The Life of the Marty Party: November 2007

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Giving Thanks

In Psalm 9:1 the psalmist wrote, “I will thank You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.”

Truly 2007 has been a year of immense blessing. In recent years we’ve grown through life changing events such as career change, living in new surroundings, and the birth of our daughter, Briar. This year the Lord provided a season of stability for our family.
We are so grateful to God for always providing our needs, no matter how small or great they seem. What a blessing from the Lord to be surrounded by so many special friends, who make us feel so at home here.
Happy Thanksgiving 2007 from Us to all of our dear friends and family.
We are thankful for you!
With Our Love,
Bethany and Q, Eden, Truman and Briar

Thanksgiving Party at the Marty's

We are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in Wisconsin this year. But, we wanted to be sure to have a special dinner with our friends, Dawn and Jon and Kim and Kyle, so we hosted our 2nd annual Marty Thanksgiving Party last Sunday! I love to choose the perfect candles and dishes and napkins, and to make the centerpiece just right, and Q's job is to grill the turkey! It tastes so good, we've decided to make this a tradition. Plus, it frees up the oven for all the yummy side dishes like sweet potatoes with marshmallows, stuffing and mashed potatoes! Our thanks to the Z's and the D's for coming and for contributing to our feast! It was such a special afternoon/evening! There's nothing like old friends and good food! It's so great that our kids all love each other so much too!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Steven Curtis Chapman Concert!

Tuesday Night, there was a Steven Curtis Chapman concert at our church! We went with our friends Dawn and J.D. and Kim and Kyle. Sanctus Real opened for SCC! As of the concert...I am a HUGE fan of Sanctus Real! They were AMAZING! The lead singer has such a great voice!!! It was a total blast! I've been to several SCC concerts over the years--I've loved him since high school--I tell ya what, he's still got it! It was so good...so much fun! I remember in the 90's he would always tell cute stories about his sons Caleb and Will Franklin, and now they are both part of his band! After the concert the crew was tearing everything down and Will Franklin, his 16 year old son (and drummer), was just hangin' out talkin' to people...literally down the aisle from us so I said to Dawnie, "let's ask to take a picture with him" he was so cool about it! So, this is Dawn and me with Will Franklin!
This concert was a great reminder of how Awesome our God is! The song, "Miracle of the Moment" is about how it's not just the great big life changing moments that are from God, it's every moment...just to breathe in and out is a gift from God! He is a part of every second of our lives! Praise God!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Baby's First Haircut

On Monday...Briar got her first haircut! She was perfect! I think she was pretty curious what was going on but she didn't seem bothered by it at all! She just played with the big powder brush or sucked her thumb while my hairdresser, Kelly, snipped away! We saved a lock of hair for the baby book, of course, and now she just looks like such a little girl! No more "baby mullet"!!!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

OUR LITTLE BOY IS 6 YEARS OLD

On November 2nd, Truman turned 6! It has been an exciting six years watching him grow and seeing his personality develop. We are so proud of him. Happy Birthday, Tru Dawg! We love you!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

OUTDOOR FUN AND GAMES...AND INJURIES?

Everybody survived Truman's party! I say it that way because no sooner had the "little" male guests arrived at our fun-outdoorsy-themed-wear-something-camouflage-play-games-and-eat-hot dogs-outside party and they had named the tent that we set up for them to explore....er...perhaps, sit in...the "TACKLE HOOOOOUSE!!!!!!!!!!"
(to get the full effect you must read that in your loudest 'sports fan' type voice)!!! Oh my goodness!!! The tent was a wrestling ring to them!!! I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I planned this party! Just based on circumstances, us living overseas, Truman never going to preschool etc., the past 5 birthdays have just been extremely low key...mostly adults...or just family. I was just completely oblivious to what little boys are capable of in large groups I guess!? So, that said, It was really fun and crazy at times, but everybody lived! The weather was everything we had hoped it would be! It was perfectly dry and sunny! So as the boys were arriving at 3 o'clock they could just play outside on the swing set or in the tent a.k.a. "tackle house" you know, run around...be boys! Then Q started them in a relay game called "bucket brigade" basically move the water in cups from one bucket to the other as fast as you can and whichever team gets the most in the allotted time wins! They loved it! Then we moved over to the neighbor's slightly bigger yard to play a "tag" game called "Mr. Bear Are you Sleeping?" you better be ready to run when Mr. Bear wakes up or you'll be one of his bear cubs!!! Then we broke into four teams for a scavenger hunt! We found bugs, sticks, feathers, tree bark, berries, assorted leaves, acorns....etc etc. Then it was into the house to open the gifts from all of Truman's buddies! Who knew something as simple as opening a present could be so wild????? We have a new found respect for Mrs. Hook (Truman's Kindergarten Teacher)!!! Truman is very excited about all of his new star wars, black spidey, legos, transformers, toys, games and airplanes!!! Then, after the gifts we had some more "free-time" which I've learned, translates to-- every 60 seconds a boy comes out of the tent crying or bleeding!!!!!!!! For supper we served Hot Dogs, Apples with Carmel Dip, and Pretzel Sticks to keep with the outdoor theme! The cake was Truman's favorite...chocolate on top of chocolate on top of chocolate! After the cake and birthday wishes there was still 20 minutes 'til the party was over! So, since it was getting a little chilly we sent them all down to the basement, far away from the "tackle house" to play safely til the parents arrived! It was a wild and crazy boy party, but it was all worth it! Truman had a blast!

Happy 6th Birthday, Truman! We love you!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Trick or Treat

Q and I have been married for 16 years. We've been through so much together from traveling the world and living overseas to the births of each of our 4 children and everything in between. Our marriage is stronger than ever and for that we are very grateful. We do not take it for granted and we're always working on staying close and improving our relationship. Marriage definitely has it's ups and downs just like every part of life, but we've chosen to relish the good and to learn from the bad and grow through it. In 1996, we started our life together in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Q was an associate pastor for 5 1/2 years. Our life changed forever in 1999 when we had our first baby...a girl. In 2001 we had a boy.
In 2003, Q began working for HOPE International. We moved our little family of four to Kiev, Ukraine for the first 15 months and then transferred to Lancaster, PA where the HOPE headquarters is located. We lived in Lancaster for 4 years. During that time we happily welcomed our sweet baby #3, another girl.
Then, in January 2009, Q resigned from his position with HOPE and we moved our family overseas to Krakow, Poland to join Q's parents and siblings in a family business. The business was called "More Than A Cookie". We baked and sold gourmet cookies and brownies, ice cream, and specialty coffee drinks. Our passion has always been to further the Kingdom and support ministries close to our hearts so the idea was to give a portion of every purchase to support children's ministry.
In December 2009, we moved back to the states yet again. This time to the home we know and love *Minnesota*. [We have since sold the rights to our family business in Europe]. It has been a great experience to reconnect with family and friends after being gone for 6 1/2 years. I was able to start up my cleaning business again and I still love it. Q is back with HOPE International working as the development representative doing fundraising work here in the twin cities and Chicago as well. We feel so blessed to be part of such a great organization.
In May 2010, We bought a house on a lake...which is so fitting for Minnesota...and we have really enjoyed getting settled into our life here. Have you heard the saying "new house new baby"? Well, we found out baby #4 was on the way only 4 months after we moved in!*SURPRISE*
We evened the score with another boy and our party of five became six last May. We know each one of them is a special gift from God and we are enjoying this incredible journey of parenting together. It's not always easy but we can't imagine our life without any of them. We feel so blessed.

Eden is 12 years old. She is a beautiful, sweet, fun and very creative girl. Eden enjoys sewing, drawing, painting and any kind of art project. She is also very talented in singing. She's played fall soccer for the past 2 seasons and this year her team even won the championship. It has been such a joy to watch her grow into a young lady {preteen}...it could not be more true "the years go by so fast" we have enjoyed every stage so far. What a great big sister and help to Mommy and Daddy she is! She is very responsible and is always watching out for her little brothers and sister.

Truman is 10. He loves sports. His most favorite is football...any version...He plays on a city league team, he plays on the Playstation, he plays with his friends at school and with just himself in the backyard while narrating the play by play (this version is especially fun to watch out my kitchen window) and then of course there's his favorite NFL team, the Vikings, he loves to watch on Sundays...he even collects football cards. He also plays on the traveling basketball team and he is very good. He was on the track team in the spring and he won several blue ribbons in that as well. He's just one of those athletic kinda guys.
He also really loves fishing! His biggest catch was on a guys' weekend with Daddy when he caught a 24 inch Northern.
Although Math is his favorite subject in school, like his sisters, he is also very good in art and he even has his own little creative side.
He has such a great sense of humor. He's always making all of us laugh. He is a total entertainer. But, he is also one of the most thoughtful, sweet and sensitive boys you'll ever meet. We love this about our Truman. Most of all he is so happy to finally have a brother! It's been so fun to watch him with Jude.

Briar is 5. She started Kindergarten this year and so far she loves it. She goes for half days. In the morning she rides to school with Truman and then she comes home on the bus at noon. I love getting her dressed in the morning and doing her hair in fun braids or piggy tails, buns or curly buns. I want to take a picture of her every day because she is so stinkin' cute! Briar also played soccer for the first time this fall. She did a great job. She's not terribly aggressive or anything but it was still really fun to watch her.
She is such a fun little girly girl! She loves to play kitchen, babies, Barbies, Polly Pockets, dress-up, make-up...I guess "girly girl" would suffice! She even has her own little sense of humor. I wish I could video tape every moment right now because she is so adorable and she says the cutest things in her sweet tiny voice.
Briar is my best helper in the kitchen. I love that she doesn't just get bored with it half way through and quit. She always helps until everything is completely done.
She has been loving her new role as "big sister". She is definitely Mommy's little helper. Briar always helps me with bathtime for Jude and she loves to change his diapers and even burp him. I have loved watching her with him. It is truly precious. Every day when she gets off the bus she runs to give Jude a big hug and kiss!

Jude Blaser Marty baby number 4. Arrived on May 21st at 10:27am via C-section.
Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz
Length: 21 inches.
We didn't know we would ever have a 4th baby, yet here we are...completely in love with this little boy. He has completed our family. We are all crazy about him.
Jude is such a perfect "baby of the family". He is so laid back. He is very patient...it's like he knows there are 3 siblings to compete with for our time and he's totally okay with it. He's such a little love nugget speaking of which he already has so many nick names including but not limited to:
Ju.d.ju
juju.b
jude dude
lovey love
the man
the one
total munch
munchabunch
love munch
kicky bubbles
honey love