another summer flashback

Uncle Tim and John
Cole and Gavin and the never-ending love of climbing.

Grandpa T. taught Lyric to ski this summer.

It's amazing what a little fishing boat can do with a big enough motor!

Baby Jacob and Moses

Gavin on the disk my dad made "a few years" ago!

That chuck of wood has given a lot of entertainment over the years.

Somewhere I have a picture of my dad doing a headstand on it.

If I find it, I'm scanning it and putting it on here.

I'm embracing Fall as much as possible...even though I'm a hard-core summer fan.

However, I was just looking at some pictures of summer and of some time we were able to spend with my brother Tim, sista'-in-law Mindy, and da boyz. So I need to post a few of those pics! Next up, my bother, Cory and his fam will be here next week from Haiti!!!

Good times ahead!

couch treasures

What do you find when you vacuum under your couch cushions?

Money?

Not mine. (I'm not that lucky!)

As I tossed the toys out from the cushions, I felt it was worthy of a picture =)

hummingbird

Yesterday morning I kept hearing this consistent high pitched "chirp" in my house. I could not figure out where it was coming from! I was literally unplugging things and finally convinced myself that a toy must be losing it's battery power somewhere in the house. I gave up on it, determined to ignore the sound. After another twenty minutes of this "chirping" sound, I went to make a phone call. As I reached for the phone, this little hummingbird is what my eyes landed on!

She must have flown in while the kids had the door open the night before. (The bird and about 20 flies!!!) I slid the paper under her and relocated her to our hanging basket. I didn't know if she would live because hummingbirds have to eat so often. She kept up her "call" from the basket and several times in the next hour I saw her little male friend buzzing around our house. The story has a happy ending because after some sugar water and some time, she took off.

PS...we have one LAZY cat. Lucky for the hummingbird.

You can see her drinking from the dropper in this video! It was pretty cool.

Tim and John

Uncle Tim and cousin, John, having some tube fun at the cottage! I had to put this on here for you guys. I'm guessing this was John's first tubing experience...slow, but it still counts ;-)

flashback

Grand Rapids Mud Run, held on our church grounds.

Too crazy fun. Dan, Lyric, Gavin and I ran as a team.

We can't wait to do it again next year!

Our awesome supporters!

Amy gave up her day to sleep in to come watch the youngest 3 Bronkemas so the rest of us could get muddy! ...and she brought donuts!

And then...

Almost a week ago... The first day of school.

These three were so excited. So far, with one week complete, everyone is happy and back in the school year groove.

Lyric was not convinced going back to school was a good thing.

I think deep-down she's liking it now!

i'm adopted

This weekend the Sam & Ellie Fund at Kentwood Community Church is begining a t shirt fund raiser. All profits will go to the fund, which gives interest free loans to adoptive families and helps bring orphans home to their forever families. The shirts are each $12 and come in pink, brown or blue. They reference Eph. 1:3-14 and celebrate that we are ALL adopted into God's family. A year and a half ago the Sam & Ellie fund along with Lifesong for Orphans helped us bring M&M home!

I feel passionate about helping raise money for adoption because the finances are such a hurdle for so many families. When people are considering adopting, and ask me questions, it's almost always the first concern. Many families CAN afford and WANT to have more children in their home, but the up front adoption expense makes it feel impossible. And for many it is, unless the body of Christ surrounds them and helps relieve the burden. That's the experience we had! We should not have been able to take on the finances of our adoption, but it's what we felt called to do. Now it seems so obvious how right it all is. If it hadn't been for our families and our brothers and sisters in Christ, we would be short two kids in our home. How tragic to have missed out on this journey because of the finances.

Our God is BIG. Much bigger than the hurdles. And, He uses ministries like this to give families the encouragement that is takes as they walk the long road of adoption.

If you are interested in a shirt and won't be at KCC to check them out, just let me know!