I AM ALIVE!! :)

Yes... it's been just about 3 months since I posted ANYTHING... or even thought of posting anything... eheheh....

Here I'm reading the blog thinking Oh... wow... all these new happenings.. then I look at the posting date and realize... the "new happenings are relatively old" and I am QUITE out of touch with the rest of the families "reality".

Anyhow, the Stickney household is as busy as ever... and more. Cory's been wheeling and dealing like crazy and is extremly busy with that alone. Ava, has been going thru another?? phase of adjustment and is helping me to be a better person! :) wink, wink. Then there are days when she unprompted helps me unload my van after grocery shopping... and helps put everything away!!!! YES!! Graham is hilarious and has now learned to scream NO! eehehe.... and Uriah... ahhh precious Uriah - pretty much sleeps, smiles, eats, smiles and plays then... um smiles! WHAT A DOLL!!! He seriously waited an hour the other day to eat... he works on the "whenever it works for you Mom, schedule" THANK YOU DEAR LORD GOD!! Then there's me... I just do my very best to kinda keep up with the rest of my family! hehehe

Here are some recent photos! Love you all... you are amazing! Tina

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL, RELAXING, HOLIDAY WEEKEND! THANK-YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SERVED, OR ARE CURRENTLY SERVING OUR COUNTRY!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOMS!

Happy Big 50 dad!!

Dad you look as fresh as a spring chicken!!
Happy Birthday Love you

Derek's Bolivia Mission Trip

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello! I pray that this letter finds you and your family well. God has called my Dad and I to go on a mission trip with my church to Bolivia, a South American country.

The mission trip will be from July 18 – 27, 2009. Our primary purpose will be to assist the medical team. Last year’s mission trip served 750 people, and this year we hope to reach around 1,000. We will be helping to facilitate the clinic during the days of medical outreach, since most of the people there have never seen a doctor. While we are there we will also help plant a new church in one of the surrounding cities.

We will be lead by our Senior Pastor Mike Cantrell and our Foreign Ministries Pastor, Fikri Youssef. The remainder of the team will be other members of our church and sister churches in Nashville and Murfreesboro. The trip is being funded entirely through support. This includes all the medical supplies, medicines, syringes, bandages, etc. Every penny donated will be used to directly benefit the people and children of Bolivia.

I am very happy to have this opportunity to serve and teach the people of Bolivia about Christ. . I have already raised $450 on my own through lawn mowing and money that I’ve saved up, and am still working to raise even more money. The total cost of the trip is around $2,000. And since my Dad and I are going to be flying out from a different place than the rest of the team, it will most likely cost us even more money. However, if you would like to help me out on this mission trip financially, all you have to do is make a check to: Bethel Community Church and put in the memo line: Bolivia Mission’s Trip. Then all you have to do is mail the check to my house. Do not make the payment out to me. An accounting of all funds will be available, in case you need or want to see it. Thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support.

Dios Les Bendiga! (May God Bless You)

Derek Vander Veen

102 Bramshaw Ct.
Clarksville, TN 37042

BIRTHDAYS!!!!!!!! and alittle from the Thelens!!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY EVAN!!!!!!!! (may 2)

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY MAKAYLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(may 5)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!!!!(may4)

hi everyone!! we are busy with birthdays!!! evan turned 2, he was very sick on his birthday but managed to still have a good day! he was very excited to get his new chair , bike, and basketball hoop! we have been busy on our dirtbikes, trying to be like Travis Pastrana!(famous dirtbike rider). yes, i caught caden going NO HANDED on his, yelling Travis Pastrana!! lord help me!! evan stood up on the quad while i waas giving him a ride saying Pastrana!! what is going on! gavin had his first ball game, and did awesome!! he mostly played catcher!! so cute. he got 2 hits and 2 strike outs, but daddy said at least he went down swinging. as most of you know brent was an excellent player and is very excited gavin is now interested!! gav was so excited to get his first hit he forgot to look and see if anyone was on 2nd (and there was) so he ran almost all the way to 2nd then realized he had to turn around. he was caught in a pickle and got out! where was his first base coach?? very cute! the baby is growing fast, i am 18 weeks and go for my ultrasound friday. we will not be finding out the sex, but it will be nice to see he/she anyways!! i am kinda ready for some pink in my house, if ya know what i mean!! brent is busy at work and has a couple jobs for his concrete countertops! thats about all for now. love to all.

Can we say 'Tia Favorita'???

This past week Paula has been translating for our friend from the Dominican Republic, Sandra. She presented at Rotary and Paula was headed for more scheduled events including a dentist appt. To say that Paula did an outstanding job would be an understatement. All who hear her are quite impressed with her talent and skill for translation.

Thank you Paula for being so willing and for doing such a great job.

Quick update.....

Hi Family!!

Sorry for such a short post -I have just have been swamped - but I am having knee surgery tomorrow so I'd LOVE your prayers :) For those who don't know, I tore my meniscus in my left knee in February so I'm just now having arthroscopic surgery to fix things. It all goes down at 9:30am. I'll be at home (and on drugs :)) so if you want to chat, i'll be available. I can't promise how coherent I'll be but I can promise and interesting conversation :) Anway, I'll post more about other happenings when I've got time. Talk to you laters!

~Leah~
(202) 841-3806

Blueberry Update

Hello Awsome Family!!

Here is a little update on us and our growing blueberry!!  The pictures above with me in my green dress is when I was about 28wks pregnant and we went on a little vaca to Florida.  We had such a nice and relaxing time and we were so glad we went b/c the week after we got home was when I went into the hospital.  And Im sure most of you know by now but I still thought I would update those that didn't...oh and everything is good now...so not to worry!  The dr's found that i have a Hernia, which can be very painful in pregnancy, and i was contracting early, and my cervical length was shortening.  So these were all causes to put me on bedrest.  So I was on strict bedrest at home for about 3 1/2 weeks and then since then I have been on 'light' bedrest and have not been able to work!  I have been trying to be as good as I can, but I am not the best at sitting and doing nothing!  But I knew it wasn't about me anymore...it was about keeping little blueberry safe!  And Praise God, I am 36 wks tomorrow and everything is going good!!  

Plus I think this was all part of God's sneeky plan to relax me a little and help me realize that I can't do everything, that I can accept help from Kurt (even if he doesn't do everything exactly like I would), and I am just not in control!  So it has been a good lesson for me, overall!  

The other picture is from one of my many baby showers!! (Isn't that cake awsome, a friend of mine made it for me:) I just feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family!  

I have the ok from the dr. to go back to work tomorrow so you can all pray that it goes well for me!  I do think I am going to only do 1/2 days though...which should be a little easier!  And now we are just praying that blueberry waits to come until after next weekend so daddy can enjoy his long awaited, annual Pikes'n'Pals fishin trip with the boys!!   

So...I think that is it for now but we will be sure to keep you all posted on any news!!!  Hopefully the birth announcement will be coming soon!
Love you all...Lisa (Kurt and bluberry too:)

Hello TerBeek family! I thought that I would give you an update from the Great North!

It has been a very busy semester for Jason and I.

Jason has been taking a non-fiction class as well as a Renaissance literature class (which he hates). He has also been putting in many hours and many late, late nights finishing a screen play that he has been writing for over a year with our friend Ajani.

On Thursday they had a reading of the screenplay so that they could get a sense of how it sounds and how the scenes play out, and to get feedback from other grad students and faculty.

Jason was also granted an Excellence and Education Grant to do traveling in order to research for a piece of fiction that he is planning to write.

His travel plans consist of buying a multi-city train pass where he picks four different cities to travel to in any order. I am dropping him off the weekend of Meghan's wedding in Chicago where he will travel by train to Albuquerque, New Mexico, then to Portland, Oregon, then New York, New York, and then finally to Los Angeles, California.

He will be gone for about a month, and in order to return to the great state of Michigan, I will be traveling across the country with Maggs to pick him up. I will be taking my, bringing about four cameras, and documenting my way across the country.

Before I leave I will be working two jobs and taking two classes from the middle of May to the end of June.

Right now I am just finishing up my semester, which will be over in 4 weeks!

I just passed my individual art review. I produced a body of work, and then was required to show and defend my work in front of a panel of faculty. It was brutal, yet it was a very good experience.

Right before art review I took a trip to Minneapolis, MN with a group of students from my Bachelor of Fine Arts class. I have taken a few class trips since being at Northern and this was by far the best. Minneapolis is a great city. We stayed at an amazing hotel and the entire trip was photo based. We visited commercial photo studios, a digital printing lab, a Graduate art school, and a museum with a private print study (oh and we got to see one of Targets photo studios...really cool).

Right now I am just waiting for school to finish and for spring to finally show up here. It can't stay this cold forever can it?

We got Maggs (0ur dog) about six weeks ago, and he has made a great addition to the Shrontz household. He isn't leaping at EVERY car now when we take him for walks, and he does great with other people in the house. We did find out that the original reason he was brought to the humane society was because, these people moved out of their house and when the new owners moved in, he was just there. Poor guy. I don't know how anyone could just leave a dog like that.

A lot of our friends are graduating this year and will be moving away and moving on. It's going to be a very quite summer and next semester with everyone gone. I guess that is just something we have to accept as part of college life...but it still stinks.

Anyway, that is a little of what has been going on for us UP here.

Stacey

Spring Spruce Up @ Grandpa & Grandmas

Family,

You are invited to come help out at Grandpa & Grandma TerBeeks on Saturday, April 11 from 9am - ?/lunch provided. We asked Grandpa what needed to be done and the following is a list:

>Pressure wash the deck-we have a pressure washer, but I think we could use more than one

>Trim trees-need chain saws and trimmers (we have both) think ladders may be needed too

>Cut up dead trees

>Burn brush pile

>move punky wood to burn pile

>need a trailer to move stuff to dump, wants to clean out barn

>Clean out eves and down spouts

>clean up berms

>clean up by lower wall

>Plant roses on top of wall

>Prune Grape vines-need clippers we have 2

>replace grass that was scraped up from snow plowing

>Put aluminum mold on back door

>Dump canoe

>Activate sprinklers

That's the scoop so bring what you see will be needed. We will bring our truck, wheel barrel,rakes and shovels.

Hey all you family members, Hi there, Well Scott family here. News from our house, Paula Lynn Scott will graduate from GVSU on April 24 with her bachelors degree in spanish. We are SO proud of her. She is not at all sure what comes next, although she would love to earn her masters but at this point probably a job needs to come first. Luke and Travis are on schedule to graduate 2010. I'm sure that you have all heard that Leah's boss is making a bid for MI governor which may make her job a wild ride for a few months.:) Levi is exiting the navy honorably on June 8 yes, four years where did they go? We are picking up his stuff and he wanted us to go to his division party while there but he won't come home right away, he has many friends in DC also, a friend with an apartment in Baltimore where he may spend a few days, but his stuff will ;) He is planning on attending college in the fall but his first thing to do he says is to find a job. Tashina ,Carlos and of course Andres :) will be home at our house for the month of July can't wait to see the little guy!!! John still has a job but hours down to about half ,my job is steady and we are expecting to get busy in April. Joel and Megan are almost done with the process to become foster parents for a little older children not babies. I know they would be a blessing to any child who may be in their home! Love you all. Aunt Ruth

CONGRATULATIONS TIM AND ANDREA AND ROSS AND ASHLEY! LOTS HAPPENING IN YOUR FAMILY! HOW EXCITING!

Spring is in the Air! Speyer update

Hello Hello, Tim and I are back from Florida for good! Tim Graduated and got a job a tower marine in saugatuck. It's a huge blessing to already have a job especially because....

Yes my eggo is preggo ... We are as shocked as you are!









My due date is November 13 the news is still sinking in but we are both very excited!! We found out the day after we got back from Florida (nothing like a welcome home present)

Ross & Ashley; ENGAGED!

We just returned from a trip to fetch Grandpa & Grandma back from Florida! Tim & Andrea visited for a couple of days because Tim graduated (yea!!!!) and Andrea was done at work (they return home this weekend)! Just thought I would share a couple of pictures.

Siesta Key Beach






The Ocean is on one side of where they stayed and the inlet where Tim and David put the kayaks in and paddled out to sea is on the other side!

Lumberjack Country....

As As you can see, we've had the lumberjacks invade our woods this weekend. And I must say, they were experts!! Okay so maybe just one true lumberjack, but Dan willingly agreed to assist...and when he heard 'look out' he didn't need to be told twice!!! Adam looked pretty 'studly' (Lindy's words not mine!) with all his gear on. There were outside a good part of the day on Saturday working on getting all the trees Dan wanted taken down. However, now we have fallen trees everywhere and Dan has lots of work ahead of him to get it all chopped and hauled away! It's all good though because he has a new chainsaw that he's been itching to break in!!! =) I was a little nervous about Adam being so high in the tree...when the top of one of them came down I just kept yelling 'hang on Adam'! It was really fun for all of us to watch...we went from window to window with the kids so they could watch their daddies. Dan did call us outside at one point to watch so we piled on the snow gear (it was FREEZING!!)! That was when we looked out to find Adam sky high in the air!!!

Needless to say we had some very lovely guests this weekend! It's always nice to have friends/family come visit!!! The kids got along awesome...little Izzy was such a great addition to the group! We plumb wore her out though....I think her mama and daddy will be glad to get her home with some a good nights sleep again! (Adam and Lindy - we love you dearly!!)

Also, Brent and Brenda were here a couple weekends ago too so we've had lots of fun hosting people at the Velderman B&B!

The kids are doing great, Makayla and I went to a ballet for a Valentines date. That her first time and she loved it!!! We also went to a new resturant and then got to get some cosmic golf in. She's doing great in school. We're through the alphabet so next is reading!!! She's really excited to start because she wants to be able to read things so badly. TEACH starts again this week and although it's only twice/month she always looks forward to going.

Cam is....well Cam! He says mama, dada, his version of hi and he will say nana sometimes too. He's always making some sortof noise....Lindy said she thinks he oughta be running around beating his chest cuzz he's always grunting like a monkey!! Uncle Brent calls him squeaker! =) Auntie Beena gave him his second haircut while she was here so he looks so much older now!

Well, I think that's about it - we love you all!

The Stickneys... :)

Uriah Wayne Stickney is here!! 8lbs 6oz, 20 inches long! He needed a "jump start" b/c he was very pale and not crying when he came out but all is well and he is a healthy baby! The delivery went really well! and he's crying so I've got to go! :) Thanks for your prayers! Tina

THE THELENS

hi everyone! tina let us know how everything went!! Not much going on here. gavin turned 9 on Feb. 22. he got lots of good gifts. i think his favorite was his hunting coat and pants well... maybe his sharktooth necklace from Florida!! Evan is getting big. he is trying to do everhthing his brothers do, so cute! he has this fedish with pockets and when he doesnt have pockets he use his onsie. weve found spoons, combos, cars, you name it weve found it!! pretty smart really! caden... well caden is caden. he calls me good mama, and ya know, i got to thinking, we should speak life right? so , i call him good caden. pretty neat huh! brent is taking a class , along with my dad, to learn how to do cement countertops!! They are BEAUTIFUL! they are going to replace my mom and dads ancient tile countertops with one. so if you are thinking about new countertops, you should really check them out!! i am still doing daycare i have 3 fulltime and 2 partime, along with housecleaning, laundry, meals and playtime i guess you could say i stay busy!!! our boys gave iceskating a shot. in our back , back yard we have some water and it froze, so... we thought we would put it to good use. they had a blast!! alright thats all for now. oh i almost forgot to tell you.... there is going to be one more Thelen in the world somewhere around Oct. 3!!! SURPRISE!!! kinda feeling like the brady bunch!! good thing they have minivans now!! i would HATE to drive a station wagon like my parents!! that back seat, facing back was a KILLER!! love you all!! brenda

Greetings from Grandpa and Grandma in FL

Hello Family,
Grandpa and Grandma are still in FL and having a WONDERFUL time! Grandma wanted to let everyone know that if you have a February birthday she is not sending birthday cards, but loves you all very much! : )
They are thoroughly enjoying themselves in the warm weather!

Love to All!