Living, Loving and Learning Together

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum

Recently our family took a day trip to visit Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. We spent most of the day in Greenfield Village where you can walk through many historic homes and places. We toured Henry Ford's childhood home, Thomas Edison's laboratories and the first home that has his electric lights installed, we saw the Wright brother's bicycle shop and passed Noah Webster's house, George Washington Carver's cabin and many more historical places. One of our favorite things to do was riding one of Ford's Model Ts around the Village. We also had a horse and carriage ride and rode on the oldest continually operating steam locomotive in the U.S.
To view the photo collage on full screen, click on the image.

Besides the historical houses we visited the craftsman and watched the glass blowing, pottery making and printing. It was a fun and educational field trip day for everyone.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Angela's Mural at the Nursing Home

About a month ago, Angela observed that the walls at the nursing home were "not very cheerful". She had an idea to change that by painting a mural. We approached the owner, who after seeing pictures of her previous 2 projects, was enthusiastic to accept her offer to volunteer for the job. She decided to do a beach scene and started to work. What an amazing process! She had all sorts of adventures during the 15 hours she spent in the dementia hall painting. Residents watched her. Some thought she was a naughty girl for painting on the walls. One resident asked her "How much money do I have to pay to get out of here?" Some admired her work and told her "You're doing a beautiful job honey!" Employees came to see her progress. Visiting family members praised her talents. When she finished the picture, she took her fine paintbrush and black paint and wrote in the top corner "Painted by Angela Webster in loving memory of Irvin P. VanderMeiden." We both stood back and inspected her work for a few moments. She spoke first saying "I'm happy with it." As for me, words failed to express what I felt as a I gazed at her accomplishment. I'm amazed that she is so gifted. I'm proud that she would choose to invest her time and energy into such a worthy endeavor. I'm grateful for her art instruction through Mrs. Kunkel who taught her drawing for 5 years. I'm reflective as I recall my Dad's encouragement of Angela's earliest attempts at drawing. In my mind's eye, I can still see the two of them sitting at the kitchen table drawing together. In that moment I found myself saying silently "Oh Dad, I hope you can see how Angela honors you today." Psalm 103 talks about the blessings that are passed on through godly heritage to our "children's children" and I saw living proof of it today.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

July 4th parade

Another kid tested and approved tradition is our community parade on 4th of July. We always go with Christine and her boys. Combine candy and patriotism and you can't lose.

Texas Visitor

Our friend Megan came to visit us last week from Texas. So, we had fun revisiting all our favorite tourist spots with her.

We went to Dutch Village, a mecca of all things dutch.

We had a "perfect" summer day at the beach catching minnows, floating in our inflatables and building castles in the sand.

We took in a baseball game, the botanic gardens, the Gerald Ford Museum and toured a historic victorian mansion.

We went cherry picking.

We gave her a tour of Grand Haven--the trolley, the pier, the beach, worship on the waterfront and the musical fountain.

Do Hard Things Conference

I took Angela and 3 friends to Chicago for a conference based on the book Do Hard Things. What a great book! What a great conference! It was inspiring to hear the speakers, college students themselves challenge teenagers to rebel against cultures low expectations and live with excellence for the Lord. The conference was at Moody Church. I'd never been there but loved the architecture--the catacombs, the stained glass, the chandeliers, the balcony.

As a bonus, my college roomate Laura and I ran into each other completely unexpectedly in Subway during the lunch break. I haven't seen her in 5 years and had no idea we were both at the conference.

Guess who got her ears pierced?

Swimming Class

It was a dozen years ago that Brian and Angela started Aqua Tots parent-child swim class. Since then, every year has been a repeat performance with one daughter or another singing "This is the way we wash our face..." or "Pop goes the weasel" and learning to feel safe exploring the water with Dad at their side. Thursday concluded that chapter of life as Brian stepped out of the pool for the last time. Next year, he'll join the ranks of the spectator and cheerleader as "the baby" moves on to advanced Aqua-Kids and swims without a parent. Life is full of milestones and not all of them are monumental. Some are the sweet transitions between what was an what will be. Our girls are growing up...

Angela finished the red cross program last year. Lily, who affectionately refers to swim class as "torture" completed the final level this summer and Robyn graduated to level 4.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Worship Arts Camp

Last week was really busy for me because I was at Teen Worship Arts Camp (twac) at our church. Twac is a week long commitment where you come every evening and prepare for a big production at the end of the week. Everyone has classes and each class prepares for some part of the Sunday evening production. I had a small part in the drama and a duet. In my opinion the most interesting part of the program was when the fireworks (they called them pyro) came down from the ceiling at the end of the concert act.

Friday, July 3, 2009

In Print--The Cambridge Introduction to Biblical Hebrew with CD-ROM by Brian Webster

After many delays, the fruit of Brian's labor has been published. It's available on Amazon.com and has already received some very favorable reviews. His copy arrived by mail yesterday.