Happy 4th Birthday
Emma Patryce!

Our precious little girl turns four years old today! We are so thankful for Emma and for her enthusiasm for life, joy and laughter she brings to our family. She is our little princess even though her tastes are everything opposite of girly princess stuff. It thrills our hearts to see how she has grown over the years and especially concerning her understanding of Jesus. It is our prayer that Emma will one day give her heart to Jesus and grow in to a godly woman that serves Him wholeheartedly and loves Him above all else. We will have lots of pictures to share from her birthday celebration this evening so stay tuned...

The Treats

The kids had been gearing up for Halloween for a couple of weeks as they marched around the house dressed in their costumes and have been making crafts and other school projects centered around pumpkins and fall decor. They really had no idea what Halloween was or how popular the day is for kids their ages. In Italy, they only started to celebrate this holiday, in some areas as recently as 5 years ago. They do not do "trick or treat" and the costumes are really scary. You have to wait for the celebration of Carnivale for the cute kid costumes to come out. Samuel and Emma both had parties at school on Thursday and dressed up then as well.

As a child I only remember going "Trick or Treating" a couple of times because ever since my little brother, Cody, was born on Halloween it has always been a birthday celebration day instead. So watching our kids participate in this American tradition was almost like it was the first time for me as well. Last night we went over to the Fields' house around the corner where their small group from church got together to eat dinner and then go out in the neighborhood to Trick or Treat. Thanks to the Fields' 2 of our 3 kids were using hand-me-down costumes that were given to us by them last spring. Thanks guys for the dragon & Spiderman! We started running the streets around 6:30 and finally finished our route at 7:45. The kids ran in mass from house to house. I was exhausted by the end of the night and I just waited at the end of the driveway for them to return and never ran like they did. Luca, no joke ran the entire night! He was a crazy boy, but the cutest little dinosaur I ever saw! He would shout "trick or treat" up and down the street and would go up to the door of the house saying that or "canny?" with an outstretched hand. He was very polite and said "thank you" before tearing off to the next house. Emma told people she was a "spooky dragon" but who would believe her with her cute smile? The weather was in the 50s and made for a perfect night to be outside. We have a mass of candy but with Samuel being banned from chocolate (all caffeine products) for the time being by the doctor it may slow down the devouring process. (Read the previous post if that comment has lost you.) Okay, enough from me. Here is the evening in pictures.

The Tricks

Let's start with the "tricks" of October 31st. I will share more later about the kids' first Trick or Treating experience complete with pictures. They had a blast running through the neighborhood for over an hour last night with a big group of friends. However, while I have a few moments I will at least fill you in on the post happenings of the evening. As I just said, the kids were running/walking for a good amount of time last night and after we arrived home, examined their load of candy and started to get them ready for bed Samuel told us that his heart was "beeping" fast. He had not been doing anything for at least a half hour and yet his heart rate was almost impossible to count with our best guess and count being 240/bpm. We are not sure how long his heart might have been beating that way prior to his telling us but it was not slowing down. We called the pediatrician and he told us to take him in to the ER. So about 8:50pm last night we headed off to the hospital. Samuel said it was still beating fast on the way to the hospital but then it had slowed down when we arrived. Thankfully! He never had labored breathing or pain as far as we could get him to tell us. But, obviously the whole episode was quite concerning for us as our known time of a high heart rate exceeded 45 minutes. They did the whole work up of monitoring, chest and heart x-rays, and EKG and did not find anything. Jonathan had a similiar experience in high school after a soccer game where his heart was beating the same way for over an hour. Apparently, there is a family history of heart arrythmia. So now we will have to schedule a follow-up visit with his doctor this week and see where this trail of events will lead us. Samuel is the best little patient ever though. He is so kind and sweet to all the doctors and nurses and so fascinated with all the medical equipment. When the doctor asked for Samuel's version of the story he said: "I was running for Halloween and then my heart starting beeping very fast so my Mamma and Dadda brought me to your hospital." Doctor: "Why did they take you to the hospital?" Samuel: "Because they're very friendly." Did he mean his parents are friendly or the hospital? It made us smile. So our Halloween adventures ended last night as we arrived home close to midnight. Samuel is quite perky this morning and is fine by all normal standards of measuring. We'll keep you posted if there is anything more to share. Stay tuned for pictures and the "Treats" portion of the day...

Leaves are Falling

Just some quick shots capturing the kids having fun outside with the leaves. It is rumored that we could get our first Michigan snow next week. That would so not be cool!

Samuel must have real talent being able to hit the ball with his eyes closed. By the way, Uncle Ben(s), Samuel prefers to throw and bat left-handed.

All the while Emma was playing baseball she kept saying she was a "Tiger". Too bad it wasn't much of a season for Detroit (but then when has it been?)

The more protection for our accident prone child is never a bad thing.

Rev. Jonathan Kleis

Ordination Council - Thursday, October 16, 2008
Grace Baptist Church - Cedarville, Ohio

Pastor Craig Miller served as the moderator

The council, new Reverend and proud wife

Yes, Jonathan unanimously passed his ordination council on Thursday! To God be the glory! Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts for him especially over this past week. He really sensed God's peace and presence upon entering the examination. 16 men (pastors, missionaries, professors...all ordained themselves) comprised the council. We are so thankful to them for the time they took out of their day to serve as an encouragement and challenge to Jonathan. The three hours went by rather quickly and was most interesting to observe. Jonathan's parents and brother were also there and it was so special for us to have them there for support in this huge step.

Our pastor, Craig Miller, wrote these words about Jonathan on his blog: "He was unanimously affirmed and recommended by the council to the Deacons and church for ordination. All the council members spoke highly of both his presentation and his demeanor. He showed great skill in answering questions from the Scriptures, and we rejoice in this step in his continued service to the Lord and the church."

Jonathan received high compliments (and not just from his biased wife!) Truly we give it all back to God for the gifts He has given Jonathan and pray that our lives will continue to reflect that of the transforming work of Christ in our lives.

Ordination Service
Sunday, November 9 @ 6pm
Grace Baptist Church - Cedarville, Ohio

Post Family Farm

Yesterday we went to the Post Family Farm just down the road to partake in a real fall tradition, Michigan style. Growing up in California the seasons were not celebrated as dramatically as they are in the Midwest. I do love the fall with all the color changes and going to the pumpkin patch just can't be beat. It is one thing we miss about our falls in Italy, so we are taking full advantage of the festivities and American traditions since our future time in the States will primarily consist of summer visits.

This farm was ideal for the kids complete with: animal farm, pumpkin train ride, hayride to a u-pick pumpkin patch, playground, kids crafts, face painting, games, pony rides (maybe next time we'll pay extra for the pony rides) and much more! All the kids had a blast! We came home with pumpkins and a dozen fresh, HOT homemade apple cider donuts that were out of this world!

Luca found it very funny that the goats would eat anything he gave them and kept trying to get the donkey to be enticed by the same things.

The goat up top was waiting for it's food to be dropped from the can as Samuel operated the pulley system.

These 3 will never smile and look at the camera at the same time so we'll take what we can get!

Admission was $6 for this endless amount of farm fun...I guess that's how a farm makes a profit these days...I think the Fisher Family Farm should give it a try! What do you think Papa?

The pumpkin train

Playing in the hay stack was great fun. Poor Samuel needed to come home and take a dose of Benadryl as a result.

More pumpkin train

Hayride to the pumpkin patch

Luca was a little upset that the tractor and wagon left him out in the field.

Samuel said his favorite thing was the zip-line. The first time was not so successful but he soon got the hang of it!

And that's about it for one fall day here in Michigan.

Apple Orchard

This past weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and went apple picking at an orchard. The kids enjoyed the wagon ride out to the orchard and of course picking apples off of the trees. They picked 2 bushels of some really yummy apples that we will be enjoying for some time.

Luca was the best little helper who wanted to carry the baskets all by himself and surprisingly he was the most gentle in placing the apples in the basket.