I don’t even know where to begin with this post since it has been so long since I posted. There has been a lot going on around us lately. Some good and some bad. I never know if it’s better to start with the bad and end with the good or to start with the good and end with the bad. I think that I will start with the bad so that this ends on a good note.
The bad…It seems like it has been a terribly long fall, winter and start to the spring season. Our family has had the stomach flu go thru our family 4 times this season. Emma was sick Friday night into Saturday and then again on Monday. With infants it’s so hard to know when they can start eating "normal" food again. I think that every time she has gotten the stomach bug, we started back to normal food to soon and then find out that her stomach wasn’t ready for it yet. Having a little one sick with the stomach bug is disgusting and a LOT of work. Inevitably, she pukes in her highchair or her bed - both of which need to be stripped down and washed. Yuck. Now, Kennedy has the bug again. She has learned over these "sessions" that she can make it to the bathroom to throw up in the toilet, which has been a HUGE blessing. She has even made it to the bathroom in the middle of the night when she is sleeping - AMAZING. Today she had a little accident and it snuck up on her, so she threw up on the living room floor. I have been putting off the whole carpet cleaning thing for a while, but I think that now is the time to get it done. I just hope that the stomach bug is done going thru our family. Luckily, I have not gotten sick even once. I have to knock on wood every time I say that, but so far I have dodged the bug. Maybe I have an iron stomach and an incredible immune system, either way, I am extremely grateful that I haven’t gotten it. Yippee for me!
More bad… A family friend is a police officer and he shot a victim while they were doing a drug bust. I don’t know all the circumstances and all the facts, but this was a horribly tragedy for both the officer and the victim. Thanks to media and a bunch of others that have made this situation worse, the officer is being charged with careless discharge of a firearm. It makes me sad that we live in a world where we assume the worst of those who sacrifice their lives to make our life better. I know that there are bad cops out there and there are those who abuse their power, but overall we are far better off with law enforcement than we would be if we didn’t have them. And this man is a good man and he deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt. He is a 12 year veteran and he has worked in some extremely dangerous situations while undercover. And as far as I know, he has a spotless record. Yet, his superiors refuse to give that information to the public or even minimally support him. I pray for this man and his family as they go thru the judicial process. I trust that the judicial system will do it’s job and clear him of the charges they brought against him. I have faith that when the facts and truth are known, that this man will be cleared and restored to his position on the police force. The good side to this story is that a support rally was held for him and there were about 300 people in attendance. Not all of them knew him personally, but wanted to show their support for all police officers. They do SO much for us and one of the biggest problems with our society is that the law abiding citizens don’t speak out against the outrageous rights that we give to those that break the law. I don’t think that our forefathers ever thought that the freedoms they gave to us would actually be used to empower those that break the law. Anyway, my heart has been heavy for this family and the pain that they are experiencing.
The ugly… A co-worker of mine was killed in a terrible car accident while on his way home from work last week Thursday. It was a very rainy day and his car hydroplaned and he lost control. My understanding is that he almost regained control but slid into the other lane and was hit by a semi truck. Needless to say, car vs semi rarely turn out with good outcomes. This is one such case. My co-worker, Dave Schreur, was 39 and left behind a wife of 13 yrs and a 6 yr old son. My heart breaks for his wife and son. I can’t imagine picking up the pieces and moving forward. I know that it is only by God’s grace that this woman will be able to move forward. I also know that she personally felt God’s presence during her darkest and deepest moments. I have NO doubt that Jesus Christ lived and died and will come back in all his glory. A side story to the tragedy is that when I received the phone call that he was in an accident, Kylie was still awake and she broke down. She has such a tender heart and I know that she sensed my fear. It took Dan and I about 45 min to get her to calm down and go to sleep. We prayed that the doctors and nurses would be God’s hands to make him better. And if they weren’t able to save him, that Dave would get to go to Heaven and that there would be a party for him. We told her that Heaven is a wonderful place and that there are parties and good times. And that when Dave gets to Heaven, his body would be healed and made whole. She did finally calm down and went to sleep. I told her that I would tell her what his status was when I heard about it. Of course, I received a phone call around 10 pm that he had died. I didn’t sleep much that night. On Friday morning, I knew that I had to go to work and I wouldn’t have the time to spend with her and deal with the situation that was sure to go poorly. I told Papa to not mention the situation and I would talk to her when I got home in the afternoon. And wouldn’t you know it, when I got home and she woke up from her nap, she asked if I had any new information. I decided that it was best to tell her then that Dave had died and that he is in Heaven. Much to my surprise, she said…"that means he is in Heaven and there having a party." I think that I was in tears over the fact that she had heard what we said the night before and she "got it." I had a very hard day at work, as did all of my co-workers, and to hear her cheerfullness about the party that was going on in Heaven was a reality check to me. I’m extremely sad and will miss Dave a LOT, but I can rejoice because he is spending time with our maker and soon enough we will see eachother again. It is a reminder to me that my real home is with my Heavenly Father. Whether I have a day left on this earth or another 40 years, my home is in Heaven. I want to make the best of this life on earth, but I am not sad or afraid of what comes after this life. The funeral for Dave was a reminder and an example of someone who lived his life to the fullest and tried his best to live a Godly life. I hope that the lessons I have learned thru this will not fade, but spur me on to living my life more and more like the greatest example we have ever had, Jesus Christ. Please join me in praying for the Schreur family as they grieve and miss someone they loved dearly.
The good… It is tulip time in Holland, MI and I love tulips. I am of dutch decent and I love the heritage that has been passed down to me. Tulip time is a very clear reminder of where I come from and who I am. The dutch have some very good and sometimes "trying" personality traits, but who doesn’t? I love going downtown and taking the girls to eat junk food, watch dutch dancers, and get pics by the tulips. I personally don’t go all out with the costumes, but we have fun taking in the dutch heritage. I’m thinking that we might try to go to the biggest parade of the week on Saturday - kids love parades (and so do moms and grandmas). :)
More good… We are getting a lot of things accomplished around our house this spring. We are doing things that we haven’t done before and I hope that it pays off throughout the summer. We are also hoping to tear our our old deck and replace it with new deck and make it bigger. I’m still trying to decide if I want to do composite decking or traditional wood decking. I’m leaning towards the composite decking because it is far less work and neither of us likes to do that kind of "hard" work. I know that it is more expensive to do the composite, but I think that it will pay off in a few years because we won’t have to pay someone to keep our wood deck looking nice. I dunno, I’m still trying to weigh both options. Dan is trying to watch the bottom line, while I am trying to figure out what option is best for us, regardless of cost. I’m the type of person who would rather get it done right the first time and not wish that I had made a different decision. Either way, I am excited to have a bigger deck and to have our yard spruced up a bit. If anyone wants to weigh in on choices they’ve made and how it has turned out, I am open to ideas. Leave me a comment.
Well, I think that this post has been long enough. If you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there with me. I have lots of pictures that I am downloading as I write this, so maybe I’ll be back later this weekend with some tulip time pictures.