And even more water...

We are in the midst of our worst flooding yet. We are so thankful that we're not close to the river and our house is not flooded, but for those who are close to the river, this is a nightmare. We only got a small amount of rain from Typhoon Damrey, but we are so saturated that it seems that the most minor of rains sends the water level soaring. The river rose to its highest level yet yesterday and unlike previous times, it's not really going back down. Things have been very quiet as a lot of roads, schools and workplaces are closed. People stay home to try to protect what they have left and bail water out as it comes in. Grace didn't flood this time, so school is open, but many students don't come. People have been begging the governor for help, but there's none to be had, except from neighbors. Please pray for CM and all the northern provinces. People have lost so much and it's really discouraging. It's getting so bad that some of our members are abandoning much-loved houses they've lived in for years to move out of the flood zone.

Stuck in a rice paddy

Today I was taking three boys home from Gabe's "new, new preschool" as he calls it. Jamin, Mathias and Gabe were all speculating on the ways you could get into our moobaan. I told them that I knew a way they had never seen before, and they were intrigued. They asked if we could see the new way. I felt a bit nervous since I had three children in the car and that road is rather narrow, but I thought "There's not a lot of traffic at this time, I'll show them." This road goes through some areas of thick vegetation and rice fields and is quite tortuous. So I was going slowly to make sure I had enough time to swerve if anyone should be driving carelessly. I was almost to the end of the road when someone did come along taking more than their share of the road. As they passed, I veered a bit too far and felt my wheel go off the side of the road. We had landed one wheel on a low rice paddy and I could tell from the drop that there was no way I could get back onto the road. I got out and was relieved to see that the tire itself was resting on the ground and nothing was damaged, however, it was at least six inches below the road bed. Had I gone off only 2 feet earlier, I would have done serious damage to the front end. I called Mathias' parents to come and bring a board and a jack. As I was waiting for them, 2 farmers came down the road. One was carrying a big machete. The machete carrier didn't even speak to me, just started sizing up the situation. I wasn't quite sure what he was going to do, I just hoped it wouldn't involve the machete. A minute later, the truck that had driven me off the road came back with a load of people. Meanwhile, a bunch of random passers-by stopped to see the show. Still without speaking to me, the men consulted about what was to be done. They decided on lifting the car with their combined muscle power. This is not something I would have believed anyone would attempt as it would involve lifting and pushing at the same time. Their first couple of attempts failed miserably. The group included both young and old, none as large as westerners. As more guys saw what was being tried, they also stopped to offer their muscles. They must have tried 10 times before they even got close to their goal. Finally, with a mighty "Neung, Song, SAAAAM!" (1-2-3), they lifted the car and actually slid it sideways. Mario and Maariane were just into to witness the amazing spectacle.

It has amazed me that every time I have been stranded in Thailand someone (or many people) have stopped to help me. Every time, they had gotten me on my way in a very short time. I am really grateful for how God has blessed us throughThai strangers.

Needless to say, I don't think I'm going to be taking that road again.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!!

I know this is a day late, but here he is in all his splendor!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!!!

Yes, I again thought of you at 8:03 AM today. And you will probably remember the exact time Elinore is born--at least Jen will. Have a great day, celebrating your 26th. Love, Mom

On Friday, Kevin and I headed to Crane's Orchard to pick apples with Megs and Alan. Its so satisfying to pick your own apples. To touch the trees they grew on. It almost makes you feel like you had a hand in their existence. Silly, but satisfying. And, of course, lots of apples means lots of yummy apple things baking and tasting wonderful!!
I wish I had more to say, but life just seems a mix of the usual - working on the house, cooking, laundry, working on crafty projects, desperately trying to motivate myself to keep the house clean. I always think my life is rather boring, or at least that's what I think someone outside looking in would think. But I like it that way. I feel content. I haven't always felt that way. I think that ever since I studied abroad, and then Kevin came into my life. Those two things together just brought about contentedness. I'm going to have to mull this over a bit more before I can write/understand something more substantial about it.
 

Sam can frequently get annoyed by Lydia's curiosity, especially with his toys. But the other day I learned a trick that helped him deal a little better. As I went upstairs to vacuum, I gave him an important mission: "Mama will be upstairs for a few minutes. You are in charge of making sure Lydia is happy. Do you think you can do that for me?" He totally stepped up to the resposibility. I caught him tickling her gently to make her giggle, giving her toys, and even trying to put the gate up at the stairs so she wouldn't be in danger. Maybe instead of telling him "don't tease/yell/blah blah blah" I just need to give him a responsibility to fill. Like father, like son, I guess. 

Football, Football

As I write this, Dad is watching Michigan beat (at the moment) Wisconsin. Eric may be interested in knowing that Wheaton defeated Hope this afternoon. (I won't even mention the score.) As we left Grandpa today, he was watching MSU defeat Illinois. Although I'm not much of a football fan, I must admit that I appreciate the "entertainment" it provides for those like Grandpa. It really breaks up his day. Dad and I were reminiscing with him about all the years we had season tickets for the MSU games. He remembered coming for some games, and we remembered that for you kids the highlights were the thermos of hot chocolate, the snacks, and picking up pop cans and MSU plastic glasses after the game.

Grandpa ate a very good lunch today and seemed to be in better spirits. In terms of his physical strength, he needs to score a 34 before he can be allowed to visit his apartment for a couple of hours. He is currently at 17, so he knows he has a lot of work to do in therapy. Kevin's little TV is again being put to good use; it has become the senior citizens' TV. Grandpa really enjoyed Amy, Sam, and Lydia's visit yesterday and Sam's description of the "tall, tall horse" and the little racing boats at Meijer Gardens.

We hope all of you have a good week and can enjoy this fall weather. For Eric and Ang, we hope for a dry week (if that's possible in Thailand during this season). Mom
PS Michigan lost to Wisconsin in the last two minutes, 23-20.

Promise

When I was coming home today after working on flood clean-up at a friend's house, I saw a rainbow in the sky. I realized with all the rain we'd had lately we'd also had quite a few rainbows. In the midst of the discouragement of our rain and flood dominated life this last month, I'd forgotten about God's promises as well. It was a great comfort to remember his promise to Noah and to all humanity. With all the rain, he has also been sending us a reminder of his goodness.

Drowning...

For the last week or so there's been a big cloud over northern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. It has been sitting over this area and drenching us with rain. This week we've had more flooding. It was almost as bad as last month, but people are getting good at watching the signs for flooding and being prepared. Needless to say, life doesn't go on as normal. Schools have been out for the last two days. On Tuesday, we got word that the river was rising and all students had to go home. It's sort of nice to have a break from the routine but it's difficult to be always worrying about the flooding. The ground is saturated and the reservoirs are full, so with every heavy rain we have a difficult time leaving our house as our street turns into a river. Thankfully, our house was built high and the water doesn't usually come up to our floor level. Today, we decided to take a break from the flood and the work attached to it and went to a hot springs outside of town with our friends. It was a cool place to go. Normally, hot springs aren't very appealling, but with the cool weather the rains have brought made it just right. Here's a picture of some of the signs by one of the springs. One says Careful Heat Water and Careful to slide. We bathed in the hot springs and boiled eggs.

Chicago

Kevin and I spent the weekend in Chicago.
My parents got us tickets to Wicked (the musical) for our anniversary. We had an early dinner at the Berghoff (a German restaurant only a couple blocks from our hotel) where I ate Weiner Schnitzel and Kevin had the trio of sausage plate with saurkraut. Our waiter was so European. He came, asked us what we wanted, and left. No smiles, no chit-chat. It was actually kind of nice, not feeling all buttered up by our server. After dinner we had a little while before our show started, so we wandered around the city a bit. The Celtic Musical Festival was going on this weekend and we managed to stumble across it. We happened upon a dance stage. It was children's classes that were performing. They were so cool! Kevin took some video footage. I can't seem to get it to load, I think it's too big. Maybe Kevin can mess with it later!

We also walked through Millenium park which has this very bizarre metal statue that is extremely reflective. It's sort of like a futuristic park.


We caught the beautiful evening sunset blazing through a city street and reflected off the buildings. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Wicked was lots of fun. Very creative, great characters (some of them hilarious), good story, wonderful singing! A really great weekend!

45 Years Later

Dad and I had a very interesting weekend as we socialized with some older people at his 45th high school class reunion. It's amazing how much THEY have all changed. We had a great tour (on a yellow school bus) of many of the recent changes in Holland (everything from the new Farmers Market to the new buildings on Hope's campus). We ended up at the beach and spent some time there on a perfect, sun-drenched afternoon. Many people were impressed by what has happened to the little town they remember from the late '50's and early '60's. Dad emceed the evening, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

By contrast, Grandpa did not have a wonderful time--or anything close--over the weekend. By yesterday afternoon, he was sooo tired of being in the hospital. Watching MSU beat Notre Dame helped him get through Saturday, but after 11 days, he has had it. We are so hoping they will take out the chest tube today and let him leave for the rehab unit at Raybrook. In hospitals, nothing seems to happen on weekends. We'll keep you "posted":) Mom

May 1994

Did you ever think...

that since no one was there when "God created the heavens and the earth" that he had to reveal it to whoever wrote Genisis?...or to whoever passed it on to whoever wrote Genisis? Do you wonder if he shared the creation story with Adam and Eve as they walked together in the garden?

I thought I'd give you all a little visual update on what is going on with Elinore's room. In one day it went from this 

and this

to this 

and this

Another Change for Grandpa

Thank you all for the great pictures you're posting. We love "seeing" everyone--even those who are now about 24 years older. Weren't they cute? They had probably just gotten home from church; they didn't usually look that way, as I recall.

I wish I didn't have to write this next paragraph. About 6:30 this morning, we got a call from Bette, saying that Grandpa had fallen again and was incontinent much of the time. Home Health Care came this morning and decided that Grandpa will be moved tomorrow to the rehab unit (They don't call it nursing care.) which is on the same campus where they live. They are saying he needs to stay there until he gets stronger and has some therapy, but I'm sure he has seen many people go there and not be able to return to their own place. Please pray that he won't just give up and that Bette will be able to manage everything, including visiting him often. It is really hard to see him like this, especially since he knows everything that is happening.

The Brothers W

MOTHERLY INGENUITY
Lydia was awake before Sam...had a dirty diaper, and there was no clean ones to be found downstairs. Didn't want to wake the sick, grumpy, tired brother, so I improvised. Yes, those are stainless steel chip clips. I may be loosing brain cells each time I give birth, but I think my creativity is improving! 

No Water, No Water....

Wish we could divert some of Chiang Mai's rain to Holland, MI. I've never seen so many brown lawns and dead flowers. Maybe tomorrow....

I talked with Bette this morning, and Grandpa is scheduled to come home this afternoon. Home Health Care will go there tomorrow to assess what adaptations may be needed for them to manage. Bette will certainly change the food he's offered as the hospital kept bringing him meat and vegetables--which he just could not eat. We're hopeful that he will be able to regain his strength. The CT scan showed nothing. Hope you're all managing to stay cool during this September heat wave. Mom

Not Much Change

Grandpa is still in the hospital and had a CT Scan of his stomach today. He could probably go home if his back was the only concern, but if he can't eat, he can't regain his strength. They really need to get to the bottom of what is causing his digestive problems. Once the doctors get the results of today's test, maybe they'll have some answers. Bette's trying to get Grandpa to eat reminds us of parents trying to get young children to eat. We do often end up where we started out. We'll share more as we know it. Mom

Vertebroplasty

This is my new word for the day. It's the technical name for the procedure that Grandpa had today in which they inject an orthopedic cement mixture into the spine. It's only been around for a few years, but is quite amazing in shortening the amount of time needed to heal from a compression fracture. We had a long talk with the doctor afterward; Grandpa tolerated the procedure well and should be able to go home by Sunday. The doctor warned Grandpa that he would probably have a rough night tonight after the anesthetic wore off. He seemed in good spirits when we left but was quite sleepy. Thanks for your concern and prayers. Love, Mom

Personalities

My brother decided to guess at our personality types on his weblog, and I kind of wanted to see if I could guess all of you. I am linking the website with the descriptions of the personality type to the letters in green. Even though these things have limitations, sometimes they can be useful in helping us to understand one another. This personality website has an interesting feature that has been of use to Eric and I. When you click on the link, it should come up with a page on your personality type. If you go to the bottom of the page, there is a heart icon (this icon may not show up). Click on this icon (or where the icon should be) to take you to the relationships page. At the bottom of the relationships page is a section on strengths and weaknesses of your personality type in regard to parenting. This has given Eric & I a lot of insight into our differing styles of parenting.

Dad-

ESTP

-"The Doer"
Mom-

ESFJ

-"The Caregiver"
Eric-

ENFP

-"The Inspirer"
Ang-

INTP

-"The Thinker"
Brian-

ESTJ

-"The Guardian"
Amy-

ISFJ

-"The Nurturer"
Kev-

ESTP

-"The Doer"
Jen-

ESFP

-"The Performer"

Also, I found interesting stats on how much of the population shares each personality type. Since Eric always says that the generalities that apply to women do not apply to me, I was not surprised to find that my personality type was quite rare among women. In fact, it is rare in the population in general, so if you all feel like I'm strange now you know why:) If you would like percentages, let me know.-Ang

Grandpa

Grandpa fell this morning and suffered a compression fracture of one of his vertabrae (at least that was the pre-CT scan diagnosis). He is in Blodgett Hospital and will have a "procedure" tomorrow (putting "cement" in to strengthen the bone). I'll keep you posted, but please remember him and Bette in your prayers as he is in quite a bit of pain. I'll probably go there tomorrow.
I'm enjoying the pictures of our beautiful family. I think it'll be a while before Dad and I find an appropriate picture to post. Mom

Check this Out

and for mine 

test for profile 

Boxes of Memories

As some of you know, I spent a couple days last week at my parents’ house cleaning out my old room. Don’t ask me why I still hadn’t done it. I knew that once Elinore is born, the chances of getting through all of it will get much slimmer. My sister now has a full-time job in Naperville, so she wanted to be able to use my room as an office, and my mom has moved her sewing machine in there and needs a bit more space.

It is always so strange finding old things - the rush of memories, the silly notes, the old sports mementoes. I was amazed at some of the things I had saved. A napkin from the restaurant I went to on a date, a particularly good fortune from a fortune cookie, dried corsages from numerous dances. It seems so silly, and yet I can remember thinking those things were so important.

There’s a high school girl I know right now whose two year relationship has just ended. Needless to say she’s really upset, and struggling to deal with it. She speaks as though it is the end of her world and her entire future life has been thrown into the unknown, and for her it has. I remember feeling like that…whether it was the cute boy I passed in the hallway, the next gymnastics meet, or the next test looming over me. It always felt like my entire fate rested on each of those things, and now it all seems so silly. Why didn’t someone tell me that I was being so dramatic?? Of course, maybe someone did, and I just couldn’t hear them…or laugh at myself. And when did it all fizzle? I’m sure there are still things that hit me today with the full force of the world, but they are much fewer and farther between. And of course, Kevin won’t hesitate to make me laugh at my ridiculousness.

In other news, Labor Day weekend was great. The weather couldn’t have been better! Kevin and I worked hard, and have finally finished (aside from having the floor carpeted) the spare bedroom that has taken us all summer. We used a yellow we had left-over from our room, and since neither of us are real fans of yellow (as in painted rooms), we had intended to sponge paint another shade of yellow overtop for a bit of “spice”. Once the room was entirely painted, Kevin and I were amazed at how much we really like the color. It is so warm and rich! We were hesitant to sponge, but decided to try a small section of wall anyway. Well, today I painted over what we had sponged because we just decided we like the plain golden yellow much more!

So, sometime this week we’ll start Elinore’s room! The good thing is that we have lots of motivation to finish this one!

Love to you all, and glad to see that everyone is posting!!

Our warm golden room. Notice the wonderfully textured ceiling (Kevin worked hard on that). Once we finish Elinore's room, we will carpet both of these rooms at the same time. 

My two baht

Howdy gang...thought it about time for me to write something, especially now that I can do this at home. Best try to get up to speed before we go really high tech with, like, a cordless phone or DSL or something...Thanks for the pictures, B&A...looks like a great place to be a kid. On a related note, where did you happen to get that mat with all the roads, etc.? Gabey is into cars big time these days...Anyway, thanks for starting this up (Jen), and for all the "blogs" (sounds a bit like something you cough up, yes?) Seems like a great way to get stuff "out." E

I feel like I'm hogging the blog space!! Sorry....I couldn't figure out how to do this in a more space saving way. Eric & Ang asked for pics of Sam's room, so here they are. Sorry to everyone else who sees this all the time... :) Amy

Brian constructed this tree to be a bookshelf. He has yet to finish the top, but I did give him a deadline of Sam's high school graduation. We cut the window for ventilation and coolness factor.

Brian extended the top level of the "closet" floor on the diagonal and put wood flooring in. He covered the walls with indestructable wooden slats and ceiling...ideal for an active almost 3 year old. He also painted the wall to look barn-ish and has plans to extend a sort of roof over top.

Keeping in mind what HE would have liked to sleep in if HE were young, he designed the bunks under the slanted ceiling. The beds are just shy of "normal" size, so we had custom mattresses made.

We found some more space behind this wall, so Brian made it into a closet. It's the perfect height for kids clothes. 

A little kids room wouldn't be complete without cubbies...so Brian built a few for his cup, books, toys, future flashlights, midnight snacks. 

Rain, rain...

It seems that water is an issue everywhere. It has caused utter chaos there in the States and we live in constant fear of it here. Today at our monthly Vineyard prayer meeting one of our friends shared that some of the people in the village in which he works were swept away by floods. It has rained harder on Wednesday night than I can ever remember. Eric woke up to see a river flowing down our street. As usual, in the morning, people were sweeping the floodwaters. I can't say I understand why people do this, but I guess people want to do something and sweeping is as good as anything. Although the river is high, it still hasn't overflowed much, but people are constantly worried about a repetition. I see people filling sandbags all the time. In other parts of Thailand, they can't get any rain and they fear another year of drought.

The rain made for a cool day today. It felt like a cool fall day in America, except we know it won't last.-Angela

Katrina

I have attempted to listen/watch some news on this every day. I can't put out of my mind how maddening it is to see poor, black families put into deeper hell by being subjected to living like pigs in that superdome. I know everyone is supposedly doing all they can to get help there, but hearing how people are stealing from eachother just to survive, seeing dehydrated, naked children and watching the dead be covered with sheets and pushed to the edge of the sidewalks...it's just inhumane. It is so unfair that the weathy escape and the poor are left to suffer. I can't put into words how desperate I feel to do something that actually helps. I wish we were close enough to offer housing.

This quote from Sojourner's Magazine:
The final irony of New Orleans is that the people who normally fill the Louisiana Superdome are those who can afford the high cost of tickets, parking, and concessions. Now its inhabitants are the poor, especially children, the elderly and the sick - those with nowhere else to go. Those with money are nowhere to be seen.

I heared last night that a caravan finally arrived with goods. Let's pray it gets better from here and we really learn how to help our fellow man.
Amy