Treasures

Thanks to those of you who check in and stay in touch through this blog :) Below are some of the treasured people in my life this week:

Tori's school musical was Monday night.
She looked so cute and said her line loud and clear!

This is Abby showing of her triceratops dinosaur and picture she received from her godfather, Uncle Ben. Abby is a 'cera' fan because they eat plants, not other animals :) In the picture in Abby's album show the cross on the wall that she painted for Uncle Ben for Christmas.

Passing time in the van :)

These next shots are of Deven at his game on Tuesday....

Steve (in yellow shirt) is the assistant coach

Deven - ready for action!

This is a picture of Tori by the stained glass window in the hallway at Byron Christian.
The window was done in memory of Tori's great-grandpa Bonnema who was prinicipal there for many years.

On Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Sarah and her son Ben, who entertained us the entire time with his smiles and smooches :) Two precious people!

Just couldn't go home without having coffee with my 'sister' Beckie!


Tori went with us to Holland for supper Wednesday night with Tom and Anna and the kids. We bought luggage for the kids for their 5th birthday next week and wanted to give it to them early.

Silly Abby

Noah is excited!

Sophie wonders what's in the big bag!

Grandpa gets a hug from Abby :)

On Thursday Mary and I spent lots of time at Mom B.'s house in preparation for some work there. We found lots of treasures.....some by 'dumpster diving' :)

May God bless you with treasured family and friends
and may you find treasures
in unexpected places!

Blessings Galore!

It's looking like facebook is beginning to replace blogs for staying in touch.....maybe time to quit.
But this site allows me to look back over each week and realize all over again how blessed we are.
So for now, these are pictures of some of the family and friends who have blessed my life this week...

Amelia was baptized last Sunday in Seattle. She wore a dress that Laura wore as a baby and she looked beautiful! Ben wrote a song for Amelia's baptism and it was a meaningful ceremony that we were blessed to see on video. We are thankful John and Jo were able to be with them and participate in the baptism.

Jo took these next two pictures at the Hope/Calvin satellite game.....Amelia is already a Hope fan, but notice her grandpa's shirt :)



On Tuesday Abby, Sophie, and Noah went with me to watch Deven play basketball in Zeeland. This is a picture of Sophie trying to give Grandpa a kiss, but he was looking at the camera :)

Deven - # 23

On Tuesday I enjoyed a snack and 'beverage' with my friend Sue - what a dear she is! Love that gal!


Wednesday we had supper out with Ty and Tori while Deven went to a Michigan State basketball game and Steve and Lynn were at a Detroit Tigers event. We had a meeting at church that evening, but we loved having a bit of time with Deven and a couple of hours to spend with Ty and Tori!

Ty !

Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Laura - another dear! What a great girl! Bill and I had lunch with her parents on Sunday, but I didn't have my camera with me....if you can believe that!

I went from lunch with Laura to coffee with 'sister' Beckie, a highlight of most of my weeks :)

Another one of those stretch-your-arm-out-and-snap-it pictures.....

Nephew Ben and his buddy (and mine!) stopped by for coffee on Friday, an unexpected delight in my day! Their band has an important gig coming up next Friday and it was great to hear about all the excitement building up to it.

Brad and Ben

Friday night we celebrated the birthday of our forever friend, Dick, and of course, Jacque. It was a day none of us were sure we would be celebrating this year because of Dick's bout with cancer. I got so choked up I couldn't even finish the traditional 'toast'. We're so thankful for his healing and for their friendship!

We always share one dessert with four forks - another tradition :)
(Dick looks great, doesn't he ?!?)

We're thankful for technology that enables us to ichat with Laura and Ben and Amelia - it's amazing how much that little girl has changed in the short time since we've seen her!

Saturday we enjoyed dinner out with our friends John and Jo. Most of our conversation was about the kids and the granddaughter we share :) We always enjoy our time with them and this time it was especially nice to hear about their trip out to Seattle, Amelia's baptism, etc., etc., etc. (Thanks, Jo, for the special gift - they're almost too nice to use!)


Sunday night we spent some time with Steve and Lynn and their kids. Here's a shot of Steve giving Zac a haircut - the dull clippers made Zac howl and brought back memories to Steve of the times his mother would cut his hair - with a dog clippers. What can I say? We were poor.....


We've been sorting through some of Mom B.'s things in preparation for getting some work done on her house. We brought some of the meaningful items to her today and it brightened her day just to see them. We aren't sure of the significance of some of the things but know they were meaningful to her at one time. How she'd love to tell us about them!

One of the things that was stored upstairs is Mom's bowling shirt from the late '30s. Her team was sponsored by her father who owned a grocery store in Zeeland. Because Steve and Lynn are also on a bowling team, we thought they'd like to have some of the things. These next two pictures are of Lynn with Mom's bowling shirt :)


Dad's bowling shoes fit Steve perfectly - he's happy to wear his Grandpa's shoes :)

Steve and Lynn with their 'new' bowling balls and bags :)

Thanks for checking in
and recognizing how blessed we are
to have such wonderful friends and family!

Family!

We ichatted with Ben and Laura last Saturday so we could 'see' precious Amelia. This shot is of them on our computer screen :)

Laura emailed these next two pictures of their beautiful baby....

Amelia in a hat I made while 'head down' during recuperation from eye surgery :)

We had some unexpected fun with Tom and the kids on Sunday afternoon when Anna's return flight from Florida was delayed.

Sophie playing with a toy her Daddy used to play with

Tom and Abby doing stunts

We enjoyed time at Steve and Lynn's on Sunday evening. It's great to have Zac now that his school schedule has changed :)

Sisters' Lunch was Monday :) My sisters will forgive me for chopping myself out of the picture....I accidently erased the good picture and kept the bad one.

Denise, Marva, Beckie

Mom B. celebrated her 86th birthday on Monday. Tom and Anna and the kids paid her a visit and the kids entertained her with notes on the girls' new violin and with a special rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Abby

Sophie

Anna and Noah

Abby and Tom hold Grandma's hand.

Anna and Sophie

Tom & Anna

On Wednesday we were able to spend some time with Ty, Deven, and Tori - out for supper and then back here for studying and games of Uno. Tori beat us pretty good again!

me and Deven

Bill and Tori

Ty and Tori clowning around

After being housebound all week because of the cold temps, the triplets were full of energy! I met them and Anna at a kids' gym where they had two full hours of non-stop activity and fun. (Abby is wearing the pink shirt and Sophie is wearing the striped shirt.)

May you always have someone
to join in the fun

and someone to hold your hand!