Our Summer Summary :)

Hello!!! This is a brief summary of our summer. We started out visiting mommy's college roommate and her family in Alabama. We stayed in a house on a lake. They had a pontoon boat, a speed boat and a paddle boat. We fished, water skied, knee boarded and walked up and down 6 flights of stairs. One morning Robyn said, "I'm going to get my blood moving by going down and up the stairs!" Then we went to Gatlinburg, TN for our annual Webster family reunion. We played games, celebrated my 12th birthday, went to an aquarium, hiked (and found a chimney in the woods with the name Webster on one of the bricks), went swimming and took a lot of pictures. After the reunion we went to Ohio to celebrate my Grandma and Pop-pop's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. Grandma sisters came to the party from Illinois and Minnesota but she didn't know it and she was really surprised! After that we went and toured two colleges Bryan and Covenant Collage. (I personally liked Bryan Collage better.) Then we finally went to Michigan. We had a lovely time as usual. We swam at Lake Michigan. I got baptized. Angela's friends Hope and Grace visited us from Texas and Mommy had her birthday. We also went to Virgina for my cousin Jared's wedding. Then back to MI and more beach days and that kind of thing. And then Daddy and I went on a really awesome trip called Total Impact with our church youth group. It was so much fun. And then it was sadly time to come back to TX... And back to school, ending another glorious summer.

Hope, Grace and Angela in Lake Michigan.

A sand lighthouse that I built. Though the sea gulls seemed to think of it as a resting place.

Me and my friend Savannah on my Total Impact trip.

This is of our family at Grandma and Pop-pop have their 50th Wedding Anniversary Party.

This is me just before I am baptized.

This is when Angela's friends from TX visited us in Michigan.

This is Mommy and Mrs. Peden on the Seadoo.

This is Robyn jumping into the lake in Alabama.

This is a picture of Jared's wedding.

Starla Lost Her First Two Teeth!

Starla lost her first two teeth! Starla's first tooth was missing. We couldn't find it. (I think she accidentally swallowed it.) And her second tooth was hanging by a strand, so while she "directed" my hand, I (Lily) pushed it out. We only do the tooth fairy for the first tooth, but Starla got double the loot for losing two teeth on the same day. Her she is showing her holes.

Lily's first Texas Birthday Party

This year for the first time I had a Texas birthday party. I invited seven girls but only four could come. We all had a great time. First, we played some ice breaker games. Then we went to the neighborhood pool and swam. Afterwards we had cake and ice cream and ended with a game of water balloon pass and, of course, a water balloon battle. I got some great gifts that I'll get a lot of good use out of too. Down below are some pics. (Notice the cow in the picture of the backyard.)

Brian's Birthday

Another year already? We made Brian his favorite meat--an old swiss steakish sort of recipe with lots of onions and worcestershire sauce, mashed potatoes and corn. The girls baked a german chocolate cake and we made merry.

Mother's Day

I walked by the Mother's Day card displays with a sigh this year processing the reality that I won't be sending any more cards to my mom. My mom's birthday was May 7 so historically we often celebrated the two special days together. "Firsts" after the death of a loved one often insight a deep sense of loss and I felt that as I roused that morning. But, my girls are so creative and they gave me such a beautiful gift. God used it to salve my spirit. That afternoon, I took a comfortable seat in the recliner relaxing to the quiet lull of relaxation music and aromatherapy while they soaked and washed my feet in warm water then dried them and put lotion on. After that, they gave me a foot massage. It was such a sweet, innocent act of service and so timely as it brought to mind my own childhood and a particular way I pampered my mom. She used to love to get a facial. I would soak washcloths in warm/hot water while slathering her face with Ponds cold cream. Then I would lay one hot washcloth after another over the cream on her face. She was convinced that the warm compresses melted the cream into her pores. I don't know if our facials actually moisturized her skin but she sure had lovely skin even in the last years of her life. As the girls pampered me, I told them how I had pampered Grandma when I was a girl and we laughed and celebrated the unique and precious gift of being a daughter and being a mother.

Another Soccer Season Winds Down

Finishing up another soccer season just before the summer heat sets in. We had another fun season with a great group of girls on the team. Spring soccer is especially fun because the end of season celebration is at a local water park.

Our New Friend Zhen Zhen

One of the choir families we know adopted a daughter from China this spring. Lily has a new special friend!

Youth Group End of Year Celebration

What a fantastic bunch of students at LCCC! It was a good year of learning, serving and growing. We studied the messy lives of the patriarchs and learned that God was writing His story in and through their imperfect lives just like He is doing in ours. We raised $750 to buy Bibles for christians in an oppressed nation. We made friends with and brought encouragement to the elderly every month by visiting and doing a music program at a nursing home, we watched movies about heroes of the faith and we finished off the year with a guys sleepover and a girls sleepover. I had the privilege of hosting the girls and we had a fun night together, eating, playing and praying with one another. We even took an after dark swim in the neighborhood pool.

Peter Pan

Last weekend, Lily and Robyn participated in Peter Pan. (Our friends in the picture are Noah, Emma and Isaac. We all go to church together.) Robyn was Nana. Lily was a fairy, indian and behind the scenes all around assistant. She started out as Wendy and gave up her part several weeks before the show. The script got changed and she didn't feel comfortable with the changes. It was a hard decision but she acted out of conviction and we support her for that. The play went well--the sets were great, the costumes were fabulous, the kids knew there parts well. It was a good show!

Meeting Author Bryan Davis

My favorite author is Bryan Davis who wrote the Dragons in our Midst series. I recommend it! He just published a new book and my dad took me to his book signing tour. It was lots of fun!

Springtime at the Arboretum

We made a couple of trips to the Arboretum this spring. The first time, the gardens were profuse with daffodills and hyacinths. The second time, the tulips were in full bloom.

Easter

At our church we have an Easter Breakfast every year which is always a lot of fun. Mom coordinates it so we are always busy cooking lots of different breakfast casseroles the day before. On Easter morning we a dress up in our beautiful dresses and go early to church to help with last minute details. The breakfast is always very good. Yummy!--so hard to chose... After church, we go over to the Andersons' house for a feast and egg hunt.

Robyn and Starla--Bedroom Redo

Robyn and Starla are excited about their room updates. It was a team effort. Daddy made new bed frames for the girls with built in bookshelves. Mom painted the room, sewed a new curtain and bought some "almost new" comforters for the beds. Angela painted a mural on the entrance wall of the room. It looks great and they are enjoying it!

Angela's New Haircut

Our Trip to MI

The weather is always a big question mark going up north the end of February. This year it was an incredible week. The sun shined every day and the temperatures were a comfortable mid-30's with a slow melt down from the build up of winter. There was still plenty of snow to play in and all the locals were in good spirits after months of Vit D deprivation. The Lord provided housing for us through the generosity and creativity of friends and we were so loved and supported on the occasion of my Mom's funeral.

Here we are at the funeral--my family and Rachel and her girls.

The girls building a snowfort.

Enjoying the good company of friends like Christine.

At the Grand Haven beach pier.

Ice Skating withe the Monsmas in downtown Grand Rapids.

We had a good time at the Fredrik Meijer Gardens at the butterfly exhibit with our friends the Zaineas. Lily's patience paid off and a butterly alighted on her hand. There was a bald headed man and a butterfly landed on his head and was content to stay there while he walked around greenhouse. Very funny to watch!

Grampsy's Heavenly Birthday

It was 5 years ago today that Grampsy/Dad went to heaven. We remember and celebrate every year his sweet life interwoven in ours, his compassion, tenderheartedness, generosity, his boldness in speaking the gospel with love and clarity and a life bathed in prayer. To be sure, "the earthly kingdom is impoverished by his absence while the heavenly kingdom is enriched by his presence". We make his favorite meal--meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, birthday cake and ice cream. After supper, we sang together his favorite hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross". Then we watched the DVD that was filmed at his 77th birthday party at which time he shared his testimony.

Next year we will have 2 heavenly birthdays to celebrate and on February 27 we will be making pie while reminiscing about Grandma/Mom.

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. My life is no longer that the width of my hand. An entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a breath.....And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in You. --Psalm 39: 4-7

Grandma VanderMeiden goes to Heaven

How can I express in words a proper tribute to a mother? My mother-- who has now passed from this life into eternal life. I did not fully appreciate until I became one myself the depth of love and commitment that a woman devotes to her offspring beginning with pregnancy, labor, days rolling into years of loving,training, disciplining and then releasing. My mother didn't do it all perfectly--and neither am I. But, she was praiseworthy in many ways.

As I reflect on her life I will recall with a smile and a tear seeing her sitting at her Singer sewing machine making crazy quilts and walking down the sidewalk smiling with an armload of garage sale treasures. I will hear her playing and singing hymns at her Story and Clark piano. I will smell the oatmeal she cooked for my dad everyday for breakfast. I will think of her whenever I eat a peice of pie.

Her legacy is a treasured heirloom for our family. She was loyal and devoted to her family--especially her neices and nephews during her single adult years. Then she married at 44 and became a mom at 46. Her family expanded to include foster children, an adopted daughter and then grandchildren. She valued christian education and sacrificed to provide it for several relatives and friends who the Lord gave her a burden for. She has inspired us with her courage, perseverance and resiliency enduring the hardships of strokes, debilitating arthritis, dementia and congestive heart failure. Most importantly, my mother leaves a legacy of faith in a God who takes the imperfect peices of our crazy quilt lives and creates an original handiwork more beautiful that we could have imagined when we allow him.

Valentines Celebrations

This was our second year to have secret admirers on Valentine's week. We pick names in the family and try to show an extra measure of love and kindness to the person whose name we have while remaining anonymous until Valentine's Day.

We also went to the assisted living center to show love to our friends there with a music program and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.