26.2 Baby!

This Sunday we traveled over to Detroit to run the Detroit Marathon. It was a sunny, very cool day with a little too much wind. We had a great time. Jason, Susie, Doug and Brittany James, Ron Schuster, Arin Heinz, Lindsey Botke, Jared and I all ran the marathon. We had an amazing time. Most of us stayed at Jared's parent's house the night before along with many spectators. Susie, Doug, Brittany, Ron, Arin, and Lindsey ran their first marathons. Jason ran his third and Jared and I ran our sixth. Lindsey came in second place in her age group and qualified for the Boston; she ran really fast. Arin was one of only ten 16-year-olds who ran the marathon. Susie ran her first marathon, made a bunch of friends on the course and had an amazing run. It was a great weekend.

ordination schmordination

Most of you know that Jeff is working on Ordination in the Reformed Church. Tuesday he was officially accepted under care, Yay! The process will take about a year from now to complete. He has to take classes, do a CPE (clinical pastoral education where you work at a hospital for six weeks doing the stuff no one wants to do like pray with dying people and their families), write a 50 page paper on what he believes and so on. Actually this moving forward is kind of encouraging, we've been waiting around so long and now we're finally getting somewhere. Jeff has a part time job as a one to one aid with a ninth grader that has learning disabilities and he may be starting at starbucks soon. My mom had breast cancer (HAD being the operative word) which has now been removed. It is fall, my favorite season (Bounty of the Harvest anyone?) and I look forward to what our lives will bring. About four days ago this post would have been totally depressing and discouraged but now things are looking better, thanks God. Anyway, the awesome part about all this is that Jeff will probably need to take classes at Western for the month of june and so we will be in Holland!!! Anyone know of a house on Lake Michigan that needs sitting? This photo was taken in Vermont, we went for the weekend with Jeff's family. Sounds so high class doesn't it?

Not an Everyday Occurence

Today Jared, yes Jared, was accused, to a police officer, of purchasing and using crack. During one of the routine investigations of our neighbor's house, when 6 or 7 police cars line up outside the neighbor's house once a week of so (Everybody has these, right?), one of our neighbors decided that Jared would be a good person to accuse of purchasing crack from him. I can imagine that the discussion went something like this.

"Did you or did you not steal that money?"
"No man, that dude's on crack."
"Do you mean the pastor next door?"
"Yeah man, Jared, he buys from me."
"Do you mean the pastor next door?"
"Yeah"
"So you are telling me that you sell crack to the pastor next door?"
"Umm, yeah?"

Let's just say that our neighbor, who we know pretty well, isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Good Luck Marathoners!

You wacky West Michigan runners amaze me. Go get 'em this weekend - breeze by those Kenyans. I believe in you! Please tell Win to take several pictures of you all to post later. A good friend once gave me some wise advice that can apply to you quite well this weekend: "Work hard. Eat fast." These wise words have carried me through many a challenge. Lucky for you all, the owner of those wise words is running with you. Have a blast with your 26.2. We'll be thinking of you!

Crazy Movie

Although I don't usually go to R-rated movies I recently was introduced to this crazy movie by Denise and Missy. It is an interesting picture into the life and thoughts of a passionate man who has lost touch with reality. If you are up for a movie that makes you say, "What the heck!" this'll do it. The main character has an intimate realtionship with the f-bomb, thus the R rating. Also there is one scene that shows some photos of his body that are apparently graphic. Thankfully Missy and Denise were able to edit that out for me, as I have a weak stomach for those things. Has anybody else seen this movie? What did you think?

The music and photography are amazingly beautiful. I can't stop thinking about the movie. It is haunting.

Grizzly Man

I love Autumn

My family relived some aspects of our youth this weekend. We went to "Gene the Pumpkin Man" to pick pumpkins-- just like we did when we were little. Then we sat around and watched the Tiger's WIN the pennant to make it into the WORLD SERIES! Allow me to reflect a second: sometimes, when the autumn air is crisp, and when the kids are dancing in front of the TV and the adults are watching the Tiger's game behind the sea of princess dresses- it amazes me how life can be cyclical and also so grand.

The strange, wonderful world.

Hello everybody. I've just updated our blog with more quirky pictures of our beautiful children. You don't have to read the indulgent captions, and you don't have to comment. Just look. I've enjoyed checking up on everybody. The electronically networked world is a strange place and I'm still not sure what I think of it. Obviously I'm utilizing it, so I'm okay with it for now. Might as well take advantage of it.

(If you are lucky you will see pictures of Elise and I. I only keep 10 postings on the main page. So please see the archives on the lower right.)

more stylish than I will ever be

since everyone is putting up cute baby pictures here is my contribution, although Sienna is officially a toddler now since she's walking everywhere!

Mom and Daughter

Abby and I had our picture taken together while my mom was up this weekend. I thought I'd share with you.

Just a few more

I couldn't resist. My friend Amy took these on Saturday.

Ethanael's progress

Ethanael has been progressively cooing and smiling much more. I love it! He's quite good natured in my opinion and seems to enjoy all the baby talk and kisses he gets from us and our parents. His cheeks are chubbing up and are wonderful for kissing. He's a blast and loves stripes as you can see :)