Reach Kansas City

This morning Kris McGee our former Youth Pastor came back to our church to preach. It was refreshing to see him and his family. About 8 months ago they left Wichita to help plant a church in the Westport area of Kansas City. I wanted to put a post about his church because I know quite a few of you who live in the KC area. There are some amazing things going on at Redeemer Fellowship. Each day they are seeing the Gospel being lived out in their lives. This morning he told us about a heroine addict, a business man, a homosexual and some others who have been lead to this church. This is what the Gospel is all about...it isn't that any of us have it together more than anyone else. It is just that some of us are no longer blind, we can now "see". And through our redemption, we want others to "see" too!

Check out Redeemer Fellowship: http://www.reachkansascity.org/

Here is a good word from Kris this morning. http://www.metroeastbaptist.com/tools/122108.wma

"You Can't Have Christmas Without Easter"

Moms Praying for Rose Hill Primary School

Many of you know that the Lord was so gracious in introducing me to this wonderful ministry called

Moms In Touch International http://www.momsintouch.org/ . Once a week for one hour us moms meet together to pray for our school, teachers & staff, students and our own children as well. I look forward to this hour each week and I know that our prayers are making a difference...Praise God! I would encourage any of you moms to start a prayer group for your school. It only takes you and one other mom to form a group!!

Ladies, thank you for the wonderful lunch together and for the generous gift. But most of all thank you for your passion to pray!! I am so grateful for each and every one of you...

Lamentations 2:19
...pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.

Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children...

More Christmas Fun

Jake and Dad at Kacie's school program

Grandpa & Grandma came to watch Kacie's debut




Kacie with her teacher Miss Twila


The Nativity Play. Kacie was an angel.

"Jingle Bells" Kacie is in the red by the boy in white.

A couple of Saturdays ago we went with the all of Ben's family to see a production of
"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Thanks Grandpa and Grandma...that was a real treat!

Church Christmas Programs

This is the kind of picture I would get the majority of the time if I let my kids decide how they should pose. They love to see themselves be silly. I think sometimes we adults should not take ourselves as serious as we do...it amazes how much my kids teach me or remind me of things that I so quickly forget!!

The elementary children sang for us. It is always a treat to see kids praising the Lord!!

The pre-school also sang. Kacie was excited about singing in front of the parents!

Like most churches, it is hard to get a good picture because the lighting is so dim. If you double click on the picture it will enlarge.

Praise God For Our Little Guys!!

Jacob finally had his friend birthday party. They had a great time shooting each other up at Lazer Quest.

You know boys have a lot of energy...but I cannot help but smile when you see these little guys enjoying being around one another!!

Future Firefighters?

One of Ben's roommates from his college days has recently been back into our lives. Bill is a firefighter and he invited Ben and the kids to take a ride on the fire truck. They had a fantastic time!! Thanks Bill!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Here is Kacie with her preschool class. They are showing off their shirts they painted to wear to the feast. They had a lot of fun playing in the tent and making food for their party.

Jake's 1st grade also had a feast. (I forgot my camera) 15 or so of us moms served the 120 first graders food they would have eaten that first Thanksgiving.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our family from Iowa and New Mexico. We were so grateful they were willing to make the trek to Kansas. From eating, shopping, puzzles, football and taking our blood pressure (long story) I don't think we could have had a better time! God truly does give us much more than we deserve...

Karsak Birthday Fun!

It seems as if November is just one long continuous party in our house. Both of our kids have their birthdays in this month. Kacie early in the month and Jake late in the month. And halfway between the two, we celebrate both with the Karsak side of the family.

Logan, Jake, Kacie & Addi having fun cousin time!!

Grandpa and Grandma, Eric and Cherith, Addi and Logan, thank you for celebrating with us. We always have such a great time when we all get together...Love you!

Jake Turns 7

Jake had a wonderful birthday. And a BIG thanks to many of you who helped him to feel very special on his day.

Jake on his new bike.

By the way, I know you are jealous of my cake decorating abilities!

Kacie Turns 4

Kacie invited 4 friends to see High School Musical 3

For all of my family in Texas...we now have a cowgirl in the house. Here she is in her new pink boots.





Happy to have Disney Princess






Kacie on her first "big girl bike"

"Make a Wish"

Happy Birthday Sugar Bear!!


Kacie was so blessed by many of you. Thank you for caring for her. One day she will know how much she is loved by family and friends!!

Tulsa Route 66 Marathon--Relay

Here is our team that went to Tulsa this weekend to run in the Route 66 Marathon Relay. Besides myself we had two ladies from the Rose Hill Run Club and we recruited two others from my church. The race was so much fun, but I mostly enjoyed hanging out with you gals and laughing a lot!!

Matsu Update

We want to say thank you for so many of you caring about our dog. She is doing well and her tumor has not grown at all since her surgery. She is back to her normal self, laying around all day and playing hard when she is outside.

So, we have decided to treat her with prednisone (a corticosteroid). It is supposed to slow down the growth of the tumor. Besides this we will continue to watch the tumor and see of it grows any further and continue to love her like crazy.

Matsu's Diagnosis---MCT

I honestly never thought I would blog about my dog this much. However, a handful of you have asked what we found out about the biopsy we had done on a tumor that was removed from her leg. We are SAD to say that she is in the intermediate stage of Mast Cell Tumor (MCT) cancer.

Ben and I are now trying to decide what the best option is for her and our family. We are at that point that every pet owner dreads... Our options are to amputate the leg because of where the tumor is located it is impossible to get all of the mass.(the Vet thinks the cancer is only in her leg and has not spread to any lymph nodes or other organs) Or to start her on chemotherapy. Or try some other medicines. Or wait it out.

After some discussion and talking more in depth with our vet we will be making our decision sometime towards the end of the week.

Any advice or perspective would be appreciated!!

Happy Birthday Ben

Here is a picture of my most favorite 3 people in the entire world and the guy in the middle being my #1.

On Oct. 23rd Ben turned 32 and we took him to eat at Granite City (we ate the London Broil of course) and then to Sonic for dessert. The kids picked him out a KC Chiefs key chain. He is holding it in the picture. And I got him a wireless router...no more battles over who gets to use the PC!!

We love you Ben!! Thank you for being our rock and wonderful leader of our home!

Apple Jacks Pumpkin Patch

Kacie's pre-school class took a field trip to a local pumpkin patch. They had a wonderful time together. Kacie said her 3 favorite things were: the big white slide, the duck races and the ride out to the pumpkin patch.

Kacie's class

Which one should I pick?

Mom & Kacie

Our Fur Baby

Last Friday the 17th we took Matsu in for surgery to remove 3 growths. We were told early on that there should not be anything to worry about. However, when we went to pick her up the vet told me that he thinks one of the growths probably is cancer. I have to say I got real sad real quick...she is my fur baby. We will know at the end of the week her prognosis. She has to lay low for a couple of weeks until her incision heals. Besides her limp she is really doing well!!

Matsu with her splint

Stitches on top of her neck

Matsu is getting plenty of lovin'

Matsu's Friends

I have posted before that our dog Matsu has a couple of Boxer friends. I actually remembered to get out my camera and snap a couple of pictures this time.

To the left of the ball is Sasha. Aveeto is behind the ball and Matsu is in front.

Watching these three together can provide much entertainment...especially if the water sprinklers turn on!!

Walter's Pumpkin Patch

Our Bible Study group took our kids to the pumpkin patch. I have put a few pictures here. Our friend Audra is a photographer and took a lot more. Here is the link if you are interested in seeing more of our day ... http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/hrzAE9wh/4968430/2845371

It is hard to believe that it will be 7 years in Jan. of 2009 that our Bible Study group has been together. Jacob was just over 2 months old and the only child when we started. Here are all the kids now except for two. One of the families was not able to spend the day with us.

Our family has been incredibly blessed by this group. And our day together was another reminder of why we continue to be faithful to gathering together each week going from house to house. We don't thank you guys enough for being such great "brothers and sisters" to us...THANK YOU!!

Colossians 3:16

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Rose Hill Fall Festival 2008

The 2nd full weekend in October is our Fall Festival. This year Jake's football team rode on a float in the parade. See if you can find Jacob.

The theme of the float was a graveyard. Here is Jake with his "scary" graveyard face.

Kacie is waiting with her friends Brooklynn & Riley for the parade to start...CANDY!!

Run for the Roses

This past Sat. Jake ran in the 1 Mile race that our town puts on each year as a part of our fall festival. He trained for 2 weeks and felt ready for race day. His goal was to finish in the top 3 for his age division. He made his goal and came home with a bronze medal. Jake couldn't have been more excited. I think he saw how cool it is when your hard work and determination pays off.

Jake before the race

Jake after the race

The End of Football

Warm-up before the game

Running off the field after the game



Waiting for Coach's post game talk



Last team huddle
Jake had a lot of fun playing football. We were not sure how he was going to like it. I have to say of all the sports he has tried, he is the most excited about football. It really was a lot of fun to watch these little guys run plays and begin to understand the game.

1st Grade Zoo Field Trip

It was a beautiful, cool day. The animals were active and the kids were of course having a blast. Kacie too had a great time with Jake's class.