A Vander Veen Update...

Hi Everyone! It has been quite awhile since we posted a blog so I thought I would send a quick update. Things have been a little crazy around here... Mostly good, but a few rough patches.

My grandpa has been in and out of the hospital and isn't doing well at all. He is 88 and has lived a long wonderful life. My grandma passed away sixteen years ago and he has lived alone since then. He has taken very good care of himself and has never really had any health complications. He lives in Lansing which is where my mom and dad grew up. My parents went to Lansing to see him a week and a half ago and he couldn't answer the door. They had to call 911 to get into the house and found him in bed unable to get up. So they rushed him to the hospital. Since then he has been in and out of a hospital in Lansing, living is Spring Lake with my mom & dad, and now is in Hackley Hospital. It has been pretty rough on my mom because her brother (my uncle) is stuck in Las Vegas. He was on vacation when this all started and all the flights out of Vegas were cancelled last Sunday. With everyone trying to get new flights, he couldn't get back into GR until tonight. My mom was with my grandpa last night and he told her he has been asking God why he can't just die? It was a pretty tough conversation for my mom to have with him. Then early this morning he almost stopped breathing but he still fought through it. If you all could pray, it would be great. We are praying for two things. On one hand my grandpa says that he is ready to die. He is saved and he knows where he is going. But on the other hand, he talks about how he still wants to be able to drive. So it seems that he is torn. We have been praying that God gives him a peace and for God to give him clear direction. The second thing I would love you to pray about is my uncle. I am sensing two things with him. First of all, I am not sure he is saved. Secondly, when my grandma died, he was not with her. He has had a tremendous amount of guilt from that situation and honestly has never dealt with it. So him being stuck in Las Vegas has been very rough on him. So I want to pray a peace over him, a speedy return, and for God to show himself to my uncle Lon through all of this. I want to pray a healing over him from all the hurt from the past. That God would bring reconciliation in his life. From my understanding, my uncle did get saved at one point in his life. So as far as his salvation, that is between him & the Lord. But I do know that he is not currently living his life for the Lord. He has judged my mom for her relationship with the Lord many times. So I really want to pray that he will see God working through this situation in a powerful way that will draw him unto Him! It is such a blessing to have such huge family of believers. You are all so awesome! Oh Yes... one more prayer request. Elli has been sick and that has caused a few complications with my grandpa. So if you could pray for health in our family so we can do what we need to do, that would be great!

Beyond that, things are going really well. Tori is a little reader and writer so school has been awesome! Both girls are in gymnastics and swimming at the Y. Elli actually has her first swimming on Thursday but Tori is a fish. I think Elli may be a little timid in swimming but we will see. I am coaching a few gymnastics classes at the Y while the girls are in class. I am actually Tori's coach. I thought it would be rough but it has been OK. They are both loving it! Mark is doing great. He is really stepping into his anointing in the business world and it is so fun to watch. He has just finished reading a book called the Slight Edge and it has made quite an impact on him. He is such an awesome man. We just had a 'Hero Day' with our girls on Saturday. We took them to Nana V's work... which is amazing for all you parents out there. We have a thing in our family that whenever anyone does something extraordinary, they earn a hero card. Once someone has earned 10 hero cards, they get to pick an outing. Both Tori & Elli earned 10 at the same time, so we did an extra special combo Hero Day outing. They loved it! I was pretty bummed that I forgot my camera. (Not like me) Well, I think that is about it. Thanks for all the prayers and we all hope everyone is doing well!