Delightful Days

The last few days have been great - chocked full of family and friends :) I had lunch with 'sister' Beckie on Thursday....would you believe I didn't take a picture?!? Later that afternoon I had a few minutes to stop by Calvin Christian School where my niece Betsy is student teaching in the third grade. She showed me around the classroom and told me a bit about what she'll be teaching during the next couple of weeks. She's a natural - heard LOTS of great comments about her from the folks around the school :)

Betsy Anne

Betsy with two of my young friends from church, Corey and Corinne

Thursday evening was so beautiful and warm that we were able to have dinner outside with friends Jim and Chris.


Beckie took all of the postcards and greetings that Bill received for his birthday and put them in a beautiful album for him. She organized it so well and it's a gift he'll treasure!



Friday was Grandparents' Day at Byron Christian, a wonderful day that reminded me once again of the tremendous gift of a Christian education for our grandchildren. The programs were inspiring, the classrooms interesting, and the grandkids - perfect!

Deven and Ty with Grandma V.

Ty with Grandma V.

Deven and me

Grandma V. and Tori

Tori takes Molly, her Webkinz, to school with her every day

If you can enlarge this photo, you can read the great story that Tori wrote :)

Ty is the 'lights technician' for the middle school program

This very short video clip will give you an idea of the wonderful singing by the K-4 group.

My Friday night project was to pack up a few hundred books....I had grand ideas of how nice the shelves would look with a few books and some nice pieces of art. After relocating some books from shelves on the opposite wall, there wasn't much difference - still cluttered. I'm not much of a decorator or designer, that's for sure.

Deven had a baseball game Saturday - it was cold, an unbelievable change in weather. But his team had a nice victory :).

Deven played catcher and center fielder

We spent Saturday night in Holland with Abby, Sophie, and Noah. It was cold and very windy, so we first made a stop at the beach to look at the big waves. Then it was off to buy Grandpa's vitamins and then supper. Sorry I don't have a picture of Abby....

Grandpa and Sophie


Noah - just look at those dimples!

Spring is blooming in Byron Center!

Thanks for checking in....may your life be full of blossoms and blessings!

GRAND Grandkids!

The celebrations continue for Zac's 18th birthday....still one more party to go!

His favorite dessert - cheesecake

Zac was chosen Student of the Month at KCTC in February; this clip is from South Christian's May issue of HiLites. Way to go, Zac - we're very proud of you!!

My usual Monday afternoons with Abby, Sophie, and Noah are about to come to an end....Anna has decided to quit her part-time job. I'll have to find another excuse to head out to Holland to spend time with the kids.
The weather was SO beautiful this week - we spent three hours outdoors in their backyard!

Sophie on her 'stilts'

Abby shows us how to 'fly' on the swing

A brief moment when Noah was actually in one place long enough to take a picture :)

Cleaning the kitchen for mom :)

On Tuesday, Grandpa joined us for ice cream :)

Byron Center being the adventurous and exciting town that it is, you just never know what might show up!

Watching for ducks

Boundless energy!

Ate supper outside with Tori on Tuesday.....sure lovin' this weather!

Silly Tori

Smiley Tori

Our grandchildren (including Ty and Deven who aren't pictured here) are an incredible blessing to us. We thank God for each of them!

Prayers, Blessings, and Fun

First, prayers please. The daughter of my friends Bob and Marilyn was just diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Please pray for them and their daughter as treatment will begin soon. You can access information through Carepages.com; her Care Page name is klm1998. Thanks for remembering them in your prayers!



It was great to get back to my Monday routine with Abby, Sophie, and Noah. They were as giggly and fun as ever! This is a picture with his requested bedtime snack - a 'raisin parade' in a hot dog bun :)


Sisters' Lunch was Tuesday - always fun!

Denise, Beckie, me

Me, Marva, Beckie, Denise

Thursday night we actually ate outside - in mid-April! The weather was beautiful, the friendship is priceless.

Curt & Jan, Gary, Bill, Shirley, me

Another prayer request - Shirley will be having total hip replacement in about a week. She has had a great deal of pain and we are praying for relief from the pain, a successful surgery, and a rapid recovery. Thanks for adding her to your prayer list!


And finally, a short travelogue of our spring break vacation. We made three stops in the Caribbean - Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. We loved Roatan because we walked into a schoolyard full of kids who were very eager to have their pictures taken. We later went into a classroom where we exchanged addresses and we hope to hear from some of students. They were all so friendly and polite - "Yes, ma'am" and "No, sir" followed every comment.

In Cozumel, we stopped at the places we visited with our kids and grandkids three years ago. It's changed a lot since that time, but we enjoyed the memories of that vacation with them.

We were able to find Internet cafes and stayed in touch with our family through email. Steve and Lynn and there kids were in Costa Rica and it was especially nice to hear from them - that they had arrived safely and were having a fabulous time.

There were a couple of unusual 'adventures' this trip - a flat tire on the shuttle bus to the cruise (with five lanes of traffic zipping around us!) and leaving the ship with a piece of luggage that didn't belong to us, which turned into a two-hour ordeal!

We spent a night on each end of the cruise with Mom and Rich at their home in Bradenton. It was great to see Cher (another person you can pray for - she has an infection that started after her knee replacement a couple of months ago....it's been a long struggle!) Dave, Marva, and Laiya stayed at Mom & Rich's for a few days and we were able to spend a bit of time with them before taking them to the airport in Tampa.

Enjoy the pictures.....

Zac Celebrates his 18th Birthday!

This is a bit late...our spring break vacation kept me from posting this sooner. But I didn't want to miss the chance to tell you a bit about our oldest grandchild, Zac.
He celebrated his 18th birthday on April 1. As we have done since he was three years old, we took him out for dinner during his birthday week. We're thankful that he has outgrown his love of McDonald's and Burger King and now has a more 'grown-up' taste for nicer dinners :) The last few years included shopping so he can choose his own gift.....and he has grown much more tolerant of his grandma having a camera along, so I've added a couple of extra shots at the end.

Zac will graduate from South Christian in May and will go on to college in the fall to prepare for a career in diesel mechanics. He has always been inquisitive about how things work - when he was young, he would take apart toasters and radios; later it was lawn equipment and tools. Now he can diagnose problems and repair just about anything that has a motor or engine of any sort. He amazes us with his knowledge and skill! His job at Titan Equipment is perfect for him and he is a reliable, hard-working employee.

Zac is a wonderful blessing to us in so many ways. We love his sense of humor and his incredible work ethic that was so evident when he worked at the Co-op for Bill for several summers. We never knew a teenager who loves to work as much as he does! He is energetic, kind, and thoughtful and and an all-around great guy. We are SO proud of him!


Zac, you are an incredible gift to us! We love you dearly and thank God for you always!

Special Occasions - Special Friends

Lots of pictures this time, so I had to divide them into mini-slideshows......

We had a terrific time Saturday night, celebrating the wedding of the daughter of friends Ron and Arlene. I'm afraid we were a bit rowdy at times, but we had such fun!

Friends Chris and the
father of the bride, Ron

A toast to friendship!
Clare, Bob, Jim, Bill, Ron

Marcia and Clare

Bob didn't hear the rule about not clanging on the glasses :)

Brenda - don't worry, she's only 'borrowing' the clothes

The wedding was at GR First CRC.
Bill's grandpa, Rev. David D. Bonnema,
was pastor at the church during the '40s and '50s.
This picture of him is hanging in the hallway of the church.

Our favorite Sunday night activity is spending time with Steve and Lynn and their family.

Deven

I spent Monday with Abby, Sophie, and Noah - what fun! The girls took naps while Noah played and entertained me with songs :) We picked up Deven and Tori after school and we all had a great time together!

Today I went 'shopping' at Denise's :) She always saves clothes for me, which is a wonderful way to update my wardrobe without having to trudge through stores. Thanks, Denise! A bonus to my stop at her house was seeing some nieces and nephews and some of their children.

Spring has arrived in Holland!

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.
Genesis 8:22