The Life of the Marty Party: April 2008

Monday, April 28, 2008

Party in Pink!

Guess who's two!?! Briar turned 2 today, April 28th! We had the party yesterday. Our special friends, Dawn, Jon, Sophia and Anthony came for the afternoon. Grandpa and Grandma are here visiting from Wisconsin for the week, so the party was extra special this year. We had pink balloons, plates and napkins, and a 3-layer strawberry cake with pink cream cheese frosting and two pink candles! She was the cutest birthday girl ever; she blew the candles out all by herself. Thank you to our special friends and family back home and in Poland for sending gifts

and birthday wishes. Briar loved opening all her presents! It was such a fun day!
We are so thankful for our sweet Briar Victoria. Happy 2nd Birthday, Brizee!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Double Dribble

When Eden was in first grade, we got her involved in a really great basketball program called Upward. Well, this year, Truman got to be a part of it too! ...and Daddy...He was the coach of Eden's team! They had such a good time. Upward is a wonderful organization that, through the local churches, teaches the kids how to play sports and use good sportsmanship and honor God. They learn a Bible verse every week, and have devotions and prayer time. The games were every Saturday. It was pretty incredible to watch the progression from the first week to the last, and how much they had improved! Truman was quite the basketball star on his little co-ed team of Kindergartners! He has some natural ability, and he seems to be quite obsessed with sports in general. He did a super job. Eden really practiced being more aggressive this year. She was so good at defense. In one of the games she had to shoot a foul shot...she made it! It was awesome!
Last Thursday evening was the awards program and the special guest was, Seth Franco, one of the globetrotters who happens to be completely on fire for God! He was AMAZING! Everything he said was so moving and age-appropriate. ...and then, the "tricks" he did...the kids were in awe! "That was like the coolest thing ever!!!" It was the perfect end to this season!
please enjoy this little video that Q put together!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Olya

I'm sure we all have some of those friends who are so special they are like family. Well, one of ours is Olya! In 2003, when we were living in Ukraine, God brought Olya into our life. Right after I taught her how to change a diaper...she became a huge part of our lives. She took care of Eden and Truman almost daily, they were 4 and 2 yrs. old at the time. She would come to our apartment and watch the kids so I could have my Russian lessons, or go out to buy food. She took Eden to Kindergarten and stayed with her to interpret what the teachers were saying...I can't say enough about her. We love her. She is part of our family.
She just spent February and March in the states (she works for HOPE International)and we were happy to spend some time with her while she was here. We even got to have her stay at our house for a couple weeks out of those two months. Our latest favorite game is "Settlers of Catan". Needless to say, we stayed up too late too many nights playing with her...but it was all worth it!

She made a little bit of spending money helping me at a few houses and I enjoyed having the help...and the company. I also enjoyed going shopping with her to spend the money!
We had a great time with her while she was here, and it's always too short and there's never enough time, but we make the best of it. And, now, we are back to missing her until we see her again. We love you, Olya! BQET&b

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