Recognition and Perspective

The month of May is always busy for parents of school age children. Besides finishing up with school and extra curricular activities there are banquets and assemblies galore. Oh and don't forget that final concert. We wouldn't want to miss that now would we!
Just for our family alone we have had all of the following activities in the month of May:
*moving our son from Tennessee to Iowa after finishing his first year at Bryan College
*an academic assembly
*an academic athletic assembly
*5-6 track meets
*a track banquet
*a senior recognition night
*5 softball games(all three of our kids are playing softball..we have about 95 games yet to come) *two graduation ceremonies
*a graduation party at our home
*a vocal concert(oh, never mind...we skipped it)
*a trip to Chicago
*33 invitations to graduation parties for friends and family(a few of those are in June)YIKES!
WOW!!
It's all been fun and it's all been good...for the most part. But seeing that so many of those events have to do with recognition, it all makes me wonder. I do that a lot. Remember the blog a long time back when I told you that the Indian name that Dan gave me is "DEEP RIVER"? Well, that's me. Thinking, pondering, wondering. I'm so glad that God gave me this gift. I will talk more about that a little later. Let's look at some pictures.
"All of you graduates who did such and such stand up
and we will all clap for you." I not being as facetious at
is may seem. I just truly don't remember why they were
standing this time.













"Congratulations to Bethany Joy Koskamp for
keeping that 3 point whatever GPA while running
track at the same time."













"Wow! Look at all of these marvelous
accomplishments! And ain't she so cute!"













Here is the awesome kid again, and this
time with her parents. They must be
something to raise a child of this caliber.
















OK! My tone has been a little sarcastic but it's not because I think that the above ideas are bad. It's not that at all. Like I said, it's all good...for the most part. For me, it has been good because God has blessed me with a mind that wonders and ponders and wonders some more. I don't know how He does it, but I know why He does it. Because I have asked Him to. I have asked Him to help me to keep it all in perspective. I have asked Him to cause me to see things as He sees them. Without Jesus, my perspective would be so messed up. The pictures above would have such a different meaning. Because of Him, those pictures represent precious memories of a child loved just because she is. And to her they represent many thoughts and feelings that I may or may not know.
About a month ago I heard a parent say, "If I would have known that my child was getting that award that day, I would have had my camera." The comment caused my spirit to say, "ew." What a sad perspective. So, the child wasn't worthy of a picture unless they got the BIG award. Unless they got FIRST PLACE! Unless they did good enough to be RECOGNIZED. Sad.
So why did I write about this? I have asked myself this question several times during this entry because it has taken me a lot of time to think about how to present my thoughts. I've concluded that it has been no special reason other then that after attending all of these May events(there are many more then usual when you have a senior) it has been on my mind a lot. I am an observer of people and as I have raised my children over the years I have made lots and lots of intentional effort in striving for God's perspective in these things. In doing so, I can't help but notice a world with lots of sad and self -serving perspective. It's ironic really. Gymnasiums and auditoriums full of parents(Christians and non-Christians alike) who obviously love their children. And yet, they are still serving themselves more then the children they intend to love. They just haven't thought about it.

What about this picture? If you didn't know who was
writing this blog you most likely wouldn't know who
this was a picture of. Nor would you care. It's nothing
special. No first place trophies here. But when I look at this
picture I see a lot. When I look at this picture I see 1000's of
other pictures. I see what's important...I see what counts.













Recognition and perspective. Both are good but recognition without perspective is_________.
I decided that I have said enough. You fill in the blank.
God,
You know that I am far from perfect and so do I. I know that without You I am nothing. We both know that without You I am selfish and self-seeking and all about me. Without you, my perspective is way off. Thank you God for giving me a desire to see things from Your perspective. I know that I don't always get it right but my desire is to be like You, to think like You, to love like You and to have your perspective in this life. This month has been full of events that recognize children for their accomplishments and so forth. Oh Lord, I know that I love my children for who they are, no matter what. But do they know that? Do I show them that every day? Do I tell them one thing and yet show them another by the things I say and the way that I live? Have mercy on me Lord. That is not my intent. My desire is to let my children, as well as all children, know that they are loved by You because You are their maker, their redeemer, and their God. And God, I especially pray for all of those children who have had little or no recognition during the ceremonies and assemblies that have taken place. Those who have sat silently, observing the joy around them as others bask in glory. Lift them up I pray. Make Yourself and Your love known to them. Use me to show them Your perspective towards them. Amen.

She Smiled

Bittersweet

Where did the time go?
When did she grow?
How did she change....
from a baby in my little rocking chair on
her first Christmas?
















....into a five year old going to her
first day of pre-kindergarten at
Holloway House?

















How did she grow to be a senior in highschool?





















This morning I dropped her off at school
for the last time. I told her I loved her.
She almost always looks back as she
pushes the van door shut and usually
with a sweet smile that melts my heart.
This afternoon I will pick her up for the
last time. She will smile again.

Thank you Lord for this beautiful daughter.
She has brought joy into my life and
beauty into my heart. Thanks for every
car ride to school. Thanks God, for the
memories. How I cherish them
in my heart. Amen.

humble yourselves

James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
Humbe yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up.
.........He........He........He shall lift you up!

B
R E
O K N
N E
S
S

Family Night

Thursday night is usually family night at the Koskamp home. We have been having some great times over the last few months and I have really appreciated Dan and his leading our family. We never know what is going to happen on family night until Dan gets home. Then he announces the evenings activities. The responses have been quite interesting. Sometimes, Dan lets me know ahead of time about what is going to happen. There have been a few times when I've prayed all day cause I am afraid the girls are going to roll their eyes and groan. Funny, those are probably the best times we have had. I was shocked the evening Dan announced that we were going to clean the house together and Hannah got totally excited. She couldn't believe that I thought she would hate the idea. Bethany, one the other hand gave us a look that said, "I hope you're kidding." One never knows do they? Following is a sampling of some of the things we have done over the past two to three months.
Here we celebrated Bethany's 18th birthday.
A few weeks back, out of the blue, Bethany
wondered where all of the play-doh was.
Well, it dried up about six years ago.
I mean, my youngest child is 13! So Hannah got
Bethany some play-doh and after we ate and
opened presents we had a good time playing
with play-doh as Dan read through devotions.














Boy did this bring back memories. When the kids
were little it seems like someone always wanted
mommy to make a birds nest with little eggs in
it. Well, Bethany took it a step further. After all,
she is 18 you know. She made the mommy feeding
her little babies. Aah! How sweet.

Valentines Day was on a church night this
year so we celebrated a day early. We ordered
our traditional heart shaped pizza from Papa
M's. After supper Dan had a little project for
us. We were given 1 piece of paper and told
that we were to cut it in a way that we could
fit our entire body through it. Not only did
Bethany do it well, she was fantastic.
All 4 of us fit through it and Jordan would have
fit too had he been here.

And here is the wonderful cleaning night!!
Hannah did both showers and let me tell you
that is not a fun job at our house because it only
happens once in awhile. I admit, cleaning
showers isn't my favorite household chore.
In fact, Dan usually does it. I wonder if that's
why he came up with this great idea. And it
was a great idea. Four people cleaning for one
and a half hours is like Robin cleaning for
6 hours. We got so much done. Dan and Hannah
had the best time because Bethany and I agreed
that if they work on a separate floor of the house
that they could crank their music as loud as
they wanted. The house was shakin!

This family night was a great memory. We wanted
to thank the Schultz family for their friendship and
support in being willing to finish raising our kids in
the event that both Dan and I would be unable
to do so. Hannah was thrilled when they said yes
and we were sure that for awhile there she was
actually praying that Dan and I would kick off
so she could go and live with Amanda. Anyway,
we got a little something for each of them. Eric was
overjoyed to get the tub of butter he had always
wanted. We had heard that whenever the Schultz's
got a new tub of butter that Eric would kindly ask
the family if they would avoid ruining the little twist
in the middle of the butter. You know how pretty it is
before anyone digs into it. When we heard that no
one in the Schultz family would accommodate his wish
we were appalled. How hard is it to get your butter
from the outside edges of the tub? One of Eric's brothers
was so cruel that he would intentionally dig right into the
middle of the butter after opening a new tub. Poor Eric was
so angry that he stabbed his brother multiple times with
a fork. We felt this had to stop and that Eric was unduly
aggravated. We so enjoyed the challenge that we have
thought of trying it again. We all grew in our love for Eric
as we carefully protected that pretty little swirl. Would
you look at the joy on his face as he opened the lid
to his butter. That was a family night we will never
forget.




















One time we decided to work on a puzzle.
Bethany has probably put over 10x1000 piece
puzzles together since December. One day we
got one out and it sort of became her new hobby.
One family night Dan and her had a race putting
some pretty hard puzzles together. Bethany blew
him away. She is amazing. She tells me that I am silly
for saying so but I can point to the puzzle picture and
say, "find this piece" and she will dig through a ton of
pieces and in about 30 seconds find it. She just sees
details I would not see if my life depended upon it.
Below, she is wearing her "thinking" earrings. I am
going to be in big trouble for this one but I couldn't
resist.
















See Dan's face. It is his "I'm trying to look happy
face but I'm really not because I just got beat
real bad." Be encourage honey. At least you
finished.





















The past two weeks we have listened to a missionary
speak on the computer. Dan told us to come to the
living room with something that we can do while we
listen. Dan had heard this man speak live in a class
that he is taking at church and wanted us to hear him
too. Bethany enjoys drawing while she listens.


















Hannah did some light homework and then
pretended she was asleep. But she was listening.
She told us that she liked this missionary better
then the one that she heard a few months ago
when her dad actually took her to his class with him.



















I hope that wasn't too big of a sampling. As you
can see, spending time with my family is something
that totally excites me. There are times when we
have really busy weeks and we have things we need
to get done so instead of forsaking family night
we do them together: like getting groceries
or shopping for some special item that one of the
girls needs for school or an upcoming activity. Once
we went to the fabric store. Occasionally, we have
a fire in the back yard and roast marshmallows,
lie in the hammock, and just talk. Sometimes we enjoy
a visit to Barnes & Noble. We have a root beer or a hot
chocolate and talk about the latest book we have read
and how it has influenced our lives. Then we get to go
and look at books. It's fun wandering around that place.
Making time to have a family night isn't something
that we have done perfectly throughout the years.
But we keep plugging away. We believe that eating
meals together, doing devotions together, having regular
dates with your spouse and having regular family
time together are some of the things that have been
worth fighting for and worth working at. It doesn't have
to cost a lot and most times it costs us nothing. And even
when the kids roll their eyes we smile on the inside
because we know they love it. One of the first things
the girls ask when they get home from school on
Thursday's is "what are we doing for family night?"
It is such a good feeling to know that they love and
value spending time with their family. We are
really looking forward to Jordan coming home for
the summer in two weeks. He has already said
that he would like to talk with his sisters about a
study that he wants to lead us through this summer.
So you can relax Dan. It looks like you may have a few
months off!!
If you have some favorite things that you do with
your family we would love to hear about them.
Dear Jesus, Thank you that you have given me
a wonderful family. I love them so much. Thanks
for a great husband and dad who causes our time
together to have purpose and meaning. Thanks for
children who enjoy spending time with their parents
and siblings. Thank you that we have grown in
understanding of one another and in love for one
another. Thank you that we are learning how to care
for one another more deeply. Thanks you for your
faithfulness to us. Thank you for smiling upon us.
Thank you for seeing us through the blood of Christ,
overlooking our imperfections and covering us
with your constant protection. You are an everloving
God. You are a perfect God and yet you love imperfect
people like us. You bless imperfect parents like us.
You bless imperfect children like ours. Wow! How can
I say thanks? Hear my heart God. Please, cause me
to lay down more of myself for You. Amen!

Another First for the Koskamp Family

It seems like these days are full of either the first time we are experiencing something or the last. In another month Bethany will be experiencing her last track meet. Today Hannah experienced her first. The meet started at 4pm and was a dual between the Harding & McKinley Middle Schools. Hannah runs for the Harding Chargers. Track meets have been especially fun over the years because our kids are part of a large church youth group and have friends from youth group in so many schools in our city. Hannah has three of these friends on her team. Her first race of the day was the 4x800 and she had one of her best friends handing her the baton.

Brenda ran the first leg of the 4x800
and here she is leading the pack with
about 50 meters to go before she hands
off to .......












.....Hannah. Hannah is 2nd from the right,
waiting her turn to run the 2nd leg of the
relay.

A few short minutes later, there are about
75 meters to run before Hannah hands
off the baton. You can see her three youth
group friends on the grass cheering her
on...thanks Stephanie, Natalie, and
Brenda! You're the best.

Hallelujah! What a feeling. Her first
race is over! She did it.

Hannah's next race was the open 400. She finished the last 50 meters strong. Later, she ran her 3rd and final race of the evening, the 4x 400 meter relay. She ran the last leg in that relay. Her friends Brenda and Natalie ran in that relay too. This was a co-ed meet and Hannah's friend's Jed and Dominic ran for Harding and McKinley, respectively. Both boys are great runners. I really enjoy watching all these kids. Most, I have known since birth.

Did you know that running isn't the only thing that takes place at these track meets? There is lots of fellowship as parents chat on the sidelines.


My friend Lexi and I played that I was the Dr. and she had a terrible brain injury. I did surgery and wrapped her head tightly in an ace bandage and she sat in her chair to recover. She got a few concerned looks.

Lexi's dad, Pastor Mark, must have had a busy day. He took a little nap while his daughter Brenda wasn't running or throwing the discus. Here are just a few shots of that nap.

As you can see, Lexi had a miraculous recovery! Less then an hour after brain surgery she was jumping rope with her mom Cindy and her Aunt Janna twirling for her. It was amazing.

Even Cindy got in on the action.
Here she is, jumping in her stocking feet. Cindy, haven't you told Lexi not to play outdoors in just her socks? We caught you!
Before the evening was over there were a number of little girls wanting a turn to play jump rope. Isn't that sweet?

To top the evening off, Brenda and Hannah thought it would be great to go out to Sonic to celebrate the season's first track meet. So the Forstroms, Janna Hoobler, and the Koskamps went to Sonic together. Sorry, no picture of that. I took one to many pics of Pastor Mark's nap. I will try to get that one next year at our 2nd annual season's first track meet celebration....if the Lord wills.

Really....I Wasn't Lying

You know a few posts back when I said
"Spring is here"? It really was true. I
don't know what happened. I woke up
this morning and my precious babies
were all laying on the ground in this cold
slushy white stuff.













Have you seen Father of the Bride? When
the tulips for the wedding had that white
stuff all over them, they got out their blow
driers and went outside to save the day.
Boy I thought about it.













Instead I decided to wrap up in a blanket
and deny that it was happening. I know it
won't be long and this silly dream will
come to an end because we all know the
truth. SPRING IS HERE!

Actually, this is kinda nice!

FAITH

Earlier this evening my husband, Dan, came home from a class he is taking at church called "Perspectives." Tonight's speaker is a missionary to the country of Jordan. As Dan was sharing some of the stories that the he told I liked one of the quotes that I heard. Hopefully if I get on the Internet to hear this man speak I will get the quote as he says it but following is how I remember it as told by Dan.
It takes faith to believe the things that God tells us.
It takes no faith to believe the things that the enemy tells us.
It seems like the theme of my life so far in 2007 has had to do with things of faith and trusting God. I'd like to think that I trust God completely but when I examine my thoughts and behaviors I sometimes hear the words of Jesus ringing true in my mind, "Where is your faith?" from Luke 8:25. Those words hurt. I'd so much rather hear, "Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith has made thee whole," from Luke 8:48.....or would I? selah Ya know what? Both are good!
I want to be a pleasing daughter...one who puts her faith in Jesus alone. But being human there are times when I will fail. And oh, how I need Him to speak to me then. "Where is your faith.?" Were it not for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would so constantly remind that somewhere along the line my faith shifted from Jesus back to myself? Only He knows my thoughts. Only He knows my heart. Only He knows my deep floundering. Only He can remind me and draw me back to Himself. Both are good! And to believe that it takes faith. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Luke 17:5
Lord Jesus, I believe! Help my unbelief. May I say, like the apostles of old, increase my faith.

BEAUTIFUL

Beautiful! Beautiful!
Jesus is beautiful.
And Jesus makes beautiful things of my life.
Carefully! Touching me!
Causing my eyes to see.
Jesus makes beautiful things of my life.













Hannah enjoys spending time with all of her friends. It seems like her friend Morgan moved to Cedar Rapids just yesterday but as the pictures show us...it has been a few years. Can you guess how many.? When I look at these pictures it seems like there must be about a five year span in there. But no. These beautiful young ladies were around twelve in the first picture and now they are about fourteen. What tremendous change has taken place in just two years. It is so exciting to watch them grow and change. And the most exciting thing is to see them grow in their love and knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ. They remind me of flowers, in that they are beautiful in every stage. Yet, as they grow in Christ they are more beautiful as the years go by. Hannah, I love you and I love all of your wonderful friends. I pray that you will all grow in the grace of Christ, that you will all desire to have beautiful hearts and that you will always inspire one another to love and good works.

Spring Is Here!

Hurray! Spring is here at last.

One day the flowers are

beginning to appear and the

next day... there they are!









The best part of spring...
I finally have a great
excuse to play in the mud.
There is nothing like the
smell of the dirt in the spring.

Runners Take Your Mark....

Bethany
(in 2nd)
running
a 400 in
the 3rd
leg of the
distance
medley
relay.



It's that time of the year again! Track has started at Kennedy and Harding and the Koskamp's have two runners in the family. Bethany is competing at Kennedy High School and this is her 4th year of track. Hannah is out for track at Harding Junior High for the first time and she is enjoying it so far. Bethany already had her first indoor meet at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on Monday the 19th. She ran the open 200 and a few 400's in relays. Between Bethany and Hannah there are about 18 meets to attend so Dan and I won't be at a lack as for entertainment this spring.

Family Fun in Florida

Hurray! Dan and I have arrived in Florida. The kids are still in Cedar Rapids so we have a few days to relax.

Dan has his own chair on the left but he likes the one I made in the sand better...or not. He did try it out though. I thought it was comfy-cozy.

The kids have arrived! We shared lots of hugs.

We saw pretty places.

We saw several softball games....CUI..ra.ra..CUI..ra.ra...who.ra.who.ra. Central! Central!

ra.ra.....

We took several walks along the beach...and even a run. Here Dan, Bethnay and Hannah are having a race.

Hannah is still smiling even though moments earlier she wasn't paying attention as a wave came in, knocked her off her feet and sent her nose first into

the sand. It was a funny sight but it really did hurt the nose. That salt water has no mercy.

We had fun in the waves!

Dan and the kids were much braver then I was. Even though the temperatures were in the 70's while we were there the water was only 60 degrees and it was COLD!

The waves weren't quite large enough to get a good ride on the boogie board but Dan gave it a try.

We were sad to see this beached beluga. Poor thing!

As we got closer we thought it had a familiar face.

Ohhhh! What an adorable little begula.

A family picture.

I don't feel like I have had a great trip to the beach unless I have played in the sand.

Dan, Bethnay and I had lots of fun building this castle.

Good-bye castle and good-bye Florida. Thanks God, for a precious family and the blessings you provide for us. Our trip to Florida was a wonderful gift from you.