First day of school

Here they are: the ever popular first day of school pictures!

Simon hams is up. He is wearing his special moster trucks shirt. We've been waiting many months for this moment!

"Yeah, I'm five."

Both boys are in pre-school at "El Puente" at Zeeland Christian.

I got a little teary. My little girl is going to school!
She proudly told everyone that she was "three".


Time to go home! (She didn't seem to appreciate that I was trying to get a picture in the midst of this tantrum. . . and that I was laughing as well.)

This was the beginning of Noel's meltdown. Many children cry when they have to stay at school without their parents. Oh no. . . not Noel! She cried when Maestra (her teacher) announced that it was time to go home. She had a throw-down, scream out loud, fall on the floor, many many tears fit! She would not be consoled. Sounds like the hospital visit eh?!? I ended up carrying her through the thousands (o.k., maybe fifty) of parents waiting to pick up their well-behaved-excited-to-go-home children while she screamed. What is it with little girl screams? I'm not a fan. I was laughing and embarassed at the same time. Just wait until she becomes a teen-ager. I'll get her back then. :)

If I didn't know her I'd say she didn't like being at home, but I know better. The truth is she loves the attention that school (and the hospital) can give her. Yup, she's ready to go to school. We'll see what happens this Friday!

Penny's Baptism

Sunday night we had the honor of baptizing our daughter Penny. It was such a great night. We were so blessed to not only have my family there but Gary's parents as well who flew up from Brason for the week-end. How wonderful to see God's love, promises and stories of grace were passed down through three generations. We pray that Penny decides to live with Christ as well.

Gary's Mom reads Penny's passage: Psalm 16. Penny is named after her.

Getting wet!

The Koemans


Gary's family

Of course, dad was missing. We felt the hole but also know that were he well, he would have celebrated with us. Perhaps he'll someday read the "big Bible story book" to Penny at his house just like he did with me.

Same song. . .

So it goes: "Same song, second verse, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse."

We went back to Zeeland Hospital last night. Some of the same people were working and remembered me and my "adorable daughter." One even stopped me to tell another nurse "this is the mom of the little girl I was telling you about".

This time I was there with Gary. This time wasn't as easy. This time was much more painful. . . and too late for this tired chica.

Gary had been experiencing abdominal pain for about 24 hours and finally last night he told me that something was seriously wrong and we needed to go in. We put the kids to bed, walked over to the neighbors house, and asked if they would like to sit in our house while we went. After going to Urgent Care and then later to the Emergency Room, after a calling my mom to come and relieve neighbor Bev and a return trip to the house to pick up some "stuff", after having people poke his belly numerous times, after drinking a delicious concoction and having a cat scan, he was finally diagnosed with diverticulitis. Painful. Flare-ups. Bowel. Two antibiotics for ten days. Thankfully: it was not abscessed. No surgery.

Tired this morning, but thankful. Gary is going to be o.k. Gary's folks are in town and we had a great day with them yesterday with more fun today. Penny is getting baptized tomorrow night. God is good.

Urgent Care

I went to urgent care last night with my daughter Noel. We've never been here in Zeeland, so it was nice to finally get it over with. And by the way, Noel is fine. Great new huh!?!

Here is the story with the entertaining (well to me anyway) ending.

*I went to the pre-school meeting at school and enjoyed two presentations. I signed up to bring, kleenex, granola bars, gold glitter, white glitter, and of course play-doh.

*Gary manned the ship at home.

*Noel didn't want to turn her head from the video and while walking backwards. . . she fell down the stairs.

*Gary called me to come home right away.

*I didn't have my phone. I left it in the car. I didn't want to be one of those moms whose phone goes off during the meeting.

*Gary left a message.

*Meanwhile: I made plans to go for some chit-chat and dessert with other pre-school moms. I got in the car and got ready to call Gary and ask if it would be o.k. if I go. . . ah . . . the message!

*There I go, speeding through Zeeland. shhh

*Everyone is in bed except for Noel. She doesn't have a concussion (I checked to see if her pupils dilated,), her nose doesn't appear to be broken (I poked at it and asked her if it hurt), yet it is swollen.

*Gary informs me that it bled.

*My gut tells me that she is o.k.

*We make calls to respected people and are encouraged to go. Better to be safe than sorry. I agree.

Location: Zeeland Hospital

*Noel is thrilled to be there. Pleased as punch as a matter of fact. She informs the registrar that she "fell down 15 steps and hurt her nose."

*We are asked to wait in the waiting area and as we turn, nurse Jodi is there. Noel is upset as she wanted to sit in the "living room".

*Noel loves getting her vitals taken, making sure first of course that there would be no shots involved.

*The doctor is on his way and we read a book that I so smartly brought along when a woman shows up with stickers and colors and a coloring page. I am trumped.

*Before she can get all the stickers off their backs, the doctor is here. He asks if he can look up Noel's nose. She informs him that is "o.k. and it will just tickle a little bit".

*She is fine and we'll be right in to finish the paperwork.

Here is the twist ending. . . .

Noel states that she does not want to go home. She does so several times and with ever increasing volume. It takes me several minutes to calm her down. . . o.k. I didn't calm her down but at least she wasn't screaming. Why would you want to go home? At the hospital she is the center of attention, she gets free stuff, and she doesn't have to go to bed. Not only that, but it is two hours after her bedtime. SWEET!

We leave the room and she begins yelling in earnest again. It takes everything in me to keep from laughing. . . you are right. . . I did laugh. Her voice echos off every clean floor. People are poking their heads out, the insurance lady (our last stop) is laughing as we walk in. We finally leave with the promise to Noel that she can have a snack when we get home. As we leave, the registration lady looks at me and says, "I heard the story. She doesn't want to go home." Lovely. . . word is circulating. Noel gives one last "I don't want to go home" before we go through the automatic doors, just for good measure. I hear the cleaning attendant laugh. At least they didn't bring me up on charges of child endangerment.

Hope

I have hope for a lot of things. I hope that my boys won't wrestle in children's worship. I hope that Penny sleeps through the night without crying. I hope that Gary's sinus cavities from his surgery today heal quickly. I hope that I can find babysitting for all the volunteering I'll be doing in preschool this year. I hope that my kids make great friends. Lots of hope.

There is another kind of hope, the kind had joy attached to it. We hear good news regarding a sick friend and suddenly, we have hope. We get all the paperwork in to adopt and then hear that matches are coming soon, we have hope. We visit our dad in Petoskey at the end of three months in rehab and we have hope. I remember blogging about that visit. I saw a sparkle, and I heard his laugh. He was proud of the changes that he had made and spoke very openly about the journey ahead.

Then again, sometimes we lose hope. I've lost some hope. Dad was asked to leave the transitional house where he was living and receiving more help. He didn't abide by the rules. Currently, he is in Canada with a friend he met there last year named George. My hope? Well, in this situation it is pretty low.

Of course, my mind goes in all sorts of directions. I'm sad, frustrated, angry, worried, and . . . feeling somewhat hopeless. Yet. . . . (this is a good word here!) my hope is not in my dad, his behavior, his location, his decisions, and his choices.

Isaiah 40: 31 "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. . . . "

My hope is not in the things of this world, but in my Father above! God knows dad. God knows where he is. God knows what he is doing. God knows my mom. God knows every in and out of this whole situation and He can renew my strength, my mom's strength, and even dad's strength. There is no choice that dad can make that surprises God. There is nothing dad can do that will take him out of God's reach.

Do I wish I had better news. Yes, perhaps some day I will. Right now, all we can do is pray. Will you join our prayer army? Let's hope in the Lord!!!

The newest fight

You might recall that once upon a time, my boys were fighting over a baby chick. This chick was pretend, so fighting about who had it was a mystery to me. I'd direct you to the blog post but alas, I don't know how.

The latest battle among my boys involves boxes. Big boxes. Garrison has an amazon box and Simon has a Luvs diaper box. We've drawn steering wheels, fuel gauges, wheels, even water and pop cans on these boxes. Garrison has even written "muscle car" on the side of his. Their argument? They each insist that their car goes faster than the other one. After several moments of amusement on my part over this argument, it quickly started to annoy me. I tried to explain but received blank stares. Finally I asked how fast each car really went. Zero. They both go zero. It was solved. That was yesterday.

Today the argument began again. Seriously? This time in an effort to prove their point, they began writing numbers on the sides of their cars to indicate how fast it goes. It helps when you shout it out. "Yeah, well mine goes fifteen, eighty, one thousand, three, sixty-two, and, and, and. . ." My response? "It is time for your morning video."

Cottage Pictures (beware--many ahead!)

Here they are! Just a few (cough cough) of the 937 pictures taken at the cottage. (I love the digital world.) I realized as I went through these that we had an amazing week, that I did get many moments yet forgot others, and that Simon climbs on many laps. :) Enjoy!

The van is packed.

Gary's new "old man" chair.
Bubbles were a hit!


A jet-ski just for the kids.

Uncle Koe entertains the Sprick kids.

Fishing with the uncles.

Noel doesn't want anything to do with Uncle Matt's fish.

Kody is so sassy already.

Ready to roll.

Simon tries to get warm. The kid has no body fat.

Yup, she's enjoying her first week at the cottage.

Look: Garrison got his nails done.

Look: Noel got her nails done.

Look: Gary got his nails done too!

The Koemans are chilaxin'

I can't believe my boys can do this!

A typical supper. Mom spoiled us!

The annual kick ball game.

We had cheerleaders this year.

An early morning boat ride.

Aunt Tricia and Simon

Tricia and Ryan celebrating.

Our little cocoon.

I got up with Ryan too!

My studly brothers.

Kevin, Tricia, and Ryan going trips!

Noel tries to charm her way into that Chex Mix bag. She did.

Big breakfast

I can still slalom! Oh yeah!!!

Tricia and I having a blast!

I could not stop laughing!

Aunt Gigi has a special heart for Simon.

Fishing with my boys.

Simon riding on Uncle Ryan.

The more the merrier.

Simon loves his Grammy

I love this family!