August 2023

 

Afternoon at DeWitt's pond

Caleb is starting college-Fruit basket upset

Pickleball for our anniversary

Starting her WO High School years

Isaac got his driver's license

Isaac-10th, Stephen-5th, Lexi-4th

GVSU freshman all moved in

Dutch Village with Enedina's kids

Celebrating Naomi's 4th birthday

Cousins visiting Julia

Nate finished the Trans Rockies race

Julia, Leila, Jill from 8th grade graduation

Watching the Holland power plant being demolished

Isaac's 16th bday paintball party

Happy Birthday! 

-Lexi and Keira did weekly gymnastics thru the summer. Lexi had asked for awhile to do gymnastics and I think she decided it's not her favorite thing. 

-Stephen did a musical theater camp at Central Wesleyan. He decided to not audition for a part and be in the children's chorus. He later wished he was performing a speaking part, but still enjoyed singing. 

-Julia participated in a virtual teens transracial adoptee group for a couple weeks and enjoyed meeting other teens across the midwest. 

-Isaac had allergy testing done to determine if allergies were contributing to his frequent sinus infections. And he is allergic to nothing. Which is good, but the Dr said he may have nonallergic rhinitis. Basically meaning any number of environmental factors could be contributing to his congestion/runny nose. 

-Isaac did a week of HC's soccer camp

-We celebrated our 22nd anniversary! Nate gave me pickleball paddles as I wanted to find out what all the hype is about. 

-Nate went to CO for a week to do the TransRockies Race. It's a 6 day, 120 mile race-about 20 miles/day. Pastor Chad had an extra ticket and asked Nate to come along. Nate didn't have much time to train and he was nervous, but he rocked it!! He hiked up and jogged his way down every day. His body was beat up by the time he was done, but what an accomplishment. 

-We celebrated Isaac's 16th Birthday! He had a paintball birthday party and he and his friends had a great time. He got some new headphones and a wallet phone case. Isaac is a little over 6 foot, still not taller than Nate-yet. I still am surprised to see this grown looking man walking around my house. Isaac has many gifts and it's a joy to watch him grow up. And he still brings the teasing and joking to the family. His friend group is expanding this year and he is enjoying the ability to drive places. We love you Isaac! 

-Grandpa DeMaster visited the kids for a couple days. They ate out, did some mini-golf and watched a movie. 

-We celebrated Naomi's 4th birthday and took the kids to Dutch Village. They loved the experience. 

-Caleb moved into his dorm, Oaks Living Center, on one of the hottest days of summer. His roommate is his friend, Jason Bos. Their dorm has suite style rooms. They were pleasantly surprised to find out they had a room at the end of the hallway and didn't have suitemates. They have their own bedroom and bathroom. Those first couple weeks after he left were hard for me. For 18 years I generally knew what he was doing- he was at school, or practice, or his friend's house. Now I have no idea. Not that I'm worried about what he is doing, I just miss those daily conversation touchpoints about what he is up to. 

-Isaac began his sophomore year. Julia began her freshman year at WO. Stephen began 5th grade and is in his last year of elementary school-what? Lexi began her 4th grade year. Julia and I started school a week after HC. 

-Our family had a great summer! 

July 2023

Rodi going for a ride

Ruth and Naomi with the kids

Time for a fire

Tim living his childhood dream on the stand up jetski

Melody turned 3

Pinata time

Richmond Park Pool

Lake MI sunset 

Andrew, Stephen, Graham and Patrick at Patrick's cottage

Dressed up for the show

Carroll Thompson visited us

Swimming lessons

Top of the ferris wheel at Dutch Village

Julia assisting Lexi

Pine Creek coworkers

Looking good

Deb, me, Robin and Heather

Lexi and Adeline at Scrapyard Climbing

-Our vacation this summer was renting a house on Crooked Lake in Angola, IN for a week. We brought down all the watercraft and the house was amazing. Enedina's family (17 yr old brother, Rodi, Nolbi, Ruth and Naomi) came out for the first day/night. They all had fun swimming in the lake and hanging out with us. On our second day, Caleb and Stephen were tubing and Caleb's left shoulder dislocated again. That day was scary and sad for everyone. Caleb had an ambulance ride to the local hospital. They got the shoulder back in under sedation, but then he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia drug and scared us for a couple hours. Caleb was discharged in a sling later that night. It was hard for Caleb and the rest of us to really enjoy the rest of our lake week, but there were some good times. My parents spent a couple days with us and Tim's family came for a couple days. The cousins fished and played in the lake non stop. 

-Julia went with WO to volleyball camp at Calvin University for a couple evenings. The younger kids and I visited Richmond Park pool one afternoon while Julia was at Calvin.

-Lexi took swimming lessons thru Holland Rec. This is our last kid doing their last summer of swimming lessons. We've had kids in Holland Rec summer swimming lessons for about 10ish years now. 

-Stephen, Lexi, Mrs. Shoemaker and myself saw Frozen. It was a great show!

-Nate and Isaac went backpacking with 7 other sophomore boys and their Dads. They went up to Manistee for a couple nights.

-Isaac had soccer camp and his Segment 2 for driver's training. Isaac worked full time for HC's outdoor crew this summer

-Caleb worked full time for HC's indoor crew. Thankfully they were able to find stuff for him to do after his shoulder injury. Caleb had to do physical therapy 3 times/week after the injury.

-Our friend, Carroll Thompson visited us as she was in town for a conference. We met her and her husband Bill when we lived in Charleston. Bill was the pastor of the church we went to and they were so welcoming to us, even though they knew we would only live there for 6 months. It was nice to catch up with Carroll again.

-My coworker, Tiffani got married and it was nice to see some of my Pine Creek crew again. 

-I went to the Poconos for a couple days to get together with my high school friends

-We celebrated the Shoemakers 50th wedding anniversary. We are grateful for their presence in our lives.

-Stephen went to Camp Roger with his friend Patrick. They did the 4 night stay and had many stories afterwards. 

-Lexi has primarily lived outside and with the neighbor kids all summer, she is in her happy place. 

June 2023

-Julia had 8th grade graduation and finished her time at HC. Julia decided to attend West Ottawa for high school as she is looking for a larger, more diverse school.

-Stephen had 2 weeks of musical theater day camp to prep the Jungle Book. This was the first production he auditioned for and he loved everything about being in the musical. They had 6 shows and we were impressed with the show.

-Stephen and Lexi had a piano recital. 

-The kids finished 12th, 9th, 8th, 4th and 3rd grades, what a great year!

-Isaac did a 4v4 soccer camp 

-Isaac took some organ lessons over the summer. He likes playing the organ, but it's challenging to make time to practice on an organ

-Nate and the kids took off on a Friday morning for Annika's wedding in PA. It was my last day of school so I worked and then rented a car and drove out. The morning of the wedding we realized Lexi's dress didn't get packed, so a quick trip to Walmart for Nate and Lexi. It was good to catch up with some family at the wedding and it was a whirlwind trip.

-Caleb had a root canal, yuck

-Julia did volleyball camp at West Ottawa (WO) and some open gyms during the summer.

-Lexi and Keira are doing gymnastics once/week for a couple weeks. Lexi has always asked to try gymnastics and this seems to be helping her realize she doesn't really want to do gymnastics.

-Isaac went on a service trip to Sutton, Alaska with Providence youth group. They helped around the community with splitting wood, minor house repairs, etc. Isaac said it was very cool to go to Alaska.

8th grade graduation

With some of the family

Visiting Julia at work

Sisters

Picture we got from Caleb in Israel

Getting her ears pierced

Father's Day

Grumpy monkey

Goodbye to the old truck, it served us well

Hello to the smaller Expedition

The monkeys

May 2023

-Caleb took his AP Statistics and AP World History exams

-May felt like it was going to take us out at the knees, so busy

-Four of the kids were in the Kinderparade. Julia was happy to not be in the parade.

-Nate, Caleb, Isaac, Stephen and Lexi ran in the Tulip Time 5k

-Nate and I saw Hadestown at GR Broadway

-Caleb had an orientation day at GVSU

-Steph and Ben's family came to visit! This was our first time meeting Judah. It was so good to spend some time with their family again, wish Okinawa wasn't so far away.

-We planned Caleb's open house a couple months in advance and then a week before learned that the lacrosse team had advanced and the next game would be the night of his open house. Quick pivot on our end and we were able to squeeze his open house into the weekend, among all the other open houses going on. We served hamburger sliders, chips, fruit, drinks and friends made baked goods. It was a very fun evening.

-Caleb's graduation was moving and surreal and emotional (for me). Some school parents put on an all nighter party which Caleb said was fun. 

-A couple days after graduation, Caleb left for Israel! He went with a group primarily of seniors and a couple other adults. He was gone for 2 weeks and he said it was a very impactful trip.

-We did a dinner party in our home with my siblings and parents to celebrate their upcoming 70th birthdays. MaryBeth and Duce cook fabulous food and it was a great evening. 

Came home from work to find a jetski in the truck 🙄

Some of Lexi's running club

Tulip Time 5k

And some high schoolers

Carrying the banner

A hot kinderparade

Last kinderparade with 4 kids

Cool social media post for senior night

So proud of his perseverance over his lacrosse career

Whitecaps game

Seniors wore pajama pants for the last concert

Dee and Jessica helping-my co workers are the best

Rachel helped plan and run the open house

Picture displays

Caleb said the open house was awesome

Isaac's USA soccer team

Feeding Judah

Meeting Judah!

Nathan and Caleb

Family

Piled in the boat with Steph's family

Celebrating my parents upcoming 70th birthdays