Can It Be?

How is our little baby girl 7 years old already? They always warn you that time flies by and your kids grow up too quickly...........how true that really is.

Tay decided to have a Fairy birthday party this year, and as always Amy outdid herself again with her homemade birthday cake. You must go see the process and detailed pictures of the final product at Amy's Cake blog which is linked on the right. In addition to the cake, Daddy chipped in with his artistic abilities and made huge crepe paper flowers for all the girls to take home.


As another one of our family traditions, she was able to invite 7 friends since she was turning 7 years old. In addition to the 7 girls Taylor decided to have over, she also enjoyed the presence of her brothers and cousin Mason.

Of course you can't have a party without dancing. In this case, there was some serious dancing going on to one of Tay's favorite presents; the Chipmunk's The Squeakquel cd.

Of course Taylor received some wonderful gifts and was truly blessed by all her friends and family that were able to share in her birthday celebration.

Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you and our so proud of you. Don't grow up too fast on us.

Another One Saved

Yes, some may call us crazy but we have added on to our existing family! May I introduce you to Ringo....

Ringo is a australian cattle dog/blue heeler mix who is about 1 year old. We took him home Sunday after visits with him and our family on Friday and Saturday. He was rescued by a shelter here in Iowa City from another shelter that was planning to euthanize him in 7 days.

Ringo is absolutely adorable, isn't he? He weighs about 35 lbs, has cute spots all over, LOVES to play with toys, dogs, and kids, and is very smart.

These are pictures of Ringo from the shelter but I'll try to get some of our own on soon. Including those with our other doctors as it makes a pretty funny picture. We now have all three sizes of dog - small, medium, and large. Ringo is intended to be more of the kids dog and in particular Taylor's, as she has been asking for a smaller dog to take care of and play with. We'll see how that goes with responsiblities.

So far everyone is getting along pretty well for the most part. Holly has shown her dominance of the house while Butch is the larges but certainly most passive of the group. Ringo is very athletic and can run down or catch about anything in the air. He should make a great do for agility and fly dog if we are able.

Most of all, we are glad to have saved another wonderful dog who just needed the right home and some TLC.

How 'Bout Them Hawks!

Well, what started as a tailgater with the kids at the Boelk house, ended in pure celebration and staying up well past midnight to listen to all the Hawkeye postgame and interviews on the radio and television.


You can't start a Hawkeye football gameday without the Skin Candy version of the Iowa Fight Song. This has turned into a fan favorite at our house and the kids love rockin' on their guitars........errrrr, I mean.......light sabers as they sing along.



Obviouisly the entire Iowa D was once again amazing, as they have been all year and throughout the decade! Yo Adrian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough said.

Yes, our running backs are only freshman. Wow, what a future!


Gotta' love the Captain!



Mmmmmm, Vitamin C. We Love You Hawks!

Happy Holidays!

Real nice Mom and Dad, my first shot at writing the Christmas letter and you’re not even sending it out in cards. Something about a tight budget and saving trees. I don’t know what the big deal is about saving trees, all I do is pee on them anyway. Oh, hi by the way, my name is Butch. I’m the newest member of the Boelk family and therefore it is apparently my job to write the Christmas letter. For those who have not been lucky enough to meet me, I am a 125 lb. great dane and black lab mix. Yes, that makes me the second largest person in this family. And don’t think I don’t know it. So, this year has been quite an adjustment for me. See, I came from a shelter where I had been staying for probably 1 ½ years. Prior to that I was taken away from a neglected household where my brother and I were starving to death and we didn’t get treated the nicest. Luckily for me, I have found this great loving family and I now have a psycho sister who I really am fond of. I love all this yard I get to roam around in; chasing squirrels, digging holes, playing with my sis, and basking in the sun. But my main pleasure in life is cuddling with my family.

This new family of mine is a very busy one. That I learned quickly. Let’s see, let me start with the kiddos. These three are non-stop action, and I am often found in the middle of craziness. The girl, Taylor, well she loves dancing, reading, and socializing. This year she played tee ball again in the summer and Dad was the coach again. She also went to some Safety Camp in Iowa City with her friend Skylar and had a wonderful time. Now she is taking a couple of dance classes called jazz and hip-hop. She also recently started carrying this shiny silver stick all over the house and likes to practice twirling and throwing it in the air. Her brothers think it is a light saber, but I hear they call it a baton. Taylor goes to this thing they call school everyday, and apparently she is really good at it. She is in both 1^st grade and 2^nd grade this year and seems to love both. Speaking of school, I went to some class earlier this year as well to learn to sit and stuff. I had a lot of trouble with the sitting and letting others pet me at first, but by the end of the school year I looked like a pro. Mom and Dad seem very proud of Taylor and all she does!

Tay’s brothers, well, they have a LOT of energy. Both the boys took swim lessons this summer for the first time and had a ball. They got to ride a school bus from preschool to the pool in Tipton and thought that was pretty cool. They also both played tee ball for the first time and Dad helped coach “as needed”. Check this out; they also have fun playing in this gym bus every week at school. That sounds like fun to me. Speaking of fun, did I tell you I got to “run” the obstacle course at the end of my training classes. Well, all but going through the tube because I was a little big for that. Anyway, sorry, back to the boys. So, they are still in pre-school as Mom and Dad decided to wait one more year before starting kindergarten. They are really growing and maturing with this additional year and can’t wait to start school next fall. Though most people have a hard time telling them apart (myself included), they seem to differentiate themselves more and more by personality and character traits. Their new biggest interest is Star Wars, and they are hopeful to be getting some Star Wars themed presents for Christmas. As with Taylor, Mom and Dad are full of pride when talking about their boys.

Mom and Dad have been VERY busy with their church this year. They are often gone to meetings or at church for housegroups, prayer groups, church board, set-up/tear down, and Sunday school teaching. I guess they felt an even stronger calling from God and decided to take on finding a new home for the Vineyard Church. Though many steps were involved in finding a new address to call home, it ended with the church buying the top floor of a commercial condominium in Coralville. This 12,000 SF space was only a shell inside so Dad drew up some floor plans and with the help of Mom’s architect contacts, came up with final construction plans. From there, Mom decided to take on the construction and project management with the help of her company, Knutson Construction. It has been a tiring and stressful process, but I think they must have moved into the new church building last week because boy were they excited! I hear the new church is absolutely beautiful and the Vineyard community is truly rejoicing. In addition to that, they find themselves playing with the kids, coaching, working in the yard/garden, crafting, walking us (J) , and enjoying time with friends.

Holly and I have unfortunately found ourselves home alone on several occasions this year, as the family traveled without us (what’s up with that?). One of those being their annual trip to Minnesota with Dad’s parents and sister’s family, which they LOVED as always. From what I hear of that place I sure hope I’ll be able to go with sometime. Mom also took her annual trip to Chicago and Dad his trip to Kansas City. But their main focus has been on this other animal called a Hawkeye. Funny, I hear about this Hawkeye all the time but I never see it or get to play with it. Oh well, at least it doesn’t take any of my food. Speaking of, I’m really starting to get hungry. Sorry, must focus and get this finished. So, the family has spent their Saturday’s tailgating and at Kinnick’s stadium, enjoying the wonderful season the Hawks have had. They also spend many an afternoon and evenings at Carver’s arena as they watch wrestling, basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics. They are so proud of the black and gold no matter what the result. Go Hawks!

The family wanted me to express that this year was one of many thanks. Thanks for all of our wonderful family and specifically parents, thanks for the abundance of friendship, thanks for their wonderful church community, thanks for secure and enjoyable employment, thanks for food and shelter, and thanks for their relationship with Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit enter your hearts in both times of need and in celebration in 2010.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, GOD BLESS, and Go Hawks!!!

Love,

Brian, Amy, Taylor, Carver, Kinnick, Holly, and Me (Butch)

O' Christmas Tree

As tradition, we went and cut down our Christmas tree following Thanksgiving. Also as tradition, Amy's parents went with and we had a wonderful time. This years goal, as always, was to get the biggest tree possible. As many of you know, we have a very high ceiling (part of the design) with a space planned for a large tree.

Well, this year we did a much better job living up to the challenge. So much that we had a bit of an incident with our tree. That night, after Amy and I were finally able to sit down to eat dinner, rest our feet, and watch some football after the long day, we heard a sudden loud noise. We then looked up and saw our 10'4" tall come crashing down to the floor, ornaments and all! Yes, the tree stand broke, most likely due to the size of the tree, and there wasn't much we could do about it.

The result for that night, I had to tie the tree to the windows and door in our house in order to make it through the night. Regardless, during the day the kids had a ball decorating the tree and placing our MANY decorations whereer they could possibly reach.

Following the timber of the tree....all we could do was laugh.

A Christmas Past

The weekend before last was the annual celebration in West Branch called A Christmas Past. It was a great weekend of events, all of which are free to the public. Everything from making snowman tee shirts and ornaments, to horse carriage rides and homemade doughnuts.

We started the night by visiting Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Of course, Taylor had been talking all week about gift ideas for her Christmas list but she froze up when she got on his lap and told him to surprise her.

After talking to Santa we moved on to making snowman t-shirts at Kingdom Graphics. Each kid colored their own shirts and they turned out great. From there, we walked downtown passing by the old school brick fireplaces in the street and wonderful luminaires.

Our walk took us to a sweet train exhibit tht the kids (and myself) absolutely loved!

We then headed up to the library to make ornaments and have more treats with Becky.

On the way back towards the Hoover Museum we stopped for some homemade doughnuts by the Boy Scouts which were yuuummmmyyyy! And after that, for the finale, a horse carriage ride around the Hoover park area and downtown streets of West Branch. A chilly ride, but very beautiful.

What a wonderful night.

Would you be willing to help?

Dear Family and Friends,

Sometimes it is hard coming to friends, neighbors, and even loved-ones when you're in need. We all want to be "big", in-control, and independent! I've been delaying sending this email out in part out of my own pride and sense of wanting to believe that we're in control; also in hopes of answered prayers, hoping that a miracle would just land in our lap and everything we need would be provided for. But I'm understanding that maybe the miracle is going to come in-part through you...the people who care about us and our spiritual walk with God.

For any of you that feel awkward or offended that I'm requesting your personal help, please forgive me. The last thing I want to do is offend ANY people I love. I am sorry and do not want you to feel pressured into giving. If this is how you are feeling, you're welcome to stop reading.

Our church, Vineyard Community Church (www.icvineyard.org), was planning to move to a new location (2205 E. Grantview Dr., Coralville) starting Sunday, December 6. Our church community is a HUGE amount of our lives and we spend a lot of time investing ourselves financially, personally and spiritually in this church. Here is our need. Over the last 10 years the Vineyard Community has been scrimping and saving to finally have a place it can call home. We found an awesome location (we purchased a floor of a 3 story building) at the corner of 1st Avenue and Oakdale Blvd. in Coralville that we cannot wait to move into. It will be an incredible home for carrying out and expanding God's work!

The last 8 months have been extremely busy with construction projects, decor decisions, and balancing of funds to allow us to move in soon. But, and this is a big BUT...as we're VERY near the closing of this building we have discovered the developer has run out of money. This affects the church because the developer still owns 2/3 of the building (the bottom two of three floors). It appears the developer is in foreclosure on a number of other properties and will most likely be in foreclosure on our property (for their share of the building) in the near future.

The developer has no money to pay a few of the subcontractors, one of which is for the fire sprinkler vendor. In response, the sprinkler company said they would not turn on the sprinkler system. And, without proper functioning sprinkler systems our building will not meet fire code, therefore our church would not be able to move into the building even though construction is complete and our space is ready!

To fight this legally would be a long, expensive battle that our church will avoid. But even if we were to enter legal action and win, what is the reward? The developer has nothing. We would be months and months with no home, all while making mortgage payments and payments to rent the space we are currently in. Instead of directing our attention on the developer, we're choosing to work directly with the sprinkler company. Ultimately, they are owed $45,000. The church has come to an agreement with the sprinkler company to pay them $26,000 and they will turn the sprinklers on. However, our construction budget is gone and we need to raise the money to be able to do this.

After reading the above, what questions come to mind? I'd ask that you please consider and pray over if there is an amount that might feel comfortable for your family to give. ANY amount that you can provide will be enormously helpful and appreciated. I would welcome the chance to answer any questions and discuss with you and help explain why I feel this is so important to us, our kids, families, and our surrounding communities.

All checks and electronic "Bill Payer" payments will be confidential and can be mailed/sent to:
Vineyard Community Church
P.O. Box 186
Iowa City, IA 52244
Attn: Kim Leman
Memo: Building Fund/Sprinkler Help

Finally, thank you for reading and considering this email. All of the money raised to date has been raised from within the church community and we had hoped to avoid asking our family and friends who have no ties to our church to contribute. But we’re recognizing that we just can’t avoid doing that now. We’re choosing to lean into God, trust that he will provide and call on the family and friends that he has given us and share our need. We know economic times are hard for all of us right now and there are holiday season needs. We understand not being able to contribute and appreciate everyone's consideration.

Love,
Brian, Amy & the Kids