Olivia in the snow...where she belongs!

liquor store sighting!!!!!

One of the infamous Krumwiede sisters was recently sighted doing some last minute Holiday shopping at a local liquor store ... read the choices below and quess who it was!

A. Pam - they ran out of kool-aid at the daycare and the kids were cold.

B. Shelly - too many reasons to list ...

C. Wendy - just kidding, we all know it wasn't her.

D. Tammy - being the good saint, she was reaching out to those in her community and shopping with someone who needed a friend.

E. Alison - Carl's coming home for Christmas!!!!


Please give explanations for your answers ...

Olivia and Jonah Meet

The McLeods are in town for the holidays, so Tammy met up with Emily and went to Naomi's house. The babies enjoyed meeting each other - true to their mothers' personalities, Olivia smiled and danced and Jonah cried if anyone but his mother tried to hold him.

Historical and Biographical Notes

At the insistance of Alison, I have re-typed some 13 pages of history that was dated February, 1941, on the top of a document she received at mom's house. It is a history of the Krumwiede family, mostly dealing in the late 1800's. It was Alison's intention to make this available to anyone interested, so here it is. It was difficult to re-type in that the spelling was often wrong, and I hesitated to correct it as the misspellings themselves were part of the character. Anyway, for anyone who is interested, here it is. I am returning the original document to mom.
http://hhsreunion.com/pj/history.htm

PJ Deployed on Nov 16th

PJ will be spending the next twelve months in Iraq. Know that I am counting on all of you for daily prayers for both PJ and Ellie.
You can contact Ellie directly at eleanorsullivan3@yahoo.com
and PJ is receving email at pjsullivan11@hotmail.com
I know they both would like to hear from you. Just today Ellie received internet access in their home in Germany, and PJ hopes to have access once he settles in Iraq. I will provide his mailing address to you once we have it.

This picture is from Paris where they spent the weekend prior to his deployment.

Sam

Sam is babbling all the time! I think he's got Krumwiede blood in him!

Hannah

Sam's Baptism

Hannah, Todd, and Sam, as well as Naomi, Paul, and Jonah, were here visiting us this weekend. We had a very pleasant weekend with them, and enjoyed a trip to the Oles' family farm on Saturday afternoon. Sam was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church this morning. Enjoy the photos!

2008-10

Good job, Mommy!

Someone's getting bigger (and it's not me for once)!

Hannah

Tie Die for Halloween!

I got the idea from Tammy who made the shirts with her friend Kyle. We couldn't find orange die so we mixed red and yellow. Had a great afternoon making these. Just tie die the shirt and then draw in the faces with permanent marker.

Ok well while I am at it..check this out. http://www.myvictoriaonline.com/content/view/980438/145/

I will try this and see if it works

Emily had the honor of being named "teacher of the week" in Victoria, Texas. They came to her school and had a microphone on her for 2 hours. All for a few minutes of fame. Then she had to go to the studio and receive her award. You can view this at http://www.myvictoriaonline.com/content/view/980709/47/.

She was also named teacher of the month at her school.

like father, like daughter!

One more cute Sam photo

Couldn't resist adding this one on too...

Sam is Home

Hey everyone...we're finally home! Sam is doing great, and today (2 days after his surgery), he felt well enough to start smiling at us! He is a different baby since the surgery. I can't believe how contented and happy a baby can be. He used to have a pain scream that we heard every day (for long periods at a time!), but it's completely gone now. Here are some pictures from him being in the hospital, as well as the one the nurse took as we all headed home. I love the picture where it looks like he's raising his hand..."can I go home now?" The reason we're smiling in all the pictures is because the surgery is over in all of them. Thank you for all your prayers and support. No baby should have to go through what that child went through, but God helped him get through it (his mommy and daddy too!). We're on our way up now.

-Hannah, Todd, and Sam

Prayer Request

Please keep Hannah, Todd, and Samuel in your prayers.  Sam was originally a patient at Hannah and Todd's local hospital, but was transfered yesterday to a larger children's hospital.  The muscle between his stomach and intestine is enlarged, causing him to be unable to digest any food.  The poor little guy throws up everything he eats.  He is currently on an IV for hydration, and will be undergoing surgery to cut the muscle this afternoon.  Please pray that Sam would be able to have the surgery soon (there is a rather long list of patients before him), that it would be successful, and that Hannah and Todd would have peace.

Update: Samuel is out of surgery now. He made it through just fine. They're counting the hours to get him through doses of Pedialyte, sugar water, and then finally back to milk. Mom says Sam's penetrating eyes are just saying, "Can we please be done with this now? Can you please just give me some food?" Poor baby. Their tentative time for checking out of the hospital is tomorrow night.

Amanda Joy - 4 1/2 Months

Here are a few new pictures. Amanda loves chewing on her fingers - and to her way of thinking, two hands are better than one! (The last picture has nothing to do with sucking on her fingers, but I just thought it was so cute that I had to include it.)

Sullivan receives NWA Presidents Award

I promise this will be the end of this, just thought you might like to read my article. The picture was one professionally done on a four hour photo shoot in Minneapolis. I also received three positive space airline tickets and a $2500 vacation package from MLT Tours. On October 2nd, Charlie and I are going to Atlanta, Georgia, to be introduced at the Annual Delta Awards Banquet.

Sullivan receives NWA Presidents Award
Reservations Sales Agent Shelly Sullivan from the Iron Range Reservations Center in Chisholm is the recipient of the 2007 Northwest Airlines President's Award.
This prestigious award is presented annually to honor the "best of the best," Northwest people who have made truly outstanding contributions toward running a great airline, putting the customer first and securing our future. Sullivan is the first to receive this award from the Chisholm office.
Sullivan started her career with Northwest Airlines as a reservations sales agent in 1996 when the Iron Range Reservations Center opened in Chisholm. She achieves outstanding performance metros and frequently trains and mentors her co-workers - often on job functions for which she has, quite literally, written the book. She frequently receives praise from Northwest customers, and has assumed the role as primary luggage trainer for the office, developing call flows and modeling how luggage related calls can be handled most effectively.
Sullivan supports her colleagues in initiatives such as "Children's Clothing Exchanges," honoring those with family members in the military, has been a member on the Relay for Life team for nine years, is active in recruitment and has a leadership role in the Work Environment Committee. She also invests her time in the community, benefiting those in greatest need. In addition to raising her own children, Shelly and her husband have also helped raise 75 foster children. Her contributions to Northwest, her colleagues and the community, have made a significant and far reaching impact.
President's Award recipients are highlighted in Northwest's Annual Report and the Recognition publication in Passages. In addition, award recipients were honored at the Employee Recognition banquet held in June, which Shelly attended along with her husband and three children.

Thomas Leland Valine

I realize this is a little late, but that doesn't make it any less important!

Introducing Thomas Leland Valine, born August 21st, 2008 at 6:12 A.M. weighing 7 lbs., 4 1/2 oz.

- Alice

Telling or Displaying the Gospel

Back in February this year Brooke and I were able to attend the South African Missionsfest held in a massive Dutch Reformed Church just outside Pretoria, SA. The founder and CEO of our NGO Hands at Work was a speaker there. It was an amazing opportunity to hear him speak to the church. He was also asked to contribute an article for the program guide. The following is that article.

"He has told you, ow man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

Earlier this year I was working close to the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border when I met Tamara. She was not home at first, and while we waited for her, curious neighbors began to gather around us. Eventually a young girl, out of breath and sweating profusely, came walking up to us. I could see her surprise at finding a white man sitting in front of her humble little house. I could also see immediately she was sick, and it didn't take me long to guess at the cause. I have seen too many young girls dying of AIDS. She was eighteen years old.

Our conversation began with this and that (the real African way). Many in the community knew Tamara and her difficult history. Tamara was an illegal immigrant in Mozambique. She and her parents had fled from Zimbabwe to Mozambique, and she ended up being the only survivor. As I listened, I could not believe this was happening to a child of eighteen: a refugee in a foreign country, dying, slowly, without a single person caring for her.

I looked at this smiling girl, and I thought to myself, "the worst is yet to come for you, young girl." So I asked her, "If I could take one problem from your life, what would it be?" Immediately, she wept. But she pulled herself together, and her quiet answer surprised me. "Please, please," she said, "find me another house to stay in." The request seemed strange, but slowly she shared more, and I came to understand that though this little home was clean, she was being abused daily by the others in that place. Listening to her story hurt badly. I couldn't sleep that night, thinking of the pain Tamara had gone through alone. I wrestled with my faith. As a Christian, I was embarrassed to think of all the churches within walking distance of Tamara.

Feeling very vulnerable myself, I prayed that night. "O God," I said, "Please don't come back yet...we have not displayed Your Son. We have failed you! I have failed you! I know we failed Tamara and her community. Today the whole community watched us, what an opportunity it was to display your beloved Son!"

When I think of that night now, my mind wanders also to the old grandmother I met in Malawi late one afternoon as she returned from the fields with a baby on her back. I was with a group of local pastors speaking to these grannies. It went well, I thought. Until I asked the question that ripped the air open. "Tell me about the Church," I asked. Immediately, the old granny stood and, softly, said a single word: "useless."

I responded with surprise. "Why would you say that of the Church?" I asked. And I still remember the voice in which she answered, such a shaky voice, yet somehow firm. She pointed to the pastors, but spoke to us all. "All they will do is come to us, carrying their Bibles, saying, 'If you don't pray and read your Bible, you will to to hell.' We can't go to hell! We are already in hell!" We left that day in silence. "Oh Jesus," I thought to myself, "Have mercy on us." I was awake for another night of wrestling.

Four years earlier I had sat with five thousand others at the African AIDS Conference in Dar es Salaam listening to international statesmen speaking on the AIDS pandemic. Each of them, without exception, including Peter Piot and the UN's Stephen Lewis, spoke the same message to the Church: "You are the agent able to save Africa from this. People look up to you. Tell them to care for the dying, for the orphans. Tell them not to judge the infected."

Sitting in that crowd, tears rolled unashamedly down my cheeks. The World was standing on an international stage pleading, begging us to simply practice what we preach. Thinking of Jesus with the leprosy-filled man, with the tax collector, the adulterous woman, the criminal on the cross, I wondered how we got this far from the truth?

When I think about the work of the church, I can't help but think also about Tamara, about the old grandmother. What will it take for us to have true revelation of the Father's heart? God's throne is built upon Righteousness and Justice. Righteousness is our relationship with God, and the work of this was done by Jesus who brought us our salvation. Justice is our relationship with our neighbors, and this is where we show the world that we understand the grace Jesus had on us, that while we were still sinners, He died for us. Only if we truly understand and make this truth our own can we live lives of justice. As Isaiah the prophet call it: "Spending yourself on behalf of the poor."

The first step of love is wanting for others exactly what you want for yourself. I have come to the conclusion that it is easy to tell others about Jesus' love, but much harder to display that love to our neighbors. Yet it is what we must do.

Hands at work in Africa is striving to reach 100 000 orphans and vulnerable children by 2010 through our community-based projects across southern Africa. We believe that each vulnerable child is God's child, and as part of the body that makes the vulnerable child our responsibility.

George Snyman

Hands at Work in Africa

It's A Boy!

Announcing the birth of Jonah Paul on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 3:45 A.M.

7 lbs., 9 oz.

Dedication Sunday

Amanda was dedicated to Jesus on Sunday, August 17, 2008. (3 months, 3 weeks old). We love the look passing between Amanda and Pastor Jim. She is really trying to figure this whole thing out. (If you click on the picture, you can see her expression up close.)


Amanda and Momma before dedication

Amanda being prayed over by Pastor Jim Anderson and Mommy & Daddy

Amanda in her new frilly dress

Thanks to everyone who came to help celebrate Amanda's special day!