Love

HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

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September 19, 1998

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September 19, 2008

Then...

Now...

What a beautiful day!!

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Scott and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. As my mom and sisters would say - I was like a girl going on her first date! I was so excited to spend some time with Scott out in South Haven. Since we have been back from South Africa we have hardly seen each other (which is completely different than seeing him 24 hours a day in Africa). And then I was thinking - DO I STILL GOT IT! 11 years later am I the women he fell in love with?!

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We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in South Haven. It was so nice. This is the hors doeuvres that they served to us while we looked at menus of restaurants near by.

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South Haven

SUNSET on the beach

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Scott once asked me What is love? (He was not sure what to say when I confessed my true feelings for him one day in 1997 - I never wanted to be the first one to say I love you to a boyfriend). I think you can define love by what we are - our lives together. We have been greatly blessed! 2 lovely children - Maddie 7 and Alex 5 - an awesome adventure of living in Africa - and the list can go on and on..
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A gift for a 10 year anniversary is to be aluminum, tin, or diamonds. I got all three!


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You say what is that? - 10 aluminum roses handcrafted by Scott (coke cans, jolt cans, a mountain dew can, and barbed wire).
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This is the card that was with it (+/- a few stuff)(hope you don't mind Scott):
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I couldn't decide what to get you for our anniversary and apparently they say you are suppose to give either tin, aluminum, or diamonds. So I did all 3. The aluminum coke cans are red so that you know I will always love you and to remind you of our adventures in South Africa. Tin is a metal which is strong but sometimes can be weak and fragile. The tin vase represents the strength of our marriage with the realization that there are things that could easily weaken it. Finally, the "diamonds" that the flowers are planted in represents the value of you and our marriage to me. Our marriage and you are a huge part of what defines me and they both mean the world to me. You and the kids keep me humble, make me feel loved and needed daily and give me a great purpose for living.

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I knew I loved this man for a reason!!! He used to write these lovely sentimental notes when we were dating and it is nice to see him still writing them! I love you Scott!!
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Here's to another 60 years or so!

A giraffes tongue!

fun times 025
Originally uploaded by lialeenstra

This was a giraffe we saw in South Africa. He seriously could not stop messing with his tongue. It was like he had peanut butter stuck on the top of his mouth! We stood there for about 20 min and he was still doing it when we left.

I miss all the animals. But I will get to see a few familiar animals by going to an animal Farm with Alex's preschool class! He is so excited! He will probably think that we usually have zebras here in Michigan! I'll post the pics tomorrow of our field trip!

STARTING OVER AGAIN

We have had to start all over again here in Michigan. "New" cars, "New" house and adjusting back to the "real world"

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We just purchased a "new" home and we couldn't be more excited!

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Check it out! (You can click on the picture on the link to view more pictures)

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We are waiting for inspections to be done and hopefully we will close on the house soon and be moved in by October 1!! This is such a perfect location for us. It is 3 min from Maddie and Alex's school and much closer for Scott to get to work. Inspections are hopefully going to happen this week! I will keep you updated.
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To add to the excitement - Maddie and Alex have started school and are back into the swing of things. Maddie is in 2nd grade at Dutton Christian and Alex has started Noah's Ark Preschool at the same school

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I am just so happy that they have not pulled the "My teacher is better than you" card. After homeschooling them for about 7 months - I wonder how I did. Maddie has been coming home with school papers on things she is working on and it makes me cry to see her getting it. I must have done something right!!

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Maddie was nervous and a little frightened by all the people on the first day. She even complained of a stomach ache in the morning. She was greatly welcomed and felt right at home. One of her classmates was so excited to see her after Maddie's year away and she was excited to show Maddie her desk which was right next to hers!

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Here is Maddie's 2nd Grade first day of school photo

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Hanging up her backpack next to her name

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Maddie was happy that her friend Zoe was in her class!

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Alex had his first Day - He had just a short day of visiting. This helped him get acquainted with the teacher and other classmates. He really enjoyed it. He goes to school in the afternoon and so all morning he was ready to go - shoes on and backpack packed. I am looking forward to all his stories and excitement for preschool. What is really cool is the first two weeks of school they are learning about AFRICA! How neat is that. Alex brought in a picture today of him walking an elephant and his teacher was so excited that Alex will be able to share his stories too!

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Checking out the playground - VERY IMPORTANT

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Alex's First Day of PreSchool Picture

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Making friends

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Listening so good to the story of the Kissing Hand! (A story of going to school and leaving your mom and dad)

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We definitely have been busy and I HOPE to slow down a bit. We are starting over and beginning a new chapter in our lives. We are happy to be home! - Yet, I am also sad to be away from all my friends in SA! I miss them so much!

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Pray that things continue to go well and that we can adjust well to all this busyness!!

We are finally home!

It has been a week since we boarded a plane in South Africa to home. What a week it has been!! We are busy looking for a house - two cars - busy getting reacquainted with family and friends - and missing friends in South Africa!

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House hunting is exhausting!! It is fun to go through other peoples houses, but I get tired just trying to make the right decision on what house is good for us and the family. I found the perfect house - well maybe if you combine the top 3 - is that even possible?
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Here are some of the houses we have been looking at - what do you think?
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KRAFT HOUSE



http://www.greenridge.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=720894&PRM_MlsName=greenridgeGrandRapidsMI&VAR_AgentCode=3416&VAR_OfficeCode=66

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STIMSON HOUSE
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http://mls.grar.com/GRARReports/ListitLib/report_builder.aspx?report=public_full_prop1&mls_acct=1724465&footer=5651485376837974&header=5651485376837974&maillog_id=5038739153

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http://www.theultimatetour.net/videos/5882_Stimson.html



Well, we have finally adjusted to the time change and are busy getting ready for school starting and Maddie and Alex are busy catching up with cousins and friends. On Wednesday we went to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens. The cousins had a chance to play together. We were missing sweet Stella! We had a great day.
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The kids all excited to go inside the gardens



I went with my mom, my sister Katie and my sister-in-law Michelle

Maddie and Arianna - sporting the same shorts!




playing in the great lakes splash pool


The Gang


The horse sculpture

READY



SET

GO!




Maddie and Arianna

Andrew, Alex, Chase and Nicholas
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I also got to spend some time with my new nieces that I just met. HOW PRECIOUS THEY ARE!!



Juliet

Sylvia

BREAKING NEWS!! Scott just came home with a car tonight - ON A TRAILER - not a good sign! He bought a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8 turbo with a blown motor. He says "all I need to do is put in a new motor" - like he has done that 100x before! He says 20 hours worth of work. I know how much he loves projects - well I think he has his work cut out for him!

backing the trailer up to my dad's shop



the car

Scott proud of his purchase

FAREWELL

AHHHH is all I have to say right now! We are busy packing, saying goodbye and keeping you updated on us. My blog was down for several days so sorry for the lack of blogging. I did not want to leave the blog on a sad note. Anyway - I thought I would post some pictures now and some later on what we have been up to this past week.

We had a farewell speech in our church (Eastside Community Church)on Sunday. We could not have asked for a better church while we lived here in South Africa. They had such open arms for us. We also have meet so many great people!!! A lot of friendships we will treasure. It was also so great to be part of a Bible Study group here. We have become so close! They have been a great support/prayer team for me these past few weeks. Here are some pictures of our send off:

We also had a Farewell party with friends. We played soccer(football) and had a nice braai. At the end of the party we shared stories and prayed together. I have grown so much in my prayer life! It sure is amazing to pray with a group of friends. You really bond and grow your friendship on a different level. We are so blessed. We are going to miss everyone so much!

We have been living with our friends Steven and Robyn for the last few days. They are great!! Robyn is a wonderful friend who makes me laugh - well I think we make each other laugh on a daily basis!

They have a nephew, Keenan, that the kids have become friends with. So last week sometime we took the kids to Dros restaurant to say goodbye. I think I have mentioned before the great kids areas in their restaurants here. I would say about 1/3 of this restaurant was catered for the kids. This makes it great for us adults to spend quiet time and enjoy our dinner. The kids had a great time making their own pizzas and then eating them in their own seat in front of a movie screen. It is great! Here are some pictures:

Alex, Keenan, Maddie

Rolling the dough

Alex's famous pout - he thought his wasn't round enough.

The pizza going into the wood burning oven

Sitting in front of the movies - Yes I noticed Alex took his shoes off - YUCK!

Well it is time to say goodbye to South Africa and hello to another chapter in our lives. It is so bittersweet leaving here. We will miss so many things here! Our friends, church, warm weather, the animals, and all the adventure. We have grown so much! We are defiantly so excited to come home and see everyone. I will warn you the tears will be flowing when I step off the plane! Ok they are flowing now as I am typing. There are so many emotions! When I get back I will have more time to share more on the blog.

We love you all and we will see you on Friday! Now I have to go to finish our crazy last few days.