Van Wyk Family Dinner

Just wanted you all to mark your calendars and plan on Sunday dinner at our house on Sunday, Oct. 4. Mari will be home as well as Abby and Kim and their families. They're hoping all of you can come. I like fixing a big meal with meat, potatoes, etc. So let me know if you want to bring a salad or dessert to round things out.
Dinner will not be served till at least 12:30 as Abby has to teach Sunday School. Hopefully that allows time for all the Des Moines area kids to come.
Love to you all.
Bonnie

New Seasons

Okay, I just had surgery yesterday and I'm not feeling the best, but I feel a bit introspective (big word for a girl on painkillers). I am realizing once again how blessed I am to have a great support system. I feel loved in this family. You have prayed for me and each showed your love to me in this process. Thank-you for loving me well.

I pray for God to bless each one of you in your "stuff". Bonnie, may you find joy in those beautiful grandchildren and bless you for all of your time praying for your children, friends, and family. You are a prayer warrior!

Norma, I know you have stuff in your marriage that sometimes seems insurmountable (another big word, hum), but you are perservering and I am proud. Don't give up, keep putting it at the foot of the cross.

Karen, that job stuff is a pain in the kister. You are a valuable person and I pray that God will lead you to the job that will show your gifts and you will shine!

Diane, yes I had my apprehensions about your doing the foster care thing, but you are definately making a difference in those kids' lives. It is cool to see you being "Jesus with skin on" to those boys.

Joy, between your family and your job and your volunteerism, you are a busy person, but you make time for what's important and you do what you do well.

Mom, I am so happy to see you happy. I feel so blessed to have you as my mom. Thank-you for praying us through our "stuff". We all know you love us very much.

So may God bless all of us in our new or maybe just new perspective season. I love you all and just wanted to let you all know.

Rosa

Quick Update on the boys

Looks like both Russ & Skyler will be with us for the next several months. Russ' mom starts her rehab mid-August. That's a 3 month stint and then she'll have to jump through several hoops to get him back home with her.

Skyler's parents have run out of family to ask. No one is willing to take on the responsibility of 5 kids, one of whom has a severe disability. So, mom decided she wants them to stay in the foster homes they are in currently. They are almost finished doing time in Marion Co, then they will have to go to Washington Co. for another set of charges, and then we'll see what happens with Minnesota and their charges. After all that is done they will have to find a home to move the kids back to, which they currently do not have. And...then they'll have to jump through lots of hoops to prove they are financially stable, etc. before the kids can come home.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if both of them are with us for close to a year. Russ came in March, and I really don't expect him to go home permanently until close to Christmas, maybe longer depending on how well she does with her hoop jumping. Skyler...who only knows....there is so much unknown about that situation.

They are great kids. Russ was a little upset when the boys at camp teased him last week. He's pretty fragile about that since he knows he can't use his fists to solve the problem. I told him that sometimes kids can be mean and you just have to walk away from it or laugh with them so they see it's no fun to tease you. And Skyler has been talking more and more.

We're looking for a bigger vehicle...need a mini van again if we are going to number 7 for awhile. :-)

Love you guys!

me

Thanks, Diane

It seems that Diane's birthday is the one to challenge a stretch us. She has had us walking the Klompen, making ceramics, and now playing with children. I am starting to wonder what next year will be. I don't stretch willingly, so I need the push and you gave it to me. God blessed my stretching by allowing me to hold a sick little girl and sing songs to her and love on her while my sisters and mom ran after six little kids (actually only, Mom, Bonnie, and Diane chased kids. Karen convinently had to stay inside, air conditioning, to iron on transfers. Joy took a boy in to potty and didn't come back....).

So, yeah, thanks Diane. Seriously, it was great. Happy Belated Birthday!!
Rosa

Summertime laziness....

Hi, Today is the last day of school for the kids and boy are they ready for summer. It's too bad it had to be so chilly and wet...just didn't quite feel like the last day for summer, maybe spring break? Oh well, tomorrow will be sunny and soon they will want to be inside to play because "it's croakin' out there!" :-)

I am not taking classes this summer. I am down to needing 4 classes, and none of them are offered during the summer semester. And I have to take them 2 x 2 next year. One is part 1 in the Fall and part 2 in the Spring...so it looks like an easier road for the last year of school. Sometimes I think "how slow can this be to get an associates degree?" And "What am I really going to gain from all of this..." I guess the answer to the first is very and the answer to the second is that only God knows what I will gain from this experience. :-)

Angie moved into a little house with a couple of girlfriends last week. She thinks its pretty cool to not live on campus...she's on to the next stage of life...living independently from mom & dad and from school rules. She has one semester of classes and one semester of student teaching and then she'll be done too. We'll have a big party next May for us college grads! Then the next year it will be Katey's graduation party...just call us May Party Central!

Matt went up to Prairie Meadows today for the Bass Pro Shop job fair. After 1 1/2 hours of waiting they called his name and he had an informal interview. He had to tell them how many years of fishing, camping, hiking, etc. he had under his belt. When he told them he was an Eagle Scout the guy said, Good enough for me, come back next Wednesday for a second interview! He took the Compass test for DMACC last week and is set to start classes in the fall. Plus he has a few odd jobs that have come his way to tide him over financially. I am continually amazed when I see God at work in my kid's lives...how things just "fall into place" at "just the right time."

Katey is babysitting for Brian & Lisa Zylstra's little boys this summer as she recuperates from surgery. Lance broke her heart this week and ended their relationship. Time will tell how that all plays out, but for today she's heartbroken. She is glad to be done with school and ready for upper classman status. I think she'll have senioritis beginning next fall...at the beginning of her junior year! She really needs prayer covering during this time of her life...discernment, wisdom, wise choices, seeing herself as God sees her, etc.

Lauren would go to school almost all summer if it was available. She wrote the sweetest note to Mrs. Vos. She let me read it to see if it "sounded right." :-) She told her she was one of her 2 favorite teachers so far. She thanked her for making learning fun, even when it should have been boring! How sweet is that? She is singing on the Tulip Toren Thursday night with all the school kids if you happen to be uptown for the first Thursday Night event of the summer.

Russ has a long way to go academically. Hopefully he'll be receptive to some summer "learning opportunities" around the house and we can work on some math & reading skills informally. I have a call into his SW to see if we can enroll him in something like Apples of Gold and be reimbursed for it. I spoke with him about maybe repeating 3rd grade. He wasn't keen on the idea, but seems to understand that he really is far behind all the other kids moving on to 4th grade...socially, academically, physically. He doesn't think mom will approve, so we'll just pray that she see's the benefit of it since he's had a rough year. We are also praying for some good friends for him this summer.

Bob has been busy working on the bed in the garage during the afternoon's. He's home by 1:30 every day so that gives him a few hours to putter around on it before I come home. He garden is looking great. We've got some strawberries out of the patch this week...yummm!

So, while I titled this summertime laziness...it sure seems like we are all busy at our house. I'm busy at work getting things together for the Golf Classic and working on the triennial General Policy Manual review. It's been reviewed by lots of people, now I get to put it all together, make sure its formatted right, etc. bleck...least favorite job! Good thing it only happens every 3 years! At home I had some fun with the Cricut machine and Bonnie's project. I hope Mari & Jesse liked it! I'm also working on refinishing the porch swing from mom's front porch.

I am so thankful for all the good things God has given to me. The other day I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders with everything that was going on in life...and then I remembered the song from the wedding "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and knew that no matter how heavy my burden was, God would be faithful to lift it for me and take care of my "problems" which, in comparision with other people's PROBLEMS are pretty puny.

Ok, so this is really long...sorry for that...but let's hear what you guys and your kids are up to this summe!

Love you!

Diane

What is everyone doing?

Okay, are you looking at this and leaving because you can't think of anything to add? I have done that a few times, but it is no fun to not find anything there, so here I am....Bernie and I did the dam to dam on Saturday. It is a 20K race in which almost 10,000 people participate. 6,000 some finished and we came in in front of about 50 of them. No, we didn't do so great, but my body didn't even want to finish. It was trying to stop me in every way, but I zoned out and kept putting one foot in front of the other and we DID IT! That would be 12.4 miles in 3 hours and 11 minutes. Rianne ran/walked the race. She finished it also.

I am enjoying walking nearly everyday. I enjoy the weather and feeling like I am doing something positive for my body. I am not committed to any Bible Studies, classes, family, or organizations, so, at this time, my time is my own. Hopefully, I can continue when life sets in.

Brandon started a new job today. He is working road construction. He left at 5 this morning and it is after 9:30 tonight and he is not back. 5:00 am will come awfully early tomorrow at this rate.

Karen, how is the job hunt? Bonnie, are you recuperated from the wedding yet? Norma, how are things going? Joy, are you baseballed out yet? Diane, are your classes finished for a bit or are you going through the summer? Mom, enjoy your time with your siblings and your vacation from selling a house and the craziness of Pella.

Love you all!
Rosa

Something to Ponder

As Gold is essayed by fire -- By Rev. J.B Victor

The Nine Impending Yet Rewarding Tests That Every Christian Will Face

WilliamWordsworth, an American literaturist, if I may thus coin my own lexicon, said:

"This world is all a fleeting show
For men's illusion given;
The smile of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,
There is nothing true but heaven."

As it were, William Wordsworth understood the truth that true happiness is not of the mundane; it's not in either the physical, the materialistic or the visual which are only extrinsic and transient, but that it is in a vertical relationship, or heart connection with
Abba. He realized that even in the midst of happiness, sorrow can be knocking at your door. Thus, his resolution draws us to reason and thereby points us heavenward.

In this life, this pilgrimage, or trek, whatever you choose to call it, we are going to be tried.
And as they say, "A man's true mettle is known through adversity as gold is essayed by fire." Job for his part said, "After He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold..." That understands there is a beauty that comes from our trying times if we will embrace it all with the right mindset and attitude towards God.

Now here are 9 tests that can cause you to flinch and break but with a little bit of faith, positive attitude and trust in GOD, you won't break as you allow those tests to prepare your heart for your promised land. And it's okay to be flexible; flexibility does not mean weakness. Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken.
The Nine Impending Tests Every Christian Will Face:

1 - The Wilderness Test
2 - The Time Test
3 - The Motivation Test
4 - The Failure Test
5 - The Self-will Test
6 - The Discouragement Test
7 - The Misunderstanding Test
8 - The Frustration Test
9 - The Servant Test

The Bible says that Those that trust in the Lord shall be like mount Zion which shall not be moved. The testing should not cause us to back out, cave in or backslide; they are only there to strengthen our roots, training us for the tougher and rougher Red Seas that lie ahead. N.B, every Red Sea you cross, your faith capacity is increased considerably and your mustard seed is multiplied. So, in our walk with the Lord, while being a fellow workers with Christ, we'll realize that Testing is:

* Inevitable
* Continual
* Necessary
* Productive
* Influential
* Transforming
* Crafted by God
* Purging
Tonight, regardless of what test you're going though, I encourage you not to get discouraged, but simply look at the result through the eyes of eternity. Sometimes you may have to encourage yourself by saying positive statements like "This too shall pass," or "It could've been worst" etc. And at times, you may bend like a reed under the influence of the storm, but you won't break because you know in Whom and how deep your roots are dug.

Dangers of the Testing
* People become DISILLUSIONED
* People become DISTRAUGHT
* People become DISTRACTED
* People become ANGRY
* People become BITTER
* People become HARDENED

The purpose of every test is:
* To reveal what we understand
* To reveal what we don't understand
* To reveal to us the applicability of the lesson
* To show our true color

After the drought, the rain,
After the desert, the promised land
After the tears, the rejoicing
After death, life,
After the testing time, the reward.

Just hang on

The will of God will never take you
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercy of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.
The will of God will never take you
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you