verwys family

malachi is 5

2011-03-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

one whole hand and then you become a boy. you look like a boy and your toddler tummy disappears and you ask questions i can't answer. you think legos are the best invention in the world and you plot and strategize about how you can get more legos. you are boy of few words at school and lots of analyse and thought. you love your brothers. our best conversations are at night when we are doing our blessing time. you are super competitive and your dad thinks he knows where you get it from... you are the tallest kid in your preschool and your feet are huge, size 2.5. you like picking out treats that are made with artificial colors because you know that i don't want to buy it. you love reading maps. you love playing with your friends and going over to other people's houses. you're a great helper. you still sleep with your favorite blue knitted blanket every night. you won't wear shirts with buttons and you would wear "running" shorts every day. you swim like a fish. super heroes are awesome, particularly batman. star wars provides your mind with hours of imaginative play. your little brain gets excited about math. you told me you were praying for a baby in my tummy, a girl, and now a month later we are pregnant with a baby. and today this is the conversation i heard between you abram when you thought i wasn't listening:

M: Abram you don't want to go to heaven?
A: no
M:If you love Jesus you can go to heaven and if you don't love Jesus you can't go to heaven.
A: I don't love Jesus because I don't want to go to heaven.
M: I think you're just teasing Abram. Did you know that in heaven there are more legos than you can imagine. Batman legos, Star Wars legos, power miner legos, city legos, power ranger legos. Its awesome. You don't have to worry Abram because heaven is a long way away. Its for when you are like 85.

Did you know Abram that this van is God's, this gun is God's, your shoes are God's and all the stuff we have is God's. He gave it to us to use.

A: No its not
M: It is Abram. Did you know that you can have no money, no place to live and nothing and you're still rich if you love Jesus. I learned that at school today.

He looks up. "Mom what are you talking about." (He can see me watching)

I say I'm talking with Annika, what are you talking about?

M: Nothing

Yup you have conversations like a teenager and you give me the teenage response. I love that you are 5!

marco fun with the verwys family

2011-02-27T16:25:00.001-08:00

we celebrated christmas in marco island with the verwys' - what a treat to spend time with family for a mostly warm week. :) we enjoyed the boat and watching dolphins circle and play around us. we celebrated jesus birthday with cake and reflection on his gift to the world in coming to live among us. we dug in the sand and built amazing sand creations. we found beautiful shells along the water. we splashed in the pool and froze our buns off when we got out of the water. we played with cousins and we played with cousins some more (the girls even introduced barbie to the boys)!! had great game time and conversations with brothers and sisters. we loved having grandpa and grandma around to play, read, explore and give hugs to each day. what a great way to end 2010 with family and rest.

11 years

2011-02-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

"Friendship is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love."
H. Nouwen

celebrated 11 years of marriage with dinner in santa ana and a walk through the art district's gallery tour. i am amazed at how the "unity of our souls" has grown over the last 11 years through our friendship and love. its amazing to share life with someone you respect and share deep convictions with about life. that i believe is what makes the work of marriage (the times when you have to dig deep to be gracious and not let your tongue spew something that stabs the heart) so fruitful and rewarding. so we work, we make choices each day to deepen our friendship, to love well, to forgive, to serve, to celebrate, to apologize, to laugh, to cry, to rest, to learn, to live, to be married for life. we are blessed by this gift we have in one another.

our christmas celebrations

2011-01-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

melted snowman cookies for malachi's class
duplos and legos for hours of fun
good books from dirk
brothers loving each other
eagerly waiting for jesus birthday

christmas program

2011-01-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

hearing little voices sing and shout! what a delight to celebrate christmas with malachi's preschool. we love his teacher, mrs. terri, and she loves her kids. of course malachi perfers not to sing in front of people - in his own words, "i don't want anyone looking at me." i assured him people are looking at their own kids - although he does stand out a little because he is the tallest kid up there. but don't tell him that.

my superheros

2010-12-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

my boys love superheros - really love them. i wonder sometimes how they actually discovered this world of superheros but then i am reminded of all the marketing there is everywhere you turn. so even if they don't watch the movies they still get bombarded with the images on cereal, shoes, shirts, drink boxes... i won't get into what i think about all marketing to kids. i always thought before i was a mom that i wouldn't want my kids to wear all those silly character shirts. then i had three boys who beg and plead to wear their spiderman shirt day after day after day. thankfully i have the "it needs to be washed" excuse every few days. so give my boys a batman anything and they are happy. these pajamas say everything about our stage of life right now. notice ezekiel in these pictures too because then you realize all the wrestling in our house doesn't always start with the older two. love my little superheros!

the dairy

2010-12-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

in november we made a trip to the koops dairy in chino. they are friends of my parents and gave us a full tour. this was a special treat for the boys because they loved the tractors and cows, but also because they have dairy roots. my great grandparents had a dairy in paramount (before it was all city) and ryan's grandparents had a dairy in redlands. we even have the walking stick grandpa vangrouw used to get the cows in line...
what fun to see the farm! thanks ellen and darrel for a great day!

super heroes and a chicken

2010-11-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

all that candy made us a little crazy! neighborhood toddlers!
1 batman costume and 2 boys who wanted to be batman. thankfully a friend let us borrow another batman costume and saved the day. then we had our good old chicken costume; all the boys have worn this costume and ezekiel debuted a new version: super chicken.
we hung out with our neighborhood friends and enjoyed the neighborhood harvest fair hosted by a group of neighborhood congregations. of course we came home with more candy than we needed. its funny as i was putting all the candy in one bowl - that smell of plastic wrappers, chocolate, and sugar reminded me of all the halloweens where i sorted through my candy as a kid. all the sugar in my house makes me cringe as a mom but i do understand the delight that goes through a child's eyes as they survey the loot.

mom's night & batman's harvest parade

2010-10-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

mom's night at preschool was pj night - what a fun date with malachi. we listened to a story, played games and had a bedtime cookie.

malachi's preschool harvest parade was today - such cute kids!! this also means the sugar fest has started - i dread all the candy coming into the house...

R & R

2010-10-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

just us for 6 days! what an amazing treat to be together to rest, have uninterrupted conversation, fun adventures, rest, good food, sun and reflection. we celebrated 10 years of marriage and 10 years of Bellflower. love my husband and love Bellflower.

this is just funny - wedding and sunbathers don't mix well

end of summer...

2010-09-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

summer is done. but who would have guessed it this week when it reached 111 degrees in bellflower in septemeber - crazy. i realized after our trip to mi and chicago that the last year has been very full. but i look back and think - we did it. some bruises along the way but we made it and learned and grew as a family. we had a great summer even though we only went to the beach 1 time. i had high hopes... i also had high hopes of visiting many people while we were in mi, and we didn't. i thought for sure our house addition would be close to finished by now, but it isn't. i even thought we might be starting a charter school this fall but we are still working on that one too. a dear friend told me the other day, "give yourself a break rachel." so i am (or trying to remember that she said this and i should embrace it) i loved my summer with the boys! if we missed you this summer, please know we love you... here are a lot of pictures to record the end of summer.

ezekiel loves dogs - my sister's dog toby got lots of attention...

yes sue is about to eat ryan's head!

chicago lego store - the boys heaven

ryan and his dad baptized our neice brinsley - what a honey

ezekiel is 1

2010-08-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

baby zeke is 1. today he looked at me like he was all grown up. as he crawls up in the window and attempts to climb over the chair i realize he isn't a little baby anymore. what a year he has lived through with our family. sometimes i look back on the year behind us and asks myself did all that happen? we had a baby, started organizing to start a charter school, started a house project, started preschool, started a new homeless prevention program, moved into a new and remodeled community center, started remodeling a new affordable house, started to volunteer for Communities First Board... we started a lot this past year and Ezekiel was a trooper through it all. I guess thats why he went on 6 plane trips and a long road trip all by the age of 1. he is by far our most traveled infant and he just goes with the flow. thankful for his sweet and laid back personality this past year. although now that he moves around i realize he is a little explorer and climber. he loves playing with his big brothers and generally gets into everything they are playing with. breaking things they build or helping them play would be the debate each day. i often hear ezekiel don't do that... he also like to play on his own, zooming cars around, yes he already uses sound effects. throwing balls and crawling as fast as he can to get them. putting things in boxes and taking them out. building the best way he can with his chubby hands. looking at books. crawling with his head down and throwing himself on the floor in delight. he finally learned to sleep through the night by his first birthday much to our delight. we are blessed by this little man and we are thankful for the smiles and laughter he adds to our family. we pray he grows in God's strength and God's grace, like his name means. we hope for more growth, discovery, learning, love and joy in this next year.

this is a Psalm i read just after he was born last year:

God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous
your handmade sky jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us you Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

the three boys

2010-07-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

riding a bike

2010-06-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

about a month ago we were at the park with friends. malachi asked me if he could ride his friends bike, the one without training wheels. i hesitated but thought he might as well try. so he got on and i held the seat for about 15 seconds, realizing he might fall when i let go. this i think was more of a lesson for me; holding on because i didn't want malachi to get hurt and realizing he wouldn't learn unless i let go. as a mother of 3 boys i think i will have many instances when i need to let go and let my boys make a choice that might have a painful consequence but totally survivable. so i let go. and malachi rode away and didn't look back. amazing! now he riding all over town with us, enjoying the bike path in Bellflower. last night as a family we went on a 3 mile ride and he did great.

ps: excuse the helmet, its mine because i couldn't find his as we raced out the door...

swimming

2010-06-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

the benefit of having an older brother for abram is that he is exposed to skills he might not be ready to attempt, but he likes to do everything malachi does. which means swim. so abram started swimming lessons last week and he is swimming. this kid was also jumping off the diving board last summer with no fear. he was very ready to learn so he could ditch the swimvest. the first day he cried when water got up his nose. but on day 2 he told me he wasn't going to cry and he was right. his confidence seemed to go up a notch as well and he was ready to swim immediately. he is so proud of himself. so now we have 2 little fish. malachi's is also loving the water and his big accomplishments now are diving for rings and doing underwater flips. so thanks to the fieldhouse's amazing pool that hovers at 90 we are enjoying many swim days. the boys told me they will never get sick of swimming.

last day of preschool

2010-06-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

this is the first time i have felt like i am living in a scheduled life as a mom with summer arriving and malachi only goes to preschool 2 days a week... but the year has ended and he had a great year. it was encouraging to see him make new friends, become more comfortable meeting new people, learn, and just enjoy school. his little brothers always enjoyed picking him up and bringing him back home to play.

Ms. Rosa and Miss Elise with Ely - Malachi wasn't interested in taking a picture with his amazing teachers...We are thankful for these two ladies and the love, energy and dedication they gave to Malachi this past year.

the boys in the class with two little brothers on each end...

ezekiel's mug

2010-06-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

mother's day

2010-05-16T15:06:00.001-07:00

celebrated again this year with ryan's mom, so good to have her here with us. love my 3 boys so much - so many emotions and thoughts and words in just one day as i live with these little men. i am amazed by each one of them - how they learn, disobey, grow, explore, discover, question, resist, challenge, love, grieve, play, and just live. i am blessed.

i like this

2010-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

"If we commit ourselves to one person for life, this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession but participation."

- Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

ezekiel 9 months

2010-05-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

crawling
clapping
smiling
babbling
eating
waking up during the night
loving his brothers
listening
watching
drooling unproductively = no teeth

invitation/decalogue

2010-04-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

there are times in my life when i am more aware of how God moves and works. it is in these moments that i think i listen more than i talk, or i am quiet more than busy. or i see something that makes me stand or sit in awe. the invitation sculpture has been for me from the time i was introduced to it something that has made me aware of God's movement.
this weekend i had the honor of meeting livui mocan, the artist, who created this beautiful sculpture. he is a man who loves Jesus and i believe honors God through his calling as an artist. creating amazing pieces with deep purpose. in the short time ryan and i have been able to be with him, hear his story, listen to his insight we have been blessed. livui spoke with a group of us today about how art speaks to our hearts - it opens our hearts to see. it's true. i think of amazing paintings, photos, sculptures that stir something inside me. i remember the images. the invitation stirs something in me. this sculpture is coming to bellflower from Geneva Switzerland and eventually to grand rapids (that's right all my mi friends and family you get to experience it as well!) i am anticipating its arrival, i am praying for the installation. wondering about the conversations that will take place as people see it, walk through it, sit on it, and just stand in awe. good things to come.

from livui's website:

invitation / decalogue

the monument consists of 10 golden pillars, around 5 metres high, resembling human fingers. set in a circle, the pillars have two sides: a smooth, contoured side facing towards the centre, creating a sense of peace and wellbeing as one stands in the circle. the other side, facing outwards, forms a sharp,
unyielding blade.

this interactive sculpture will invite visitors to walk in and out of the circle of pillars, to touch the gold, to sit on the small seat cut into each pillar, and to reflect on the artwork and the ideas that
inspired it.

at one level, the sculpture is a study on the nature and purpose of law in society: to create a space for freedom and human flourishing, while providing protection and security. at another level, the work of art speaks of the universal human quest for peace and spiritual
well being.

jonathan tame
president of the patronage committee for invitation/decalogue in geneva

more about invitation / decalogue
www.invitationsculpture.com

Easter Week

2010-04-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

Bless Bellflower Easter Egg Hunt
the parent assisted hunt section before everyone got there....crazy!

sunrise easter morning at the beach

baby molly

the best "easter shot" we got

beautiful eggs used to crack on one another - romanian tradition

listening to iona tell the easter story

the girls included me in their sister pic...makes me miss mine

i see the king of glory coming on the clouds with fire the whole earth shakes the whole earth shakes.
i see his love and mercy washing over all our sin the people sing the people sing.
hosanna hosanna, hosanna in the highest. hosanna hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
i see a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith with selfless faith.
i see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek we're on our knees we're on our knees.
hosanna hosanna, hosanna in the highest. hosanna hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
heal my heart and make it clean open up my eyes to the things unseen show me how to love like you have loved me. break my heart for what breaks yours everything i am for your kingdoms cause as i walk from earth into eternity.

8 months old

2010-03-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

we took a picture with all 3 boys on our bed when we came home from the hospital so here we are 8 months later. ezekiel is trying to sit up. malachi is showing me his transformer bandaid on his toe. abram looks like he is about to bite ezekiel. these boys are crazy! this morning abram walked into the kitchen with blue marker all over his face. he looked at us and said, "kai did it." he was right, his brother was pretending to put lipstick on him. i know this is only the beginning because i have another incident to post involving aquaphor...oh my!

ezekiel is moving all around - doesn't quite have a crawl down but he gets up on his hands and knees, moves forward, falls, and starts over. therefore he gets where he wants to go and reaches what he wants to reach. he has started following our lead to dance by moving his head all around. he waves hello and bye. he is generally a happy baby who is quick to smile. he love eating real food!

foundation poured

2010-03-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

this has been months in the making. we poured the foundation this past weekend for the addition. wow - its been almost a year since we ripped off the back of the house and had a dirt pit in the backyard. now i can walk out the back door again! so thankful for friends who helped us make this foundation a reality, who framed in the foundation and helped us pass inspection. it took 3 cement trucks to pour it and the boys had a ton of fun watching all the action. we love paramount ready mix!! now the boys love running around on the concrete and playing tag. i love that i no longer worry about children falling in the holes in our backyard... next step is the framing. ever heard of an amish barn raising? well be prepared to be invited to a verwys house raising!

big boys in the bath

2010-03-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

whenever one of my boys started sitting in the tub i always felt like they were getting so old. that move from baby bath to big baby in the tub. ezekiel is now a big boy in the tub with his brothers. he loves to splash and be with his brothers. he also is starting to get around. he is up on his hands and knees and kind of scooting. he sits up and gets on his tummy and pushes himself up again. not full on crawling but he gets what he wants. therefore my latte i left on the floor (don't ask why it was on the floor) was spilled all over him and the carpet this morning.

this is a side note - while i am typing this i am drinking coffee. abram loves to drink my coffee! i am admitting i give my 2 year old sips. well he asks for a lot, not a little. this gives away the obvious, my coffee has a lot of creamer. maybe i need to cut back on the creamer....

cute boys

2010-02-28T20:01:00.001-08:00

happy baby

don't be alarmed if you see my sons with goggles and we aren't going swimming - its their thing lately. malachi almost walked into preschool last week with his on.

poop

2010-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

just because this is kind of a classic poop story. as a mom i have gotten used to poop and usually i am ok with this part of being a parent, you just deal. well the same day as our great hike i experienced my limit.
we were watching our friends kids for a little bit so we have 5 kids 4 and under at our house. first ezekiel has a full poopy diaper, now that he eats food its gross. butt wiped, all clean. i return to the backyard and pick up josiah to put him into the swing, and touch the bottom of his shoe, oh! dog poop on the shoe and now on my fingers. so bring him inside and take the shoe off and scrub the shoe to get all the #%?!/ out of the little cracks. realize i still smell poop and can't figure out where it is coming from. oh josiah has a poopy diaper and it has leaked through, yes poop can leak. find some new shorts, new diaper. clean butt #2. still smells. oh, my shirt got leaked on; change my shirt. go back outside and ely tells me malachi had an accident. what - this kid has been potty trained for how long?! i'll spare the details but he isn't wet and there in the lawn is big pile of poop. yup. at this point i yell for ryan who takes this kid to the bath. i tell the kids were going inside because abram has just informed me he has poop in his diaper too. one more butt to clean. i look at ely and just ask because we have a trend going here - and she tells me no she doesn't have to poop. four poopy butts, one poopy shoe, one poopy hand and shirt. as angie walked up to get her kids i excused myself to go scoop the poo and it wasn't my dogs. this all happened within an hour time span - never again. sorry i took no pictures, thought i would spare you.

presidents day hike

2010-02-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

i survived ryan's trip to chicago the week before president's day and we were all thankful that he had monday off so we could hang out. it was a beautiful day and we decided to go on a hike with all 3 boys. our first family of 5 hike. we ventured down to south orange county and attempted to get to our first hike which was off the beaten path a little - well about .5 miles into the 5 mile dirt road to get to the hike we turned around. the big monster truck ahead of us that splashed through the "puddle" in the road, sending a 5 foot spray into the air, was our final clue that our minivan was not built for off roading. hmmm. so we turned around and went to a park/campground down the paved road a couple miles. we then chose the very family friendly hike which didn't require being cautious for mountain lions. it ended up being a great hike with the boys down to a stream where we all had a blast playing in the water.

ezekiel's first solid foods

2010-02-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

ezekiel loves eating solid foods. he started with rice cereal and hasn't looked back. so long are the "sweet" smelling diapers.... he loves eating all the foods i have pureed for him: squash, sweet potato, avocado, banana, peas. if we take a little break in the middle of the meal he protests quite loudly. he also has discovered the verwys open mouth excited look with his little hands waving on the side. all three boys have done this when they started eating food, just like their dad when he was a baby.

immiration reform

2010-02-04T22:23:00.001-08:00

we attended a press release on the ways immigrants contribute to our economy in california with the boys. they wanted to march around the church courtyard too. immigration is part of our story as a family - my great grandparents were immigrants in california and my grandparents were immigrants in michigan. today we have friends who have suffered because of immigration laws that are outdated and need reforming. a friend of mine is going back to mexico soon with her son and will be separated from her husband for months because there is no way for her paperwork to be worked out and keep the family together. her husband is a citizen yet our immigration laws require her to leave the country in order for her documents to get processed. so in the next couple months immigration reform will be an issue in Washington dc and i hope christians are leading the movement to ask for new laws that keep families together and make paths for people to get the right documentation with dignity and justice. the link below shows pictures from the event:

http://www.ocregister.com/news/immigrant-231108-immigrants-immigration.html

Ezekiel is 6 months old

2010-02-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

he is such a happy little guy. he loves giving smiles to everyone and is pretty sure that people need to pay attention to him all the time. he has started reeving his hands just like his big brothers did when they were babies and got excited. he drools all the time, no teeth, but his fingers a getting sucked on all the time. he is rolling over, loves the exersaucer and likes rice cereal. and he took a bottle this past weekend, yes! i have heard a couple moms share that their babies who are younger than ezekiel are sleeping through the night, we are a long way from that. i think he has slept a stretch of 5 hours twice in his life! he seems like such a big baby now that we have 4 new little baby girls in our community. a 18lb baby and a 4.5 lb baby are really different. we are now half way to one, oh my!

malachi is 4 years old

2010-02-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

malachi is 4

i am realizing each day how much of a boy malachi is - not a little boy, but a boy. i look at his face and see a boyish grin, not a toddler. today we were playing "chess" together and he kept on telling me, "actually mom..." the phrases he uses and the way he negotiates makes me realize how old he is.
we love everything about our oldest boy. we love that he can be quite shy around new people and also very wild and crazy when he is in a familiar setting. he has a great imagination and enjoys helping us tell stories the way he wants them to go with the theme he chooses and the outcome he desires. sometimes i ask him if he just wants to tell the story but of course he doesn't...he loves to snuggle still and lately wiggles his way into our bed each night with some excuse about why he needs to be there and not in his own bed. he loves to sing although not with a lot of people or when asked by someone else, like the teacher. preschool has taught him to listen to instructions from his teacher and be agreeable about following those instructions. he loves doing puzzles and playing with legos. did i mention he loves legos and looking a legos, being on the lego website, watching lego movies, reminding me that he needs the next lego set of whatever he doesn't have and in general thinking about legos all the time. he also loves riding his bike or scooter.
we have also enjoyed seeing him grow in his understanding of jesus love and care for him. malachi was having a lot of "scary" dreams this past fall, especially about clowns?! so we prayed with him about this and he asked jesus to take away the dreams and God answered his prayers. as malachi learned to trust Jesus to take care of him we also learned to trust that Jesus would take care of our little boy. when malachi had a seizure this past spring i experienced such an intense fear of losing him and was reminded that he is jesus little boy and a gift to us. we are so thankful he has remained healthy and not had another episode after that one.

tomorrow morning i look forward to malachi waking up and finding his way in to snuggle and then enjoying our morning together. usually reading books, playing with his brother and of course asking if he can play on the computer (a day doesn't go by). we love our 4 year old little (kind of tall) buddy.

10 years

2010-02-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on a beautiful warm day. we dropped off the boys with friends and headed out to a park overlooking the ocean and shared our gifts. ryan made a movie of pictures and our wedding vows for me. i put together old letters and pictures from the last 10 years. amazing to look back over 10 years and remember how much we life we have lived together, how we have truly lived out our vows we made with one another 10 years ago. so this is what we said 10 years ago:
"By God's grace and love I enter into a marriage covenant with you, Ryan Jay VerWys. I promise to be your loving and faithful wife before God and all that are present. I will love and submit to you as the church loves and submits to Christ. I will encourage you to develop the many gifts and abilities that God has given you. I will daily lift you up in prayer as you strive to become more like Christ. I promise to communicate with you openly and honestly, seeking to understand before being understood. In easy and difficult times I will walk beside you. I will share in your laughter and your tears. I promise to build with you a spirit filled home where Christ is honored and glorified. I praise and thank God for the gift I have in you. I am honored to be your wife."

So in 10 years we have failed to always listen well and communicate openly or be truly loving. But we started these vows with the words love and grace and that is what has allowed us to love and respect one another to walk together in really difficult circumstances and share in laughter and tears. I know today I am more holy because of my marriage and what I have learned from it each day. I am thankful for my husband and our marriage. Thankful to all those who continue to help us make it work from day to day, with 3 boys, life away from a lot of family, serving in Bellflower, and seeking to love God and love our neighbors. I look forward to the next 10 years!

life

2010-01-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

.. “the practice of justice in imitation of YHWH”
Brueggeman’s – An Unsettling God

Deut. 10:17-21

“For the LORD your God is god of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, …”

Are lives are full right now - we celebrated our 10th anniversary!! Malachi turned 4,wow. Ezekiel is 6 months, amazing. We are in the midst of charter school proposals, talking with community members and getting ready for a public hearing. We attended an immigration reform press conference/prayer meeting this week. Oh yea and our house is getting an addition we think, permits are driving us a little crazy! So these verses above speak to us in many ways.
I will someday put up some pictures. :)

so many events!

2010-01-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

we enjoyed being in the cold for christmas. we spent a couple nights in chicago were we flew in and out of. played a lot in the snow, at least malachi could last in the cold, abram decided it was too cold, although i think he also didn't like his snowpants because they were overalls and he refuses to wear overalls. we had a great time with all our family - sad we didn't have time to see friends during this trip but it was short and sweet.

Ezekiel decided it was time to roll over on Christmas Day - the book inspired him

verwys family

all the verwys cousins and a new one on the way from the huizenga family!!

ryan's grandma van grouw was remarried over christmas to rev. andy bandstra - its a sappy love story if you ever want to hear it sometime...letters, friendship and second marriages in their 80's

the water tower in downtown chicago, we had to see it because it is in one of the books the boys have - it was so cold!

"our bookstore" in chicago that we always went to 10 years ago when we first were married and lived in hyde park

annika and ezekiel

HAPPY NEW YEAR - we watched fireworks at navy pier from the 33rd floor of my parents condo building in chicago

legos and duplos were the theme of this year - we have a love/hate relationship. i love that the boys are occupied for hours with these little blocks. i hate that they get all over the place and hurt when you step on them... but it is a toy that seems to last forever - since a lot of uncles and ryan enjoy building as well

the lego man outside the lego store in chicago - malachi was in heaven - he found out the power miners have dug deeper and there are now lava monsters in addition to rock monsters, wow! it made a little boys heart swell with joy.

our first christmas program

2009-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

malachi had his first christmas program the week with his preschool - our first official school program for many years to come. the kids were cute and we enjoyed seeing him sing. we were actually surprised that he sang and did the motions because he generally chooses not to sing in groups or participate in motions. on his own he sings he little heart out and has dance parties in his room but in a group, nope. so we were so proud that he participated! merry christmas everyone!

5 months

2009-12-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

time flies and now our little ezekiel is 5 months old! he feels like such a big baby - i guess he is because a month ago he was 16.5 lbs. and 27 inches. he loves to smile at anyone who pays attention to him which makes him endearing to everyone he meets. he has figured out that when he grabs something he can make it move back and forth. he is almost too big for the swing and it liking his exersaucer. he is drooling a ton lately and has found his little thumb. this is a new one for us because we didn't have babies who love to suck as much as ezekiel. his big brothers love him and greet him each morning when they make their way into our bedroom. we love this little guy so much!!
lately

the challenge of immigration reform

2009-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

"Take up the challenge! Become a maker of peace! Work and pray for reconciliation wherever misunderstanding, suspicion, and enmity prevail. Engage others in your church and community in study, dialogue, and action to prevent a resort to arms. Put yourself to the hard task of making up your mind about specific issues of "immigration" (my substitute)policy. Then use your influence to change public opinion and to influence governmental decisions. Dare to set your course toward the wholeness of the human family at peace and be bold enough to chart that course with faithful witness to Christ's way of love, justice and peace. For that way is shalom."
- From Seeking God's Peace in a Nuclear Age: A Call to Disciples of Christ

My friend Tia pointed this quote out to me in our Guide to Prayer Book. It is another encouragement to me to talk about and act on the call for immigration reform in the US. Last week I shared a devotion with my MOPS group about thinking about immigration from a Biblical perspective of hospitality. So as people who follow Jesus we would enter dialogue and take action from an understanding of God's call to be kind to the stranger and love our neighbor. There are so many stories in scripture about migration, refugees, sojourners, strangers in the land... I know this is a complex subject and I don't have all the answers to solutions but I do know God asks us to do justice, to loose the chains of oppression and love. So with that in mind I hope to learn more, to dialogue, and to take action for immigration reform.

I will write more - that is just my thought for today. There is so much more to understand: myths about undocumented immigrants, the fact that there is no "line" to wait in, that immigration law hasn't been changed in over 20 years, that the system is broken ,that families are being torn apart...

So I know this subject evokes all types of feelings in people's hearts - so I will write more...

hair cuts

2009-10-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

malachi enjoying the blue frosting from my birthday cupcake

abram looking like such a big boy

ezekiel is 3 months old

2009-10-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

the baby is growing - he is long and getting chubby little legs. today he started giggling as abram clapped and smiled at him. it was so cute to see these brothers enjoy one another and abram loved that ezekiel was so engaged with him. ezekiel is a calm little guy and pretty flexible. now that he has traveled to michigan, iowa and ohio in his short life. he is a great traveler on the airplane and has switched timezones really well.
he has started grabbing at the toys swinging above him and he loves to have his hand or blankie in his mouth. he likes to suck on something - hence my first pacifier baby. it great to hear him find his voice and begin to squeal with delight.

quote of the day

2009-10-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

malachi and i were talking about his friend ely's mom having two babies in her tummy...
malachi: why are there 2 babies in her tummy?
me: because God put 2 babies in there.
malachi: God is playing a joke on her.
i try not to laugh and ask him what kind of joke God is playing on her
malachi: a baby joke because God is a joker

so there you have it nespers - the answer to why you are pregnant with twins

love our cousins

2009-10-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

the boys had a lot of fun with their cousins this summer. the older ones even had a sleepover with grandpa and grandma. we are glad to have summer vacations so these kids can hang out. we love each one of them!

stephanie - 6 years old

carter - 9 months

cortney -3 1/2 years old

Addisyn - 1 years old

abram is 2

2009-10-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

our little man is 2! it kind of creeped up on us, although we knew it was coming right?! abram is such a sweet kid and we love so much about him and his personality. he has shown us since ezekiel's birth what a gentle spirit he has. he always wants to know where his baby brother is and he gives him a lot of kisses throughout the day. he also gets a little upset when other people hold ezekiel - he is always looking out for the baby. he is also a tease - so on one hand he is senstive about life and changing things up - for instance yesterday ryan was helping taking down a popup shade and he stared crying because the shade was being taken down...but he also totally teases his brother with a glint in his eye. malachi will be playing and abram will jump on his back over and over again. it has been fun to see malachi and abram develop a friendship this past year. this morning they woke up and went into the living room together and were just sitting on the couch under a blanket talking. abram is just starting to develop words so the other thing we love is how he uses his hands to communicate - he does a fairly good job - at least i know what he "saying" often through his gestures, which maybe explains why he gets away with just a few words. anyway we are thankful for abram and all he is and look forward to what will be ahead in his life.

Birthday Party

too long...

2009-10-04T21:19:00.001-07:00

so i guess life with 3 little boys has finally caught up with me and i haven't blogged in a long time... a lot has happened since my last entry. sarah and ryan's wedding, our vacation in mi, abram turning 2, malachi starting preschool, computer problems, a trip to iowa and life. so i will attempt to catch up...i said attempt

this is new picture though of ezekiel smiling... he is growing big fast!

sarah the beautiful bride

us

abram communicating

malachi flying

ezekiel 6 weeks old

abram flying

the dock

the five of us

bella art festival tomorrow

2009-08-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

LOCAL CHURCHES TO HOST COMMUNITY ART FESTIVAL

Press Telegram Article

BELLFLOWER (July 30, 2009)- In an effort to build community in the midst of the economic downturn, local churches, organizations, and residents have joined together to plan the Bella Art Festival, taking place on Saturday, August 22, 2009.

This free event will be held at the Town Center Plaza and will bring out citizens from in and around Bellflower to enjoy the work of local artists & musicians and to participate in a community chalk-drawing contest.

City officials are pleased that events like these are still taking place despite difficult economic times. Assistant director of Parks and Recreation for Bellflower, Ms. Vicki Casañas, noted that family events like these help bring a great feeling of community to the city. She shared that community gatherings provide the intangible feelings that are so necessary for a city to thrive.

Bellflower residents are also excited that cultural events are finding their way to Bellflower. “Events help build a feeling of camaraderie, and they allow everyone to get out and meet each other” said Phyllis Larsen, a Bellflower resident for 60 years. The Art Festival will be a time for families to interact with their neighbors, enjoy various mediums of art created by local artists and musicians, and celebrate their community.

The Bella Art Festival will take place from 4 to 9pm on the 22nd, and will be open to all neighbors both in and around Bellflower. The Town Center Plaza is located off Bellflower Blvd, between the sheriff substation and City Hall. Many volunteers will be needed and artist submissions are still being accepted for the Bella Art Festival. For more information, or to get involved, please visit www.blessbellflower.org

About Bless Bellflower: Bless Bellflower is an organization connected to Kingdom Causes Bellflower (KCB), a 501c3 community non-profit with a Federal Tax ID # of 95-4849998 that has been working since 1999 to organize people in Bellflower to bring about the good of the whole community.

changing so fast

2009-08-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

love the rolls he is already getting - he was 10lbs. 1 oz at 2 weeks. he loves sleeping in the pouch - which means i went to do errands with all 3 boys: 1 in the sling and 2 in the double cart. what an accomplishment. :)

the boys showing off their wedding shoes - so excited for sarah and ryan's wedding at the end of the month

abram holding ezekiel

2009-08-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

abram loves his little brother - the quality of this video isn't great but you get the idea...malachi is in the background & you hear him a little more

loving our baby

2009-07-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

ezekiel john

2009-07-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

our new little man, ezekiel john, entered the real world on sunday july 19 at 6:04 am. words are hard to wrap around the experience of having a baby because i think it is a miracle on so many levels and this makes it beyond my imagination how everything is orchestrated to come together. having a baby is such a holy experience of seeing God's hand at work through the creation of this infant, to preparing me to give birth and bringing him into the world. like a friend shared the "40" weeks are God's special number of weeks where he shows himself and we learn about trust and his strength and timing. ezekiel is here (chrissy, joel and pamela win the prize for guessing his name). he is already bringing joy to our lives and making an impression in his own way as a tiny infant.

so his arrival story in short...i spent a lot of time on saturday with the boys while ryan finished some remodel projects. in the morning my friend taffy did a belly cast for me - about as close as you can get to the end. in the afternoon the boys and i went swimming with taffy and her boys. ryan was hard at work painting, putting in doors and finishing the molding & base boards. he did all the nesting work! we all took a break for pizza and then the boys and i went to a drive in movie night at our friends church. at the end of the movie i started feeling my "contractions" move lower. got home at 10 and let ryan know that labor might be starting. he had just finished all the projects and cleaning up - and kind of thought i was kidding. nope. we both tried to get a little sleep -although mine was a bit restless. you know at the end of pregnancy the day will come but it still feels unexpected in many ways and just surreal that you are about to meet your baby. At 2 am I woke up feeling like a couple contractions were actually starting to hurt a bit and we called our doula again to let her know she could come over. last time i went into labor i was in denial at how fast it was going, so having processed that experience, i knew i needed to leave for the hospital a little earlier this time...so we left at 2:45 and you probably would have thought it was too soon (ryan did) but when we got to the hospital we checked in and i was already 6/7 cm dilated. so i of course threw the nurse off her routine when i told her i didn't want an iv or a hep lock - she hesitated but in the end we all got on the same page with the no meds and just having a baby through relaxation. not that contractions don't hurt, they do but we have decided that no meds works well for us and the pain is actually fruitful in the end. :) so we labored for almost 3 hours in the hospital, standing and then finally at the end laying down. ryan was able to deliver ezekiel with the dr. standing by after i pushed for 7 minutes. he arrived with a little cry and is doing amazing. he was 8 lbs. 13 oz and 20.5 inches.

malachi and abram are adoring big brothers. abram in particular loves babies and the minute he held ezekiel was "talking" with him. we are thankful for their transition so far and anticipate the honeymoon stage wearing off after a week... ryan has been home all week with and he and the older boys have had some fun bonding time while ezekiel and i hang out. our friends are bringing delicious meals each night and we feel so loved and taken care of!!

incredible to be parents of 3 boys - we feel overwhelmed with blessing. i was reading Psalm 8 in the Message and this is what it says, very fitting for our life:

God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous
your handmade sky jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us you Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

click on the photo below to see the photo album

ezekiel john's arrival

one more week till d day

2009-07-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

so i am 39 weeks and "waiting" until my dr. gets back into town tomorrow before anything happens. then anytime after that i am good to go, and my dr. is on call the whole week i am due so that could work well. i feel good considering i am carrying a baby boy straight out in front of me and its hard to move around that quickly anymore. although i discovered i can still kind of run when i ran over to see if malachi was ok after he fell - he was. although for the rest of the day i had a little more pain than normal - don't know what i was thinking. oh, i wasn't.
we are very excited to meet our little man soon and somedays i am still blown away at the thought of having 3 boys. i love having 2 and then to add another one to the group will be an adventure in the days to come.
we'll keep you posted and you pray that he turns around a little so his head is not sunnyside up. i might put one more picture of myself up - we'll see....

ryan's birthday

2009-07-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

ryan turned 31 this past weekend - i am very thankful for him and what an amazing guy he is. he blesses us and others so much with his time and talent and just being who he is.

pirate festival

2009-07-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

ely really liked the rat

buried treasure

we went to a pirate festival a couple weeks ago in long beach - malachi was very excited because he loves pirates right now. he has 1 pirate shirt that he asks to wear every day - thankfully its in the wash is something he understands... the pirate festival was interesting to be honest, they had a little village on the beach and a lot of stands selling pirate stuff. amazing how much the adults got in to it more so than the kids that were there. the boys did like it, although malachi didn't want his picture taken with a "real" pirate.

swimming

2009-07-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

we have done a lot of swimming this summer - one its been hot and two malachi took swimming lessons a couple weeks ago. we would go 3 times a week for 20 minutes each time. he loved it and his wonderful teacher abby taught him well. he is now swimming on his own and the biggest hurdle was to get him to come up for breaths. he has amazing lung capacity. we are very thankful for our neighbors, the dykstras, who let us come over to swim all the time - they have a great pool. abram didn't take swimming lessons but we would play in the pool while malachi did. he became more comfortable with his swimming vest and now jumps off the diving board just like his big brother. i have boys who are fearless in the water! the boys also got to share their swim skills with my dad last week while he stayed with us on a business trip - loved having him here with us for a few days. the boys enjoyed their time with opa, i liked going out to dinner every night and all the guys went on a run together while i got a pedicure on saturday. hmmm how do we get our parents to live closer...

camping kind of

2009-06-27T17:28:00.001-07:00

we went camping a couple weekends ago due to the generousity of the fieldhouse family. i'm not sure if you can call is camping - i don't think we ate one meal outside of the camper. but it was my kind of camping - because i had a bed, bathroom, electricity, microwave... we stayed one night with our friends and then spent a couple days by ourselves. the boys loved it and we enjoyed having a little break before a new little one joins the family.

camping

prayer is good

2009-06-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

sometimes it is so clear to me that God has heard me and other days not so much. this week though is one of clarity. its amazing to think about prayer, that a God who is all powerful and all knowing asks us to pray. its a mystery and my head hurts when i think about it too much... so 2 life happenings that ryan and i have been praying about are affordable housing and a charter school. these are dreams that have been on our hearts for a long time. we can look back over the last few years and recall conversations about kingdom causes' owning property in some way to bless a family with a home. we also look back and see how my involvement in urban schools in st. louis, grand rapids, chicago and los angeles led us to dream about a charter school in bellflower.

so you pray and doors close and they open and you wait and you question and you wonder and you keep on praying. then this week we both experienced how God's timing is perfect and he answers.
on monday night i met with a group of about 10 Bellflower community members: social workers, pastor, teachers, moms, psychologist, business owners, city employee...to write a mission for a new charter school. amazing to me the talented and invested people God has put together into a team to start a new school. so we pray that in the fall of 2010 there will be a new k-6 school a few blocks away from our house. a place where kids from bellflower will discover an amazing educational experience and be nurtured to their full potential in all areas of life. still a lot ahead but the dream is becoming reality.
on tuesday ryan went to court with our friend and Kingdom Causes/Our Place Housing Solutions realtor Ioana to bid on a house. the house was in probate court (the owner died didn't have a will...). so they bid against 4 other parties and they got the house below what their highest bid could be. so now there is this run down, needs A LOT of TLC, house in Bellflower that will be made into a home for a family. amazing! it's also on a block with 2 families that are already connect with Kingdom Causes.
prayer is good and we are thankful.

mud bath

2009-06-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

i was taking a nap yesterday when my husband and son worked on the prep for the foundation. when i got up i could hear squeals of delight coming from the backyard and laughter from both boys. malachi was playing in the mud and loving it. he would run across the dirt and jump in the little hole, over and over. i've acutally paid to be at a spa and get covered in mud but now i have my own mud pit in the backyard...

abram

2009-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

tonight we put abram to bed in a big boy bed. out of the crib that keeps him in and unable to get out at his leisure... not sure i was ready for this yet but we were given bunk beds by our friends (they are seperated still) and we decided we would make the move. he actually stayed in the bed after we put him down and is now sleeping soundly. abram is a little boy with few words and lots of gestures and he "told" me in his own way that he didn't even want the crib quilt but the new big duvet cover for his blanket.

he is almost 21 months old and quite the little malachi follower. he loves his big brother and tries to do everything he does - which doesn't always work out so well. he can't quite jump off things as well or run as fast...but he tries.
he has a sweet spirit and has started to reason with me using his head motions. like i said he doesn't say many words but somehow he communicates with me that he is displeased with a request and explains why. he kind of tilts his head and gives me a look. sometimes i have to look away so i don't laugh because he is so serious about what he is trying to communicate and i want to be serious about what i have asked him to do.

he loves coloring, especially with markers. he is getting really good at car noises and making his airplanes fly through the sky. he is always concerned when he hears the dogs barking in the neighborhood or our dog barking at something. his sweet tooth is coming out more and more because if something sweet is offered or in sight he gets very excited. yesterday he got into a bag and found the tic tacs and showed me his mouth full and had this look of great pleasure in his eyes. its really hard to get a 20 month old to give up candy once its already in.

i'm excited for him to become a big brother and look forward to seeing him grow into a new role in our family. and praying he likes his new bed so much he stays in it all night long and still calls for me to get him in the morning!

preschool graduation

2009-06-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

our god-daughter paloma graduated from preschool on friday - how fun to see these little kids sing proudly, wave at their parents, and just be kids. jorge and dora became our friends shortly after we moved to california through a work connection. that led to dora and i talking about how our husbands were similar...now we have the honor of being their youngest daughter's god parents. jorge also watches our boys about once a week while i work with kingdom causes - so the boys have grown to have a special bond with tio jorge. i think its a good dose of boy for him since he is in a household of girls. we look forward to many more celebration events in paloma's life!

the living room change

2009-06-01T17:24:00.001-07:00

we have been busy with some home remodel stuff and this project was started back before easter and i haven't given an update... we covered the fireplace and added a wall inbetween the dining area and living room. this will eventually be the boys bedroom after we finish the addition on the back. we do have carpet now as well so it is more finished than these pictures but you get the idea.

before the work started

jeff and rob replaced the slider door with this window

open air

2009-06-01T16:45:00.001-07:00

ryan and some friends (who are amazing guys for helping, thank you!!) removed the back of our house this weekend - literally there is a huge hole in the kitchen now. we have officially started the demo for the addition on the back. there is no going back and we are hoping to have the permit to begin new construction this week. it may have been a little risky to remove the back of our house before we got the permit but its in process and we just need to resubmit the final version for approval.
a week ago ryan was flat on his back with a bulging disk and this weekend he was swinging a sledge hammer into concrete - all I have to say is God answers prayers for healing.
as i type this i have a nice breeze coming into the kitchen and can hear the birds very clearly because there is just open space. we'll keep you posted when we have a wall again because for now its a blue tarp -which also means i we have seen little gray rodents run across the floor... in the end its all worth it.

ryan removed this piece from the closet foundation - it was laid when my grandparents moved this house to the property in 87.

before the demo

surveying next steps - shaun is in the attic looking down

removing the window

the wall is gone

mark having fun with the jack hammer

reading books

2009-05-27T23:08:00.001-07:00

i love that the boys love books - i found them together like this one morning. i thought it was a little too quiet and this was why. they have started to play together so well and its been such a delight to see their friendship as brothers develop more and more.

oh yea that's the new wall in the living room - i need to post more pictures of the room sometime too...

scooter boy

2009-05-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

abram loves riding malachi's scooter and he is actually moving a little faster lately. although today he was going too fast and went off the curb because he couldn't stop himself. just a bloody lip - his face seems to get some type of bruise, cut or scrap on a pretty regular basis. but he likes riding all by himself and scoots along. can't believe he is 20 months old now!

over 30 weeks

2009-05-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

30 weeks

so we hit 32 weeks this week. 2 months seems like a lot of time still and i feel like it is and it isn't. some days i wish i could run again but then i realize i'm not ready to have a tiny dependent infant quite yet. it is amazing to feel this little guy kicking and moving - so much life bundled inside. we are still going back and forth on what to name him so i think its a good thing we don't share the name because it gives us all the time to the end to make up our minds.

these are ryan's photos - he likes perspective :) otherwise you wouldn't get the full affect of why i am measuring 2 weeks ahead of where i am. so i'm 32 weeks and measuring 34 weeks...i basically need a shirt that says: no, its not a basketball.

playing with friends

2009-05-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

malachi and abram love playing with the allen boys. micah and elijah. micah and malachi are 6 weeks apart in age and abram and elijah are 3 days apart. since we live around the corner from each other we can hang out pretty easily. so fun to see our boys develop friendships, play together, get into mischief and just be boys.

mothers day continued

2009-05-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

the california boys and their mom

happy mother's day!

grandma and boys

me and my boys

2009-05-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

this is the only mother's day pic I uploaded so far...also highlighting malachi's summer haircut or like he says, "just like daddy's" we had a great mother's day and enjoyed having ryan's mom here too to celebrate with her

jackson, mississippi

2009-05-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

ryan and i had the great honor to be with a group of christian community development leaders this past week in jackson, mississippi. we have been a part of the christian community development association (ccda) since 2000 - learning with them, being inspired, gleaning wisdom, building relationships... we were able to go to jackson with this group of people to be with the veteran leaders of ccda, dr. perkins, dr. skinner, noel castellanos, and lowell nobel. this is the first of some gatherings over the next year to connect a new generation of leaders with ccda leaders, who are wiser and older. this time we were able to hear the legacy of those who have served through the civil rights movement, through decades of long toil, through the start and formation of the organization. we went to jackson because that is where dr. perkins and his wife vera mae started in MS - in a small town called Mendenhall. It is hard to put into words exactly what we experienced, saw, heard, prayed, tasted, thought... it was amazing. We went on a tour and Dr. Perkins showed us the truck stop they integrated after the Vietnam War, the courthouse where he went to trial without ever being formally charged for anything and receiving a beating in jail that almost killed him, the place where he listened to Dr. MLK's I have a dream speech and was passioned to press to on. The school where his kids were the first black students, and as we drove by this week we saw white and black children play side by side. The house he built for his family, the gym he built in the community, the current ministry center in Jackson with a community garden, housing, a play yard... So we saw all these sites and at the same time heard testimony and wisdom from these leaders' stories - I was inspired and moved in ways I can't describe. Their was a sense that God's spirit was resting on the place we were, on us, and passing down a generational blessing - that our stories were intertwined because we all find our home in God's family. Maybe I can better describe it after I digest it all over the next couple days and it's not so late and I don't have jet lag. Then again, maybe not. Below are some pics of our trip - great people and a great time together.

hearing the stories

us with dr. john perkins

Mendenhall - where Dr. Perkins started christian community development ministry

Our group at the Perkins Center

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner - amazing leader, woman of prayer and a social worker :)

belly shot - eric rubs his belly more than i do...

vote for my friend Alana at married on my space

2009-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Alana and her fiance Johnel are 1 of 3 couples who could win a wedding on MySpace and they need your vote. You can vote once a day until May 8 and then they could win a wedding and honeymoon. Check out their video and vote at:
http://www.myspace.com/marriedonmyspace

prego

2009-04-22T15:31:00.001-07:00

a an out of state friend asked for a picture of my pregnant self...so here it is taken by malachi himself. i will be 27 weeks tomorrow! sitting down doesn't exactly give you the proper perspective on the size of this little man and my belly. because i now am used to people expecting to hear that i am due this month, but oh no i'm not...
this baby boy likes to kick a lot and seems to respond to malachi's songs and voice. malachi has named him gopi - he made it up himself.
i have had a few "contractions" so we are trying to relax - i'm keeping heavy lifting (aka the boys) to a minimum and so far that is working so they are getting not worse. i'll go in tomorrow again to check it all out with the dr.
i am enjoying this pregnancy although yesterday when it was 95 and our electricity was out I was not enjoying the day... so we'll pray that our air conditioning works the rest of the summer and i will remain cool.

our seattle trip to visit opa and oma

2009-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

we spent a long weekend in tacoma/seattle with my parents. it was a great time to get away while ryan worked on the house and i needed to just relax. we went to the zoo and enjoyed animals and the beautiful view of puget sound and mt. rainer. we hung out at the tacoma children's museum on our only rainy day. we took the ferry into seattle one day and then later went to the rocky beach. the boys had a ton of fun, got a lot of attention, malachi got his lego fix, and abram managed to fall on his face again. we were thankful to make one last visit to wa before my parents relocate to chicago in june. so thankful for a great trip!! and thankful for a husband who worked night and day to finish the first phase of our remodel by changing the living room into the boys room - he finished painting just before we landed in long beach. now we just need carpet installed so we stop tracking all the dust around the house.
ok so i tried writing comments on the photos but they didn't line up so you'll have to just enjoy them...

bless bellflower

2009-04-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

on saturday about 12 congregations in bellflower took over the city's easter egg hunt. due to fiscal cuts the city cancelled the 3 easter egg hunts so a friend, jane, who attends bellflower brethren church stepped up and mobilized over 200 volunteers in partnership with kingdom causes to put on the easter egg hunt. it went really well and you can see the article about it in the press telegram. there were probably about 2,000 people, an utterly chaotic and quick hunt, lots of crafts and games and people having a ton of fun.

http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_12121087?IADID=Search-www.presstelegram.com-www.presstelegram.com

on sunday we did enjoy the beach with the copelands, nespers and rob. it was beautiful, relaxing, the kids had a blast playing in the sand and water, and we had good conversation. love this tradition we have!

life

2009-04-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

i have this word, "life," in letters in my kitchen. yesterday was easter - and one we probably won't forget in a long time, if ever. easter is about life - right - jesus risen life and then our lives changed forever in relationship with him. life is a rich word when you think about it and just examine what it means.

malachi got sick yesterday and i saw how precious life is, how fragile, and how God holds our lives tightly in his hand.

so our easter story this year involved malachi having his temperature spike quickly and having a febrile seizure. he has never had one before so we didn't know what was happening. thankfully i had laid down with him as i put him down for his nap because that is when it happened. i had just given him meds before we went down. he went stiff and his eyes were open but he was unresponsive and his face started to turn blue. his mouth was clenched shut and ryan and i both didn't know what to do. our land line was unplugged in our remodel mess and our cell phones got a 911 line busy message. thankfully our neighbor across the street heard ryan yell for help and called 911. malachi was seizuring for about 2 minutes and stopped by the time the paramedics, police and fire arrived. but we went on a ride to the hospital in the ambulance. his fever was 102.8 when we got to the hospital and they gave him more meds and it came down within a half hour. great nurses and a dr. watched over him and our nurse even prayed for him. he is totally fine today.

yesterday holding my oldest little boy and not being able to get him to wake up was probably the most frightening experience ryan and i have had. today we can look back and see how God took care of malachi and was there with us. i remember as the drama all unfolded hearing ryan saying, "please Jesus" over and over. we were in a desperate situation and we were literally crying out. i know he heard us.

this all happened on easter sunday - i don't think life's events happen out of mere chance. yesterday i didn't attend an easter service because malachi had a temp., but i met Jesus in a way that i have never experienced before. life. it is more apparent to me today how much i need Jesus in my life, in my children's lives, in my neighborhood, in my community. life abundantly - life given as a gift each day. so much learned and thought about because of a 2 minute seizure.

malachi is recovered today - full of energy and being loving, stubborn, funny, creative, a tease, a great big brother... we now know that he is prone to have seizures if his temp gets high and we need to make sure to the address fevers quickly with meds. there is not damage done with this type of seizure and now that we know when it could happen and what to do were supposed to be more at ease. right - everyone knows there is reason i am not in the medical field... their advice don't call 911 until it lasts over 2 minutes - ok - easier said than done. anyway we are thankful for everyone who knew what was going on for praying and just reminded of the amazing love people have for our little boy and family. a few neighbors stopped over and asked about him today because you know when there are lights and sirens in the neighborhood everyone comes out. :) one neighbor girl drew him a card that said get better soon, i love you malachi. our neighbor ladies across the street were amazing yesterday in calling 911 and coming over and just helping. thankfully rob was here to stay with abram while we went to the hospital... we are thankful for how God was with us and how he takes care of us. today we talk about it and it seems like a tiny story, not a huge deal after you have everything explained. malachi doesn't even remember it happening.

but it taught us more about our lives and them being Jesus' and how much you love your kids and how much i know God loves us because he let his son die for me. so this easter was different - don't want to relive it again. and just a side note one reason to keep your land line is so that you can get through to 911 in an emergency and they know your location immediately. just don't unplug it like we did...

we did go to the beach too and have a great easter egg hunt at the park yesterday so more to come.

spring break with rob and the huizengas

2009-04-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

we were blessed to have ryan's sister ruthanne and jeff and baby addisyn come for spring break from mi - rob, ryan's brother, was also on break too from college - so we had a full house. as they came we also had tom and cindy schipper, friends from bentheim, mi spend a night too. so much fun to have all these great people be here with us.
admittedly we had a very full week of activity because we had guests, started to remodel our house, dr. appts, work, seder meal, a city wide easter egg hunt and ryan spoke at the city good friday prayer breakfast. wow! we were so thankful for all the hard work everyone did on their break - jeff and rob were amazing builders and ruthanne helped a ton with the boys and around the house. thank you guys!! it was nice to hang out with family and enjoy one another's company. here are some highlights of our week.

addisyn's 6 month photo session - easy to take pics of a beautiful little girl

swing set raising

2009-03-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

so you know how the amish community has barn raisings - the whole community builds the barn together... we had a swing set raising a couple weekends ago and our friends helped us build the swing set. we are "storing" our friends, the nespers, swing set for them - not a bad deal we must admit. :) we were so blessed to have friends come to hang out and put the beast of the swing set together. it involved lifting the balcony/slide part over our fence and figuring out how to fit it in between the pomegranate tree and shed... we also enjoyed some amazing taco salad with our home grown lettuce and avocados. to make the day complete we were thrilled to have our dear friends the copelands back in america from indonesia - malachi affectionately calls them the "copeland family." we are excited to spend lots of play time with them the next 5 months and meet their new baby boy soon.
i stole these pictures from chrissy because camera is out of commission- abram pulled it off a table... thanks chrissy!

our baby #3

2009-03-03T15:13:00.001-08:00

we saw our little baby moving all around today at the ultrasound appt. - so amazing. its hard to describe the feelings that swell up inside you as you see this little one's arms stretch across its face and its head turn from side to side. we are still in awe of how this little one is growing and developing and how much this baby looks like abram and malachi already. :) so i know you are wondering if we found out the gender. well we kind of did. it is written on a piece of paper in an envelope with a picture. so we have 20 more weeks to decide whether to find out. we'll keep you posted.

bath time again

2009-02-22T21:39:00.000-08:00

this teaches you to drain the bath immediately after you are done!

pirates

2009-02-22T21:31:00.000-08:00

malachi wanted to pretend all day today. tonight he asked that the boys be pirates and i would be the dragon... everyone has always told me boys make guns out of anything and they just figure it out somehow. as much as we have attempted to keep violent images out of his little head malachi has figured it out kind of - i don't think he knows the word gun so he has made up his own word - "poosher" and you "poosh" people. hence the pirates had his play tools aka "pooshers." so welcome to the world of a litle boy

our first blood orange

2009-02-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

ryan was super excited this morning that the first blood orange was ready. he asked me to take pictures of it...our other citrus trees are producing more fruit but the fruit isn't quite sweet enough to eat, in fact its rather sour. if anyone knows how to fix this problem let us know. the boys loved enjoying the "good" orange.

the noises he was making went along with the stuff your face look...

YUM!

thanks grandma!

2009-02-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

ryan's mom left today after enjoying california's suddenly very rainy weather and the flu epidemic at our house. not exactly the trip she was expecting but we still had fun. we are thankful she only suffered from the flu slightly...rob also hung out with us for the weekend and we graciously gave him the flu as well. makes you want to visit us soon, huh!
the boys loved hanging out with grandma, reading books, playing games, working in the garden, watching the rain pour down. it was a treat for us to have her here because we even had a marathon date as well: movie, dinner and shopping! i think the last time we had that long of a date was when she visited last fall. so come again any time.

some review of life

2009-02-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

verwys family

cousins

fun in mi snow

so my runs a making a post have failed lately - this one was in the middle of being done and then it posted before without my knowledge. i am complaining about the mac book i used to do it because it kept on going to "sleep" while the photos were loading and disconnecting my from the internet. ok so there you have it.
so these are christmas shots and maybe some day i'll get more up. like birthdays, our trip to disneyland...

in the mean time. right now i am enjoying rain falling outside while the boys sleep. we are also finally vomit free at our house after a whole week. every one of us was sick and i can't remember the last time i was that sick (maybe 15 years ago.) in the middle of the sickness i did leave for the weekend to go to a retreat with a group of women that i am in a learning community with. great women, all connected with urban ministry of some sort. we had a great time, good food and wonderful discussion, learning, solitude, and prayer. there were a number of things that stuck with me from the weekend but one was shared by the spiritual director who was with us, lynn. she led us through a lot of self reflection and time to journal and think about God and our relationship with him as a real God or a concept. it was good and deep and i could go into a lot of detail but i'd rather talk about it in person than on my blog... so anyway we talked about wholeness and her comment was that being whole means a:

"relentless pursuit of truth about you that will give you a healthy sense of self and loving relationships" that God brings light in to this truth because he doesn't show us truth without himself present in it - this was after we talked about our calling by God, with God and for God and then did a life evaluation of sorts. i was blessed to have the time to get away and reflect and was reminded about how needed time like that is. it was good timing because then i came home to sick kids and life...

my conversation with malachi this week

2009-01-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

abram runs into the kitchening pointing toward the bedroom and kind of shouting. so i follow him.

i walk in the bedroom and on the floor is a small turd of poop. malachi is standing next to it.

i ask malachi - is that abram's or yours? in the back of my head i'm thinking this is yours isn't and how long have you been potty trained...

he replies - it's mine mom. i pooped in my pants.

so we pick it up and bring it to the bathroom, clean up... - so i ask my illogical 3 year old why did you poop in your pants?

"mom, i like to poop in my pants."

what do you say to that. (note this is the second time today) at this point i decided nothing because how do explain that he shouldn't like it! who likes it?

but oh no the story doesn't end there, later at dinner. he says. it was funny when i took the poop and dumped it out of my little blue truck.

i decided i didn't want to ask anymore questions because i just didn't want to know.

its 4 am

2009-01-27T04:08:00.000-08:00

really what i am doing awake. i've been up for the last hour!

i haven't written an entry in over a month, but i have all intentions of catching up. but i discovered i don't like blogging without pictures and since my computer is full and won't let me save new pictures this presents a problem.

so soon to come will be our christmas fun in michigan. malachi turning 3 and other everday adventures with our family and friends.

so thanks for your patience. i'm going to try to go back to sleep.

baby #3

2008-12-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

it takes me a couple weeks to process the reality of being pregnant. although when my belly popped out immediately there was really no time for denial. then today a stranger asked when i was due - it confirmed that my belly is really out there! i'll be 9 weeks tomorrow. we are thrilled to be adding another little one to our family. malachi thinks we should have a boy and a "gril" - but we are in fact having only one baby as confirmed by the ultrasound.
so i feel great - a little tired some days but i am very thankful that i don't get sick.
below is an ultrasound pic of our little bean of a baby. we saw the heart beating last week - which i must say is absolutely amazing. we are expecting this baby at the end of july. so here is the first pic - which is oh so easy to figure out?! it's the bean shaped mass - this is the 3-D view (aka: baby)
we thank God for this gift and thank you all for your prayers as our "bean" is knit together

check out this video!

2008-12-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

3rd Annual Triptofan-tastic 5k

2008-11-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

yesterday we again started our thanksgiving with our 5k run/walk with friends through the streets of bellflower. this year malachi even joined in the run for about a 1/4 of a mile. he ran his little legs off and then hopped into the stroller for the rest of the race. we had a great time with everyone - even those who joined for the after race refreshments and skipped the run! so next year if you don't want to actually race and just want the juice, fruit and coffee you can still come. it was a fun way to start thanksgiving. thanks fieldhouses for the pictures - you can check out their blog for the video.

tessa and abram post race

the domestic diva with turkey headgear and just had a baby walker

the running crew

malachi

2008-11-26T22:53:00.001-08:00

malachi is nearing the end of being 2. it seems like this year has seen so much change and development in his whole being. its amazing to me to think about how quickly he has grasped language, problem solving, sharing (it's gotten a lot better), being a big brother, listening, trying new adventures.... he is a fun kid and continues to amaze me with the questions he thinks of and statements he makes. knock on wood, we went through the terrible 2's of him seemingly fighting everything we asked of him and i think we have come out on the other side. it took a lot of consistent work but i see the light! although i hear the 3's can be just as demanding. but what i know is what i know so far, right.

today he got to play with 2 different friends at our house and he had so much fun. they played in his room with toys. sat and read books. i am so thankful for the great friends he has in his life already because i see how they help him learn and grow and just enjoy being a kid.

each stage is unique and has its joys and challenges. i am trying to remind myself to enjoy where malachi is today - even on the crazy days. i am loving his joy for the simple pleasure of throwing a pillow at his dad or chasing his friends around the room. he loves to read, which i love to do with him. he is still doing puzzles all by himself, as he says. he also has discovered that sesame street computer games online are a lot of fun, my 2 year old plays computer games by himself! he still loves cars and talks to me about the ones he is missing in his collection and how much he needs them... so a few more weeks of enjoying life with a 2 year old and then on to the adventure of 3!

our silly little abram

2008-11-26T22:41:00.001-08:00

i heard malachi telling abram that he was being silly, so i knew something was up. i walked into the kitchen and found abram splashing in the milk he spilled out of his sippy cup. how fun!

you wish you had swim goggles like this too

he likes his wooden shoes - he wants to wear them - they are so uncomfortable but one night he really wanted to walk all around with them on

we first hear him at 5 am and pray he falls back asleep and then he is awake by 6. so here he is enjoying cereal bright and early. if anyone has tips for how to get him to sleep later in a room he shares with his brother let me know.

wrestling

2008-11-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

i'm not sure who is having more fun?!

pile on with uncle rob

this is the new phenomena that has hit our house. malachi now asks nightly if we can wrestle after dinner - mostly he means with his dad and abram. the attention i have been getting lately has been his verbal words of love for me throughout the day. "mom, i love you so much." warms my heart. but sometimes they do let me join in too.

so ryan and the boys wrestle, which involves pillows coming off all seats in the living room. we also had some wrestling guest appearances with uncle rob and opa. rob watched the boys this weekend while ryan i went to a friend's reception and my dad came into town for a meeting. they all had a blast. life with two little boys!

a visit from oma

2008-11-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

my mom visited last week for a couple days in a break she had from her chaplaincy residency - the boys had a great time getting a lot of attention and love from oma. we are blessed to have these little visits quite often.

abram's silly face

reading with oma and not letting his new Mack get too far from sight

the big puzzle!

abram loves music

2008-11-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

the video of the guys playing was taken after house church - abram loves music and he enjoys playing his guitar. he sat at chrissy's feet that night "singing" and playing his guitar and tessa joined in the fun.

he has so much fun

tessa and abram playing together

The Three ver Wysmen

2008-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

urban homesteaders?!

2008-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

i turned 30 and my brother bought me a book, "the urban homestead" by kelly coyne and erik knutzen. i think if someone would have told me that i would have chickens in my backyard when i was 30 i would have laughed.

so what is urban homesteading, i discovered as i read that we are doing it, didn't know it but i am an urban homesteader. a friend had told me about rural homesteaders and i thought there is no way i could ever do that. i guess its my draw to civilization, people, streets, buildings that makes me the urban kind. it just kind of happened to us one step at a time. a friend is a great gardener and taught us about chickens and gardening. we have tried some seeds and failed. we already had a couple fruit trees and added more when a gardening store was going out of business.

but i was encouraged by the book to share this idea with others because it isn't just about chickens, its about growing some of your own food, recycling, energy conservation, composting (they do talk about a composting toilet and i am so not going that way...) they offer gardening solutions for people who live in apartments, use pots or guerrilla garden and use the dirt area between the sidewalk and street. anyone can do some part of it.

from my fun birthday book: "Urban homesteading is an affirmation of the simple pleasures of life. When you spend a Saturday morning making bread, or go out on a summer evening after work to sit with your chickens, or take a deep breath of fresh cut basil, you unplug from the madness."

this week I picked basil, brought it in to rinse it. Placed the green leaves into the food processor with olive oil, pine nuts, and cheese - fresh pesto. My kitchen smelled incredible. my friend Taffy and I enjoyed fresh pesto and mozzarella sandwiches made panini style. so good.

urban homesteader. in the heart of bellflower. it's been amazing to see how much we compost instead of putting down the disposal, and starbucks gives us all their coffee grinds to add to it. here are a few of our current garden eats, so beautiful, fresh and organic. be encouraged to try to grow something, if I can do it anyone can. i have to say ryan gets the most credit for our garden, he does all the hard work and i pick the bounty. thanks for the book dirk i've discovered something new about myself.

our molting chicken - we just eat the eggs...

my basil bush

dwarf orange tree

pomegranates

red lettuce

cowboy and chicken

2008-11-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

my cowboy because he didn't want to be a clown...

malachi and ely

my sister sarah came again this year for halloween

trick or treating with dad

abram's one year pics a little late

2008-11-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

vacation to marco island

2008-11-04T14:59:00.000-08:00

malachi said the best part of florida was going in the pool and walking on the sand. he is sitting on my lap and telling me he could type right now... he also liked the boat ride on mommy's 30th birthday. he and abram loved hanging out with grandma and grandpa too. here are some shots of our fun time.

enjoying the zoo because it was little cold

ducks!

driving the boat with ryan

driving the boat with grandpa

this little river was dug for the boys to play in...little did we know that it would turn into an uncontrolable current that emptied the beach of all the water behind the boys. it also trapped people who had walked down the beach and came back to discover they couldn't get across the river. two women attempted to jump the river and fell flat on their faces. oops. goes to show a little digging can result in huge problem. we packed up the evidence and left the beach because we were getting a lot of looks from people. but it is a good story.

malachi running on the beach

abram digging

learning to swim all by himself

so proud of himself

help from malachi blowing out my candles

shalom

2008-11-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

ryan and i along with other kingdom causes staff traveled to miami in october to go to the Christian community development association conference. we started attending this conference in 2000 and have come back again and again. they bring together people engaged in community development ministries across the united states to learn, to be encouraged, to be inspired and to be together.

it was refreshing for my soul to be at this conference. the theme this year was shalom and this was interwoven throughout worship, speakers, workshops... i realized while i was there how deeply this concept of shalom penetrates my heart and the call ryan and i have for bellflower and for life. i wanted to share ccda's explanation of seeking the peace of the city, shalom. it is rich and it is true and it is a call for each of us in the places we are. Here it is below.

“Seeking the Peace of the City”
When God created the heavens and the earth, He wove it all together like a million silk threads forming a dazzling garment never before seen - each thread passing over, under and around millions of others to create a perfectly complementary, tightly-woven, interdependent, amazing whole. This wondrous webbing together of God and man and all of creation is what the Hebrew prophets called shalom.

Shalom is a word packed with hope for a broken, bruised and wounded world. It speaks of wholeness, right relationships, justice, salvation, and righteousness, all of which can be missed when we simply read the English word, ‘peace.’

God’s intention for every community is that His shalom would reign. Can you imagine neighborhoods with secure streets, healthy relationships, effective and affirming schools, clean air, and a thriving local economy? Can you picture neighbors sharing meals together, children laughing and playing freely, and the elderly being valued, honored and cared for as the norm in our communities? Can you fathom vibrant churches in every neighborhood being beacons of light and hope because of their deep concern for the well being of all community residents, not just their members? Can you envision people being drawn to the love and power of God because of the clear witness of Christians fully committed to Jesus Christ?
We can! In fact, CCDA exists to see this kind of impact in the poorest communities in our nation and world. Our passion and commitment is to be a voice of challenge, equipping Christ-followers who are ready to step forward and see the shalom of God become a reality in under-resourced communities. To this end, we pray boldly and confidently, as Jesus prayed, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

SHALOM!

this is it - i wish i could sit down with each person that reads this blog and express how this statement resonates with me and resonates with you. i think i have at times done a poor job explaining how this desire to seek the peace and prosperity of the city connects to my life. but then i think this explains how we desire to live and why we might do some of things we do and i hope our life illustrates this.

what a great time and i am thankful to have been a part of it. to sit with, talk with, and worship with people who are seeking God's shalom for their communities was an honor. i pray we would all be moved toward greater shalom in our hearts, our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, and our world.

our new nephew, carter jeffery leep

2008-10-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

i am working my way backwards on whats been happening in our life. we were unplugged the last week and a half on vacation. so while we were gone our nephew was born. malachi and abram are excited to have another boy join the verwys cousins. carter jeffery leep was born on the 29th to ryan's older sister, rebecca and our brother-in-law jeff. his big sister's look like they love him a ton and we are so excited to meet this big bundle this christmas!!

9 lbs. 12 oz and 21.5 inches and he was 2 weeks early! what a handsome guy.

leep family

carter (brand new) and addisyn (6 weeks)

happy 51st birthday bellflower

2008-10-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

this weekend we celebrated bellflower's birthday at the family fun zone - they shut down the street downtown and created a little party. this is the first year without a parade. what a great decision to have this new set up. for those of you who have attended the past parades i think you can agree with us - that free cotton candy and games beats seeing 20 middle school marching bands... anyway. we had a fun hanging out, playing games, eating junk food, and enjoying the inflatable slides.

although we are surrounded by city upon city and concrete we still feel like bellflower is a small town. we are close enough to walk downtown, we run into friends, and its a great gathering for our community. and just a fun trivia fact: my mom was born in bellflower the year it became a city.

the tower

2008-10-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

i should clarify - malachi built the tower with ryan and yes he knocked it over very shortly after it was built. because why would you leave a great tower standing, they are meant to be knocked down...

2 3/4

2008-10-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

malachi is a bundle of energy, joy, wonder and life. he is a ton of fun and also drives my crazy sometimes. i've decided i don't need to understand why he does some of the things he chooses because he is 2. two years old just do some of those things. his questions make me laugh and make me realize that his brain processes so much. his new thing lately is to wake up on wednesday mornings the morning after i have bible study at night and ryan puts him to bed and ask. "Mom how was your Bible study last night?" i think to myself are you that grown up to ask me that question. the pictures are of him showing off his tower, made with abram's new blocks. and enjoying the feel of rain in his hair, this is a rare occurrence here...