Feedback, please

If you like seeing pictures or hearing stories, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail! It's nice to know if anyone sees what I'm doing and thinks it's worthwhile.

Otherwise, I'll just stick to doing the laundry.

Joy from January

I know, I'm working my way backward! Making up for missing months!

Cora turned 6...whoa! She is a super girl. She's definitely getting into the goofiness of this age, but is as delightful as ever. She still loves books and is learning to read in Spanish. She is a great big sister - very attentive to her baby sister and often comments at how fun it is having a baby sister and how cute she is!

Cora requested a giant chocolate chip cookie cake for one party...

\

and a repeat of last year's rainbow cake for another. (The cake itself was actually rainbow layers.)

We made Cora find her birthday present by doing a hunt following clues planted around the house and apartment building. "Go to the place where dirty clothes get clean..."

A big new bike was her surprise! She learned to ride it quickly, but the small space in the basement makes her a little uneasy - too many things to run into. It will be good to have warmer weather to practice outside.

This is from about the middle of January, when Addie turned 7 months old, thus the "7" on her shirt. 

We celebrated Cora and Brad's birthdays with our seminary friends with a pinata party in our basement. Cora's choice on the pinata!

January started a streak of multiple heavy snow storms and ended with 5 snow days through March. This snow day we pulled out an old bed sheet that had worn so thin there were holes in it and the kids went to town painting and decorating it to be used for making forts.

Two significant memories from January: I taught an interim class at Calvin College, Spanish 121. It was insanely busy and a good, stretching experience for me, but I'm glad it was only for 3 weeks! Brad was home with the kids for 2 of the 3 weeks, so we had a complete role reversal during that time. Brad's interim class was a trip to Angola - the state penitentiary prison in Louisiana for one week. He interacted with felons-turned-pastors in the prison and came back with many stories of the power of the Gospel of Christ to change people's hearts and lives, and even the entire climate of a state prison. They'll probably be used as illustrations in some of his sermons!

Memory Making and the unknown future of a Seminarian's Family

This is my grandma. She lives in an Christian assisted living facility and she will tell you that it is wonderful and the people are so kind and happy and that she is so grateful.  I want to be more like my Grandma: content and thankful, appreciative and pleasant. I can tell that she is a source of joy for the other residents, too. Each time we visit she introduces us to whoever is around, making us, her family, and them, her neighbors feel important and special.

I love that she is wearing this sweatshirt in this picture. She's been wearing it for as long as I can remember, even though it looks brand new - not a stain or sign of wear on it! The reason I love it is because it is my grandma. There are pictures of all (or many?) of the different light houses around Michigan (I should ask more specifically next time!). So many of my childhood memories with my Grandma and Grandpa Van Drunen are from the cottage that they had and the boat rides we would take frequently in the summer. Light Houses were used in decoration around the cottage and talked about as exciting sight seeing monuments. I love that her home is now in a building named "Boardwalk" and other building nearby also have beach and water related names!

They hosted a family Easter Egg Hunt and brunch today. I love that we get to be a part of some of these events for now; to make some memories for my kids and their Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.

Something we get asked frequently as a seminarian's family is, "Where do you hope to go after seminary?" Our answer is that we are open to go almost anywhere; some places would be easier and some would be more difficult, but the right position in the right church and community is more important than where we might hope to go. (Of course, the more spiritual sounding, seminarian answer would be "Wherever Gods call us!")

It is a reminder that this stage of life is ultra-temporary, with a fixed "end date". And that we don't know where we will be 2 years from now. Close to family? Far from family? (Thankfully, we have family and many friends all over this country!) 3 years goes so quickly...we're more than halfway through already! I'm thankful and enjoying that we get to make some memories together while we are here.

February Favorites

Addie wasn't quite crawling yet in February, but she would roll around the room to get what she wanted to reach. She could also move by going from her tummy to sitting, then roll the other way to her tummy, then to sitting again and progressively got around that way.

I guess a mother is always touched by seeing her children peacefully sleeping.

All this talk about gun safety...

Addie is a good little eater - she accepts just about anything we offer. And she even lets her big brother and sister feed her, which they enjoy doing, too.

Cora and I enjoyed ice skating during the seminary's annual event. We should go more often so we don't have to spend the first half just relearning our balance on skates!

Cora drew this picture of Peter and later colored it. I was impressed by the detail and especially how she showed depth or layers by continuing the trees behind Peter's head. She also colored everything in. 

Peter and Mommy sledding together

Addie turned 8 months old this month. Happy, sweet, lovely.

We visited our friends that live in Canada over Reading Break.

Took a quick look at Niagara Falls while we were in the area.

After a few days (and all the kids having fevers and colds!) with the Roedas we continued on to Cleveland where Brad preached Sunday morning. I planned a variety of snacks and activities for Cora and Peter during the car rides. They did great! Here they are showing me their creations from toothpicks and marshmallows. They had to make something and show me before they could eat it. Peter made and airplane and Cora made a snowman robot.

Moments in March

Peter cuddled up and fell asleep on Grandpa B's lap

We made it to the top of popular Holland Sand Dune "Mt. Pisgah" on a cold day.

Such a different perspective of the beach at this time of year

Even though the stairs are a bit of work, it's much easier climbing them than up the dune in the sand itself.

Having fun with puzzles.

Still enjoying sledding down the backyard hill with the neighbors.

Rainbow sister dresses

Addie is officially crawling!