Fun Bath Time Pics

All my kids LOVE bath time, but lately Timothy has been asking for a "Bah" every night at the bathroom door. Incidentally, he has also been putting his food in his hair. So I am happy to oblige.

Happy 5th Birthday!

My big boy turns 5 today! Where did the time go?

I woke him up this morning and gave him a card from Adam and I. It had a big dinosaur on the front with the number 5. Caleb's face lit up when he opened the envelope and said, "I LOVE dinosaurs!" It made me smile.

The pic is a "Thank You" card he made for someone. He wrote his own name, and he said that it was a picture of fruit.

Love you, Bugs!

Thank God for Grandmas

Gramma Ekelund came to visit us from RI this Christmas and New Years. I am so blessed that I married into the Ekelund family. I love my parents-in-law as if they were my own. Praise Him for finding Adam for me! :)

We got to do a lot of fun stuff with Gramma. We went to Thumper Pond (pics in the post below), we had Caleb's 5th birthday party at the bowling alley, we ate yummy turkey and turkey soup (and froze a bunch of it. YAY!), and got to make gingerbread creations. Thanks for visiting Gramma!

2009 is here!

Well, we have made it through another year, and I have made it to another birthday. :)

We went to Thumper Pond and stayed overnight on New Year's Day. It was very fun! Gramma has been visiting us from Rhode Island for a week now. We have had yummy food, and we all have been enjoying her company.

We took a couple of family shots in the hot tub at Thumper Pond, and those with kids know, you never get a "perfect" shot where everybody is smiling and looks good (unless you photoshop them in...haha.)
So, you the blog reader can vote. Which shot do you like the best? Please vote in the poll (above the pic of the kiddos).

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Some Sad News

Just wanted to let everybody know that we lost the baby yesterday morning. I was about 8.5 weeks along. We are sad, for sure, but know that God is sovereign, and He knows what's best for us and for the baby.

Christmas Letter 2008

Once again, in an effort to be “greener,” our Christmas update letter will be here on our blog this year.
Adam’s exciting news is that he will be graduating from Lutheran Brethren Seminary in May 2009 with an MA in Theology. We are all so proud of him! He used this past semester to audit a counseling class and finish up on some old assignments. Spring 2009, he only needs to take one class, and he is done. As for work, he continues to work at UPS driving and in the warehouse, as well as preaching every 4th Sunday at Riverview Assisted Living to the residents that can’t make it out to a service. We have begun attending Bethel Lutheran Church in Fergus. It has been just awesome for our family. Adam and I (Rebekah) have been able to be a part of the worship team, and the kids love their Sunday School classes. They just participated in the Christmas program this past weekend (there is a cute video on my Facebook page).

I have been chasing after my three energetic kids. Why can’t I tap that energy? I need it more than they do. I love staying home with them and am incredibly blessed to be able to do so. I am still teaching chemistry online for MSCTC, and I love it. I have been given another section of the same course. So, I teach 40 students instead of 20. It is more work in the sense that I have to correct more papers and answer more questions, but it is a great academic outlet for me. Sadly, because of Adam’s graduation, this will be my last year in the Seminary Women’s group. It is such a blessing seeing all the pastors’ wives at convention in June. I treasure the friendships that I have made in my six years(!) in Seminary Women!

Caleb will be 5 in January and is in his 2nd year of preschool this year. Because of the restructuring of the Fergus Falls schools, he is at McKinley Elementary this year. I just had a parent-teacher conference and was told that he is doing great! Once in story time, the class was reading a book on nighttime, and Caleb explained to the class what “nocturnal” meant (uh oh…a know-it-all just like his mom). He also has begun to read. He can sound out words, and even recognize short words he has read before. He is growing up so fast!

Hannah is 2 ½ and is quite the little spit-fire. She just started potty training and is increasing her independence. However, she still needs the “tri-fecta” within reach (paci, blankie, and drink). She loves her babies and is a great big sister.

Timothy just turned 1 on October 29th. He is constantly trying to keep up with the siblings. He gave up crawling the week of his birthday. He is now a walker and starting to talk. Here is another “Primer” for you:

Zat = What’s that?

Duh = Done.

Dow = Down

Bah = Ball

Buh = Button

Coo = Cool!.

Still more exciting news (as posted below)…we will be welcoming another Ekelund in mid-July. We are so excited for this blessing from the Lord. Caleb is already talking to my belly telling the baby to come out…bit too early, Buddy!

This year has been filled with blessings for our family. All we can do is stand in awe of the One giving us these blessings. In our own situation, we are constantly amazed at how God works in not just the big picture, but the details. However, we shouldn’t be surprised. God has been detail-oriented before the beginning of time. Christ’s birth was prophesied centuries before it came to pass. God told us His name and to whom He would be born (Isaiah 7:14), as well as what city (Micah 5:2). There are many other instances in Scripture of God doing exactly what He said He would do.

Hebrews 6:17-19 says, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Praise be to God for His unchanging nature! May God, who is unchanging, be your anchor this Christmas and coming year!

Love,

Rebekah Adam Caleb Hannah Timothy & Baby

Thanksgiving Weekend Mini Vacation

I was looking online for places to cut your own Christmas tree near Fergus, and I stumbled onto this "Choose, Cut, and Stay Awhile" package with Cupkie Christmas Village and Thumper Pond Resort. I quickly ran it by Adam, and we surprised the kids with a weekend of fun. Above are a couple of pictures.

For the whole album, you can visit

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11279&l=1326d&id=1279914409

He Speaks!

Adam had a dream last night that we had to speak Timothy's one-syllable language. So, I thought in case that actually became law, I would give you a Primer...his language is very similar to English, might I add.

Ma = Mom
Da = Dad
Dih = Drink
Mo = More.
Ba = Ball
Duh = Done.
Dow = Down.
Babee = Baby
Coo = Cool!

For you linguistic buffs, each word ends in a glottal stop.

Newest Ekelund On The Way!

We just found out that Ekelund version 4.0 (according to the Flude scale) is arriving in mid-July 2009! Yay! I think Caleb might be the most excited. He now wants "twenty hundred babies." Caleb, Mommy can't do that, baby.

Prayer Request for Janice Flude

Don Raun (a former Chadian missionary) gave us a prayer request for the current LB Chadian missionaries (especially Janice Flude) today. I will also be posting this on my Facebook. You can get a link to their blog updated by Janice's brother in my "Blog Friends" under Flude Brood.

Some of you might know Janice from being a Sem Wife two years ago while they prepared to go into missions. On Saturday, Don stopped by to say that Janice was very sick and in the French Military Clinic in N'djamena. I will type the update email Don received today word for word for you:


"Several of you have written and asked how Janice is doing. Please continue to pray. She continues to have allergic reactions on a daily basis. Two of them have been life threatening. The French doctor believes that it is the Larium (malaria preventative) that she is allergic to. Larium stays in the system for a couple weeks so that is why they believe she continues to have these reactions. It will probably be another week before it subsides. In the meantime, she is on Benadryl and prednisone.

Kirsten (Holzner) says there has been a lot of sickness. Betsy and Katie are both sick right now with fevers and diarrhea. Several of the Flude kids have been sick as well. In the last week most of the adults have had very little sleep dealing with all of this.

Your prayers are MUCH appreciated by those there and by us!!"