allison's birthday

Here is the website of the whole farm coop that has the wood stuff by the amish guy (how was that for ambiguity:) If you click on the Gifts link on the lefts side it will bring up different pictures. He doesn't have kitchens or anything, but you can look at it anyway.... (Mom was interested in this...)

I can't believe that Allison is going to be one in 9 days!!!

being sick

Mariah and Allison and I have all been a bit sick lately...sniffly noses, etc. In all of the times that I have been sick (practically monthly) I have finally come to appreciate it in a sick sort of way:) Being sick makes me slow down and take stock of life -- look at where I've been putting my energy and what I really should be doing. I so often tend to try to do this and that and the other thing without thinking too much about what it is I am doing. Occasionally I'll get in the habit of making a list or a schedule or praying about my daily work, but I'm not very good at it. So, being sick reminds me that my body can't do what I make it and that I need to reexamine what I do....someday I'll get better at living my days God's way, I hope....

test scores

I thought you might be interested in the Amanda....I was going through some old papers of mine and came across my tests that I was telling you about -- Religion 103 at 8 in the morning with Prof. Cooper, freshman year at Calvin I got a 75% = D+ on a bluebook as well as a 84% = C+ on a bluebook. I think that I ended up with a B in the class which isn't too bad considering the circumstances.

The girls and I are all kind of under the weather today....we all have drippy noses and to top it all off, Allison is cutting teeth. Needless to say, that doesn't equate to much sleep for her or me :(

I ended up having to do dinner at church again last night (I just did it last week) but it wasn't too bad since I had lots of left overs. We served about 45 people and there is still enough for another week:) yey!

Hello Everyone :)

How are things for everyone? The only way to get this thing going is to write something, anything, anytime. Just spout--it tends to be more interesting that way.

My family pretty much said that they will work out watching the kids for the last two weeks of June while we are in Ecuador (Lord willing we raise the money for it). They will probably be in a combination of Grand Rapids and Chicago, so if anyone else has the urge to hang out with them some you'll have to make some plans so things can be arranged.

I've got a pretty slow week this week. If you didn't know, our church's parsonage (probably a bit bigger than Mom and Dad's house) had some severe water damage. We will be doing the work in it, which was supposed to start... but the guy who was going to be in charge of making the decisions was actually interested in buying it himself--hence he was designing it with his personal interests in mind. Therefore, some other people stepped in and said that a committee should be involved, making the decisions, so on and so forth. So it will probably be another month or so before that one starts.

I've got everything but the last bit of painting done in the Theatre! My electrical and trim stuff I finished up last night and today. The very last step will be the carpet--but I'll wait until I get the plumbing done in the bathroom (and make sure our landscaping in the back will keep water out of the basement). I'll be hosting a superbowl party, and it was my original deadline for finishing the room (besides carpet).

We started Stephanie's goofy diet this week. I don't have too much to say about it but that I'm hungry right now--so I'm going to go get something to eat.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Mike

Finally!

Well,
I had said that I would do this so here it is finally.....Feel free to post whatever -- things you are doing, have done, will do or if you ever want to write to everyone at once and not email (then it is on the shoulders of everyone else to check the blog for updates)....

We just got back from church a bit ago....there was a lunch and a Q and A period for a mission trip to Ecuador that people from our church are organizing. Mike and I are thinking of going as long as we can work out someone for the kids (he asked his family about it on this their blog -- if any of you are itching to watch the munchkins let us know:) -- it is for two weeks (June 16-30ish). We asked Amanda already if she wanted to go, but if anybody else is interested, let us know.....

I'll let all ya'll post as you wish, but I wanted to start out and say hey:)