A Beautiful Walk, Sort of

We have a new park by our new house. The boys had been wanting to go for some time. I told them when the weather was nice enough we would go.

Today was a beautiful day. The boys ate breakfast and had already started to bicker. I decided it was the perfect time for that walk. And the perfect way to celebrate Good Friday- to revel in God's creation!

The park is probably nearly a mile away. Previously it was the Holland Country Club. It has been turned into a park with trails and bridges over streams and rivers.

It was really quite beautiful. It just felt good to be outside in the sunshine. The dogs were very happy to get out too.



Some of the paths are paved. But most are dirt. I think it is still under construction some because it was hard to tell where the path went at certain points along the way.

We actually went pretty far considering we walked to get there. The one down side was the mud. There was a lot of wet, muddy ground. It stuck to our shoes.

At one point we were crossing a wide, wood bridge that went over Macatawa River. We had just went thru a particularly muddy stretch. I was in the lead and started scraping my shoes along the wood boards to remove some of the mud.

I heard a big KER-PLUNK from the river below. I turned around to see my beloved Noah standing on one foot with a surprised look on his face. The foot he was holding up was shoe-less. Apparently he was trying to kick off the mud from his shoe and ended up kicking his shoe into the river.
Smack dab in the middle.


That's the bridge where it went in. This far from the bridge it was still towards the middle.


At first I thought there was no possible way to get it. But there was enough of a breeze to start pushing it towards one side of the river, slowly. I ran down the edge of the bank and found a long stick(small tree). I kept following along until my stick would reach the still floating shoe. It was very wet but much better than walking home with one shoe.



We were tuckered out (and dirty) when we got back. But it was a very nice walk.

I may not be posting much, if at all, next week. I haven't done this before but it will be nice to take some time off and focus on family. Everyone have a great spring break and have safe travels wherever you may be going.

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Spring Break Begins

Finally. We have been counting down the days. I am so ready for this break.

My hubby took the week off of work just because the kids would be off of school.

Yay for a break!

We don't have big plans, but there is some things I'd like to get done when we get back from Detroit.

1. I want to put together and install our kitchen cabinets. They're kind of in the way.



2. I wouldn't mind getting another coat of black paint on the doors upstairs. I only got one coat on before the birthday party and none since.



3. We need dressers! We don't have dressers in our rooms. Some of us have little shelves. All we have to do is move them up from the garage. But we were waiting for trim to get done. Which it's not. But we need a place to put clothes.






4. I would like to get some art up on the walls. They are pretty boring right now. This is a hard one for me. I think too hard about it or try to find the perfect thing, color, placement, arrangement.









5. We need to get the rest of our stuff from my in-laws. There is still quite a bit of our things there.

Hopefully we will get a few things done. But mostly I just want to spend time together and relax.

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On This Day

On this day last year we were well on our way to our vacation in sunny Florida.

We are not going this year :(

Not because of the recent events. But because we bought a new house and stretched ourselves too thin.

Lanny and Carol would have been on their way to Florida this year. But they will not be going now either.

So I thought I would just post some fun sunny pictures from last year's trip.

Enjoy.

Good Things

I am taking note of all the good things that went on today. It helps to remind me of how good God is each and every day.

1. I got a big delivery from Fed Ex- my cabinets!! Now to find the time to put them together and install them.




2. I got a lot of much needed errands done today.

3. I'm training for a 5k and missed a day last week- understandably. I got my first run for this week done today!

4. For those that saw my post yesterday you know my seven year old had a very loose tooth. It fell out during the night and thankfully it stayed near his lips until morning. He could have choked!



5. The banana bread I made yesterday is delicious. It's very moist and I just can't stop eating it. I got it from allrecipes.com and it is sour cream banana bread. Look it up and try it!

6. I got to visit a friend that just had a baby girl. She was incredibly cute and very alert. Such a lovely little family.



7. As a family we went to Cityside 6th grade band's Spring Concert. My oldest plays the clarinet. Beautiful music.



8. I got to hear updates from my family on how my dad-in-law, Lanny, was doing all day today. This has brought me the most joy and reminded me how good and faithful our God is.
They got a hug (with one arm) from him. They got lots of hand squeezes. They got to see him eat better and better. They got to pray with him and cry with him. They got to communicate with him and laugh with him. They got to see him smile. They got to be present when he got his first non-family visitors. They got to see him move out of his bed and into a chair (with help).
These are many, many good things. And I know there are still lots to come!

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Keeping Busy

It was hard to get up this morning.

Just trying to keep myself busy today.

Kids definitely help with that :)



He was pretending to be a wolf and lost a tug-of-war battle with our dog.

I'm finding some joy in baking. You can't go wrong with banana bread.



And lots of errands that had to be done.

I hope this week goes fast. I will be welcoming spring break with open arms!

Happy Monday!

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Lounge Living

We pretty much took over the ICU lounge at St Joseph's Hospital today. The surgery went well. It will greatly improve Lanny's recovery.
We are beat and we only spent half the day there. Others are on their third day of being here. It is emotionally exhausting but we are so glad to be here with everyone and helping to support Carol and Lanny.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and overwhelming support!


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This Man

This man is a great husband, dad and grandpa.

This man began his career teaching at Christian schools.

This man taught at an inner city school for several years. Devoted himself to his job. And then was let go and forced into early retirement because of mishandling of the school.

This man loves to laugh and be goofy just to make others laugh.

This man can sometimes be the biggest pain in my rear end because he loves to tease and try to get me (along with everyone) going.

This man can be counted on to take your call for help in the middle of the night or drop what he is doing to give you a ride or help you out of a jam.

This man let my family of six inhabit his home for nearly 10 months- no questions asked- no complaints.

This man loves God and loves to serve.

This man has coached well over 30 teams of different sports at different schools at different age levels and genders and loves doing every bit of it.

This man has had health struggles since forced to change his medications due to a change in insurance coverage.

This man had a stroke and because of the stroke he now has a clot on his brain.

But he is tough. And determined. And stubborn. And he is fighting his way back.

We love him and hope you will join us in praying for every inch of recovery we can get.

You Snooze, You Lose

I know this concept. But it has become all too real today. I tell others that if they find something they love while thrifting- buy it! I guess I need to listen to my own advice.

Remember when I posted about window thrift shopping last week. There was a table (that I forgot to snap a picture of at the time) that I didn't even include in my post. I kind of fell in love with it, slowly. I have thought of it every day since then. It is nothing spectacular. But it has a butcher block top to it and is the perfect size for an island in our kitchen.

This is our current island.

 

This was an addition to our kitchen the day of our birthday party. It really came in handy and we were so thankful to Brian and Kristen for letting us borrow it!

 

It gave us some much needed counter top space. They said we could keep it until our kitchen was completed or until they needed it.

This table would have been just the answer we were looking for...

I say WOULD have been.....

 

This would have been great just as it is for a while. I probably would have sanded the top and applied some sort of food safe oil finish.
Down the road I could have designed a base that suits our needs and just topped it with this table top.

But alas....I can't.

I went in today to purchase it and it sold. It sold today. In the early afternoon it SOLD!

Fifty dollars. You can't get a butcher block top for fifty dollars.

I'm bummed. So very bummed.

But then I got good news in the form of an email.

My Barker Cabinets are finished and have shipped! Yay!
I'm not sure how long they will take to get here.
It was a much needed positive to my day though.

Has this ever happened to you? You delayed on an item and then lost it?

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Salvation Army Finds

I got to visit my favorite Salvation Army in Grand Rapids this past weekend. That is where I found the dress and skirt. The shoes I found at Holland's Salvation Army.
I wish I had the money and the time to go thrift shopping everyday!









Thanks for looking!

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Monday Things

1. I started my Couch to 5k running program this morning. It was COLD out there but I'm feeling motivated and optimistic. Thanks Trisha!

2. I have been obsessively checking the progress of my Barker cabinets that I talked about here. I am hoping they are done by the end of this week or beginning of next. So excited! Then I can set up my cook top and run a gas line for it. Oh...to cook on a burner...

 

3. I absolutely loved the book The Host. It is a little sci-fi but I could hardly put it down once I got into the sixth chapter or so.

4. I know you might think this is strange- but I have wanted a metal detector for a while now. Lately I have been researching brands and prices. I've always loved old things. To be able to dig up hidden treasures and relics would be a dream. It would be a good excuse to get outside more and get some exercise in the process. Am I weird? Is that only a past time of retirees?

 

5. We cannot get enough of citrus over here. I have at least one orange a day. The boys have found their new favorite snack- Cuties! These little oranges are the perfect snack size, easy to peel and good for them!

6. The weather has me down a little. But knowing we have a pretty nice weekend coming up- helps a ton!

7. I'm taking a little break from house projects for a bit. Not only to get refreshed and rested, but because our wallets have taken quite a hit. Instead I've been wanting to do little craft projects with already owned materials. Especially spring-type stuff. I also want to try making a cool video. As I mentioned before I got the book Video in Photoshop from the library. I'd love to be able to make some inspiring videos. I'm not sure what of yet. I would hope to do better than Cole's video we had to make for school.

 

Of course, he was the creative director behind this film :)

8. Baseball season is starting up for the boys. And although I love that they love to play, I don't like being so busy. It is a good sign that spring is right around the corner though.

9. We still don't have dressers in our bedrooms. My piles of clothes just sit on the floor. And because I don't want to disturb those piles in an effort to find something to wear, I just wear the same thing. Then I wash it and wear it again. It's time. to get. it done.

10. I'm pretty sad we are not going to Florida. But I know it is worth it to have a partial kitchen instead!

:(

Happy Monday!

Health Kick

I'm putting it out here so I am more accountable, not any other reason.

I've come a long way in the past year. A long way in the wrong direction.

I pretty much haven't exercised since moving out of our old house. I did get on a small health kick when I read the book Eat to Live around Thanksgiving time of last year. I lost 10 pounds and felt great. What happened? We started major renovations on our new house and I started eating what was easiest and fastest.

I could feel the difference it made in how I felt. And it has only gotten worse since then.

Mornings are the worst. I feel like I can barely function. I started drinking coffee because I have a hard time staying awake. This has helped some but not much. I pretty much feel terrible all day. I got a cold over a month ago but I can feel some of the symptoms even still today. My energy levels are so very low and it has even affected my moods. I would say I have been mildly depressed for a couple of months.

Time for a change? Oh yeah. But that is the hardest part for me. Actually starting.

I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives today. It has similar concepts to the book Eat to Live that I read. If you haven't watched it yet- you should. It's been a great motivator.

 

You can watch it for free on Netflix if you have an account.

I am also going to start running. I joined a running group through a friend. We are doing a couch to 5k program and helping each other along the way.

My new reading choice is going to help motivate me also. It was recommended by my sis-in-law a while back and am finally getting around to reading it.

It is time to make a change. My body is rebelling against the way I have been treating it.

Have a good weekend!

Pretty Pictures

I'm hitting a wall, creatively.
I can't seem to get passed it.
There is something blocking my way.

So I was looking through some of my pins on Pinterest to get inspired.
Still no luck.

I decided to post some of my favorite pictures I've collected on Pinterest.
The ones that speak the loudest, to me, for one reason or another.

I hope you enjoy them too.

Thanks for looking!