Christmas Pics

Erik woke up on Christmas Eve with a terrible cold.  He went straight back to bed and has stayed there for the bulk of the last three days.  The boys and I did Christmas morning together and I was able to get a few fun shots.

 Happy Birthday, Jesus.  Your cake is delicious!

 Empty plate - big smile!

 Time for Stockings!

 Paul enjoys his Fruit Twist

 Luke with his freeze dried strawberries - a favorite Christmas treat at our house!

 The boys' first gifts were these 3D grizzly bear puzzles.  Challenging but super cool!

 Paul with his finished bear

 Luke got this radio dramatization of all seven Narnia books.  He was jazzed.

 Both boys got these knight play sets.  Yes, they already have armor.  These are for the villain to use...every story needs a villain.

 Luke was pretty jazzed about Aunt Nikki's gift, a cool dinosaur stamp set.

 Paul with his stamp set, naming each animal.  Cute!

 Luke with his castle building blocks from Oma

 The shirt came from Grandma, the shield is from last Christmas and the rest was from us.  The final product is a six-year-old boy who believes he is a knight.

 Fierce Knights!

Happy Knights!

Christmas Letter 2011

In keeping with our new tradition of spending less and giving more at Christmas time, I am once again foregoing a Christmas card and letter.  As I receive your cards in the mail, I struggle with this sacrifice.  I want to send you a darling picture of our family with an enclosed letter updating you on all the Bangsund bizz.  Then I remember that my children most often produce pictures like this one...

...and I am once more convinced that digital is the way for our family to go.  Who wants to hang that on their fridge?  :-)

All joking aside, 2011 has been a year filled with blessings,  challenges, and growth for the Bangsunds.

Erik continues in his position with Takeda Pharmaceuticals.  He embraces the challenges of selling in an environment controlled by managed "care" companies who care more about the bottom line than patient well-being.  He strives to work at all things with all his heart as though working for the Lord Jesus Christ, not men (Colossians 3:23).  He inspires us with his positive attitude and diligence.  We love the Daddy-Man.  Erik also continues in his role as a Group Leader for the local evening men's Bible Study Fellowship class.  He loves the Word and he loves the men in his group.  It's a huge blessing in his life.

Luke finished off his kindergarten year in June, turned six in August and began first grade in September 2011.  He loves knights, castles, Narnia and occasionally watching Daddy play a Zelda video game (only those rated E and approved by Mommy).  We have seen growth in Luke's ability to handle unmet expectations and disappointment.  We continue to pray that Jesus will grow Luke in his patience and kindness.  (Who doesn't need a little work in these areas?)

Paul turned four in July and started unofficial pre-school in September.  He loves cars, trains, watching the aforementioned Zelda game, and playing anything with his big brother.  Those two are tight.  Paul has conquered the use of all restroom facilities.  I won't go into further detail, but needless to say, we were all overjoyed!  We pray that Jesus will help Paul handle the big emotions of being four and grow Mommy and Daddy and Luke in their patience while we wait for him to turn five.  We love our Paul.

Amy doesn't know where to start.  2011 brought new callings on her life from the Lord Jesus that she simply wasn't expecting.  She continues to homeschool the boys and LOVES it.  She continues to be a leader for BSF, but swapped over to an evening class where she serves as a Children's Leader.  She LOVES it because she gets to teach the Bible and invest in the lives of 6th-9th graders.  And now for the surprise.

In late August, Amy and Erik answered God's call to join the core leadership team of a church plant coming out of their home church, Mosaic.  Their new church family, Roots Community, is filled with young families focused on the life-changing truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The night they met with their new pastor, he asked Amy to pray about accepting a call to be Roots' first children's pastor.  Amy thought, "No way," but said, "I'll pray about it."  Long story short, after heartfelt prayer, God used His Word and fellow believers to make it abundantly clear to her that this was a calling He had placed on her life.  And so, Amy accepted the position and began giving roughly ten hours a week to the work of being a children's pastor.  And...she LOVES it.  :-)

God is so good and faithful.  We pray that all of you are experiencing His life-saving grace and goodness this Christmas.

Love,

Erik, Amy, Luke and Paul

PS - Because MANY of you have asked in your Christmas correspondence to us, YES, we continue to lead the Young Adult BSF Prayer Group with the hopes that God will start a new class here in Portland.  His timing is perfect and His ways are not our own.  We trust Him completely.  :-)

Mostly October and Mostly Pics

Well, friends, it's been a very full October and new we are part way through November!  But I thought I would share some pics and fun from the past month.

Luke and Daddy heading to Luke's first night of BSF on October 10th 

Luke was so excited, he could barely stand it!  BSF continues to be a favorite part of the week for him.

We made a compass in science on October 12th.  It was pretty awesome.

I made spiced butternut squash and lentil soup for the first time this fall on October 18th.  It was also pretty awesome. :-)

We went to the pumpkin patch on October 22nd.

I love the look on Paul's face as he checks out the sheep.

Goofy Family Picture!

This child loves to make hilarious faces.

This is the "I'm smiling for this picture" smile.

Luke draws a face on his pumpkin.

Pretty fun face!

Paul draws a face on his pumpkin

Not bad for the four-year-old!

Serious Dude with His Pumpkin

Paul helping Daddy carve

The boys on the porch with their carved pumpkins

Cuteness!

Lit pumpkins and tired boys...it too awhile for it to get dark enough!

Luke dressed as a knight this year

I really love this costume.

Adventures await!

Sir Luke

Paul also had a knight costume and at the VERY last minute told our house guest that he was going to be a bear!  Out came last year's Pooh costume.

He was a very happy Pooh Bear!

We had to do this business early because Halloween fell on a Monday - BSF night!  The neighbors were all fabulous at 5:45pm and didn't mind coughing up some free candy despite the daylight streaming through their windows.  :-)

And this I took a few days ago because the boys requested a picture.  Pretty fun!

Lessons Learned This Week

It has been a great week here in Bangsund-Land.  I'll begin with last Saturday morning.  Luke came out of his room at 6:20 am with a complaint about being unable to locate something, and I knew it was time.    The room had been spiraling out of control since his 6th birthday party.  Yes, that was in late August.  I decided that with Paul asleep and Erik at BSF leadership, it was a perfect opportunity to shovel it out.  I wish I had taken a before picture.  It took us three hours.  We did pause briefly for breakfast.  Here's a picture of the results.  I was thrilled and so was Luke.  I'm even happier to say that nearly a week later, it basically looks the same.  Okay, the books aren't quite as neatly shelved.

After the room-gutting, Daddy arrived home and we all headed over to the Children's Museum to enjoy opening day of the new exhibit:  Lego Castle Adventure.  Did they crawl inside my six-year-old's brain to create this exhibit?  I'm fairly certain they did.  Legos and Castles are Luke's favorite things ever.  I'm fairly certain that he and I will be returning to enjoy this business more than once.  While we were there, Luke was actually a little overwhelmed by it all.  I think he will enjoy it more when it's a little less crowded and he can take his time to contemplate things.  Regardless, he had a pretty amazing time and here are some pics to prove it.

This knight is made of lego.  Even I know that's cool.

Luke takes a closer look.

Both boys check out the trebuchet made of lego.

In school this week we also had a number of super fun things.  Our science experiments this week continued to focus on magnets, highlighting the difference in the poles and how they attract and repel.  Luke's favorite item was a car we modified.  I made a video because it was so fun to see him enjoying our creation.  I've not watched it since I made it, but I think he even explains the science, in his very six-year-old boy way.

Here's the close-up shot of the poles.

Wednesday our family did something special in response to a moment I had with the Holy Spirit that morning.  For BSF this week, we are reading Acts 8 and 9, in which the early church is persecuted and scattered almost single-handedly by Saul.  Acts 4:4 amazed me as I read it. "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went."

The passage goes on to describe Philip's time in Samaria proclaiming the Christ.  Our lesson had us look back to 2 Kings 17:6-41 as a reminder of how the Jewish culture of first century Jerusalem felt toward the Samaritans.  I'll sum it up with John 4:9 - "Jews do not associate with Samaritans."  They did NOT like these folks.  Samaritan religious practices were detestable to Jews and they would travel MILES out of their way to avoid Samaria.

Now Philip is there filled with the Holy Spirit, and nothing can keep him from sharing the amazing awesomeness that is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh come to pay the penalty for humanity's sins so that all who accept the gift can live transformed, eternal, abundant lives.  Sharing the Gospel with the Samaritans was a completely new venture and outlook for the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem.  Here comes the question that stopped me in my tracks.

"What new actions should you take toward people who might occupy a similar place in your culture?"  Isn't that a good question?  I needed to stop and think about who I try to avoid and then it hit me.  I am often guilty of attempting to avoid the homeless.  I really felt like the Lord wanted me to find a healthy way to engage this population rather than avoid and ignore them.  Here comes the Holy Spirit inspired part.

It was Wednesday morning, meaning that Paul would be headed to BSF with my mom and Luke and I would have special time together.  After we finished the academics for the morning, we headed over to the dollar store to build some goodie bags for  the homeless.  Luke helped me pick out toothbrushes, deodorant, lip balm, and shaving supplies.  Then we headed to Fred Meyer to purchase good socks.  After dinner that night, we all sat down to put the bags together.  The boys loved it.  We included meal invitations for the Portland Rescue Mission that anyone can print here.  We are so excited to have this opportunity to help hurting people in our community.  And I am so thankful to God for His Word and for BSF that helps me apply it to my life.

Our bags for the homeless.  We keep them in our cars and give them out when we encounter someone in need.

This picture was just too cute.  It's the fort they built after we cleaned Luke's room.  Paul is holding up a floor plan.  That's something Daddy printed and told them all about just recently.  Paul says this is Lucy's house.  From Narnia.  :-)