A fun goal met.

Zack is back into the swing of indoor track meets. He had a meet at Cornerstone College last night. The last time he went to a meet at Cornerstone College (his junior year) he learned that the throwing pit was only about 55' and then you hit a wall. No one was able to hit the wall that time but that is a reachable distance by some of the bigger throwers. That being said Zack can now throw past that so he was excited to go to the meet last night because he wanted to "hit the wall". Guess what? They moved the ring back to give 5 more feet before you would hit the wall but that didn't stop Zack. He was still able to accomplish his goal. It was a fun night. He took first with a throw of 60'1" (which is as far as the could measure obviously because the wall stopped it).

Crazy friendship

My dad sent me the link to this video. I hope you enjoy it, I did.

I'm still here!

Can you tell that the kids have been out of school? It is hard to find time to blog with a houseful of people. I will try to do a quick "catch up" of some of the fun things that have been going on around here.
Christmas day Mark and Zack left for Texas on a hunting trip. It was an early graduation gift for Zack so I guess that means he better graduate now. LOL! We paid for half of it and a close family friend that Zack calls "Uncle Ed" paid for the other half of it. Mark, Ed and Zack all went. Zack was the only successful hunter of the three and he got a buffalo and a fallow deer. I only have pictures so far of the buffalo. (Lesson learned: don't send men with a new camera. Wink!) They all had a wonderful time and continue to share stories with us.

(Zack, Mark, Uncle Ed, ? and Todd -? and Todd are "fellow hunters" that met them there along with Mike who was taking the picture.)

We had a low key New Year's Eve. We went over to our friends Jay and Lynnea's house for some catching up. Mark slept for almost 2 hours on their couch. Poor guy had driven through the night and all day to get back from Texas. He was beat. So we made fun of him while he snored. It was great entertainment. LOL!
While Mark was gone I had hinted that I would really like an iPod Touch and asked him what he thought about me getting one. He called home Tuesday night and told me to go get one if I wanted to. It was about 10pm at night when he called but all of us girls were up because I had let them have coke with their pizza and my kids aren't used to the caffeine. They were wide awake. I looked at them after I got off the phone with Mark and said, "You girls feeling like going out right now to Wal-mart and getting it?" I am certain you know the answer. We were back home a little after 11pm. It was fun to do something so out of character and my girls couldn't stop talking about it. We have all had fun playing with it. It has become somewhat of a family gadget but I still get it when I want it. Wink!
Then last Friday we picked up my niece, Emily, from my folk's house. My sister and her husband had left on Wednesday to Florida for the wedding of my sister's boss. We got to have Emily from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. What a blessing! We enjoyed her so much even though it still didn't feel like long enough. We surprised Julie and Leo and met them at the airport. They were planning on coming to our house to pick up Emily. I remember how long the travel back home is when you have been away from your kids, you can't get home fast enough. They were so happy to see us waiting for them when they got off the plane. They hadn't suspected a thing. It was all worth it to see them both loving on Emily and her soaking every bit of it up.
So now the kids are back in school and life is returning to as normal as our life can get. Anna is in full swing with basketball and still has soccer a couple times a month. Zack is gearing up for the indoor season of track. He has a meet this saturday. Kaylyn is laying low until outdoor track season starts after spring break. Libby is enjoying a field trip to Lansing today to visit the state capital. She hardly slept last night anticipating. I was so bummed that I wasn't one of the parents picked to go along. I am sure she is having fun. Kim is her chaperone since her daughter Bekah is in the same class as Libby. Libby was excited about that.
Smiles!

Check out my daughter's blog.

I didn't even realize that she notice... go read, it's short.

What a beautiful group of Grandkids!

Back row: Brandon (nephew), Zack (son), Emily (niece), Derek (nephew), Desmond (nephew)
Front row: Libby (daughter), Kaylyn (daughter), Kendra (niece), Anna (daughter)

Warning:Spoiler Alert for Christmas Eve Service

Don't watch this if you are going to be attending Lighthouse church tonight because it is a sneak preview of what Libby will be singing tonight at church. It is a song by Francesca Battistelli called "You're Here".

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy this special time with family and friends and know that God loves you!

Snow Day Fun

Per Cheri's request.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

And a bonus one for fun.... (if it works)I removed it since it wasn't working correctly.

A picture for Kat

I noticed that in this picture of Emily I got my "Christmas headboard" in the background. I got this idea form Kat and Mark really likes it also. I think I will be doing this every year. Thanks Kat for sharing this idea!

Christmas Program

Here is Libby saying her verse at our Christmas program Sunday. The kids all did such a great job.

Singing songs.

Wordless acting.

Being still.

Watching.

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

TimberWolf

It is going to be hard to pick what pictures to share but I will try to limit it. We had so much fun this weekend on our youth group retreat to TimberWolf Lake. We spent most the weekend indoors thanks to the blizzard that we were living in but it was still a great time.

Here is a picture of the dorms we stayed in. Each dorm has 8 cabins in them and each cabin has it's own bathrooms and sleeps about 16.

Here is a picture from the 2nd floor inside the dorm looking over the "hang out" area.

Some of the kids hanging out on the second floor.

Here is Anna and our fearless youth pastor Brandon.

We ate really well. We were always served family style with as many refills as we needed. It was really good food.

This was a little payback from Anna to Cody for throwing her in the snowbank earlier.

Ice cream, coffee, and candy. Just what they needed to keep the leaders up all night. lol!

A performance from "Mega Man".

What High Schooler wouldn't want to go bobbing in a pan of flour for marshmallows?

Anna and Jordan climbing the rock wall.

Anna and Jordan again at lunch.

Taylor in the news.

Continued great news on Taylor.

French Toast Sticks and Hope

Posted 7 minutes ago

Sorry this is coming a bit late. I actually wrote an update several hours ago, but evidently got distracted before I posted it, and lost it. Taylor ate a full breakfast of french toast sticks this morning (wolfed em right down) and as a result, got to have his tube feeding discontinued. He later also got his central line taken out in anticipation for his procedure tomorrow to have an automatic defibrillator implanted (similiar to a pacemaker, about the size of a quarter). He had 2 MRI's this am, which we are awaiting the results of. Taylor went for a walk today as well, or should I call it a sprint? I had to fast walk to catch up. He also was on the computer and logged on to his facebook, so you in the younger crowd can check that out. Taylor has as his goal to sit on the bench for the first HHS basketball game next week. From his lips to God's ears! Amazingly, barring any further complication, I don't see this as an unreasonable goal. Praise God for his mercy. We serve a God of grace and mercy.

Amazing!

updates from Sara on Taylor's condition over the night. God is good!

"hello" and "Just look at you God!"

Posted 8 hours ago

Taylor just got his vent/breathing tube gastric drain tube completely out. He continues to breathe well on his own. The nurse asked him to try to say "hi" or something and he whispered a husky "hello". Our dear friend Vanika prophesied during a prayer just yesterday that we would be saying "Just look at you, God!". Vanika, you were so right...I would like us all to say a collective "Just look at you, God!" He has done more than we could ever ask or imagine. We still have an incredible road ahead, but we never could have predicted the miraculous events of today. For all of you out there posting and praying, I also say, "Just look at you!" You will never know the depth of our gratitude for your caring and prayers.

interesting turn of events

Posted 1 hour ago

Well, we have gone from thrilled that Taylor opened his eyes, to Taylor fighting with his mom about having to be in the hospital. One of the sedating drugs he had, wiped away the memory of all of the trauma of why he is here. Taylor is stating "But I'm healthy! " Praise God his personality is intact-the teenage one that blames mom for all things that are unfair-...but yet we need prayers that he will accept the fact that he will need to remain here for some time for the tests and assessments to determine the cause of the cardiac arrest.