Sunday afternoon in Michigan

I returned to my brother and his family on Sunday afternoon after my training was complete. It was wonderful to be with those sisters in Christ again at training and to share joys and struggles and learn and laugh and cry together. It was also exhausting!! When I got back, Bethany, nephew E, my brother & I headed out to see Calvin’s Nature Preserve and Meijer Garden. After a rainy & snowy weekend, the sun poked through on Sunday afternoon and it turned out beautiful! Bethany had lots of pictures from these outings, so I’m trying not to duplicate those. Here are a few originals:

These two talked constantly. Two peas in a pod they are.

This cactus was at Meijer Garden. It reminded me of something out of a Dr. Seuss book. But no, it’s from our Creator. Love that!

It’s all about perspective…same horse above as below.

It was a good afternoon. We came home to have dinner with my grandma (so nice to see her again…she’s 90!) and then I was able to go out for dessert with my college friends! It was great.

One of the funniest things that happened that day had to do with my niece C. She was quite attached to me and liked to cuddle. In fact, she wanted nothing to do with anyone else when I was around. When it came time for dinner, I tried to put her in her high chair. That was something she DID NOT want to do. She started crying and crying and fighting me – my brother & I had to hold her down to get her buckled in. She was SO mad. Eventually Bethany distracted her and she stopped crying, but after a few minutes, she & I made eye contact. She looked straight at me, then jolted her head sideways and started crying again. Yep. Definitely mad. And definitely mad AT her Aunt Julie. Thank goodness she forgave me as soon as I got her out of her high chair after dinner. What would I have done without those cuddles for the rest of my visit? She reminds me so much of Becca at that age. Stubborn, funny, observing everything. Plus, she looks a lot like Becca did. She’s got her own unique traits too…her smile is just like her momma’s and she plays happily with trucks and dinosaurs with her big brother, of course! Missing them all already.

More Michigan

Bethany stayed with her aunt & uncle and cousins while I went to my training workshops from Friday – Sunday afternoon. She had an awesome time and my nephew thoroughly enjoyed having a constant companion. He also enjoyed taking pictures with Bethany’s camera, as evidenced by several pictures of his feet…

Click here to enjoy just a sampling of Bethany’s over 500 pictures from her days in GR!

Michigan 2013, Day One

This year when I went to my GEMS ACTS training in Michigan, Bethany got to come along. Two years ago, Sarah came and so this time was Bethany’s turn. We flew out on a Wednesday and while we encountered cancelled flights and changing gates and airlines, we ended up arriving in Grand Rapids only an hour later than originally scheduled. Considering the midwest storms that day, we felt very blessed!

We spent Thursday together with my brother and his family…started out the morning with coffee and treats at Schuler’s Books – a favorite place for my nephew and my grandma, who joined us for a couple hours.

Getting to know cousin C again

Nephew E loved having Bethany around and showing her around at Schuler’s

Would you just look at those adorable little chubby toddler fingers?

And those stunning blue eyes?

My grandma with 3 of her 9 ‘greats’

On Thursday afternoon, Bethany & I went to Calvin and walked around a bit. We shopped in the bookstore and I showed her some places as we walked across campus. Then we visited my brother to see his “environment”.

My brother’s office

The new interdisciplinary lab…chemistry, biology, and a couple other departments built this with grant money. State of the art and a fabulous draw for students in these areas of study.

Then Bethany got to go rock climbing in the rec center. She did awesome – conquering 3 different climbs and attempting a 4th, very difficult, climb.

I have video of her climbing that I’m hoping to figure out how to post tonight. Stay tuned!

Bethany on Calvin’s indoor 200m track

Anyone who knows nephew E knows he is such a busy kid that it’s very difficult to get a picture with both his eyes and a smile. When we got his school pictures we were surprised to see such a great smile with him looking at the camera. His dad asked him how that happened and he said the photographer had a frog on his head and he was supposed to watch for it to fall off. Genius. I was taking pictures of these two and eventually I put something on my head and asked him to watch for it to fall. And looky here! Eyes and a smile! What a great idea and a couple of great kids!

Day Two coming soon!

All right, then! Here we go!

It is on my TO-DO list to blog at least once this week, so I better get myself in gear…

This will be your standard random catch-up post…MI will come later after I have edited and sorted pictures.

Before we moved, we disassembled the playground structure. We still aren’t sure if we’ll be reassembling it at our new house, but it doesn’t look promising. It’s 13 years old and has moved twice and has been played on hard. The slide might be salvageable, so if we decide not to put up a playground structure again, we will probably donate it to some friends. Then we’ll have to see if the children can convince us to get a trampoline. They’re working on us.

Pinterest Success! This may seem lame, but I really hate all those bottles and whatnot falling down in the shower and most of those baskets that hang from the shower head only hold small bottles. I shop at Costco. I don’t have small bottles. I saw this idea on Pinterest…to use a tension rod on the back wall of the shower and hang little baskets from shower curtain rings. Viola! It works great! No bottles falling on my feet or head.

I let the girls have LOTS of playdates over spring break. Kept them busy so I could unpack. And look how much fun they had!!

Did you know it is not easy to hang a map on a sloped ceiling? Just sayin’

But I love the new homework spot…since this photo was taken we have added baskets on a rod to hold pencils and junk. Unfortunately, the kids don’t seem to do their homework on this table too much. They like to be downstairs by me. Go figure.

Well, that picture pretty much speaks for itself! My brother and SIL had a new baby GIRL on April 6! So thankful to add Kinley to the family!! Becca decided to advertise to the new neighborhood about her new baby cousin.

Isn’t she the sweetest?

Elise’s first grade diorama. I have a new philosophy about homework that I did NOT have when Sarah was 6. What is that, you ask? Homework is for the children. NOT for the parents. Okay, so I baked the cookie you see on the stack of books, and I got the paint out of the cupboard, but that is all. And she did a remarkable job all on her own, I think!

My parents went to CA to see the new baby and I taught for them and tried to care for the tadpoles while they were gone. The tadpole died. And it hailed! Like crazy! We had to stay inside and wait to head home because it was hailing SO HARD!

Sarah had a birthday. Her little sisters had a little too much fun making her cards…

My baby lost a couple teeth! Then the tooth fairy fell asleep and didn’t take her tooth and leave her money. So she wrote the tooth fairy a note and left it on my pillow. It said: “To: Tooth Fairy. From: Julie’s Doter (daughter) Elise. Remember to get my tooth too night.”

Then when the tooth fairy (that would be me) went to get the tooth, there was a little squished up note stuck next to the tooth. It said, “May I af egstra money pleas?”

Baby, when you make your momma laugh like that, of course you may have extra money!

Last week was the super fun Pops Concert for the high school choirs. Each “section” of a choir has a theme and they have to dress up. Sarah’s “mixed chorus – alto” section chose “Alice in Wonderland”. Sarah is the “Drink Me” bottle and her cute friend is the cookie. I’m not super familiar with Alice in Wonderland, but aren’t they adorable?

MI coming soon!

We’re alive

I haven’t blogged in a while. I’m sorry. We are alive. At the present time, things in life are a tad overwhelming, and so there’s not much time to blog nor is there much interesting and fun to blog about. I DID however recently return from a visit to MI (with Bethany!) and I do have pictures to edit and post and all those experiences to blog about, but I am not exactly sure when that’s going to happen yet. Stay tuned, dear readers….

Easter Sunday

We had the most beautiful Easter Sunday! It’s not often we get a sunny AND warm Easter, especially when Easter is early! But the weekend was beautiful and it was a wonderful 70 degrees. We even had dessert outside on my parents’ deck. The egg hunt was outside (instead of in the basement or done with boots & coats), and we soaked up that Vitamin D with joy! It’s amazing how a song like “See, what a morning” becomes even more moving on a sunny resurrection day. Our church service was beautiful and victorious, just like an Easter service should be. After a long time of difficulties in our church, it is again a church that is growing and healing and becoming more like a family again and it felt good to celebrate that rebirth on the day of Christ’s victory over death!

The best buds hanging out together before church…probably playing on some electronic device, from the looks of things.

I love pictures by the front door of a home…and even though our home isn’t all “spruced up” just yet, I wanted their Easter picture on the front steps. Look at those sweet blessings of mine!

Our new house!

Well, we’ve been in our new house two weeks now and it’s starting to feel like home. There are still piles and boxes and gagillions of things to sort and find a “home” for, but it’s functioning and I can at least find next week’s memory verses for the girls…at least, I think I can. I have only a few pictures so far, but I figured I could share what I have at the very least! And these are just iPhone pictures, so the quality is not great. I promise “good pictures” in a month or so…April is my busiest month always!

kitchen

great room – open to kitchen and dining

dining room

upstairs bonus room

great private backyard!

We are loving being in town and the new neighborhood and the new space. We are so thankful that God made a way when it looked like there wouldn’t be a way.

And because I needed this new house to feel like home, I treated myself to some tulips shortly after moving in. One stem broke while I was putting them in a vase and so it was showcased on the kitchen windowsill for a few days and brought me much joy to see each day.

Track has begun!

Sarah’s track season began way back in February with turnouts in the cold, rain, & wind. Meets began in mid March. Sarah’s done pretty well – all the distance runners (especially freshman & sophomores) are trying out all the distance events to see who does best at which events. There have been four meets so far. At the first meet, Sarah ran the 800m and the 4x200m relay – she placed 2nd in the 800m with a time of 2:42 (a few seconds off her PR) and their relay also placed second, but there were only two teams participating.

At the second & third meets, Sarah ran the 1600m (one mile) and ran 6:04 and 6:08 respectively…not her best times. She felt pretty good about the first race, since it was her first 1600m of the year, but she had wanted to improve on that time the next time she ran the 1600m. Maybe next time.

At this most recent meet, she ran the 3200m with a time of 13:24, which she was decently happy with. She came in first, but there was very little competition that day because the big school that was scheduled to be at the meet had canceled school that day due to a bomb threat (which thankfully turned out to be nothing more than a prankster who wrote on the bathroom wall that there was a bomb in the school…why do kids do things like that?)

She wants to eventually hit 13:00 in the 3200m and break her PR of 5:55 in the 1600m, and it’s good for her to have a goal. And it’s always good for this mama to watch her run. I just love it.

PLUS – I found my Lava Seat that I got for Christmas and had packed away for moving…so now my buns will stay nice & warm at those cold meets!

Misc. March

Today is Easter! It was a beautiful day to celebrate our Risen Lord with our church family and with our extended family over ham, potatoes, and yeasty rolls. Easter pictures to come in a future blog post…

I’ve been kind of AWOL here on this blog and that is because we MOVED! A week ago yesterday was the big day (though Ed & I cleaned the new house on the Thursday night before and moved hanging clothes and boxes and such on Friday) and it went really well! We had super help, pretty good weather (as opposed to the snow/hail/wind/sun crazy weather we had on Friday) and we were all in, with all beds assembled and made, and the old house cleaned, by 5:00 p.m. It’s been a busy week of sorting and organizing and getting used to things, but it already feels like home. Pictures to come in a future blog post. This week is spring break so I am hoping for LOTS of unpacking and organizing to be accomplished and hoping for more opportunities to meet and get to know our new neighbors…more on that later.

This blog post is about stuff from earlier in March, so let’s get rolling:

These two goof balls are best friends. This is how they were watching TV at my parents house the other day. Who but your best friend and sister would willingly let you use them as a mattress and pillow?

Becca insisted on shooting hoops in the freezing rain a couple weeks back. This was right after the “time change” so it was light much later into the evening, so she was thrilled that it was still light out even after she had finished her homework and piano.

A couple weeks ago, Ed & went to the BibleTech conference that Logos puts on in Seattle. Well…Ed went to the conference and I just had fun. We left on Thursday evening, ran some errands together (which hardly ever happens), and even went out for dinner at one of our favorite places, Johnny Carino’s. On Friday the conference began bright and early so he was off and gone. I slept in a bit and then had a leisurely Starbucks breakfast in downtown Seattle with my AZ bestie and another Logos wife who came as well. Then they headed north to a mall to meet some other friends and I went to Ikea. Going to Ikea by myself with a new house in mind to shop for = a dreamy couple of hours! I had lunch at Panera (where I happened to see our pastor & his wife who were in Seattle bringing relatives back to the airport – how coincidental is that?) and ate some absolutely amazing mac & cheese. I can’t even believe I’m blogging about mac & cheese, but it was seriously delicious. Creamy & cheesy goodness in a bowl.

I did a little more shopping on my own and then headed to meet up with the Logos wives and friends for some more shopping and dinner. Lots of laughs and girl talk is always good for the soul.

I spent a quiet evening in the hotel room watching cable (did you know there’s such a thing as gluten-free cat food? I don’t ever see commercials, so I didn’t…and I think that’s just plain weird) – specifically a show called “Say Yes to the Dress” which is hysterical and sad all at the same time.

On Friday I got to hang with the two Logos wives from AZ for most of the day. We went to the original Starbucks,

Pike Place Market,

the Gum Wall (GROSS!),

an antique store, and the waterfront.

Here Tam’s trying to make the ever-important decision of which pressed penny to purchase for the scrapbook of her trip. We {{heart}} pressed pennies!

The AZ wives were wanting to head to the Space Needle, but I wasn’t super excited about that and kind of wanted to start heading for home, and Ed wasn’t too excited about his last workshop anyway. So, they went off to the monorail and Seattle Center without me and Ed & I headed back north towards home. We made several stops, including an AT&T store to get my voicemail fixed, Hobby Lobby (what a good husband to go with me to HL!!), and of course, Chipotle for dinner!

Hopefully since this is spring break, blog posts will not be so scarce…

There’s been some stuff happening…

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. It’s not for want of activity around here, that’s for sure. We’re busy with regular life – school, work, GEMS, track, music lessons – not to mention packing and a little weekend away for Ed & I (which I will blog about at a later date, after I get all my friend’s photos from her camera…I chose NOT to haul my camera around for that one!)

Our house here is sold and all done and we’re “renting” the house back until we can get into our new house on March 23. Things are gradually getting organized and packed, but I am NOT looking forward to the unpacking just yet…largely because I am not organizing everything *before* it goes into a box because I don’t yet know how it will be arranged once it’s out of the box. It will be a process, that is for sure.

In the meantime, we have to keep this Everson home maintained, and unfortunately the washing machine (which is staying with the house) decided to start leaking. Several weeks back it got “off-balance” and the plastic door gasket became warped. A week or two later the gasket cracked and therefore I had water on the floor of the laundry room. Ugh. I emailed our realtor, because that’s what everyone does when their washer leaks, right?

No, actually I emailed him because he used to work at an appliance store and I wanted his advice on who to call to fix it. Our realtor got right on the job, emailing a buddy to get us a used part (for free, no less) and encouraging Ed to fix it himself. Ed watched a couple YouTube videos and went to work.

He took that thing apart, which pretty much caused me to hyperventilate, given Ed’s known un-handyman-likeness. He put the new-to-us part in, put it all back together, and lo and behold! No more leaking!! Way to go, Ed! Oh, and YouTube. And the realtor. And the realtor’s buddy who gave us the part.

Ed better watch out…now that he’s proven himself yet again, I just might have some more handyman jobs for him at the new house…

October Baby

Sunday night Ed & I watched the movie, "October Baby." I intended to only watch a bit of it and to watch more another evening. But I couldn't stop watching. It gripped me. There was no phenomenal acting (though I did think it was quite good acting) or astonishing special effects or suspenseful twists and turns. But the story..the story gripped me. I loved it.

What really surprised me was my reaction to the end...the 19-year-old college student moves out of her parents' home and into the dorms...new & wonderful boyfriend at her side...and says a tearful good-bye to her parents, and especially to her father...and I found myself sobbing.

Sobbing. Truly.

Why? Probably because it was like watching me with my parents and Sarah with Ed & I all at the same time.

My heart could not take it. 22 years ago. And three years from now.

Three years!

And then that will be me, sending my first-born off to college. I have that lump in my throat just thinking about it.

Anyway, me sobbing really has nothing to do with the movie. Watch the movie.

I have this friend

Yesterday a dear, sweet friend called. I hardly ever see her, even though she only lives 10 minutes from me...soon to be 20 :(. But we have known each other since 1995, and we have been through the stuff of life together. Births, deaths, birthday parties, miscarriages, craft nights, job changes, moves, and countless other things. She knows me. And she gets me. And I probably drive her crazy because she's the stable one in this friendship. :)

Anyway, yesterday she called and I just wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time, because you know what she said? She said, "I'm so excited that you're going to get to move, but I bet it's hard not to wish it was the other house and not to compare this house to the one you lost."

Oh, yes. You hit the nail on the head, friend.

I am SO excited to move to town. I know in my head that the excitement about this new house will come...and I know God will work it all out for His glory...and the fact that today we signed papers on this house in Everson is nothing short of a miracle. But I am so grateful for my friend who just was able to catch in my voice what I wasn't saying. That's a good friend. A true friend. I pray I can be that kind of friend to those I love.