ArtPrize 2010

Last year was the first-ever ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, but we were still living in PA at the time & didn't get to experience it. Wow! Now I know what all the hype was about! For almost 3 weeks in late

summer, the entire downtown area gets transformed into a giant art gallery, and artists from all over the world bring works in such diverse mediums as toothpicks, pennies, scrap metal, stained glass, canvas & paint, . . . you name it! And the energy and bustle is so fun to experience. Downtown Grand Rapids was never this fun before! If you don't know much about it, check out www.artprize.org for the latest in what's going on. Final voting is occurring now, and the winner will be awarded $250,000 in about a week. It's an exciting time to be in Grand Rapids - come see it!

Me and Chihuly-o Down By The Schoolyard

Dale Chihuly has a blown glass exhibit going on at Frederik Meijer Gardens here in Grand Rapids, and I took a few opportunities to go check it out. It's still here until the end of October, so I might need to go one last time when the fall colors are here. Some of the pieces are huge - one is the size of a tree! They are positioned all throughout the sculpture park, and blend amazingly well with the natural landscape and the permanent gardens. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. Lots of fun splashes of color, and a nice way to bid farewell to summer until next year.

Waterslide Fun Park! Waterslide Fun Park!

We got to enjoy another fabulous week vacationing with the Crow family in South Carolina this summer. One of the highlights of the week both last year & this year is going to the water park. As teenagers, Justin & Emily have endless energy, and it's so fun running all over the park keeping up with them, challenging them to races, and playing in the water all day. Who knew that a day at the water park could be so much fun for a couple in their 40's?? The day goes so fast, and it's great to spend a day in the sun splashing around in the water. What a highlight of the summer!

Back Home

It's so interesting to me how God works sometimes - and most times I just don't get it!

This blog started 2 years ago as a way to help friends and family keep connected to us as we transitioned from our home of 12 years in Grand Rapids, Michigan to a new place in Beaver, Pennsylvania. All the doors swung wide open as we made the move - although we didn't sell our Grand Rapids house as we would have liked, we had some friends move in as renters and all worked out well. We found a home in a quaint little town, I began working in a private practice, Rick became a professor, we found a great new church, and all was well with the world.

Well, not exactly, because the doors that once swung wide open were now not looking quite as inviting, and some discontentedness crept in. Was it the result of unrest because we were in the "wrong" place? But the message to go seemed so clear! Was it a lack of investing in our new place because we weren't letting go of the old? But we were excited for the changes and were trying to embrace our new place! So many things to wonder about and be confused by. And in the meantime, opportunities began to present themselves that would eventually lead us back to Grand Rapids.

Now here we are, two years later (almost to the day!), and we have returned to Grand Rapids with so many doors already opened:

1. We never sold our old house, so that left us with the ease of having a place to move back to

2. We both got jobs at our previous employer, Calvin College, within a week of each other

3. We easily returned to our old church since we had never transferred our membership

4. We have been able to pick up just like old times with our friends in Michigan

There are definitely some things about Pennsylvania that I'll miss. It was great being closer to my family and seeing them more often. We made some great friends and had fun getting to experience some of the Pittsburgh culture that is very unique. And my time in private practice was very rewarding and I'll miss it.

All in all, though, we came away from our PA experience feeling like Grand Rapids really is our home. We have roots here that were deeper than we realized, and only after we left did we see them for all they really were. We learned a lot about ourselves, what we think we need, and what we really need, and got to spend some quality time together - since for a long time we were each other's only friend! I hope that we've emerged from this experience as better people and better Christians - but I'm not sure what the whole thing was all about. Maybe we are already aware of the lessons we were to learn from this experience, and maybe we'll become aware of them later. Or maybe we won't ever know what it was all about - just that in God's plan it was very purposeful and that's all we need to know.

Some people have accused me of being too optimistic, but I've never understood how that's really possible. I think that in a roundabout way being hopeful and optimistic is actually Biblical! I like being able to look for possibilities in circumstances, I believe that things don't happen by accident, and I know that God's purposes are being fulfilled in and around us even when we don't realize it or understand it. So I think our time in PA was very good. In a lot of ways. Through the friendships we established, through the work that we did, through the ways our lives were touched, and hopefully by the ways our lives touched others. There is so much about God's plan that we are never privy to, but it's fun speculating on what might be going on. I know I may never "get" it, but I trust it.

Nevertheless, it's good to be back "home" again.

Africa!

In May Michelle went on her first-ever missions trip. The destination was the Central African Republic, and the purpose was to do Vacation Bible School programming for missionary children while their parents attended a conference & spiritual retreat. The team was there for 2 1/2 weeks, and most of that time was with the missionary children. We did get to go out into the capital city, Bangui, a few times and get a small sense of Africa. Just enough that a return trip is definitely a must!

Time with the missionary children was so rewarding - they were so respectful of the leaders and of each other, and were appreciative of the smallest things. It was a very refreshing experience! The children ranged in ages from 14 months to 11 years, so keeping them all occupied productively for 6 hours each day was a bit of a challenge! But they were great, and God was good, so it all worked out very well.

Here are just a few pictures of the people of Africa as well as the people who serve in Africa. These children's parents have literally devoted their lives to serving God by sharing the gospel of Christ with those who haven't heard it. And have left the comforts of their home culture to do it. Their lifestyle is very different from ours, but they have so much to teach us. They live simply and have gotten back to the basics - focusing on what really matters. Very convicting!

Snowmageddon 2010

Wow, are we ever getting a lot of snow! The funny thing is it's not even as much as we got the last year we lived in Michigan - it's just really wild to get it all at the same time! Just a few weeks ago we got 24 inches of snow in 24 hours. And it's been snowing off and on since then. Now we're really wishing we hadn't sold are snowshoes on Craig's List before we moved - or that we hadn't given our snow blower to one of our moving guys the day we moved. It was given to us when our old neighbor moved to warmer climates, so we figured we'd pay it forward. . . hmmm, it sure would be nice to have it now! We've already broken both of our snow shovels and had to walk to the store to buy another one. Craziness! Schools were closed for almost a week, and Geneva College was even closed for 2 1/2 days so Rick had some time off. Michelle's office kept the doors open, though, and with her new snow boots this year she had no trouble getting back & forth. She was just wishing people were a little more diligent about shoveling their sidewalks! We took a walk around town the Saturday morning of the big storm and took some pictures. It was so beautiful seeing everything all white & untouched, and we thought we'd share some of the scenes with you. Here is a picture of main street, and a picture of our street, right outside our house. Lots of snow!

Goodbye Faithful Friend

A little over a month ago we said goodbye to Berman, our faithful friend of 12 years. Since that time we've shared lots of memories with friends and family about our quirky little dog and the love that everyone had for her. I think she had more friends than we do! We miss her a lot.

Just yesterday we got a letter in the mail from Chris Berman from ESPN. We had written to him back in the spring, sending him a picture of Berman & letting him know that she was named after him. He signed her picture "Berman, you were made for TV. Your friend (& namesake) Chris Berman." And he wrote a note to us, too, telling us how thrilled he was to find out that we named our dog after him, & letting us know that he was a dog owner, too. Even though we sent the letter to him when Berman was alive & well, there was something special about getting his message & her picture in the mail now that she's gone. What a great way to remember her all over again. She was a really special dog!