Fulfillment

"Your needs and My riches are a perfect fit.

I never meant you to be self sufficient. Instead, I

designed you to need Me not only for daily bread but also

for fulfillment of deep yearnings. I carefully crafted your

longings and feelings of incompleteness, to point you to

Me. Therefore, do not try to bury or deny these feelings.

Beware also of trying to pacify these longings with lesser

gods: people, possessions, power."

"Come to Me in all your neediness, with defenses down and

with desire to be blessed. As you spend time in My presence,

your deepest longings are fulfilled. Rejoice in your neediness,

which enables you to find intimate completion in Me."

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

I don't know about all of you, but I find it hard especially at Christmas to focus on Him! I know that sounds crazy because I know and believe the true meaning of the season, but I still get bogged down with the ways of the world. I love all of the things that coincide with this time of year: the candy making, the decorating, Christmas programs, and holiday gatherings. These are all great ways to celebrate our Savior's birth, but come second to the one thing that can fulfill all your needs. I pray for myself this holiday season that I celebrate. That I make the candy, decorate the house, go enjoy the Christmas programs and laugh with family at the holiday gatherings, but before all of those things, I pray that I whole-heartedly fill myself with Jesus Christ and allow Him to complete me! I pray the same for all of you.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy and celebrate that His riches and our needs are a perfect fit!!

Adios for now!

Hi all! I just wanted to let you know that I don't think I'll be blogging for awhile. I still love reading everyone else's though! Have a great day!

Random Happenings

I don't have anything specific to write about, but since I haven't updated my blog since AUGUST, I thought I should let you know what was happening in our lives. Here's a few snapshots to update you:


Eli's buddy Kooper gave him this hat a few weeks, maybe even months ago. We go thru phases, but usually this hat is on his head! He sleeps with it on, plays with it on, rides in the car with it on, all while telling everyone he meets, "This my friend Kooper's hat. My friend Kooper give me this hat!" Thanks, Koop!

This is not a typical pose for these 2. They LOVE to always be with each other. They have to know where the other one is, BUT they fight like crazy!! You know what I'm talking about, "he's touching me!" "Sophia not sharing!" and even as I type this, "Eli yelled at me!" I'm told that this is pay back for how my husband Todd and his younger sister, Sara fought with each other. Thanks, Todd and Sara!

It's inevitable. All kids do it at least once, right? Well, it still nearly brought me to tears. Sophia, gave herself a haircut!!

So we went to my cousin Sarah for an emergency new cut for Sophia.

I would NEVER tell her this, but I'm almost glad she cut her hair! Her new cut is so cute and soooo much easier!

Madelyn's first day of 3rd grade

Standing by her new classroom. This year she has Maestra Suero.

Best buds Sophia and Kennedy.

Sophia's first day of preschool. She has Maestra De Leon. She goes 3 afternoons a week and loves it!!

Standing outside her classroom

We decided it was time to put a sidewalk out front. I forgot to take "after" pictures, but will update you soon.

Thank you, Vruggink, Bros!

The kids LOVED to watch the men working!

Todd and I needed a little break this fall, so we went to Chicago for 2 nights without kids!! We went with good friends of ours, Tim and Dawn and had an awesome time! It's definitely something we want to do again.


Todd and I in Chicago

I watch my niece, Ellie every once in awhile which is so much fun! She's definitely a ball of energy and is hilarious to watch! She may be a little mischievous sometimes, as my kids are. This day I told Ellie and Eli NOT to play in the pile of dirt (left over from the sidewalk). Maybe they didn't hear me?!?!

My sister, Lisa and I had the privilege of helping to coordinate a premiere this September for the next video in the That The World May Know Faith Lesson Series. It was an amazing night and we could feel God's presence there. We also were able to work with Amanda from TIG. SO much fun!!

Todd and I at the premiere which was held at Holland Christian

Sophia went on her first field trip last week to Teusinks Farm. It was a little rainy and cold, but the kids did great and we all had a good time. Here she is deep in conversation with Silas.

On the hayride. Luckily we had a covered wagon to ride on and we didn't get wet!

Sophia riding the pony. Some of the kids were a little fearful, but not Sophia!

Sophia's class with their teacher Maestra De Leon (right), and her assistant Maestra Haak.

This was about as enthusiastic as Sophia got about petting the animals. ONE finger! :)

The kids are growing up so fast!

It started out like any other night. We ate supper, or Todd and I did while the kids picked at their plates for almost a minute before begging to get down and go play. After Todd and I finished eating, we started cleaning up the kitchen while the kids cleaned up their toys in the other room. After our chores were done (for the most part), Todd went outside to "putter" and the kids followed him outside to play. A few minutes later, I looked outside and Todd was working on our old van. A few months ago, it blew a gasket or something of that nature and was going to cost more to fix than it was worth, so we got a new van. Todd asked one of his buddies if the old clunker could be welded back together to which his friend said sure! $50 later we had a very unreliable, and barely road worthy vehicle but it was driveable. Todd has been using it to go to and from work. Today when Todd got home he said that the back door wouldn't open or close, so he was going to work on it after supper, which he did. After while, Sophia got sick of being outside and came in while the other 2 continued to play outside. As I'm wiping off the table, I hear an ear-piercing scream from Madelyn. She was screaming, "Daddy!!!!" I ran to the window and watched as our van, back hatch wide open, rolled quickly down the driveway and headed right toward the barn doors. I thought Todd was driving too fast especially while the kids were outside and didn't know why Madelyn was screaming about it.....until I noticed that no one was in the drivers seat...wait, what is that? A tuft of light brown hair was just visible over the steering wheel. Yup, ELI!!!!!!!! I watched as he backed right into the barn, the big steel door now laying on top of the van as the vehicle came to a hault. I ran outside as fast as I could not realizing the pain I was inflicting on my feet by running over gravel with barefeet. Just as I reached the van, Todd was pulling Eli from the driver's seat.

"Is he ok?" I asked, desperate for an immediate response.

"Yes, he's fine" Todd answered, just as relieved as I was.

"Thank you, Lord!" Thank you for watching over my baby tonight! Thank you for making Sophia come inside and play so that she was not a target on Eli's wild ride. Thank you that Madelyn was swinging and singing to herself and not in his path either.

Whew!!! Some of you may be asking why we would leave a car running with children playing around it? Well, we didn't. For some reason, this van, a '96, does not have the safety feature that most cars now do. You don't have to push on the break to get the car out of gear. You can simply pull down on the shifter and put the car in drive, or reverse, or nuetral! Yikes!!

I knew that it would be just a blink of an eye and my kids would be all grown up and driving, but this was ridiculous! :)

Here comes the rain

I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops. With the rain soon came thunder and lightening. Most people might consider this a gloomy day, especially in the midst of the summer season, but I love a good rain shower. It reminds me of when I was little and a storm would come. I'd go outside underneath a metal rooftop and listen as the rain fell. My Mom would tell me stories of her going outside and watching storms come in with her Dad, a man I met, but don't remember.

Now that I've grown up into an "adult", I still can't help soaking up the sights and sounds that bring back those memories. In a strange way it also makes me feel so blessed. God has blessed me with a home to be safe, dry and warm in during the storm....and has filled this home with a wonderful family. Thank you God for giving me everything that I need to survive the storm outside and the "storms" that may come in my life. I am so thankful!

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." Deuteronomy 32:2

"The Chimney"

I'm writing this post especially for my Dad. Tonight at supper time, Sophia wanted to pray, and she did. She thanked God for the food and for her family and for being able to go to Ellie's house and play today. As he does every time Sophia does anything, Eli wanted to pray too. So bowed his head and prayed (with his eyes SOOO tight and hands folded). He thanked God for "food, famy (Eli for family), Grandma house, and push chimney....AMEN.

Todd and I just looked at eachother and laughed. I'll try to explain. Ever time we visit my parents, the kids all go into Grandpa's office and ask to "push the chimney". Grandpa has an M&M dispenser which has a chimney.....when pushed, M&M's come out. Having just been there this afternoon, that's what Eli was thankful for.

SO, thanks, Dad for letting him "push chimney"!!

Summer's half over!!

I can't believe that there's only 1 more month of summer vacation and then the kids go back to school and I go back to reality!! We've had such an amazing summer so far. I thought that instead of just talking about it, I'd tell you in pictures!! Enjoy!!


At the end of June, we went camping with my cousin Sarah and her boys: Timmy and Jared. We had a blast and were joined by our husbands at the end of the week. The really fun part was that my Mom's side of the family were all on the other side of the lake in cottages. We had a blast!! We also celebrated Sophia's 4th birthday while we were there.

Sophia's Birthday Party in the camper...it was SOOOOO HOT we had to move the celebration inside!

Timmy Geelhoed

Madelyn learned to knee-board!! I did too thanks to Sarah!!

This.....well, this is trouble!! This is my cousin Paul, Steve (Sarah's hubby), and Todd

Greg and Lisa visited for a day...here's Sophia holding Grace.

Every summer when my sister Michelle and her family come to Michigan, my Dad "Grandpa" takes all of the Grandkids out for a day of fun. This year there were 2 days. . . One to John Ball Zoo and the other to Crazy Bounce. The kids had a riot!!

I see these 2 (Sophia and Garrett) holding hands. . I was glad this time I caught it on film!!

We were also able to celebrate with Greg and Lisa when they baptised Grace. We gathered at Mom and Dad's for a lunch after the baptism.

A lot of time was spent at the pool this summer too. The kids LOVE to swim and are getting really confident with their pool skills! Sophia is swimming by herself underwater. !!

All 15 Grandkids: From oldest to youngest/left to right:

Clayton, Ben, Chloe, Madelyn, Hannah, Jacob, Lydia, Sarah, Amaya, Garrett, Sophia, Sam, Ellie, Eli, Grace. Whew!

Just this past weekend we took off for a little road trip. We went to a deer park in Coloma and then made our way to Indiana where we stopped at Bass Pro Shops.

I hope you are all having as full a summer as we are!!!