Smiles

This one makes me smile. I love my girls.

Faith, Family and Love of Christ

On Friday afternoon all 25 of my relatives (along with lots of friends and colleagues) came together to celebrate the life of my grandpa. His funeral went well. There were lots and lots of tears, but they were tears of sadness and tears of joy. Grandpa's funeral reminded me that we all belong body and soul to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a great man of God he was and now he has passed the baton to us. It's our turn to leave the legacy of faith in our families. Here are the guys at our table: Jeff, Matt and Peter. I love each and every one of them!

My best friend. Enough said.

We put all the great grandchildren at a table by themselves and they loved it! It was so fun to see the life, smiles and laughter that they brought to the day.

Here's my grandma and my mom. Two amazing ladies. They held hands throughout the day and praised our Lord together. Thank you for blessing me with these 2 beautiful women.

Loving on the next generation and reminding them of God's faithfulness and love.

Abby is such a nurturer. She loved on Grandma all day and gave her lots of lots of love, hugs and even rubbed her back several times. Abby has the heart of compassion.

Later that night we all got together as a family. It was so nice to just be family (with all 25 of us there) and to remind ourselves that we're still all in this together and that we love each other.

There was lots of sidewalk chalk and the front driveway got decorated with lots of artistic expression. Sophie and Abby created this masterpiece.

This picture is just so precious! Matt and Gracie are bonding over sidewalk chalk.

Leah, Lauren, Julia and Gracie all got into the action. The great grand kids started out with a wild game of hide and go seek, then progressed to playing with some playground balls, and finally to the sidewalk chalk. It was a beautiful night to watch the kids run around, watch game after game of corn hole and play cards with the ones you love.

Grace can't believe it! She's been allowed to touch the sidewalk chalk. No way! Haha! She's not usually allowed to touch it at home because it gets everywhere. And I mean everywhere, from her hair to her clothes to everything she touches (including the cars parked in the driveway) She was in her glory with that sidewalk chalk.

Do you know this man???

His name is Jay Folkert. You probably don't know him, but I wish you did. There are so many things about him that I wish you knew...things like this:
*He loves watermelon
*He was a math professor at Hope College
*Good luck playing any game (especially Rook) against him, he's THAT good!
*He taught Sunday School for years and years
*He has 3 kids and 7 grand kids and 8 great-grand kids
*He liked to wear a sweater with his outfits
*He knows how to make some awesome homemade applesauce
*He was generous with everything
*He has read through the Bible several times
*He really loved his wife (Marian) and liked holding her hand
*He cheers loudly at Hope College basketball games
*He's an avid follower of the Detroit Tigers, listening to the radio and the TV games
*He won medals in World War II
But the most important thing to add to this list of things about Jay Folkert is that HE LOVED GOD with all his heart! He talked daily about and with him, prayed earnestly to him, walked life alongside him, and taught his family all about him. He was 94 years old when God called him home. Now he's with the one he loves the most and has left an amazing legacy of faith in his family.
You probably don't know him, but I do.
This man...he's my Grandpa.
And I love him.
Have fun in heaven Grandpa.
I can't wait to see you again.

My daughter...the next ROCK STAR!

Abby wanted a Polly cake for her birthday so after researching a few things online and looking through her Polly items, this is what I came up with. It was so cute and so easy! Abby loved it too.

Abby absolutely LOVES her guitar!!!! She's been playing and singing with it ever since the wrapping paper was ripped off. I think I've even memorized the 3 songs that it plays over and over again. I grabbed the video camera so I could get some footage of this ROCK STAR. Next thing I knew, I had to take video after video after video. She was in love with performing and then watching herself. I can't wait to show her these videos when she's a teenager. They'll make both of us smile.

Abby is 6 years old!

August 5....We've been waiting for you for a long time. You brought the ability for Abby to turn 6 years old. She's been counting down the days until your arrival. Thank you for arriving on time and allowing us to have an absolutely perfect day!
The day started with pancakes for breakfast of course! Abby pours syrup all over them and goggles them up. Pancakes are her favorite breakfast choice. Then we went down to Kalamazoo to meet my sister and her family at Chuck E. Cheese. We met at noon and had a great time!!! I don't think her smile left her face all day. Here she is waving to the camera. Hello! I'm 6 years old today!!!

Sitting with Nana and trying to wait patiently for my cousins to arrive. I can't wait for the fun to begin!

Pizza, pop, Polly cake, presents and lots and lots of games. These girls played everything there and collected all kinds of tickets for the ticket booth. Beth and I even got into the action and played a few too. My inner child came out and it was fun to play again.

Abby and Sophie spent most of their time riding the rides together and chasing each other through the tunnels. They even broke a sweat with all their play.

Lauren and Papa checked out all the games but Lauren quickly discovered that "The Price is Right" was the best game and it gave her over 100 tickets!

I love this picture of the two of us. My life is so much richer with Abby. She is truly a blessing from my heavenly Father. I am so blessed!

She requested a Polly Pocket cake for her birthday, but wanted Tangled plates and napkins. Funny girl!

My amazing dad, mom and sister!

She got so many gifts and with each one we opened we were treated with the same giggly surprise face. She loved it all.

One of the thing she got was a Hannah Montana guitar that came with a headset and a microphone. We've been listening to her sing us songs ever since.

As I tucked her into bed she grabbed me close and whispered into my ear, "Thank you mom. Thank you for the best birthday ever! I love you so much!" You're welcome baby. I love you too!

Swimming lessons

Abby's been in swimming lessons for the past two weeks and she's loving it!! The parents were allowed to stay today (the last day) to watch, cheer and take pictures. We go each morning at 9 am and she practically runs into the pool area. Her smile is so large as she sees her teacher. She's learned so much confidence this summer with water and in her own swimming skills. I'm so proud of her. I think I see more lessons in our future for this water girl!

Fun at the Fairgrounds

Tonight we headed to the fairgrounds for Community Fun Night. It's sponsored by several local churches. Our church is a sponsor so we headed out to see what all the fun was about and we weren't disappointed.
We ate popcorn, freezer pops, pizza, watermelon, and chocolate chip cookies. Yum! We pet farm animals, held chicks and bunnies, watched a strong man challenge, played kids games, got smiley tattoos, got our face painted and created crafts. And on our way out we were given school supplies to start the school year off right.
Wow! It was a great night! Both girls were happily engaged and it was a beautiful night for the festivities. Abby loves animals. We were in this section of the grounds for a while. She stayed in the pen with the baby chicks the longest. She showed no fear in picking them up and holding them. She went after each little chick showing favoritism to them all.

Grace was so happy tonight. She been talking much more lately and full sentences are coming out. She's so fun!

Abby and her little chick. Such love!

Even Grace got into some of the action and reached for the bunnies.