We sure love these kids!

Our little pizza chefs

Put it in the oven

Yum yum!

Briana has gone batty!

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The kids in the triple threat stroller!

Can't believe we can fit all 3 of them on 1 thing if we need to!

Little bundled baby!

Fall Fun!

They sure love Daddy!!!

Our Wish for You

This is an entry in our book of letters to our children.  We share our hopes and our experience with our children, they do not read it now, but we will have them read it in the future.  They do know the fundamentals of what we have written though as we raise them with the principles and beliefs that we hold dear.  Childhood is a beautiful thing, life is a beautiful thing and individuality is a beautiful thing, we encourage our children to hold on to their childhood while it is here, to live every moment of life to the fullest and to be themselves, not to conform, not to hide who they are.




To our beautiful children,

  We have many wishes for you, that you find fulfillment in your lives, that your lives will be peaceful and filled with joy!  We have outlined our wishes for you!

1. That you know the love of God and that you have the peace that passes all understanding.  Knowing that from the moment you came to be, you were carefully created to be just who you are.  Be yourself, it may sound cliche, but it is so important that you don't try to change to make anyone happy, at the end of it all you are the one who you have to answer to.  Some people will like you, some people will not, but it is not your "job" to make everyone else happy.

2.  We are raising you to make your own decisions, to be responsible adults.  Once you are an adult we will cheer you on, but we will not try to keep a controlling interest in your lives.  We will only give you advice if you request it.  We love you and we have complete confidence in your decision making abilities once you are an adult.

3.  Know that you are allowed to be human, we all make mistakes, know that there is nothing so big or so bad that it could make us stop loving you!  We can work through anything, be open and honest in all of your relationships and expect the same from others.  Nothing good will ever come from being dishonest, hiding how you feel about things or pretending to be something you are not.

4.  Dream BIG or dream small, but make sure you remember to dream at all!

5.  When you disagree with someone enough to argue make sure to stick to the topic you disagree on, do not argue about side topics or try to tie in past issues.  Do not argue to "win", argue to find some common ground and to come to a solution.  Try to explain your viewpoint and listen to them when they explain theirs. If the argument turns into one or both of you saying the meanest things you can in an effort to hurt the other person, nobody has "won" the argument, you both have lost.  There is no way to come to common ground if they don't actually know (or care) why the other person is upset.  Once something is said you cannot take it back and permanent damage can be done to relationships by "fighting dirty".  Treat each other with respect.

6.  We are not perfect, we know that and we do not expect perfection from you or anyone else.  We believe our role is to guide you until you reach legal adulthood.  We do not have all the answers, but we do have knowledge of what has and what hasn't worked in our own lives.  Based on our personal experiences we will guide you the best was we can, but ultimately we want your decisions to be your own!

7.  Do not accept mistreatment from others.  Whether they are a friend, a significant other or a family member.  Stand up for yourself and have confidence in your ability to decide whether they have overstayed their welcome in your life.  There are some people who will never be happy or will never like a person, so to stay and try to help them understand you can be a moot point.

8.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Each one of you has been a delight and an inspiration from day 1!  We have been blessed with the privilege of watching you learn and grow!  We thank God for each of you constantly!

9.  Let your light shine!  Be the best version of you that you can be!  Give everything your best effort and enjoy the fruits of your labor.  Look at the bright side of every situation and BE POSITIVE!  Be supportive of those around you and encourage them!  Do not be negative towards others and do not talk or think negatively of others when they succeed.  It is good for others to succeed, be genuinely happy for them!  Be genuine in all your interactions with everyone, it is not worth trying to keep up appearances for other people, those who are worth having around will love you for you and will not look down on you for it.

10.  Do not live your lives trying to find a significant other, live your lives in the now, be happy to just be you and when you do not have a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse.  The more comfortable you are in your own skin, the easier the transition will be into a relationship.  It would be hard for someone else to want to be in a relationship with you if you are unsure of who you are.  You are all amazing people on your own, you do not need another person to define you or make you feel better about yourself!  Be ready for a relationship when one comes, but enjoy being you without a relationship as well!

11.  Right now you all shine and sparkle with confidence, we hope you keep that!  We hope nobody is able to take that away from you.  IF anyone ever feels the need to say mean things to you just for the sake of being mean, just keep walking, don't listen to them, don't let anyone cut you down or take away your shine.


12.  Read this often and live it, learn it, love it!


2 Corinthians 4:

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ² Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.


¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”^[b] Since we have that same spirit of^[c] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Blake's Day as a Deputy

Arriving at the Sheriff's Office

Bright and Early 

Two of the four kids on this banner

were participants in the Deputy for a Day with Blake

Getting ready to be sworn in

Learning how to handcuff "bad guys"

Excited for a fun day

All the Participants in the Event

Make-A-Wish Deputy for a Day

The participants with the Sheriff

In the Swat Mobile!  

Getting ready for the kids

Blake and his new friend

Blake's small group

Learning about SWAT tactics and weapons

Custom Sniper Rifle

Someone is a Hawkeye Fan!

Learning about sniper rifles from our friend the Hawkeye fan!

All geared up, ready for his SWAT mission

What a tough group of guys

Heading inside

Blake made an arrest

Booking her

Getting her finger prints

Talking to a new friend!

Getting ready to enter a crime scene

Surveying the damage

Gathering evidence

The whole big group of SWAT and CSI

with the kids!

Amazing Cake by Dreams by DC

Getting ready to work with the K-9 Unit

Waiting to be in a high speed car chase

Making the arrest!

Ready for a routine traffic stop

''

Turns out it was a drug bust! 

Way to go Blake!

Taking a quick nap on the way back 

Graduation Ceremony

What a fun day!

Big group of Volunteers, Participants, the Sheriff and quite a few Deputies!

Make-A-Wish and the Douglas County Sheriff's Department Nebraska had an event in honor of the 2000th wish being granted!  They re-enacted the first wish, which was to spend a Day as a Deputy.  They selected 15 former Wish recipients to participate.  Blake was one of those kids.  We started off the day early in the morning, meeting many of the volunteers, the Sheriff and several of the Deputies who work at the Sheriff's office.  The kids all got their very own, personalized uniforms made by  and boy did they all look wonderful!  We had Donuts provided by Crispy Creme!

Once the Deputies were sworn in, they learned how to handcuff "bad guys", separated into groups and were on their way for an amazing day that will be a part of all of their memories forever!

Blake was grouped with his new friends Preston and Trey.  They were a great group and worked very well together!  The kids got to ride in the SWAT vehicle to the buildings the SWAT and CSI crime scene exercise were in.  The Deputies showed them all the neat tools and weapons that the SWAT team uses when they have to extract a "bad guy".  The kids were thrilled and hung on every word as they eagerly eyed everything.  They were excited to try on helmets and lift shields, they even got to try on some body armor and proudly walked around wearing it.

Once they learned about the tools, weapons and some of the tactics, the boys got decked out in their SWAT gear, complete with fake blue guns, and headed inside to find "bad-guys" (who were really employees who had volunteered their Saturday to help with this experience for the wish kids).  Each kid got to arrest their own bad guy and they all really enjoyed it.  Once they made the arrest, they got to ride shotgun in the cruiser, learned how to work the lights and sirens, headed to the jail portion of the Sheriff's Office and booked their "bad guy".  Blake really enjoyed it all and his "bad guy" was a lot of fun and protested being arrested.  She was so nice to him, but funny at the same time.

Once all the "bad guys" were booked, they all headed back to the CSI crime lab and got to investigate a mock crime scene, they got to test red drops found on the floor to see if it was blood, they got to use lasers to trace the trajectory of a bullet, they got to use static electricity to lift a foot print from the floor and they even got to use glow in the dark spray to find even more foot prints!

After that portion of the adventure, we all headed back to the Sheriff's Office to eat some delicious pizza that was generously provided by Sam and Louie's Pizza (one of our absolute favorite places to eat!) and for desert there was an amazing cake and yummy, sparkly cupcakes provided by Dreams by DC!

We all filled up on pizza and cupcakes, then headed to the track where each kid got a turn to work with and command one of the K-9 unit's very own German Shepherds.  The kids had so much fun, as did the families who watched from the sidelines as the police dogs took down the "bad guys"!  One even took his bad guy down with a flying leap!  It was thoroughly entertaining!

The next portion of the day was filled with high-speed chases and drug busts!  All done within the safety of the training facilities of course!  It was so much fun for all of the kids and their families, Blake had a very hard time deciding what his favorite part was, he had so many, he still hasn't stopped talking about it and we just love hearing all the details from his point of view.

A Million thanks to Make-A-Wish (yet again) and to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, to Sam and Louie's (for the pizza), to Dreams by DC, Hy-Vee, First Student, Art F/X, Scheels, FOP Douglas County Lodge #2, Propper, Harmon Photography and any other sponsors and volunteers we may have missed!  A special thanks goes out to Lauren who planned the event and sent out the information!  I have always been very personally impressed by how amazingly organized Make-A-Wish is!

We cannot even begin to express how amazing this day was, how much of an impact it had on everyone there, volunteers, staff and participants alike.  It was certainly a day none of us will ever forget.  We had such an amazing time and we cannot say "Thank you!" enough!