Pictures from Mark & Jen

I know some of you don't really get to see our kids very much. So I thought I would post some pictures. (Thanks to Katie for the adorable pictures of Kendall and Hunter.) This is from this summer. Elli is on the left and she will be three in December. Tori is on the right and she turned five in July. They are the best of buddies. As you can see, they LOVE to be matching. (Thanks Auntie Kim for finding the adorable suits!) It is a blessing to mommy because I love it. Hope everyone is doing great!

Grampa & Gramma TerBeek

Well How ya all doin?
I'm Just fine all done with surgery on my hands, I am looking out at a
BEAUTIFUL DAY , Just to let you all know Sandy My Niece is looking for a roommate, a Christian Lady to help with the home expenses, so if you know someone or know someone who knows someone, please let us or her
know. Thanks. also on the blog from Mark I entered a comment about all
the grandkids that went to summit , and I would like your input about that
experience in your life. Can you think of anything to be thankful for this
year? We are thankful for all of you wonderful kids, Grandkids and Great--
Grandkids. and SOOOOOOO MUCH MORE.
We are really enjoying our new Pastor he is A Nut and so He makes Church fun . Rachael wowed the doc last week when she went for her
first check up and walked in with a cane, the Doc. said almost everyone
who has two knees done comes in , in a wheelchair, and her flexability
in her knees (of course) was GREAT!!! So only a few more ???? of thearapy and she will be. Dancing maybe? We I think are ready for winter
that is as ready as two old people can get. Well I guess that is about it for
now we love you and pray for you all .
O.G.I.G. Gramps

Driving in Honduras

Hey family! SO...tomorrow Tracy (close friend from home) and I are going to be traveling by car to Copan, Honduras which is close to the Guatemalan border....PLEASE PRAY :). I have never driven in Honduras and driving in Latin America is VERY different than back home. I have also never been to Copan so this will be an adventure on ALL levels :). But I'm up for it and I'm just asking you to pray for safety, good weather, direction (i don't want to get lost ;)) and FUN! Thanks you guys, what a blessing it is to know I can call out the prayer warriors for something as small and simple as vacation safety! Anyway, have a wonderful Thanksgiving...I won't be around to post, but please know I am thinking about home, family, and turkey ;). I am THANKFUL for you!

Love Tash

Bueniis Dias FROM THE STICKNEY'S

Greetings YALL,

WE THOUGHT WE HAD BETTER POST A BLOG FOR THE FIRST TIME EVEN THOUGH WE HAVEN'T GOT TOO MUCH NEW AND EXCITING TO SAY. WE HAVE SETTLED INTO OUR NEW HOME IN WEST OLIVE AND ARE LOVING IT. AVA IS GROWING LIKE CRAZY AND MAKES US LAUGH EVERYDAY, SHE'S THE NEW STICKNEY HOUSEHOLD COMEDIAN. HARLEY(our dog) ENJOYS COUNTRY LIFE AS WELL AS JUMPING INTO THE POND AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WILL STAND THERE THROWING A BALL FOR HER.

TINA IS WORKING PART TIME DOING BOOK KEEPING AND CORY HAS BEEN WORKING TWO FULL TIME JOBS, BY DAY A SALESMAN, BY NIGHT A CAMO DRESSED BUCKLESS HUNTER AT LEAST UNTIL LAST WEEK.

WE WON'T BE BLOGGING TOO MUCH, WE DO NOT HAVE A HOME PHONE OR THE INTERNET. CORY HAS BEEN SEARCHING FOR GRUBS IN THE BACKYARD TO COOK OVER AN OPEN FIRE. : ) WE HAVEN'T DECIDED WHETHER OR NOT TO SELL OUR VEHICLES AND GO BACK TO HORSE AND BUGGY. JUST THINK OF ALL THE FUEL WE COULD SAVE.

WITH ALL THE COMEDIANS IN THE HOUSE TINA HAS DECIDED TO KEEP HER FEET ON THE GROUND SO THAT THE HOME IS WELL ANCHORED. :)

FOR YAALS INFORMATION THE FOLLING LIST IS SHORT LIST OF GOODIES FOR SALE
1. 9 SNOWBLOWERS--100--225
2. 1 45 FOOT GREAT DANE SEMI TRAILER--1000
3. 10 ACRES OF LAND IN ALLENDALE---56TH AND M-45
4. 1987 BUICK REGAL WITH 10 SWITCH HYDROLICS--Yes you can drive it on 3 wheels!!!
5. 7.65 bolt action hunting riffle with weaver scope and case-200
6. ford 8n tractor-2800
7. 1979 pontaic trans am-white w/blue bird
8. jeep libery 3.7 engine--500
9. 2 rusty wagon wheels-free
10. designer chandalier --56'' x 18'' hand hammered copper--robert kuo-baker furniture-600
11. horse saddle--outback style-200 (i don't think crocadile dundee used it either fyi)
12. ......

I thought I would quickly interrupt Cory's...UHHHMMM.. listing so you can get on to reading the rest of the Blog! : ) Love you all and hope everything is going well in your world!

Signing off,

The Sticks!
Cory, Tina, Ava & Harley

This is hunter and I, we put paint on our noses and we were touching them together. It was really fun and cute. Precious moment with the kiddos. It's hard being on the other side of the country from family. But pictures like this help keep you close to home. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Katie

this is kendall polavin, Paul and anne's little girl I thought it would be good for you all to get an updated pic of her. Isn't she adorable? It looks like she is posing here for a picture shoot, but really she is just cute. So here you go enjoy. Love you all

Katie

Stelly Jelly Bellies Here

Dear Family,
Well, with Kristina's help I have finally made it to post a comment on our faboulous Family Gathering Bolg Thank-you Stacey, what a great way to keep in touch. Weston had his tonsils out this afternoon so say a little prayer for a speedy and uneventful recovery. We wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving. If anyone has any great game ideas I would appreciate them. We have the company Christmas party @ our house this year. I sure am thankful for all of you. Family is what life is really all about. Family and leaving a legacy such as O.G.I.G and Reformation Day Stories. Don't you all just love the logical flow of my thoughts...... it's a joke. I am..... can you all say it together RANDOM Spontaneous........Bye for now Auntie D.. for Darling Donna

Howdy! Jen here!

Hey everyone! I thought I would just say hi. I loved reading all the blogs from you guys. I especially loved the ones who were answering Mark's question. It is so cool to see the differences and similarities with everyone. I have something I really wanted to throw out to everyone. For all the married couples out there, I have an unbelievable book for you. It is called Love and Respect. Probably most of you don't know about the journey that Mark and I have taken on our almost ten years together. (WOW!) However, if you would describe it in one word, volitale would be accurate. If you know anything about personality types, we are as opposite as can be. But God knew what he was doing. Now as we are learning to work together smoothly, we make one powerful team. But the process of learning has been a little more than difficult. (By the way, he would tell you the same thing.) But we have both earnestly sought out the Lord and have grown and changed, along with some supernatural counseling! Anyways, I said all of that to tell you that I have read a lot of marriage books. But I have never read anything as powerful as this Love and Respect book. I think that every couple and especially anyone who mentors young married couples should read it. Anyways, that's all for today.

PS: Thanks Lisa for the recommendation!! It great how little sisters can help their big sisters!!

** Also, I love to read. So if have any book recommendations, let me know.

Whoa

So, It´s sort of been a while. And, I have a TON of work that I should be doing. Therefore, settle in and get comfotable, because this will probably be long. :) So, the last you´ve heard, I went camping. It was so much fun. Imagine a smallish island, then add a few craters, a TON of Moai, a couple Rapa Nui Romeos (the male islanders who happen to appreciate the gringas), amazing beaches, and 16 gringos. That would be a pretty good description of our week. On my favorite day, we rented a ¨family van¨ and drove to all of the famous Moai platforms and visited a pink sand beach. Then we made up the rest of the food that we had left and had a big dinner, family style. So here we are in our family van:

And a group shot of us reading about the Moai. See, we even made the vacation educational! :) Apparently the Japanese helped fund the restoration of one of the platforms.

So that was Easter Island in a nutshell. The next big event, aside from school and studying and tests of course...was Halloween. It´s not really celebrated here, but we had a gringo costume party. I was an angel, ¡claropo! Nothing super exciting. I followed it up with some more studying, homework, tests, and papers.

We left for a city called Pucón on Thursday night. It´s about a 12 hour bus rideto the south, so we arrived early morning Friday. There were a bunch of activites planned for us to learn about the Mapuche culture. It´s the largest surviving native culture here in Chile and was exciting to learn about live...they gave us food... On Saturday I went whitewater rafting in the morning. Class 3 - 3.5 rapids, nothing too thrilling, just enough to get you a little damp. Then I went horseback riding through the lower parts of a volcano, beautiful scenery. And...they let me gallop...I´ve never been before. I ended my day at the hospital. One of my friends here had gotten sick, and she couldn´t keep anything down. The problem is, she´s allergic to sugar, so if we let her get too dehydrated, we couldn´t give her any of the normal juices and mixtures and such. So we went to hospital thinking it would just be a quick visit. It turned out that she had a gastrointestinal infection and needed to spend the night. So we did. She´s much better and home resting now, but it turned out to be a little bit of drama. And I´m fine, we think it was from a virus she caught earlier and then the stress of this month brought it out. So, Sunday I was exhausted all day but we went on a tour of the region followed by a long stay at the hot springs. Lovely! Not so lovely was teh bus ride back. Another 12 hours to arrive at 7:30am on a Monday morning followed by a full day of classes. Asi es la vida.

Let´s see, other goings on in my life...I´ve been spending a lot more time with my youth group here. We recently had some people from Texas here and they had some Michigan connections, and anyway, the talk turned to football, and it came out that one of the guys is an Ohio State fan. And so I will be receiving a humbled e-mail after the game. Which I unfotunatly am not able to watch.

Ok, I think I can head out now. I´ve spent enough time not doing what I should be doing. It is late for me, and I need to catch up on my sleep. Oh, and prayer request. So it´s taked me probably about two and a half hours to write this because I was mostly chatting with a friend of mine here, Lizzie, who will be returning with me next semester. She is very liberal, and very open about her beliefs with me, and they do not include Christianity. She knows that I´m a Christian though, and we´ve actually been able to talk about it some. Her experience with Christians hasn´t been great, so we were talking mostly about forgivness. Anyway, just pray that I can be the witness that she needs to see right now the next time you get a chance. And now...I will be going to bed!

Paula

Gracias!

Thanks Aunt Renee for the package! It was so great to get a surprise...I received it last week during one of our cold spells and the socks where SO cozy! Thankyou...I feel loved.

Just a quick Tashina update...School is going very well, one of my students was expelled last week...and he was quite a problem! We have parent-teacher conferences today...which is always a busy, long day!

I have a friend coming to visit Nov. 20-Nov. 27 over Thanksgiving and Paula is coming to spend a month or two with over Christmas...I won't be coming home over Christmas break, so this is the next best thing! By the way, if any of you EVER want to head south for a warm vacation...let me know! Talk to you soon!
Tashina

Freedom!

Hey Everyone. Jen here. At the risk of sounds almost sappy, I wanted to tell you about an amazing woman that Mark and I got to listen to about a month ago. Her name is Anka and she just recently became a US citizen. She was born and raised in Romania. Then she met her husband online and move to the US after getting married. For about an hour she told us about her experiences growing up in a socialistic government. She told us horrific stories about waiting in lines for 3 hours to get a liter of milk. That milk was to last her family a month. She told us how her father was taken to prison because he refused to serve as uncover spy to rat out anyone who was not loyal the current government. (I forgot the name of the man who was in charge.) And in her words, "Prisons in Romania are not like prison here. Prisons here are resorts." She told us about how amazing it is to have stores full of items to buy. If they somehow were lucky enough to save up money, they would go into stores that had empty shelves. She also told us that it was everyone's dream to be able to live in America. Why do I share this? Because today I was so blessed to be able to go in and vote. She told us that they did have elections in Romania. Unfortunately there was only one name on the ballot. What a blessing it is to live in a free country. For those of us who have never experience a world that is not richly blessed and free, it is so easy to take our country for granted. So today when you go into vote, think of all the people in this world who would give just about anything, including their lives to be able to do what we are doing today. I also couldn't help but think about all the men and women who have fought and given up their lives and portions of their lives so that we can be free. Thanks to all you military men and women!! Have a blessed day!

PS: By the way, Anka also lived through the revolution of Romania. Her father fought to overtake the leader (name?) and Romania is now free. (I am not up on all my history.) I can't remember the year that occurred but it was awhile ago. She told us that there is still A LOT to rebuild the country. It really gave me amazing insight to what it will take to rebuild Iraq.

HEY! It worked!

This try got a "Please Lord, let it work this time" and here it is! The other one is the view so you can see we really were quite a ways up!
Kim

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!

A question....

Hello everyone! Mark here. I was thinking about the blog this weekend and I realized that it can be more than just a way of keeping each other updated about the latest news. We can also use it to learn more about each other. So, I thought I'd give it a try by asking a question prompted by a book I am (re)reading right now.

The book is called "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkinson, and it's one of the best books I've ever read (and that's saying a lot :) ). The basic premise of the book is that God gives everyone a "Big Dream" that they are meant to accomplish during their lifetime. Most of us don't pursue it though because there are so many things trying to hold us back like finances, time commitments, self image, and the big one - FEAR! Yikes!

So, here is my question: What is YOUR "Big Dream"? What are you passoinate about? What makes you come alive? What would you do with your life if nothing was holding you back???

We have such an amazing and diverse family that I can't wait to hear what your answers are. I'll post later to let you know what mine is...

No Pics...

Sorry guys - after repeated attempts at getting those pictures published as I'd said, I can't seem to figure it out and for now, I've gotta be done trying if ya know what I mean!? =) I'll try again later - maybe it'll go smoother then! See Grams, you're not the only one who has issues with this thing sometimes!! =)

Velderman Happenings

Hello Everyone!!!!
It's been a little while since we've posted so I thought it may be time again. We haven't anything too exciting going on....just every day life things. We did go back to GR a couple weekends ago for a tour to the VERY tippy top of the dome in the Capitol building. Ummm...let's just say if you're afraid of heights, even a TINY bit, probably not a good idea. I guess I would even go as far to say even if you THINK you're not scared of heights probably not a good idea. Now throw in a tiny bit weary of heights with a little more than tiny bit closterphobic (totally not spelled right?!?) and ya got me! Everyone (Dan, Dad, Mom) thought I was a bit weird I think but my whole body seized up trying to manuever those steep (and that ain't no joke!) stairs through the walls (which means it's a super tiny space) in semi-darkness - - geez it makes my legs wobbley all over again just thinking about it. BUT in spite of it all it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, since it's not open to the public (go Rep. Vander Veen!) and those are always worth it! I felt much better when after Dad, Mark and Jen came back to hear that Mark was in dire straits the whole time too!!! Sorry to rat ya out Mark! =)
We had Dad's work day/birthday party the next day - man did we get a lot done around the house! The kids all played great and family time is always special.
Dan and I went to Sault Ste. Marie (oops...I wasn't supposed to let Stacey know we were only about 1.5 hours from her) for our anniversary weekend - that was fun! I've never been up that far and since Dan works all over the place up there he kinda got to show me around. I told him it's a good thing because I feel rather foolish sometimes when all the locals are talking about "this town or that store over there" and I'm clueless as to where they're talking about! Now I'm a little more educated!
I'll try to post a couple pics from the capitol trip - the smile on my face was COMPLETELY forced as I was pretty much scared to death in that picture. =) Gotta love it!!!
We'll be around for Thanksgiving and Christmas - I'm very much hoping to see lots of you then! Lots of Love - The Veldermans

Megs and Joel posting for the 1st time

Hello Everyone,
I have to admit that I really have enjoyed our blog. (good work Stacy and Jason). I figured that it is about time I posted. Megs and I have been doing very well. We both have parent teacher conferences coming up and report cards to do. We have been very busy! For those of you who don't know, Megan has a long term sub job with 1st grade, and I have a full time 6th grade job(yea benifits). The good thing about both of us teaching is that we have all the children we will ever need for at least 4 years =]. Yes that is FOUR years mom and dad. Anyone who wants to come to the east side to visit is more than welcome we have room, (well at least a queen size areo-bed). We look forward to seeing everyone over the holidays. Talk to you all later. We love you grandpa and grandma.

Megan and Joel

The latest HOT!!! NEWS

Well Hi there everyone This thing is nice sooooo many times I wanted

to say something and NO-ONE apeared to be listening but now I gotcha

Well Rachael is doing Great !!! we saw her Thursday and she is getting on with the Needed Thearapy , Aaron for all who did'nt hear yet has the report back from his Tumor (NO CANCER CELLS--NOTONE) so therefor
he is going to have his Port taken out this next wed. and only needs to see his doctor every two months Wooo-Peeee Gettin back to normal life.
Gramps ( Me) is going to have the Left hand done Thursday 11/9/06 at
two thirty,PM. the Right one is great . Talked to Levi on the phone this
morning he is on his way to meet with Travis at Leahs apt in D.C. . Then
they are going to walk some of the Appalaition Trail . you know the one
that starts with A AND SOUNDS LIKE what i just mis-spelled . Ben is coaching football at HAMILTON HIGH Complaining about the weather
but LOVING it. the snow is almost gone for now the leaves came crashing
down this week (REALLY THE CRASH WOKE ME UP) do you believe it?
well it's not true . I just finished a Book by George Sada who was one of
Sadamm"s Generals and is a Christian Never tried to hide it and got into
Sadams inner circle because He always told the truth, a VERY good book

Well its time to Go--- Farewell goodbye it's time to say Goodnight ?
remember that song? I've heard it 17 times every time we have to listen to
the sound of music. --- That was free info. Smile!

Love and prayers Gramps and Gramma Ter Beek O.G.I.G.

the miracle ointment

one last thing for the night....and only terbeek's will be able to appretiate this. as i type here, i have more than one band-aide on with a 'lil something specail underneath.....COW SALVE. i always wait til the last resort to use it and when i do i think....why didn't i try this the first time? I have one story and it happened at one of the parties over at grandpa and grandma terbeek's. i asked one of the cousin's...(probably katie or tashina) to look at a tooth or something in my mouth. then all of the sudden i had the grossest taste in my mouth...the finger that was in my mouth had recently touched some cow salve. take it from me....DON'T EAT THE COW SALVE!!! thanks grandpa and grandma! (stacey)

if it is this cold out....why isn't there any snow? there should be snow shouldn't there? there should be snow! greetings from the UP. stacey