Valentines and Kids!

                                                                                                 

 Look at these little guys!  That's Brave, Zion, and Bright enjoying a milkshake.  On the day before Valentine's Day, Jerry and I created a video for them, wearing red heart-shaped napkin rings under our glasses.  I giggled my way through Jerry's rehearsed opening remarks because I couldn't help but notice how serious he was about it while wearing those silly glasses.  So, after starting over several times we finally nailed it and added the pictures we had taken earlier that day of Bright and Zion's favorite Critter Barn friends to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."  It arrived on their breakfast table, in the knick of time, via computer and they loved it!  On her Facebook page Kayla put pictures of each of their little faces smiling through giant cut out paper hearts they had made, wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.  Love was in the air!

Sharlet helped me make some Valentine cookies...

...she still sucks her thumb, hence the flour on her nose, so cute!   Jack came home from school wearing a crown of hearts he had made and he loved our cookies!

And speaking of the Critter Barn, Kody called this week to tell us about the birth of a new baby pigmy goat, so we bundled up, grabbed the camera and got some very cute pictures of him.  Thanks, Uncle Kody! 

I love the way the mother goat is watching over her baby in this one.  I know how you feel mama goat, "kids" are just so loveable!

All Hard Work Brings a Profit - Proverbs 4:23

Everytime Jerry and I dreamed about our children's futures, when they were small, the images always included, ease.  We wanted their lives to be easier than ours had been, their choices wiser, bringing them more opportunities and less failure.  We studied the tendencies of each child and tried to determine which way they were leaning so we could encourage them to grow that way (something I read about in one of my many James Dobson parenting books).  I touched on this subject in my last post and today I feel like addressing it again in the life of another adult child, our oldest son, Kody.

Now, here is a guy who has kept us guessing for all of his 33 years.  We have watched him steer his life off one path and on to another, like the Nascar races he loves to watch and "ease" has never been his destination.  As a child his imagination took him on horseback (a stick one) to wide open spaces.  On the very rare day that he wasn't outdoors, he wouldn't sit still through a whole story book or TV show, preferring instead to ride his stickhorse all around the house while playing his cowboy songs on the stereo.

As an adult he has tried his hand at many potential careers, but guess what he enjoys doing the most.  What kind of work do you think it is that brings him the most satisfaction and joy?  If you guessed working with horses you are right!  He still loves the outdoors, rarely sits down, and likes music (country) on the radio in the barns at chore time.  Kody manages and lives on an Arabian horse farm and also manages a non-profit educational working farm.

Ease is not a word that could ever be used to describe farming, but is it a wise choice for him?  Bringing him more opportunities and less failure?  Kody would be the only person that could truly answer these questions, but I have watched his life unfold and his humble, steadfast, hard work seems to be positioning him onto a path that God may have been preparing for him all along.  It does look slightly familiar and I can't wait to see where it takes him. 

The mother's heart is the child's classroom- Henry W. Beecher

This is a make believe passport from a church project in 1985...what do you think?  I found it in my Rademaker family archives the other day and it reminds me of two things: one, time goes by way too fast (but everybody over 40 knows that) and two, the heart of the child is the most important part to nurture.  I can't recall focusing on that as a young mom.  I became a grandmother before I trully understood the importance of  it, as expressed to me by the beautiful mother that this little girl grew up to be.  What I do recall when I look at this picture is a very petite little girl who loved playing school, going to school, and talking about school.  She was every Sunday School and Pre-school teacher's dream student.  At play, her baby dolls were tossed into their cradles as she dressed up in my t-shirts, belted her waist, and stumbled to "work" in my heels, as a teacher.  Well, today she is a teacher...a homeschool teacher with two students, a son in kindergarten and the other one a preschooler.  She has the nurturing of their hearts "down pat" and their little brother is  her favorite textbook for teaching the subjects of compassion and patience.

But, back to the picture.  Here's the thing: I thought I was seeing the makings of a scholar with a love for learning that wouldn't quit, and I was.  But deep in her heart, where no one could really see or predict, a plan was being placed by a power greater than all of us.  Her real live babies are anything but tossed aside, they are the center of her life, and she doesn't wear heels to the classroom either.  I saw a glimpse, but He saw the whole magnificent picture!

                                                                                             

Flashback to 1979

 "Did we really let our kids play around smoldering fires with a hacksaw?" my sister, Sandy and I remarked after recalling this picture. I guess we did, because here they are "up north" at Grandma and Grandpa's place in the woods.  That's my son, Kody, on the right and Sandy's son, Adam, on the left.  And that's Nate, her middle son, with the hacksaw.

Sandy and I are certain that we were watching them from afar, probably relaxing somewhere, maybe at the picnic table.  We could relax because "the woods" was such a perfect playground.   We didn't have to worry about them breaking anything, getting too noisy, or leaving any doors open.  They could get as dirty and as loud as they wanted to and no one even noticed.  Were we just a little bit too relaxed?  Hmmm....maybe so, but we both really like this picture!

New Year Memories

2011 began with Jerry's birthday on the fourth.  It was our week with JJ and Sharlet, so with Jack working out of town and Kody doing evening chores, just the four of us celebrated with a speghetti dinner and chocolate pie.

This weekend the sun came out in all it's glory and as is so customary here along the lakeshore in January, so did a lot of people.  Jerry and I chose to make a video for Bright, Zion, and Brave.  We are sure our neighbors are still talking about why in the world the couple on the corner were pulling two stuffed animal puppets on a sled through the snow in their backyard, but our little grandsons have been wanting to see the snow.  We had a lot of fun showing it to them, too!  Then we drove to the Dunes State Park and walked through the woods to the beach.  It was sunny, cold, and just beautiful!

Today we went for a walk on eighth street in downtown Holland to see the ice sculptures, they were amazing!

Winter weekends in Michigan really don't get any better than this one has been.  Let it snow!

Christmas Memories

I took some Christmas cookies to Kody last night. The horse stalls were outlined in lights and a lit-up Christmas tree stood in his apartment.  On this video you will see the pictures I took then and on Christmas day, photos I took from the computer of Kayla and Daniel's family, and one of Kody that appeared in the My Zeeland section of the Holland Sentinel (look closely at Joseph).  Enjoy!



Merry, Beautiful Christmas!

It is Christmas morning. I'm sitting alone in my living room by the soft light of the Christmas tree… beautiful. I glance around the quiet room and see each person’s face from the night before. I hear laughter as I remember my sister and brother and I reminiscing about our childhood, and Grandma defending herself. I recall thinking, “Mom, you are such a good sport, thank you for allowing us all to laugh together tonight, even if it is at your expense, it sounds so beautiful.”


A few days ago I went for a walk around our neighborhood after dark. It was very quiet and I could see snow softly floating through the light of the street lamps. I thought of my conversation with my sister on the phone that afternoon. Her voice was solemn as she told me about her family’s Christmas gathering, and how her glance around the room saw a missing child, and a son pale and tired from cancer treatments. The ache in my heart turned into words as I walked along in the snow, “He was only seven, Jesus…he was only seven.”

I felt Jesus weeping with me, His heart breaking too. I came to a bend in the sidewalk that wound along a small stream and under some  tall pine trees. It was dark for a second or two and that’s when I saw it. The moon was hazy, but it shone on the freshly fallen snow and everywhere I looked I saw tiny sparkles, like a zillion diamonds had spilled all over the ground! I stood still as the beauty of it seemed to wrestle with the darkness of my thoughts. Suddenly another thought burst through..."beauty wins!"  The horrible things of this life have been overcome by Jesus and in His time He will make everything beautiful...EVERYTHING.