CHILI!

MMMMmmmmm...Aunt Taun makes good chili!

Esmé's Pictures

(Almost 4 months)

The dress and bunny were a gift from Janet and Jen. I think Esmé will wear it to Ed and Marlene's wedding on Saturday.

Off we Went to Dundas...

Yesterday we visited our Beppe in Dundas. On our way to Bep's we stopped in and said hello to Tante Joyce and after visiting Bep we went to Tante Liz.

Ksena on a porch swing with Wilayna.
What fun! Caleb and Tiana were brave enough to go for a ride!

Ksena was brave enough to watch the noisy ride.

Encouragement to Pray

If you need encouragement and/or convincing to pray go to this link and listen to the broadcast called "Praying with Power" :http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=2007-5-3

Sweet Little Kier

Here's some pictures from our visit on Saturday. What a beautiful baby! He has tons of hair and it is so soft.

After our visit to Beck and Scott's we went to Jon & Kelley's and had a very nice visit-sorry no pics. We rarely have the time to visit with them so it was a treat to see them and have their company all to ourselves.

Esmé Loves a Bath!

I swear she makes sure that nothing stays in her diapers to ensure that she gets a minimum of 2 baths a day!

Congratulation Scott & Becky!!

Welcome Kier Roelof Slingerland!!! Kier was born May 1 (last night) at around 11:00pm. He made his grand entrance nice and quickly for his Mommy. Way to go Kier! His weight is 8.4lb.

We praise God for this new bundle of joy and thank Him that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above!" (James 1:17)

***Check out Derek & Val's blog for pics!***

Esmé

Esmé is doing very well! She is a very pleasant baby which we are very thankful for! She is getting chubbier every day and loves to have baby conversations...I think she might have lots of fun with Mia when she grows up because Mia is a real chatter box. She has an appointment with the cardiologist on June 8 (our anniversary!). Her health has been excellent and we praise God for holding her in His hands and keeping her well! What a privilege/responsibility to raise covenant children!

11 wks old-April 21

13 wks old-May 1

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Rainy Day Fun!

The girls and I faithfully wait for Dan to come home every day...and well today instead of using the porch for cover Mia thought it would be a good time to get out the umbrellas. Ksena didn't quite understand that the whole idea of an umbrella is too stand under it to keep dry.

Dan is showing Ksena how to use her umbrella. (By the way, that's not Dan's tooth-it's the bottom corner of the porch-He doesn't have buck teeth although you may have thought differently from his frequent goofy grins!)

What a perfect evening for ice cream! Ok...maybe a little cold and wet but who needs a Summer evening for such a treat! Ksena ate hers rather quickly and then starred at Mia while she slowly ate hers and asked 'Is is spicy?' I think she was just starting a friendly conversation to see if she could glean some licks from Mia but to no avail.

Petting Zoo

Arianna-these are for you! These pictures are from last summer when we went to a petting zoo with A. Beck, U. Scott and Blake. We were supposed to go to the Buffalo zoo that day but it rained and the line up at he border was huge so we turned around and when the weather cleared up we went to the petting zoo near Becky's house. It turned out to be a fun day despite not going to the Buffalo Zoo.

WALK FOR LIFE

We will be doing the walkathon for Right to Life on Saturday. If no one has asked you to sponsor them would you consider sponsoring us? You can either leave your pledge in the 'comments' or email us at dmvandyk@sympatico.ca . OR ya'll could join us if ya like!!! Maybe we'll get a good tan?!

Check This out!

I got this email forwarded to me from Danielle:

WOW, WHAT A WAKE UP!

Dear God:

Why didn't you save the school children at ?.

Bath, Michigan 1927
Houston, TX 1959
Moses Lake , Washington 2/2/96
Bethel , Alaska 2/19/97
Pearl , Mississippi 10/1/97
West Paducah , Kentucky 12/1/97
Stamp, Arkansas 12/15/97
Jonesboro , Arkansas 3/24/98
Edinboro , Pennsylvania 4/24/98
Fayetteville , Tennessee 5/19/98
Springfield , Oregon 5/21/98
Richmond , Virginia 6/15/98

Littleton , Colorado 4/20/99
Taber , Alberta , Canada 5/28/99
Conyers , Georgia 5/20/99
Deming , New Mexico 11/19/99
Fort Gibson , Oklahoma 12/6/99
Santee , California 3/ 5/01
El Cajon , California 3/22/01? and
Blacksburg, Virginia 4/16/07?


Sincerely,

Concerned Student

-----------------------------------------------------

Reply:

Dear Concerned Student:

I am not allowed in schools.

Sincerely,

God

----------------------------------------------------------

How did this get started?...

-----------------

Let's see,
I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained
she didn't want any prayer in our schools.

And we said, OK..

------------------

Then,
someone said you better not read the Bible in school,
the Bible that says
"thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not steal,
and love your neighbors as yourself,"

And we said, OK...

-----------------

Dr. Benjamin Spock said
we shouldn't spank our children
when they misbehaved
because their little personalities
would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem.

And we said,
an expert should know what he's talking about
so we won't spank them anymore..

------------------

Then someone said
teachers and principals better not
discipline our children when they misbehave.
And the school administrators said
no faculty member in this school
better touch a student when they misbehave
because we don't want any bad publicity,
and we surely don't want to be sued.

And we accepted their reasoning...

------------------

Then someone said,
let's let our daughters have abortions if they want,
and they won't even have to tell their parents.

And we said, that's a grand idea...

------------------

Then some wise school board member said,
since boys will be boys
and they're going to do it anyway,
let's give our sons all the condoms they want,
so they can have all the fun they desire,
and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school.

And we said, that's another great idea...

------------------

Then some of our top elected officials said
it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs.

And we said,
it doesn't matter what anybody,
including the President,
does in private as long as we have jobs and the economy is good....

------------------

And someone else took that appreciation a step further
and published pictures of nude children
and then stepped further still by
making them available on the Internet.

And we said, everyone's entitled to free speech....

------------------

And the entertainment industry said,
let's make TV shows and movies that promote
profanity, violence and illicit sex...
And let's record music that encourages
rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes...

And we said,
it's just entertainment
and it has no adverse effect
and nobody takes it seriously anyway,
so go right ahead.

------------------

Now we're asking ourselves
why our children have no conscience,
why they don't know right from wrong,
and why it doesn't bother them to
kill strangers, classmates or even themselves.

------------------

Undoubtedly,
if we thought about it long and hard enough,
we could figure it out.
I'm sure it has a great deal to do with...

"WE REAP WHAT WE SOW"

Quite profound I would say! It made me think of this song:

Heal our Land-By Michael Card

Forgive oh Lord
And heal our land
And give us eyes to seek Your face
And hearts to understand

That You alone
Make all things new
And the blessings of the land we love
Are really gifts from You

Chorus
If My people will humbly pray
And seek My face and turn away
From all their wicked ways
Then I will hear them and move My hand
And freely then will I forgive
And I will heal their land

Unite our hearts In one accord
And make us hungry for
Your peace
And burdened for the poor

And grant us hope
That we might see
The future for the land we love
Our life Our liberty

Chorus

Enjoying the Balmy Weather

In Love with my Mop!

My mop it is so handy,
I think it's really dandy.
It wipes away the dust with ease
It even keeps me from my knees!

Oh why, oh why do I sing about a cleaning tool?
This question I ask myself as I feel like a fool!
I guess it is because I love my home,
and I wanted to express my joy in a poem.

The task of cleaning is not demeaning,
it gives you time to contemplate life's meaning.
Contentment is found in enjoying today,
and doing it in a godly way.

So this song in my heart may seem quite silly,
but it is much better than complaining really!
If I should mope as I do my task,
then I do not do what Christ does ask.

So simple a theory but oh, just wait!
There is a verse that I would like to state!
'Godliness with contentment is great gain',
And this includes taking joy in cleaning pain!

OK, maybe the picture is a little 'over the top' but I could not resist as I love my mop!...please don't think I've lost my sanity, just having a little fun!...how else does a housewife survive?

Some Quotes:

Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~Phillips Brooks

Faith can move mountains, but don't be surprised if God hands you a shovel. ~Author Unknown

God's will is not an itinerary, but an attitude. ~Andrew Dhuse

Fish Tales

Well Janynne and Stacey, I'm sure you're right about needing to secure the fish vase somehow and sticky tack sounds brilliant. At this point I'm too lazy and I'm testing my luck. Mia has already drank from it and Ksena decided the fish need toys and put some into the vase. Mia also gave her dolls feet a wash in the water...the water is getting dirty very quickly which is annoying!

Our New Friends!

The one on the left is Pekoe, the other orange one is Mandarin and the grey one is Stone.

Aidan's Twin

Has anyone ever met Spike? Apparently he's not allowed out in public-I can't imagine why. He manages to make appearances when his mother is not around. He came for a visit on Saturday...please come again Spike! Note to Janet: My deepest apologies but I simply couldn't resist! Why on earth do you keep such a cutie out of the public eye?

8 Weeks Old!

I tried to do a photo shoot and this is what I got...better than screaming I guess.

This is the cake that Nana made for Esmé's baptism. Everyone enjoyed the cake-Thank you Nana!

Oma VanDyk Visits with Josh and Micah!

Oma Vandyk came today with Josh and Micah so we walked to the park and had some fun in the sunshine. Mia had tons of fun with her second cousins. Come again guys!

Josh climbed the railway ties behind the park and had fun jumping from pile to pile.
Are you at all surprised that Micah is going head first?!

I think Mia needs brothers! After this tussle Micah said 'I've made a monster!'
This tiny 3ft hill was Mt. Everest to Ksena. She grunted the whole way down and was very cautious.

Camera Contamination

I'm not sure how this happens but my camera has been infested by varmints! GOTTCHA GUYS! (my apologies to Lydia and Kara who were subjected to the cruelty of this photo shoot but I couldn't resist posting you.) ;o)