Happy Almost Halloween!

We're headed to St. Joe, MI tomorrow afternoon to enjoy some Lodge-O-Ween festivities! I'll be dessing up as the classic "black cat" and Jason will be going as...a baby! It'll be interesting I'm sure...stay tuned for the pictures! Have a fun and safe holiday!

Prayer Requests

"Give us the strength to see beyond this “here” and “now”. Open our eyes, so that we can see your love in everything. Open our ears, so that we can hear your voice in everything. Teach us to be strong in times of weakness. To carry forward the message of faith, hope and love."

Hi friends! This post is simply to ask for your prayers and strength...last night was a rough night... Jason found out that he has to have surgery on his knee, it's a simple ACL repair surgery, but stressful nonetheless. He's gathering more information, and we're trying to get things in order! Later in the evening, I spoke to my dad, and found out that my little brother, Davey, found himself in a very intense and trying situation on his first day of patrols. He's safe, and that is what matters most! I just ask for prayer so that he remains confident, strong, and comforted by the fact that he has so many people pulling for him back home! Thank you all so much!

The Starfish Story

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Congrats Erin & Neil!!!

"All because a boy loved a girl..." 

Erin and Neil are engaged! He got down on one knee during a horseback riding trip through the mountains in Colorado! We're so happy for Jason's little sister and excited for them to start their life together! We love you guys!!!

ForOneChicago

"And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all..." 1 Thessalonians 3:12

This past Saturday we had an amazing time volunteering through our church during ForOneChicago! Churches from the area get together and help volunteer at 35 different sites in and around the Chicagoland area. We signed up to help the nonprofit organization called NEW MOMS. They moved into a new main office so we helped paint, clean, winterize, sanitize the children's toys, clean, etc. We made new friends both within the church and at NEW MOMS, and it was great to feel that we helped out in our own community! I hope to volunteer more in the upcoming months!

Who they serve:
Most often, participants arrive at New Moms with nothing more than a baby in their arms and a trash bag full of their belongings. 97% are either Latino or African-American, between the ages of 13 and 21, with children 5 years old or younger. When these young women come to us, approximately 80% have dropped out of school, and are operating at an average 4th grade educational level. Almost all are multi-generational welfare recipients, or have no income at all. 100% are living in extreme poverty (200% or more below the poverty threshold). Over 75% do not live with immediate family members. Most have no permanent home, and report “couch surfing” from one potentially dangerous, transient living situation to another, children in tow. Many are officially homeless, living on the streets with their children. Most are survivors—or continuing victims—of abuse, neglect, abandonment, sexual exploitation, and domestic violence.

http://www.newmomsinc.org/

http://www.parkcommunitychurch.org/

ARMY STRONG

Tomorrow, is the day...Davey is being deployed to Iraq. He'll leave bright and early in the to fly on a 747 to the east coast, spend the night and be on another early flight to Germany. From there he'll fly to Iraq. He'll be stationed just out side Baghdad and as far as he knows he will be doing patrols down the highways to make sure there is safe passage (while searching for and getting rid of roadside bombs with his crew), and from there...whatever they ask of him. He said he isn't nervous just yet, but he's ready, willing, and I could not be more proud.

We won't have contact with him for about a week, as he'll be moving around quite a bit. He will have a satellite phone with him (courtesy of Jenn Harp's little sister Natalee, and her husband Steven, who is also a soldier stationed at Fort Hood, TX.) He promised he'd send an address...and I plan on sending him lots of packages, especially around Christmas time!

So, please say a prayer, or two, or ten for him while he's gone!

We love you Davey, and we're so proud of you!

Parents meet the Parents

This past Saturday we had our first round of parents meet the parents! The Kingma's met my mom, Keith, Jason, and I at the Terrace Grille in Shelbyville, MI. I had never been to Gun Lake before, but Jason mentioned he'd been there many times growing up when his parents had Jetskis! The view from the restaurant was gorgeous, and the brunch we had was fantastic! After we were finished eating we went outside to take some pictures (my mom, and Jason's mom match, that was so funny) and as you can see Jason humored me by taking the chair picture, but it turned out so cute! We walked through the attached hotel and then made our way back to Kalamazoo. It was the perfect afternoon! Now we just need to find the time for Round 2, my dad and Kathy are next! :)

B is for Bachelorette!

Kate's bachelorette party was a fun one! While thinking back on that wonderful Saturday evening Grand Rapids, MI, I am reminded of the top 10 moments of the night:

1. Blueberry Martini's

2. Incriminating pictures of Kate plastered all over every inch of Andrea's house

3. The mother of the bride taking a pull out of the RATED X liquor bottle

4. The underwear game...

5. "Never have I ever..." oh my some of things we Western Girls did...

6. Of course I forgot my ID at the hotel...so I made friends with Joe, the Rickshaw guy, who kindly took me to the hotel in back in 15 min flat!

7. Getting Amanda's Boa back from some snotty lil'Grand Rapids girl...

8. BEST PART OF THE NIGHT: All 7 of us taking the rickshaw to Mojo's, and Kristie and I standing on the back holding on for dear life, while Kristie yelled to all passing by "Vote for me, Miss America 2010"

9. Kate dancing on stage at Mojo's and flicking off the piano player...he deserved it!

10. Listening to Kate talk like a Chipmunk after sucking helium out of the balloons in the hotel...and of course her waking up on the floor in the morning!!! Oh Kate!

November 7th, here she comes!

Welcome to the world Reese!!!

"Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever-fresh and radiant possibility."

The lil'beaner is here!! We're all so excited and so happy for Catie & Scott! She has lots of aunts waiting to meet her!!!! We love you all, and can't wait to hear stories as the lil'one grows!

xoxo

Good for a laugh!

Oh, how I love baseball games....good friends, good hotdogs, good beer, TIGERS WIN, and of course...cotton candy!

I think we must have watched this 20 times...and could not stop laughing!!!