Heading to Spain....

Hey ya'll! Just wanted to let you know I am taking off for Spain on Monday. I will be leaving from Chicago and then landing in London where I will spend a whopping 8 1/2 hours in Heathrow Airport. From there I will go directly to Seville, Spain where I will spend the next 7 weeks! Please pray for safety and that all goes well in Spain-and thank you for all the prayers already! I'll miss you all and I will keep you updated and try to put some pictures online as well.

More Cost Rica...

A few more things... Kev seems to be doing well. I would bet that he is currently teaching his last year in Costa Rica even though his mom thinks not... we'll see.

I've posted and will continue to post thoughts and pictures over the next couple of weeks. Most of them will likely be at the water's edge blog site and my site where I occasionally post a few thoughts.

Blessings!

Kev teaching 6th graders English... It was a great trip! I didn't spend nearly as much time with him as I was hoping. Still, we had the opportunity to tour the school, sit in on a few minutes of 6th grade english, and then we had dinner together the next night.

Calvin and the president

The fact that the president came for graduation does not make me particulary proud to be a Calvin grad. The article in Saturday's paper, however, shows that Calvin strives to encourage thoughtful discussion. If you get a chance, double click the link below to read the article.

http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1116670654272750.xml?grpress?NECH

Kev & Brian (a pastor friend from Holland) in Costa Rica on Tuesday night

May 13: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHY!! Enjoy your day. Hope Randy takes you out to a nice dinner! You deserve it!! 

Happy Birthday, Tom...one day late! Let's see, this must be # 56! Hope you had a great birthday! 

Happy Belated 55th Birthday, Gary! It was your birthday on Monday, and here it is--Thursday! Yup, Rach is on your birthday picture, too. You just never do get away from her!! Hope you have many more happy years!

Jim Wallis at Calvin...

Kathy and I are thinking about attending the thing at Calvin College this Thursday night...
7 p.m. in the chapel...
If anyone wants to join us, you are welcome :)

Oh yea, it's Jim Wallis who is speaking. His recent book is titled: God's Politics - Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Deosn't Get It.

What do you think Matt? :)

Passed the test

Hello everyone,
Yesterday I broke down and actually took and passed the LCSW test so now I'm officially a licensed clinical social worker. What a relief to get that done and over with....right Shan?

Calvin is cool....

Calvin is so awesome the President of the United States of America....good ol' George W., will be making his presence on campus and SPEAKING at graduation this year. I have a few things to say about this. For one...WHY didn't my parents have me 2 years earlier? I realize this would mean they would have been REAL young, but still...I could brag about having the President speak at my graduation! Secondly...George is going to the Naval Academy, Yale, and Notre Dame, and CALVIN. We must be alright to be a category with those other three colleges! And thirdly...Hope College doesn't have anyone cool like this speaking at their graduation :) Calvin wins over Hope again.

End of an era...the oats bin comes down. There's an interesting story connected to this building which Dad relayed to me when I went to the farm the other day. The structure was built before he was born and was originally used as a brooder coop, which is a place to raise chickens. As chicks hatched, they were kept in a small part of the building by a portable wall. When they got bigger the wall was taken out. In those days chickens ran freely on the farm, but farmers knew that chickens stayed close to their coop. As a result, the area around the coop became messy after a short time, and disease would set in easily. For that reason the coop was built on a big skid, and when the chickens were big enough to be let out they would hook up the horses to the skid and pull the entire structure out to the pasture. After a few weeks the building was moved to another fresh spot in the pasture. This was done several times during the summer. By the time Dad was born this practice had been discontinued, and the building had been placed on a foundation and used as a place to store oats over the winter. That is the only way I remember it being used. Although we were forbidden to do this, Rach and I would sometime sneak in the building and play in the oats. Dad also clearly remembers the last time he shingled the roof. He guesses it was probably around 1974. While he was working on it a couple men from church came to collect money for the P.R. Seminary Building Fund. He jumped off the roof, gave them some money, and then worked until after dark to finish it. "Yes, those were the days when I could work from before dawn until after dark," he commented with a smile. Dad believes that some of the building was constructed with wood from the great white pine trees that used to populate the farm. Almost 100 years later it is ready to topple back into the earth. Such is the circle of life. So there is a little family history lesson to store in your memory bank. God bless you one and all....  

Happy Anniversary, Rick and Jill! Yes, I know, it's kind of a goofy picture, and it's not Whitney's anniversary (aren't kids always in the picture!), but it's the only one I have of both of you. Enjoy your day!!  

Happy Birthday, Teri! (April 12) Have a great day, and may God bless you with many more!