The week in review

This was such a beautiful week in Grand Rapids.  The mornings started pretty cool, but the days were in the 70s and sunny.  The trees are beautiful and we are enjoying walking around the neighborhood to see all of them.  Lydia and the other kids all had a unit on trees so we spent time making bark tracings, collecting leaves, picking up seeds from trees, and trying to identify the names of trees.  We also made pressed flower bookmarks.  I'm not sure contact paper is my favorite thing to work with, though!

We started this week a little behind in homeschooling as we were travelling last week Friday.   Most of our mornings were spent catching up on school.  We did not have piano or violin lessons on Monday, as we had cancelled those when as we were unsure of our weekend travel plans so that gave us a little more free time on Monday.   Nicolas helped me bake poppy seed cake for Russ to take to the seminary and we also made "Chipper Bars" to take to the neighbors to thank them for taking care of our pets while we were gone.

Tuesday is our food pantry day, then rush home to put it all away, grab a quick lunch and then take Nicolas to his cello lesson.  After that the kids and I went to a park.  We tossed the volleyball around on the sand volleyball court, I pitched balls to the boys on the baseball diamond, and we just explored the playground equipment.  After we got home Caleb said he just didn't feel well.  He looked terrible and just laid on the floor.  He was nauseated, had a headache, and every time he got up he felt dizzy.  About an hour later he threw up and felt much better.  He was completely fine by the time he went to bed that night. 

I had my first meeting Tuesday night with Mary Beeke and the seminary wives.  This includes the wives of the seminary professors.   We will be going through the book One With a Shepherd by Mary Somerville.  The group started the book last year so us "newbies" will be joining in the middle.  We start with devotions and end with food (of course).  The best part is meeting and getting to know everyone, especially those from other countries and cultures.  I spent quite a bit of time visiting with the two ladies from Malawi.   They are so quiet, unassuming and humble, yet spiritual giants.  The time they spend in the U.S. while their husbands study at PRTS is also a time of study for them.   They have immersed themselves in Bible studies to learn all they can to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ back home.  Mary Beeke said this is significant because in Malawi the pastors wives are basically in charge of the spiritual issues of all women and children.

Wednesday morning we had home school orchestra.  While the boys rehearsed we went to Target and then just did some schoolwork at the home school library with the girls.   I needed to sign up for 14+ hours of volunteer work so signed up to work the fundraiser table during the time the boys rehearse.  The table is large and they invited the girls and Seth to bring work/books along and sit by me.  We'll see how that goes...
Wednesday night Dave Bleeker helped Russ put a new floor in the bathroom upstairs.   They prepped it for the linoleum which they did on Thursday night along with putting in a new toilet.  Now the floor is no longer "gushy" by the toilet--we actually have a solid floor!  Wednesday night I ran over to Michelle Bilkes' (Dr. Bilkes is a professor at the seminary and Russ' advisor) home to pick up some girl clothes.  She mentioned Tuesday night that she was having a garage sale this weekend and wanted me to pick through the clothes for my girls first.  Her oldest, Lauren, is 10, then she has two boys and the youngest is Audrey who is 4.  They are expecting number five sometime soon.   Anna needed some new clothes so this was a huge blessing. 

Friday I woke up with the same thing Caleb had on Tuesday.  I ached all over and my stomach hurt so bad.  After the initial nausea passed, I was actually hungry.  Every time I ate, however, my stomach would cramp and hurt so bad!  iAnna hurt her eye outside on Wednesday and by today it was all red, goopy and swollen.   So right after lunch I took her to urgent care where we received some antibiotic eye salve.  I think it looks a little better today.  She says it feels much better so I think it must have hurt her quite a bit.   After that the kids and I picked Russ up from the seminary and went to Bloks orchard to get some apples.  We picked up a bushel of Mutsu for making applesauce and then asked for just a few Honeycrisp to eat fresh.  The gal who was working pulled me aside and said she had some "seconds" of Honeycrisp that she needed to get rid of and would I like those.  So she sold me 2 pecks of still very nice Honeycrisp apples for $10.00 (normally $12 a peck!)   On the way home we stopped at the Robinette Haus which is also an orchard, but much more commercialized with gift shops, bakery, winery, corn maze, hay rides, etc.  We bought some treats for the kids to eat and then just explored.   The kids mentioned that they sure did miss Pumpkinland!

This morning I made a bunch of applesauce and Russ is mowing the lawn and doing some more plumbing projects (leaky faucets).  We are all preparing for Russ' sister's famliy to arrive later today to spend some time with us this weekend.

Mouse count: 2 (shudder)