The Hudsonville Fair

Bella and "Billy" (get it? billy goat?)
Faith and Claire and "Silly" (get it? silly goose?)
Bella and Jo Jo
A crazy group of kids! Friends are the best!
Sisters
Claire and Faith - BFF's
That's my girl!
Crazy Claire!
That's my other girl!
BFFs

Last Day at the Beach

The end of August, when I should have been busy recruiting volunteers for Stepping Stones Sunday School, Faith, Bella and I played hooky, and took off for a day at the beach!

Bella
Faith
America's Next Top Model
My girls!
H1
H2
Mommy in her "happy place"
Bella Boo - warming up!
Sing with me, "There's a hole . . . there's a hole . . . there's a hole right next to the sea!"

Can I just say I LOVE GRAND HAVEN!?!

Garage Sale!

The end of July, after Sports Camp craziness, and a week at the cottage to recuperate, I added to the summer craziness by having a garage sale! I have to admit, a tear or two was shed in the process of all this, but I finally broke down and got rid of all of my baby things! I would have loved to use it for 2 or 3 more kids . . . but sometimes our plans and God's plans don't line up. After finally coming to terms with the fact that - barring a miracle - I'm done having kids, I went through all the baby clothes and things, set them on tables and marked them to sell.





We had beautiful weather this time around (last time I attempted this, it rained all weekend), so people came out in droves!




All said, I took in over $700! Maybe we can put that toward adopting some more kids - oh - wait - I just got rid of all my baby stuff!

Cousins!

While I took my mom to get chemo, my sister-in-law, Kelly, watched my girls. She has two amazing and crazy little boys! The four of them seemed to have a lot of fun this day! It's great having cousins so close!

Blake Calvin

Bella Grace

Jared Michael

Faith Ellen

After swimming in his little pool, Blake's diaper was a little loaded down. Kelly removed it, and he ran right away to his little car and started driving around nude! You can tell he takes after his daddy! (my brother, Chad)

My Mom

As you know, in March of this year, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. In April she had a full mastectomy, and in May, she found out that, although she was considered Stage 1 with no lymph node activity, she was at high risk for the cancer coming back globally (throughout her body) - 35% risk. Because of this, her doctors decided she needed to have chemotherapy in order to cut that percentage in half - 17%. The hormone therapy that she will need to have eventually, will then cut THAT percentage in half - 8%. That made having chemo - as hard as that was to hear - a "no brainer".

Dr. Sabong has been her oncologist. He has been the one to make the decisions regarding my mom's care. He is amazingly wonderful - so thorough - so empathetic - so considerate!



Pat has been her chemo nurse. She, too, has been wonderful. God has been so good in the people He has surrounded my mom with!



My mom is now done with her chemo. She's little by little feeling stronger.

Next on the agenda is surgery #2. When she had her mastectomy in April, she had reconstruction done. The reconstruction piece was an expander that's purpose was to stretch out the skin and muscle so she could eventually have an implant put in. The implant surgery is what's next! That will happen in November. Soon after that, she'll start a hormone therapy that will block certain hormones from feeding any cancer cells that may still be in her body (please, Lord, let there be NONE!). The hormone therapy will last for 5 years. After that 5 year period of time, her chance of cancer coming back, drops to below 2%!

Thank you for your continued prayers for her, as this has been a long road! The worst of it seems to be behind her, but there is still a long way to go! She is an amazing woman, with an amazing attitude that stems from an amazing faith in an amazing God!

Sports Camp 09

Sports Camp is the most enjoyable thing I get to do for my work at Caledonia CRC! It is our summer outreach program for kids (much like a VBS). I have the privilege of planning the entire thing (with a fabulous group of volunteers), writing the presentations, picking a theme, choosing the sports, organizing the volunteers, writing out job descriptions, teaching large group, leading singing . . . it's the best! Sports Camp is offered for kids ages 4 through 5th grade! Both Bella and Faith were participants in Sports Camp, and Mike and I were busy volunteering all week (OK, so I get paid too!) Anyway, here is a slide show to give you a little snipit of what Sports Camp week is like.

Our theme was "The Armor of God" and some of the highlights were:
The HOT weather - the only one of the summer he he he!
The armor "sound effects" - ffshshshsh, ca-chunk!, huh, huh!!!, sha-wing!, hawah!, stomp stomp!
Water Day!
The Caledonia fire truck
Team cheers and coats of arms
300 kids singing "Every Move I Make"
Nightly DVD recaps of the day before
100 - yes 100 - kid making a first time commitments to Christ!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bella's Debut!

In early June, Bella had her first chance to sing in front of church. As a Director of Children's Ministries, this is one of my most favorite things! I love watching the little ones sing their little hearts out to Jesus . . . and lift up their skirts, and pick their noses, and cry out for mommy! He he!

Bella was SO excited, she could hardly contain herself. She picked out her prettiest dress and sang and smiled and did all the motions, and made her mommy proud!

Catching Up

Ok, so I know I've been a big loser and haven't updated my blog since Mother's Day . . . and an awful lot has happened since then . . . so, I decided to catch ya'll up . . . if indeed there is still a "ya'll" out there who checks this blog.

I'll start by taking you back to the end of May.

Interesting tidbit #1: May is an awesome month filled with sunny days and the hope of summer. One of the many things we do in May is open up Mike's parent's cottage. Well, there was some added work to do this year since the furnace broke last winter and the pipes and toilets froze. The guys worked hard to fix everything up that had gotten damaged, and as a result there were many things that needed to be tossed.

Interesting tidbit #2: Mike was frustrated with our cracked and crooked sidewalk, so, in late May he ripped out the old one and poured a new exposed ag sidewalk. Since our yard is mostly made up of clay, Faith and Bella had a blast making crafts out of the clay they found. There were a LOT of baths in May!




When these two interesting tidbits are combined, you end up with this:



Nice! Faith waiting for her carpool . . . sitting on a toilet in the front yard. Classy!

Let's Kick Breast Cancer to the Curb, People!!

Tomorrow is the 2009 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure!

My family is walking/running in celebration of my beautiful mother, Charlene Veenstra.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2009. She had a mastectomy and reconstruction of her left breast in April. Following her surgery, the doctors determined that she had Stage 1 breast cancer (2 cm tumor, no lymph node activity and clean margins)! We were elated, and felt so happy that she was cancer-free and that the worst seemed to be behind her.
However, further tests on her tumor showed that she was at high-risk of the cancer returning. Because of that, she learned that she would have to have chemo to cut her risk from 35% down to below 10%.

The tests she had to determine her high risk are tests that were recently developed by people doing cancer research! The Lord is good! He is gifting scientists and doctors with more and more knowledge and ideas to fight breast cancer! That is one of the many reasons I think supporting the cause is so important! The money IS going to good use, and IS allowing people like my mom to live healthier, longer, cancer-free lives!

My mom completes her 6th round of chemo on September 9! Woo Hoo! Then she moves on to hormone therapy and implant surgery in November!

My mom is an incredible encouragement to everyone who knows her. She loves, laughs, and lives life to it's fullest - putting her full trust and finding her strength in her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

"But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:31

CLICK HERE to donate to this important cause! Help us kick breast cancer to the curb!

Happy Mom's Day

Faith playing "Wonderful Words of Life" on the piano for my mom. She practiced playing that all week so she could play it for her Grandmas.





This Mother's Day was especially meaningful.

Through her struggle to fight breast cancer, I've seen my mom in a whole new light. She is the most brave, courageous, loving, generous, gracious, caring and encouraging person I've ever met. She's facing one of the scariest times of her life, and yet her character hasn't changed a bit. In fact, this struggle (as so often is the case) has seemed to make all of the things I love about her even stronger. Her faith is amazing, and she has the unbelievable ability to stay light and positive through it all.

I'm so thankful for her example. I truly hope that I can be half of the mom she is and has been. If I can even reach 50% of who she is, I will be above average.

Thanks for your example, Mom - both to me and to my girls. Thanks for staying strong in your faith and true to your character. I arise and call you BLESSED!



My Beautiful Mom, Faith, Bella and me on Mother's Day.



Also, on this Mother's Day post, on a much more hilarious note, I wanted to share the best part of the day for me, personally.

(Keep in mind as you read this, that we had a great Mother's Day sermon at church about building moms up, encouraging them, praising them, thanking them etc.)

As I was tucking in Faith last night, she was being especially goofy and funny. As I was leaving her room she said,
"Mommy, you're the best mommy in the whole world! I love you! Oh, and I learned at church today that I need to praise you, so here ya go:"

Then she stood up on her bed, raised her hands in the air and began to sing,

"It makes me want to shout, Hallelujah, Thank You Mommy, For all the good things, You do for me, I really love you, And I want to, Give you all the praise!" (Do you recognize the tune? It's a fairly new song, that we've been singing in church . . . I think it's called "When I Think about the Lord").

I was already laughing my buns off, and then she went into:

"Mommy loves the little children, All the Children of the world . . . . ." You know the rest.

Then came:

"Mommy loves me this I know, For my Daddy tells me so . . . "

I was laughing so hard, I had tears rolling down my face. That girl is hilarious! She sang these crazy songs for about 15 minutes . . . some in a very syncopated, rhythmic way . . . adding her own drum, bass and trumpet parts. She even added vibrato. The girl is a truly talented singer, and musician. I wish I could have recorded it to play back on the "not so nice" days that I need a little pick me up. I'm just glad that Mike was present to hear the songs first hand. We both had a good laugh out of it.

I don't think I'll ever hear one of those songs the same again. If you see me giggling in church when we're singing "When I Think About the Lord", now you'll know why.

She's Home!

Hey everyone!

Thanks so much for your prayers for my mom over the last couple days. It's hard to believe it's only been a couple of days. It kind of feels longer than that.

I could hardly believe it, but the docs gave my mom permission to come home last night! She has bounced back remarkably fast!

Yesterday I got to the hospital around 11:00a and was able to take her for a little walk in a wheelchair to the beautiful courtyard area of the hospital. We had an 80 degree day here yesterday, and the sun was shining like crazy! We sat outside for a half hour or so. She said it felt good to get outside, and feel the sun on her skin. She started feeling a bit dizzy, so I took her back to her room to rest again.

After she had had some lunch she started to feel better and later that afternoon she was walking laps around the hospital floor. When the docs and nurses saw how well she was doing, they started talking about sending her home. Once that idea was presented, it sounded very good to my mom to be in the quietness of her own home rather than being interrupted for check ups, and listening to her roommate's snores and TV shows.

I got back to the hospital about 7:00p and she was all packed and ready to go home. We got the final "discharge order" at about 8:15p and were on the road home by 8:30p.

She said she slept well last night, only waking up a couple of times. That is a huge answer to prayer - she needs to rest well in order to get better quick!

She will be meeting with both surgeons next week to get her drainage tubes removed, and talk about next steps, but for now she's recovering well at home.

Continue to pray for healing - both physical and emotional - this has been a long week. Pray against infection and discouragement. Also, please continue to pray that the pathology reports on her tumor and lymph nodes are good ones (initial reports look good, but they are doing more detailed pathology to make sure)! Her future treatment is obviously contingent on what those reports say. She's planning on having to go through radiation at this point (all though that's not a for sure thing), and there is also a slight chance she'll need to have chemo too. She'll obviously do whatever the docs and oncologists say, but we sure are praying hard that she won't need to have chemo!

Her spirits are high, her attitude is amazing, and her love for and dependence upon the Lord are growing daily.

Thanks to all of you again for your prayers, love and support!

We love you!

She Made it Through!

Wow, yesterday was a really long day.

There were tremendously amazing moments, and moments that I wouldn't want to do over again.

The day started early with my mom riding along with me as I drove carpool for school. From there I brought her to Blodgett for her nuclear injection. That went surprisingly fast which left us some time to ourselves to take a walk and breath in the fresh wonderful morning. We drove to East GR (where she works), parked the car and walked around Reed's lake for a bit, then we dropped in to see the ladies that she works with. From there we walked for another 45 minutes or so. It was a bit chilly, but the morning was beautiful, and we were able to enjoy a little exercise and some good time to chat about anything and everything.

We arrived back at the hospital around 10:30a and the nurses got her all prepped to go to the holding area. She was in her initial room from about 10:40 to noon. During that time, Mike, all of my mom's siblings, Grandma and Grandpa Veenstra and Pastor Scott showed up to support her and keep her busy with conversation. We had two wonderful times of prayer together as a group, which was so meaningful. Pastor Scott read Q & A #1 of the Catechism:

Lord's Day 1
Q & A 1
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

My mom was very peaceful and didn't seem at all nervous. I think she was really ready to get on with this part of the journey.

At noon, she was moved to a holding area where they continued to prep her for surgery. Both her surgeons, her anesthesiologist and a nurse came to chat with her ahead of time. Her surgery was scheduled at 1:00, but Dr. Zadvinskis' first surgery of the day went a little longer than expected, so she didn't actually get taken back to surgery until 2:00. By then she had her "happy medicine" and was quite peaceful as she got carted back.

Dr. Zad came out halfway through the surgery to give us an update. He told us that they almost didn't go ahead with the reconstruction because the tumor was more "invasive" than they originally thought via the MRI pics. It, in fact, had grown a bit into her chest cavity and had begun to invade the muscle tissue. They ended up having to remove a good piece of her pectoral muscle to get all the cancer out. Because the muscle was infected, there's a high probability that she will need radiation. Depending on what the pathology reports show, there is even a slight possibility that she'll need chemo. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but for now we'll pray that the pathology results don't warrant that.

Due to the fact that Dr. Zad had to remove muscle, Dr. Ford, the plastic surgeon, had to adjust his tactics a bit. There wasn't enough muscle left to create a pocket for her temporary implant, so he had to pull muscle up from her left side/back in order to have a pocket of muscle big enough for the implant.

Both the initial mastectomy and the reconstruction surgeries were a bit more involved than they anticipated, so she's pretty sore. That said, we prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of the surgeons to see everything they needed to see, and that they would get all the cancer out. It appears that they've been able to do just that, and that is reason to give thanks and praise! Also, we prayed that her lymph nodes would be free and clear of cancer. They ended up removing 7 lymph nodes and they all came back negative for cancer - which is a HUGE praise! Thank you, Lord!

Obviously we've entered yet another time of waiting . . . waiting for pathology reports, waiting to figure out "next steps", waiting for God to begin healing her body . . . but we have the promise that: " . . . those who wait upon the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

As we wait, we TRUST. We know Whose hands my mom is in. We know that God is her Creator, Healer, Redeemer, Friend, Rock, Fortress and her Abba. He loves and cares for her more than I do (which is A LOT!!!), and He will be faithful to carry her through this by his grace and peace.

Please continue to pray for her. Pray for good pain management. Pray for peace - she still doesn't know (as of last night anyway) how extensive her surgeries were, and she doesn't know about the possibility of radiation etc. That's going to be discouraging to her. Pray against discouragement. Praise God for the good news we DID get regarding getting all the cancer out and now cancer in the lymph nodes. Praise God that my mom, and her whole crew of supporters were truly able to be light and salt. There's no way that people sitting and standing around us couldn't have heard the "good news" and peace that comes from complete trust in God. Pray for healing. Pray that wise decisions can be made on the parts of the docs and nurses (and us) regarding what the next steps are. Pray that my mom will be encouraged, edified and lifted up.

Thanks for your love, thoughts and prayers . . . they are carrying us through!

Much love to all of you!

Pray With Me

I've alluded to the fact that there's been a lot going on over the last few weeks. It's been a little overwhelming at times, but God's presence has been very real and his grace sufficient.

About a month ago, my precious mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. The initial shock of hearing that wasn't fun. I'm sure many of you are familiar with that feeling you get when you hear the "C" word. Your initial thoughts take you down a dark and winding path . . . ick.

Thankfully all of the testing she's had thus far seem to point to the fact that the cancer is contained to the one lump in her left breast. According to MRI, her right side is free and clear of any sign of cancer, and her lymph system doesn't appear to be affected. The docs will check out her lymph system while she's in surgery to confirm that all is well.

She's going in for a single mastectomy and reconstruction tomorrow afternoon at 1p. Our family covets your prayers.

Please pray that the surgery goes smoothly with no surprises. Pray that the Lord guides the hands of the two surgeons that will be working on my mom. Pray that they won't miss anything. Pray that the cancer is indeed contained, and that her lymph system is free and clear. Pray that she (and we) will be light and salt to those around us. Pray that God will receive all honor, glory and praise through this experience.

We feel tremendous peace and an incredible outpouring of God's love through the love of our family and friends. Many thanks to those of you who have continued to lift us up in prayer over the past weeks.



Here's a recent pic of my mom with my sister. It shows how beautiful she is on the outside . . . but know that she is even MORE beautiful on the inside. Her testimony is tremendous, her faith is amazing, her love for the Lord grows stronger everyday. I thank the Lord for my precious mom, and look forward to celebrating God's goodness and healing power!

Growing Up is Hard to Do.

If any of you follow me on facebook you would have read my progressive updates on how night #1 of no thumbsucking was going. Let's just say it was rough.

She did fine the first hour, just a little whimpering here and there . . . but hour two, progressed into screaming, kicking, getting out of bed, begging for me to wash off the jalepeno etc.

At one point I went into her room, and I asked her where Rar was. (Rar is her beloved bear that she's had since she was born - it's like the velvetine rabbit - well loved - missing fur and half of an eye). She yelled out, "He's laying over there on the floor!!! I threw him over there cuz he kept making me want to suck my thumb!!!"

There was poor Rar, crumpled in a pile on the floor. Tossed aside. Forsaken.

Two minutes later she asked for him back. She finally succumbed to sleep at 9:58p.

I had to laugh at the interchange, but was just a little sad for Faith too. This whole growing up thing is tough stuff. Rar and her thumb have been her "go to guys" for her whole life. They've been her comfort when she's sad or hurt. They've been with her wherever she goes.

Last night, Rar and her Pooh blanket were intentionally left in the kitchen. She said she didn't want them. She fell asleep without them - and without her thumb.

She's growing up, folks. She's determined to be done with the thumbsucking and being "babyish". She's well on her way to that pair of earrings! Hopefully next week you'll see a picture of my grown up girl with earrings in her ears!


Funny little side note about last night:

After Faith was all tucked in and settled down for the night, I ran over to my mom's for a bit. When I got back and checked on her she was almost asleep, but stirred when I kissed her head.

She looked up at me and said, "Mom, did you hear about the incident?"

"What incident?" I asked.

"I don't think I can even explain what happened, Mom. It was bad."

"What happened? I was only gone for 20 minutes." said I.

"Well (pause) I got up to go to the bathroom, and I wiped my butt with my jalepeno hand . . . let's just say there was a little screaming that happened." said Faith.

"Oh NOO! That sounds miserable! What did you do?" I asked.

"I was too embarrassed to tell dad at first, but it was burning so bad that I ran and got him. He washed it off and put some burn cream on it. It feels much better now."

So for any of you considering the jalepeno method - NOTE TO SELF: Don't wipe butt with the jalepeno hand.

Giving Up An Old Friend

Hello fellow bloggers . . . sorry it's been so long since I've posted. An awful lot has happened since my last entry . . . and I'll get to that in the next post . . . but for now . . .



I'm listening to my 6 (almost 7) year-old crying in her bed, trying to fall asleep for the first time without the aid of her trusty left thumb. I realize that I probably should have addressed this issue a long time ago, but it was never a huge deal until now.



You see, she only ever sucked her thumb when she was falling asleep, or was badly hurt and needed a little comfort. Now, however, her big front teeth are coming in - and they aren't coming in nice and straight like her baby teeth. They are turning into quite the pair of "bucky beavers" (I don't use this terminology with her, of course).



Anyway, Mike heard a broadcast by Dr. Dobson the other day addressing the issue of thumbsucking. He had some good ideas for how to deal with the issue. First he said that you need to talk with your child about why thumbsucking isn't such a good idea:
1. it can make your teeth stick out.
2. if your teeth stick out, you might get teased.
3. no-one wants to be teased.
4. it's "babyish", and 6 year-olds definitely don't want to be babyish

Check!

He also suggested wiping the child's finger with the inside of a jalepeno pepper.

Check!



We added the extra incentive of pierced ears if she can make it to sleep 10 days in a row without her old friend.

We'll see how it goes . . . we're praying that her "strong will" and "stubborn streak" will be put to good use. We hope she can remain perseverant over the next 10 days.

As of now, the crying has stopped . . . here's hoping the hardest day is a successful one!

Let's Go Shopping!

You're not a woman . . . you're a mom!

The Journey - Part 5

OK, I know it's been a while since I've posted . . . I thought today would be a good day to continue telling of our journey . . .

Last I left it, we had experienced the mighty healing of my precious husband! Cancer was a tough road, but it was fast, furious, and done with rather quickly. That left us to focusing our attention back onto trying to get pregnant. We decided to move forward with infertility treatments, namely IUI (intrauterine insemination). We had tried this multiple times before, but it never worked. I had my first laparoscopy surgery the day after we found out Mike had cancer . . . so the pipes were clean, so to speak, and we were optimistic that we would achieve a pregnancy.

On our third try, our dream for a pregnancy finally came true! We were cautiously optimistic, but found out pretty quickly that things weren't good, and it ended in a miscarriage. I ended up having a D&C surgery to remove the pregnancy, and we were left again, broken-hearted. We were left with more questions than answers. Would God EVER hear our cries for a child? We're we doing something wrong? Why, God? Why put a child there and then take it away? I spent many days crying - bawling my eyes out and crying out to God. Would he EVER answer our prayer for a child?

We decided, after I healed from the surgery to give it another try. The next IUI didn't work . . . we were running out of money. You can only spend $2500 a month for so many months before the money runs out!

We had enough money to try one last time. We were putting all of our eggs (quite literally) in one basket.

I remember so clearly September 10, 2001 . . . Mike and I went to a Michael W. Smith concert . . . it was an amazing concert centered on praising and worshipping THE ONE . . . THE ONE who loves me, THE ONE who gave his Son as a sacrifice for me, THE ONE who created me, THE ONE who is in charge, THE ONE who I needed to submit and surrender to. That night, I recommitted myself to trusting that God would fulfill his plan in and through me whether I ever was able to have a child or not. I remember bawling as we sang, "And I . . . . I'm desperate for you! And I . . . I'm lost without you!" I left the concert that night with a renewed faith and trust in THE ONE.

The next morning was September 11, 2001.

In October, we had our final IUI done. On the 29th of that month, I found out I was pregnant. Then on the 31st, I found out the numbers had more than doubled. A couple of weeks later, at 6 weeks pregnant, I laid eyes on my beautiful Faith Ellen Huisman. She had been inside of me for 4 short weeks, and already I could see her little heart beating - truly the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life.

Being pregnant was the most amazing feeling and experience of my entire life! Watching her via ultrasound growing and developing - having a window to see what THE ONE - the Creator was weaving together in my womb (Psalm 139) filled me with unspeakable joy! I get tears in my eyes even now just thinking about it.

Then, on June 28, 2002, four years after the beginning of our infertility journey, our precious Faith Ellen Huisman was born! She was named Faith because she was the fulfillment of God's faithfulness to us. Her middle name is Ellen, which means light. She was the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

The lows of the journey were oh so low . . . but the highs - there's nothing like the highs! There's nothing like experiencing God's face shining on you and His being gracious toward you!

It just goes to show that there's always more to the journey. You never know what God has in store for you around the corner.

There's always sun after the storm. There's always spring after a long winter. God's faithfulness is new every morning. We just have to trust him to bring us through the storm . . . through the long winter . . . to the place where everything is new and beautiful!

Our Winter Get-away!

Make a Smilebox slideshow