5th anniversary trip

As promised, here are some shots from our time in Saugatuck. Yes, it was COLD! No swimming for me, although I did stick my feet in the water until they were numb... about 30 seconds. Justin, bless his heart, was humoring my burning desire to go to the beach even though it was about 50 degrees outside and we were about to get blown over. What a good sport!

We had dinner at an old mansion called the Belvedere Inn. We felt a little underdressed but it was very nice.
The gardens were just about to burst into bloom, and we got to wander around the mansion for a little bit. I had scallops with champagne butter and caviar and a big juicy filet mignon... mmm! Justin had a steak too and chocolate cheesecake that was ALMOST as good as Mom's!

We also went on a bit of a "fantasy real estate" tour of the area. One of our favorite things to do is look at houses, so we found some cool ones to spy on and even dropped in on an open house for a $1.5 million "cottage" right on Lake Michigan. Like I said, fantasy. :-)

I posted some more of our photos on my Flickr site if you'd like to see them. I didn't get a shot of the million dollar cottage, but we did see some other very nice places! It was so nice to take a few days off. I can't believe that it's already been 5 years. God has really blessed us!

happy memorial day

I've been waiting to post until I've downloaded our pictures from Saugatuck and our anniversary weekend, but I should get to that soon. In the meantime, we had a nice, relaxing memorial day weekend.

Saturday was a day of cleaning, babysitting, and generally getting things done. It was HOT here! Mid-90s and high humidity made for a scorcher. And to think, last weekend I was wearing a scarf and nearly getting blown away at Lake Michigan. Gotta love that weather. We also saw X-3 on Saturday. If you're going to see it, make sure you stay through the end of the credits to see the extra scene. A little surprise!

Sunday was barbecue day... we had about 25 people over from church for a fun cookout. We now have an entire fridge drawer filled with nothing but meat. I should be in Atkins paradise but frankly I'm a little grossed out!

Monday we went to Bath to see their very cute and small memorial day parade. The best part was Justin and I getting pelted with candy by the driver of the big red fire truck, very officially pictured to the right. :-)

Monday I also went over to help Jess set up her new apartment. It ended up being more of a personal potty-training coaching session for Joey! I think I've run out of ideas to persuade him to poop. No amount of telling him how fun it was or bribing him seemed to work! Ah, the joys of future parenthood!

We also went to see the DaVinci Code last night. I didn't think it was as bad as the reviews have made it out to be, but we did bust up laughing at the very dramatic portrayal of the Council of Nicea, the description of the Star of David as a "blade and chalice," and at the ending revelation "You are the descendant of Jesus Christ!" I think that part was supposed to be serious but I couldn't help giggling, and Kevin was cracking up as well.

greek life update

I have been meaning to update about last weekend and give a summary on our first year of Greek Life ministry. We ended off the school year by having our guys Jordan and Drew, their girlfriends Maggie and Lauren, and their friend Charlie over for a BBQ and a few rounds of putt-putt golf last Saturday. It was a really great time and so encouraging. The guys are getting an apartment together next year and we are going to try and have the weekly Bible study there. I am going to join them in the fall as hopefully the girls will as well. They are very sweet and I am excited to get to know them better. Drew is staying here for the summer and Matt is going to meet one-on-one with him, which will be awesome for both. Justin reports that the guys have made tremendous progress this year. Please continue praying for all of them as you can imagine some of the issues that they come up against every day... pray for a desire for God to be strongest in their hearts, and for boldness with their friends.

I got to see Tina the other day which was great as always! I'm looking forward to seeing her more regularly in the fall when hopefully the girls will be around more. She has such an awesome perspective on things. For those of you who don't know Tina, she is kind of our "consultant" for Greek Life. She started a very successful Greek Life ministry at Central Michigan after becoming a Christian in college and having a huge heart to reach her sorority sisiters. She is a totally godly woman and is so awesome!

Anyhow... ending the year on such a positive note was great. I also, surprisingly, won at mini-golf. That never happens!