Mom's and Grace's Big Campout.

Mom and grace when't on a camping trip friday night to saturday morning with grace's sunday school. It was funnnnnnnnnnnnnn! My friend Liza sleeped in my tent.We stayed up till 10:30.we had hotdogs and smores. a lot of my friends were there.

Scinsearly

grace

"Cast Away" by Eli

On Tuesday I got my cast off. It felt so good. Now I have to wear a black splint when I play soccer. I have a game today. Ben and I are confident in winning. We have lost every game except for one...which was the one I couldn't play because of my new cast...maybe I'm the bad luck! On my last game I scored the only goal.

I miss Wisconsin and can't wait to come back. I have great friends there. Goodbye!

Fellowship of Believers

I love being able to connect with people I do not know. This is often on the basis of a shared faith in Jesus, regardless of denominational differences. It has been no exception here in Columbia! I have loved getting to know some of the dear people here through church, Bible study and just living life. To my delight, I was invited to a 50th birthday lunch for a "new" friend Loretta Goddard, along with four other women (pictured: Beth, Georgia, Marissa, Jan, Loretta, Me). It was such a special time hearing a bit about each person and just spending time talking, laughing and of course eating with other ladies. Their depth and love for Jesus and a desire to know him more has really touched me. I look forward to deepening some of these friendships more over the coming months.

Grace became a "published" poet today! One of her poems was selected to be included in a poetry book by second graders from the school district. It was even read aloud at the "Carnival of the Animals" festival. Grace was very excited to be included in this, and received her own copy of the Carnival of the Animals Poetry Anthology in which her poem is included. Here is her "winning" poem:

Fossils

Fossils, fossils, find them in the ground,

make a picture pretty and brown.

Leaves, fish, and dinosaur bones

die as skeletons on the stones.

We woke up to 43 degrees this morning, and I confess to having put on a thick pair of socks and fuzzy bathrobe to walk around the house! The cold here feels colder than Wisconsin, I have been told because of the moisture. The sun did manage to display its fullness this afternoon which led to a beautiful, second half of the day. Grace and I met Beth Edgar and her girls Mei Mei and Liza at the park to soak up some of the warmth. Although it is nearly November, the leaves have barely begun to change color! I think Christmas is going to sneak up on me if I keep sticking to my past ways of watching the calendar through the changing of the seasons!

Weekend of Four Ribbes

This weekend we were down 2 kids. Ben and Jake were on a men only camping trip with Church of the Apostles youth group. They drove to North Carolina and hiked and camped in woods near Panthertown. It was cold and beautiful. They hiked along mountain rocky rivers, stood behind waterfalls, ate dinner at 1am, hiked a mile up an almost vertical trail to an awesome summit view, and climbed really slippery rocks--according to Jacob "we almost died." There were some talks on what it means to be a Christian man. The themes we were able to extract from the boys included: "We were made in the image of God" and "we are supposed to protect women". I bet there was more to the story. The event ended with a car break down and a few extra hours of car time, a pancake breakfast, and a later than expected return to Columbia. All of that sounds great to this camping dad.

Back on the home front our smaller family went to Eli's soccer game on Saturday. They were 5 men down and had to play a man short. Eli scored his team's only goal with bubble wrapped cast. The team played fantastic defense, showed great ball control, and ran the entire game. It felt like a northwoods game because it was about 45 degrees, cloudy, with a misty rain. Perfect! We got to wear our sweatshirts! Later on Saturday we went to the South Carolina State Fair. Needless to say it was a bit more expansive than the Vilas County Fair in Eagle River. There were a variety of very big cows and pigs. Sorry Bill Long...there were no large vegetables. Did you know that the average age of a SC farmer is 59 years old? Grace, Eli, mom and dad enjoyed the cold rain, bumper cars, a hot fudge covered elephant ear, the hypnotist (Jackie didn't like this), and a ferris wheel ride.

The weekend concluded with an all church picnic after our worship service in the SC State Museum. We traveled about 30 minutes out of town to a cabin by a small lake. After fried chicken there was a s'more making extraveganza at the 4 portable fire pits scattered across the yard. Pictured above is the first blog appearance of Chip and Beth Edgar, our pastor, friends and Columbia hosts. A great weekend it was...maybe because it was 40 degrees and I spent it outside. By the way, we had to turn on the heat.

"All I Want For Christmas..."

Grace was bound and determined that her tooth was going to come out yesterday! I am continually amazed at her "toughness"! She wiggled it, I pulled on it, Rob yanked it and finally it came out with a "pop"! She looked so cute with a big hole in her mouth while proudly procuring her fifty cents from under her pillow this morning! Needless to say, the tooth fairy has invested a small fortune with four Ribbe kids!!!

Eli made his debut today as Captain William Kidd. His fourth grade gave pirate monologues for their classmates and parents today. Eli did a wonderful job and his gold earring sparkled during his performance! Arghhh!

Jacob and Ben are off to the mountains this afternoon with the church youth group. The guys are having a camping weekend complete with "man" food and activities. I don't even want to know what that all entails! The temps are supposed to get down into the 30's which will make our boys feel right at home.

Eli is "10"!

Today we celebrated Eli's entrance into the next decade! It sure was kind of the Richland One school district to honor him with a day off from school (okay maybe Columbus had something to do with it). It rained buckets all day, but the kids had some cozy fun playing Hide-n-Go Seek and Monopoly during the morning in their pajamas. We all went to the movie theater in the afternoon and watched the hilarious and clever "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". The day rounded out with Eli's dinner selection of stuffed shells and a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. Eli was thrilled to receive a bunch of candy from his siblings and some new clothes and legos from Rob and I and the grandparents. "Under armour" was well represented on this birthday. We are so proud of who Eli is and what he is becoming. I know God has great things in store for him!

A Great Time in the Windy City!

The only complaint I have about our recent trip to Chicago is that it went by too fast! We had such a great time traveling by plane, visiting friends, attending a wedding, shopping, eating out and sailing on Lake Michigan.

The kids stayed with Brandon and Jacqui Sharpe, friends from HoneyRock who live in Wheaton. They had such a great time and were able to see other HoneyRock students and staff from the summer! Rob treated me to a night in a hotel and then we stayed with our friend Steve Ivester. We went to Will Evon and Amy Fields wedding on Saturday evening. The night was so special from the ceremony through the reception. What a thrill to be able to see so many of our friends all in one place! We also couldn't be happier for the new Mr. & Mrs. Evon!

On Sunday, Steve Ivester took our family out on his sailboat on Lake Michigan. The weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy a picturesque view of Chicago's lake front from the boat. The kids made for a good "crew" and had fun helping Steve with whatever he needed from his mates!

We finally landed in our own beds back in Columbia at 2AM this morning. We let the kids sleep in and took them all to school a few hours late! I think it will take us all a few days to catch up!

The best news of all....Rob is officially here for six months! His sabbatical has begun and the reigns have been handed over to John Vandervelde at HoneyRock. We are excited to see all that God will do both here in SC and back home!