Baby Update!

So remember that robin's nest in the back yard hedge? Those babies have been very noisy lately, but we have been trying to stay away so as not to scare away the mother. This afternoon, I thought I would check on how big they were getting. I walked over to the hedge and looked in the nest - empty! Then I looked down. This is what I found:

Two baby robins just waiting for someone to take them for a wagon ride! They sure poop a lot - Tim said he put the wagon there last night, so they must have flown the coop today sometime. That would explain all the noise I heard this morning!

So I took a picture of the girls with the babies, so they can show them off at school tomorrow:

Then I told them to stay away so the mother could feed them. Natalie went to play on the slide, but oops.... look what was behind the playset!

Baby robin #3! He hopped away, which is when I figured out that Babies # 1 & 2 were probably not so much waiting for a ride as STUCK!!! in the wagon. I opened the door and they very shortly hopped out, encouraged by Mom who was waiting in the hedge with a juicy worm!

We then checked on the nest in the front yard (in the red maple on the boulevard) where there had been eggs last Saturday. Mom flew away as we approached, so I stuck my camera up to try and get a picture in the nest (it's too high to see into). Guess what we found?

Looks like they have just hatched! One more egg to go - unless that's the one the kids took out of the nest on Saturday...poor thing!

Photo Catch up (sorry dial up users!)

About a month ago we visited with Tim's teacher and her husband. Her parents have horses, and we took the kids over to the barn after dinner to check them out. I took lots of pictures, saved them in a wrong folder and promptly forgot about them. Until today. Here are some cute ones:

The girls feeding the horses. That Bucky sure was a greedy one! I love the expression on Allison's face in the shot on the left.

Allison again, pretending to be a horse. We tried to lock them in and leave them there....


Natalie was more interested in the big pile of sand!

And Allison AGAIN! But it's a cool shot! Natalie giggling as the cat tickles her face with its tail...



Tim taking his sisters for a ride.
______________________________________________________________
This past week, we discovered a few interesting things in our back yard. They included:

Baby birds! A starling on the left, and newborn robins on the right

Lovely lilacs.


A princess washing her car!!!!!


And who could resist this filthy yet adorable child so intent on digging sand?

A Happy Ending to a Busy, Emotional Week

This was a week for visiting with family. Some of whom we don't see often, some we haven't seen for years. We would much rather have seen them at a different occasion than the unexpected funeral of my grandmother, but that was God's plan for us this week. We were very grateful for the comfort we received from Rev. Nederveen in the funeral address, and for the knowledge that we will see Opoe again. At the funeral service on Friday, we sang the beautiful hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness".

On Saturday afternoon, we gathered together again and sang the same hymn, but at a much happier occasion! My brother Mike was married to Kathryn Helder. It was a truly beautiful day, the weather was perfect, sunny and warm, and we could have a happy ending to the week.

Here is the day in pictures....

The handsome groom and his handsome groomsmen

Kathryn's dad handing her off to Mike

The kiss!

My nephew Reuben (the ringbearer) playing with the car the rings were tied in.

My niece, Olivia, the beautiful flower girl

The bridal couple - don't they look happy?

Bethany playing at the reception (great job, Beth!) and Deanna trying to sneak away with the cake!

Smoosh...

The respective parents doing their toasts

The Dutch Reformed obligatory poem using the letters of "Michael" and "Kathryn" composed and performed splendidly by Tim, Deanna, Bethany and Jeremy.

And one more of the smiling happy couple!

We love you, Uncle Mike and Aunt (for real now!) Kathryn! Have a wonderful honeymoon, and we'll see you when you get back.

A Farewell to My Opoe

Yesterday my Opoe Sandink passed away at the age of 86. She was my last remaining grandparent.
She lived a long and full life, and was relatively healthy right up to the end. She suffered a stroke yesterday afternoon and passed away last night, peacefully, with her children by her side. Her greatest fear over the past little while was that she would die in the night, alone, and no one would know. We are thankful that God did not allow this to happen. We are thankful that she did not suffer, but was taken quickly to heaven, where she is reunited with those of her family that have gone on before.

Some remembrances:

* When I was little, we lived in the duplex beside Opoe and Opa. Often, Mom would find me eating dinner at their house.

* When we had oatmeal for breakfast, Opoe let us add as much brown sugar as we wanted to.

*Opoe made delicious homemade liverwurst from the yuckiest ingredients. She would sew it into old sheets. We ate it fried for breakfast, and cold on bread for lunch. Sounds wierd, but it was our favourite!

* Opoe and Opa had a huge garden in the backyard, full of raspberry canes and gooseberry bushes and all kinds of yummy things. She would make gooseberry jam, raspberry jam and other delicious items...

* When Opa would be angry at us (not often, but it did happen) we could count on Opoe to be there with a hug and a candy. Or a popsicle.

We will miss you, Opoe. How comforting to know that we will meet again, in a place where there will be no sorrow or suffering.