No surprise...

That our favorite Christmas thing to do is spend time together and laugh. I'm glad that it isn't just limited to Christmas, aren't you?

You can go to youtube and look up songs from everywhere! Even Psalty songs from long ago...hint hint wink wink. If you have facebook, you can find it there on my page....

The best part of being sisters is that we will always be sisters...no matter what. Let's hang on to that in the days ahead and keep whats important at the front of our lives.

Love you!

Diane

Yes, it was a good night. We are truly blessed to have a family such as ours. I believe that we have something pretty special in our relationship. I am looking forward to having Norma and her husband and son in the area. I have missed those boys and Mickey ears.

The word I have for 2009 is courage. Courage to take a step, courage to pray, courage to listen, courage to grow closer to God, and whatever else is put in our path. It is in the Bible several times to "not be discouraged" and "to have courage". He wants us to be confident and know that he has our best interests in mind.

I so love you all. What a fun weekend we have coming up!!!

Rosa

Christmas Memories

To our family - I just wanted to take this time to say Thank you for all the wonderful memories that were made on Christmas night. God's love was felt in the reading of the Christmas story, sharing of the wonderful food, singing of the Christmas favorites, exchanging of gifts, breaking of the pinata, talking with Norma on the phone and laughter until our sides hurt.

God has blessed us in so many ways, and in less than a week He will bless us again with adding Paul to our family.

Like Bonnie wrote in her Christmas letter, we don't know what 2009 holds, but we know Who holds 2009 in His hands.

Love you more than words will ever say,
Karen

Recipe?

Does anyone have the recipe for the treat Joy brought to Bonnie's when Norma was here? It was puffed corn I think with a coating...almond bark maybe? If you have it, could you post it or call me? I've been hankering it since that night! Thanks Joy for another addiction to add to my list! :-)

Angie & Josh are here! They came home in the ice storm Thursday night. It was a long and grueling last couple of hours, but the important thing is that they made it!

And if anyone is reading this on Saturday or Sunday, you are invited to First Reformed's Christmas Cantata. It is at 6:00 tonight and Sunday night. Katey, Lauren & I are participating in it and would love to have you be blessed by another beautiful offering this Christmas season.

Finally....4 days until Christmas and I'm starting to feel giddy for it. I think it just takes having all my kids home and in the house at the same time for it to sink in.

I too am blessed beyond measure....

Diane

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago - I just wanted to see if I could put one on.

I don't know, I just love posting on this thing. It is kind of my "calendar" like Grandpa Van Gorp had. He would write each day the weather and what his harvest was in the garden, who visited, etc... all in about an inch of space.

So, today, we had a great worship service which the little kids all brought packages to Jesus. What a joy to see all the kids bringing a bit of themselves to the manger. Then Bernie and I went to Mannheim Steamroller. It was great, but so relaxing, I could have had a bit of a nap. But I didn't because I didn't want to miss any of it.

We then went out to eat, did a bit of shopping. Now we are home - we chose to watch ELF, with a fire in the fire place, and hot chocolate. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it. What a good day!

Now I need to work on my presentation for class tomorrow night - maybe I should have done that first......Oh well, it'll happen regardless.

Rosa

The Veenstra Christmas is over - and I am exhausted! Tomorrow we greet at church then go to Mannheim Steamrollers in the afternoon. Right now, I am listening to my family laugh and enjoy eachother. Jessa is singing "Away in a Manger". I am so blessed!

Christmas was a little hard today. but mostly we pretended like it was normal -- be that good or bad....

We had three authors at the store today. They were very nice people and very appreciative of the store. Another big day and a little short on help due to PC's Christmas banquet.

Last night was great and I am glad that my house is ready for celebrating. Love you all! Rosa

i think i have figured this out

If this gets posted I will be very pleased with myself.
I love looking at all of your posts and hearing the news and getting a glimpse into your heart.
Thanks so much for the great time last night in the progressive dinner. I love that Christmas tradition. I am thankful this is something that takes some work but it is not something I get stressed about. My house gets decorated and it finally gets some real cleaning done.
We have our Huyser gathering tonight so I had better go. If this posts I will write more another time.
joy

DONE!

I finished up the fall semester last night at 11:45 p.m. I am so glad to be done with it...I learned more about the environment than I ever cared to know, even went on a private tour of the waste water treatment plant in Pella...how special is that? I learned about different mental health theories and treatments and all about abnormal psychology...watch out...I may be diagnosing you all this week!

I don't know why this semester was so hard. Maybe it was the newish job. Maybe it was I got off on the wrong foot on a couple of my classes. Maybe I'm just getting tired. Now the struggle is to figure out how I'm going to make the next year work out. I've taken all the online classes I can and almost all of the Newton campus classes. So now my choices are day classes in Des Moines or twice a week to Newton in the middle of winter. Neither sound good to me. Maybe after a few days they will look better to me. I would appreciate your prayers as I try to figure this all out.

Can't wait to do the tour of homes on Friday night with my sisters. Joy has 5 trees. I have 5 nativities. What do you have 5 of at Christmas time??

Diane

Angels

Our pastor talked about angels this morning and how they are everywhere and that God commands them to protect us. And I was just thinking that with a family our size we could probably testify to that being true. I would like to see some angel stories posted. I am sure some of us have had close calls with accidents, "coincidences" that couldn't be explained, doing something out of the ordinary for no apparent reason, etc.

Rosa

Hey, all, I just finally found some sit time and am impressed that I have some more journalists for this blog. I just love you all and really enjoy hearing about your world.

Last night we had our "Midnight Gladness" sale. I had so much fun - that my face hurts from smiling. We had hourly specials, a live nativity, carolers, and giveaways. We had a huge turnout and I think it will become an annual event. We were open until midnight - wow, I am getting old, that was not easy to get up this morning.

Well, I better shower. We have our store party tonight and I need to wrap gifts and be on my game again.

Love you all, Rosa

I'm Thankful....

That I got to see each one of my sisters (twice!) (except Diane & we'll count 7 hours as twice) during my short visit to Iowa. Also 12 nieces & nephews & 7 great nieces! And 5 brother in laws too.
That I get to see you all again in just 1 month!
That I got to not just meet Paul but also spend time with him & he is a great guy. I love how happy he & mom are together.
That it snowed (& snowed & snowed some more) while I was here. It reminded me of the incredible truth of how truly washed away our sins are. White as snow? Amazing!
That David called today just to tell me how pleased and impressed the superintendant & school board member & city official were when they toured the new gym that is almost completed in Buena Park.
For giggles & hugs & long talks & prayer.
And family blogs!

Love you,
Norma

Thankful

I must say - I'm quite proud that I figured out how to post on this thing. :) Thanks, Rosa, for getting it set up. I love checking it every few days to see if anyone has posted. I received some good news today - I've been asked to become the Director of Youth Ministries for our church. It's a 10-hour per week position, and it sounds perfect. Mark and I have been praying that God would give us a bit more income, and that it wouldn't affect too much of our family time in the evenings. I've been volunteering with the youth for 11 years since we first started at our church, it's now turning into a paid position. God has given me such a passion for the Jr. High and High School age group, I can't wait to see how He's going to work through this new position. Please pray for a smooth transition as the current staff person is working 40 hours per week, and we're cutting it to 10. But primarily pray that God will lead us so we can bring in more kids, yet continue to feed our current kids.

Can't wait to see most of you on Thursday.
Love,
Abby

Thanksgiving Week

We are thankful for family and protection on Saturday night. We were tearing down the old barn and the fire decided not to stay in the hole where it started. Everyone is good and nothing else was damaged, but it did make for some scary moments, lots of running and fire trucks.

I am also excited to be able to see all of my sisters at some point in time this weekend.

Remember to take some time to give thanks for the abundance of God's love in His care of each of us through this past year.

Love,
Karen

Thanksgiving week

Bernie's mom went home from the hospital today. Pray that her strength returns quickly.

I am looking forward to seeing ALL of my sisters this week at some point.

Tour of stores is tomorrow night. I have my spinach dip w/ pita chips, cheesecake bites, peppermint bark, and wassail. I hope everyone enjoys it. Costco is good to me.

I am also planning a Midnight Gladness sale on Dec 5. We will have carolers, a live nativity, hourly specials and a drawing for laptop.

I am working hard to think outside the box this season. God is bigger than the economy!

Love you all! Rosa

Wednesday

Today I am thankful for:
Health
Good employees
Doctors and hospitals
Watching God move

Bernie and I had class tonight and it was good. We are enjoying this leadership class. Our "project" is a couples ministry. We see the need daily - but have no idea on how to implement it. This class is teaching us that we need to make a team - we are trying to figure that piece out. Part of me doesn't want to screw it up - but I know that God is full of mercy and will go before us. Part of me wonders if my real issue is realizing the magnitude of this project and not sure if I want to get in that deep.

Bernie's mom is still in the hospital. She had surgery on Monday. They took out about a foot of her small intestine due to adhesions and a kink. The recovery path is long and the kids are protective.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I saw Mom yesterday and she is a very busy person. She is playing in Branson until Saturday night. I hope she has a great time.

I had the priveledge to have lunch with Diane yesterday. I appreciated her thinking of me when she had an available time....

Love you all! Rosa

What are you thankful for today?

Today I am thankful for:
"House Hunters" on TLC
My new red winter coat
A daycare that Jessa loves
Tim's skills with a camera
Christmas Music

Ahhh...Mondays. They kinda make you appreciate every other day of the week besides Monday, huh? Thankfully, I have Friday off, so that makes for a short week at work!
We were in Pella this past weekend because Tim was the official wedding photographer at a wedding. He did an amazing job! It was fun to watch him do something he enjoys and is very good at. I hope the newlyweds love their pictures too! I was glad that Diane & Bob were at the reception (Diane works with the bride) so that I at least knew SOMEBODY! Jessa had a good time with Grandpa and Sunshine while we were at the wedding. My favorite story is when Mom & Jessa were looking at the Sears "Wish Book," and mom would circle and 'J' all of the toys Jessa wants. She was very particular, and wanted NOTHING to do with the dolls that go potty. Which is funny because she wants NOTHING to do with potty training! What's a mom to do? I'm hoping that since we'll be home this weekend, it'll be a good time to 'crack down' and potty train! Any suggestions? We've already tried: potty chart, pull ups, m&ms, and putting her back into diapers... We'll see what happens this weekend!

~Becky

Church

We had a congregational meeting today. Now for most of you, your church history (I think) is that there isn't a split everytime something doesn't go right. Well, FRC has a long history of getting along when everything flows smoothly. When something rocks the boat people get their feathers ruffled and they fly the coop. So today we had a meeting that we voted on a 1.3 million dollar renovation of the church and a 2nd pastor. It was defeated....by 8 votes....8 votes....that's really close...and enough for there to stir discension. Now, FRC has come a long way in the past 6 years in learning how to deal with differences of opinion and I feel like today will be a test of everything we've learned. Please pray for this to not cause devisiveness in the body, but rather as an opportunity to better communicate with each other and learn what the fears were that caused it to go down. FRC really needs this to show the community that we are stronger than we ever have been and that we can work through this also. Thanks!

Diane

We are back home...

Okay, folks, we came back home...Bernie's mom is in the hospital. She has some intestinal complications. Please pray that it will work itself out - otherwise she will have surgery on Monday. We are starting to get a complex about leaving. But that won't stop us from going again - we are just going to pray before we go and while we are gone, that nothing will happen.

Bernie's bday party was a blast. We had so much fun with all the family and friends. And the ugly sweaters were so much fun. I think most of the fun was looking for them.

When you folks post, please put your names in them. I like to know who is talking to me.

Rosa

This weekend...

This weekend is a big one. Bonnie and I are baking for the bazaar on Friday - selling our stuff on Saturday and partying on Saturday night. You cannot believe how much we are looking forward to seeing you all at the party. - Rosa

What Becky is thankful for...

~ Timothy Troy and Jessa Marie :)
~ The freedom to vote
~ God's power and authority to work ALL things for good!
~ Beautiful fall weather
~ UGLY SWEATERS!

Speaking of ugly sweaters...I DO have a few extra for those of you who are having a hard time finding some! I think 3 or 4 extras. Joy has already spoken for "What's New Pussycat?" Don't be jealous!:) I'm SO excited for this weekend. It will be fun to see everyone--and funny to see everyone's ugly sweaters!!!!! :)

~Becky

Me too..

I am thankful: for a husband who loves me very much
a church family that is a blessing to be with
baby carrots
Jessa

Today I'm thankful for.....

Ok, so let's see how far we can make this one go. Just comment on this post and we'll see how many we can get during the month of November.

I'm thankful:

1. that I have a healthy body where every part works well.
2. that I don't have a car payment
3. that there are at least 6 other women in the world who understand me!
4. that I get to paint my office at work
5. that even though Vermeer may have cut hours, they have not cut jobs.

Prayer Request from Veenstras

Okay, to make a post you push "New Post". So I am trying to think of something to blog and at this point, all I can think of is to ask you to pray for the farmers getting the crops out. Specifically, Bernie and his brother, John. They want so badly to do this one last time and the equipment they have is old and giving them lots of trouble. Will you all please join me in praying that the equipment will cooperate to do this this time. There are lots of people who have offered to help and get the crops in - but I think there would be a sense of accomplishment and alot of processing the grief of their dad and the grief of the last time doing this - if they could do it themselves. Also pray for their safety, they are working all day and farming at night.
The praise we have is that the corn is finally dry and it is all a go - they need good weather, cooperative equipment, and time. I don't think I would make it as a farmers' wife - I have gained a whole new respect for them...Susie has become the go-fer for the parts - she asks, too, why did Heit keep doing this???

Anyway, thanks for who you all are and the way you have come around us this year. We love you very much

Hey Family, We have a blog - maybe we can keep in touch in a different capacity. I thought it would be fun to post pictures and such. Just check it every now and again.