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.

Mother-Daughter Overnight Trip

A couple of weeks ago Mommy and I went to Granbury Gardens Bed & Breakfast. We went in the hot tub, watched the Olympics and had a huge breakfast with lots of yummy things. We stayed in the Granbury Suite. I highly recommend it. The website address is http://www.granburygardens.com/. During our trip we went to a place called Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. You pay an admission fee and get a bag of feed and then you drive your car over a 10 mile trail and throw the treats out your car window. Emu, Ostriches, Moose, Deer, Elk, Wildebeests and lots more animals come right up to the window for food. The ostriches even pecked on the window and cartop demanding to be fed. You can see pictures below. It was really fun!