Duluth, Minnesota

Last weekend, we all traveled to Duluth, Minnesota for the Minnesota-Wisconson annual Baptist Convention. Duluth is about a 6-7 hour drive from where we live and is just across the Northwestern border of Wisconsin. It sits right on Lake Superior and is a beautiful part of the country. A native of Duluth shared that when people ask him how he can live in such a cold place, he replied, "An entire nation sits to the North of us." On the way back, we stopped at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Josh and Kenny spent most of our time there hanging out in "Lego Land", as you can see.

Devil's Lake

A few weeks ago, we took the boys and their two neighborhood buddies on a Saturday drive to Devil's Lake. It is about an hour from here. Josh asked, "Does the Devil live there?" We assured him that he didn't and still need to do some research to see where the name came from. We hiked up the rock incline next to the lake and you can see a picture of Josh sitting at the base of "Balance Rock", which overlooks the lake. On the way home, I told Mark I think we just might live in the most beautiful state on the planet.

More Birthday Pictures

Hey, we found more birthday pictures from Josh's party in September...they were too fun not to share...enjoy!

Josh Turns Six!

Josh had about 8 friends at his messy birthday party at our house. We did messy jello games, an egg toss, bobbing for apples, marshmallow-stuffing-in-your-face contest, whipped cream eating contest, and decorated little pumpkins with messy "floam". (Mom has decided she's not a big "floam" fan after this experience.)

Josh bought a new bike with the birthday money he got in the mail from relatives. He also sent some of his birthday money to Ivan, the 10-year old boy we sponsor in Uganda through World Vision.

And if all that wasn't enough partying, on his ACTUAL birthday (party was a few days later), he and mom had a "date" to Pizza Hut and a Third Day concert...definitely a night to remember...

Dad Rocks!

Well, as Deb has been pretty consumed with starting a new teaching job this week at Deforest High School, Mark and the boys have been "on vacation" together. They have taken day trips around the state of Wisconsin every day this week. If you've ever read the book "Wild at Heart", by John Eldridge, they've been doing that kind of stuff...climbing mountains (or over-sized hills), biking and hiking trails, and generally exploring the Badger State, at least the lower part of it. On Monday, they visited Ohlbrich Gardens in Madison. On Tuesday, they trekked down to Prairie du Chein, which is about 2 hours away from us. They have a great state park there and a huge hunting/outfitter store called Cabela's. On Wednesday, they visited Devil's Lake and hiked a lot while they were there. Enjoy these pictures of their adventures!

Lake Monona

Yesterday, we checked off another item on our summer "to-do" list by visiting Lake Monona in Madison. We brought a sack lunch and the boys brought their bikes to ride. The weather was perfect...sunny, 78 degrees with a nice breeze coming off the lake. We wish you could've joined us, but since you couldn't, we took some pictures for you...enjoy!

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Mel Rock

Well, today we hung out at the Goulee's domain on the Milwaukee River in Glendale (just North of Milwaukee). Mark is in Florida on "business", so we took it upon ourselves to get out of town for a few hours and hang out with Mel and Jeff (Mark's sister and brother-in-law). They happily put up with our occasional invasions. The boys swam in their pool for a few hours. Jeff took us for a ride in his speed boat on the river and then grilled hamburgers for us afterwards. Around dusk, we got back in the van and drove back to Sun Prairie (about an hour). All I (Deb) heard was snoring on the way back. I enjoyed the BIG SKY sunset all the way home!

It is good to live near relatives again...it somehow leaves us feeling more "connected" in a small way. Josh and Ken really enjoy being around the Goulee's. When Ken said earlier this week, "It's been awhile since we've seen Aunt Mel and Uncle Jeff", a light bulb went off in my head.

Dolphin's Cove

Well, we've been hanging out at Dolphin's Cove a lot this summer. It's a water park attached to our health club. The boys ride the lazy river, go down water slides, and play water basketball while we lounge under the umbrella and read or just take in the soft summer Wisconsin breezes. (Occasionally, we get off our lounge chairs and indulge in a water slide or the hot tub.) We've found it a nice place to unwind and let the boys work off some of the excess energy they seem to be blessed with.

Here are a few pictures of our summer at "the Cove".

Heat Wave

Well, we took a family trip down to the St. Louis area earlier this week. Mark had some work down there to do and the boys and Debbie visited her Aunt Audrey and Uncle Paul in Desoto while Mark worked. It was the hottest week of the year, reaching 103 degrees on Thursday. Wednesday night, a major storm hit, knocking out the power for several counties in MO. We planned to stay until Friday, but left a day early to escape the heat. We did manage to tour the Arch and the Science Museum while we were there. The visit with Debbie's relatives was meaningful...a good thing to let the kids know their relatives and carry on the family stories. Debbie and Audrey did lots of reminiscing together. Uncle Paul quietly enjoyed our invasion of his domain. It was nice to get away, but also nice to return "home" to the Badger State.

Life is Good

Well, after three years of graduate school, Debbie received her Master of Arts in Counseling degree in May. We didn't make the trek back to NY for the ceremonies, but we were all glad to see the diploma arrive in the mail. Mark, Josh and Kenny spent lots of quality time together over the past three years while Debbie was in school. We see this as a good thing, but we're all glad to see our family schedule get back to whatever "normal" is.

The boys are out of school for the summer and are enjoying later nights and lazier days. We're getting some reading and math facts in most days just to stay sharp, but there's lots more time now to play with neighborhood kids and get wet at Dolphins Cove (an outdoor waterpark at our athletic center). Kenny recently got his purple belt in karate and has made the committment to press on until he's a black belt. Josh graduated from "Ninjas" and has gone straight to his gold belt in the basic program. a We got karate pictures made recently and will have them out to friends and family soon.

Deb accepted a half-time teaching job at Deforest High School recently to start in the Fall. She will also continue on with counseling a couple nights a week at Living Well Counseling a in Madison.

Deb's sister, Kathy, had twin boys in June. Jacob and Jaiden both weighed in at right around 7 pounds. Debbie got to go welcome them to the world a few weeks ago.
They are pretty keep-able.

So, life is good here in Wisconsin. We're beginning to feel more settled here as we see God's hand continue to move in our lives.

Live and Learn

WELL, for those of you who may have been appalled by the way we allow the boys to watch WWE wrestling...so are we! We have noticed more brotherly fights and injuries since this past-time developed a few months ago and Mom has PUT A STOP to it. (Dad agrees.) While the boys may not be happy with our decision for now, there is no shortage of other things to do. Spring has sprung and we're spending more time outside riding bikes, playing ball, etc... We sure don't have it all figured out as parents, but we continue to live and learn!

The Boogeyman

Yep, the boys continue to watch wrestling. There's this guy called "The Boogeyman" who's kinda creepy, if you ask me. Josh asked me, "Are you scared of that guy on wrestling called the Boogeyman, Mom?" I said, "Well, he doesn't look too friendly, but I'm not scared of him, because without all his make up and scary costume, he might be just another nice guy." "Oh, well I'm not really scared of him either, because God is so way bigger than even the Boogeyman." What a smart kid. I only wish I learned that lesson at the young age of 5.

Who Are We?

We're just four people (hence, the name "Fourdisciples") doing life together. Mark, Debbie, Kenny, and Josh make up the mix. We live in Wisconsin where there are lots of corn fields and the biggest sky you've ever seen...and some cheese, too.

Mark's job is to help start new churches in this part of the state. "Why do we need more churches?!!!", you ask. Well, there are lots of church buildings in every state, but not nearly as many Christ Followers who know they're not perfect, who aren't afraid to be real with each other, who get the idea that only He can make us strong where we're weak. Mark's vision is to help start churches here in Wisconsin by partnering with other Christ Followers around the globe. You can check out his web-site at www.cbaow.net When he's not working, Mark is busy being a great dad and husband at home. AND he's one of the all-time greatest sports spectators (ESPN junkie).

Debbie does many jobs. She is a mom, wife, teacher, and counselor. In her old life, she taught students with special needs. While she still does that occasionally as a substitute teacher, she is now working on developing the counseling skills she needs to be a licensed counselor in our state. You can check out her counseling web-site at www.lwcounseling.com In her spare time, she likes to ride bikes with our boys, read, and "blog, blog, blog".


Kenny is 9 and is now a GREEN belt in Karate. He really has the moves down and has lost 10 pounds since he started karate last Fall. His latest hobby is watching wrestling and practices on his little brother. Also, he's one of the funniest kids you'll ever meet. Oh, Kenny just decided on his own to get baptized in March 2006. As you can see, we used the health club pool since our new church is so new there isn't a place to do the dunking yet. We think it's great that his faith is his own and not just "what mom and dad believe".


Josh is 5 and lately likes to wear his hair all spiked up. He starts kindergarten next year and has asked us to stop reminding him that he starts kindergarten next year. Don't worry about his big brother practicing wrestling on him....Josh has just as many moves and can defend himself. (Besides, they do it "fake" just like the big boys on TV do

So, that's us. Fourdisciples has been our nickname since we got our first e-mail address (it was probably the only name not taken when we signed up with our ISP). It fits us, because we get that we're not perfect, but we call ourselves His disciples since we truly want to follow Him as a family. We've learned to say "I'm sorry" a lot to each other and to Him and we know without His power and forgiveness, life would be harder than hard.