Happy Mother’s Day! Mom Hall came to Pella with Becky and Suzanna yesterday. We took Grandma VH to Pizza Ranch for lunch. Mom VW is at their ‘playhouse’ on Lake of the Ozarks through the rest of this week and then returns to DSM for her 2nd cataract surgery.
Wendy survived her first week commuting to the new office in Sully. It’s about a 20-30 minute drive, (depending on the amount of farm implement traffic in Peoria! Ha!). She’s been putting in ALOT of hours with the transition. One little surprise has been Faye Brand’s dog, who likes to sneak into the office and lay by Faye’s desk (which means he lays between Faye and Wendy).
It was a long week of client meetings for me this week, with one overnight in Lincoln, NE. By the time I got back to the office on Friday the stack of work that had piled up was deep and wide.
We decided to forget work yesterday and just enjoy the day together. After lunch with mom & grandma we headed to DSM for some shopping and finished the day having dinner with my brother, Tim, who was proudly showing off one of the two guitars he finished last week. Sounds like he’s going to buy an old commercial building in Red Wing, MN to convert to a home and guitar shop.
Taylor and Madison are counting down the days until school’s out for the summer (3 weeks!). Madison is taking Driver’s Ed before leaving for Thailand. Taylor has been working a lot of hours at the restaurant and is hoping to pick up another part-time job.
It’s been stinkin’ COLD, with rain and wind all week. Feels more like late November instead of mid-May (Most of the Tulips are still up if you want to stop by and see them).
There’s a hill on the Eastern road out of Pella that policemen love. It’s one of those short steep hills in a 25 m.p.h. zone where gravity has it’s way and you’re speeding without knowing it or thinking about it. When the cops need their quota to make budget – that’s where they hang out.
And so it was that Wendy was pulled over this morning, on her way to work, for doing 35 m.p.h. down that hill. The cop took her license and registration and headed to his car per the usual protocol. A few minutes later he returned to her car with ticket in hand, smile on his face, shaking his head.
His partner had Taylor and Madison pulled over just block away.
Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. Colossians 4:6 (TM)
I’m currently having to deal with a person to whom no one wants to talk. Everyone avoids this person like the plague because, at one time or another, they’ve gotten their heads bitten off, their butts chewed, they’ve been called names and hung up on. Yesterday, I asked a mutual friend how things were with this person and he said he’d just been avoiding because he knew that a verbal explosion was imminent. How sad. And this human volcano is a believer. I love to be around positive people. I hope that others could describe me with today’s verse.
In the spirit of being a bratty little brother I’m posting this pic of my sister, Jody. It was taken on Easter Sunday and I was having a great time pushing her buttons as I pushed the shutter button on my camera to take her picture over and over and over (some things never change, do they?).
Yeah, I know it’s mean, but….she missed my Birthday!
The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being Christian doesn’t cover up bad work. Colossians 3:25 (TM)
I don’t know, maybe it’s my Dutch roots and the Protestant work ethic that goes with it. I have always tried to work hard, show up early, stay a few minutes late, do more than was asked, respond positively when asked to go above and beyond. I’ve always believed that my ultimate boss is God and that my attitude would result in blessing one way or the other. That’s why I’m dumbounded when workers approach their job with a sense of entitlement. I’m shocked when people refuse to work, do shoddy work when they do work, and then expect top wages and benefits. Excuse me? It even makes less sense when the expectation comes with the subtext that I should just be joyful in rewarding their meager performance because I’m a Christian [scratching head].
We auditioned last Sunday for day roles in an upcoming Hollywood film shooting in Cedar Rapids and Norway Iowa called The Final Season. Who knows. It was fun to audition.
Wendy’s office moved out to Co-Line in the greater Sully metropolitan area. Co-Line purchased GoalSetters this past Spring. Wendy has a great corner cubicle with an expansive view of the rural landscape.
Madison got her driving permit last week (yikes!). Of course, she wanted to drive the Cadillac home from the court house. Ummmmmm….no.
Speaking of Madison, her support is all raised for Thailand and she’s already putting away money towards her next mission trip. Anything extra she raised can go toward another TeenMania trip if it’s used within (I think) a year, otherwise it goes towards TeenMania’s general budget.
Taylor’s boss at Monarch’s Restaurant told me that she’s a great hostess and they’ve been impressed with the way she handles the Tulip Time crowds. At times, Taylor managed over forty people waiting for tables. Her boss said, "Taylor’s so sweet, people can’t get mad at her. If we have an angry customer we just send Taylor up there." They’ve asked Taylor to train their new hostess. Not bad for fifteen years old.
We auditioned last Sunday for day roles in an upcoming Hollywood film shooting in Cedar Rapids and Norway Iowa called The Final Season. Who knows. It was fun to audition.
Wendy’s office moved out to Co-Line in the greater Sully metropolitan area. Co-Line purchased GoalSetters this past Spring. Wendy has a great corner cubicle with an expansive view of the rural landscape.
Madison got her driving permit last week (yikes!). Of course, she wanted to drive the Cadillac home from the court house. Ummmmmm….no.
Speaking of Madison, her support is all raised for Thailand and she’s already putting away money towards her next mission trip. Anything extra she raised can go toward another TeenMania trip if it’s used within (I think) a year, otherwise it goes towards TeenMania’s general budget.
Taylor’s boss at Monarch’s Restaurant told me that she’s a great hostess and they’ve been impressed with the way she handles the Tulip Time crowds. At times, Taylor managed over forty people waiting for tables. Her boss said, "Taylor’s so sweet, people can’t get mad at her. If we have an angry customer we just send Taylor up there." They’ve asked Taylor to train their new hostess. Not bad for fifteen years old.
We auditioned last Sunday for day roles in an upcoming Hollywood film shooting in Cedar Rapids and Norway Iowa called The Final Season. Who knows. It was fun to audition.
Wendy’s office moved out to Co-Line in the greater Sully metropolitan area. Co-Line purchased GoalSetters this past Spring. Wendy has a great corner cubicle with an expansive view of the rural landscape.
Madison got her driving permit last week (yikes!). Of course, she wanted to drive the Cadillac home from the court house. Ummmmmm….no.
Speaking of Madison, her support is all raised for Thailand and she’s already putting away money towards her next mission trip. Anything extra she raised can go toward another TeenMania trip if it’s used within (I think) a year, otherwise it goes towards TeenMania’s general budget.
Taylor’s boss at Monarch’s Restaurant told me that she’s a great hostess and they’ve been impressed with the way she handles the Tulip Time crowds. At times, Taylor managed over forty people waiting for tables. Her boss said, "Taylor’s so sweet, people can’t get mad at her. If we have an angry customer we just send Taylor up there." They’ve asked Taylor to train their new hostess. Not bad for fifteen years old.
Tulip Time 2006 is over and the final curtain fell on The Dominie’s Wife. We had a nice run. Attendance wasn’t as strong as the past few Tulip Time shows, but that has a lot to do with the weather (if the weather’s nice, everyone stays out in the sun and in line at the poffertje stand!). A couple of fun ones:
I have a line about Dominie Scholte wanting to leave Holland and go to America. My line is "I have written letters to the king…it does no good" and for some reason when it came out of my mouth it was "I have written letters to the King of England." Why the King of England? Not a clue.
At the final performance, in our first scene, I turned to Wendy (who played my wife, Mareah) and my line was completely gone. Blank. Nothing. Nada. I stumbled and stammered. Fortunately, Wendy came to the rescue and pulled me out. Ahhhhh live theatre!
Lisa Witzenburg and Pat Moriarity did a great job as the narrators, but they had some fun ones, too. Lisa tells the audience "The Dominie’s first wife died and left him with three children" only one night it came out "The Dominie’s wife left him" (As if we needed MORE scandal in a small town like this). Maybe she left him and went to Wales and THAT’S why I wrote the King of England – looking for her! Yeah! Yeah! That’s the ticket!
I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret."Colossians 2:4 (TM)
Stuff like the DaVinci code and the Gospel of Judas have been around since the early days of the church. Wherever you find truth, close by you’ll find someone bending it, warping it, shaping it for their own ends (spiritual, emotional and/or material). The thing I love about the Gospel is that it’s very simple:
We’re sinners deserving of death & judgment.
We can’t possibly be ‘good enough’ or ‘do enough’ to earn our way back into God’s grace.
God sent His own Son, Jesus to suffer and die in our place.
Jesus rose from the grave, conquering death, and offering eternal life to any who would believe The Message and receive Him as Lord and Savior.
Happy Mother’s Day! Mom Hall came to Pella with Becky and Suzanna yesterday. We took Grandma VH to Pizza Ranch for lunch. Mom VW is at their ‘playhouse’ on Lake of the Ozarks through the rest of this week and then returns to DSM for her 2nd cataract surgery.
