The Muench Bunch

Big changes in the Muench household,first year of homeschool for all three children. Luke's first year as a homechooler and my third year teaching. It will be a new year with new experiences and challenges along the way. I know I cannot do this alone and pray for guidance and patience! Here is our annual fun photo for back to school.   For the first day of school, each kid got a fun gift of goodies to open. Each is wearing a new sweatshirt or coat along with the new goodies.

These are some fun photos of my super, awesome, amazing,silly, beautiful daughter.

8/29/15 Iowa has got to be one of the craziest places in the world when it comes to weather. It is so unpredictable and doesn’t make sense. A normal August is blazing heat and pretty much unpleasant. This month has been unusual and on the cool side. Most days feel very much like fall. Several days got down in the 40’s and 50’s like an October day. While in Okoboji, each morning we woke up to low 50’s and the highs for the day were low 70’s. Normal for this time is so hot that schools get out early due to the heat. The crazy part, the forecast for the first week in September is showing multiple days in the 90’s high heat. What!? Just in time for the Labor Day rodeo weekend. What is going on?

Jacob had the experience of a lifetime. He went to Forrest City with his Grandparents. They took him to a Vietnam Veteran's celebration.  Grandpa was honored for his service during the Veitnam war with a very nice medal. They had lots to see and do, among them was a helicopter ride. From what I heard, they stood in the line for hours to get a ride. It was expensive to get to ride and Grandpa wanted to take Jake. They got to fly on  a huey army helicopter. Jake had the time of his life. We got a phone call shortly after he was back on the ground and he was so excited. he went on and on about how amazing it was. The helicopter dipped and dove and dropped and climbed. It sounded like the kind of ride I would have gotten very sick on. Jake said Grandpa was hanging on for dear life. They sat in the gunner of the plane and felt like the were hanging in their seats. Jake said Grandpa looked pretty scared and hollered at some points. It sounded like quite the ride. I don't think there

8/28/15 Today we said goodbye to Okoboji. It is always sad to leave a vacation and hard to go back to your everyday crazy life. At the same time it always feels so good to be home. We were all up by 8 packing and getting ready to head home. Only one problem, it was raining. The boat was still on a lift and we needed to get it out and drive it to the dock and load it. None of which is a smiple or fast process. In the rain it would not be fun. We thought we would wait out the rain as the radar looked like it would pass soon. We waited and waited. We got permission to stay a little longer than check out. It just wouldn’t let up, so we went for an early lunch. The rain was very light and it was obvious it was not going to quit. Jake, Jayden, and Mark handled the boat, while Luke and I finished packing. By 1:00 the hotel manager was at our room hurrying us out. By 2, we had all our stuff loaded in the boat, to keep it dry, and were on the raod. We were all a bit damp in the truck going ho

 This is the week that most kids in Iowa start back to school. Because we homeschool I decided this would be the perfect week to take a vacation. A nice break before life gets crazy, the resorts would be much quieter and less crowded, and the rates go down to half. I had it all planned. We headed to Okoboji for a 5 night stay at Triggs Bay on the East side of Okoboji. The resort rate was half price, they had a beach and a pool. It was perfect, except for the weather. Most years it would still be hot. This week lows of 50, highs of 70 every day. That made for some chilly mornings and not so hot days. Mark’s parents, to my surprise decided to join us on the first part of our vacation. They ended up staying in the same resort right above our room. I wished my parents could have joined us too. We got settled in and parked the boat for the night and went out for supper. Day 2 was pretty breezy. We took the boat out and all had on coats and were very chilly. We went all along the East lake

Mark and I have offically started the Yoli diet. We are taking a giant step in eating healthier and taking care of our bodies. Our fist night out to a restaurant was going to be a challenge. We both ordered water with a lemon slice and salad. Mark ordered fish. I still laugh when I think about his fish. To our surprise and to my disgust, they brought the entire fish, head and all. I was so grossed out trying not to smell and lose my appetite.

I recently became aware of 4 familes from church who are all adopting from Ghana, Africa. I met Janel Sullivan through Cornerstone's Women's bible studies 5 years ago. I follow her amazing blogs. and have watched her family grow. She now has 6 children, 3 of them adopted from Ghana. Their family continues to do tremendous work and projects in Ghana  Of the 4 new families adopting, two I know well from bible study and I am so excited for all of them. I love hearing adoption stories. I wish that we were one of the families adopting, but I am not sure that is what God has planned for us right now. It takes 110% both parents on board.  These families adopting all have several children of their own. To me, that is what makes it even more awesome and special. It is not adoption out of a need to have a child because they are unable. It is a call from God that they are chosen to expand their family through adoption. I want to encourage, help, pray for and follow these families as t