Diamonds On The Souls of Her Shoes

Well we are back from C-bus as we like to call it, and we had a great time with Honey and Grandpa. We had "good times" hanging out at the pool and nights on the back patio.

Levi was very daring this summer and jumped right in, that scared the crap out of him, but after he realized that he could walk in at the steps and not go under, we could not get him out. Noah was also a great swimmer and even swam without his swimmies, which he was very proud of.

Here are some more pictures of the pool and the famous Honey,who by the way has a great new pair of Chaco's flip flops that she loves and do not look like skis :)

Levi did need some discipline over the week :)

At the last minute on the 4th of July (which had been a not so nice weather day) I, with the help of my oldest son got everyone to go to the fireworks. As a wise boy once said (with no help) "wouldn't you rather go spend time with your family at the fireworks that stay here and watch them on the TV" Thank's Noah !

This is what Levi thought of the Fireworks - need I say more?

This is Joe in his "little bit edgy" phase. No really, I am soooooooooooooooooo proud of him, he quit smoking on saturday June 30 and is doing so well.

and last but not least here is a picture of Grandpa, which Honey informed us was actually a good pic :)

Joe even got to go bar hoping with Kelly and his friend Brian one night, he felt like a real man he told me. He also found a new favorite beer - Boddingtons, as they tried a wide array of beers through out the week.

This is how tired the boys were by the end of the week, Noah asked to go to bed at 6:30 and Levi went at 8, this is how I found them at 8:30

In other news, the tree is gone, I know no one else is excited about this but we are so you get a picture of the wide open space in our front yard now!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th! That's all for now folks.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

To all of you who have been praying, Thank you.

For those of you who do not know my dad had a heart attack last Wendesday, he is ok they put two stents in, and he is ready to get back to painting the bathroom :)

There is nothing like getting that phone call to send your heart racing. We praise God for sparing his life and continue to pray that we will never take a single second for granted again. It was very emotional driving thru my tears to the hospital alone (Joe was on his way in from meeting with a client in grand haven) and not knowing if this was the time that the Lord had chosen to take him home. It is hard to understand in those moments that it is not up to us, God is in control. Noah is very and I mean very attached to my dad or Opa and we prayed all the way from our house to where I dropped them off, he asked me if he could die and it was very hard to tell him that yes, Opa could die. I'm sorry I am getting so worked up, it just hit me very hard that it takes something like this to realize the day to day things you take for granted. I LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!

In lighter news we finally got flowers for the front of our house. My parents and I went to Motmans Greenhouse last week and they are having a huge sale so we were able to get stuff for really cheap. It will be fun to watch all of this grow up and out every year, and yeah we are not the house everyone drives past and looks at in a bad way anymore :)

Also we were informed that the huge tree next door is coming down next week. YEAH! yes this is the tree that is causing out root problem in the sewer line and, it is always a worry in big storms. We are leaving on Saturday to go see Honey and Grandpa so here is the last pictures of the tree before it is gone :) Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and I will post when we get back from a wonderful relaxing week at the pool !

See Joe's car there in the corner? now you realize how big it is.

Bumblebee

So I just have to share with you all one of Levi's little quirks. Among other things Levi's body does not like bug bites, (kindof like his honey) this picture is of his ear that some bug decided to attack yesterday. Joe did take him to the doctor today to make sure that is what it was, and yes it is and there is nothing we can do except as a mom feel so bad for my son, and Benadryl for the itching.

We also had the chance to hang out with Honey and Grandpa a week ago. They got a chance to witness Noah's last T-ball game of the season, and walk to our favorite ice cream store. We Love you Honey and Grandpa, and we will see you in 12 days :)

That's all for now, until next time !

Deep and Wide

This is a lot sooner than I thought it would be, like I think it has been an hour. Anyway I am having a good morning and I go to take a shower, everything is fine except when I finish I hear water pouring out somewhere. I check out the window, no. I check the hallway, no. I hear it coming from down the laundry shot, I run downstairs and there is water all over the floor from the half bath, going on the landing and down the steps. I continue to run downstairs and water is coming down everywhere from the pipes by the washer.

Luckily one of the blessing of my tuesday morning bible study is LaKeesha's husband is a plummer, I called her up and he is coimg over this afternoon, the water has stopped for now, i just can't go to the bathroom. It seems as if our line is clogged (Joe) :) JK Just thought I would give you all a laugh.

Also here is a picture from Noah's Graduation. Levi Couldn't stay away.

To Late to Apologize

Ok, so I know I suck and the three people that read this are bugging me to update so I apologize to you and I will try and be better at keeping this current :)

Joe's job is going really well, and God has blessed us immensely and shown us that this is where he want's us right now. I ask for your continued prayers as we following his lead and continue this journey.

It is Noah's last day of school today and he is sad, he thinks that 1st grade could not possibly be better that Kindergarten. I think he is sad because he will not see his Best Friend Aidan every day now. Noah has also been playing Tee ball which has been such a blast to watch him. He is a good player, (besides they playing in the dirt while he is in the outfield)he is bored out there he told me.

This is Noah trying to intimidate the other team, talking some smack :) No, he has done really well and my parents have come to every game so Noah has the biggest cheering section.

We also went to Columbus over spring break, I know that was a long time ago but go along with me. We had a great time making pizza's and just hanging out with Honey and Grandpa. We will be going back the week of the 4th for our annual vacation, we can't wait to swim.

This is Levi's Best Friend!

It fits him well don't you think? Do I see a future here?

Anyway we have had some sleepovers and most recently a field trip to the Dairy Farm, that smelled wonderful let me tell you.

Like three pead in a pod!

They were all more excited to see the few horses than the stinky cows. This is Marah, Alexis, Aidan and Noah.

This is Aidan and Mrs. Haan, one of the great perks to having your kids in the same class is the mom's get to hang out. I feel very blessed to have Michele as a friend.

Last but not least we are enjoying spending time with baby Isaac who is growing like a weed. We just helped them move this past weekend. It is very bazar to me that after growing up on the North end, now all of us are on the South side, and all within 5 miles of eachother. It great though, good friends and family can get you through anything.

Blessing to all, and I hope the summer will be filled with laughs and good times. Until next time, and yes I promise it won't be this long between posts. :)

Love of a Lifetime

June 5th 1999

Consider this a public apology for working too much, being too selfish, not listening, and all the other things I have done to make these last 9 years "eventful".

To think that it all started in a coffee shop...here's to being scruffy with potential!

I love you!

Sweetest Thing

Ok, Ok I know it has been a very long time since we have updated and I apoligize, things have been a little crazy around here including eating dinner as a family - I know crazy stuff huh?

Things are going well for Joe, he is doing alot of marketing right now and getting his clients together. We are alll healthy for a change, man am I ready for spring!

I will try to let you in on the major events around the Schelling household, here goes.

Levi has gone potty on the potty once, yes I said once. I was all excited and bought Pull ups, but he decided it was an attention getter and doesn't care anymore. Oh well we have time yet.

We witnessed up close and personal what happens when you put a pack of Mentos in a 2 liter of Diet Coke.

Joe toke on the project of putting down new flooring in the entry way, good job Honey! (my Honey, not the Columbus Honey)

It looks sooooooooooo much better, the red fake brick look wasn't really us.

Then I got to go on a field trip with Noah's class to the zoo, oh yeah the zoo in the winter. I have to say though there were a lot more animals out than I thought so it was pretty fun, plus Michele (Aidan's Mom, and my friend)went to so we got to hang out, thank's for the fun company :) This is the two boys who are "best buds" as they say when they toast with there milk.

Oh wait that isn't the monkey's :)

We had the pleasure of going to Isaac's baptism in February. I am also putting my Auntie knowledge to use, I am watching him on Wednesday's so Gretchen can go to work. Levi loves the special cousin time he has when Noah is at school. Can you tell he is a Zuidema? Most recentlly we went to hang out with the Haan's for a night of laughs, as you can see by the pics below. Thank you guys for the great time of fellowship. Noah and Aidan (or Mr. Incredible and Spiderman.)

Noah, Aidan, Rileigh, and Meghan, (Meghan you look like a alien)

Well that is it for now, we are enjoying spending time as a family (as I say that Joe is on his computer playing chess, and the kids are sleeping, good family time huh?) speaking of computers, a big thank you goes out to Michael and Calvin College for the new computer for Joe.

We are learing how to fully rest in the faithfulness of our Lord and trusting that he will provide for our needs during this transition time. We still feel strongly that Joe is following his will for our family, and Joe is getting great feedback and being clearly shown the strong need for what he is doing. I ask for your continued prayers, as some days are harder than others (especially for me) pray for perserverance, and that the Lord will truly come alive in out hearts. Pray that this will be a huge testimony of his love for us and he receives the glory. That's it from the super heros:)

Trust and Obey

To all who stumble across this blog I would just ask for your prayers this week as we are making a big change in the Schelling household. Joe has been offered an amazing job and as of February 1st he will no longer be at Hope Network. This job will be through BRAINS- Behavioral Resources And Institute for Neuropsychological Services and he is writing his own program (Joe's edit: this has not been purely by myself, many people have worked very hard to establish it with me) which is called CITY -Community Integration for Teens and Youth, which is helping parents and children(for more in depth explanation you can talk to Joe). This is Joe's dream job really and we feel so blessed to be given this chance. We ask that you pray for this program to take off so to speak, and it would all go smoothly. He has a waiting list of clients already and we pray that the word gets out about this program and more clients will be blessed by it. Joe will be also working at Pine Rest a little until the program is fully under way. This is a huge step for us and we are going ahead knowing that this is what God is calling him to do, and that the success of this program is going to be a testment to His Glory. We know that are faith is going to be tested which is a good thing but sometimes hard to see in the process, and we know that the Lord is watching over us and we need to trust that we will be taken care. (I'm sure I will have to remind myself of this often) I am so proud of Joe for taking this on, and the passion that he has always shown for this type of work, I know the children and parents will be blessed through him and that he will be blessed by them as well. I Love you Joe and I know you can do this!



We also would ask that you keep our dear friends the Haans in your prayers, Meghan has been going through some very, very rough days with the Chemo and the drugs that have been used. There family is a tue inspiration to us, and there faith has shown us what a great example of trusting in the Lord is to look like. Meghan, you amaze me girl, keep fighting! the Lord will never let go.



Thank you for your prayers,

The Schelling Clan

Any Other Way

Noah had a snow day yesterday so we decided to take advantage of it and spend some quality time together. The boys wanted to play outside of course so we bundled up to go play.

This was a fun game, go down the slide on the sled and then mommy pulls us around the backyard like a rocket ship. Let me tell you if you want a workout this is perfect.

There is something to playing outside with your kids that is relaxing almost. It's nice to just stop and take time to enjoy your children. I get so caught up sometimes in making sure that everything is clean, the laundry is done, the house is not a pit,etc... the list could go on, that I forget to really enjoy the gifts that God has so richly blessed us with. I love my boys and they mean everything to me ( including my big kid). Today was a good reminder that these days go fast and I need to enjoy them more. I admire Joe in the way that when he is home it is all about the boys, that is just one of the many things I love about him.

So to add to the day we went in to make cookies and have hot chocolate, really we did it so the boys could lick the beaters and go watch a movie after the first batch was done, but oh well it was fun and daddy enjoyed the treat when he come home.

We had a great day, even though Noah was sad he couldn't go to school and he missed Art day, he told me he was little grumpy because of that but I made up for it :)

Enjoy the people you love and tell them you love them often,( that goes for me to), you can never do it enough! Hug and laugh often, it can cure more than you know.