Saturday morning, knowing that the temperatures were going to climb to above freezing that weekend, Jim made a spur of the moment announcement: we were going to find a sled hill and sled to our hearts’ content.
Derek got the Good Brother Award for the day, as he hung with Ruth the whole time.
She rather enjoyed it.
These guys are buddies.
Even Molly joined the fun. She stayed at the bottom of the hill.
(We missed Jake, as he had to catch an early bus to his swim meet that day.)
We made our way to Starved Rock last week, just before all the snow melted.
We started our hike by going up to the top to look for the bald eagles that make Starved Rock their home every winter.
We were not disappointed, as we saw three of them swooping over the river and then perching in the trees on the island across the river. If you squint really really hard perhaps you can see three dark spots in the trees on the island. Or just take my word for it–the eagles were there.
We climbed up and down many flights of stairs. My health app said I climbed 21 flights!
We stopped every so often to admire the beautiful frozen waterfalls. Some were small…
but this huge one was the highlight of the trip.
The kids enjoyed climbing around it. We watched a couple of guys with ice picks and rock climbing gear scaling the entire waterfall.
A great winter field trip!
At long last, Ruthie’s dream of being a ballerina is being fulfilled.
Every Friday we will be putting on the leotard and going to our friend’s house to learn ballet.
Saturday through Thursday is spent showing the rest of the family everything she learned on Friday.
As Jeremy sat on the couch yesterday working on grammar, he was grasping his broken pencil. He turned toward me and shared a truth from the Bible.
He said, this is how we see us:
and this is how God sees us:
Who knew that even a broken pencil could demonstrate a truth about God.
For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
A mere two weeks ago, the pond was as fluid as could be. But thanks to Chicago’s extreme, change-on-a-dime weather, we now have a several-inch thick pond of ice in the backyard. And since these boys have been chomping at the bit to go out and skate, once Jim performed a couple drill bit tests and determined the ice thick enough for a truck to drive on, they wasted no time strapping on those skates.
It’s fun to see these guys improve from one year to the next.
This little guy in particular has become quite the skater…and stick handler.
Meanwhile, Ruthie-boots still opts not to wear skates. She says she’s too little. So while her brothers engage in a pick-up game of hockey, she wanders around the rink while having imaginary conversations.
The teams were Jake and Peter vs. Derek and Jeremy. In terms of birth order, it was the odds versus the evens.
1 and 2 faced off.
Then the competition really began.
They took a break for lunch and warming up by the fire, but thanks to the flood lights on the rink, they’ll be out later tonight.
The other morning at breakfast, Jim shared an illustration with the kids which was borne out of his own life experience, as well as listening to the wisdom of others. Since I am a visual learner and love word pictures, I shall share it here with you.
He said that preparing for adulthood requires a tremendous amount of energy, similar to a rocket preparing to launch from its pad.
If not executed properly, then the launch will shoot the rocket off course, and who knows where it will end up, like a life wandering aimlessly, not knowing its purpose. However, if all the energy is channeled properly, then the rocket launches on course, straight through the atmosphere.
Let your eyes look directly ahead
And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
Watch the path of your feet
And all your ways will be established.
Do not turn to the right nor to the left;
Turn your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27)
Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
Once a properly launched rocket breaks through the atmosphere and is in orbit, it requires minimal energy to remain on course.
My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you. (Proverbs 6:20-22)
Our second (and final) day in Atlanta was the reason we embarked on our road trip in the first place: we got to experience a college bowl game–a first for all seven of us.
The Peach Bowl is sponsored by Chick-Fil-A, hence we spotted many cows before and during the game.
Before the game began, we watched the players walk from their bus to the stadium. These are college kids. They were like celebrities. Crazy.
Everywhere we turned in Atlanta, we saw either purple or red. Literally. We felt like quite the oddball family in our gray and black and yellow, not having any affinity toward one team or the other–TCU or Ole Miss.
But given the fact that each member of the Johanik family is more competitive than the next, we could not watch a game such as this one without cheering for one team over the other. So we moved off the fence of indifference and each picked teams that we would root for. Some chose purple, some chose red.
We walked in the stadium, and it was impressive.
As the game progressed, there were a few factors that tipped the scales and led all of us to cheer for TCU. We were all Frogs fans for a day.
There was definitely no shortage of entertaining things to see in addition to the game itself.
As TCU absolutely dominated the entire game and won 42-3, Jeremy proclaimed proudly at the end, “Well, we picked the right team!”
Our adventure was not over yet, though. As soon as the game was over, we made our way to the car and began the long drive home. It was New Years Eve, and we were looking forward to ringing in the new year on the road. We did just that, somewhere in Indiana.
We do thank God for His provision and His protection throughout our trip!
Our first day in Atlanta was spent at the College Football Hall of Fame. It was a hit for all of us! Upon entering the building, we received a lanyard with a computerized tag. Each of us chose a college with which to be associated throughout our visit.
Once a person chose their college, it’s football helmet lit up on a ginormous wall of hanging helmets, representing every college football team in the country.
Jim picked Wheaton College, while I was a UTSA super-fan.
Jake picked North Central College, while Derek chose Northwestern.
Peter was Michigan,
Jeremy chose Air Force Academy,
and Ruthie picked Bulldogs–the Georgia Bulldogs.
Every kiosk and computer screen we drew near would read our personal tag and pull up information about our chosen school. Talk about innovative!
We weren’t sure how Ruthie would do, walking around a football museum all day. But she loved it as much as everyone else. She even managed to find some princesses.
Jake measured up to Cam Newton.
Derek and Peter filmed a clip on College Game Day, sitting next to Chris Fowler and Desmond Howard.
Knowing how conservative and reserved these boys can be, I encouraged them to pour on the emotion and excitement…don’t worry about looking like a fool, you’ll never see any of these people again. Here’s their clip…
Our final “exhibit” had us kicking field goals, running to catch passes, and playing quarterback.
Before heading back for dinner, we stopped at Georgia Tech and did a self-tour of some of the buildings. Jake stopped for a pose with the yellow jacket in the engineering building.
And Jeremy couldn’t pass up an opportunity to pose as Professor in the lecture hall.
The Car Ride
We found out shortly before Christmas that a friend at the Chick-Fil-A Foundation was able to get our family tickets to the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. So on December 29, we packed our bags and hopped in the car to head to the Peach State.
With gas costing less than $2 a gallon these days, our journey ended up being quite economical! We drove through states that some of us had never ventured through before…
We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Tennessee for comfort food and peg games. The kids got a kick out of everyone’s southern accent. Y’all want some more Spraht?
We passed the time in the car with an audiobook. We still have several hours left to listen to, as the book is a whopping 19 hours long.
Jeremy was getting a little stir-crazy in the backseat and got creative with the glow-in-the-dark thinking putty.
After 12 hours on the road, we made it to our destination!
We’re going to rewind to before Christmas here. Jim and I celebrated 19 years of marriage by going out to eat and…
visiting the puppy store.
The bulldog brothers grabbed our attention right away. No matter how homely the animal is as an adult, they all start out cute as babies. Bulldogs are no exception. They snuggled their way right into my heart, and if it weren’t for the not-so-minor facts that 1. they came from the puppy store, and 2. they cost a mere 3800 dollars each, I would have considered bringing one home.
When we came home and showed the pictures to the kids, they oohed and asked to go see the dogs in person. So we obliged and went back the next night.
Jeremy took to the one that was especially cuddly. Takes one to know one, I suppose.
Alas, we had to leave the store empty-handed once again. But when I think back nearly six years ago to when Molly was a young pup, soiling the floors, nipping at our pant legs, and requiring third-shift Molly duty, I’m content getting a ‘puppy fix’ at the pet store and leaving it at that.
After our morning with the immediate family, we headed into Chicago to celebrate Christmas with the Giere clan. If there were ever grandparents who love their grandkids to pieces, here they are.
Once the kids filled their bellies and opened their presents, they had some energy to burn. Thankfully, the city of Chicago had just opened a new park down the street from my parents’ home. The kids had a blast running and sliding and swinging to their hearts’ content.
It really is a unique playground, at least according to suburban standards. As you look beyond the playground equipment, you see the Chicago skyline packed with skyscrapers.
The kids spotted green space and exclaimed with delight, “Let’s run!”
Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
We began Christmas morning by lighting the center candle of our advent wreath.
We had had the stockings hung on the fireplace mantle since Thanksgiving, and whenever we mentioned the word stocking or presents, Molly would trot over to her own stocking and sniff it. On Christmas morning, she was quite anxious to see what toys and treats awaited her in her stocking.
She was not disappointed.
The kids are learning the joy of giving and planned for weeks what gifts they wanted to give each other. It warmed my heart to hear one of them say that he was more excited to watch his siblings open the gifts he gave them than to open presents himself.
They gave in proportion to how much cash they had, so the bigger kids were able to spend a little more, while the little kids made a trip to the dollar store to pick out their gifts.
Ruthie giggled every time she thought about Jake putting on the gift she got for him. She was not disappointed.
Derek put some thought and creativity in to this on for Jake. He had a topographic map printed at Costco of the mountains they visited together last summer.
After all was said and done, there was a hush around the house as the boys all sat reading the new comic books.
Jesus came to this earth, born as a baby, at just the right time. It was the time appointed long before by God, the Ancient of Days. God, because of His unfathomable love for people, told them about the Messiah who was to come and how they must prepare themselves. They were looking forward to the coming of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! (Psalm 24:7)
Today we look back on the birth of Jesus with joy, knowing that God fulfilled His promise by sending His Son, who not only grew from a boy into a man, but most importantly died and rose again to reconcile people to God.
What’s on my mind this morning is that Christmas is a time to look back and remember that remarkable event, but we do it while also looking forward. Because the story isn’t over.
For Christ will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him…For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. (Hebrews 9:28 and 10:37)
The Son of God is coming again! He will come and make all things new! Let’s celebrate by both remembering and looking forward.
No big news from the day to share with fellow family members. Just enjoying one another’s company around the dinner table.
Thanks to one family member, though, ordinary is rarely without some form of humor.
It’s important to establish family traditions, so this Thanksgiving weekend, we embarked on a new one: the Thanksgiving morning Giere 5K Classic.
Peter and my Mom baked the post-race (or for those of us who couldn’t wait that long, the pre-race) meal.
Then we strapped on our running shoes and got ready to run. My mom brought official bib numbers, which made us all feel Very Important. (Next year, timing chips?)
Since we didn’t really know the area, we had to study Google Maps to figure out where we should run.
My Dad (the race official) sounded the whistle, and we were off. We ran two by two…
The weather was quite snowy, which made for a beautiful backdrop, however not ideal conditions for running. I don’t think anyone followed the agreed upon course since visibility was a challenge through the big snowflakes. But everyone made it back to the house, excited to have participated in the first ever Giere Classic!
The wet snow had an effect on our bib numbers. Next year we may affectionately rename the run the Smeary Classic.
Peter was assigned to bring the pies for Thanksgiving dinner this year. He found just the right recipes for apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies. He even tweaked a couple recipes according to how he thought they could improve. Then he made a shopping list of the things we didn’t already have on hand.
And off we went to the grocery store to gather ingredients.
Check that list.
He thought it would be way more fun if his cousin Hannah could come over to help him bake. So she did. And it was.
They ran the kitchen like a couple of professional bakers, with minimal parental intervention. In fact, I even left to run to the library at one point, and when I returned, all six pies were out of the oven AND…this was the big surprise…the kitchen was perfectly cleaned!
The proud bakers.
The hungry bakers.
The eager audience.
A little too eager.
Can you blame them?
Here’s a video of the action:
After our pear tree fell during a massive storm three years ago, there was a giant void left in the front yard.
A year later, we planted another tree in its place.
An oak tree.
We affectionately call it our oak of righteousness, reminding us of the wonderful truth that God, through Jesus Christ, binds up the brokenhearted, sets captives free, and releases prisoners from the darkness.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor. (Psalm 61)
Here is our “oak of righteousness” all dressed up for Christmas.
May my life be nothing but a display of His splendor.
We all got the eeby-jeebies (Molly included) when we found a big spider by the front door. And then there was Jeremy–undaunted by the eight-legged creature–who tried to catch it by its leg.
Baby Derek had his inaugural ride in the double jogging stroller.
He and Jake logged countless miles during my marathon training days.
And now…it’s all I can do to keep up with him as he runs alongside me.
