#228 I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!

Just under two weeks ago the Hofman family moved to Le Mars, IA. (That's why my blog has been pretty dead for the past month. We've been quite busy packing and moving and getting settled.) After five years serving in Kanawha, Tess and I felt God calling us to move on. I am now the pastor of Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Le Mars.

Le Mars is famous for being the ice cream capital of the world. Wells Enterprises, the company behind Blue Bunny ice cream, has its headquarters here, so more ice cream is made in Le Mars than anywhere else in the world. Getting settled in a new house and a new town is a process, and sometimes Lanie and Mia don't know quite what to think. So to help our girls get excited about their new home, we took a trip to the ice cream parlor on our first full day in Le Mars.

Lanie loved the birthday cake flavor, which has sprinkles and frosting mixed in. Mia didn't care which flavor she got; she was happy to share with both Mom and Dad.

Le Mars also has ice cream cone sculptures scattered throughout town, so Lanie and I are in the process of exploring town by looking for ice cream cones. Here's the first few we've found.

I'll keep you posted on how the great ice cream cone hunt is going. I'll also provide some more updates on our transition to Le Mars in the future that aren't all about ice cream. See you next time!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#227 WHOOOOSHHH! BOOOOOM!

Over the past month or so, Lanie has become really interested in my comics. It started with her discovering a couple all-ages series by Art Baltazar and Franco: Superman Family Adventures and Super Powers. We read through those collections issue by issue. Then we did it again and again and again. I did my best to use different voices for each of the characters—a slightly deeper and more heroic voice for Superman, a little higher and confident voice for Lois Lane, an arrogant voice for Lex Luthor, a gruff voice for Perry White, an excitable and somewhat timid voice for Jimmy Olsen, and so on. And, of course, I had lots of fun making the sound effects. You can't truly read comics without the sound effects.

From there things snowballed a bit. I got a new Superman book for Fathers' Day. Lanie saw that lying around and started flipping through it. Before long she asked me to read her some stories from that book. Then she started wondering about some other books I have. I don't know that she really understands everything that's going on, especially in the dialogue, but she does pay close attention. So now we read comics together pretty regularly. Lanie still loves the books geared toward kids most of all, but she is expanding her horizons a little bit.

I hope that Lanie continues to enjoy comics as she gets older. I'd love to read more stories with her, especially some of my favorites. Maybe we could even talk about them a little bit. But if she's not interested down the road, that'll be okay, too. At least we're having some fun now. Up, up, and away!

Grace and peace,

BMH