An Ode to Shelli!

She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.

~Toni Morrison, Beloved

Shelli Roedl. A girl who came into our lives what seems like yestarday, but was when Mallory was 3 (about 4 years ago). A girl who God has called to help us on this place we call Earth. From offering her time to her talents, she never ceases to give. She doesn't expect not one thing in return. She has an uncanny way of knowing just what to do and when. Shelli, you amaze me. Babysitter. Friend. Next best thing to family. Co-worker. Dog-sitter. The list goes on and and on. If you would ask me where I would be without her, I'd have to point you to a gutter on some cold street. Honestly. Shelli has blessed us in ways she will never know. I have received notes and not responded. E-mails that I read, but didn't have time to write back. Yet Shelli has time. She somehow makes it and always comes through. There are qualities in Shelli that would make her elgible for a Nobel award. Though the days may be numbered before she pops open her umbrella-much like that of Mary Poppins-and has to catch the wind off to her next mission of life, I am thankful to have her in our lives. The kids adore her. She has that special touch that makes them melt in her hand. A bond that will never be broken and grows each and every day. So I thank God each day for gifts such as these. Thank you for helping me keep it together and for being there when I fall apart! Life is more meaningful with you in it. May God bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he look on you with favor and give you peace!

Happy Valentine's Day...

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

When we remember where love comes from, it has a whole different meaning than the one the world would like us to submit to! For all we have been through and all that we yet will endure, we wouldn't be without God's love and mercy.

I've been reading a book for quite sometime now: Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God: Encouragement to Refresh Your Soul by Mary E. DeMuth. It is a woman who writes short excerpts about her life as a mom and she relates scripture or some analogy to her life experiences. It isn't one of those that is surreal, it is just a real life mom that knows that she falls short so many times, including some mentioning of fears of how she was raised and how that might effect how she is raising her own three children.

It is very inspiring and I've been thinking a lot how so many things do have a deeper meaning as long as we are willing and able to take an extra moment to take it all in. So if you are looking for a great book and don't have a whole lot of time to read, I'd suggest this book!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we're pretty excited at our house! Christian got Batman Valentine's and Mallory wrote out her two different kind (Cars for boys, Princess for girls). I am helping out Mallory's class party at 2pm. Then volleyball times two at night so that isn't exactly romantic, but it will be a fun night out getting some exercise!

Well I must go get some work done here at the shop. I'm only about a week behind this month!lol

PS-The new Toshiba TV joined our household of electronics this past Sunday. Nothing fancy and it sounds funny, not to mention the dual remote situation-one for cable, one for power & volume!! Isn't there a movie about the perfect remote that runs everything (Click, maybe?) Gotta get one of those!

Down & Out

It has been awhile now since Mom (me) has been sick. Well...it started coming on on Sunday and laid me flat out for a full DAY on Monday. Tuesday I was able to peel myself up enough to take some Dayquil-thanks to my local "dealer," and that kept me going through the day. Wednesday came and whoa momma...back on track and no sooner than 3:30 am! All that sleep and my body said NOOO more! Brady woke me up and my day began! As my mom always said, I might be burning the candle at both ends, but that's what us moms do!

Luckily, everyone else in our house has been healthy. We have been having a time deciding on whether to send Christian to Kindergarten next year, being young for his age and a boy and all. Our meeting was on Monday (I think Mrs. Voigt must've thought the cat dragged me in) to go over how he is doing in school. Although she said she would support if we did decide to hold him one more year, she thinks he's good and ready for kindergarten. My baby is going into kindergarten next school year. Reality strikes. Mrs. Voigt and Mrs. Maahs are the best and she had so many wonderful things to say about Christian and how he does at school. One of those proud parent moments, I guess.

March seems to be a packed month for us and February is quickly filling itself up as well. It is hard to find time to get it all straight! Two weddings, an industry expo show, spring break, and a Chamber of Commerce long term planning meeting at Mt. Olympus in the Dells. Umm...calgon?

We haven't even set our New Year's Goals yet...
AND...STILL NO TV!

Winter Wonderland...finally!

Well, we finally got what we've been asking for! SNOW!! The kids (Mal, Christian, & Brady) and I had lots-o-fun playing in the snow today. One especially funny moment was when I was pulling Christian on the sled and Brady ran up and grabbed the rope with his teeth. At first I yelled at him, but he persisted and went on PULLING Christian around the yard on the sled. Hillarious! I was a little slow on the draw with the video camera (no $10,000 grand prize on American's Funniest for me this time). Oh well...our wonderful neighbors, the Brigg's (Sierra, Dawson shown above) joined us and we just ran and played in the park. The kids bombarded us with snowballs and Brady tackled Michelle! Or I mean Michelle tackled Brady!! To top the fun off, we went in and warmed up with hot cocoa!

After the warm up, we headed off to Sullivan for a Wedding Shower for our friend Kyle Lehr and his soon to be wife, Cara. Dan will be the best man and I am going to read in the wedding. I found out that I actually get to prepare something to read. I'm quite excited about that!

Last night we had the Hinrichs over for our annual Christmas celebration. It was great to spend time together, though the time seems to go all too fast. Even Jon, who I started babysitting for when he was 6 mos. old-was able to make it down from Minnesota where he is going to college. And NO, I don't feel old! I just feel blessed!

Friday night we went out with our friends, Lenny and Corrine Raupp. It had been WAAAY too long since we had seen them! We had a great time and I just realized I never took any photos and I wanted to! UGH.

And to top it all off, our good friends, Mick & Kathy had their baby on Friday night at 10:19pm. Barrett Warren made his big bro' Ethan proud! Congrats!

Here goes another week! Hope yours is prosporous! Stay tuned 'til next time to see if Dan gets that Tele he's been hoping for...we are currently down to one 19" in the bedroom...

All about Mallory...

Mallory is now in 2nd grade at St. Paul's school. Her teacher is Mr. Glock. Though she would lead you to believe that school is "hard," she continues to excell. She is loving reading, especially Boxcar Children Mysteries. (In fact, our whole family is enjoying the latest book since the TV took a poo!) She would tell you her favorite subject is Science and she DID enjoy catching whichever Discovery Channel or TLC show was on to spend time with Dan, which he would call "decompressing." Her latest favorite toy is her Nintendo DS. She's been having fun playing Nintendogs, raising a chocolate lab named Daisy and others. Speaking of dogs, her favorite animal is a dog. She loves snuggling up with Brady and usually "innocently" gets him "riled" up! I have to remind myself often that she IS afterall 7 years old and not 17 which is what it seems like sometimes! Monday nights is dance class with Mrs. Cindy in Fort Atkinson. Her recital will be in May at the UW-Whitewater auditorium. One of her newly mentioned goals is being able to do the splits! Usda! She recently received an MRI due to some dizziness she has been experiencing. Good news: she does indeed have a brain in her head (okay, that wasn't nice!) and everything turned out to be fine. I will try to update more later, but I'll publish for now! Off to her parent-teacher conference!

2007 Here We Come

A Christmas celebration or 3, an anniversary celebration or 2, a New Year Dinner or 2...we know how to celebrate. Whether Jesus' birth, a wedding 10 years ago, or the hopes of a prosperous new year...each day has it's own cause to be thankful. Life continues to change, new chapters in our lives evolve almost daily. I am excited to try this new blog as a part of the '07 Tara. Kind of like a new version of software, I've decided to try all kinds of new "ventures" and see how many actually continue on by the end of the year!

Since I've been mostly working lately and not able to keep in touch as often as I like to, I'll give a brief (brief...Tara...okay, I'll TRY to be brief) snapshot of the Topel Family today: January 2, 2007.
Christian-from Batman to Larryboy, and beyond, he is my knight in shining armor. Or his newest one is God's Mighty Warrior! He awaits each new day of pre-school at St. Paul's with Mrs. Voigt and Mrs. Maahs. His buddy Gil seems to be the target of his strong need for a superhero sidekick (Batman/Robin; Spiderman/Firestar; you get the jist). He's got his own League, in fact, as Espen, Ry-Guy, et. al. seem to recieve important missions from him daily. These missions are made up of whatever paper, envelope, tape, and MARKER message he can make. Each one reads, C h o c r i t c o a n c h o s - or anything containing the letters: C h r i s t i a n, which translates out to whatever he wants it to. He is much like me in that he has a strong urge to entertain and in case anyone was wondering, there are parties at our house on any given day: in his bedroom. Sometimes there are pinatas, chocolate ones; games; snacks in case anyone is hungry, and Bat games. If you are lucky, while you are there, you can chat with his friends in the attic. Since Grandpa and Grandma have TWO attics, it is only fitting that we should have one that is a home to many friends and "things" that we don't currently have in our house!!
We recently discovered that he is the proud owner of two large tonsils and adenoids, which we would like to soon rid him of.
We are thankful especially that Social Services hasn't visited yet, as his amount of time spent with a black & blue (and yellow, green, purple) mark on his face has far out-numbered the ones without. Our current challenge is getting out of a Plastic Surgeon visit for the calsification on his cheek from smacking the balance beam at school. I think we're in the clear on that one!
Christian has earned himself an official label of STRONG-WILLED. Which is an important attribute for a superhero such as himself. It will be great once he's older, and until then, he is molding me into a "mean" mom, saying things I swore I never would say to my own children! I'm determined that this strong trait has been acquired from his father. It is especially fun to see the two of them out-will each other!!

And since I've discovered that it is basically impossible for me to be "brief," I'll do our "snapshot" in daily incriments. That's about enough "goofing" off for one day, so hope you are all starting your new year off with many blessings that you are able to take the time to enjoy!