Tante Janny's 80th Birthday

This past Saturday (August 23) was Art's great-aunt's 80th birthday. We celebrated this milestone with an Open House in the afternoon, followed by a delicious dinner for family and close friends. Tante Janny was quite overwhelmed to see how many people came to the Open House. She and her husband always opened their home to students or anyone else coming to London who needed a place to board, a meal or even just a cup of coffee. Though childless themselves, they amassed a large "family" of former boarders and others who loved them. Most of those "sons and daughters" and their families came. It was a very special day!


Checking out the slideshow of pictures from her past.

A few guests enjoying coffee and "gebakkies" (not sure how to spell that one, but they were delicious!)

Some of the flowers and cards she received

Anita VanDoornik organized a scrapbook of all the "boarders", they each did a page.

Standing as we sang "Happy Birthday"

Happenings....

Once again, there has been a lot going on around here. I thought we'd have a few quiet weeks, but it is not to be, I guess!

Tim and Deanna had a WONDERFUL time at Campfire!, as usual. Check out my brother John's blog for pictures. Their counsellors were great, the chaplain inspiring, and they are already talking about next year.

Swimming lessons are over with for another year. Maybe I blogged that already... can't remember. I think I did....

My husband turned 40 this week! I remember my Dad turning 40. It seemed a lot older then than it does now....

Today is Art's great-aunt's 80th birthday. 40 doesn't seem like such a big deal next to that! We have an Open House this afternoon, and dinner after.

Grandma Pieterman has again had a rough week. She was very depressed, and had basically given up. She lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, waiting to "go home to the LORD". She was refusing to eat or do any of her therapies. Her doctor had put her on anti-depressants, and encouraged the family to send lots of visitors, to give her "a reason to live". I took the kids on Thursday to try and cheer her up. They tried their best, but she was not responding too well. We stopped at the apartment to see Grandpa, he was happy to see the kids, so they cheered someone up anyway!
Last night, Mom and Dad called to say that Grandma had decided suddenly yesterday that she better get moving! She wanted to go in her wheelchair and tour the floor (she's still in the Isolation Ward), and was not ready to go back to bed when Grandpa suggested she should. She is much more animated and ate quite well! Maybe it's the medication kicking in, or the visitors; either way, we are thankful she has had this upturn. Her body is healthy and her heart is strong, so she was going to be waiting a long time to die.... we tried to tell her that it was not up to her to decide when was her time, but up to the LORD. She is understandably tired and fed up with being in the hospital. I'd be depressed too!
We hope that she will now recover quickly and be able to go home again!

One more week of summer holidays! I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by! I'm not quite ready for schedules, lunches, homework and all that other busyness that comes with school. I'm not sure Natalie is ready to give up her playmates either! She's gotten quite good at bossing them around. Especially Allison, who is (usually) happy to play dress-up or princess with her!

Enjoy your last week of summer!

Udpdate

Art's grandmother had been recovering well from her amputation in Chatham hospital. She was receiving physio therapy and working hard towards regaining enough strength that she could go home. She was to the point where she could stand on her good leg for 2 minutes, transfer from bed to wheelchair, and transfer into the van.
Then she got a bladder infection, which was, of course treated with antibiotics. She has now contracted C. difficile, a very dangerous infection. The latest we have heard is not very positive, she is now receiving oxygen.
Please pray for healing and recovery for Grandma, and patience for Grandpa. At this point, the prognosis does not look good, but we know that she is in the hands of the Great Physician. His will be done.

*This afternoon, we heard the good news that Grandma is improving, even sitting up in bed eating Cream of Wheat. God is good!*

Just For Stu...

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday, Little Brother...
Happy Birthday to You!!!

And may God give you many more happy years!!!

Finally Slowing Down!

The last couple of weeks have been incredibly busy around here! Art's soccer schedule, Tim's baseball schedule, swimming lessons, sleepovers, all combined to drive me crazy! This week looks to be a little less insane - so far. That could change...

Tim was in playoffs for his baseball league. Fortunately they won both games on Thursday, and the first of two on Friday to win the Gold in their division! If they had lost two games on Friday, playoffs would have continued into next week, when Tim is at Campfire!, and he would have missed out on the "glory". Here he is receiving his gold medal. He was a little disappointed that it wasn't real gold, or at least gold-plated.

And one of the team with the big trophy!

We also had four kids in swimming lessons every day for the last two weeks. We always go to Thames Park downtown for lessons, since there is a nice playground there, and a (free) wading pool. That way the two who are waiting have something to do, and Natalie stays busy too. On Wednesday we picked up Art's great-aunt and took her along for a picnic lunch. Since she and her husband were childless, our kids are pretty much considered her (great?) grandchildren. Natalie sat and talked with Tante Janny for quite a while.

At the end of the two weeks, Tim passed his Level 3, Deanna passed Level 2, and the twins came very close to passing Level 1. Just have to work on those flutter kicks! Although when I looked at Deanna's report card from last year, flutter kicks were not introduced until Level 2, so I might just enroll them in Level 2 next year anyway. They were not too disappointed that they didn't get their badges. And they both learned a lot, so it wasn't a total waste...

Tomorrow, the two oldest leave for Campfire! They are very excited, and can't wait to get there. I hope the weather improves... might have to pack some more long pants and sweaters...

So I am hoping for a bit more of a relaxing week!

Enjoy your day of rest today - I am!

Have a blessed Sabbath!

Just for a Laugh

This morning, I came accross this link on this blog. I laughed so hard, Natalie came to see what was so funny. Check it out for yourself...

A Day at the Beach...etc.

Well, we intended to spend the day at the beach. Or most of the afternoon anyway...
We headed out after swimming lessons with friends of ours to Ipperwash beach. Pretty cool, you just drive out onto the beach, park your van and set up your lawn chairs.
And then it started to rain. And then it started to thunder. So we sat in the van. And it kept raining. And thundering.
We could see blue sky, it just didn't seem to be getting any closer to us, so we decided since we were already in our vehicles, we would go find the sun. So we did. And we ended up in Grand Bend, at around 5:00. But we had a good time anyway, and it wasn't very busy, since most people had left when it was raining.
It has been years since we've been at Grand Bend, I'd forgotten how beautiful Lake Huron can be. The beach was nice and sandy, and the water very refreshing.

With all of Lake Huron in front of her, she still had to have a bucket of water to stick her feet in!


Allison getting buried, and Amanda posing by the big hole!


A race to the water! (Poor Tim was the only boy there!)

Natalie is not too sure about the big lake. Good thing she has her Daddy!
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On a totally unrelated note, this was the scene in my bedroom last Friday night during the big thunderstorm: