Gratituesday

Last night, Bethany & I counted up how many days are left in this school year. Know how many? Twenty-five and a half, including today! “Ha---le-lu-jah!” That makes me so happy! That’s only about 66 more school lunches to pack!

But honestly, I cannot wait for summer…sleeping in, hanging out in the yard, talking to neighbors, going to parks and the beach, staying up late, baseball, apple pie, hot dogs, and Chevrolet…uh…wait. That’s a commercial.

But anyway, now that the kids are older and more self-sufficient and useful as far as helping out around the house, summer is awesome. And NOW that I have a built-in babysitter…well, it can only get better, right? Plus, Sarah only has six summers left before the summer of 2016 when Ed takes his 3-week-long Logos sabbatical (a benefit after 20+ years with the company)and we tour the entire East Coast before dropping her off at Calvin for her freshman year there. Yep. Got it all planned out. But that is a surprise to no one reading this blog, except for blog stalkers who don’t actually know me.

Anyhoo, I’m guessing that about, oh, August 12 or so, I’ll be writing a Gratituesday post about the fact that there are only 25 days left until the first day of school because my days will again be peaceful. I try to appreciate wherever we’re at. That’s why my favorite season is always the one we’re in. Except that this hail and wind we’re having this May is a little nuts.

Happy Birthday to my Mom

A tribute, written by me AND her sons, son-in-law, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.

Our Mom Is:

*the greatest

*the baker of world-famous chocolate chip cookies

*patient

*available

*a fun grandma

*a great finder of used books and toys for the grandkids

*a nice and not stereotypical mother-in-law

*a future world-champion kayaker (senior doubles, inflatable division)

*the best hugger

*the fastest washer in the west

*world’s greatest grandma

*best preschool teacher

*shortest kayak enthusiast

*a Coke addict

*the best at adding up “points” in baseball

*good at {preschool} puzzles

*giftedest gift giver

*the most genuine, sincere person I know

*world’s greatest hostess

*the best mother-in-law

Here’s a photo of my mom with all the people she loves best, except for me. Somebody had to take the picture. :)

Happy Birthday, Mom! We {heart} you!

Life

Regular life, plus extra life stuff, has been happening at lightning speed lately. Here’s our life in pictures of late:

I couldn’t believe it. I took pictures off my camera and still had Michigan pictures! If you want to see pictures of the new gym at Calvin, let me know. I have a TON. I am still hoping to get a picture of my four college friends when we had lunch, but am waiting for that to be emailed to me. In the meantime, here’s my cute nephew again on the cute horse I bought him. I have since been informed that this horse is worth a ton on ebay. So I hope my brother & sister-in-law NEVER SELL IT! It’s an HEIRLOOM, people! ;)

Oh my, Sarah’s birthday! Here she is with her present from her Grandpa F…Nancy Drew computer games! Awesome!

So excited about the doll for her doll. If you have American Girl dolls in your house, you know what I mean.

And the Science Fair project! She did an awesome project testing potential toxic substances that sometimes get dumped down the drains that lead to the nearby streams. She wanted to see what would do the most damage. She did an incredibly awesome job and was told that the judges wanted to give her an “honorable mention” except that there was no such thing. The reason she didn’t win was because her experiment was “hard to measure”. Hm. I thought it was awesome and totally measurable and she totally worked super hard on it. But what do I know? I’m just a mom. And a teacher. ;)

The night of the Science Fair was also Open House in the elementary school. Here’s Becca in her classroom in front of their Good Friday and Easter projects.

Bethany with the scrapbook she made celebrating our school’s centennial. She came straight from soccer practice to the Open House.

Sarah chose Applebee’s for her birthday dinner. We had a great time and we used coupons! Always a good idea when you’re feeding six people at a restaurant…

Treat bags for Sarah’s birthday party with her friends (a roller skating party).

This is Becca sleeping with her Easter present from her one of her potential husbands-to-be, Sam. Apparently Sam wanted to buy the bunny at the thrift store, but Sam’s mom said, “I will only buy that for you if you give it to Becca.” Thank you very much. I’m not sure what I did to deserve that…but I’m open to suggestions for payback. :) Be afraid, Dee. Be very afraid.

Neon-rainbow cupcakes for Sarah’s party.

Sarah and her friends at the party. Two couldn’t come, but these girls were great and they had a ton of fun!

It was the year for footwear for Sarah! Her feet are ginormous and she needed shoes. She got shoes, heelies, AND two pairs of flip flops. She really loves these shoes. Don’t they just yell “I’m twelve and too cute”? :)

Preschool field trip to the fire station!

The fire men always ask the kids to help clean the fire truck. It’s 30 years old and they have to take really good care of it. So, they definitely need the preschoolers help. It’s great.

  We actually had sunshine for Bethany’s game today! It was by far the best day we’ve had out there. Bethany’s team won again. They’ve won all but one game. Next week starts the Whatcom Cup tournament, so that should be fun.

Becca had her first soccer game this morning, but it was rainy, so I didn’t take my camera. I’ll be sure to get photos of her soon. THAT child actually has some keen soccer instincts and really loves it and is fairly aggressive. They didn’t win today, but the one goal her team had was scored by the aforementioned Sam. He’s a good kid, even if his momma tries to say otherwise and sets him on the porch to find a new home. ;)

I FINALLY had the chance to plant some flowers and assorted plants around the yard. I still need to get lots more color into pots and such, but it felt great to do just a little beautifying around the yard. I would have had more pictures, but the battery on my camera went dead at this point and that’s when I realized I hadn’t taken the pictures off since April 19. I think that might just be a record.

Whew. That’s the last half of April in a very small nutshell. Trust me, that was small compared to what it could have been…

The last of my Michigan trip

It’s time to finish up the pictures and posts about my trip to Michigan. I’ve been home for a week and a half and it’s time! I didn’t take as many pictures during the days of training…we were just a little busy! But there’s a few…

Our condo at Gull Lake Conference Center. Right on the lake. So beautiful. Each floor had a kitchen and living room area, plus about 4 or 5 bedrooms, each with a bathroom. If not for the lack of sleep and the insane amount of  information to take in, it would have been a “retreat!”

The walk up to the entrance to the Tabernacle. So pretty.

Such girly balloons we GEMS have!

These are the women who introduced the amazing Faith Girlz events that are going to be happening around the country in 2010-2011, as a cooperative effort from ZonderKids and GEMS. I am sooooo excited! I mean, it was pretty exciting when Logos partnered up with Zondervan, but now GEMS? Pretty soon, I bet Logos and GEMS will find reason to partner up and then my ministry world will collide with Ed’s work world and that’ll be pretty crazy!

We “assembled” these cookbooks for the Zambian GEMS Counselors. We all had to contribute recipes and then somehow, magically, these little packets appeared on our tables. (Actually, I know how. Those awesome guys working in the basement of the Service Center printed them off). We had to put the brads in to hook them together. I thought, huh, that’s it? That’s not a real active part of this service project. But no, that wasn’t it. We had the opportunity to write a note in the cookbook to the counselor in Zambia who would be receiving this book! Such a blessing to share the ministry and love of God with these women halfway around the world. And there’s a team in Zambia RIGHT NOW, so they could be reading them RIGHT NOW. God knows. God knows. Wow.

Okay, this here made me laugh. How do you remove the wings of a termite, anyway?

The gang, learning from Jan, Exec. Dir. of GEMS girls clubs. My other pictures of Jan didn’t turn out, unfortunately. :( Watch out, though! I’ll get one at conference in July! The funniest thing Jan taught us about presenting our own fall workshops is to “avoid looking dead.” Maybe we were all falling asleep on her by that point and she wanted to get our attention. LOL!

The gang on the other side of the room.

And that’s it. Now I will have to dig out the camera and see what else is on there that’s non-GEMS related to blog about.

FYI: I’m starting two new blogs. One is for our local GEMS club and it’s bethelgems.blogspot.com and the other is for Area 3 (Washington state, but also Idaho, Nevada and Oregon, which is actually Area 4, but they only have one club, so they’re invited to Area 3) and it’s actsarea3.blogspot.com. Any future GEMS postings will probably end up on one of those sites. These blogs are still under construction. But I hope to have them current within the next few weeks.

Thursday, April 15 in Michigan

My traveling day was the 14th, and I already pretty much covered that day. My first full day in Michigan was great. My nephew warmed up to me pretty quickly, especially after I played with him while my sister-in-law shopped at garage sales.

I bought him this little horse at my college roommate’s garage sale. I am pretty sure my little brother had one just like it, so the nostalgia was thick. I don’t know why he’s sticking his tongue out. He really does like it. He rides it around saying “Neigh, neigh, neigh.”

We played catch for a while. Or rather, we played fetch. I threw it, he would get it and bring it back to me. So funny. He did start throwing it back eventually, thank goodness. Otherwise Uncle Mikey would probably have to teach him a few things on his next visit.

  We had such fun.

At lunch time we headed out to Calvin’s campus to meet my brother for lunch. It was an exceptionally wonderful day and campus was gorgeous.

The top of the chapel. Yes, I know it looks like a Pizza Hut. That’s part of its charm. My friends and I used to love to go to Pizza Hut in college!

If I had a nickel for every time I walked into this building, I could have paid my tuition. The College Center, as it was known then, houses both the Education Department (my major) and the Broene Center (my place of employment).

Did I mention it was an incredibly gorgeous day? Look at the students lounging during lunch on the lawn. They were all over the place. I never did that at Calvin. When I was at Calvin, it looked like this:

Honestly. Must be that global warming.

Actually, we did have a few nice days, but I’m pretty sure I spent them in the library studying. Or maybe at the beach. Or at my roommate’s lake cottage. Or lying out on my roommate’s trampoline. Or on the dorm roof. But mostly in the library studying.

After lunch at Calvin, my sister-in-law dropped me off at the DYM Service Center, which houses GEMS, Cadets, and Youth Unlimited. I was so excited to see this place! It is incredibly small! Way smaller than I envisioned. But so lovely, and warm, and comfortable, and it’s easy to see how such a wonderful ministry comes out of those offices.

We saw the supply center where somebody fills our orders. I’ve always wondered who puts the badges in the little baggies that come in the mail when I place my order. Well, it’s this guy:

He was nice enough to let me take his picture while he worked. He thought I was nuts, but he let me anyway. All those little nail bins are where they keep the badges. Incredible.

Another aisle in the supply center.

We also got to see the printing room, but I was kind of stuck in the back, so I didn’t get a picture. GEMS does pretty much all their printing onsite! Very impressive.

Outside the main office door.

Looking into the main office area. That’s Barb & Michele! Great ladies.

Then we drove to Gull Lake for our training. What a beautiful place! The next two pictures are taken from our condo’s balcony.

That’s Lenae, our fearless Training Manager who let us have one of our sessions outside since it was such a wonderful day. We had so much fun!

Thursday ended very late…on Friday morning, if I am correct…and I slept very little. Those GEMS ladies are hard-core when it comes to training. We were kept busy until after 10:00 at night and back at it at 7:45 in the morning. But it was so, so valuable.

God-sightings

Have you ever experienced a coincidence that just seemed so entirely coincidental that it just couldn’t possibly have been a coincidence? Often times we Christians says “it was providential” instead of saying “it was a coincidence.” I learned a new way to look at it – God-Sightings. In addition to being a new way to view so-called coincidences, it’s about noticing God in the everyday, ordinary things that you otherwise might not attribute to God being at work in your life. I’ve been experiencing a number of these God-sightings lately. I think it’s more a result of me noticing more than that God is actually at work more. Either way, it’s all God and it’s all good.

The first in a string of God-sightings took place in the SeaTac airport last week Wednesday. I was traveling to MI for my GEMS training and had prayed specifically about who I would be seated next to or would meet in the airport. The last time I flew I got a little anxious about that and since that was so recent, I was anxious that I would be anxious. On my first flight from BLI to SEA, I sat next to a nice Presbyterian man who was very friendly and shared about their college ministry group at their church and he seemed genuinely impressed by what I shared about the GEMS ministry.

When I arrived in SEA, I initially called my friend in Minnesota so that we could chat, as it had been a long time and that seemed like a good way to pass the time. After we talked, I got some food and coffee and ventured back to the gate area. By this time, it was crowded and I looked around for a place to sit that wasn’t RIGHT next to another person. I choose a seat and looked around. Sometimes it’s interesting to watch people. The gal next to me was reading a book by an author I had read in the past and so when she stopped reading, I said to her, “That’s a good author. I like her stuff.” The gal responded with “Yeah, though I think I should not be reading this. It’s all about plane crashes and stuff.”

Hm. Yeah. Probably shouldn’t have told me that either.

But, nevertheless, we continued to make small talk and discovered that we were both traveling all the way to Grand Rapids together. Bravely, she said to me, “You’re not going to the GEMS thing, are you?” Oh. My. Goodness!!

We immediately began introducing ourselves to each other, discovered we were seated in the same row on the airplane, discovered we live barely 15 minutes apart (even though we live in two different COUNTRIES), discovered we were both new at this job of Area Coordinator, and generally just got along great from the moment we met. I told her I had prayed about who I would meet because I was nervous about it and she said, “I like being an answer to prayer!” She’s so cute.

Anyway, Tracey is now my new friend and over the weekend we spent together we discovered many more ways in which we are similar (scrapbooking and cold hands, anyone?) and we are so thankful for the opportunity to notice God working in our lives to bring us together!

My partner in this venture as the AC for Washington State is Tami. She is the Leadership Trainer. While I don’t have the privilege of living near her (she is on the east side), we get along and work together so well. I know her sister and one of her friends from college is a close friend of mine as well. I am honored to work with her, and I know that God intended for us to partner together in this ministry.

I recently went into a local gift shop to purchase a gift for my mom who has been taking care of my kids a lot lately while I’ve been gone. I was telling the ladies in the store about this as they gift-wrapped the necklace I chose. One of the employees says, “Oh, I’ve seen those GEMS magazines in the library and wondered what that was all about! I have a daughter who will be in 7th grade and she’s in Girl Scouts, which is fine, but we just want something more for her. This GEMS club sounds perfect!” My chin about hit the floor. I’ve been in that store many times, but never met that lady. I don’t typically share tidbits of my life with salespeople, but they were so friendly and seemed genuinely interested. And then. I felt such shame. I had not yet opened my new business cards for GEMS and so had nothing to give her for information! I asked her for a post-it and I wrote it all down for her. You better believe the first thing I did when I got home was to open my business cards and put some in my wallet like I was told. Now I give them to everyone I meet. :) Seriously. I’ve handed out about 6 in two days! :) Okay, a couple were just to my friends, but still. Anyway, next time I’m in town when that store is open, I’m bringing in a business card to her.

I have a friend from high school whose father is dying from cancer. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her because she moved (she lives in Montana) and the email address I have is old. I’ve been thinking about her and praying for her so much. On Wednesday, my daughter and I were having a talk in the van, sitting outside my mom’s house, before I dropped her off there. I was then headed to my other daughter’s piano lesson. A gal walks by on the sidewalk and it’s my friend from high school! Seriously. That is no coincidence, people! I sent my daughter in and stood on the sidewalk with her and chatted for about a half an hour until I HAD to go get my daughter and she HAD to get home so that her mom wouldn’t worry. She was here visiting her dad and just was out taking a walk. She & I have always had the ability to get right to the meat of a matter – no small chit chat with us. So I got the details on her dad, how she’s feeling, how they’re getting through their days, everything. So, so, good. We both said over and over what a gift and blessing our meeting there on the sidewalk was that day.

At my training last weekend I learned about CIT’s (Counselor-In-Training). We have never used them in our club, but the idea intrigued me after learning about mentoring them and how great it is for both them and the younger girls (& not to mention the counselors!) I prayed about it and a name came to mind. A few days ago, I was talking to this girl’s mom and she shared how this daughter was just an “outside the box” kind of kid. Later I emailed the mom and asked if it was OK if I asked her daughter to be a CIT. Her mom emailed back: “What a nice email for me to receive! My daughter mentioned just the other day that she’d like to be CIT!” I thought, wow! It’s all God’s timing. I talked to the girl today and I could just tell she was excited to be asked. She said yes immediately and the mom later told me she was tickled pink. I am excited and nervous about this new venture, but we’re just gonna follow God’s leading on this one too!

I’d love to hear about God-sightings from the readers of my blog. Feel free to share a comment or send me an email to tell your story!

Sunday afternoon in Michigan

I think I’ll blog about my Michigan trip in a sporadic order. On Sunday afternoon when I got back from my training, Randy picked me up at the airport. We had to stop at Calvin to fix up his lab for the next day and we took a few pictures. After my nephew’s nap we headed to the Butterfly Garden for a photo shoot and some fun! My nephew wasn’t entirely cooperative, but I got some fun pictures. My grandma came over for dinner and we had a great evening!

Pictures and more details here!

P.S. to Family: if you want any of the pictures on this web album with any additional editing…different sizes, b&w, choc b&w, vignettes, etc., just let me know. I didn’t have time to make a bunch of different styles of the same pictures. I wanted to get them up so everyone could see. I’m happy to do it to whichever pictures you want, though!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

On this day, 12 years ago, Ed & I became parents of a most precious child of God. She was a perfect baby, a smart and funny toddler, and generally gave us the impression that we were the best parents on the face of the earth. Thankfully, we know better now.

Now that she is a pre-teen, I hardly know what to feel. There she is, a loving friend, a giving daughter, a caring big sister, a basketball player, a pianist, a flutist, an artist, an author, with a heart striving to be a follower of Jesus, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for her life; and at the same time, my heart aches at the thought that she has only 6 more years at home before heading off to college. I pray that her love for God continues to grow, that she continues to have a positive outlook on life, and that she remains sweet throughout the potentially tumultuous teenage years ahead.

Happy Birthday, Sarah! We love you so much!!!!