Baby Beckett Turns One!

Hard to believe this little guy turned one on July 28th .... His dad and mom planned an awesome 1st birthday party at a nearby park.

Let the Celebration Begin!

First a lot of food was eaten by all Beckett's family and Friends

Then the games were played ... loved this game where all the party friends tried to convince Beckett to come to his favorite toy

Then it was time to open presents

Finally a homemade monster cupcake (specially crafted by Beckett's mom)

Happy Birthday Beckett! Your life has been a testimony of God's grace, peace and healing. I am praying that God continues to use you in a mighty way. I love you more, however Jesus loves you most!

July 27th .... The Golfer's Birthday

70 Things that I love about you, 

from the one who loves you more, 

for your 70th birthday

1.         I love that you love the Lord
2.         I love that you me well
3.         I love your faith
4.         I love how you care for me  
5.         I love how you are the best daddy in the world
6.         I love that you are the best father-in-law in the world
7.         I love that you are the best bumpa and love your    grandchildren so much
8.        I love that you rejoiced in my healing of M.S.
9.        I love that you are full of faith
10.         I love your generous heart
11.         I love how you love others
12.         I love your persistence
13.         I love that we have laughed together
14.         I love that we have cried together
15.         I love that you are a good friend to many 
16.         I love sitting on the couch with you
17.         I love hearing your voice on the phone
18.         I love your selflessness
19.         I love your thoughtfulness
20.         I love your devotion to your family
21.         I love that you promised your life to me on August 10, 1973
22.         I love watching you walk by faith
23.         I love your sincerity
24.         I love that you love me no matter what
25.         I love when you have showed me His way through His words
26.         I love that you are my encourager often
27.         I love that you are humble
28.         I love that you are compassionate
29.         I love your wisdom
30.         I love your kind heart
31.         I love how you are at times open with your emotions
32.         I love hearing you pray aloud
33.         I love your love for serving
34.         I love that you are teachable
35.         I love your smile (without your 2 front teeth)
36.         I love your encouraging cards to me ( I have saved every one)
37.         I love your hugs
38.         I love how you have prayed for me often
39.         I love that you are a book-lover
40.         I love that you are honest
41.         I love that you are available
42.         I love that you are a thinker
43.         I love that you are a person of integrity
44.         I love that you are positive (most of the time)
45.         I love that you are enthusiastic (some of the time)
46.         I love that you are intentional
47.         I love that you love to help others
48.         I love that you are comfortable sharing your life with me
49.         I love that you are not afraid to share your values
50.         I love that you find joy in the simple things
51.         I love that you are gentle
52.         I love that you are self-controlled
53.         I love that you are strong
54.         I love that you are confident
55.         I love that you show your love for me by running errands
56.         I love that you will kiss me at red lights
57.         I love when you sleep by my side at night
58.         I love when you fix me steak and baked potato      
59.         I love that you fill my car up with gas
60.         I love when you mute the TV just to hear what I have to say
61.         I love that you are willing to vacuum every week  
62.         I love when you rub my feet
63.         I love that you were willing to teach me how to play cribbage
64.         I love when you read aloud to me
65.         I love that you fix, super glue, and replace anything that is broken
66.         I love when you get take-out for dinner and bring it home for me after a long day at work
67.         I love that you drive me around
68.         I love that you buy me candles, and Caribou and coffee lovers it like-it ice cream from Cold Stone
69.         I love when you bring home daisies
70.         I love that it is your 70^th birthday and my wish for you is that you will be blessed by this gift of all that I love about you!  Terry you are my best friend and the love of my life and I love you so much more!

Here's pictures of the 6 course meal that Adam and Kelley prepared for their dad.

Carrie flew in to surprise Terry and we enjoyed a dinner with adults only. After 2 and 1/2 hours of eating, drinking, laughing and overall fun we were off to the living room at Adam's. 

We watched as Terry opened a few of his 70 letters from friends and family, (a gift Carrie planned) his photo book of pictures of him from ages 1-70, (a gift Kelley planned) and other gifts given. He stated this was the best birthday celebration ever!  

#70neverlookedsogood

Lenny turns 4

It's already August and I am a bit behind however I believe in writing late rather than not writing at all. So I want to tell you how proud I am of my granddaughter, Lenny. 

She is the youngest of 3 with an older sister and an older brother. She often does not have to speak as her sister and her brother "go to bat" for her. In fact, this nana sometimes has to ask the older sister and/or brother what she has just said to me. In spite of the fact that I love this girl she is a Bumpa's girl. She prefers the love and the lap of her Bumpa.

Lenny May be the littlest in the Larson family but .... she is in love with baby Beckett. I love to watch her take care of his needs, play with him and watch over him. 

Lenny you have an amazing spirit ... I pray that some day you will know Jesus Christ in a personal way. I love you more however Jesus loves you most! Happy 4th year of life ahead!

May, June, July Highlights

On May 23rd He ...

Gave her ....

... over to Him

What a blessed day we were able to celebrate as a family on May 23, 2014 with our youngest daughter marrying Dustin, our newest son-in-law. As the story goes they met in the army and spent months getting to know one another overseas in Afghanistan and were engaged in October, 2013 with the celebration of a wedding in May, 2014.

In June we had a couple of birthday celebrations but I don't have pics downloaded  yet so on to July .... 

In July we celebrated a visit from the golfer's sister from Washington. As the golfer and his sister headed to their all-school reunion in Bagley, I headed to the Red, White, and Boom 1/2 marathon to see my only son at the finish line! Awesome running and so much fun with the family too!

Then I had my first bath time with Beckett along with my first date day Friday for the summer with him. It was supposed to be boy's date day but Sid was with his cousin ....

Lost

I was lost this morning in my conversations in 

my head with my Father

I was lost in thanking and praising Him for the ability to be on my knees scrubbing my floors

I was lost in repeating the I am sorry for ....
Then I was lost in the thought of knowing I am forgiven
I continued to be lost in thanking Him yet again for the home (not to be mistaken with a house) He has blessed the golfer and I with
Then I was lost in thoughts of thanking Him for family, my immediate family and my family of origin
I was lost in the thought of praising Him for all the progress we have seen in my dear sister-in-law Marlee who had a stroke the end of May

Marlee and I during a visit

Marlee during a PT session

Then I was lost in praying for my brother Pat and the adjustments he will make in order to bring his wife home for the hospital

I was lost once again in thanking and praising Him for the ability to be on my knees scrubbing my floors

linking up with Lisa Jo for 5 minute Friday a day late here:

In my inbox today ... can I hide my sin from God?

JEREMIAH 23:24 24 "Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?" declares the Lord. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord

Wow this was in my inbox today and was very convicting of my sin that I try to hide .... 

Really, do I think I can hide sin? 

I'm so sorry Lord. Please forgive me. 

And thank you Jesus for taking my sins upon the cross today!

It was 39 years ago, even though Lisa would like to think only 29 years have passed

Thirty nine years ago today I sat at Fairview Southdale Hospital thanking the Lord, the all-wise creator  for creating Lisa Ann Pederson. As I sat in the chair I was able to praise You, Lord for the honor of having created my first daughter in Your image, personally formed by You, for Your glory. Even though at this point in my life, as a new mom, I did not have a personal relationship with You Jesus, You were looking out for Terry and I and our good as we became parents for the very first time. How grateful I was for this day and for you Lisa. 

Today, I thank God for your strength and ability and for every desirable trait that the Lord has given you for surely He has been good to you. Loving that today is the day I get to celebrate your life, who you are, and who you continue to become as a young women.

I love you Lisa so much more and I am so grateful for your life and that you were my first, my oldest, my daughter! I  hope and pray  you have a wonderful birthday year filled with many blessings from the Lord as you choose to follow Him daily!

"I have not greater Joy than to hear that my 

 children are walking in the truth." 3 John verse 4 

In case you want to learn more and participate in the Best Boot Camp Ever click the link below:

http://lvafitness.com/fitness-training-minneapolis/

# 13 October 20 2007

I want to preface this letter with a couple of my own comments. First, I wanted to get all of Ashley's handwritten letters to me typed into my blog before she got married. I am happy to report that as of today, May 23, her wedding day I have accomplished my goal. It's hard to believe how much she has grown over the years and who would have ever dreamed she would be getting married. In fact, it was just 2 years ago on Memorial Day we were sending her off to Afghanistan with no idea that she would fall in love with Dustin, another soldier. (We love you Dustin!)

Next, an important piece of information to share is at the beginning of this letter it states she was mad / sad about Carrie not being able to come to her graduation from boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri.

Finally, I am very grateful we are all together this weekend as a family as we celebrate the wedding of our last and littlest. Ashley, I am so excited for you and I am so proud of the woman you have become. 

Here's the last letter from boot camp ...

Hey Mom,

I got your letter a couple days ago. It was very nice. I'm sorry for getting so upset last night on the phone talking about Carrie. It just really made me sad. I know that you understand to a point. I know you know that it meant a lot to me for her to be there. I didn't mean to yell at you or get out of hand. I hope you'll forgive me. Well, right not it's 0230 in the morning and I'm working CQ. It's when two privates work downstairs for the drill Sgt. doing cleaning or preparing things for the next day of training. I'll be down here until 0400 in the morning and then wake up is at 0430 ... so this is pretty much the worst shift you can get. It doesn't really matter to me cause it means I'll get to sleep all through for tonight which is awesome cause we get to sleep in on Sunday morning. I will be so happy to be able to sleep thru the night when I get home. Knowing me though, I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night and early in the morning for the first couple weeks just cause of habit. 
:-) So what do you wanna do with me when we get home? I'm sure we'll have to grab some Caribou :-) oh yeah, don't mind the back of this sheet. It's for passes but seeing as how our drill Sgt. doesn't have us doing anything right now, I took this from the rack to write you! I love you so much and can't wait to see you in 25 days! I really hope that time just flies by because the homesickness is getting worse and worse. Next week will probably be slow cause we have a bunch of make up detail and stuff. I'm probably gonna go to sick call on Monday for my pinky cause it hasn't gotten any better. Well, I'm gonna wrap it up,  but please write me a couple more times before the 31st! That's when you guys can't send mail anymore! Crazy right? Its coming mom! I love you! can't wait to hug you in 25 days and counting ..... :-) Ash

You will make a beautiful bride 

Happy Wedding day Ashley!

# 12 Dear Papa Bear October 9, 2007

It's just 6 more days before my "littlest" and last child gets married. It is a bitter-sweet time to think that we have raised our 5 children and now they will all be married. We are very excited to be together as a family to celebrate Dustin and Ashley as they get married on Friday, May 23rd ....

Tonight's post includes a picture from the shower her sister and sister-in-law planned and threw for Ashley a few weeks ago ....

And tonight's post concludes with the 2nd to the last letter she sent to her dad from boot camp in 2007, a little less then 7 years ago. 

Hence the post title: 

Dear Papa Bear ....

Well, it's Tuesday night and I had some extra time so I thought I would write to you! I had such a good time talking with you the past couple days. I really hope it happens again soon. :-) Anyway, today we worked on more detainee operations. Today was pressure points and restraints. I learned like 20 different places to cause pain and how to move an unruly detainee. It was a lot of fun. Tomorrow is the last day of classroom stuff so I think we'll have our practical exercise on Thursday. I'm gonna be so happy to get out of the classroom finally! I've decided to go on a diet for the rest of my time here. I would still really like to lose weight so I'm gonna try my hardest. So when did you start training at Balance with Lisa? I think that's great. Have you lost weight because of it? I'm sure that You are still going to be golfing for a couple weeks so that's a good source of exercise. I've decided that the last couple nights here have been amazing because I haven't had fireguard. This is the 4th night in a row that I haven't had it and that is a first. I mostly hate it because everybody is supposed to clean, but there's only a handful of us that actually do clean. Shifts are an hour and a half so you get really tired by the end of your shift. Well, I'm still counting down the days and soon enough I will be counting down the hours! Trust me it will definitely be one of the best days of my life I know that for sure. I have to get to bed now, but maybe I'll get my cell phone tomorrow night so I can call you! I love you and I miss you with all of my heart. I can't wait for that Big bear hug!! 36 days!!! 

Ashley Pederson (#5)

Saturday Fun!

My dear sister, Mary Catherine turned 70 years old on Saturday and we celebrated by walking around Lake Harriet in honor or her ... so very fun! Here's a few pictures. Enjoy!

I think there were at least 70 people there ... the golfer and I are waiting to begin the walk. I made it all the way around the lake!

We really look alike and we also look much like our mom

From left to right me, my brother Pat, my sisters Mary Catherine and Diane and my brother Tom