Countdown To Our Anniversary

Two days and counting....December, 28th 2007 I married my amazing husband!
Thank you for a wonderful year! I love you and can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve for our special day! I am so very thankful for you!

Merry Christmas.....

....from the Christmas Elephants. Some people are not making it home because of the storm. We are not making it home YET for this reason and the fact that we really don't fit in the car right now. We will be working on this, however.

Yearly Review 2009

Well.....2009 has turned out to be what we'd probably describe as nothing, but fast!

January-It was brutally cold in Paynesville and we spend most of this time huddled up trying to stay warm in between shoveling duties. My cousin Jill came for a visit too!

February-I realized that by eliminating wheat and dairy from my diet that I felt much better without even realizing that I didn't feel very good. Dan joined me a few months later and we both ended up losing quite a bit of weight on top of feeling better.

March-Dan had the opportunity to visit Honduras with some people from our church. He spent his days doing manual labor, hanging out and playing with little children, and worshiping with the local people. We also were able to spend a really great weekend in the cities with Matt and Lacee and a few other couples from Bismarck.

April-In April I visited my Dad and Lynn down in Mazatlan Mexico right before Easter. The weather was perfect and the fishing was awesome. Dan and I celebrated Easter with the Andersons in the cities.

May-Mom and I did some of the races for the Fargo Marathon and we celebrated Mother's Day together with my Grandparents.

June-Finally a break! We started off the summer with a trip to Wisconsin over Dan's birthday.

July-Dan and I were able to make a quick getaway to Bismarck for a few days right before the 4th and see family and friends.

August-This was a fun month......After nine and a half years together my Mom and Ron got married in our backyard with Dan officiating. I couldn't be happier for the two of them. Dannielle, my now official step-sister and her boyfriend came as well. Then we headed to Lake Lida for the annual get together with my family. then one more trip to Wisconsin. It was a full month.

September-I started school and Dan started his fall schedule of confirmation/Sunday school duties. There really isn't much else to say except we worked our tails off this month.

October-Work....that's all I've got! Besides the work, my Grandma, Marion Carter died. She's now with my Grandpa in heaven. I am so happy that she is finally happy and warm. My Grandma was forever cold....heating blankets on high in the middle of summer, no lie:)

November-We had some of our family out for Thanksgiving. Wished the holiday would have been a week long though! I'm starting to live for the weekends for when I can sleep in....I'm such a baby!

December-Not too much going on this month...we are anticipating our 2nd anniversary on the 28th. Our second verse was much better than the first. We didn't move across states...enough said:)

So don't get too excited about our exciting year:) There wasn't a ton of action, but we love our life together.....

Virtual Dan and Leigh

Our avatars from our yahoo email accounts. Can you tell it's winter and I'm bored. If it were summer right now we'd probably be out on a bike ride, but instead here we sit waiting for the big Christmas snowstorm to hit. How many more months until June? Thank goodness that snow blower started working again.

RIP Snowblower....possibly!

Remember how we talked about loving our new snow blower? Well guess who got out their shovels today and hand shoveled the driveway......there's a picture of them at the top of this blog...ya, our poor snow blower has died. Well, I guess you could say it's very ill. Dan thinks that maybe it can be salvaged...some choke, leaking gas, flooding, don't exactly know what. Stay tuned for details.

As far as shoveling goes, Dan is praying for a complete recovery of the snow blower. We'll call him Lenny. If Lenny doesn't make it then that means Dan has to suffer through yet another winter with his OCD shoveling wife. Getting the blanket of snow removed from the driveway is not enough. No, I try, but I can't stop from going back over spots he's already done to get the compacted stuff scraped off. It's a complete obsession and when I get started I can't stop. Unfortunately for him, you can see cement on our driveway. MUST.....shovel.......to.....the....cement. It's seriously a sickness. I can't stop. How sweet is my husband, when he continues to enable this addiction and help me:)

***********UPDATE******************************************************************
Lenny has been revived!!!!!!!!! Our neighbor who sold him to us came over and showed us a trick in making Lenny cooperate:) Snow is forecasted for four days this week so just in time. We just hope it doesn't snow Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as we need to get to Wisconsin!!!

Wonderful Reminder About Christmas

Random Thoughts From the Dornfelds

-One of our good friends, (ok, our ONLY good friends within a 45 miles radius) welcomed their second son on Wednesday. I had class that night up in Sauk Rapids and was able to swing through and visit. His name is Tyson and he opened his eyes for me when I got to hold him! I'd show a picture, but he's not mine. If we ever have our own I'll show lots of pictures then:)

-Sam, their four year old insisted on singing me Happy Birthday when I stopped by his house on Thanksgiving. His whole family was there. I had never met them. He also insisted they help him. 15 strangers singing me Hapy Birthday with Sam...very cute

-Dan sold his Jetta! All the better it went to a family that is surprising their high school daughter. She wanted a green Jetta! Good stuff for both sides.

-We had our family out for Thanksgiving.....Ashlynn came as well and I must say...I stink at gingerbread house building. All is well, tell her that I bought a mini gingerbread house and WE WILL try again!

-Have you ever watched the "Mentalist"? That's one of our favorite shows lately.

-We are both freezing!!! We keep checking the thermometer like it magically switched off....it hasn't and I guess we just need to learn to bundle up.

-Did you hear I made a new friend at work....Ha! just kidding...I got a new ipod...that's my "new" friend

-There is a small group of girls that I hang out with from work. Cold Spring does NOT have a Ground Round or a Fridays, but the "Side Bar" does have popcorn so I deal.

-Dan purchased a snow blower from our neighbors....they are moving to South Carolina and refuse to take us with them! I am so in love with this snow blower right now.

-Hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas Season so far! If you are reading this Merry Christmas and we love you:)

It's Looking Like Christmas At Our House

Meeko wanted to help decorate, but only succeeded in irritating Dan.....CAT!!!!- a common phrase used in our house
They got bored....thanks for the help guys!

Nativity scene that Meeko hasn't touched......YET! Last year we'd always come home and Mary and Jesus were turned around and standing in the corner. Apparently he thought Mary needed a timeout:)

We went blue and silver this year and added our favorite sentimental ornaments. I'd say our tree has character with beautiful pieces and then the Simpsons...Yoda resides somewhere in there as well.

stuff.....that's all I've got...pretty stuff?

My Friend Brian

One of my favorite pictures of Brian in Arizona

My mom and I went to "Rent" in St. Cloud over the Thanksgiving weekend. I had never seen it, but used to listen to the music all of the time when I lived with my roommate Brian in college. He loved "Rent". I've always wanted to see it since then, but had never had the opportunity until now. It was a great play. The song, "Seasons of Love" was hard to listen to and it was hard not to completely lose it. I cried......Brian measured his life in love for sure. He had a perspective on life that only someone who understands how precious and fragile life is. In college I was naive and ignorant about Brians's illness. I knew he could get very sick at times and his mom would stay with us to help nurse him back to health. I knew he'd had two organ transplants and that he was on a lot of anti-rejection medicines. I knew he had cystic fibrosis, and I knew what that meant, but I usually ignored the reality of his diagnosis and pushed it to the back of my mind anytime the thought of the possibility of him dying creeped in.


Brian had an amazing impact on my life. I seriously can't think about him and not smile. He had that ability to make you feel like everything was right in the world at those moments that everything felt wrong. The year that we shared an apartment went by way too fast and I was exhausted since Brian was constantly living, doing, and creating fun all around us. I have so many fond and amazing memories of Brian, but I wanted to share this one and his love of this play. I'm glad I finally got to see it. Brian died in May of 2006....he will forever be in my thoughts and I will always share his stories. I am constantly striving to measure the beauty of my life in love. When I think of it in that way....... ...my cup runneth over.

Our Kids

Meeko and Riker, Thanksgiving 2009! It's so rare that we capture a picture of Riker with his eyes looking normal as opposed to glowing like an alien. Although these two don't snuggle they do enjoy each others company during the day when we are away. I thought this was too cute not to share of our two snoring babies;) Although for you non-animal lovers it's probably pretty corny, sorry, but I don't care.

Congratulations, It's My Birthday!

My niece Ashlyn made this for me for my birthday. It was very thoughtful and beautiful:) I love all of the colors as well as the gentle reminder of how old I am...ha.....oh man......only one more year in my twenties!

Bills Cosby Presents Noah's Ark Lego Style

Dan wanted me to share this with you. It's a video of one of he and Stuart's favorite Bill Cosby's stand up skits, BUT put to a Legos, on Noah and the Ark...hilarious!



Also....remember this post? Stuart has now made ABC news with a brief picture of his lego creation.

Viewing Dan's Sermons Again!

You can once again view/listen to Dan's sermons. They finally figured out how to upload the videos to our new church website. Go to www.paynesvillelutheran.org and click on "worship" and then "sermons"!

Random Thoughts from the Dornfelds

-We finally had a nice day to finish raking our leaves yesterday. It felt good to have the sun on our backs after a whole month of gloominess. I guess we only had two days with sunshine in Oct...blah!
-Been thinking about this family lately from the cities. There are a few christian women's blogs that I follow and one of them is this family. Their son is going through a very risky heart surgery on Tuesday. I can't imagine the stress they've gone through with their son being diagnosed before he was born. There was even the chance that he might live and now here he is one year later, but in a very critical situation.
-We are staying healthy (knock on wood) and are very thankful for that. There were busy days that Dan wished he had the flu so that he could stay home, but the flu for me is something I fear horribly. When I get it, I get it really bad.
-Dan is experimenting with a painting technique that is supposed to make counters look like granite. He's trying this on the downstairs bar so our parents will get to see when they come for THANKSGIVING!
-Our families are coming for Thanksgiving!
-Dan and I played Scrabble for the first time ever. He warned me that he was a master at it. He beat me by almost 100 points! Maybe I'll lay off the margartias next time and try my luck again:)
-We saw the new Christmas Carol 3D. Very good, but don't bring your kids unless they are a little older....I was scared at times....that doesn't take much though!
That's all we have for now!

In LOVE With Dancing

Most of my family knows I like to dance. Pretty sure we all do, as even my Grandpa can dance all night at our wedding. I'm thinking about asking Dan to convert the rest of our basement into a dance floor. We've got the sound system, now we just need a floor. For Halloween I went to a bachelorette party down in the cities. We all dressed up and danced all night. I seriously cannot stop smiling today! I really need to do that more often. Here's a picture of half of our group.......who doesn't love to dress up and dance the night away like nobody is watching!

Fall!

Has come and gone, then came back, and who knows what it'll do from here, but we were able to quick capture a picture of our maple tree in our backyard. Last year it was even more amazing, but because of the weird weather it's color didn't get as intense...still beautiful though!

Tuesday Night on DVR!

We are always looking forward to Tuesdays every week because of this show. It seems like the trainers, Bob and Jillian get more intense every season. Let's see what your Biggest Loser knowledge is. All questions require true or false answers.

Questions
1. Jillian is 5'4?
2. The most weight lost on the show in one week was 31 lbss. by Ron Morelli?
3. Bob has pubished his own book on healthy eating and working out?
4. The most weight ever lost on the biggest loser was by Eric Chopin with 214 lbs.
5. One of Jillian's bad habits is swearing?
6. Neil Tejwani once gained 10 lbs. in one week due to water loading?

Answers
1. F-Jillian is 5'2
2. F-Ron lost 32 lbs. in one week
3. T-Bob's book is called "Are You Ready! To Take Charge, Lose Weight, Get in Shape and Change Your Life."
4. T-Eric lost that weight during season 3
5. T-This is obviously true and she learned all she knows from hanging out at our house
6. F-Neil gained 17 lbs that week due to water loading

Free Online Music.....With a Few Commercials

I've heard of this website before, but have now created an account for myself. I now have an outlet when stress hits at work! Britt want to join me for a "stress" break? Calm your mind during you lunch break! :)

Create your own account here

My Grandma is Finally at Peace

Marion Elizabeth Lofland Carter, 86, passed away Oct. 6, 2009, surrounded by family, at Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center, Bismarck. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at Mayville Congregational United Church of Christ, with a visitation one hour prior to the service. Burial will be in Mayville City Cemetery.

Marion Carter, the daughter of Mark and Winona (Wilson) Lofland, was born Nov. 17, 1922, in rural Clifford. She attended Clifford High School and graduated in 1940. Marion attended Mayville State Teachers College in 1941-1942 and taught at the Roseville Country School south of Portland. She moved to Fargo and attended St. Johns School of Nursing to graduate in 1946 as a registered nurse. Marion worked at St. Johns Hospital as the supervisor of the Pediatrics Department.

On Jan. 11, 1947, she married Fredric Carter in Fargo. Fred and Marion moved to Mayville in 1955. They were married for 54 years until Fred's death on Oct. 25, 2002. Marion was asked by Dr. Little to "help out" at the Mayville Clinic, she retired 22 years later. It was there, that Marion earned a reputation as a compassionate care-giver. Fred and Marion retired to McAllen, Texas, during the winters and Perham, Minn., in the summers. In April 2000, they moved from Texas and took residence at Riverview Place in South Fargo. The couple loved spending time at Big Pine Lake at Perham from 1947 until 2002.

Marion was an active member of the order of Eastern Star for over 50 years and became Worthy Matron. She was an active member of the Mayville Congregational United Church of Christ.

Marion is survived by her daughter, Jane (Duane) Brevik, Moorhead, Minn.; two sons, F. Scott (Connie) Carter, Mandan, and Mark Carter, Bismarck; seven grandchildren, Amy (Erju Akbay) Kaldor, Kelly (Sarah Streyle) Brevik, Katie (Gavin) Holden, Josh (Cindy) Carter, Joe (Andrea) Carter, Jill Carter and Leigh (Dan) Dornfeld; and five great-grandchildren, Quinn, Sophia, and Owen Carter and Luke and Jonah Holden.

Marion was preceded in death by her husband, Fred; her parents, Mark and Winona Lofland; one brother, John Lofland; and one sister, Marquerite Werran.

Memorials preferred to a Hospice of your choice.

Diary of My Feet

Fall 2003: We moved back to Bismarck to transport our body for her student teaching. She keeps driving past the YMCA and it gives us the shivers.......plantars warts lurk there, but she's into running mostly at the moment so we are happy

Spring 2004: Oh no! She's signed up for a triathalon. That means swimming.

Spring 2004: She actually did it. After ALL the pain we went through as juvenile feet! We wore protective flip flops the whole time in the locker room, I think we are ok!

Fall 2004: They're Baaaaacckkkk!

Winter 2004: Freeze, freeze, freeze...ouch the freezing hurts so bad!

Spring 2005: Our arch enemies are still here. They've moved in and have taken over the remote!

Summer 2005: Our doc gives the go ahead to LEAVE THEM ALONE? He said they'd eventually get sick of us and jump ship. I can't wait until they leave....they are really ugly and a threat to our reputation!

Fall 2005:Fall 2009-Seriously, here we sit four years later. We are miserable. No privacy!

Fall 2009: She FINALLY tries ............duct tape?



AND, it's actually working! PTL....we can breathe again and she's showing us off more!

Paynesville Lutheran Website

We've now officially been here almost a whole year. One of the first things Dan and Audrey realized the church needed was a website. So the three of us poured a ton of hours into our PLC website. Check it out!

www.paynesvillelutheran.org

If you go the the "wedding" page you'll notice a little part of us made the website as well!

Dan's New Nissan Murano

Here it is. Dan's new silvery gray Nissan Murano. We've enjoyed this a ton so far. I think we've already made 3 trips down to the cities in the last two weeks with it, and the consensus is we are keeping it.

On the topic of cars and driving, it has now been just over a year since I've lived here. Dan's one year mark is in a few weeks. I am proud to announce that in 365 + days that I have been a true Minnesotan I have yet to get a speeding ticket. When I worked here in the summers I had at least 1 if not 2. I plan to continue this new tradition!

Dialogue of the Marshmallow Capers

-Meeko and Riker have now bonded so much they have become partners in crime. We received their dialouge (via our pet cam).


Meeko: Ok dumb dog, I'm gonna climb up onto your cage, throw my body into the pantry, and hope to knock down some food. If we're lucky the marshmallows might make it to the floor.
Riker: Ok boss, ready and waiting
Meeko: I can't believe they STILL trust me to roam the house when they are away....maybe if we eat these marshmallows fast they won't even notice we've binged while they were gone.
Riker: Meeko, you're my hero
Meeko: Score! Don't you EVEN think about getting the first one.........meowww....hiss...back your crap up.....I am the alpha male in this house

(Meeko proceeds to eat the first marshmallow. Seeing that he is distracted by this Riker lunges in for the rest of the bag carrying it off to the throes of the living room to devour marshmallow AND plastic all in one.

Meeko: You see that big brown box over there?
Riker: Ya
Meeko: That's the new closet doors they ordered from Menards to keep me out of the pantry. You should thank me. This might be our last illegal feast.
Riker: (licking chops/choking on plastic) Hwaeeghghhg
Meeko: Stupid dog!

Random Thoughts From the Dornfelds

-So NOT ready for school to start again, nor do I think Dan is ready for confirmation to start again either
-Huge disappointments do make me thankful for what I already do have........I am so thankful for Dan more and more as time goes on. He has been so good to me during a hard time
-We're scratching our heads as to why we bought a mower without a bag or a mulcher......raking grass really cramps our style
-Dan got a new car........picture post to follow sometime soon! Now we need to sell the Jetta
-One of our student's from church performed at an idol type competition at the State Fair. I had never been there so we went a little early, downed some greasy food, and then listened to Joey sing, "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey....he honestly rocked the crowd and was very entertaining....he might put his video on youtube so we'd post that too!
-Things are busy...this is probably our busiest month of the year......one thing at a time right?!?

aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I used to see a school counselor after my mom and I moved across the state, when I was 10. It was traumatic for me, at the time, so my mom sent me. Best thing she could have ever done. I've never left! Ha! My counselor always told me that when I was upset and angry that it was ok to feel that way. She also said to find a "safe" way to get your anger out. Well, some people/children cry, clean, work-out, or color, while some people need to yell. She said her own son was a screamer and she'd send him outside on the back porch and let him have at it when he was really worked up and upset.

Well I'm not 10 and I have a lot of close neighbors so I'm getting out my screaming here. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Not quite the same....but I guess it'll have to do......damn, I wish I was an irrational child right now!

Lake Lida Summer 2009

My uncles, (Jeff and Bruce) were here from New York again this summer and we all met up at Lake Lida for our annual mini family reunion. Dan came for the day to hang out and thankfully we got him out on the lake to swim and kayak for awhile.

One day we rented 6 kayaks and floated down the Pelican River, into Prairie Lake, and then through the river again into Pelican Rapids....perfect day. Going down the river with the high cattails, smooth current, no weeds, and shallow water was so much fun. We even had a very small rapid we had to go down. My Uncle Jeff belongs to a kayaking group that goes out on he Hudson river in upstate New York so he was a pro and we all lagged behind.


After a not so warm/nice summer the three days we had out at the lake were absolutely perfect and I seriously couldn't have wished for better days.

August 7th 2009

After 9 1/2 years my Mom and Ron got married! I couldn't be happier. It didn't really matter to me whether they did or not, but it's awesome to finally call Ron my step-dad officially, even though I always have;) Dannielle and her boyfriend Eric came and Dan married them in our backyard on that Friday night. We went to dinner at Melvin's afterwards in Spicer, MN and then hung out all weekend at our house enjoying a pontoon day on Green Lake on Saturday. It wasn't that sunny, but still so warm we all jumped in and swam around. Congratulations Mom and Ron! We love you both and we're so happy for you!

Long Time, No Blog

Whew! We've been busy. I'll update some more later, but here are a few things we've been up to since we've been gone in the last couple of weeks.

-I had a two week long headache/migraine that pretty much took me out of doing much of anything. No sun, no working out, and no fun for me. In between headaches I was very lazy and didn't do much except track doctors down for more migraine meds.
-Mom, Ron, Danielle, and her boyfriend Eric came out for a weekend. More details and pics of that weekend to come.
-My uncles' from New York were here and most of my family got together at Lake Lida like we did the last couple of years. Dan was able to come out for the day on Monday (his day off). Thankfully it was BEAUTIFUL and we got him out on the water swimming and kayaking a bit:)
-We then were able to head up to Gull Lake (the area where I use to work during my summers in college) with Jake and Brianne and their son Sam. We've gotten to be so close with them and had a great 24 hours (even though the weather wasn't the best) with them at Jake's parents house. I was also able to FINALLY take Dan to a Zorbas! He didn't know what it was........if you aren't from Minnesota you are off the hook, but the guy lived in MN for 4 years and didn't know! He said it was amazing!
-Now, it's back to work for me starting today and Dan is gearing up for another confirmation season.
-We'll squeeze in one more Wisconsin trip too this weekend!
-Stay tuned for pics of our adventures this month!

Shark Week '09

Here's what we've been up to this week so far:) With my now day 10 of headache/migraines I've been doing a lot of tv watching in between the intermittent severe pain. Dan has been having a few too, so we are guessing it's allergy related???

Anyway, if you haven't checked it out or heard about it, the Discovery Channel does a week long series of shows on sharks every summer called "Shark Week". It's usually the last week of July or first week of August. We've missed the last two summers from being on mission trips during that time.

Dan is normally the one to get the heebie jeebies more than me, but tonight they did a re-enactment of a shark attack on a dog! I can't settle down...I can't even watch Happy Feet and all of the sudden, without a warning, a shark is attacking a dog! I may need some "medical aides" to help me sleep tonight. I can't get my heart rate to slow down....the dog lived thankfully....praying for no shark nightmares!

Summer Weddings

Dan performed a wedding a few weekends back for Kelly and Tyler. Kelly, was one of Dan's old student's at Shepherd of the Hills during his internship year at seminary. Her parents no longer live in the cities or go to SOTH, but that's where Kelly wanted to get married and with her former youth director presiding over the service. It was fun to see the church he worked at for 3 years and meet some of his old students. We didn't get to stay long at the wedding since Dan preached the next day, but it was worth it!

Favre To Stay Retired???

Queen Favre, as I like to call him, has decided NOT to play for the Minnesota Vikings.....that is until next week when something else comes along, or next year he decides that the world revolves around him again!

UPDATE*********************************UPDATE***********************UPDATE***********
It has now been proven true....Mr. Favre didn't want to take part in early practices, so he signs RIGHT before the first games. WHAT a spoiled baby!

Random Thoughts From the Dornfelds

-Dan made it home safely from New Orleans...it'll be interesting to see what type of sleep patterns he ends up having for the next week or so with very little sleep in the last week.
-He was able to connect with Mike and the students from Bismarck....he said it was so awesome to get to see them and they enjoyed hanging out at Six Flags on the way down. I believe quite a few Paynesville students made some connections with the Bismarck students too.
-He also ran into half of his old classmates from seminary, but only for brief 10 second greetings.
-The "boys" and I held down the fort at home. We filled our own tires, mowed the lawn, assessed our toaster situation, locked ourselves out of the house, and got back in using our "super skills", all on our own:)
-We are just shy of putting 100 miles on our bikes this summer...my trusty odometer tells me so! Dan probably has more with his short, but frequent trips to and from work.
-I taught a science invention camp to many rambunctious students while Dan was away. I realized I'm way out of "teacher shape" to be on my feet ALL day.
-I miss having my own classroom, BUT I don't miss grading papers for hours!
-One of the teaching assistants is a pastor's wife! So excited...we exchanged emails and she said she'd love to have a venting partner. When she told me their congregation members were angry with her husband for not having a New Year's Eve party for their kids 3 DAYS after she gave birth I knew she and I would be able to relate.
-My mom came to visit and stay with me again while Dan was gone , which I so greatly appreciate.
-I proceeded to have a 2 1/2 day long headache, but we still had fun!
-Lately, Riker, has been kicked to the hallway at night since his snoring is SERIOUSLY so loud that Dan can't sleep.
-Meeko has enjoyed sleeping with "mom" this week...he makes it until about 6:30 in the morning and then sits on our nightstands and meows at the wall...at whom...I have no idea. He is then escorted to the basement and I proceed to seek out a few more hours of sleep.
-That's about it for now...until next time:)

The Brothers Geek:)

This made me giggle....Dan called the first day from New Orleans and was all excited that he and Stu were going to share the same time slot at the convention center with their students at the National Youth Convention. Apparently they both showed up in ZELDA t-shirts! I thought it was cute. They might be different in some ways, but they sure are alike in other geeky ways:) Geeky in a good way!

I Need a Customized Friend

I labeled this post under "rant", but I don't want it to come out like I'm angry right now. This is more of a desperate search to find someone out in the big world like me. Although I have made some great friends here, my title is about needing a friend who gets what it's like to have some sometimes crazy and hilarious expectations from people.

Becoming a pastor's wife can be difficult, but there are times when it is very rewarding. I love being around people. I love laughing and talking and honestly I feel like I can relate or at least carry on a fun conversation with just about anyone. I am an extrovert so being a PW gives me that fulfillment. Another plus is the fact that my husband and I can have a relationship with each other and with God. That was always my #1 priority when trying to find a mate. I wanted someone that I could talk with about our faith, life, God, etc. I also love hearing my husband preach,and watching him nurture other people. Most importantly we have made some amazing friends along the way that we otherwise wouldn't have made.

Unfortunately, I'm not focusing on the "good" things about being a pastor's wife today because lately I've been struggling to feel like I'm normal in the fact that so many things bother me about being a PW. I know it's ok to struggle with this, but living in a small town you can't really go to anyone in that town to confess your frustrations...it'll likely get back to people that woops, you aren't this perfect little PW that they've been expecting you to be. Right now I'm focusing on finding an outlet so that the negatives of being a PW don't outweigh the positives. I'm seeking, you could say, help!

So, last year I joined a PW forum. That's been a good experience. I've befriended a super cool Pentecostal woman I still keep in contact with. I've also met some really nice Missouri Synod wives. I'm frustrated though because I have yet to meet a younger PW, of the same denomination, that struggles with the same types of things. So for now, the forum is ok. I just don't feel "on the same level" as many of the women, which immediately makes me feel like I am all wrong for this role. I sometimes wonder if there is anyone out there that is a younger, ELCA lutheran, liberal, fiesty, don't push me around type of PW.

I didn't give up though! I tried searching for some blogs. Amazing women they seem to be, I must tell you. Quoting scripture, praying, etc...I guess their blogs are more of a ministry blog instead of about their everyday real lives. Not that them praying and things isn't their real lives, but do you know what I mean? I want to meet another PW that isn't afraid to say my house is so dirty right now that we now share living quarters with fruit flies. C'mon...isn't anyone else out there get tired of portraying this perfect image! I'm sure a lot of them are very human....they're probably too scared to share anything that isn't spiritual, positive, and good. I know first hand...you can be judged for that. They are probably just avoiding any type of negative feedback.

Anyway, so here I sit searching and searching for someone who is more like me. Someone in the same boat. I won't give up, but if you happen to run across anyone before I do let me know.

Here's what my classified ad would say....

Small town progressive Pastor's Wife seeks mid-twenties PW who struggles with the daily grind of being a PW. Must have open minded views (no racism, sexism, or classism please) and be willing to admit sometimes being a PW ticks them off. Must be able to admit the former statement out loud. Not being very good at singing, playing the piano, or cooking would be a plus. Must not talk like you are a walking bible study 100% of the time. Of course, Godly conversation and mutual friendship is preferred.


Is that too much to ask? I guess my ad is pretty precise and I'm totally kidding about the cooking, singing, piano playing thing. I just don't do any of those well. Maybe God is listening though:) Sending up a little prayer, because frankly I think my husband wants to duct tape my mouth shut sometimes:) I can't blame him.....I am not one to keep my mouth shut...oops!

Bismarck Trips

Dan and I were able to spend a few short days in Bismarck together the other week. We stayed at hotel Liepitz where the owners shared laughs and conversation with us each night. I was then able to go back again the next week for a few more days and embark on a camping/kayaking trip with two of my cousins and my uncle. Dan was disappointed that Johnny Holmes wasn't playing at Party on the Prairie, but we did have a lot of fun with my family hanging out at Jill's house even though it was much mellower than year's past:)

Our camping trip was awesome, we had great weather. My aunt asked how it was as we pulled up to their house 3 hours behind schedule, but no one could utter a word from exhaustion. Even though we finished with negative calories in our bodies, we feasted, and then was able to share a bit about our journey.

I was able to meet up with some Good Shepherd Ladies one night and I wanted to share some pictures of the most exciting guests. I know their mommies just might check our blog from time to time so feel free to get these pictures copied to your computers! Ben and Lydia entertained us and they were great!

Jillian Harris is a Trainwreck!

Ok, so most people who read our blog probably don't watch "The Bachelorette", but as you probably already know this is my ONE tv guilty pleasure of watching a complete incorrect and horrible representation (ok maybe 3rd,so I'll be honest) about what love is and blah, blah, blah....all of that. But, I'm not single and hopelessly wishing something like this could happen to me, nor was I when I used to watch it single....so, in my mind that makes it ok:) Ha!

Anyway, this girl is super cool, but is the absolute poster child for "Hi, my name is (insert name here), and the more you treat me like crap the more I'll stare dreamily into your eyes and want to marry you". I know this kind of thing happens all of the time, and I'll admit maybe to myself a few times, but GEEZ....not on national tv. She's making a horrible impression for women everywhere.....don't make us out to be so STUPID. I know the show is probably already over, but I'm going to say a little prayer that she eventually dumps this guy who is trying to promote his music career/has a girlfriend possibly. I don't care how much they cut and paste his comments and take them out of context he's got CREEP written all over him. My internal "character meter" is screaming RUN!

Michael Jackson Tribute + Farrah

By now the whole world knows about Michael Jackson's death. The "King of Pop" was part of quite a few generations so his passing has been quite dramatic for many, many people. DAn and I included remember many "favorite" songs and have a hard time coming up with one favorite. We finally narrowed it down with Dan's being "Billy Jean" and mine (yes, I know I should have been a teenager in the 70;s) "Don't Stop til you Get Enough". Here's a video promoting him from back in 04, but includes many of his hit songs. May he rest in peace......



Who can forget Farrah as well......although I did not grow up with Farrah Fawcett I do remember her as idolized at my Grandparent's house. My uncle Jeff left behind his insulated Farrah drinking glasses in Mayville when he left home. The crazy thing is that he's now in his mid-40's and they are STILL THERE in Marlan and Barbara's kitchen cupboards. You open them and you either have coffee cups, regular drinking glasses, pink plastic juice glasses, or Farrah to chose from. So as to not leave her out in anyway and in honor of her as well here is the actual picture that is on our drinking glasses.

Wisconsin Nieces and Nephew

One of the many things we enjoy about going to Wisconsin that we don't get to see enough of....our nieces and nephew!
The girls in the dresses we got for them!
Shay
Ashlyn
Hannah
Elizabeth

Happy 35th Birthday Dan!

We love you and are so happy that it was such an awesome day.

Random Thoughts From the Dornfelds

-Did you hear we are only making 1, COUNT THAT, 1 mortgage payment starting this month...yahooooo!!!!!!!
-This means we'll look for a new car for Dan hopefully this fall, and I can now get started in the process of applying for my masters!
-Our old Mandan house is BACK on the market...NO, we did NOT look up the pictures to see "what they've done with the place"!
-OK, so we did, but besides that point and not to be decor nazis or anything, but when we saw they painted our old bedroom PURPLE (for those that like purple it was a little girly purple thing going on) we both cringed....
-Is that weird that it's hard to see your old bedroom not in the way you left it?
-If we were decor nazi's I think we'd burn it and start from scratch!
-Dan Synod Assembled this past weekend and I joined him for a small part of it. That was enough for me! I concentrated most on teaching Paul (fellow church member) how to set up iTAP on his phone so he could text faster. After it took him 5 minutes to text "talking about sex with 600 of my closest friends" we thought we should help him out....."This Rocks" he texted me in nanoseconds!
-By the way....the topic at Synod Assembly was sexuality....Paul doesn't ususally talk about sex with 600 other people on a regular basis:)
-When Riker's adopted family came to pick him up yesterday I felt like a mother who brings her outgoing child to Kindergarten on the first day. As soon as he figured out it was Randy(teenage girl) and that Randy=lots of love and my friend Bullet, he dropped his I'm scared routine and was "nuts" about getting to go with them. He barely even said goodbye wagging his tail all of the way to the car. I wanted to cry, well almost....but I didn't! But it crossed my mind. Someone put a "sucker" sticker on my forehead please!
-We're tired and lazy right now. We worked in the yard today (for the first time in the hot sun) and we can't move! We should be packing!
-We get to go to Wisconsin tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to get there...see everyone soon!

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April Rose Blog

I know there were only a few of you that saw my post about the little baby that would probably only live a few short hours after birth. Well, lo and behold it turned out ot be a hoax. Craziness! I even read her blog for about a week and prayed for this girl. Now, I guess it will be praying for her in a different way. Here's an article about this story if you are interested.

Favorite Song of Summer 09

He loves me when I'm right, he loves me when I'm wrong, he loves me when I waste my time writing silly songs! Hey! Jesus is a friend of mine!

Lacee shared this video with us the other day.......thought we'd share. It brought tears to our eyes!

Wowzers!

Apparently this guys is going to jail for murder.....I beg to differ. I'm thinking it might be his hair. What do you think?

We've Made Some Changes to the House and our Blog

We've moved around some furniture at our house....thought you might like to check it out. I couldn't stand to walk by Suki's room and not see her there sitting on the bed. So, we both agree to switch around the furniture. If you've never been to our house then I guess you can see some of our house! I've also included a photo of our newly furnished basement! If you get our posts by email check out our actual site to see our new blog. He got a facelift!

We Finally Sold our Bismarck House!

Yep, it's true! Officially as of yesterday we have sold our house in Bismarck that I purchased and lived in before I met Dan. June 16th would have been one year on the market, so we are pleased to be closing June 11th, 5 days shy of that! I know, less than two weeks away!

Right now we are incredibly thankful as its been quite stressful to have two mortages. Whew....sigh of relief! We are so thankful and Dan is especially happy! This means in the near future we can buy him a more safe and reliable car! God is good!

Hunter Dan

I just had to share these. We've been talking about using the bb gun to start shooting the blackbirds in our yard. We're afraid they are going to start chasing away our beloved Frank and Sally, as well as our other feathered friends. The other night we heard all of the blackbirds squacking like crazy so Dan grabbed his trusty "red rider" and headed outside only to see a HUGE hawk sitting in our yard causing the other birds to stir. The hawk flew away, but Dan and Riker decided to "hold down the fort" for awhile thereafter. He doesn't know I snapped this pictures of the two of them through the screen door. Too funny!




Effort given=100%
Game caught=zero

Suki's Spot

I promised I would show you the spot where we buried Suki. She now lays peacefully protected by our big pine tree right next to the bird feeder amongst many flowers and plants. We'll eventually decorate the cement circle with some type of mosaic art. We think it's a nice spot.