Rice anyone???

While in Chicago for the weekend, we went to a Korean fair. They had a give-away, where you spun a wheel and the arrow would land on your prize. Well, we won a lot of rice. Allison won 20 pounds!

Nick, Ally and Lindsay's Birthday

Jon has triplet siblings, and this summer they turned 21. So we all met in Chicago, which was a central location for everyone at the time. In the afternoon, Jon's dad took us out in groups on a little sailboat on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful. Then, in the evening, we spent time down town and had a picnic dinner while listening to a symphony perform at Millenium Park.

Tigers Game

Once we went to Detroit to watch a Tigers game with a bunch of Jon's relatives. We had a suite, which is a pretty nice way to watch a baseball game. Free hot dogs, soda, air conditioning, and grandpa for company!

Grandparents

These are Jon's dad's parents -- they live in Grand Rapids and are some of the loveliest people I have ever met.

And this is Jon's mom's mom. She lives in Muskegon (also Michigan). She once introduced me to people at her church as Jon's fiancee. When I looked surprised, she said "well, close enough!". Cute.

Work....or Entertainment?

Anna, Gabriel & Luka

For my last two weeks in Ann Arbor, I babysat these three darlings full-time. They are from three different families. We had a great time together, although they completely wore me out.

The Heidelberg Project

Okay...so we're back-tracking a bit. These are photos from the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. While living in Ann Arbor, we'd go to Detroit from time to time to visit our friend Nate. Nate lives in the inner city and does work with the Navigators. Once, the three of us went to check out this project...done by some guy who lives on this street. It's his art. And it's pretty cool.

still alive

living in orlando.
still no job. no apartment. jon has both though, so that's swell.
will update sometime. just didn't want blog to become inactive.

News

Hi everyone!
I decided to post so that my blog wouldn't expire like Erika's did. I cannot upload pictures because I am using a library computer which doesn't allow me to. These are the only computers I have access to, so there won't be photos for quite a while yet. I'm sure you'll be okay.

So.....since "Ontario", Jon and I remained in MI till the end of August. I babysat three little kids for the last two weeks, and made some pretty good money. The kept me very busy 9 hours a day, and it was great to have a little cash flow. On September first, we moved to Chicago, where we have been shacking up in a little apartment just 2 miles west of the lake. We know it's not the most ideal situation, and we're both eager to get out of it. However, we're not quite sure what the next move should be. We got back from Florida yesterday cause Jon had a job offer from Orlando....so it's looking like we'll move there. But not 100% yet. So for the mean time...still just biding our time in Chicago. Money's running low though, so we gotta figure stuff out soon!

We've had a good time though. Jon's family lives really close, so we've been able to see a lot of them. He has several other good friends in the area as well. We've had fun exploring little neighborhoods in the big city, biking along the lake, and watching tons of LOST.

Orlando was fun. We were just there for three days. The first day we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and went on all the rides. There were absolutely no lines, so that was cool. The next day Jon met with the people at city hall, who he'd be working with, and then we explored the city a bit in our convertible rental car (what dorks! -- didn't cost any extra though, so how could we refuse???) and went swimming. And the third day, we drove around more and then hung out at the airport for 6 hours cause the rental car was due back and would've cost a ton to keep even for a few more hours. We had a great time though - sent eachother on a digital scavenger hunt. We walked around, looking for things the other person had to find, then came back and told them...then that person had to go and take pictures of the things with their phones. Funny when jon made me get "dutch butt" and I had to take a picture of someone's large rear end.

On Sunday, Willowcreek Chicago has their first service. So we're quite excited about that. that would be one of the downfalls about moving to Orlando....we were looking foward to that Church opening. Oh, but a plus about moving: I can't do midwifery in Illinois. I got into a masters program where I can do the course work via distance learning...but I wouldn't be able to do any of the clinical stuff here in Chicago. So ya, we should move, huh....

Anyhow...this is all for now. I'll try to keep this blog updated more. If we move to Orlando, PLEASE come visit.
Adios.

Ontario

We packed all my stuff up and headed out east. We spent the first weekend in Chicago and Decatur, with Jon's family. Then, the next weekend we drove to London Ontario to see my parents and most of the Stelpstra family. Jon got to meet EVERYONE...people I haven't seen in years! It was fun though. This is a photo of Jon and I with Beppe, my dad's mom.


On Saturday afternoon, we drove another hour to meet Jono and Janice and Stephen in Stratford. It was a lovely little town and we had a nice afternoon. It was really short, but hopefully they'll be passing through this way as they go back to B.C. So it was not goodbye....yet.

Now isn't this just the loveliest family picture EVER? Ya, I think so.

Here are Jono and Jon trying to teach Stephen to be brave when it comes to swans. Too bad I didn't have the camera ready a couple minutes later when those two were backing away from the hissing birds like pansies! What role models! Stephen, next time stick with the tough chicks.

Jono and Jon playing a game of speed checkers....couldn't have been that quick - the camera didn't blur! Come on guys, FASTER! Actually, look at that contemplation on Jono's face. That's far too much thinking for speed checkers!

Great to see you Barnhoorns. Love you!!!

the HAND

While in Edmonton, Jon fell off of my brother-in-law's bike. He tore a lot of his skin up pretty good, but the worst was the palm of his right hand. It was quite awful, really. A few times every day we had to take the bandages off, clean it, and then re-bandage it. I played Nurse (and played the part well, if I do say so myself). Well, when we were on the beach, Jon decided he just HAD to swim in the ocean, but of course his hand was all messed up and couldn't get wet, especially with salt water. So he figured out this little contraption and wore this at the beach. What a geekus!

More Vancouver Island pics...

Vancouver Island

My parents took Jon and I to Vancouver Island for about four days. We had an awesome time exploring the tide pools, walking on the beach, looking a the big trees, and swimming in the waves. We saw bears and deer and a number of bald eagles. It was nice to be able to spend all that time alone with mom and dad before we moved away. If any of you haven't been out this way -- to the far Pacific coast -- you're missing out!

A Couple Days At Home With Friends

In between Edmonton and the next trip, we had a couple days in Abbotsford with friends, and with the dreaded job of packing all my stuff. Here's a picture of my friend Sebastian getting married to Kirti. Then there's Matt and Lale, friends I've spent a lot of time with over the past few months in Abbotsford.

Jasper National Park

Jon was out to visit again, and this time we drove out to see Heidi and Brady in Edmonton. They took some pictures on their camera while we were there but I don't have those yet. But here are some from Jasper on the drive home.

Grade 8 Sailing Trip

Why hello there! It's been a long time, I know. For those faithful few of you who still check out this blog, I will continue to update. Now you're going to get a whole swack of entries at once.

Here are pictures from the sailing trip I went on with one of the grade eight classes. It was such a great time and was so glad I was asked to go. I didn't get all that much sleep, but it was a fun couple days of work. I don't mind being paid to hang out on a sailboat, even if it is with a bunch of middle schoolers. They are a great group of kids.

San Juan Island

For the long weekend, Jon and I went to San Juan Island, a small island off the coast of Washington. We had great weather and a great time. It was the most time we have ever spent together -- three consecutive days without either of us needing to go to work. One of the highlights was seeing orcas right off the coast (closer than I've ever seen them!). Sorry - no good pictures...although in the one you can see just how close they were to the shore. It was cool cause they were breeching and spotting and slapping their tails. We were both in awe and felt so fortunate to be able to watch it together.

Another highlight was the absolutely perfect wiener I roasted. There's a picture of that for you, so you can all share in my delight.

But the biggest highlight was just being able to share one of my most favorite places in the world with my most favorite person. Awwwwww...... (gag).