camping

We spent a beautiful Memorial Day weekend up at Interlochen State Park in northern Michigan. Reasoning behind the chosen location? A Beer & Brat Festival at Crystal Mountain--one of our new favorite places to go. :) We chose to borrow a pop-up camper from some friends; honestly, I originally wanted to borrow it to convince Jason that it was time for us to upgrade from a tent, but in the end, left me wondering why I wanted to go away from a tent! silly girl brain... :) Overall, neither one of us have been convinced either way and are still in the discussion phase of the whole debate.
However, the weekend was beautiful. We had fun, rode bikes a little, walked trails a little, and relaxed a LOT. Jason was diligent and got some homework done; every time I pulled out a book to study for my class, I ended up falling asleep. Like I said...lots of relaxation. ;)

Beer & Brat Festival

oh wait...I guess my boys did take a little snooze... :)

anniversary

I’ve been wanting to blog on this for awhile, but the date came and went without any fanfare from me. On May 11 I celebrated the seven year anniversary of being a home owner. It really amazes me—I don’t think if you had asked me if I would still be in it even five years from then I would’ve said yes. Wow. I remember it being such a huge, major decision in my life. I was in the middle of switching jobs when I applied for the mortgage, I had no idea what all the fine print meant, I really was all about the bottom line monthly cost and the fact that it was going to be a good thing that I wasn’t “throwing money away” into renting somewhere.

The idea was planted when a friend and I were renting a house (for very cheap) from a lady who was going to be selling the house upon her six month return from Arizona. We loved the house and it would have been very convenient to continue living there if I was able to afford it. Unfortunately, her asking price was not in my pre-approved mortgage budget. It was about then that my loving family got super involved and began giving me all kinds of loving advice as to how to proceed with my life concerning home ownership. I say loving because they do love me, but at the time it was maybe more smothering…

Needless to say, it was my grandpa who was doing drive-bys in neighborhoods on the northeast side of GR and told me about the house on Prospect. I had already looked at several houses within my limited price range and was getting rather discouraged with the level of disarray most of these houses were in. But, ever hopeful, I had my realtor set up a visit to this one. Upon walking in, I was greeted with the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke. Nice. The owners had already moved out a few months before, so the house was empty, but their scent still lingered. I pressed on though, and knew the second I walked into the roomy, sunny family room in the back that this house needed me in it. The other bonus (compared to the other houses in my price range) was the fact the bathroom was actually nice! I had fallen in love.

To make an already long story a bit shorter, I took a vacation in there, and upon my return was able to make an offer on the house. On May 11, 2001, I signed the closing papers.

Since that date, I have had four great roommates rotate through, two dogs, and one husband. I have had several fun parties, but also scary moments. I remember wanting to do and change so much within and around the house, but only time & finances determine what I’ve been able to accomplish. I’ve heard the phrase that a home’s walls should “speak of laughter.” Well, reflecting back on all that has occurred within the walls of this home on Prospect in the last seven years, I can most assuredly say that they would speak of joy.

Now that is a prospective-life. :)

conference!

whew! Made it through the MASN conference last week. I think I'm finally coming down from that "high." Everything went very smoothly and we all had a great time! It helps to be working with not just one, but two great friends and co-workers. We definitely work well as a team and even though I've been officially elected as MASN's vice president, I wouldn't even have considered the position without the promised support of these two wonderful gals. :)

Char looks tired...Ann looks stressed...
...but we're all smiling in the end!

Now I jump right back into the swing of things with my summer grad class already having begun and approximately 17 more days of the working school year left! wa-hoo!

family & fun

What a fun weekend! It began Friday evening when we headed to Jason’s cousin’s house for a fondue party. I really didn’t know what to expect—I’ve only met his family a couple of times and I’ve never really eaten fondue. Well, it turns out that both fondue and his cousins are very fun! Fondue included three courses—a cheesy appetizer, a vegetable broth main course, and the yummy chocolate dessert.

Jason & I realized quite early on in our relationship that our families are very different. He is an only child and even though he has several first cousins, they aren’t as close as say my family who can be a bit too close at times… :) So getting to know his family has been a long-term kind of project as get-togethers are pretty infrequent. Even so, when we were together Friday night, I honestly felt as some of them were my long-lost cousins…well, I guess in essence they are my cousins now, but we had so many things in common it really was kind of cool! Two of his cousins are nurses—one even graduated a year ahead of me from Grand Valley. Being a VanDenBrink now seems a lot more “concrete.”

Then, the other fun news from the weekend was some friends of ours becoming parents…to a puppy! We’re so excited for them and can’t wait to have Harley and Emmet meet sometime soon. With most of our friends becoming parents to children—something we can’t quite relate to yet—it is fun to have the opportunity to share some of our parenting puppies “wisdom” with them. I wish them blessings in their parenting journey!

prayer day

May 1 is the National Day of Prayer—and 2008 is probably the first time I’ve ever truly recognized it. I’ve learned in recent months of my life that prayer is a necessity; I mean I’ve always known it’s important, but it truly has become a necessary part of my day. A good book that I continuously read is The Power of a Praying Wife. I say “continuously” because I read it through once and knew that I would have to carry it with me to read it over and over again whenever I get a spare moment (usually a short lunchtime). I have found that it not only makes me feel closer to my Heavenly Father, but also to my husband. I think about him more throughout the day, saying short little prayers, and then much better able to understand his side of things when it comes to life.

I used to keep a prayer journal; I haven’t been so good at that as of late. But perhaps this day is being brought to my attention as a way of God speaking and reminding me what an important tool this is as well.

In a creative team meeting at church the other week, we were talking about how to teach people to pray. Some people think that prayer is something that happens as a quick little recitation before eating a meal. However, prayer should be and is deeper than that—especially for a Christian. It is a conversation between a person and their Father. It is a moment between the souls of a Creator and His beloved creation. Thanking, praising, asking, seeking, sometimes even begging…but most importantly, listening. God speaks to us continually, praying can be a moment that I listen and speak back