Traeton's Junior Piano Program

Traeton has been studying piano and everything about piano for two-and-a-half years. We go every week for an hour to the music school, Children's Music Academy. It is an amazing program. I am still, after two-and-a-half years, quite impressed with it and everything about it.

A few days before CHRISTmas Traeton and his classmates performed their first program. The students were able to show-off all their hard work through solos, playing as a group, performing songs they wrote themselves, playing games that demonstrated thier ear training, their recognition of notes through three octives and nearly all musical symbols. Yes, I am very, very proud of Traeton. It has been a lot of hard work for him, for myself (since I did not know how to play the piano before this) and for our relationship.

Here are a few pictures of Traeton at his program.



Thank you to all our supportive family who attended his program. We are also greatful to each one of you who have taken him to class from time to time and helped him practice. Each one of you is a piece in his puzzle of success.

One Of My Favorite Christmas Traditions!

This past Sunday afternoon BeBee (my mother-in-law, Jan) and Great Grandma Schilling (Jan's mother) came to our home for the afternoon to make Christmas cookies with the children.





They've been doing this for many years. It began when we lived away from home and they would travel to see us for the holidays. While BeBee was staying with us she'd make cookies with/for the children. Well, now that we are living back home we've kept up the tradition but without the expensive plane tickets.






This is, without a doubt, one of my most favorite holiday traditions. I know you're thinking this is true because of the plates and plates of cookies we have afterward, but you are only half right. The recipe they use is a family recipe passed down from Great Grandma Schilling. It is amazing and the time spent with their grandmothers is a treasure that will never perish. Thanks so much Grandma and BeBee!

Pretty Near Perfect Thanksgiving!

There isn't much I would have changed about this Thanksgiving. It was a blessing through and through. We hosted at our home with the Burmeisters, Readys and some dear friends, the Schrocks.

>There were four generation present. The youngest at the party was Elias at two years and a few months and the eldest was my mom's dad, Bud, who is 88 years old. There were actually three great grandparents in attendance. In addition to Grandpa Bud was my dad's dad, Harold Ready, and Todd's mom's mom, Marian Schilling. Whew!

At one point we tried to take family photos.

My favorite pics are when there is total mayhem happening with the subjects of the picture. Most of the time is the children trying to wiggle out of the picture and the parents trying to make silly noises and faces or promising crazy things to get them to stay, bribery, hmmm...

Except for the turkey that took about an hour longer to cook than I had originally calculated the day was blissful, a pretty near perfect Thanksgiving. Oh, yea, and except for the well-intentioned idea of having Traeton and Addison help with serving the meal to our guests. The hope was that they'd catch the vision of serving others, especially our guests, and how wonderful it feels to do so and how it makes our guests feel. When Addison and I barely made it around with the soup I figured this may be more challenging than I had thought through but as soon as Traeton grabbed the red jello and headed for the dining room I knew this was a totally stupid idea!!



Until next time...

Bangkok, Thailand

Hello Friends!

I have now been in Southeast Asia for five days. In that short time I landed in the Philippines, flew to Thailand for a whirlwind tour of a gigantic city that could easily take weeks to visit, and now back to the Philippines.

I am having a difficult time downloading pictures from my camera to the Gooden's computer so these are not my favorite pictures but they'll have to do.

The first morning we were in Bangkok we toured the most famous part of the city, the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace consists of several temples, meeting halls and the old residence of the Thailand king, Rama IX. Within the Grand Palace is the most famous Buddha Thailand has, the Emerald Buddha, made completely of one piece of jade. While is was very beautiful it was no bigger than a medium sized dog. This was very surprising to me since the anticipation of seeing the Buddha was built to a very exciting high. It has different outfits that it wears according to the season. Right now is the 'rainy season' so it wears its rainy season shawl.

It was fascinating for me to watch hundreds of people worship this figure with their whole hearts, mind and soul. Outside of the Emerald Buddha's temple was another area to worship and offer sacrifices. This was also fascinating since the people were literally praying to a golden calf!! Just like the exiles Moses was leading out of Egypt! Their sacrifices were of fruit, incense and we even saw a chickens, pigs and ducks (already dead) offered!

The picture of me with the people in costume and on the elephant were taken that night, after we spent the day touring around the temples. We went to the world's tallest stage, they're in the Guiness Book of World Records, for a Filipino show. It was awesome! The costumes, the choreography the music were all amazing. I really enjoyed it even though it was extremely difficult to stay awake!! Riding the elephant was way cool! Curt and I went and took little Jones for his first elephant ride.

In case I didn't mention it the Goodens took along their baby, Jones, he is 10 weeks old and this was his fourth country to visit since he was born!! He was such a great baby to travel with, he napped on and off everywhere we went. Julie planned the whole trip she did a great job. There were 15 people in on the tour (trip) total. It was great getting to know all their new friends who are also American working here in the Philippines for various reasons and for various lengths of time.

I think I should sign out for now! Sending my love from Manila, Philippines. ERB

And they're off...

This morning before the sun arose I pulled Traeton out of bed to shower and hit the road to Juarez, Mexico for his very first mission trip! He and Todd are joining a very large group, about 57, from our Sunday school class to build houses for the extremely impoverished in Juarez.

Todd and Trae have been working toward this trip for quite a while and Traeton is beyond excited to do God's work! He is bubbling over with anticipation. I pray his little perspective on life would be rocked and he would never again fall into the self-righteous mindset in which he currently lives, not unlike most seven-year-olds in Highlands Ranch, CO.

I will post pictures as soon as I have them!

Also, I have neglected to post that I, myself, will be leaving the country. Next week, on election day and Lisa Bowden's birthday, I will be taking off for the Philippines and Thailand. I will be spending 11 days with my childhood friend, Julie Gooden and her family. They're living in Manila for a few years and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to visit this part of the world, a part I may never again be able to go.

Busy times in the Burmeister home!

Pierced with Pride

Today I had the privilege of hearing Fern Nichols speak. Mrs. Nichols is the founder of Moms In Touch, a prayer organization for mothers of students, any age, any 'grade'. The purpose of Moms In Touch is to cover every school in the world with prayer one school at a time. Ideally, each and every school is covered in prayer by a small group of mothers whose children attend that school. Naturally, my Moms In Touch prayer group is for Stone Mountain Elem, Traeton's school.

One focus of her talk today was on pride, the root of every sin. Pretty hefty statement, eh?

This is what constitutes pride:
A prideful person:
-is confident in how much they know and flaunts it
-focuses on other's failures
-puts others on probation and waits for them to fall again
-can't bear to fail or have others see them less than perfect
-is a work-a-holic or a perfectionist
-drives others
-places unrealistic expectations on self and others
-tries to control people and circumstances
-independent spirit who does it all because others can't do it good enough
-doesn't think they have anything to repent
-must prove I am right
-must have the last word, 'I told you so'
-desires to be known as successful
-doesn't want their sin discovered
-wounded when others get credit or is overlooked
-elated by praise
-deflated by criticism

What constitutes a broken/humble person:
A humble person:

-admits they don't know it all
-doesn't try to have an answer for everything
-accepts limitations
-focuses on own spiritual needs
-trusts in God and waits on him to act
-gives up the right to hurt back
-dependant spirit
-admits just can't do it all
-willing to yield the right to be right
-desires to make others successful
-willing to be exposed
-seeks forgiveness
-has a continual heart of repentance
-any received praise belongs to Christ
-criticism makes them a better person
-doesn't try to justify criticism

Oh, wow, sigh... Unfortunately I carry far more of the prideful traits than the humble ones. The characteristics of a humble person are not completely foreign to me. I know this is what I strive to be, broken and humble and sometimes it is true of me. But more often I self-righteously walk around pierced with pride.

Lord, renew a right spirit within me...

Playin' Hokey

This Tuesday we played hokey! All five of us just completely cut out for the day. Well, almost all of us, Todd was post call so he had the day off anyway and Elias has no commitments so he really didn't cut out on anything. But the rest of us did! It was exhilarating!

Traeton has had a very tough year so far, his teacher has been out of school for a whole month with pneumonia so they've had some subs in and out of his room. The long-term sub was doing a great job and just getting the class caught-up when she fell and broke her ankle! More subs... So Tuesday we kept him out of school and out of the chaos of the sub-led classroom.

I missed my Tuesday morning Beth Moore study and Addison missed piano class.

This is what we did!

Why The Guilt???

It is three o'clock in the afternoon. In 45 minutes I have to walk down the block to Traeton's school and pick him up. I have had Elias down for almost two hours and Addison fell asleep one hour ago. I have yet to complete one single thing off my growing 'to do' list. I have checked my email, I have caught up on Facebook and now I am posting on our blog. None of these things, in my mind, are productive ways to spend the afternoon. So, as a result I feel terribly guilty that I have wasted away this time.

WHY??? Why can't I chill for a few hours and not be productive with out feeling wasteful? How do we get to this point where we feel the need to constantly be achieving? If there isn't forward motion happening, crossing off tasks on the to-do list, then I feel I have fallen short, wasted the hours God has granted me to be all I can for my family, myself and my community.

Todd is so great at balancing. He feels no guilt to just check out for a while and play a game of Aquire on the net. Good for him. For ten years I have been trying to learn from him but it just frustrates me to know there are things to be done that are not getting done. Just call me Martha.

Elias - The Fun One!

This is it! It is here! Elias' second birthday! Here is a picture of our Baby Bear enjoying an ice cream sundae at lunch today. He truly is a ball of fun. He has yet to begin talking yet he 'communicates' very well through squeals and squeaks. Today, his big day, was spent on an impromptu trip to Pueblo. The whole way he gave commentary on all the large sized vehicles on the road, tractors on the side of the road and trains passing by.

Huge thanks to those of you who have inquired about his Child Find appointment last Monday. Elias was found to speak in the lower 5th percentile for his age bracket. He was put at the 15 month age for speaking. Today he turned 24 months. So he is nine months behind on his speech development.

Todd and I are not surprised or shocked. We both knew there was a problem now we'll get it taken care of. The experts say that he has low muscle tone in his mouth/tongue/lips so he is physically unable to form words. We are to do exercises with him that'll help strengthen those muscles. And he has been approved for speech therapy. His first appointment is this coming Wednesday at our home. Due to his age all his appointments will be at our home!! Yea.

Ahhhhutumn

Does anyone else out there just love crisp autumn air!?!? I absolutely love having the windows cracked just enough to let the fresh air flow in along with the slight chill that begs for a light sweater and a pair of slippers. Autumn candles are the next most important ingredient for these crisp days. The aroma fills the house with that 'this is our cozy home' smell. LOVE IT!

Tomorrow is Elias' Child Find appointment for his speech delays. I am not worried or nervous, just curious. I am eager to find out why our baby bear does not talk. If it is nothing then no big deal, we know to be patient and wait on his natural development. If it is something then let's take care of it so he can join in on the conversation!

Super Long Time

Since it has been a super long time since I've blogged I feel that I really need to post something. I am stuck in a conundrum, there really is nothing to write yet at the very same time there is so much to write I could never cover it all. Hmmm... Throughout my days I often think 'I could really post this' but then life sweeps time away, the sun falls out of our sky just to climb back up a few hours later and all my well-intended plans dissolve out of my brain.

So, as I wrote the above paragraph one topic did come to mind. I am preparing to embark on a whole new realm of adulthood...Quicken - finance tracking!! For all the years and summers and holiday vacations I worked for my Dad I entered more expenditures into Quicken than I believe was countable. I believe I was Quicken-ed out. Well those memories have faded enough that I believe it is time for me to get a glimpse into where our money is 'invested'. hehehe.

Don't read into this, we are not struggling in any way. We, to the best of my uninformed knowledge, are doing just fine. The problem is that I really don't know percentages. You know, what percentage goes to basic needs, food, shelter, etc. and what percentage goes to fluff.

I should really be spending my time setting up this new Quicken account and not babbling on and on about this. There probably is not another person in all Douglas County who is like me in this area. People here are way too in touch with their money, did I just say that??

Eli's Newest Trick

Needless to say we've had an exciting lunch hour! While I was in the kitchen preparing lunch Addie was nestled in the couch watching The Magic School Bus and Eli was happily entertaining himself upstairs!! I had checked on him two times before this, the first time he was playing with toys in A's room and the second time he was playing hide-n-seek with Fizz in our shower, too cute. Back down stairs I went to finish preparing lunch.

A few minutes later lunch was ready so back up I went to retrieve my little bundle of wiggles and giggles. At the top step I could hear the water running, the bathtub filling!! My first thought, unfortunately, was not of his safety, "he could be drowning!!" No, my first thought was, "Ugh, I bet he is standing outside of the tub, wasting water down the drain while he pours water all over the floor!" I don't know which is worse!?!? This was definitely a 'quick, grab the camera' moment.

People often say to me, 'Wow, three little ones, you sure are busy." Actually, I belive that Elias alone keeps me on my toes, he definitely adds the most 'excitement' to the day. Now that he knows how to turn on the bathtub faucet I don't know what I'll do! Any ideas??

Thanks, Lord

Thanks, Lord, for never giving up on lil' ol' me. I am so thankful that the Lord's patience with me will last my lifetime. In my fallen state I cannot comprehend how He will persistently guide me along this journey teaching and reteaching and reteaching me (sometimes the same lesson over and over again) for the past 32 years and the next 60 or so years.

My MOPS leadership retreat was this weekend. The book upon which the weekend was focused was an allegory of a woman's journey from being hopelessly fallen to a new creation in Christ. It is called Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. The lessons I've taken away from this book are life-changing. Thanks to God who met me at the retreat this weekend I am a little more like him.

One of the themes of the book centers on the enemies in our lives who walk along our path with us doing everything they can to turn us back. In the book Much-Afraid's enemies happened to be Self-Pity, Pride, Craven Fear, Resentment (notice the capitals, the author personified each trait). After much reflection over my life I recognize that I have several enemies who walk at my flank whispering or sometimes yelling insults at me in hopes of making me turn my journey back to the valley from which I came.

The most interesting thing I learned, besides my constant companions, is that these used to be parts of me! An example is Anger. Right now Anger is outside of myself, always hanging around waiting to spring. Before when my walk with Christ was much newer Anger lived with me, it was a part of me, actually, it was me. I was angry much of my teen years. I see the redeeming work of the Lord in my life as he has amputated Anger from my being so now it is an annoying enemy who no longer has a hold on me.

Does any of this make sense???

Wild West Relay pics

crossing the finish line as a whole team!

school days

We've arrived, I cannot believe it but it is here, the first day of school. Addie's was yesterday and Traeton's is tomorrow.

I was excited for Addison to begin because she is still in the safe bubble of Mom's school. There are three new little girls who've joined her class this year, her best buddy from the cul-de-sac, Taryn, being one of them. She is thrilled to back in school and I am thrilled for her.

Traeton, however, is a different story. Tomorrow he'll begin first grade. At our school that means he will be in five full days now. Last year in kinde he was in only half days. This is going to be quite the adjustment, surely more for me than for him. I cannot imagine him being away from home under the instruction of others for a greater amount of time per day than he is with us. As of tomorrow my 'cannot imagine' will have to dissipate into reality. I've heard this can be a painful transition. I've heard the empty feeling strikes without warning and an overwhelming feeling of 'something missing' engulfs you. We'll see... I don't even get to pack him a lunch on the first day as the teacher really wants him to buy his lunch since she'll be with them all day walking them through the process.

For those of you who are curious, Todd and his team completed the Wild West Relay beautifully. The twelve men completed all their assigned legs without injury. Their final time was something like 29 hours with a per mile average of 9:30:00 or so. Thanks for all your prayers, I truly believe he was protected as a result. While Todd was very, very sore and limping painfully for a day or two he reflects that the whole experience was mostly enjoyable.

I will post a picture or two.
ERB

Wild West Relay

As you think about it over the next few days please pray for Todd. He is going to be joining a relay team in the 5th annual 'Wild West Relay'. It is a 195 mile run where teams of 12 take 36 hours to run... actually, I copied and pasted a few bits of info from the website.

This Colorado relay race begins by the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Fort Collins, and finishes in the beautiful ski and summer resort town of Steamboat Springs. Held on open public roads, much of this very scenic and remote course runs through National Forests or on dirt roads. The route winds through Roosevelt, Medicine Bow, and Routt National Forests, and through small, mountain and ranching communities.

Please be aware that the WWR is is held on public roads - there are no road closures, traffic control, or aid stations. All participants must understand that there will be vehicle traffic at all times and several of the Exchange Points are along busy roads. Also be warned that any road hazards along the course are NOT marked, the route goes through National Forests and other unpopulated areas where wildlife lives, and that there are cattle guards and areas of open range (livestock not fenced in) so caution is required from all runners and drivers.

As you can see there will be dangers of all types from busy roads to wildlife. Please pray for his safety as he has calculated that one of his routes is going to be around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. Also, as you know the forecast is to be 102 tomorrow and 101 the next day. For those of you who know, Kolby Lathrop and Dusty Anderson will also be running.

The children and I will head to Ft. Collins in the morning to see them off then come home for the night. Then we'll head up to Steamboat early Sat. morning to meet them at the finish line.

"Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

For he has fortified the bars of your gates

and blessed your children within you.

He sends peace across your nation

and satisfies you with plenty of the finest wheat."

Psalm 147:12-14

Today, July 25, Todd and I celebrate our tenth anniversary! I am brought to complete humility when I reflect on the years we've spent together. The Lord has blessed us beyond measure, He has protected us, guided us, gifted us and counseled us countless times - 'he has fortified the bars of our gates.'

In this world where marriages are disposable, temporary and victimized I feel that Todd and I have conquered many a battle that would have otherwise destroyed our union. We are resolved that our marriage has a lifetime guarantee since it was formed by God and is sustained by our threefold cord.

We praise God for he has 'blessed our children within us,' 'sent peace to our nation (family),' and continuously 'satisfies us with the finest wheat (basic needs).'

I love you Todd! Here's to the rest of our lives!

It has been well over a week since I last posted... I've been waiting for the next event to take place so I'd have something to write, pictures to upload. There hasn't been anything monumental happen in our home in over a week, whew. Hard to believe considering how this summer has gone.

These last weeks of summer vacation we are spending our days doing summery stuff, the zoo, parks, concerts in the park, swimming at the pool. It is wonderful. While all the birthdays are parties are super fun, wouldn't do life without them, this probably more enjoyable for me, cruisin' along to the beat of summer.

Traeton and Addison have only two weeks left before school begins. I am not looking forward to their return, I am actually feeling much as I did when I was a kid, mourning the last few days/weeks of the break. There is a part of me that longs for the return of routine. But I am learning that as time flies on my days with Traeton and Addison and Elias are flying away as well.

We have some friends who recently considered packing up the family and moving away for a year. Just to get away from the hectic pace we all keep. They planned to do nothing, no sports, no camps, no extra-curriculars, nothing but one another. I thought this was a fabulous idea. I would do the same thing without taking a breath if Todd's career was conducive to it. Unfortunately Todd does not have that type of career. Our friends decided to stay, God spoke clearly with confirmation and they've listened and obeyed.

Lord, please let these days of empty schedules last... I will always treasure the days when we have no where to go, no schedule to keep, no practice to attend. In my world, that is one of my most favorite things.

We call it Birthday Season!

As I sit here I am beginning the process of re-establishing balance, re-engaging in the normal routine of our lives here in our little home. This is because we are rapidly nearing the end of birthday season. Birthday season here is a short, yet very long, three weeks or so where the majority of our family, immediate and extended has their birthday. Here is the list:

Tony and Lindsey anniversary - 6/14

Mom B. - 6/16

cousin Brigg - 6/18

cousin Trevor - 6/21

Addison - 6/22

Burmeister anniversary - 6/22

Dad R. - 7/2

Traeton - 7/8

Brandon - 7/10

Todd - 7/11

cousin Tisha - 7/11

Kaylene - 7/16
our anniversary - 7/25

Grandma B. - 7/26

Okay, so I threw in a few anniversaries. But, as you can see that is a lot of birthday dinners and birthday cake! As of right now Trae and Addie get full-on birthday parties. I am thinking they may have to alternate years between parties and a small, yet special, celebration. This way there'd only be one party per season. Our neighbor a few houses down has this policy in place for their three children and I think it is a good one.

I love birthday season! The excitement in our home is just electric! The children are at such a great age for birthdays. They love the count down, seeing the presents wrapped and waiting for the big day to arrive and of course writing all those thank you notes - haha!

Have a fabulous week!

All my love...

A few more pictures from Jan's Birthday Party.

This is our backyard filled with dear family and friends of Glen and Jan. All here to celebrate her 60th birthday.

Todd shares a thing or two about his mama.

The children performed an impromptu circus for all the guests. Bebee was the guest of honor chosen to come on stage for a special trick!

The Big 60th Birthday Party

The birthday girl!

A few short days after the fabulous wedding Todd and I hosted a birthday party for his mom, Jan. It was her 60th birthday party and we were thrilled to be able to throw her a bash to celebrate this most special occasion. She is a treasure to many and we wanted to honor her as she deserves.

The guest list included 80 or so people from various parts of her life. The most special part was that her extended family, aunts, sister, brother, nieces, her in-laws (mother, brothers, sisters, etc.) were all in town for the party. It is not often that one's whole family from around the country is in town at once on a special day like a 60th birthday!

Wedding Day!!

The pictures are chronologically backwards, sorry. I now know that when adding images they're put in front of the existing pics, not behind them.

Enjoy!

Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

So here is a handful of pics showing how beautiful the day and the place was. Tony and Lindsey got married at the Sanctuary in Castle Pines North. It is a private golf club off Daniel's Park Road. It is quite impressive.

I see I need to work on my picture layout as all the pics are clumped together. Because of this I won't be able to write captions for each one but I think you can figure them out.

The first picture of the five children are T, A & E with their cousins, Brendan and Brianna. Todd's older brother and his wife, Tracey now live in San Francisco. All the children have so much fun together. Addison cries when Brianna leaves for home, she absolutely adores her.

There are various pictures of rehearsing the isle walk. You can see the girls getting their flower girl baskets from BeBee. They were adorable flower girls. It was perfect they had one another to walk the isle, I don't know if Add would have been able to do it by herself as she gets pretty shy in front of strangers.

I'll post the wedding day pics later as Eli is wide awake wanting to be retrieved.

Seek Him today, he has big plans for you.