Piano duet

Great-Grandma Schippers was very gracious to allow Cora to add a few notes to her song! Isn't it amazing that she could play from memory? I knew she could play the piano - she taught Laura and I a fun duet on her organ when we were younger. But I was surprised at how many different hymns she could just sit down and play. And at this age, too, when so many details of life have faded from her memory.

We're back from MI and had a wonderful time. We got to spend a lot of time with Mom, Dad, and Deb, and also saw Cora's great-grandparents and some other friends and relatives. There's never enough time to see everyone that I'd love to see, and definitely not enough time to spend as much time with everyone as I'd like to. But I'm thankful to be able to visit home - my first home, that is - and to have even an hour or two to reconnect with long-time friends and family. And I'm thankful for days to just hangout and "do life" with my family. It's good for my soul.

And, of course, I'm happy to be home - my current home - and be with Brad again. Hopefully the jet-lag won't last too long (Cora woke up at 4 am today, ready to go - still on MI time, I guess) and hopefully the post-visit blues won't last too long, either.

Brad had a great time hunting, even though they didn't see a single elk anywhere! When he got back to town he talked to a number of guys from church and our neighborhood who also were elk hunting in different areas and it turns out NOBODY got an elk this year! They've eluded the hunters this time...But Brad always says the animal is the icing on the cake. I know that just being out there, hiking, watching and waiting is good for his soul, too.

Walk down memory lane: Part 2

Another occassion for remembering the past was a gathering of some high school friends. What a blast! Some of us haven't seen each other for a year, others for 8 years! We brought out pictures from high school, laughed at our hair-do's and the baggy grunge style we sported. We relived stories and fun times, and recalled other classmates. It was such a fun evening, and I think that if the children that were there didn't have to go to bed, we could have spent all night together, laughing and talking.

I feel so blessed to have had these girls as my friends during high school, and even more blessed that we can get together 9 years later and have just as a good a time! Friends are so important in all stages of life, but in high school your friends are the people you often spend the most time with, want to impress the most and need to be accepted by. Friends are a huge part of your identity in high school. I'm thankful for the friends I had, and still have, and wonder if they know how important they were to me! Thanks, girls, for your friendship!

Walking down memory lane

It's always good to reconnect with family and friends who have known me since I was very young. This last weekend Maranatha CRC, the church I grew up in (from 0-18 years) and where my parents still go, celebrated their 50th anniversary. As part of the celebration former pastors returned for the festivities. There are still many people at Maranatha that were Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders or even vbs teachers of mine when I was little and growing up. Also, many people that have been part of my family's lives in some way or another. So seeing these people reminds me of who I was, where I've come from and how many people God has used in one way or another to shape me along my journey. Church has always been a huge part of my life (though not always by my choice!), so returning to the church of my youth is such a cool thing. I always enjoy visiting Maranatha when I'm in town.

Last Sunday, Larry Slings gave the sermon. He was the pastor there from 79 to 94...so from before I was born until I was 14. (My parents joined Maranatha when I was a couple months old.) As I sat listening to him I was very touched by the fact that this is the man who I learned to listen to sermons from, who taught many children's sermons, who delivered the word of God with love for 14 years of my life - half of my life! It was wonderful to hear him preach again. As I sat listening to him, it dawned on me that, though I remember enjoying Pastor Larry's sermons as I came to an age where I started listening, I don't remember a single one of them! In fact, for all the wonderful pastors I've had, I remember very few individual sermons.

This brings me back to a comment I heard a number of times at the youth pastor convention in San Diego. "You have to focus on relationships because kids don't remember the lessons. How many bible lessons do you remember?" I don't argue the importance of relationships in youth ministry, not at all. But I hate to hear the importance of lessons downplayed. Though I may not remember a single sermon from Larry Slings (or even a sermon from a few months ago), I know that the Truth that he preached week after week after week, and the passion for the Bible and thirst for righteousness that he showed through his preaching are the building blocks that formed my faith and changed my heart little by little as Truths took hold and became a part of who I am.

So I feel so thankful for having been blessed with faithful, loving pastors like Larry Slings, my grandpa, my father-in-law and our current pastor, Mark. I'm thankful for their gifts of preaching and teaching; for their loving relationships with congregations; and for faithfully writing sermons week after week that may be "forgotten" but that God uses to transform the hearts and minds of his children.

YSNYWC

Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention. We did actually go to it and it was wonderful. But there's not much that I feel like sharing about on the blog, nor did we take any pictures of the convention. So, just know that we were there and learned some great stuff. Ever heard of "social aggression"? A nice term for bullying - or, more accurately, a common form of female bullying. It's the way girls push each other around and basically make each others' lives miserable, especially in middle school. We have had a certain situation at church and hearing this "social aggression" spelled out like it was at one of the seminars turned on so many light bulbs for us. Hopefully we can take our newly lit bulbs and shed some light at church, too.

Anyway, more for your interest from the weekend. Here is a link to some pictures on facebook of some friends we were able to see while in SoCal. (Of course, most pictures involve Cora...What can I say?) We were there when the fires all started and thankfully weren't near any danger zones. They closed may freeways we'd take to get out of the area where we stayed, however, so we had to take a longer way home. But we're thankful to have made it home safely, and that our friends' homes are safe from the fires!

Goings on...

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Grandma Bierma (Henrietta = Brad's grandma). She is 90 years old!

1 dog + 1 dog = 3 dogs???
We watched our friends' dog last week - Bailey. Bailey came over Monday night before we went to a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house. By the way, shouldn't we celebrate every country's Thanksgiving day with a wonderful meal with good friends? Anyway, when Brad and I came home that night we opened the garage door to park the car and out ran Jack, then Bailey, and then some pit bull! We've never seen this dog before and our yard is totally fenced in with a 6 foot high privacy fence. How in the world? Where in the world? What in the world? ??? Well, the dog ran off and Jack and Bailey went back inside. The next afternoon the dog was back in our back yard. We discovered that it jumps over our fence to come and go as it pleases. Not cool! We are generally biased against pit bulls and there are SO many around here. Well, it's one thing if someone has one and keeps it in it's own yard and under control but to let it roam the neighborhood freely and our "secured" backyard...We don't like it. Animal control got involved and caught the dog on Friday after Brad followed it down the street talking to the officer on his cellphone till she got there. We found out this was the second time this dog has been in the pound, so it must have owners who "care" about him. Well, today it came back to our yard, messed around with Jack for a little bit, then left again. So hopefully some resolution comes soon for this dog, before he starts causing real problems. Grrr.

No news, but here's some pictures
This is our neighborhood horse that we often walk by and stop to visit. Cora loves animals and this is no exception. She bounces up and down and giggles while we talk to him. It's so adorable!

I left this drawer open the other morning while putting dishes away. Cora crawled over, pulled up to it and proceeded to pick up each thing, one at a time, look it over and suck on it, then put it back in the drawer! I'm thankful she didn't throw everything all over the kitchen!

Cora's newest facial expression. She does this at any random moment, but usually when she's face to face with someone. She scrunches up her nose and then breathes short and fast breaths through her nose. What a ham!

This is Brad's imitation of Cora. Pretty good, huh?

Aw, Daddy, you're so funny!

Off we go!
Brad, Cora and I are driving to San Diego, CA, tomorrow for a Youth Specialties Convention this weekend. We'll hopefully be able to see some friends/family while there, in between the seminars and such. It should be a wonderful weekend...and busy. I'm a little curious to see how Cora will do. We're hoping she'll just hang out in her stroller like a good girl and take her naps there and such, but I will probably have to miss out on some of the sessions to make sure she gets a few good naps in. We definitely do NOT underestimate the importance of sleep for Cora! Pray for safe travel, inspiration and learning at the conference and flexibility for Cora and us!