Merry . . . I mean . . . Happy Halloween!

I had big plans for today.

After a crazy busy week, my house was a disaster, laundry all over the place, the dust is unmentionable, I have to wear flip flops or slippers because my floors are gross, I can't remember the last time our sheets were washed, the bathroom needs to be cleaned, and then there is that schoolwork . . . .

Today was going to be a day to get all that done . . . to pack away the summer clothes, take down the fall/winter clothes, go to Jenny's last soccer game, leisurely food shop, bake some apple cakes . . .

But it didn't happen. At about 11am, the flakes began to fall, and here at 9pm, the flakes continue to fall! Today became a day to play. So the only things I hauled out of the attic were the next size up in snow boots, and whatever snow pants and jackets I could find that seemed to fit.

Cheers to my messy house, my dirty bathroom, my unfolded laundry . . . I played with my girls in this October snow storm.

Instead, today, I chose to play!

trick or treat =)

grow in grace

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned,

be on your guard

so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless

and fall from your secure position.

¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and forever!

Amen.

Today was a good day to worship.

Everyday should be a good day to worship, but I am not going to lie about my apathy the past months when it comes to worship and all things church related (besides youth group).

At church today we celebrated 25 years of the merger of PP CRC and 2nd Reformed CRC. Pastor Paul De Vries, who was a seminary intern when I was in 4th grade, and then pastor for 11 years after that (before taking a call to Michigan in 2001), was back today to help us celebrate and to preach. I spent a lot of time with Paul and Diane, but more time with their 2 oldest daughters whom I babysat just about every weekend and during the week, for free (Dad would never let me take money from them!). I was able to spend some time with Kayla this summer, and have been texting with her quite a bit . . . crazy that she continues to hold so many memories from those Friday and Saturday nights long, long ago! This family had quite an impact on my life.

It was so good to have them in church, and although I would have loved to spend more time with them, hearing Paul preach was such a blessing today. Matt and I listen to his sermons all the time in the car on our ipod, especially when we are driving home from the lake on a Sunday morning. When he got up in front of church, it seemed so oddly normal for him to be there. I think though it was his message that hit me the most. Like I said, I have been apathetic towards a lot lately; personally and spiritually. I certainly have not been growing in grace, it has been too hard.

On our cornerstone is the above verses, and we now have a beautiful new cross in front of church handcrafted out of steel by one of our members, to remind us that Unity, or more so the people that make up Unity, have faced challenges, are facing challenges, and will continue to face challenges . . . but grace comes when we put apathy aside, put ourselves aside, put our bitterness aside, and yearn to grow only in the knowledge of Christ.

Will be learning to do this better, I will fail no doubt time and time again, but these verses are speaking to me a bit more clearly today . . . "my dear friends, grow in grace. . ."

She's lucky she's cute!

This phrase is common in our house . . . "You are lucky you are cute!"

Kirsten has been hearing this a lot lately!

Although we have been blessed with 2 beautiful, healthy girls, their personalities are quite different, and we already can tell who is going to be the one that will give us the most gray hairs, and possibly cause her school to have our number on speed dial.

Yesterday I sat down to check my e-mail, and as usual, Kirsten was climbing on me trying to get my attention. She slid into her normal spot behind me on the kitchen chair and was tapping my back, in normal Kirsten style, just to let me know she was there.

This went on for a little while, and I soon realized that she was staying in one spot for entirely too long.

When I turned around and was now nose to nose with her, she had "that smile" on her face, and then I looked at her hands proudly holding up a blue marker. Put two and two together, and Picasso was "dot" painting my white shirt.

"Oops, sorry Mommy." Can you sense the sincerity? So, off to time out she went, laughing all the way.

She's 4 . . . and for now she's darn lucky she's cute!

Eman

Thinking about and praying for our favorite cousin and nephew today, Ethan.

Praying that his surgery goes well.

Praying that the doctors can help him breathe a bit easier.

Praying for peace for Sarah and Jeff

Praying for patience and healing for Ethan.

Praying for a cure for CF.

Matt . . . or Jesus?

After church today, while I was making lunch, Matt was in the living room with the girls. Jenny gathered her materials, and told Daddy not to move from the couch. No argument there! Jenny was feverishly drawing, something she loves to do.

So here was her first draft . . .

If you can't tell, it is a portrait of Matt, complete with salmon fishing ready "scratchies" (beard . . . no comment on that one!). After some giggling, she decided his ears were too big and went back to the drawing board . . . enter draft #2 . . . .

"It's Jesus!" I exclaimed.

colors of fall

Fall is finally in the air. I love this change of season, especially when we get to enjoy it with friends away from our typical routines. So, this weekend we headed up to BML for the fall festivities at the ADK museum.

Rain, 38 degrees, windy, cozy, the smells of a fire burning in the woodstove, pumpkins, laughter, friends, pretty wet leaves, comfort . . . .

. . . notice that my "good" words outweigh the not so good.

On Saturday at the museum, the girls spent time under tents painting pumpkins, "jumping" in leaves, and we even managed to squeeze a leisurely hayride in-between raindrops.

So fun to share our weekend with these cowgirls!

Evenings were spent by the woodstove, doing things everyone does in the ADK's . . . i-pads, i-phones, and i-pod touch's! Gotta love that Kirsten at age 4 didn't even need instructions for the i-pad!

A great weekend away, with awesome friends. Thank you Rick and Liesl for sharing your family with us. We love you and are so blessed by your friendship! We'll get out on that boat eventually!!!

Until next time . . .

Paper Jenny

As a teacher, there are certain things you expect when you send long term projects home with your students.

One of those things is hands-off your kids projects!! Nothing annoys us teachers more than when kids come into school with beautiful, perfectly completed projects done solely by the student. Uh-huh, sure.

Now I am a mom of a 1st grader. And a teacher.

Jenny's first long-term project, a "paper Jenny." Thankfully my daughter has my attention to detail, get it right attitude, and LOVES crafts. Although we made the trip to Michael's together, and spent a lot of time on this, she designed, worked diligently and perfected her "paper Jenny" mostly by herself. She was very proud of this, and I was too.

Let's see if I am still thankful that she and I share these similar qualities when the next project comes home!