Great Grandma's 92nd Birthday

It's not every day you're invited to celebrate someone's 92nd birthday. But yesterday, we celebrated Amaya's Great Grandma Struckmann's 92 years of life! Doesn't she look great?

Steve's mom made this cake - It tasted just as good as it looks!

Great Grandma, Grandma Horning, and Amaya

Four generations!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma! We are blessed to have you in our lives!

Happy 3rd Birthday Amaya!

There's a three year old in our house! Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital? Didn't just celebrate her first tooth, first words, first steps? And now we're celebrating her 3rd birthday! According to Amaya, "everything fun happens when you're three." She enjoys taking Community Education classes and she's had to wait until she's three to take the Intro to Dance class (which we've enrolled her in and starts in the first week of February.) And, she's decided that now that she's three, she doesn't want to use her little potty anymore and wants to use the "grown-up" one. Can't wait to see what this year holds for this little princess!

Since her "Big Party" with her grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousins, and friends wasn't until Saturday the 22nd, we had a small party just the three of us on Thursday. We took her out for pizza at Godfather's. Yummy!

Played a few arcade games...

... and WON!

Can you tell this little girl looks up to her Daddy?

We headed back home in the bitter cold to open presents and have cupcakes. Amaya opened a few from us, one from her aunt and uncle in Colorado and one from my co-workers.

Amaya and my co-worker Pauline share a common interest....

... they both LOVE CHEETOS!

She got quite a few books from both her aunt and uncle and from Steve and me. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES books - especially when they are Fancy Nancy!!

After presents, we had cupcakes. Amaya picked out which ones she wanted at Wal-Mart. No surprise here that she picked out Dora.

Happy Birthday, Amaya!

Delicioso!

Frosting Sugar Cookies

One of my favorite memories growing up, was decorating sugar cookies with my mom. We ate a lot of frosting, made a big mess, and had a lot of fun!

Amaya has several aprons, but for this special day, she wanted to wear the one that Cooper's Grandma gave her - thank you Grandma Susie!

She's working pretty hard and doing a great job!

Steve helped too because I had made a pretty big batch. His cookies were definitely the most creative!

Snitching a little frosting....

... and a little more...

A little sampling of our finished cookies.

"Mom! We made a big mess!"

Blizzards of December 2010

December of 2010 broke several records with the most snowfall ever. I think we got nearly 40 inches of snow throughout the entire month. This picture was taken during the first storm with several more to follow.

Amaya got new snowpants and an early Christmas gift - a sled! What a great time to put them into use! Steve got Amaya ready in her snow gear while I was hoping she didn't have to go to the bathroom! :-)

Steve pulled her along and she had an awesome time going through the snowdrifts.

Making snow-angels!

Amaya wanted to help shovel, so she's using one of Steve's that he keeps in his car. She actually was quite a big helper, until she started taking snow from the piles and putting it on the clean driveway!

After an hour or so, Amaya was ready to go inside for... HOT CHOCOLATE! (with lots of marshmallows - or marshmellums as Amaya calls them.)

Delicious!

Decorating the Tree

Since 2002 (when I bought my townhouse), I've always gotten a Premium Frasier Fir tree at Whiting's Nursery. After marrying Steve, we've continued the tradition because the staff at Whiting's make it so easy to pick out and load up a tree and they've got a beautiful selection of quality trees.

We typically will put our tree up in the corner of the living room near the window, but Steve wanted a BIG tree - nearly 9 feet tall! So, we tried out the tree in front of the bay window and I think we'll put it here every year. I didn't go nearly as crazy with the lights this year, only because a few of our strands weren't working anymore and it was a near blizzard out and I didn't want us trekking outside to Wal-Mart to pick out more. I think it only has about 800 lights on it this year, but it was still beautiful!

Amaya was pretty excited to help decorate the tree and a lot more helpful than last year.

Even Steve got a new ornament this year and helped decorate a little.

Amaya enjoyed decorating so much for Christmas, that we decided to get her very own pre-lit tree for her room. She really wanted a pink tree, but the couple of places we checked were all sold out. She was just as happy though with this little tree.

While I was growing up, my Mom bought me a new ornament each year so that when I had my own tree, I'd have a good collection of ornaments. It was such a great idea, that we decided to continue that tradition with Amaya too! Her very first ornament was the one on the left with her picture in it. We gave her Abby last year and this year we gave her a Dora ornament. Mom bought her the cookie sheet ornament and it accurately reflects our 2010 Christmas season - lots of cookie making and decorating!

Amaya was so proud to decorate her own tree and did a fabulous job! (And I refrained from moving any of the ornaments to "even things out.") Throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas, I would notice our big Christmas tree looking a little bare of ornaments near the bottom. Sure enough, Amaya was sneaking ornaments off our family tree to put on hers!

Amaya - Christmas 2010 - and her tree all decorated.

The picture is a little dark, but here is our completed tree! Probably one of my favorite trees so far!

We just got the tree and decorations down today. We've typically taken it down the weekend after New Year's, but because my sister and her family were still in town, we waited until this weekend. It's a little sad putting away all the decorations, but it's good to get our house back to normal.

Festival of Trees

Unfortunately, I've neglected our blog for such a long time, it's hard to even know how to get "caught up." I guess I'll just plug away...

After Thanksgiving, we have a tradition of attending the Festival of Trees in Rochester. We enjoy looking at all the trees, eating Christmas cookies, and drinking hot chocolate or apple cider. Plus, it gets us in the Christmas spirit! This year, we went on Gingerbread Decorating Day, so Amaya was able to participate in a few new activities.

Amaya's first taste of a Christmas cookie is pretty good! Although, the hot chocolate was "too hot." (She likes it lukewarm!)

Next, Amaya wanted to listen to a story from a lady dressed up as Mrs. Claus.

Then, Amaya spotted the Gingerbread decorating table.

"Hmm... I think it needs more sprinkles."

The end result!

Steve's favorite tree was the "Scrabble Tree."


Amaya liked the "Purple Tree."

My favorite was the "Ice Cream Tree."

After looking at all the trees, Amaya made a Gingerbread ornament.

Finished!

The last craft station was a huge mural that the kids could color.

After the Festival of the Trees, we picked up the "Big Red Pick-Up Truck" from Grandpa Lowell and picked out our Christmas tree at Jim Whiting's. Stay tuned for pictures of our HUGE tree!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011! What will this next year bring? As evidenced by the unexpected events we experienced in 2010, we hope to anticipate another year of dependence on God and spiritual growth.

My resolution this year is to live SIMPLY. Less stress. More prayer. Less disorganization. More planning. Less screen time. More family time. I want to be more intentional - have more purpose -choose to do things that I have a passion for - learn to say "no" - reprioritize things that are most important to me and my family.

What's your New Year's resolution? How can you use this year to give God glory?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Gatzke Family!

Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year. What's not to love about celebrating our Savior's birth, spending time with family, playing in the snow, and decorating cookies? And this season, we are especially thankful for all of the Lord's blessings in 2010.

Steve is currently in his last year of graduate school and will be receiving a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from Bethel University in May of 2011. What an accomplishment! High school was a struggle for Steve and to see him excel in his undergraduate work and now in a master's program is very rewarding for him and I couldn't be more proud of his hard work and determination. One of his requirements for school is to complete 700 hours in the counseling field through an internship. Monday through Friday mornings, he spends his time leading group therapy, family therapy, and individual therapy for sex offenders. His confrontational style of therapy has been an asset to the program and it's clearly evident that there is a great need for counselors like Steve to help this particular group of people. Steve has a heart to serve others and his career change from IT to Counseling has been a blessing.

While Steve's been juggling school and his internship, he's also had some significant set-backs in regards to his health. Over the past year, he has been hospitalized 5 times and has had 2 major surgeries related to his Crohn's Disease. And unfortunately, he will need to have surgery again in the spring to reassess his colon and intestine. We're hopeful that with this next surgery and the medications, that his Crohn's Disease would be controlled again. His strength and stamina isn't what it used to be, but every day he shows great improvement.

Steve wasn't the only one with medical problems this year. I also ended up having surgery in June (3 weeks after Steve's first surgery) to remove a tumor on my parotid gland. Once again we praise God that the tumor was benign, that my recovery wasn't long, and that we live less than 5 miles from one of the greatest medical facilities - the Mayo Clinic.

In the midst of the stress of Steve's ongoing health issues, I was experiencing a significant amount of stress at work. The economy had affected the Dermatology department quite a bit and while no one was ever laid off, there was still uncertainly about whether or not we could sustain all of our staff in the outpatient area. Mid-July, I applied for a part-time position in the Allergy Department, and on September 16th I began my new position (one day after Steve was hospitalized again, this time for severe dehydration). Changing jobs wasn't something that Steve and I were anticipating this year, but it has been an absolute gift from God. And I have no doubt in my mind that this is where God wanted me all along. The staff welcomed me with open arms and now I'm considered one of the "sisters." The work itself is very challenging and rewarding. Each day is so different from the next and I look forward to develop my nursing practice here for many years.

Amaya has been our constant source of joy through all our challenges this year! She is nearly 3 years old - and is growing up before our very eyes! Amaya is a very tender and empathetic little girl. I think our experiences in the hospital have molded her to be even more loving, caring, and sensitive to the needs of others. I admire her ability to "go with the flow." While I was trekking back and forth to the hospital visiting Steve, she never complained about having to go to Grandpa and Grandma Gustafson's house. While she missed her Daddy tremendously, she adapted very well and we praise God for flexibility. We also praise God that she has a very special relationship with both sets of her grandparents who live in town.

Amaya is also very active and loves to bounce, dance, twirl, and run! This past year she has participated in both gymnastics and swimming lessons. We'll continue the swimming lessons this upcoming year and for her birthday, we've enrolled her in an 8 week dance class. She is especially enjoying our 40 inches of snow with her new sled and shovel!

Amaya also started preschool at our church this past in the fall! She attends class on Fridays for 2 1/2 hours. It's amazing how quickly she picks up new songs and Bible verses. Amaya has recently shocked us with learning to recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance! She knows her ABCs and recognizes about half of the letters and numbers. She's already showing an interest in reading. Often times, she'll grab one of her hundreds of books and "read" to me!

While our year wasn't exactly what we anticipated, we praise God for our circumstances. We've learned to rely and depend on the members of the Body of Christ. Our asking for help, gave another person an opportunity to serve. We are thankful for the many people that reached out to us to encourage, love, and support us. We are thankful for our parents who literally carried us through these months of uncertainly. We are thankful for a God who doesn't promise us an easy life, but promises never to leave and never to forsake us. We are thankful for a God who promises to comfort - promises to provide - promises to unconditionally love us. When we were weak - God was strong. When we didn't understand - God knew the plan. We have learned to set our hopes on heaven - to hold firmly to His promise of eternal life - to trust that He is faithful. Whatever our future holds, there are no surprises for Him. And it is because of this, that we look forward to 2011 - with hope and a future walking side by side with our Lord!

Merry Christmas,
Steve, Jan and Amaya.