Easter...late...

Troy and his Easter Eggs
Trent and his eggs

We had a wonderful Easter dinner at Neil and Bonnie's house. We enjoyed all the fixings, with my personal favorite....sweet potatoes!!!....and Strawberry Shortcake to boot! We were hoping the road would stay drivable so we could have dinner at their house and then be able to visit G-ma 'Buck'. She is going to be 97 this fall...yes I said 97! Can you image??....That would mean that I'm not even half-way! We had a great visit with everyone...Grandpa's. Grandma's and Great-Grandma's!!!

The road, kinda their driveway, stayed drivable. Some years they have to ride 4-wheelers in and out till the road dries out...another...can you imagine?? You thought hauling groceries in from the car was bad! It reminds me of when Craig and Kristi lived on Mackinac Island. They had to bike in everything they wanted....makes you kinda look at everything differently!! One year they lived in what they called the village....the center of the island, kinda up behind the Grand Hotel. And when I say 'up'...I mean up! We visited them that summer...I walked my bike up the hill!! I told them I wasn't coming to visit till they moved to the outside & flat perimeter! All I have to say is, you don't go back for your purse if you forgot it!! I do remember Kristi could petal up that hill with a cart on the back of her bike!....She's quite a women! Call me wimpy, but I'm not sure I could ever pull that off!! I did enjoy the visits when they moved to a house on the main drag!...pretty cool to stay on the island for a couple of days!! One year we took Tyler with his broken leg. We biked him all around the Island and brought a picnic lunch that we enjoyed part way around. Wow....was that fun! Oh!! summer.....what will we do this summer!?!?!

Catch'n Some Rays.....

Here's our little Jaxi.....she found some sun to lay in today!!! It's a rare find here in Michigan! I couldn't resist taking this 'not so lady like' picture of her. She was spayed yesterday and is loving all the pampering the kids are showering on her! They are wrapping her in blankets and giving her sips of water. If she is a true women she will milk this as long as she can!!!!! Trent asked if we could change her name to a boy name, now that they took out her 'female parts'. I explained to him that she is still a girl. Not knowing how many questions that would invoke....Steve was instructing me from a distance "don't go there!!" He didn't get to detailed in his questioning...he's gonna be the one that needs all the details. That's why he came along last...we are more experienced now...kinda...okay, maybe not!!!

~joanne

Sparks-A-Rama

We attended the annual Awana Games today, Trent played in the Sparks-A-Rama. This is the games for the K-2nd graders. He wasn't to sure he wanted to compete during the Saturday practices but when the games rolled around he was ready to play!!! They took a second places...he was quite excited to receive a ribbon and a patch for his vest! Here he is with his friend Carson waiting to compete and then with his awards. He will be all practiced up for next year!!

(Uncle Tod...notice his shirt!...he loves it and wants to wear it everyday!)

So Beautiful.....

Isn't it beautiful when it snows around Easter? We just love it when we have a late snow! It's so refreshing...it makes everything so white again...not!! What in the world...who put in an order for this???...not me. I hear south of GR is getting it much worse than us!
Happy Good Friday to ya! Enjoy the weather you are having...you could be getting this!!!

It's Official.....

Here she is....Jaxi. We officially have one dog! She has adjusted to not having her sisiter around. We were expecting some crying the first night....none!!! She loves to play tug-o-war. She is very playful but then takes a 2 hour nap!! Here favorite place to lay is on the chair by Steve. She is going next week to be 'altered'. Her potty training has gone very well...can't complain. I'm hoping that she doesn't become a digger this summer!!!

Full Of Faith.....

Have you ever prayed for something and were really okay with the way it would turn out? I would hope, if you have been a Christian any length of time, you have prayed for lots of things. But, I usually have a answer in mind. Usually I pray that God would work it out to my liking! I know that's not really what we are 'suppose' to do! Come on be honest we've all been there!

I prayed for many years that God would heal my Mom...he choose to take her. I prayed for my sons not to have Celiac Disease...he choose to allow them to. The list goes on..... He obviously doesn't always answer how we would want Him to but he always, always gives us the strength to make it through!!

So anyway...my point. Last week we had to get a new front windshield in our van, that would be Friday. Tuesday Steve drove the van to South Haven and on his way home, you guessed it, he noticed a crack in the window. It was coming right down by the rear view mirror. We were bummed, to say the least, to think about paying another deductible!! When he got up there to examine the crack, he determined that there was a stone chip. How could this happen we only had the window 4 days....we hardly got to enjoy it! We also notice that the gasket around the window was coming off. We could hardly blame the window place as we knew it had a chip...it was tempting though.

So I went to our insurance agent to ask them if I should claim it again or what? They called the place and sent the same man to put the gasket back in place. I prayed that whatever the result would be, that we would be able to accept it...even if we had to pay the deductible again. I also prayed that we would have integrity in the process and that He would work it all out. Obviously He did...or I wouldn't be writing this!!!

When the man came he worked on the gasket and asked to speak to Steve. Steve went out and talked with him. He told Steve that their business had talked about it and they appreciated our honesty and were going to put an whole new window in for free...WOW! We certainly didn't expect that!!! God is sooooo Good. I fully expected to pay a another deductible!

Wow....when we let go of our will, look what God can and will do!! Best part, we were able to share God's blessings and goodness with our kids. As we were telling the story over dinner, Tyler said "a $100 dollar bill stuck to your window"....Steve said "better yet a $400 dollar bill!!!"

God was so good to us today......

Hope...

There's hope on the horizon! We have found a great family for our other four legged friend to call home. She is actually going to a family right here in Kent City. Maybe the girls can have a reunion....actually they will, they are going to be spayed on March 20th. We are going to transport both of them to the vet....so they are going to have a sleep over.

The Iwaniw family is going to take her, they have a daughter in Tyler's grade. Anna is very excited about her new friend! I'm not sure Amy is all that excited about the potty training phase...I don't blame her...I'm not either!!! She will have a great home there!!! A little funny, when she came yesterday to see her, she stated that she wanted to name her Lucy. That's the first name I wanted...but my family vetoed!! I had to chuckle!!

I will probably have a puppy that cries all night tonight. They've never been seperated, so this will be a shock for both of them! To make matters worse tonight we already loose an hour because of the time change!!...I feel a Sunday afterenoon nap coming on already!! *Ü*

Touche'.....

You Might live in California if..........

~ You make over $250,000 a year and still can't afford a house.
~ You take a bus and are shocked at 2 people carrying on a conversation in English.
~ Your child's 3rd grade teacher has two pierced ears, a nose ring and is named Breeze.
~ You can't remember ... is pot illegal?
~ You've been to more than one baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.

touche'......Henderson's!!!

Come On!!!....

Is everyone out there against me?? The one has taken a liking to my slippers lately...I found one of them in her kennel!...bad dog!

Shocking....

Can you believe, not even one of you, voted for winter!...Shocking! Maybe the snowiest winter in February had something to do with your decision!?!? 33% of you liked Fall best......22% voted for Summer. The winner is...Spring with 44%.......we are all hoping it's on it's way! It's in the air around here. It doesn't take very many warm days for people to start wearing shorts and walking around town! Probably cabin fever. I do use the term 'warm days' loosely...I'm talking like 32°!! Some of you are thinking that's cold...it's all in the perspective......

On a puppy note....

I thinking we decided what to do....
First of all, mental note to self.....don't bring two puppies home if you plan on keeping only one!!! it creates BIG problems with the kids!!!

Our plan today....we are planning on keeping the bigger one. I sure wish I could see about 6 months down the road to see what their personalities and size will be...but we can't. So we are left to make a decision on the information we have.....Scary! She will probably dig holes, run away and chew the leg of the dining room table!! Her name maybe Jaci ?!?!? I wanted Maci...out-voted again!