hands in mission

As most of you know, my mom is awesome. Approximately 10 years ago, she and a few other people from Remembrance Church in GR began focusing on ways to serve the people in Central America, primarily Honduras. After spending weeks traveling there year after year, they began to form life-long relationships with the missionaries and with the community that is in desperate need of physical, spiritual, financial and emotional support. Out of their passion for serving the needs of this community, they formed "Hands In Missions," a non-profit relief charity that partners with other local churches in providing care to refugee communities in Honduras and other areas they are called to. They even started their own sponsorship program after spending time with and seeing the needs of over 300 refugee children a couple of years ago.

She and approximately 18 other people are leaving Sunday morning for another 2 week trip there to help construst various buildings/additions to buildings including a dormitory for missionary students and a community hall to house a food program and life skills classes. They may also work on constructing a home for a pastor and his family.

PLEASE PRAY FOR STRENGTH AND SAFETY AS THEY GIVE GOD'S HOPE TO A HURTING WORLD THESE NEXT TWO WEEKS!

For more info on this awesome program go to: www.handsinmission.org

miracle

"I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust....He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge...for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." Psalm 91:2,4,11

Tim and I experienced these words come to true fruition on Saturday. We left for Chicago on that morning to spend a day with the extended Keeler family and watch the magnificant play, "Wicked." While on our way there, we battled some snowy weather and slippery roads. At one point, while traveling westbound on I-94 just before the toll road, we moved to change lanes and got caught up in some slush and snow between lanes. This caused the car to lose traction which Tim tried to correct. Despite this, the back of the car didn't regain traction and we ended up spinning at 60 mph, across 3 lanes of traffic and flew headon into the guardrail on the side of the highway. After hitting the guardrail front on, the back end of the car spun around, hit the guardrail and propelled us back across the 3 lanes of traffic to the other side of the highway. Because both airbags went off (and blew out what smelled like gun smoke, making it really hard to breath), the car automatically shut down but Tim managed to bring the car to rest on the side of the road.
This was by far, the scariest moment of our lives. We were truly protected by God's angels as we walked out of the car without any major injuries, only some really sore necks and some burns/cuts on my face from hitting the airbag. As we took time to call the police and our families (and manage not to get hit while standing on the side of the busy highway), we were in shock but were later able to reflect back on the experience. We both can say that it felt like slow motion as we were spinning towards to guardrail and although this is morbid, we both thought "this is it." After hitting the guardrail and our airbags exploding, throwing Tim's hands off the steering wheel, the rest of the experience was in "real time" and was so fast. I remember bracing myself as we spun back across the highway because I thought there was no way the on-coming traffic wouldn't plow into us. We still can't fathom how there was a break in traffic for that very moment...we consider this a true miracle and are so overwhelmed with God's grace. We bow in humble awe and gratitude for the way that He used his power and his angels to protect us in that moment. THANK YOU FATHER!

The Lord continued to provide for us as members of Tim's family happened to be only a few minutes behind us and were able to stop and pick us up. Despite the emotional experience of that morning, we were able to get to Chicago and spend some fabulous time with family (thanks again Dad and Dottie!).

Here are a couple of pictures of the car, a '95 Honda Accord....it was our most favorite car ever! It's still sitting at a towing company in Indiana but we hope to have it towed back up to Holland this week. We are considering it a total loss and now have to face the reality of purchasing another car (and now having a car payment) which wasn't exactly what we had wanted...but we are learning not to dwell on that and just keep praising God for his faithfulness and protection!

myles comes to michigan!

Tara, Mark and Myles arrived on Friday and spent the weekend here in Michigan. It was so wonderful to see them and spend some long awaited time together. Tim and I were blessed to be able to host a get-together at our house so that our family as well as Tara and Mark's local friends could come and see the beautiful fam from California. Myles was a little overwhelmed with everyone and chose to escape through a deep sleep throughout most of the party but when he was awake he was the most loving and happy (smiles on cue!) baby I've ever met! We miss him (and Mark and Tara!) already! We love you, Foreman family!

it's done!

One of our long awaited "projects" is finally completed! I am so proud of Tim and for the way God has gifted him as a "handyman!" :) He is so talented and did such an awesome job on completing our beautiful fireplace! We've had the actual fireplace in for a long time (and have been enjoying cozy wood-burning fires almost every night!) but the stone and mantle were not up yet.
Tim cut and laid all the stone himself. We were blessed by Michael Kanis from church who gave us a BEAUTIFUL walnut beam for our mantle. It weighed about 400 pounds!! Against my suggestion, Tim decided to move this gigantic beam...by himself... down to the basement to stain it and then up to the living room. Yeah, he almost died. Thank goodness no injuries occurred although I have a couple of dents on the staircase wall. :)
The next "mission" was to find a way to actually mount the mantle on the wall. Thanks to Tim's ingenuity as well as him and our friend, Jay Luhmann's, willingness to take a running start across the living room and throw their bodies into the mantle in efforts to get it flush against the wall, the mantle was up but just not where it needed to be. It was quite humorous to watch them sacrifice their bodies this way but also quite painful. After realizing that their bodies were getting bruised and that they really weren't making a difference, they resorted to using a splitting maul to pound it against the wall and this finally worked. Way to go guys!

our baby

Here are a few of our favorite pics of our baby, Bailey! He brings such joy to our lives! We love having his funny yet affectionate personality befriend us every day! Although we know (and I have to convice Tim at times) that our love for a "real" child will be more immense one day, our love for Bailey sure comes close! :) He's almost 10 years old but he's still our baby!






(Bailey and his best friend, Steve, who passed away last year)

weekend happenings

Although I realize our lives aren't that interesting to most people, I thought I'd share a little about our weekend happenings. Tim and I enjoyed a date night together on Friday. We ate at "The Barn" restaurant on Friday night in good 'ole West Olive and I fell asleep early while watching the "captivating" news story about Anna Nicole Smith on 20/20. While I do feel that her passing is a sad thing, it's interesting how enthralled our culture is with one person and how with all that is happening in our world, this is what topped the headlines this week. I wonder how many people, out of all the ones that seem to know so much about her life and her quirks, actually cared about her and reached out to her knowing that she was experiencing so much pain. It makes me think about people in my own life that I know are hurting but it's much easier just to talk about them than it is to actually reach out and help them. Hmmm.

Saturday came and allowed for some good sleeping in time (something that most of you know I excel at) before heading out and running some errands at Tractor Supply Company (one of Tim's favorite new stores), Menards and Wal Mart. We came home and cleaned the house and talked about all the projects we have yet to do before we feel completely settled in our new home. It's been about 5 months now since we've moved and it's still a little slow going. I have the ideas but wish I could just hire someone to do the work for me! I was motivated today and started to sand a chair that needs to be re-painted, only to find out that the paintbrush I thought I had I don't. Oh, what to do.

Saturday night we enjoyed hanging out with the old West Side gang at Dave and Katie Zuidema's house. They introduced us to "Dance Dance Revolution" which was quite entertaining to watch (and try...it's a lot harder than it looks!). At least I didn't suggest watching "Saw III"...right guys? :)

We had an awesome service at church today and were reminded of God's covenant of love for us that does not escape in spite of our past and present shortcomings (read Isaiah 54:10). Our pastor emphasized how we can't truly know this covenant of love unless we have the fear of God - a holy awe leading to humble worship and obedience. I'm praying for more of this as well as for a more steadfast spirit in my daily walk (Ps. 51:10).

Tim just arrived home from his indoor soccer game and unlike usual, they pulled off a big win! Now he is out in the garage determined to find that paintbrush that I already know is not out there. Oh, what to do. :)

brrrrrr.........

The blizzard of '07 has arrived! It's soooo cold (9 degrees...feels like -9... with 30 mph winds)!! Please pray for my hubby as he is currently snow plowing and has a long night ahead of him. He left around 3pm and probably won't be home until 2am. I'm grateful for the income that snow plowing brings in, however, it always makes me a little nervous when he goes out in the kind of weather conditions that everyone else is told not to drive in! Tim is such a trooper and never complains!

I did venture out in this treacherous weather to do some grocery shopping at good 'ole Aldi's...bad timing but we ate the last thing we could think of and the cupboards were empty. As I was leaving the store, I noticed a woman who looked about 75 trying to carry a handful of groceries to her car. I ended up putting her big bag of bird seed in my cart and we pushed it through the snow together...heads down and hunched over. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at how tenacious this woman must be to drive out in the blizzard to get a gallon of milk and some bird seed. She even told me how she was snow blowing her driveway earlier today. All I have to say is: WOW.