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.

Baby,Baby,Baby

I would like to present to you my nephew Isaac Daniel Driesenga, born at 3:59 am on January 13, and making a statment in the world already at 9p 12oz and 22 inches long!

Here is Isaac with his very excited cousins, We even got Levi to say baby Isaac! I can't wait to see them all run around together, more like get in trouble together :)

Levi is pointing to Isaac in case you couldn't figure out which one he is.

We are very happy for you Gretchen and Marc, we love you guys sooooooooooooo much and can't wait to watch him grow up and be part of his life - well the kids and I at least, we may have to keep uncle Joe away :) just kidding!

God has blessed you richly and you will be wonderful parents - cause your life will change ya know, are you ready for this? :) ha ha, we can laugh at it now right?

We love Auntie, Unkle Mac, and baby Isaac!

Oh Mister Sun (Noah's song choice)

So I thought I would share some pictures with you of our first Christmas in our house. This is a picture of the boys (no really) at Fredrick Meijer Gardens before Christmas, we went to see the train and all the trees, this is also a great picture since both of them are actually looking at the camera and smiling. As you can see the boys are amazed at the trolly that kept going back and forth, they could have sat here for hours - no really they could have, they did not care about the trees from around the world as seen below, it was all about the train.

We had a great Christmas Eve with my family, we always do a candlelight dinner and a reading of the Christmas story. Then all the adults (which I am part of now-that's wierd) joke around about how we have to do the dishes and take a walk, then maybe we will need a nap, and then if there is time we can open presents. Noah and Levi did not like this idea so we continued with our tradition. Noah got a scarf which he was very excited about,

and my mom got what she has always wanted - beer :) no really it was a joke but to funny to pass up. The boys also got Cars PJ's which they have to wear at the same time, to avoid fights.

Here is Auntie, and Unkle Marc as they are called, this is one of the last pictures before we get to meet Baby D, man he got loot already this Christmas too, oh to be a kid again. Then we were graced with the presence of Honey and Grandpa for another Christmas on the 29th :), Grandma DeYoung also joined us as well as Aunt Jen, Uncle Kurt, Max, and Avery

The little one's got some appron's, and we all got something for the kitchen, thank you mom for working at a high end kitchen gadget store. If anyone is ever in Easton Columbus check of Sur la Table, it's awesome!
We can't forget about Eddie the new addition to the Colemans, Levi needs a dog I think, he liked the dog more than any of the present's.

We hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas and a great start to your New Year. I hope that this year brings many joys and blessings to all, as well as perserverance through the tough times, because we all know it's not all peaches and nuts :) I praise God for my wonderful husband, and boys, as well as all other family and friends that have supported us and loved us so much.

P.S New Years Day was my one year anniversary of not smoking, and I am still going strong!

I hope my next post will be of pictures of my nephew - and he will finally have a name :)

Mind's Made Up

Please please click this link and read this blog entry. (I am trying to not write anything serious because life seems too serious right now) http://greenchairstudio.typepad.com/green_chair_studio/2007/09/once.html

It is a recomendation of the movie Once. Our friends have been bugging us to watch it for a while now and well as not suprise we haven't, that is until Wednesday night. Now I get why they wanted us to watch it. Check out You-Tube and see everything (seems like most of the movie is there). Great tunes!

WHile you are reading this blog, I encourage you to read the most recent posts and click on Meghan's blog, should be an encouragment to all of us. Please pray for them

Baby, It's Cold Outside

In keeping with my new found Christmas spirit we decided to enjoy our "Snowman Cakes" this evening. Honey gave us these great cake molds that are in the shape of Snowmen (is[s]nowmen capitilized?) What a good time we had, but don't tell anyone that Joe had a good time with yet another Christmas activity.

It all started off inocently enough. We frosted the snowmen with white frosting first and then let the kids go crazy.

While it may look as if Levi is shouting in protest of Daddy offering assistance, the fact is he was screaming Levi words of joy! This picture merely represents a glimpse of the euphoria that Snowmen Cake can bring on!

Suprisingly enough, the snowman that Mommy helped Noah make did not match nor have the trendy styles that are all the craze! (I'm kidding with this, I love my wife and her keen eye for fashion and assure that we all in the Schelling house match)

Levi mistakingly assumed that the cakes were really ice-cream which resulted in...

...the knowledge that this is not an activity that should be done after a bath rather before a bath!

So in the end this is the results. From left to right, Noah, Daddy, Mommy, Levi. I suppose we should have saved these die to the fact that some one some where could say that these are fantasic works of art, or as Noah said right after this picture was taken...

"Ya know Daddy, the best part of all of this is that we still get to eat them!"


Thanks Honey for the molds!

It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas

So we at the Schelling home decided to cut down our own Christmas tree this year, we went to Hart Tree Farm in Rockford and I highly recommend it we really did not see one bad tree. As you can see the boys were just so excited they couldn't contain themselves!

Noah wanted to get this Charlie Brown Christmas tree though

So after about five minutes and the wind wipping us so hard and Noah saying "how bout that one to every tree we walked past", we picked a tree, Daddy told him that he could help him cut it down so here goes nothing!

As you can kindof see Noah is trying to help Joe carry it, that did not last long though.

Well after Joe's fingers about fell off trying to tie the tree to the roof of the van(b/c of the cold) we headed home to set the tree up and decorate it. We had to stop and get some hot chocolate at Noah's request first though. So after the boys decided it was more fun to play with all the ornaments the actually put them on the tree, Joe and I finished it, and we even put up the stockings - not bad for mister Scrooge himself huh?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! From the Schellings

Welcome to the cruel world

If you look closely, very closely, you will find that there is a new addition to "friends in blogdom". I encourage everyone to click on "The Colemans" to see where not only do I get my dynamic beauty, but also why I am the way I am. So welcome to the cruel wold Colemans. Lukee Fag!

How Many Cans

So this is a record in quick posts, so everyone can rest at ease. Which makes me think, can you rest at anxiety? I would think that its a given that if you are at rest, you would then be at ease?

Anyway, Luke and Julie came into town this weekend and we had an opportunity to take the entire clan (Micah, Chole, Jude, Noah, Levi) to a local orchard.


Here is the whole crew of us (minus Jude who was sleeping at the time, I think we left him in the Ida Red section of the orchard). Looking at this picture it is hard to fathom that we have gotten to this point in life. This morning in chruch Luke and I were talking about the free and "easy" days of gathering together at thier house on Newburg at 11pm to drink coffee until about 2am or so. Now, dirty diapers, day trips to orchards, discussions regarding our children's apperant bent to frustrated us in ways never thought possible. For crap sake, we both own mini-vans. How far we have come. We will catch up with a third child someday...hey maybe we should visit St. Louis again so we can take Interstate 55. (ha, ha)

Chole, Levi, Micah, Noah the future of America

This is Chole and Levi after being caught kissing under an apple tree.

Here are the two oldest boys. Micah looks as if he is being forced to enjoy his time with Noah while Noah looks thrilled to spend time with someone other than Levi.

Julie and Emilie

Finally, the two that are important...well you can't see them behind Luke and Joe, sorry

A little housekeeping
I added a link to Noah's school along with a link to Luke and Julie's blog (mostly Julie's) and a link to a dear friend of our's blog. Her name is Michele and she truely is one of the most talented persons we have ever met, not too mention pretty cool! Please check out her blog, it is what this blog dreams of looking like.