Happy 2nd Birthday, Jaden! ~Yesterday, October 30 (Retreat Picture) 

SHALOM

Friday the 29th I will be leaving the good ol' US of A for Israel. For 8 days my sister Jodi and I will be touring the Holy Lands. Boaz will be giving us a private tour for 4 days and he will continue to be our guide when we are joined by a group from Calvary Undenom for an additional 4 days. Jodi will then fly home and I will stay another 7 days for Micandy business.( I return on the 13th of November)

If you're in the praying frame of mind, I would appreciate prayers for safety and a good time AND for my family back at home.

Love to all

Jill

the quiet hours ya'll missed 

The bonfire at it's best 

the tubers 

The quiet late night hours, which you all missed :), Badmitton at its finest (lol), and thoes who dared submerge themselves in the sewer lake :) 

Alright, Already, I'm On!

Randy, please no more e-mails. I think I've recieved 3 now. Anyway, I'm now on and you can stop sending :) Shannon

Jaden & Anna & Alexis at Pumpkin Hunt 2004

Jaden & Papi at Pumpkin Hunt 2004

Bound Together !!! 

Head Fan

Just want all of you to know that for the first time today the black and blue spots on my face from my collision with the fan are now completely gone. That only took 5 1/2 weeks! Posted by Karen on Rachel's request. (She'll get on one of these days!)

New Phone Number

Rick's Nextel Number:
292-4675
Two-Way: 13462

Thanks Aunt Judy! We had TONS of fun!!! ~ Love Anna & Alexis

Jaden, Anna & Alexis at the Pumpkin Hunt 

Made It!!

Hello everyone! Made it on today with Shannon's help. Now all I have to do is remember everything that I need to do. At this time I would also like to thank Judy for a wonderful time this morning. What a wonderful fall day it is!
Elaine

Oh to be 5 again......... or maybe not

Sometimes I think it would be wondeful to return to a young age for awhile. Kids make the most out of so many little things. A backyard soccer game with Dad or a 30 minute trip to Hager Park often end with, "When can we do that again?" Just last week Anna asked, "When are we going to go to Aunt Rach's for a tea party again?" When I told her we would be going to Tom and Judy's for a pumpkin hunt, you would have thought she won the lottery. Most of the time, life is simply fun!

But last week, I was also reminded of how hard it can be to grow up. After putting Anna to bed one night,she got up and said she couldn't sleep because she was thinking about the bus. She went on to explain the the bus driver did not stop at Micandy because the neighbor girls (where she is dropped off) did not ride the bus. She said she rode the bus to the end and when the last boy got off, he told the bus driver, "That girl (pointing to Anna) forgot to get off." Apparently, the bus driver then took her back to Micandy. It breaks my heart to think how she must have felt after the bus passed her stop. It must have felt like an eternal bus ride!

She does not have a very good concept of time yet, so we are not sure when this happened. She said it happened awhile ago. At five, did she feel enough shame that she didn't dare to tell us? Maybe I don't want to be five again.

Jesus, hold her close on those afternoon bus rides!

Matthew!

FYI... Since a mother probably isn't supposed to be the first to brag... Unity's JV football team lost by one stinking point (you would understand 'stinking' if you were there), but Matt rushed for 210 years on Thursday night. Yes, 210 yards! Way to go cousin!!!

the world famous Nate...

From the Calvin College Sports Report
Calvin's Soccer Team...

Calvin dominated Wednesday's contest against Olivet (2-5-3 overall, 0-4-0
MIAA) but it took the Knights more than 56 minutes to finally score.
Calvin outshot Olivet 17-4 in the first half but put only six of the shots on goal. Calvin took advantage of an Olivet foul just outside the penalty box to score its first goal as junior Kurt Visker (Grand Rapids Christian HS) sent a free kick into the box. Senior Joel Vande Kopple (Grand Rapids Christian HS) was able to redirect the pass to the feet of sophomore Nate Kooi (Lynden, WA) who popped in a shot just inside the far post to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

Congrats Nate!

Kitty Update

Date of Death: Friday, October 1
Cause: G-ramps tractor....prob'ly never saw him.

Free stall barn burning - evening of Sept. 27, 2004 

Andy's wisdom

It only took me a couple hours to get on, and this was with Randy's help.