Michigan White caps

The kids earned free Michigan White caps tickets for a reading program that the school did. Last night was such a beautiful night. The team lost but we had a ton of fun!!! We get to go again tonight for a Godwin Plumbing work Picnic. This is always a really fun night. Jared, we will keep an eye out for you. Make sure you send a wave towards the Miller Lite deck!!!!

I do not know if any of you have heard about someone called Rubber boy
But I will say He is very hard to watch. He can do all kinds of weird
things with body parts and I really couldn't stand watching him.

White caps game

Here are some more pictures from the white caps game.

Yes, I took this one myself.

This was from the Cotton Candy!

Poor Nik!

These pictures are kind of cute!! We planted new grass where our deck used to be and in other sections of our back yard. Nikolas has a squirrel feeder back there that he keeps supplied with corn. Poor kids had to walk across the fence to get to the feeder without touching the ground!! He did a great job!!!

Before and after Deck

This is a before picture of part of our deck. The picture is not so good but its the only I could find at the moment.
A few years back our hot tub completely quit working and it was not worth putting more money into it. We had a dream of redesigning that part of the deck so that we would have a lot bigger back yard. We took off the whole section where the hot tub was.


These pictures below are the finished product!! I think it looks wonderful!!! We spent $0 money on it. Yep, you read that right! No money!! Everything we used came off of the part of the deck we got rid of.

The whole part where the steps and grill are is where we redesigned it.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!!

Today is Hannah's 8th birthday!! More amazing is that this is only the 2nd birthday she has ever celebrated!!! So please join me today in wishing her a happy birthday!!!

We are headed off to the white caps this evening and then again tomorrow!! I will try to remember my camera this time!! :)

Storms!

I cannot believe the storms that we have been getting lately. Fridays were bad and then Saturday nights were terrible too. I cannot remember the last time that we had 6 hours where it NEVER stopped thundering and lightning. It was crazy. Yesterday we had another set of storms roll through and our Neighbors's (across the street) basement flooded. I felt so bad for them. We were able to help carry things out and vacuum up a bunch of water but its scary how quickly that can happen. I have not see todays weather yet but I pray the worst is behind us.

Got tagged

I got tagged today by my friend Kathy.

Top 5 things you love most about the summer.

1. Things slow down a little
2. warmer weather (notice I did not say Hot)
3. I get to go to Haiti
4. The beach
5. camping


5 Things I hate about summer:

1. Heat
2. Humidity
3. Heat
4. Humidity
5. Heat and Humidity!

LOL need I say more!!

I am tagging:

Diane

Jen

Cheri

Julie

Karla

Mari

Terry

Paul Washer: Loved

There is a blog that I read every day called Defending Contending

They are a group of people that are willing to lay their life on the line to share the truth. It is not for the faint of heart but boy do I applaud what they are doing and that they are trying to get the truth out there when so may people and ministers today want to water down the truth of Jesus Christ. this video was on their today and thought I would share it with all of you.

Good-bye Kindergarten, Hello first grade

Ryan and Terri (Caleb's best friend and they live across
the street from us) Awesome neighbors!
Caleb being Caleb
Caleb's other buds!
Hannah and one of her friends
Mrs. Vander Stel. I could not have asked for a better teacher for my two kids this past year. She is so sweet and they enjoyed her so much.

Hard to believe that my two youngest are going to be in First grade next September. Today was Hannah and Caleb's last day of school. I was able to go at 11:30 and have Lunch with them and then we went outside and played some games. We had so much fun!! They had a awesome teacher this year and she had her own blog for the class which I thought was wonderful!

Here is some video of our day. Hard to believe the will all be in school full time next year! That did make me a little teary today! :)

Caleb and Marshmellow Hockey

Blog award

My friend Cheri gave me this blog today!!! I am giving it right back to her!! Thank you so much! You mean the world to me!!

I am also giving this award out to some people that I call very, very good friends. God has blessed me so much with a very close group of friends and I appreciate you all more than you will EVER know!!!

Julie

Michelle - You do need a blog! :)

Diane

Tori

Tammy

Kimberly

Amy K. - You need a blog too!! :)

Tara L

Theresa B - Are you still blogging?!!

Beth - I need to get you blogging. By the way for those of you who do not know Beth and I have been friends for about 32 years now!! How cool is that!!!

What is your Vocabulary score!

Your Vocabulary Score: B+

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

How's" Your Vocabulary?

Yeah! I got a B+!!

My Grandma is 97 today!!

Please join me in wishing my Grandma a Very happy 97th birthday today!!!!

She is a wonderful Godly woman who I love so dearly. It has been wonderul watching my children get to know her. She is so sweet and every other Sunday night my mom and Dad, My Aunt and Uncle, my counsins and my family get together and visit with her for a few hours. We started doing this when my Grandpa got really sick 20 years ago. After he died we just continued on and it has been such a blessing.


We also had a great time camping this past weekend. The weather was perfect. I will also try to get out take my after pictures of our deck reconstruction and try to look for my before pictures as well because as you know I forgot to take them. I also forgot to take my camera camping this weekend. I think I need to tie it to my wrists.

Gospel for Asia

This man has forever changed the way we think about mission and mission trips and what we are called to do on mission trips. I loved this quote from him.

Both in India and in my travels around Western countries, I constantly uncovered a preoccupation with so-called “ministry” activities operated by Christian workers, financed by church monies, but with little else to distinguish them as Christian. . . . Social concern is a natural fruit of the Gospel. But to put it first is to put the cart before the horse; and from experience, we have seen it fail in India for more than 200 years. Yet while I realized the intrinsic nature of the Gospel involved [in] caring for the poor, I knew the priority was giving them the Gospel. Meeting their needs was a means to share the love of Christ so they would be saved for eternity.
- K.P. Yohannan
http://www.gfa.org

Hannah and Caleb's field trip

Hannah and Caleb went to the Tuensink's pony farm last week for their class field trip. They had so much fun. I was not able to go on this one but their teacher has a blog where she took lots of pictures!!!

Robin Update

Okay Patty, here you go an update on our birds!! They are so much fun to watch. They are really growing up fast!!

God's creation at its finest!!

Nate and I were playing badmitten with the boys and this is how the sun looked today! It was so neat looking!!

Matt Redmond Mission's Flame

Our Pastor told us about this song this week and of course Youtube had a video of it!!

Great song!!!

Group 1 crew - Forgive me

I heard this on our local radio station station yesterday. WAY FM It is geared more for the college age and teen group but its pobably my favorite radio station due NO commercials and I love the music.

I heard this song twice. the first time I was not sure I liked it. It is rappier than I like. However the second time I heard it the words just hit me. My heart tells me we do not have a lot if time left in this world as we know it. My heart hurts for those that do not have Jesus yet and this song just made me teary eyed when I really listened too it. Give it a chance. Listen to it a few times. some of you may have heard it already. some of you will hate it! That is okay!! I like the chorus! :)

Feathered friends in the play area!

We had a robin move in behind the kids swing set and decided it was a great place to lay eggs.
The eggs have hatched and Nate took these pictures tonight!! What fun!!

What sweet children!!

I know I am probably biased but are they not just the cutest,
sweetest kids you have ever seen!!! :)
They are ages 11, 9, 9, 7 and 7!

MyPersonality.info Badge

While I am waiting to have my new Dish installed I thought I would give you all one of our families favorite recipes! Yum! It is best if you make it up in the morning and then rerigerate until you bake at night. The noodles stay more firm.

2 (15oz) cans tomato sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
10-12 oz pkg. fine eggs noodles
8oz cream cheese, softened
2 c sour cream
12 green onions , optional
1 1/2lb. ground beef

in a large skillet, brown ground beef; drain. Stir in tomato sauce and seasonings. Heat boiling; reduce heat and simmer,uncovered, 15 minutes. Heat oven to 350. cook noodles as directed on package. combine cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in Green onions id desired. In 9X13 pan, layer cooked noodles, cream cheese mixture, meat sauce and cheese. Bake about 1 hour or until bubbly. Makes 10 servings.

Since 1995 we have had Direct Tv and while I love them we found we can save $20 extra dollars a month and have a DVR. So we switched. I think I have the crabbiest guy on the planet in my house at this moment. Ugh! I am also missing out on one of my favorite activities and that is getting together with 3 of my friends on Tuesday's. Sigh!

Also for all of you Dish network people out there will you do me a favor and email them and ask them to add the Sleuth channel to their line up! Nate and I are addicted to old Miami vice reruns and Dish network does not carry that channel yet! I have asked but there is power in numbers!! :)

God is with you!

I received this from a good friend today! I really like it!! :)

God is for you .Not "may be," not "has been,"not "was,"not "would be," But "God Is!!" He is for you .Today. At this hour. At this minute. As you read this sentence. No need to wait in line or come back tomorrow. He is with you. He could not be closer than he is at this second. His loyalty wont Increase if you are better nor lessen if you are worse. He is for you. God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If he drove a car , your name would be on the bumper, If there's a tree in heaven, he's carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it say's "I have written you name on my hand,".....(Isa. 49:16

How normal are you?

You Are Fairly Normal

You scored 50% normal on this quiz Like most people you are normal in some ways... But you aren't a completely normal person. You're a little weird too! Why You Are Normal: You are still with your first love You rather be screwed over than screw someone else over You prefer your friends to your family You eat the frosting first You prefer the sun to the moon Why You Aren't Normal: If given the choice, you would choose to have more time over more money When you're in a car, you prefer to be the passenger You know a little about many subjects You would rather be tan than pale If you had to, you rather live without laughter and still have music

What's" Normal About You... And What's Not?

Book written by an birth mom/adoptive mom

A friend asked if I would post this on my blog!! If anyone is interested please click on the link below. All the proceeds go to Bethany Christian Services.

Hi Bethany Family, I’m posting this to several boards to let you know about a wonderful book written by one of our own Bethany moms. The book is called The Perfect Present and was written by Gayle Opp. Gayle is a birth mom and an adoptive mom (domestic, China). I love this picture book because it can be used as a springboard to talk with my daughter about her birth mom as well as her adoption into our family. Gayle used paper doll cut-outs to illustrate her book, and several of the dolls could represent various children from around the world (i.e. not just Caucasian) making this picture book suitable for domestically and/or internationally adopted children. What sets this adoption book apart from others is how Gayle points children to Jesus and how God gave us His only Son. She also includes her own story on the last page of the book (keep a Kleenex handy!). You can see some sample pages from Gayle’s book here: http://discussion.bethany.org/viewtopic.php?p=510053#510053 (scroll to the end of page 2). You can order Gayle’s book from Bethany here: http://www.bethany.org/A55798/bethanyWWW.nsf/0/4688203EA5BDB8C0852570DD006AF917?OpenDocument (Gayle is donating 100% of the book sales to her local Bethany office.) Thanks for taking a look and supporting a new author/illustrator and Bethany!

A Song for Saturday

I am not one that cries very easily. Some movies can make me cry. Quite a few songs can make me cry. Songs move me like nothing can. Songs about our salvation, God, and our Lord Jesus make me cry.

This is one of those Songs.

Lazy week

This week has been kind of lazy. Not much going on.

We were told that we had a earthquake this morning but I did not feel it myself. Or I slept through it. We had bikes knocked over and some of our wood fell off the pile but that was about it!

Monday night we had to go up to the middle school for Orientation to start getting Nik ready. I cannot believe my oldest is going into 6th grade. It just does not seem real to me.

He was not sure if he wanted to be in band or Choir but he has chosen choir. I would never tell him which way to go but he loves to sing so that is what he has chosen! I for one am very excited! He has such a great voice. I wish you could all hear him really sing. He does it more when he is a lone and his voice is just beautiful. I am praying this will give him more confidence.

Heather and Katie have two weeks of swimming lesson up at Hudsonville High school. They are loving it and having a blast. This is a part of their school day and totally free to us! Praise God for that. They will take it again when they are in 4th grade.

Caleb and Hannah are doing well. Caleb's reading is coming along nicely and he loves to spell out words every were he goes.
Hannah is doing pretty good in school. We are excited as she will have ESL (english as a second language) classes next year. That should help her a ton!

That is about all!!

What kind of dog are you?

Here is my answer!


You are a Golden Retriever!
Laid-back, sociable and well-groomed, you've got your own hip little pack of groupies who just love to be around you. You have a brain inside that adorable little head of yours, though you use it mostly to organize your hectic social calendar. You never poop out at parties, and since you're popular with ladies and men, as well as children and adults, you dish out your wit, charm and luck to whomever is close enough to bask in it. The top dog likes you and wants to be your best friend, despite the fact that he doesn't really know what the heck you do. No one does, in fact, but everyone loves you all the same. A true foodie, you’ve got your keen ears fine-tuned to make sure you don't miss out on the opening of a trendy new place to nosh. But your youthful days of being able to wolf down food 24-7 are wagging behind you, meaning you've got to watch what you eat so you don’t pull a Brando and outgrow your coats.

Take the quiz again ››
Give it another shot and see if you get different results.

Take all of me!

I just LOVE this song and the words always speak to me and make me a little teary eyed! Enjoy!



Take all of me by Hillsong United

You broke the night like the sun

And healed my heart with Your great love

Any trouble I couldn't bear

You lifted me upon Your shoulders

Love that's stronger

Love that covers sin

And takes the weight of the world

I love You

All of my hope is in You

Jesus Christ take my life

Take all of me

You stand on mountain tops with me

With You i walk through the valleys

You gave Your only Son for me

Your grace is all I rely on

I love You so, and I give up my heart to say

I need You so, my everything

I am an Exclamation Point!!

I found this on Kim's blog! This should really get the comments rolling on this post for those that really know me! LOL (except, I really can keep secrets!!)

You Are An Exclamation Point

You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it. Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself. You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.) You excel in: Public speaking You get along best with: the Dash

http://www.blogthings.com/whatpunctuationmarkareyouquiz/">What Punctuation Mark Are You?

How does my blog read?

I found this on Mari's blog!

Mine is easy reading!

Movie Reviews

Ransom

This monkey is being held for Ransom. If the owner of this monkey
Does not want to see it in Haiti July 19-27 she will need to be really, really
kind to me everytime she sees me or emails me or comments me!!! :)
If she forgets even 1 time then Monkey is going to Haiti as our team mascott.
Or you just never know what else monkey may be doing!
The next few months are going to be bliss!!! Right Tori?

Sing to the King!!

I love this song! We have been singing it at church for awhile and it always gives me goosebumps!!






Here are the words:

Sing to the King Who is coming to reign

Glory to Jesus, the Lamb that was slain

Life and salvation His empire shall bring

And joy to the nations when Jesus is King

Come, let us sing a song

A song declaring that we belong to Jesus

He is all we need

Lift up a heart of praise

Sing now with voices raised to Jesus

Sing to the King

For His returning we watch and we pray

We will be ready the dawn of that day

We'll join in singing with all the redeemed

'Cause Satan is vanquished and my Jesus is King

Beautiful spring day!!

I have not had a ton to write lately but his week is spring break and the weather today is so beautiful! Thank you, Lord for this wonderful gift!! All the kids are outside, neighbors are outside again and windows are open!!! Enjoy the day!!!

Its all about HIM!!

My friend Amy sent me this today!!! It is powerful!!!

Prayers answered!!

While I still cannot reveal on my blog what is happening I want to thank you all for the prayers said on our behalf!!!

God has answered those prayers and we are so relieved to have this behind us!!!

It things had turned out different we would still praise God but we would have known that certain doors are shut and while itwould have hurt at this point doors are still open!! Its not always easy to speak the truth but God has blessed it!!!