The newest Allender...

and a new American!!! Meet Sophia Allender, daughter of Brian and Dunia Allender. Brian is my cousin, who I spent a lot of time with growing up in Kansas. He has always felt more like a brother than a cousin, and I think part of that is because we were both an only child. Brian and his wife just recently adopted Sophia from Russia and we were able to go meet her when they made the trek back to Kansas to visit. (They live in Miami, Florida). I was extra excited because Sophia is only 1 month older than Maddie. They didn't do a lot of playing together, mainly because Sophia was too busy taking EVERYTHING in that she saw on the farm. But it was so much fun to just be around them. My parents hosted a get-together, along with Brian's parents, at our family farm for any of our family that wanted to come see them and meet Sophia. We had a great time just relaxing in the shade and visiting.

This is Ben, Maddie, and Sophia together. I wonder how big these 3 will all be the next time they see each other?Of course, Dad couldn't resist holding little Soph. What a sweetie she is!This is Brian and my grandma, Nora Ellen, having some time with Great-Granddaughter Sophia. Grandma turned 80 this past year.

Siblings

Well this is a department that I don't know much about. I am an only child, and I always knew I would have more than one child just because I wanted them to have each other to play with. What I didn't expect was how well they get along, or at least they do right now. This is what I found in the living room the other morning. I'm guessing Ben helped Maddie with her blanket, and they were both watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Now here is where the disagreements start to come in. Papa and Nana gave this car to Ben, and I don't think he's quite ready to pass it along yet. However Maddie doesn't seem to think that there is any reason why this can't be a two-person vehicle! I think I have a lot to learn yet...

Family, Food, and Fun

The past several days have been spent at the farm enjoying time with all our family. Jay Dee's youngest brother, Scott and his wife, Christa, came back from Indiana for several days to visit. So we had a great time enjoying each others company. Below are several pictures from our weekend. We seemed to cram a lot in and it was a joy!

This is Madalyn and her cousin Braden who is about 3 months older than her. They have a wonderful time playing together and are constantly on the move, so its rare for me to get a picture of the two of them.One of the projects for the weekend was to paint Royce and Carol's house. Scott actually broke his finger and had to have surgery a couple weeks ago, but he managed to paint most of the house on his own with only one hand. This is a picture of Ben helping him out by washing all the shutters.

I had made arrangements with some friends for some sweet corn and got a call that it was ready. So on saturday morning we decided to put up about 200 ears. Maddie and Braden both enjoyed sucking the very juicy corn. Except Maddie seemed to find an ear, chew it for a bit, and then move on to another one.

This is a photo of Ben and his Great-Grandma Elva Janzen cleaning the corn before we cut it off the cob.

Okay, this picture I just had to take. This is Maddie and her Great-Grandpa Walt Rempel. I have this same picture with my Great-grandpa Allender, except that I was a year older. So next summer I'm going to make sure I get another one.

This was Ben and his Aunt Christa playing a game while eating some delicious yummy fruit!

Every year since I don't know when, the Janzen boys have always taken a Father's Day photo in front of Royce's Camero. Of course, these days it rarely happens on Father's Day; just whenever everyone is actually together. And now, the grandkids get to get in on the action too.

An extremely rare photo of the two of us. I honestly think the last one I remember taking was at Brad and Kara's wedding and that was 6 years ago! Thanks Christa!

I think Ben was a bit upset that Uncle Scott couldn't play more with him, and so he managed to get him roped into reading books one night. Thanks Scott!

Another interesting thing that happened was that Madalyn took a book to her Uncle Brad and wanted him to read to her. This NEVER happens. We've been trying and trying to read to her and she can never sit still long enough. So I'd like to know what's so great about Uncle Brad? Of course, she didn't last for the whole book, but longer than she ever has for us.

We had an absolutely wonderful time with Jay Dee's family over the past several days. The girls even managed to get in and evening and part of a day of scrapbooking together which we haven't done for a couple of years. Thanks Scott and Christa for visiting. We miss you guys so much already! The morning you left, when Ben woke up, the first thing he asked me was when do we get to put up the Christmas tree. I asked him why, and he said, "because that's when we get to see Uncle Scott and Aunt Christa again!" I think you both have a very special place in his heart! :)

Patience is hard...

when you're a 3 1/2 year old waiting on the parade to begin! Because you know there's going to be firetrucks, and horses, and CANDY!!! Don't forget about the CANDY!!

So we were waiting for the parade to begin at our annual community days in the terrible heat and we were quite surprised at how well the kids did. Especially Maddie. She just sat in her little chair like a trooper. However when she started noticing kids running into the street after things she decided she needed to run too. She wasn't sure what she was running for, but she could run, that's all that mattered to her.





And when parade time is over, you relax with Daddy!

Columbus 09

For six days at the beginning of July I traveled with 12 kids from our youth group and 3 other sponsors to Columbus, Ohio for the Mennonite Church USA Conference. This is my third time going and every time I love it! I will say it is terribly hard to be away from my family for that amount of time, especially the kids, but I am so rejuvenated by Christ at the end of the week that it is always so worth it! The days are long, but its amazing how you just keep going...like the Energizer Bunny.

A lot of our time was spent at worships in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, so the first night we all took a picture at the Nationwide sign. As you can tell, we had a goofy group, but I loved every one of them. Its always so much fun to get to know the youth better, and two of them were my cousins, Kara and Sondra, so I got to spend a lot of time with them, which rarely happens these days. A couple of times during the day we would meet as our own little youth group to discuss what we had heard at worship and our plans for the rest of the day. This is picture is from that time. That is another sponsor, Bennett Friesen. Always a great friend!

We had the opportunity to celebrate the 4th of July in Columbus watching an awesome fireworks show. I think they said it was 27 minutes long and there were 1250 fireworks. Probably one of the best I've ever seen.

After many hours of travel and little sleep, we arrived back in Omaha before driving another 2 hours home. This was our last group photo. What a GREAT group of kids and sponsors. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful time, and I hope the Holy Spirit was renewed in you as it was in me.

Irrigating with Daddy

Last night we had an adventure...all FOUR of us went irrigating with Daddy. It was a nice time in the vast sea of green for Mommy, a little too long for Maddie, and well Ben, was just in heaven! We even managed to get all four of us on the 4-wheeler to go check the pivots. I'm sure that was a site for those that drove by us. You will notice that Ben is wearing his "irrigating boots" even though it was 90 degrees out! I don't think he ever did really need them, but he informed us that that is what they are for...or so his Papa told him when they bought them.

You will notice that Ben had to get right in there with his Daddy to find out what he was doing. Then he also informed us that his Papa has different grease because Daddy's is black and Papa's is yellow. Isn't it amazing the things kids pick up on?

This was a picture from before we left to go check some pivots. By the end of this trip, Ben was riding in front, I was on behind with Maddie trying to keep her from jumping ship because she was not happy. She had lost her shoes and her shorts because she had found a mudhole, and her diaper was soaked as well. Next time we might have to call Grandma....

These are just a couple of fun pictures we took while waiting for Daddy. Don't you just love the look on Maddie's face? She didn't like Mommy putting her in the rows of beans because she couldn't get out! He-he.

Madalyn Kate Janzen

Madalyn just turned one year old on June 5. We had a great day celebrating and I'll try to post some back pictures of that some other time. She is such a hoot and keeps us on our toes! She jibber-jabbers all the time and we're starting to figure out some of her more common noises and associating them with objects. For example, she loves our cats, so when she sees one, she does a really high-pitched shreek which also sounds like she's saying "kit-eeee".

On wednesday, she had 3 major accomplishments for the day. I think she was pretty proud of herself. She figured out how to drink out of a straw, which was a shock at first to her when she got Dr. Pepper out of my cup, but it didn't take long for her to want more. She also started going to things she would want, point at them, and say "that". It was very clear. So at least now she can tell us a little bit what she is wanting. The other thing she accomplished that day was the following:

This is what I found when I walked into the kitchen. She had managed to push the chair over to the window and climb up on it. She spent a lot of time that day just looking out at the backyard. I think she was looking for her "kit-eeee's". She also managed to climb up onto the couch, the recliner, and the glider rocker in her room. So needless to say, we have a climber! Watch out world!

While at the farm the other night Maddie got her fair share of wagon rides from Uncle Brad and Great Aunt Becky. She was in heaven. Braden also got to join in on the fun. They look pretty cute together if I do say so myself.Then when Brad, Kara, and Braden were getting ready to leave, they had put Braden in his carseat but hadn't strapped him in yet. Next thing we knew he was crawling in the front of the car and Maddie was crawling into the backseat. We all got lots of laughs as we stood outside the car and watched the two of them "play" in the car for a bit. Can't you just see the two of them cruising town some day? Although, this could be the biggest fight....deciding who gets to drive!

Benjamin Thomas Janzen

Benjamin is now 3 1/2 years old and everything a little boy should be. Fun, curious, loveable, energetic, and much more! He continues to amaze me with his comments and curiousity of the world around him. One day his favorite thing will be playing with a new airplane, the next a tractor. His newest adventure though is firefighting. Yep you heard right...not a farmer, but a firefighter. He recently asked if he could take some of his own money out of his piggy bank to go to WalMart and buy something. We agreed and so a couple days ago we headed to York. His original plan was to purchase a plastic trumpet that you could play with in the bathtub that would blow bubbles. However after looking at it every time we go to Wally world, this time they didn't have ANY! He was a bit disappointed, however I was able to convince him to look for something else. And this is what he came up with -

we now have our very own firefighter in the family!

Also, last night we had a nice evening out at Jay Dee's parents farm with a BBQ and then the highlight of the evening was watching Ben ride a little 70 three-wheeler that Jay Dee rode when he was little. Ben was so excited he couldn't hardly eat! I was hoping this event wouldn't take place until he was 5 or 6, but I think Daddy won.

I think my little boy is growing up faster than I'd like. Here is also a little video clip of him. Not sure if you can see the excitement on his face or not, but it was there!

A little about our title...

Where the Green Grass Grows...

I know what you're all thinking...why wouldn't she put something about 'where the corn grows'? Well I was trying to be creative, and this is as far as it got me. One of my favorite songs from my college years was by Tim McGraw called, Where the Green Grass Grows. I always liked the melody and actually hadn't listened to the song in many years. I heard it awhile back again, and it struck me how much the chorus was like my life right now. So that is where my blog title came from. Here are the lyrics from that chorus:

I'm gonna live where the green grass grows
Watch my corn pop up in rows
Every night be tucked in close to you
Raise our kids where the good Lords blessed
Point our rockin chairs towards the west
And plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows
Where the green grass grows

Basically, all we're missing is the peaceful river and we'd be set. Maybe someday...

Blogging...Here I Come!!!

So after much coaxing from family and friends, Blogging...Here I Come!!!

I have enjoyed reading other peoples blogs for a long time, but just never thought I had the time to sit down and blog like others do. Well I soon realized that sending photos over email is not the way to go anymore, and blogging is! We have also had changes in our lives and staying updated with others is getting harder to do. So my attempt in this blog will be to update family and friends of our "happenings" here in Henderson, Nebraska. With most of my family living outside the Cornhusker borders, I hope this will keep them updated, if they so choose to read my posts.

Please do not expect me to post every day! I do have two young children, plus a daycare, and numerous other responsibilities. So if I manage once or twice a week, I'll be happy. Happy reading!