SOLD

We sold Matt's Grand Prix today. We are glad we are back to just having two cars instead of three, and Matt feels good because he sold it to another Grand Prix enthusiast who will take good care of it (I can't even begin to explain to you the bond Matt had with that car).

Now...does anyone need a house?

1st Place!

I figured I should post the "trophy picture" from the Grandville 4th of July tourney since it was such a hard fought battle for first. Besides playing basketball all day in the summer heat, they were also short a guy for half the day. Way to bring home the trophy, guys, two years in a row!

Katie's Book Club, Part II

We just started a new series at our church called God is Green...yes, we are talking about all the environment stuff that seems to be all over these days. I have never considered myself to be much of an environmentalist (aside from trying not to blatantly litter), but I am being challenged to reconsider. The speaker this morning, Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action, shared his personal journey of integrating his faith and his sense that something needs to be done about the declining state of the natural world around us. I haven't actually read his book yet, but I plan to. Here's the synopsis from Amazon, in case you're interested. You can also visit his site at http://www.servegodsavetheplanet.org/.

"Five years ago Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth and his family lived in a big house, had two luxury cars, loads of money, and lots of stuff. As chief of the medical staff at a large hospital, Sleeth was living the American dream--until he realized that something was terribly wrong. As he saw patient after patient suffering from cancer, asthma, and other chronic diseases, he began to understand that the Earth and its inhabitants were in trouble. Feeling helpless, he turned to his faith for guidance. He discovered how the timeless lessons of personal responsibility, simplicity, and stewardship taught in the Bible could be applied to modern life. The Sleeths have since sold their big home and given away more than half of what they once owned. In Serve God, Save the Planet, Sleeth shares the joy of adopting a less materialistic lifestyle, and reveals what was easy and what was hard about the changes his family has made. Drawing on science and religion, Sleeth builds a bridge between environmentalists and mainstream Christians. He and his family are harbingers of the creation care movement, which calls on all those who love God to love our planet. Sleeth shares how material downscaling led his family to healthier lifestyles, stronger relationships, and richer spiritual lives. Serve God, Save the Planet is more than a book: it is a prescription for taking personal responsibility for global survival."

Happy 4th of July!

We spent that day watching Matt playing in the Grandville 3-on-3 basketball tournament (they took 1st!!) and then we went to Matt's parents' house for dinner. Dylan had one of the best days of his life to date...watching Daddy, Uncle Brandon, Uncle Chad, and Mr. Ross play basketball, jumping in a giant bouncey thing, roasting marshmallows with Papa, and catching Lightening McQueen bugs (lightening bugs). A fun day, but we are all exhausted, especially Matt, whose body protests after playing basketball almost continuously from 8 until 5!

Tea Party

We found this little plastic tea set downtown Holland last weekend that I insisted on buying for Ella (right now her favorite toys are Dylan's cars and balls...I thought it was time to get some girl toys in the house). Here are a couple pictures of her playing with it at the condo.

Katie's Book Club

I just finished reading Karin Evan's The Lost Daughters of China and I highly recommend it. The book is about the little girls in China who are given up/abandoned and is "part memoir, part travelogue, part East-West cultural commentary, and part adoption how-to." I have a special interest in Chinese adoptions for a couple of reasons: #1, my paternal grandparents were born in Shanghai (making me 50% Chinese); #2, my brother and sister-in-law are currently in the process of adopting a baby girl from China; and #3, Matt and I have always thought about adopting a child down the road, and China is near the top of the list (see points #1 & #2).

Go ahead and read it, let me know when you're done, and we'll discuss.

Spyglass Beach

My favorite boys.

Ella Bella. Just can't stop taking pictures of her.

House Update

After a busy week with three showings, last week was a slow house week. One funny thing that happened though is that we found out that one of the couples who went through our house are customers of Matt's. We had heard through the realtors that they recognized Matt's picture, but we didn't know who they were. They ended up coming in last week and buying a car and told him they went through our house. They were the couple who had it narrowed down to our house and another one. Unfortunately for us, they ended up buying the other house (newer and slightly more expensive), but they had really nice things to say about our house which was encouraging. They told Matt they had been through a lot of houses in our price range, and ours was definitely one of the nicest. The upside of this couple not buying our house is that they would have needed to be in by July 22 which would have left us "homeless" for a couple of months. Pictures of our house are on-line now, so hopefully that brings some more traffic. We are still trusting God and staying pretty stress-free :)