COME SEE MY NEW BLOG!!! www.megduerksen.com Continue reading

a big day here. my four youngest started school. and now i am driving my oldest to move into her dorm. HOW? when did my babies grow up? :) it seems like it's been forever and a flash at the same time. and this is my last post on the typepad site. i will redirect you tomorrow. it's a big day. Continue reading

FIRST OF ALL.... YAY!! WE funded Diana's Water Project!!! that is awesome. makes me so happy. ahhhhh. thank you to everyone who donated! Giving feels great... am i right?!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i can't believe summer is over. i was talking with some moms at the pool yesterday and we all said how this summer went so fast there was no time to even have a routine. we all wanted one. but there was too much going on for one. crazy. and now school starts next week! we have a few more supplies to pick up. and a couple of fun things... Continue reading

so i thought the match funds were only yesterday with One Day's Wages to fund Diana's project in Uganda. but i was wrong! and i am SO GLAD i was wrong! we have until FRIDAY to have our donations matched! YAY!!!! this is totally possible. it's $5000 to fund Diana's water project. ALL we have to raise is $2500 because One Day's Wages will match our donations up to $2500. Diana remembers the exact moment she wanted to become an engineer. She felt such helpless frustration, standing there, only four-years-old, watching the adults in her village scratch their heads. Their... Continue reading

The Adventure Project! I have worked together with The Adventure Project in many different ways... building wells for cleaner water, building stoves for cleaner air, getting irrigation pumps to farmers to help increase their income and provide more jobs, and training women to become health care providers for thier community to teach other women proper health care for children and themselves. ALL such WONDERFUL causes! And together with YOU we have raised A LOT of money to help in some A W E S O M E ways! today i wanted to call attention to an AMAZING woman in Uganda... Continue reading

yesterday between my boys' basketball games i ran into Joann's. on both sides of town. and michaels. that pom pom yarn was on clearance for .97! score. it will be so much fun to use! the fabric is all from Joann's too. In fact... i bought nothing at michaels this time. waffle got his hair cut again. i like him so much more when his hair is short. he just feels cleaner. i am not sure if he is... but it seems like it. still no eggs. but i know it won't be long now. :) have you seen this... Continue reading

i heard this at church last week. i believe it. God is messing with mine for sure. I have heard so many awesome stories of giving and growing and hope this week. And last week it felt like it was the opposite. Every whereI looked was hurt and sorrow and divorce and pain. I needed this week to restore my soul. I want whatever character traits God wants me to have. Even if its hard. And I know it will be. Change is always hard. But the rewards.... Oh so worth it. A closer relationship with God is always worth... Continue reading

so yesterday while we were at the indoor pool it was raining again for the fourth day (? i think) in a row. but it was REALLY raining hard. i decided we needed to go home becuase of the creeper couple that came to the hotel pool and was not going to stop making out even if we were in the room. driving home was NUTS. everything was flooded. my kids were yelling and so excited! Annie yelled "THIS IS AWESOME!!!!" i yelled back "NO THIS IS NOT AWESOME! EVERYONE CHILL OUT! I NEED TO DRIVE SO WE DON'T CRASH!"... Continue reading

i am not happy with the internet at my house. every photo takes F O R E V E R to up load. and i have a bajillion pictures to upload. we are winding down with summer over here. my kids go back to school in two weeks! i have been on a little health journey... all year but especially since the half marathon. bottom line: eating healthy and working out takes TIME. it's kind of annoying. planning ahead what you are going to eat.... figuring out how to work in an hour-ish of exercise. it's working but i just... Continue reading

i haven't meant to be gone from this space all week. my internet has been so slow it might as well be not working at all. but i got a few other things done instead... added some bunting to the shop... vacuumed the house... gave my boys hair cuts... bought a few school supplies... did some laundry... you get the point. i have lots of fun pictures from our vacation to share. next week i guess. .............................................................................................................................. For each Craft Weekend we have sponsors that send us their fabulous product as gifts to our guests. it is like christmas morning... Continue reading

we are home and i am super tired. it was a great vacation filled to the top with activites and people. all good things. but now i would like to crawl into a cave and sleep and not see people for a week. ha. i don't think that is possible with five kids. they did let me sleep in until 10 this monring. and that is something. we are out of food. the house is a mess. there is a TON of laundry to be done. yay. job security forever. it was a fabulous vacation. :) Continue reading

Stopped by our first house we ever bought. We moved in here when Scott was a baby. We had Sean, Talby and Annie while living here. We re-did everything in this house and learned so much. this was a good house. we made wonderful memories here. Continue reading

Crown Fountain at Millennium Park in Chicago. Continue reading

Catching the football over and over while Dad gets to float. Continue reading

Besties. (p.s. where did our babies go??? Jenny was in the delivery room for talby and annie!) (p.p.s. Vacation ROCKS!) Continue reading

Having so much fun playing in the water.... even Scott. :) Continue reading

This is awesome. At the lake in Indiana. Continue reading

Celebrated Sean's birthday while on vacation... THIRTEEN. Continue reading

Crazy huge, bigger-than-my-Head beautiful flowers at the St. Louis Zoo. Continue reading

The City museum in St. Louis, MO. Awesome. Continue reading

(that is a half eaten blueberry btw... not poop) the chickens liked the blueberries i gave them last night. :) to get shots like this i turn my phone to self portrait. then i turn it towards them and they can't resist getting in there to see what that is.... it's so funny. Continue reading

dudes....this summer is crazy. i don't know what i did other years? how did we do craft thursday? how did i get anything done? who is this person i have become???? that is how i am feeling everyday. it's getting old. i miss that lady who made cookies and painted pictures and sewed late at night. she needs to come back. i really miss that girl. this busy, tired, scattered, zoned out person who is living in my head needs to leave. these pictures have nothing to do with that little pity party. these are the cows across the road... Continue reading

we went to my parents for the Fourth of July this year. it was a beautiful day! we went to the pool for a few hours. i even took a little short nap on the lounge chair! that never happens. we had a yummy meal that my mom made for us. while she was working on the grill i took a little photo tour of my parent's yard. it's always relaxing sitting outside at my parents. they have worked hard to make their yard so pretty. there are birds everywhere and butterflies. we ate our delicious summer meal complete with... Continue reading