Saturday - Wednesday Fall Fun!

The last few days have been filled with family, friends, and lots of ball games......

Sophie (#1) and Abby (#6) played soccer last Saturday. It's clear from the picture that they love playing the game and being on a team :)

Sophie and Abby w/ Grandma Nancy

Grandpas - great fans!

Noah and Anna

On Sunday we had lunch with friends Steve and Michele. As always - Perfect!

We spent Sunday evening at Steve and Lynn's where there were some great ping pong games....

Bill

Deven

On Monday Beckie and I visited brother-in-law Dave in the hospital and had lunch with Marva. It's been a long week for them - lots of tests, specialists, and waiting for answers. Prayers please!

Beckie & Marva

Monday night we headed out to Allendale for the 8th grade football game. We missed most of the first quarter while we enjoyed dinner out with Bob and Kristi. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, Bob!

It was a cold, windy, and rainy night!

Prepared for the nasty weather...

Just look at that rain!

That's Deven on the field

Hardy fans - that's Lynn on the far right :)

On Tuesday the weather was cold, but much better than the night before. We loved watching Abby and Sophie play soccer before having dinner out with them, Noah, and Tom & Anna.

Abby playing goalie

Grandpa and Noah

Grandpa and Sophie

"Go, Parrots!"

Niece Ricki played soccer on Wednesday afternoon. She plays for Davenport University and they beat Aquinas 3-0. Way to go, Ricki!

Beckie taught me a lot about the game of soccer!

Later we saw Beckie and Ricki at the same restaurant where we had dinner with friends......

.....Ali and Gerrit. It was great to spend some time with them and catch up on family news. Thanks for dinner, Gerrit & Ali!


Laura emailed these pictures of Amelia - sure do miss her!

Lovin' blueberries :)

This picture is of the lone fan on the blustery side of the field at Deven's game Monday night.

May you always have a true-blue fan
cheering you on!

Couldn't Be Better!

It's been a great week! It began Sunday night with some time chatting with Laura and playing with Amelia via the Internet. We're so thankful for technology that enables us to watch Amelia grow and interact with our pictures on the computer screen.

Amelia loves the books Tori brought her
when we took Tori to Seattle with us over spring break :)

She also loves the pictures of family
that Great-Aunt Marva put in a book for her :)

On Monday we went to the car hop supper at Caledonia CRC. Both Marva and niece Lia are counselors for the GEMS club that hosted the car hop.

After the car hop, Marva stopped by with two of the young ladies that she cares for.

Lisa, Marva, Amy

On Tuesday I went for lunch with Abby, Sophie, and Noah after school.

Sophie and Abby loved their spaghetti

Noah loved his pizza!

Abby has fun at the playground

Sophie

Noah - always finding something to climb :)

I gave Beckie some bananas when we went for lunch after Bible study on Wednesday. She and Joey came over that evening with a loaf of banana bread - yummy! Worked out pretty good for me - think I'll try that again soon :)

Friday night I enjoyed dinner with my friend Lyda and many of her family members before taking Mom B. to a South Christian football game. It was a wonderful idea that Steve had - the game was right across the street from Brookcrest. The weather was perfect and Mom had more fun than she's had in a long time!

Noah helping Great-Grandma get to the game

Noah during the National Anthem - what a precious picture!

Deven, Mom, Tom

Sweet Tori

Noah, Tom, Mom

Nephew Kenny on crutches - what a shame he's missing his senior year on the field :(

Bill, Mom, Steve, Tori

This is a picture of my breakfast near the market in Seattle during our August trip. Sure was good!

Sometimes life is just packed with sweet things!

Be blessed.

Two Delightful Days!

Bill and his friend Jim won the senior division of the 4oth annual Calvin College Alumni Golf outing last Saturday! The tournament was a two-man scramble and they came in 5 under par. It was the second win for Bill and Jim, the first being in 2007. They are both graduates of the 1970 class of Calvin.

Jim, Ron, Bob, Bill

I spent Friday evening in Holland while Bill was busy taking stats at a football game. Abby and Sophie had a soccer game and after that we all went downtown Holland. There were 75 'live mannequins' around the town - some in storefront windows and some on the sidewalk. They were amazing!

Saturday was a full day that began with breakfast with Rick and Beckie.

Then it was off to back-to-back games - Abby and Sophie played soccer and Deven played football.

The girls on the field

Sophie takes a break at half-time

Noah was glad to have his football along :)

Here are a few shots of Deven on the field....

The South Christian 8th grade football team and their coaches

Tori and her cousin at the game

Pretty Tori

In the afternoon we went to an Hispanic Festival at our church. We were astonished to hear all the nationalities of those who attended - they were from about 35 different countries! Many of these folks live in our church neighborhood and the diversity is wonderful!

The flags on the wall represent the countries of Central and South America.

The kids line up for a whack at the pinatas

Anjali, one of my little friends from church

After the festival we went to the surprise birthday celebration for Jackie. Her husband Ken and her kids really know how to throw a party! It was a beautiful fall evening and we had a great time with friends.

I uploaded this picture of Amelia from Laura's site.

Amelia has her first tooth coming through :)
She is such a honeybee!

This picture was taken at Seattle's Pike Place Market when we were there in August.

The buds remind me that there is more beauty to come!

Be blessed as you enjoy the beauty of each day
and the anticipation of more tomorrow.