tizita as we greeted her coming off the plane on Sept. 12, 2008 just shy of her second birthday.

I will never forget the emotions when we first saw her beautiful face and now we get to experience it again!

Courtney, Paul, and Tizita leave on Tuesday, June 19 and return on Friday, June 29.

That is the night that we get to meet our little Soliana for the first time as she gets off the plane.

I cannot wait.

And here is Natnael, the little boy who stole our hearts even though John and I never met him.

We never want to forget how he plays into this whole story.

If it weren't for him, Courtney, Paul, and Tiz would not be bringing Soliana home.

God, in his perfect wisdom knew that Soliana needed the Van Auken family more than Natnael.

God is good all the time.

Please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers during this travel time.

Thank you.

Happy Birthday to my college roommate and good friend, Joan

Today I celebrate the birthday of my college roommate and good friend, Joan.

We met early in our freshman year at Carroll College.

Joan's roommate was a classmate from her high school and my roommate was a pastor's daughter from Rock Island, IL

We realized from the get go that our floor seemed to be a mixture of all the weirdos and odd ones who didn't belong anywhere else.  Is it any wonder that Joan and I sought each other out.

We became roommates our junior year and never looked back.

In the above photo we are using a friend's crutches to act silly.  I remember working hard on those curls  in our hair, wearing our hot curlers piled on our heads in ponytails.

I have such fond memories of my years at Carroll and those memories revolve around my friendship with Joan.

Here we are on top of our bunk bed.  It was very special to be able to get bunk beds in those days, but we pulled it off.

If those beds could talk...

Ready for a TKE formal.

Before you judge, I am not sure what I am wearing there.

Foolishly, we joined a sorority and became not only friends, but sisters.  Ugh!

Enough said about that.

All we can figure is that we were momentarily out of our right minds.

Our good friend, Beans is with us in this picture.

And again, notice those curls!

Our moms have remained friends over the years, too.

Both our dads checked out early.

Yes, we have grown up and changed through the years.

We have watched one another go through different seasons of our lives, but when push comes to shove, we are still very much those same two college girls enjoying our times together.

We both feel passionate about raising awareness and money for Alzheimer's.

Many of our good times have revolved around alcohol.

We still try to get together at least twice a year.

Joan always chooses some unique restaurant in the Milwaukee area for our get togethers.

They are always an adventure and we always have a great time.

So. today, I want to say, "Happy Birthday to my good friend, Joan!"

Not to be outdone by my daughter

Okay, so when Courtney tried on her wedding dress on her 8th anniversary, I was curious to try my on.

36 years later it still fits to a degree.

I was home alone when I did this fitting and I could not force the zipper up by myself, I am completely sure, but I am guessing that if I had an extra hand it may have been forced to close.

It was fun to read all the comments when I posted these photos on facebook.

The last time I wore my wedding dress was when I had been married 8 years and I was a model in our church's wedding dress fashion show.  It fit perfectly at that time.  This time, not so much, but at least I could get it on my body!

I quickly packed it back up in the attic where it will stay for another 36 years.



36 years and you are still the one...

36 years ago today, John and I got married.

My maid of honor, Joan, is helping me with my veil.

It was apparently very windy that day.

I do not remember the wind, but boy, it was a hot one!

These beautiful dresses were made by the girls

The hats were made by my friend, Connie's mom.  She is next to me on the left.

I loved yellow and orange and was so happy to have them on my girls.

My dad and I walking down the  long church aisle at St. John's.

On the altar.

The reception line.

John and I, now married.

My dad and mom.

Our parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Damman

Cutting our cake with all the pretty daisies.

Our reception was at Linberg's and this was taken on their grounds.

My brother, 16 at the time and proud groomsman.

Photos at Riverside Park

My Grandpa, Grandma, and Ohma.

Good bye, we are outta here.

Going to our honeymoon in Madison.

My dad.

I still remember the excitement and passion I felt on this day.

The beginning of a relationship and marriage is different from the seasoned marriage.

The excitement has been replaced by comfort.

The passion has been replaced by security.

There is still excitement and passion at times, it is just not as frequent or as intense as it once was.

On this day 36 years ago we were at the beginning of an unwritten story.

We had all kinds of ideas for the chapters in our story.

Some of those played out just as we had hoped and dreamed, some not so much.

There were twists, turns, and surprises as we wrote each chapter.

Our story is not perfect, but love doesn't care.

Our story is not perfect, but it is our story and it is written by the One who does know how to make it perfect.

Today I will step back and thank God for 36 years of blessings,

for the gift of being married to my best friend,

for memories that fill my heart with joy,

and

I will ask God to bless us with many more chapters in our life story and many more memories to make together.

A Little Preview

Tomorrow John and I will be celebrating 36 years of marriage and you are all invited to see a recap of that wonderful day.

Right here, same time, same station.

Church Picnic 2012

 We brought Tizita home with us last night so she could come to the church picnic with us.  We start with an outdoor church service down at the park.  Tiz enjoyed a big chocolate donut for breakfast before church.

 One of my students, Addi came over and joined us for the church service.

 She and Tizita are both monkey bar lovers so they spent some time hanging around together on the playground.

 There was some down time spent with grandpa.

 Then the children's games began. 

 Tiz played this golf game a few times and then she finally had success and won the coveted squirt gun.

 It was another hot, hot day today so we cooled off on the slip and slide after the picnic.

I cannot help but mention that one year ago today John and I were enjoying the sand and sea on St. George Island.