Jason and Sarah were married this weekend. Jason is my "Little" brother. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and a beautiful wedding. I will share a few of my photo snapshots with you.

Sarah
Jason

The wedding background. It was really gorgeous.

Cutting of the Cake

Grandma Vos

The whole Vos Family

Darling Sienna
Tulp Family

We have been looking forward to Sienna and Rachel's visit from Panama. We spent Sunday afternoon with them. Here's a few photos of her, she looks exactly like Rachel. A little naughty/ ornery streak, just like Rachel. But a real sweet heart.

This past weekend Ben played soccer in the Iowa Games. This was the first year that we participated in the Iowa Summer Games and what a learning experience. We found out a little to late that we were registered in the wrong age group. A little confusion about what U11 means: Our understanding was no one 11 or older is allowed to play. Unfortunately, the rules actually means that the kids can be 11 and can not turn 12 before August 1. Needless to say, we were scheduled to play in the age group above most of our kids. Our boys are 9 and 10 year olds playing against 10 and 11 year olds. It's amazing the skill development that occurs between 10 and 11.

So to make a long story short: They were beat pretty badly in all 4 of their games. The kids said they had fun and would be interested in playing next year in the correct age group. I did get a few good photos.

Yesterday, I realized that I have not been regularly updating the blog, because I have nothing exciting to share with you. My second realization was that in my first year of blogging, I shared little bits of life everyday, no matter how exciting. So today, you are blessed with the day to day schedule of life this week.

8:00 am Wake up (A little late, but it's summer after all)
9:30 am - 12pm Ben has orchestra camp. Nadia, Ethan and I ran errands or head home to clean, organize or pack a few boxes.
12:30 Lunch
1 pm - 3 pm Quiet time - I think Ben and Ethan are a little bored with summer. They are having a little difficulty entertaining themselves. They are actually driving me a little nutty.
3 pm - 5 pm Continue to clean, organize or pack
5 pm - 6 pm Cook dinner

Evenings are filled with Summer Hockey, and other miscellaneous things.
Next week the boys will be gone every evening for "High Power Soccer" sponsored by a local church.

9 pm or even 9:30 pm Bedtime

I feel that I have run out of things to box up. We still have 2 weeks before we move and we need most things. In fact, we packed up the long pants and sweatshirts, but tonight we need them. Toys have already been taken out of their boxes. I think it's a bit hopeless until that last week.

That's the excitement in my life. Thanks for reading.

A sadness has settled in my heart since I learned that a old friend from Winnipeg died this Spring. He was a talented artist, in fact, we have his print entitled "Eternity" in our living room. He was an active member of our Church and made us feel welcomed immediately. He was always full of smiles and his optimism was contagious.

I just wanted to share this all of you. Please pray for his family. What a huge loss his family has experienced. If you would like to see more about him or view his art work click on the following links: His website
His Blog
The following self portrait was part of his art show "Restless Slumber" It was about 7 years ago; I am amazed at the prophetic nature of this art.

It is with great sadness that the family announces the passing of Gerald Folkerts at Riverview Health Center on May 30th, 2009, at the age of 51.

Left to mourn his passing are his wife, Arlis, and their children, Jared (Dana, grandchildren, Xavier and Shaela), Janis, Jesse, and Brendan. Also left to remember him are his mother, Anna Folkerts, and parents-in-law, Arend and Rosella Wassink. He will be missed by family members Harry (MaryAnne), John (Wendy), Ken (Alice), Rudy (Shirley), Liz (Melvin), Hans, Janice (Roger), Hilaine (Roger), Cornie (Deb), Gloria (Ken), as well as many nieces, nephews, and friends.

Gerald was predeceased by his father, Andy Folkerts, nephew, David Folkerts, and infant nephews, Travis VanWhye, Matthew Alons, and Seth Folkerts.

Gerald was a loving husband, and a wonderful father and grandfather. His great love besides his family was his art. Gerald was an artist who worked at home out of his third-floor "gravel road" studio. He was devoted to painting art that invited viewers to reflect upon, and sometimes wrestle with, allusive, suggestion-rich and deeply relevant images. Gerald was dedicated to living out his Christian beliefs and loved the less fortunate. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends. There are too many experiences that we still crave, but we're blessed by the memories we have.

Thank you to the staff at Riverview, CancerCare, and the Palliative Community Team. In lieu of flowers, a trust fund has been set up for Gerald's children. Donations may be dropped off at Crosstown Civic Credit Union (1200 Henderson Highway, Winnipeg) or Covenant Christian Reformed Church (653 Knowles Ave., Winnipeg). Donations may be mailed to: P.O. Box #28080, 1795 Henderson Hwy, Winnipeg, MB, R2G 4E9.

A memorial service will be held at Covenant Christian Reformed Church, 653 Knowles Ave., on June 6th, 2009 at 11:00 a.m.

We are back from our yearly Canadian excursion. Andrew has renewed his Visa and we are good for another year. We enjoyed our week away from the craziness of home buying and selling, but today, was filled with Laundry and laundry and phone calls.

I will give you a quick summary of our trip. These are the highlights, if you ever make it to Manitoba, be sure to check them out:

Bird's Hill Park was our home base for the week. It's a provincial park about 10 minutes north of the city, a perfect location for all our comings and goings.
The week was very cool even for Manitoba summers. The daytime temperatures were only in the low 70's and the nights dropped to the mid- 50's. We were not prepared for the cold. In fact, each of us only packed 1 pair of pants. We decided to spent Monday afternoon at Pan Am Pool. This is where I taught swim lessons for several years and where Ben took his first lessons. Ben and I headed to the diving boards and the 3 meter tower. I wasn't sure he would enjoy it, but he was having a blast! Here's a photo of him on the way down
We spent some time on Monday afternoon at the Leo Mol Sculpture Gardens. He was a Winnipeg born artist. Winnipeg has a beautiful garden dedicated to his sculptures. The kids really enjoyed seeing the animal sculptures.
Tuesday we went to visit The Royal Canadian Mint. It was fascinating to see the process and to know how many other countries' coins are minted in Winnipeg. We also got to hold a bar of real gold. Of course, it was guarded by an armed security guard.
Wednesday was Canada Day and the City was crazy busy. We went to the Zoo, but just a note, Free admission day is the wrong day to go to the Zoo..... I did not even get my camera out, It was packed with people. We did see several deer at our campground, so here's my animal photos. 2 fawns following there mother into the trees.
And a Hawk of some kind was perched on the fire pit at a campsite close to the washrooms.
Thursday were drove to Brandon, Manitoba which is about a 2 hour drive. Interesting enough, Andrew met with a Client. He has been working on this job by phone and email, but was able to meet the CEO. After his meeting we drove to Spirit Sands Provincial Park. It is a desert like area in the middle of Manitoba. We enjoyed several hours hiking about the park.
Friday was finally a nice warm day. We drove up to Grand Beach with some Friends. The water was really cold, so most of our time was spent creating sand sculptures. Ben is posing next to his snake.
Saturday we headed home. It was a really long day in the car, but we listened to several Chronicles of Narnia stories to break up the boredom. Once the sun set, we were able to catch a few firework as we drove.

Try to our form, we celebrated both Holidays! Nothing is simple in our dual citizenship family.

Wow, that was a long post. I hope you enjoyed our trip summary.
Here's a small gratitude list after this week:
Safe Travel after many hours on the road
C.S. Lewis and his truly entertaining stories
Our tent-It's really cozy
Building fires
Roasting Marshmallows
Eating Smores
Andrew's Visa Renewal
Good Winnipeg Friends
Fond memories time in Winnipeg