At Home, in Michigan

Today is a special day. After nine years of work, plus or minus a bit, Dirk is officially a pastor today. God has been kind to us and orchestrated so many different circumstances to bring him, and us, to this point. We are thankful, and excited. 

And yes, we've moved and settled in. Arie would tell you that we live in the blue house in Michigan. It's been a while since I posted, so I've got a lot of pictures!

~FISHING~

 Snake River, Idaho

                                               

FYI: No, we don't normally give bottles of beer to our kids, especially while they're driving :) This one was empty to start with. 

~EASTER~

Easter was low key, but pop guns, cool shades, and chocolates were fun.

Ioan thought at first he was in trouble. He was briefly unaware that the rules about sneaking chocolate had been lifted for the day.

~GRADUATION~

My brother Jordy graduated from NNU right before Mother's Day. My sister and her three little ones made the trek from NC to be there.

(not a great picture, Jordy is the one with cords)

~MOTHERS DAY~

We were blessed to be able to celebrate Mother's day with both of our mothers. We also got to go see my *great grandma* who also lives in Idaho. She's pretty old, but she really loved getting to see my little boys.

~THE TREK~

back East

You might say our van was very full. . .

 We stopped in Denver to see Grandma T (my grandma) and some of my Dad's family. 

 Crossing the Mississippi

 It was hot in Chicago. At this point, the traffic got so bad it took us an hour to go less than 10 miles! 

 Hello Michigan!

We stopped at the beach on Lake Michigan to get some dinner and let the kids play before the final few hours of driving. They liked it.

~THE HOUSE~

And we made it home! Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of where we live, but it doesn't show everything. I've left out the boys' room (main floor) and our bedroom (upstairs, complete with walk-in closet!) I realized I also need a picture of the house from the street---it's a beautiful turn of the century farm house that's been completely renovated.

 The mud room, leading out to the FENCED back yard.

The Kitchen

 The pantry and downstairs bathroom.

 The dining room, looking into the toy room

 The dining room and kitchen, another angle

 The laundry room, that comes with an extra fridge 

 The toy room

The living room

 Looking from the toy room at the living room and front door.

                                

The stairs, obviously-our bedroom is through the door at the top

 The upstairs bathroom

The unique hallway and the extremely unique bookcases

 The guest bedroom

 The office

~VISITORS~

We were blessed by a visit from Dirk's parents about a week after we moved in. They were in "the area" (Omaha) and stopped by for a few days. We walked around the historic down town most of Saturday to enjoy the Howell History Day and the beautiful weather.

                                        

~MY BOYS~

Siska is an amazing photographer and offered to take studio pictures of my kids before we left. One of the perks of having your sister-in-law do this is that it's free and you get the copy rights. Thanks Siska!