Monday, April 23, 2012

Saturday Adventure

For the past few months, Elise has been very interested in the Max buses that we'd see around town.  One day, she decided that she would like to ride on one sometime.  I told her that we would, and for the next few months, she reminded me of my promise every time we saw a Max bus on the road, which was almost daily since those buses are EVERYWHERE!  Saturday was the day.  We arrived at the bus station downtown Holland early.  We looked at the route map, watched for the buses to arrive, and waited at the #8 sign for our bus.  We planned to ride from Holland to the Family Fare in Zeeland, where we'd meet daddy and pick up a few groceries before all going home together in the van.

 Waiting at the bus station for our bus to arrive.  She loved seeing the depot, using the potty, and watching for more people to come and board the buses.



 Our Max bus arrived right on time, and we wasted no time climbing aboard and choosing a seat.  Elise wanted to sit in the far back, so that's where we picked.  She also preferred a window seat.  One crazy surprise of the morning was that the bus driver was Mr Avink, my fourth grade teacher from about a million years ago.  He remembered my name, and was so sweet to help Elise put our bus $$ into the little meter.   At 10am sharp, we headed out of the station and were on our way to Zeeland.  There was just one other rider on our bus, and he happened to sit right next to us in the back.  We picked up one other lady at the  96th street stop, and it was just the 5 of us.


Elise had a great time riding, and wasn't nearly ready to get off at our stop.  Apparently, neither was I as I actually missed our intended stop.  So, we had to ride one stop past Riley at Family Fare and walk a little bit to meet Bryan at Great Clips.  Elise was not impressed with the chilly walk, or that I had missed our stop, but that's kind of what makes the adventure, right? 
Next time she says she'd like to ride with daddy. 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Celebrating Spring

Happy girl, ready to head out for the day




Elise's newest favorite treat: sprinkle donut from the gas station





Easter Sunday-it was kind of cold, but we had a great day! Macy did, too, she just didn't like taking pictures. :)




coloring Easter eggs-we only broke ONE!






Macy may be teething.....




Easter egg hunt with Bryan's family




Look who's standing up so big to play?!





weekend away up north with friends










Thursday, April 12, 2012

nine months

Macy turned 9 months old today. *sigh* It's so great to see Macy's personality coming through, and I love all the milestones, I just would LOVE to keep her little just a tick longer. Don't I just sound like every other mom on the planet?!


She's grown a TON in just a few weeks. Saying "dadadada" and "mamamama," waving good-bye, pulling herself up to standing, trying hard to move but still not crawling, and feeding herself bits of food not just baby food mush. But with all that growing and changing, she's still just as sweet as that little newborn that we met in July. She loves to cuddle, to be held, tickled, watch movies with Elise, sung to, play in the tubby, pet Indy, and be outside. Her favorite food right now is pancakes, and her favorite toy is anything of Elise's. :) What she hates: being left alone in a room, getting her diaper changed, getting dressed, and wearing socks.



As Elise gets more independent, and now as Macy seems to get bigger by the day (I know, she really does!) I feel more and more blessed and also anxious about raising these girls. Somehow the job just feels overwhelming at times. I pray that they'll be strong women, but also compassionate and serving. I want them to love others selflessly, but not be taken advantage of. I hope they are successful in whatever they choose to do, but also that they'll leave lots of room to change and grow as God leads. Is how I'm training them now going to get them there? Am I too hard, soft, generous, emotional, distracted.......and on and on.

That's where the power of prayer brings me to a place of rest and peace and hope. So, while we run around to Kohl's and the grocery store tomorrow, I know that what we talk about and how we treat people shape their world. I know that how we spend our money and our time is forming habits for their adulthood. But, I also know that running errands on Friday is just running errands. We'll buy sunglasses and rice cereal. We'll probably stop at every potty we come to. And my prayer is that in all of that, in the normal and the silly happenings of our week, God will do the shaping. God will use my attempts and also my failures, to teach my girls about HIS world and about how they are to be a part of it. In the end, it's only my job to point these girls to Him. To His will, love, grace.... HE does the rest.