Happy Holidays in a Winter Wonderland

A bunch of pictures from December:

Adorning the Christmas tree, child-led. Mostly our ornaments are mementos and reminders of the blessings of our journey so it's very fun to take each one out and remember together.

Our small home solution: put the small tree up on the end table in the corner of the room. We don't have give up any floor space this way and it gets the tempting ornaments up a little higher from toddler fingers!

 Big girl wearing big sister's rain boots. Fun toddler stage: wearing very big shoes is fun and cute! 

 As the kids grow we can do more together: one on snow shoes, one on skis! They don't make it far yet, but they made it with smiles = success!

 We totally used a gingerbread house kit and it was so worth it! It was very fun (read: somewhat stressful and messy and only worked if Addie was otherwise occupied but worth every minute) to let the kids decorate it as they desired. I did the frosting and they did the rest. They took turns designing and applying the decorations on different parts of the house. Yeah for cooperation!

The long awaited Christmas gift opening time! Everyone was happy!

 Christmas with the Gritter cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Schippers

 Not every picture can turn out "picture perfect". This is so classic...and common. Hilarious!

 Snow, snow and more snow! We've been able to get out and play a lot this winter.

 And then some serious ice: beautiful but it causes so many problems! We did not lose power but so many did for many days. To just step outside and look around felt like living in a world made of crystal.

 What better way to end than with this sweet face?

October 2013

I was a little surprised to see how few pictures I had taken during October, but as I was previewing them I realized that one reason for that is that the kids are just so busy! Addie is a sweet but busy little girl. A good description of this age/stage is "constant". It's always something...she's on the chair, she's on the table, she's wanting to play with my phone, my keys, my earrings (which I don't wear anymore because of that!). She's chasing Peter and trying to wrestle with him; she climbing on the toilet to reach the tooth brushes that I tried setting up high because she was constantly getting them off the counter and sucking on everyone's brushes...And all with a big smile! So, picking up a camera and getting a picture of anything isn't easy these days!

The Annual Scholarship Donors dinner was this month so we enjoyed a nice, adult meal and the opportunity to thank some of the people who are helping make Brad's seminary education possible.

Autumn means Apples! And apple dumplings, yum!

And apple cider donuts :)

We welcomed new baby cousin/nephew Lucas on Oct. 5. He's so cute!

Addie actually sat still long enough to capture a picture of her playing with out it being a blur!

Cora and her classmates performed a reader's theater for parents. Her group read a traditional spanish nursery rhyme called "Los Pollitos Dicen" (The little chicks say)

October 31st costumes - with our friends Tatyanna and Jedryk Van Voorst. From L-R: Buzz Light Year (Peter), Giraffe (Jedryk), Spider (Addie - who was very upset about the boots we put on her feet), Jack-O-Lantern Ballerina (Tatyanna), Little Dutch Girl (Cora)

The Calvin College (not seminary) apartments do "Light the Night" each year for Halloween. Each building chooses a theme and decorates accordingly and the students dress up and pass out candy as kids and their parents file through the hallways. It's convenient because it's close for us; it's safe and tastefully family friendly which we appreciate. However it is BUSY and crowded! But we've enjoyed doing it with friends each year in place of trick-or-treating.

Landing in Lafayette

Here we are! The long anticipated summer pastoral ministry internship. Brad already knocked out two of the ten weeks so as a family we are now here for the remaining eight weeks all together. It's going to be good. (Skip to the bottom for prayer requests if you want.)

We arrived Saturday...much later than we'd hoped but still at a reasonable hour. It was a good trip down (we drove the two cars - boys in one, girls in the other) and the main delaying factor was that no one coordinated their bathroom needs! Anyway, we made it to town, unloaded and unpacked. The first nap and first bedtime proved to be a challenge for Addie. Whether because it was a new place, or because she was all wound up from all the excitement, who knows. Peter and Cora managed to settle in to the new place well. Sometimes I wonder if sharing a bedroom makes that transition easier for them? They are not alone in a new place.  As for Brad and me, it was nice to have all the work (of packing and planning) behind us and to be able to settle in. There are always new sounds and new smells that I find I am sensitive to in a new place. Mostly the sounds unsettling. I think it's because parenting uses all 5 (or more if you have more) senses. When I can't see my children, my sense of hearing is on higher alert. When I'm in an unfamiliar place where I can't easily identify all the clicks, ticks, bumps and thumps, I find that I'm alerted to every little sound until I determine if it's something I need to pay attention to or not. It's all part of adjusting...

A few key planning things about Saturday: after we had settled in we took the kids to the church and walked around together. We hoped this would help Sunday morning to be less overwhelming for them (and therefore for us also). Also, we brought our own sheets, comforters and pillows along so that it would be a little more familiar sleeping environment for each of us.

Sunday morning church service was lovely, and we felt warmly greeted and welcomed by many people from a variety of age groups. I think we also had about 5 invitations to come swimming over the summer in people's private pools! I hope we can take advantage of those offers!

After some afternoon naps we ventured out to a park with a playground, then to Meijer to pick up some goldfish. We are borrowing friends' fish tank for the summer and thought it would be a fun diversion for the kids to have fish (for however long they survive - the fish, that is.) Cora names hers Lipstick because it has white around its face except for bright orange lips. Peter named his Uncle Brandon. I have no idea why.

Day 2: Monday morning, Brad left for the office and I decided the kids and I should try to feed the ducks and geese that live in our apartment complex's pond. We'd fed them from our deck on Sunday, but this morning I wanted to walk around the pond together. However, as we approached the reeds the big white goose came after us with wings spread out and beak hissing. Seeing it up close and aggressive like that made me realize how big of a bird it actually is! Knowing that there are baby birds around (I thought only ducklings, but maybe I'm wrong) I decided we'd better chuck the bread and get out of that bird's territory. It felt a little bit like running from the bear at the cabin, but less dramatic.

We ended up wandering around the various parking lots, essentially just trying to enjoy the cool morning air and getting out some energy before going in for Addie's morning nap. Peter spotted a tiny frog on the sidewalk near our building. Cora scooped it up in her hands to examine it, and then we noticed that there were a bunch of tiny baby frogs! We collected 5 in a plastic bowl, added some rain water from a puddle and a couple rocks and put them on our deck. Cora happily summed 2 pets + 5 pets = 7 pets! The frogs proved to be of high interest all day, but Cora decided that to take good care of nature we should let them go that night. (I was relieved that we weren't going to have to clean their water, too, and figure out how to feed them...and later deal with the trauma of missing or deceased pets.)

Another element of planning that came into play on Monday was swimming lessons! I had signed up both older kids at the YMCA a few weeks ago. I hoped it would give us something to look forward to in these early days before we really have much else to do. The kids' swimming personalities remained consistent with history: Cora was in her element. Peter was uncomfortable and hesitant. He's been doing better recently so I had hoped this would be more fun for him...maybe by the end of the session?

Day 3: Don't worry, I won't be counting and reporting every day! I'll lose track in a few days and things will start blending together from one day to the next. Tuesdays will be gymnastics lessons day. Again, the older two are signed up for classes (not at the Y this time). Again, their personalities were interesting to observe. Cora jumped right in and had a blast. Peter was really intimidated to go with his class without me. I was somewhat surprised by this, but I decided to play hard ball with him. I first gave him a little sympathy, but then it was time to get out and let him see that he would be OK. He mostly was OK. The trick is to not let him catch my eye, so I pretty much couldn't look in the direction of his class, otherwise he would chicken out and came crying over to me, which he did once. Boy is that tough to be so tough! But tonight at dinner he was excitedly talking all about the fun things he did at "gym-nack-sticks".

We had swimming lessons again this afternoon and I had to play hardball again with Peter. He put on his resistance tactics when we got there, but thankfully an extra teacher was on hand and she was amazing. She stepped right in and coaxed him away from me and to the side of the pool. Phew! Again, he ended up laughing and having a blast. Here's to hoping that tomorrow he goes without a fight!

Afterwards, we made a trip to pick up the items that I'd been adding to my list of things that we either didn't think to pack (stain remover spray) or just realized we need (a few more hangers). Our apartment has been very well furnished and supplied by people in the church. Much better than I had anticipated! So the list was relatively short, and are not things I would ask to borrow for a summer.  After dinner we took a family walk through the cemetery that is across the street. I didn't think there would be a good place for the kids to bike-ride, but actually this is perfect. There are lots of paved roads to follow but no traffic or streets to cross! And our kids are young enough to not be creeped out by hanging out in a cemetery!

Some prayer requests:
1) Addie has had a fever since Monday noon. It goes down for a while and then comes back up, but I hope she doesn't get too sick. (Thankfully I did pack our thermometer and infant tylenol!)
2) Cora has been asking already when we're going to make new friends. We haven't met anyone with kids around Cora and Peters' ages yet, so I'm keeping my eyes open and my heart praying.

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...

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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.

Good-bye Summer

Brad and I have a secret favorite beach in the Holland area: Laketown Township beach. It starts with driving off of a main road, down a quiet residential street that is so heavily forested you can only tell that there are homes there because of the occasional driveways cutting off to the right and left with mailboxes marking their locations. The road dead ends at the base of a sand dune. Years ago the township built stairs up and over the dune to provide public access to Lake Michigan and the beach and to protect the dune from erosion from foot traffic. I read an article in the local paper this spring that this year the township didn't have enough money to pay employees to uncover the stairs from the sand that gets blown over them during the winter months, so a local man drummed up support and with 30 volunteers spent the spring months clearing the sand off the stairs. 

Brad and I loved coming here when we were dating, but we hadn't come here with the kids yet for a number of reasons: there's no bathroom or place to change or clean off after swimming and there are about 300 steps you've got to climb to get to the  beach...and back to your car! 

But on Labor Day we decided it was time to give it a try. We invited my parents to come and join us, too, and we're so glad they took us up on it!

As you can see, Cora and Peter were in a great mood and the daunting stairs didn't intimidate them one bit.

Taking a goofy break at a platform part way up the dune. 

Peter and Cora were real troopers and just kept going, up, up, up!

Finally on the way down! The view of Lake Michigan from the top of the dune is wonderful. What a blessing to live so close to the Lake! We've really loved having lots of time to go to the beach this year and have taken full advantage of the warm summer days.

Finally at the base of the stairs you still have to trek through the sand down to the water. Don't leave your shoes at the car: the sand is usually really hot!

Digging holes makes boys happy

Swimming makes this girl happy!

Addie's first feel of the fresh lake water and sand. It was a nice warm temperature that day!

 We were so glad we took this last chance to enjoy the lake before the school year started for Brad and me. It was a blessing of a day - the perfect last summer outing: clear blue skies and warm sunshine and a not-too-cold water temperature and gentle waves. We soaked it all in! It was one of those days I wished I could bottle up and remember all the smells, sounds, sights and feelings, along with the happiness and contentedness we all felt together. Thank you, God, for happy summer days!