19 weeks and the eve of my favorite Eve

I took a picture of myself in the mirror to document the fact that this may have been the last time I will wear my favorite jeans for awhile.
Pre-Christmas at 19 weeks:


Looking forward to our last Christmas Eve as a family of two, three if you include Toby, which we definitely do. Christmas Eve, is one of my very favorite days of the year because of all of the traditions that we keep as a family. Here are my thoughts on it from last year at this time.

I spent the afternoon finishing up a few homemade gifts, cleaning a bit for the out of town guests who arrive late tomorrow night and now I am just plain relaxing, soaking in a quiet night and looking forward to tomorrow morning holding more of the same. I decided not to do my annual Christmas letter this year for the sake of not doing it all. Instead, I will be collecting my thoughts and reflecting on 2010 in the next few days and write a little letter to my blog about the year. Until then, Merry Christmas! Peace, Love & Joy

a new take on mornings

I love mornings. Why? Because they are MINE. Now before we start addressing what sounds like a control issue with the a.m. hours, allow me to explain. I used to love both mornings and evenings but the scale has tipped to the early hours because of the quiet and calm they provide.

There are no phone calls before a certain hour, no places you are expected to be and the time is all yours to do with it what you please. Which for me is shuffling around the kitchen in my pjs, emptying the dishwasher and making myself eggs. Sitting on the couch and doing absolutely nothing. Whatever I want to do.

I have found that if I start my morning right, the rest of my day just feels better. As I think about, the beginning of my affection goes back to my high school days. Writing in the margins of this Bible: (did anyone else have the Teen Study Bible?!--very popular in the late 90's):

I also secretly love day trips when you have to meet early because it always merits a stop for a latte and early morning music and conversation. Or just quiet if the other people are not so into mornings as you are, insert hubby into that category. I may not have convinced you yet but thought I owed to mornings to give it a try.

it's my favorite day of the year

no competition. This day is it. As I have gotten older, our annual traditions have not changed but my emotions around them have deepened. I believe as a child and even a teenager, that I experienced a very real joy around Christmas and sensed and sacredness of lighting the candles and reading Luke 2.
Now as I am comfortably into my 20s, I know that every year with my grandparents is a gift and that the traditions that my family carries on are unique and all ours. It gets so easy to get lost in gifts and lists and plans the older we get but today I won't let the adult in me steal my childlike wonder.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men
on whom his favor rests."
-Luke 2:10-14

weekend update

The adventures keep on keepin on and as much as I love summer, I can officially say that my inner homebody self is screaming out for some more time around Zeeland, especially on the weekends.

We are still really loving having Russell around; he is such a great kid and brings alot of life to our house. He got to join us in an annual family tradition...Danish Festival! For the past 26 years I have not missed it once, and my family has been literally sitting on the same corner to watch this parade for the 45 years that it has existed. I asked Russell what he thought since it was his first time and without missing a beat he said "those Danes are really something."

Here are a few pics of the day @ the parade and then our annual family party afterwards to celebrate my parent's birthdays which are both in late August.

a memorable memorial day

just a little preview of our weekend up north in beautiful Traverse City. It was SO good to just get away from the day to day with good friends and my hubby who I seem to keep falling for more and more.didn't know that was possible after 4 years.

more pics and good stories later..gotta finish getting the rest of my junk marked for the garage sale this week. seriously, how did I accumulate so much STUFF? speaking of stuff...check out the car on the way up- its a wonder that Em and I even fit in that back seat.



the first tasting of the day at Black Star Farms.

being a tourist in my own hometown

Tulip Time. Ain't nothin like it. Although I did not grow up around dutch dancing in wooden shoes, seeing rows and rows of tulips in every shade and design, I have deeply grown to appreciate the festival marking the first week of May in downtown Holland every year. There is something about this 80 year old tradition and being part of it that gives me a sense of pride about living in West Michigan.

And lucky me, since my office is downtown in the hub of all of the chaos, I don't even think about navigating traffic to get out over the lunch hour. But the trade off is that I can look out my window and see elephant ears, funnel cakes, lemonade, cotton candy, and caramel apples the size of your head.

It was such a great day from start to finish with our last long Riverbank Run training run, hanging out with my cute prego sister-in-law & mom-in-law at the Right To Life walk that went right through my neighborhood this morning and then the icing on the cake...the tulips! .
pretty common signage around these parts:

a little TU throwback

Somehow I recently ended up on the Taylor University website and came across this list: A suggested collection of experiences to participate in as a student before graduation. Here are few of my faves:

-Dress up for Silent Night. Go ahead, go all out! Footie pajamas anyone?

-Attempt to finish the Ivanhoe's "100 Club." You have four years, 25 a year is 12 a semester with one over January. Totally do-able. I couldn't get away from the mint grasshopper long enough to engage in this one

-Eat a multi-course dinner in the DC-spend at least an hour, and talk to as many people as you can. This seemed to happen on a regular basis

-Go on a spring break vacation. Don't go home; don't stay around here. Poor Ryan, I took this one pretty seriously and went with my friends most years.

-Pull an all-nighter. If you make it through TU without pulling an all-nighter, you might be a boring person. The next one explains how this is possible.

-Make midnight runs to Wal-Mart. The lines are shorter and the best of Grant County is out on the town.

-Kidnap freshmen on your wing and take them to Steak and Shake. You won't forget it, and neither will they.

-Go to vespers. Or attend a Spiritual Renewal speaker's talk. Amen!

-Be an o-group leader. This is a great way to make an impact and also to get to know people from another class year. I can't believe they changed the name from Probe to O-groups. tradition lost in my opinion on this one.

-Play on a volleyball team over J-term. It doesn't matter if you're good, it's about fun. haha. I think I just wanted the t-shirt!

-Go on a Lighthouse trip. You'll learn more than you thought was possible in 3 weeks. Kenya 2003. enough said.

-Get a polar pop from Handy Andy. If you haven't done this before you graduate, you are spurning generations of TU tradition. don't forget breadstick Tuesdays!

-My Gen, Nostalgia Night, Airband. people spending the night outside the chapel. the chaos and the joy!

-Create your own concoction in the DC. Insert marshmallows, peanut butter, chocolate chips and the microwave here.


And remember these? Here is my own list of abbreviations that left us speaking in letters rather than words by second semester of freshman year:
DC and DC (dining and dorm versions), DTR, The Loop, TWO, TSO, PROBE, WOW, PA. What am I forgetting?

And if that wasn't enough for old times sake-- check out this site, a student directed prof-rating system. Where was this when I was spending my life in Reade & making my way through every gen. ed class known to man?!