There's Daddy!

Swing set!

This is a motherhood dream come true. Our kids have their own swing set in the backyard and I can watch them playing from the kitchen while preparing dinner! This was a great craigslist find and Brad is so awesome that he a) knows how to take it apart, move it and set it up here, b) is able to and c) is not only willing but enthusiastic to do it. It required some new bolts and boards but it's secured in the ground and sturdy. Plus a slide is coming soon (shhh!). 

Addie is certainly the monkey of the family!

Fall Family Photos

October 2014 - Cordova Park near Pella, IA

Christmas Program - Peter's Preschool

September 2014

We moved into the church parsonage on September and Peter turned 5 in September! He got to start preschool at PCGS, too. I'm glad we waited for him to start preschool until this year. He was ready to start and has done so well. His class is for older 4 year olds and 5 year olds. It meets three mornings each week. He is really loving it!

September was also an exciting month as Brad passed his classical examination and was ordained and installed as a pastor in the CRC. It was the final step in the seminary journey and it was exciting to see the dream fulfilled and his hard work and calling affirmed.

Peter's first day of preschool and our new home's front step - sorry for the crooked picture

Peter got to help drive the excavator that working at church - on his birthday!

Our friends and family gathered for Brad's ordination- we ventured to Red Rock and tossed stones in the water for a while

Group picture on the hike back - you can see it was a hot day as the kids decided to go shirtless

Love birds

Family picture on Ordination and Installation Day

So special to have both of our parents here for the weekend

Special men involved in the day: Pastor Paul Hoekstra, Pastor Mark Quist, Brad and Dad (aka Pastor Merle Bierma)

These cousins got "caught" playing in the balcony after church!

August 2014

In August we arrived in Pella, IA, our new home. First order of business: explore! We lived in a temporary house for a few weeks and still only had our suitcases, so there was no unpacking and "settling in" to be done.  

Local attraction: the Cordova tower. A water tower turned observation tower. 

At the top, the observation deck overlooks Lake Red Rock and the surrounding area.

Someone with a lower perspective of the world got a hold of the camera. I hope that little person sees us as more than a couple pairs of legs and feet!

This girl is a purse girl. Give her a bag to dig through and zippers to play with and she will be content for a while. (Note - remove creamy, slimy substances first -she is super attracted to lip balm, lip stick, sun screen, hand sanitizer, etc...)

Another attempt at a family self-portrait - after the welcoming service at our new church, Calvary CRC. 

Another local attraction is Big Rock Park. Walking trails over creeks, through woods and small prairies and this large, lone boulder in middle of it all.

Sibling hug on the "Big Rock"

For perspective. I know you Coloradans and the rest of you in the Western US are laughing at this "big rock". But in farming country, it's quite remarkable.

August also brought us the start of a new school year. Here is Cora on the morning of her first day of 2nd grade at Pella Christian Grade school. (Standing in front of our temporary home). It was also my (Kristin's) first day subbing in the kindergarten Spanish class but I guess I didn't need a picture!

July 2014

If June was Crazy, I don't even know how to describe July. It was wonderful, horrible, amazing, exhausting...all at the same time. We were not homeless: as the saying goes, "Home is where the heart is" and we were blessed to have the entire month together as a family of 5 but also with many of our close and extended relatives. We enjoyed lots of visits with cousins and aunts and uncles on both sides of our families. We especially savored a week when Mike and Rach, Gideon and Anneke visited from Oregon and another two weeks that we got to spend with Mom and Dad Bierma in Colorado. So while our hearts always had a home, our heads slept on many different pillows over the course of July. We also said more good-byes and made our final departure from Michigan. The roller coaster of emotions during those weeks left me feeling whip-lashed by the time August rolled around.

An informal snapshot of the Schippers tribe together in Holland

Great Gram and Herb with 8 of their great grand-kids

We loved swimming in a neigbor's pool and also at the beach in Holland as much as we could!

Peter really found is comfort level in the water this year

Cousins are the best! A special bond happens with young cousins and I miss seeing these guys playing together!

A fun day a Michigan's Adventure - first rollercoaster ride for Cora. She did them all! What a brave girl! Peter even tried the ones he was big enough to ride and loved it, too.

On a wilderness hike by the cabin in Colorado. How fun that all 3 could do a lot more walking than last year!

Our attempt at a family-self-portrait in the woods

Picnic lunch in Ouray. We love Ouray! The views, the pool, the climate. It's just lovely.

Grandma Bierma and Addie on "Grandpa's" boat at Ridgeway. No bears this year! But fun times fishing and boating and being together.

We hiked to the "Hole in the Rock" with Grandma and Grandpa Bierma and snapped this fun picture together while we rested.

I'm thankful for all the wonderful memories we made during the month of July! And glad we have some pictures to help us remember the special moments!

June 2014

June was C.R.A.Z.Y. We traveled a bunch, but none for vacation unless a wedding weekend counts as vacation. One weekend we all traveled to Pella, IA, for Brad's second interview at Calvary CRC. Another week, Brad and I traveled to Pella to participate in the CRC Synod 2014 where they recognized and affirmed the recent seminary grads for ministry in the CRC. Brad also received a letter of call from Calvary to be their Minister of the Worship (lead pastor) at that time. We celebrated Addie's 2nd birthday somewhere in there. We all traveled to DeMotte, IN for Brad's cousin Jenna's wedding and we visited Sunrise CRC and friends in Lafayette. We accepted the call to Calvary and decided to move out of our apartment before the end of the month (7 days later) and temporarily moved into my parents' house. In the midst of all of that we said good-bye after good-bye to our dear seminary friends, church friends at Lee St CRC, and family who lived around the GR area. 

Cora and Peter help Addie open a birthday present

New toys are exciting for everyone!

A play kitchen for Addie's birthday

Brad (solemnly) listens to the list of names of seminary graduates at Synod

My view from the back of the auditorium - Brad and some of the others with President Medenblik captured on screen behind them.

April Fun

Addie likes to play in the big kids' beds

We witnessed the birth of a lamb at the Critter Barn during spring break

Thanks to our GRChildren's Museum membership we got free entry to the USS Silversides Museum in Muskegeon. Cora is hiding inside an old torpedo.

In front of the submarine in Muskegon. Cora is taking the picture for us and Peter was being tickled as he tried to get away!

Monkey faces!

Cora's chalk art

Tea party with our new neighbors from Ethiopia on a rare sunny day

Easter picture with the Gritter cousins

Hide and Seek - Addie hid here in the closet for about 20 minutes, quiet and still! She was found multiple times during the multiple rounds of the game but she never left her special hiding spot!