My Dad.

My Dad was the Dean at East Iowa Bible Camp Family Camp for many years. This picture was taken in August of 2002. His last year at Camp.

Today is one of those days. July 10, 2003 My Dad met his Heavenly Father. I am certain of few things in this life, but one thing I am certain of is that had to be a sweet moment for my Dad.

He was passionate about several things in this life.

1. His relationship with his Heavenly Father

2. My Mom

3. His 5 Children and their families

4. Winning others for the Kingdom

I can tell you in all honesty that I knew how he felt about His Saviour, my Mom, and our family, I also knew how he felt about witnessing to others. Sadly the #4 on the list embarrassed me. I can remember thinking to myself how humiliating it was to me to be around my Dad when he invited people to church, or just strike up a conversation with anyone, and I mean anyone just to start a relationship so that he could witness to them. The man seriously knew no stranger.

I am so ashamed to say that. I look back at those times, and think, "How on earth could I be embarrassed?"

I am however proud to say that I am Mike Kelly's daughter.

I am extremely proud to admit that my Dad personally witnessed to more people than most, and truthfully I will never comprehend just how many until I see Heaven.

I am proud to say that my Dad was proud with my choice of a spouse, especially considering he and my Mom prayed about it since before I was born.

I am overjoyed to tell you that my Dad loved his Grandchildren so very much and counted each moment with them a treasure.

I will tell you that my Dad's passion for East Iowa Bible Camp, the place that I call home, is being carried on by my husband, who serves this place with a happy and willing heart for this ministry, as well as my Brother, my Brother-in-Law, and my Grandfather who serve on the Board of Directors.

I am also proud to tell you that while 6 years ago, I could not say with certainty that I understood God's decision, I can fully tell you today that my understanding has grown and that I can see that God was in fact working in me when he took Dad. He was softening my heart, Growing me up, and preparing me for whatever life would sling at me. I am prepared to battle daily for my kids, as my Dad did. I am ready to stand on my own 2 feet and seek God. I joyfully take on the challenge of witnessing to others. Nervous but willing.

I will leave this blog entry with a few fun tidbits of the man who was Mike Kelly. Lovingly remembered every day.

My Dad loved babies. Not only his own, but any baby. And oddly enough he could calm down almost any baby he held.

My Dad's hands were freckled. And he always had callouses, never soft hands.

My Dad made us work on Labor Day. "Why do you think they call it Labor Day?"

My Dad could envision almost any project. Mom would typically be nervous, but just trusted that his project would work.

My Dad made us rub his feet. There was never a time in my life that I can remember not rubbing his feet. All 5 of us would get a turn. By the way. He had jungle rot, which rather negatively affected his feet.

My Dad was an EXCELLENT mushroom hunter.

My Dad had the best crook in his arm to snuggle in.

My Dad was a proud Vietnam Veteran and Seabee.

My Dad loved my Mom dearly.

My Dad had a secret soft spot for animals. We would often catch him holding and talking to kittens, and dogs. He had a gruff exterior with pets, but really loved them.

My Dad loved to watch Antiques Roadshow, M*A*S*H reruns, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Vanna, any and all football, and Hawkeye Wrestling.

My Dad's right hand guy was "Stoney"

My Dad could stroll through any grass, stop and pick a 4-leaf clover. No kidding!

My Dad would pray as he drove his Wal*Mart truck. He prayed for so many people.

My Dad was proud of his family heritage.

My Dad would be excited about the funniest things. Like when my Mom would clean out the fridge. Or when she would put up strawberry jam, green beans of tomato juice. He loved to be home on the day that we froze corn.

My Dad loved auctions, and a great deal. Often he would come home with something with no great purpose, "But it was a deal"

On July 10, 2003 I was driving to Mt. Pleasant to run some errands. On the way there we passed a Wal*Mart truck and Jonah yelled "Was that Grandpa Mike?" I looked at the clock and said "Well, it might be. It's about the time he usually drives by here. Let's call him and see if it was him" So I called him, and sure enough it was him we passed. We spoke for a few minutes. He sounded like something was on his mind, and I told him I loved him and would see him soon, and Jonah yelled his love from the back seat. He said "Love you too" and hung up. Little did I know that was the last time we would speak. I am so glad I have that memory. I am so blessed to have a wonderful Dad. One who loved me flaws and all and prayed for me and my family. I will never forget that time. I will never let go of the memories, and I will continue to tell my kids of their Grandpa Mike.

I love you Dad.

Your Big Brown Eyes, Sarah

I am here.... never fear!

In the events of the last 2 months, my blog has been terribly overlooked. It's not that I have not pondered it, or even sat down to blog, it has just been a crazy time here, and I hope that I will continue in this outlet. I need to!

So, July is here. I woefully did not complete my tribute to Lydia Grace on her Birthday, so I will take the liberty and dote on her a bit before I continue on my way through this blog.

Here she is. Beautiful Lydia. She turned 9 on June 5. She is ever lovely and kind, and is my

A#1 helper. She is quite the mother hen, to her younger sisters, and is challenged by attempting to encourage and help her older brother as well. She procrastinates in cleaning her room, as you would expect from most 9 year olds, but she is more than willing to do other chores. She is pleasant and sweet, with a bit of stubbo

rn temperament wrapped in as well. She attracts much attention with her freckles and reddish tint hair, and her smile wins everyone over. Here we are on the brink of girlish changes, and she is looking forward, nervous, but not scared. Growing up does not seem to phase her. I wish I could say the same for my Lydia. I am not ready for her to grow up. I pray for her to be a sweet example of Christ. Love you Lyd!

So, it may be no surprise that the last month has been hectic to say the least. We have had kids go to Grandma's and kids go to music camp, and kids go to their week here at our camp, and I don't think that I have had them all in our home at the same time since the first week of camp! Busy busy! I have been helping more at camp, doing registration, and helping in the bookstore. We also enjoy our time worshipping with the camp kids every morning and evening. Jonah and Lydia are old enough to stay and listen to the speakers by themselves if their chores are all done. The girls and I typically come home and do laundry/dishes/other random chores. Laundry still consumes most of my time, but with my new washing machine Ben got me, it also makes it a bit more likable. We'll see how long that lasts! All these things combined with Family Reunions, and Family coming to visit, as well as chatting with old friends, this has been a great summer!

More to come in the next few day. July 10 is upon us. I am working on a suitable blog entry for this year. Here is how we have commemorated the last few years 2007 2008

Much love,

Sarah

Lillian Ivy is 3

Lillian Ivy. Born May 6, 2006. 7 lbs 3 oz. 20 inches long. 12:12 pm. Beautiful.

The words don't seem possible as they poor out of my mind. She is 3. The thought of that just tickles my heart. She is 3. She has big brown eyes. She is 3. She has a tiny little frame. She is 3. When you ask her how old she is she says "FFFFLEE" She has blondish wavy curls. She is 3. She loves to dance. She is 3. She loves to sing herself to sleep. She is 3. She asks me daily "when da kids get home?" She is 3. My baby is 3.

As in previous years with Lillian's birthday as noted here and here I have taken the opportunity to tell a bit about her. Well, this year is no exception. She is an absolute joy and blessing to Ben and I, and I find that everyday through her eyes is something that is special. She is such a quaint girl. She is small, and dainty, but loves to get dirty too. Her imagination is pretty vivid. She has an imaginary friend (at least we think so) named Ka-lola. Ka-lola travels with us, shops, and pretty much goes with us everywhere. Lily just talks about her. Nothing more. Which is just fine. Jonah has an imaginary friend named Cowboy who enjoyed spraying hoses into open windows, among other questionable things.....

Lillian continues to dote on her Daddy. She has always been a Daddy's girl. She is very talkative. Her hair has gone from almost reddish, to blondish. She is now a whopping 27 lbs. Last year she was only 23. She now shares a room with Ruby.

I wish Dad could have met her here on earth. Oh how I would love to see him hold her as he held Jonah, Lydia, and Fiona. He was totally captured by each of his grandchildren, and Lillian would have been no exception. Nor would any of the other 6 Grandchildren. My heart aches for that picture. What comfort there is in a Savior who knows our sorrow, and can turn it into joy! Complete Joy. Lacking in nothing. WOW!

Happy Birthday Lillian Ivy.

Ruby May is 5

So, I realize that I have not blogged in well over a month, and yes, I feel guilty. But today was a great day of celebration, of a beautiful girl with a glint in her eyes, and a joy in her heart that surpassed all of my feelings.

Today is Ruby May's Birthday. 5 years ago, yes 5, Ruby May entered our lives with a sparkle and sweet smile. Ruby's birth, as have mentioned before and here too, was very precious to Ben and I. After the loss of Dad, having a new life entering the world just had a way of lightening the load a bit. Although after having Ruby, I did struggle a bit with the baby blues. This was the only one of my 5 that I was a bit blue. In hindsight, I look back at it, and wonder if I just wanted to show her of a bit more than I was able to. I know that sounds weird, but I can remember specifically that we had lots of visitors in that first week, and after some particular visitors, I can remember feeling some amount of relief from the blues. I was able to show her off, and that seemed to snap me out of it.

At 5 Ruby is a very sweet girl. She has a bit of ornery in her, but just the right amount for a girl. She likes to play dress up, and all imagination things. She loves preschool, she adores her siblings, and they adore her too. She has a family of little people still, that she loves! She is particularly fond of putting her pretty dresses on, and prancing around. She likes "tap" shoes, better know as dress shoes that make noise when you walk. She loves to ride her bike, climb trees, she has a bit of an accident prone streak to her, she loves fruit of all sorts, she "reads" to Lillian often, and Lillian and her often play house. She also has an extremely unique voice. I love it!

Today as Ben was tucking her in, he asked her how her day was and if it was special. She said "Dad, it was just a perfect day"

Funny that she would say that, because this day 5 years ago, I looked at her, then Ben, and in an emotional moment filled with memories of my Dad, told Ben that God had in fact given us a perfect girl. With a slight dimple.

Her Daddy named her Ruby May.

She got new goggles for her Birthday! Hilarious! That's my Ruby!

Welcome Back Sarah, From Blogsphere.

Ridiculous! I know! I was on a real roll there in February, but got sidetracked by my weird obsession to deep clean and organize some areas of my home. Shocking for me I realize, but feels great none the less! I did such things as deep clean my bedroom, and purge 3 giant garbage bags of clothing for Goodwill. I even hung pictures in my room after only living in this house for a year and a half. I moved the furniture in there to, so it works a bit better for me. I am actually even using my closet for the purposes that it was intended! I have spot cleaned some of my carpets, vacuumed all of the flies and lady bugs out of the windows, vacuuming all around the edges and corners. Ben cleaned out 3 closets and purged 3 garbage bags of unnecessary "stuff" Thanks honey. I have washed some windows, love the new Windex Wipes. I have managed to keep up with this families immense amount of laundry too! By the way.... did you know that the new Electrolux washer and dryer have a fast load that takes 18 minutes, and 18 minutes to dry? Did you read that right? Yes, you did. 18 min wash, 18 min dry. Seriously!! For a cool $2600.00, the 4.7 cubic foot washer, and 8.0 cubic foot dryer could be yours, or mine. Start saving now girls. It is projected to last at least 15 years. Anyhow, sidetracked by the shocking stats....

All this cleaning and such, so that Ben and I could get away for our anniversary. March 8 marked 12 years of wedded bliss! Tyson and Sarah offered (note: no, we did not strong arm them) to stay with the kids for 2 days so that Ben and I could get away. What a treat! Tyson and Sarah were fine, and they said the kids were good. I believe that Tyson mentioned that it was "easy" Hehe! Anyway, Ben and I went to the Quad Cities. We had a great time. We had lazy breakfasts at Panera, went to some exhibits, Cafe` for lunch, fancy dinners, and even an amazing show! We had a great time. Neither one of us can believe that it has been 12 years. We have had a sweet dozen, and are both excited for the next 12.

We arrived home on Tuesday March 10th, which is my Birthday, to a Birthday surprise from the kids and Tyson and Sarah. A cake and an 5 very excited kids greeted us when we arrived home.

Now the challenge is to keep up with all the cleaning that was accomplished. I must tell you though, that with this gorgeous weather we are having, it is difficult to stay in and fold laundry. The hight today is to be around 68, and tomorrow, well tomorrow is guessed to be in the 70's!

I feel like this post was a bit of everywhere, sorry for that. I need to get back in the swing of things I guess.

That's it for now.

Sarah

Fun weekend with Daddy

The Month of Mush continues with a tribute to my wonderfully awesome husband, who happens to also be an awesome Daddy. Pause the music, and check out this sweet video. My kids were 0n cloud nine all weekend because of the events that transpired this weekend. ** Please note: I was in town shopping while this all took place. He promised to wash all of the clothes, which in turn has monopolized all other laundry operations in this house. Totally worth it to see my kids faces. Enjoy!

Love my Lover..... Love Letters

In keeping with the theme that has been going on this week, I have decided to share something very sweet with you all.  Ben and I dated for a year, and during that year we sent each other 2-3 letters a week.  Looking back I realize what a special treasure I have, in both the letters, and Ben.  While being a very wonderful husband and father, he is quite the author.  I am not sure if this is just my opinion, since I was the recipient of all of the lovely words, or if in actuality he is a great writer.  I know that the letters were a great way for us to get to know each other, and also an unexpected way for us to fall in love.  Hmmmm.  I love Love Letters.

This is the box where we keep all of those keepsakes from the "Year of the Letters".  

I love this Box and all that it represents to me. This box is old and tattered, but it is held together by some strong supports.  I sometimes feel like Ben and I are like an old married couple.  We read each other well, and we hold hands a lot.  We are held securely by a strong support.  When you open up the box you see a lot of letters, trinkets and keepsakes.  The things that are part of our foundation that I will always cherish.  I resist the urge to share a tidbit or 2 out of the box.  But for now, I am just going to look through it myself, and enjoy the memories, and feel the way I felt 12 years ago.  Amazing! and Mushy. :)

Oh how I Love my Lover.