Michigan Living Week 22... and a half

So Emily here and I am blogging mid week because I had one of the coolest experiences today and couldn't wait to tell everyone about it!!!

I have been attending a weekly women's bible study, and during our prayer time we have been praying for a 3rd grader named Autumn who is blind because she has a brain tumor. They can't operate but are trying to get shrink it by using really strong chemo that racks her body, making her really sick. My heart was so touched and burdened for her, I really wanted to do something to encourage her. I decided to have the group write her notes of encouragement on 3x5 cards and then I would braille each one so she could read them (as many of you know I have been taking a braille transcribing course for about a year). So the cool thing is I was invited today to go out and meet Autumn to deliver the brailled cards to her. What a beautiful angel from God. She is the sweetest little girl I have ever met. To look and talk to her your wouldn't know she was sick or struggling. She was so excited to meet me and even more excited to read the cards. It was so awesome to stand there and watch her read something that I brailled!!! I also got to meet her aide and after talking to her I have decided that what she does everyday is exactly what I want to do. So now I am praying that God brings me my own Autumn to work with when I am ready!!!

Michigan Living Week 22: Winter For Real!

So this was the week of super adventure in our winter wonderland!

Tuesday it snowed-- and apparently not just a regular snow, this was a good one...





...the official report was 10", but when it comes up to your calf that has to be 12" at least. Not only did it snow, but the weight of the snow took out a number of tree branches which apparently are built over electrical power lines to break the fall of the branch when it comes crashing down. However, one of the side effects of having power lines break the branches fall is that they tear the line from the pole, which we learned means the electricity cannot get past that point-- like to our house. And on a side note: when the water to your house runs on a well, which apparently is powered by electricity, it also goes out. So all that to say about 24 hours without power or water...



... but it was absolutely amazing! Tons of space with pure, untouched, pristine snow. Enough for sledding, sloshing, fighting, and snow man building! And the girls even got a snow day out of it-- and on the very first day of snow for the year too!



...and Emily and Christ got to practice their newly acquired snow driving skills-- nobody died!




Then the week got weird as Chris wrenched his knee somehow (no, the good one!) followed by Danielle getting pink-eye from some kid in her class (arrrrrgggghhhhh...)

But by Sunday we are all normal again-- or at least as close to normal as we will ever get! In all an awesome week! Bring on winter!

Michigan Living Week 21: Winter

This was a super short week with Thanksgiving and all...



Wednesday was the beginning of Thanksgiving break for DeWitt kids, so we headed down to Royal Scott bowling alley and bowled a few games, ate pizza, and drank pop (yep, we say pop now... well, Rebekah doesn't because she refuses to adapt to the culture-- just wait, they'll get her!) While Chris dominated with his amazing bowling prowess (is that a positive quality? Cause Fred Flinstone was also a good bowler and not sure anyone wants compared to him?!?) Danielle came a close second-- which totally caused Emily and Rebekah to fall into a deep depression that only massive amounts of turkey could solve! Which is how the rest of the week was spent!










And while we did not get up uber-early for Black Friday, wee did join a local gym who had a cheap Black Friday special sign up deal-- so back to running on treadmills, lifting weights, and showering with odd old men (Chris not Emily... wait, not sure if that's any better...hmmm)

Michigan Living Week 20: Winter

Well, we made it through another week of winter... and so far we're not dead. We had a few snow flurries which got us all excited, but then didn't actually stick. As a matter of fact it isn't even really that cold. The days have been floating between 32-48 degrees, and the evenings... well, we are inside the house during the evenings so who cares!



This week also gave us the opportunity for our first Lansing Silver Bells... the annual lighting of the 100 foot tall Christmas tree at the steps of the state capital. So us and 10,000 other people piled along Michigan Avenue to see a light parade, watch a tree light up, watch some fireworks over the capital (actually VERY cool!), and listen to some Disney kid named Cody Simpson sing (listen to because it was impossible to see him). The weather even cooperated by not going much lower than 40 degrees and we were thermal-ed up in our winter best.

















Saturday was another awesome day! Northpointe Community Church has their monthly 3rd Serve- which this time involved buying a Thanksgiving dinner for a family in need and delivering it to them. So we hooked up with some friends of ours and hit up two houses. What a cool way to be reminded of all the things we have to be thankful for!


And now we're looking forward to a short week of school and a long weekend of sleeping in!



Happy Thanksgiving blog readers!

Michigan Living Week 19: Winter

Winter is here folks!
Well, technically, winter doesn't happen on the calendar until December, but I'm pretty sure in the real world snow equals winter. And since we had snow flurries this week I can officially say "We're in it now!" (although it was much closer to 60 degrees today...)













Monday was a unique experience for Chris. Apparently there was a midnight release of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (who knew?) and a friend needed help running his mobile laser tag game (Mobile Laser Kombat) for the event. So from 9:00pm until 1:00am Chris got to gear up in full camouflage and referee nearly 200 Monster fueled adolescence shooting at each other (and at the local Marine recruits). What a night...












Rebekah began her swim module in her PE class... which happens at 8:00am. So that meas a walk up to the high school in the 30degree temps, and a bit of frozen wet hair on the way back. So far she's having a pretty good time with it!





Danielle is LOVING school! She's become the locker opener for all the kids around her who struggle to get theirs open. She's also starting to write stories about anything and everything! Crazy cool!

MIchigan Living: Fall Week 18

By the end of last weekend we decided it was time for some winterizing-- vehicular and wardrobe. We bought 280lbs of sand for the Dodge-- in 70lb bags called "Sand in a Tube", who knew they made such a thing?????-- and 587lbs of clothes for all three girls.






Monday was the national holiday of Halloween-- and however you choose to (or not to) celebrate "get free candy" day we decided to walk around our town to get to know folks better! My favorite had to be the gentlemanly grandfather type with hot apple cider for the grown-ups (with a little topper of Peach Schnapps). Danielle's favorite house was the one giving out FULL SIZE candy bars! And while we did forget where we parked the car, Rebekah's 13 year old friend found it with her smart phone GPS... so glad we brought her!



We also spent a day in Danielle's 5th grade classroom talking about Tourettes, and how differences are what makes life interesting! Danielle's favorite part was passing out Emily's homemade Carmel Apple cookies...



Saturday was our first Student Life Activity. We had a Fall Bash at a local Farm called Peacock Road Tree Farm. Basically it was an evening spent riding the wagon out to a pumpkin patch (where we were able to smash pumpkins since it was the end of the season), cruising through the animal petting zoo, playing Laser Tag in a tree maze (a Zombie Hunt version), and eating S'mores by a bonfire. Not a bad night to hang out in 45 degree temps! And I even got to talk about Jesus in the strangest place ever-- the middle of a pig race track (nope, you read that right!) And on the way home we got to have a great conversation with a local Michigan police officer. They are so nice! Apparently when you go 50mph in a 35mph zone they come out to share their views on life, driving, and cash it takes to tie those two things together (on a happy note: I got off with a mini-lecture and a warning...)



And in the midst of all of that adventure we finally found a burger place that gives In-N-Out a run for it's money (Chris thinks it's better, Emily and Rebekah do not agree, but still love it!)...






...and we learned that Pepsi is vending some odd things these days!

Michigan Living: Fall Week 17

Do bloggers get a 'bye' week? This week we took one...