I kinda like to do things when told you should not do them. I guess that is the juvenile refusal to grow up.
You don't have to worry about fighting the crowds when out for a hike in the "Valley of Fire" in July.
Sharon and I took the family up to Northeast Iowa for a few days because this was the year we have been married for 30 years. Sharon wanted to celebrate last year already. I wonder if it seems it has been "longer" she has had to put up with me than real time can measure.
Micah was leading our exploration of a trail when he and Matthew decided we could just cross the fence where the sign was posted DO NOT CROSS and continue walking, and sliding down the rock face, and being lost. We finally were able to scramble back up the bluff about straight up and get back on the trail. I do wonder where those boys get the idea they can just wonder off the trails. There was a certain justice here though. When they were younger there was a time or two when they were in tears asking "will we ever find our way back". Ha, now I could ask them the same question.
When Sharon and I visited Dordt, we went to see Matthew at work. The above scene was what we saw. Ah, yes that old Spoelstra work ethic kicking in. Put your feet up and read. (by the way I just misspelled Spoelstra and spell check thought I was trying to type strapless,hmm.)
Tony is in his second year at Dordt. I am starting to remind myself of my father. "Tony you need a haircut". Wow! we were never going to be those old staid people that our parents were, were we? When Sharon and I are in Cedar Rapids we visit with one of Matthew and Tony's professors. We get a kick out of it that she tells people she teaches our sons (plural). I bet people would be surprised to see the lack of family resemblance one of our "sons" has to the rest of our boys.
We spent a lot of our spare time working on houses this year. As you can see from the above picture I am best at leaning against something while supervising. I find the work is much easier if one of the boys does it, although I reserve the right to say "you did that how?" in that kind of disgusted parental voice all children know and love..
Yep, your right, neither one of those pictures is me working either.
They do good work though. Here is a picture of the kitchen of a house we bought that had been rented by an owner who lived out of town and was not watching his property. We had torn out the broken cabinets and broken ceiling, but that was the condition of the floor. I am pretty sure there was a little recreational medication going on by the former tenants. We met a boy about 11 years old who had been living here with his extended family. He said "my uncle isn't right in the head." Wow we figured that out even without a psychiatric evaluation.
Same area finished and ready to rent. It's our little bit of reformation in a broken world. While the boys slave away I think of myself more as the purchaser. I find the house to purchase they do the work.
See, here I am asking the age old question of life, "is that floor solid". I do believe some day after jumping on one of these floors I will find myself in the basement bleeding going "help I've fallen and I can't get up."
God has blessed our family greatly in the past year. It is my prayer that God is deeply involved in each of your lives as well. May 2017 be a year of rejoicing in our Lord and Savoir.
