Christmas in Lynden -part 2

Ok, we left off with the cousins and Aunties and everyone else arriving. It was wonderful to have so much of the family together in one place. It would have been great if Danny and SooHee could have been there as well, but I am just glad we saw them this summer!

Being in a house with so many people, things are bound to get a little silly. The kids found Papa John's wig and decided to try it on:

Tyson in the wig

Pebbles looking like one of the Beatles

Maybe it's better that he doesn't have much hair...

Jori with her thick, dark locks

On Christmas Eve, Darin and Josh arrived with Pebbles and all the girls went to church with my parents that night. On Christmas day, we all kind of laid low (at least that is how I remember things) and then we had a really nice ham dinner that afternoon and then it was time to open presents.

New gloves from Papa and Gram

Barbie clothes from Kelsey

Money and a free hamburger coupon from the Molan's and Auntie Kristi : )

Thanks Uncle Josh!

Molan kids unwrapping their present from Papa and Gram

Papa and Gram getting hugs for the new Wii

Mario Cart and a new Wii fit for the Fey's

We all made out like bandits. I think my favorite things to watch people open were the gifts from Josh. He is in the process of moving (eventually to California) and had recently cleaned out his house. Darin and I received a meat thermometer, which will be handy when we braai (grill out) in South Africa. My parents received a down comforter that Josh was allergic too (I'd have snapped it up if we were staying in the states!), a duvet cover and a mattress pad. My sisters received the best things. Laurie got some swiffer wet pads, with no swiffer (although my mom later dug it out of Josh's trash) and a really nice insulated cooler bag and Kristi got a wine aerator and some spices. I loved laughing with my whole family as each of us opened our gifts! My parents made all the kids (and parents) happy and gave Wii's and Wii fits to everyone. Gage and Sawyer got theirs on Sunday, so they weren't left out. My sisters gave me a necklace, which I absolutely love.

It has parts of two Bible verses on it-Deuteronomy 31:8, which says "The Lord Himself goes before me and He will be with me" and Deuteronomy 30:19 "Listen to His voice; Hold fast to Him". I love it and if I had been forced to read the verses when it was given to me, I would have broken down in tears. So if you didn't know before, I love it and am so touched by the words on it!

The rest of the night was spent hanging out, playing the new Wii games and just relaxing.

Mario Cart

Our favorite pooch

My husband

Christmas 2010 in Lynden, WA

After 3 years of spending Christmas with Darin's family, we finally spent Christmas 2010 in Lynden with the Van Schepen's. Don't get me wrong, I wish we could be two places at once, because we missed being in Edgerton, but we sure had a lot of fun with my family!

On Friday, December 17, we headed for Chicago to stay at a hotel. Early the next morning, Darin took the kids and I to the airport and our adventure began. My Uncle Herm and his wife Libby picked us up at the Sea/Tac airport a little before 11 Saturday morning and we were in Lynden before 2 that afternoon, happy to be back with Papa and Gram. Tyson and Jori were eager to run around and I was glad to have some extra hands to help me with the kids!

The kids and I were the only ones at my folks until Thursday. We hung out that weekend with my parents and the Korean students that are staying at their house this year. My mom and I did some shopping and my dad entertained the kids at home and took them to his church so he could try and get some work done on his sermons. That was not going to happen! The kids just wanted to keep seeing what Papa was doing. Papa and the kids also went to a farm that a family from their church owns. They saw cows, donkeys and more. I think my dad took his camera along, so I might be able to add some pictures of their time there later.

On Wednesday (or was it Tuesday??) we drove to Canada to go to the indoor pool. We took James, one of the Koreans, along as he did not get to go home for Christmas this year. It was wonderful having so many adults to look after the kids as they didn't want to wear floaties. We were all happy that Tyson AND Jori were both able to go on the water slide. When we were in Canada this summer, only Tyson could go on the slide and he had to have a floatie on. They must have changed their rules, because as long as an adult went down first, both kids could slide down on their own. They also took turns jumping off the diving board. Jori even jumped off the 3 meter board (10 feet) but got hurt after landing in a belly flop. That ruined any chance of getting Tyson to go off the high board. We all liked being in the hot tub and the kiddie pool.

You'd think I'd remember more of what we did, but the older I get, the harder time I have adjusting to the three hour time change! I tried to sleep in a lot and went to bed early for the first few days. I am sure my parents were thrilled to have me around : )

On Thursday, Laurie and her kids got in around dinner time. Tyson and Jori were so excited to have some kids to play with and I finally took out my camera and started taking pictures. Auntie Kristi got in about an hour later, but her boys didn't come up til Sunday. Friday afternoon, which was Christmas Eve Day, Darin and Uncle Josh came up along with Pebble/Pebbles, our favorite dog!

Here are some pictures from the first couple days that everyone was around.

Tyson (6) and Carson (8) snuggle with Pebbles

Hanging out in the den.

Auntie Laurie and her 14 year old, Caden.

Early Christmas presents from the cousins (what happened to the NO gift exchange rule??)

Jori and her new Barbs from Kelsey (10)

Jori and Cameron (12)

Uncle Josh chilling

Jori and Pebs

More to come later...

Christmas Programs 2010

This week both kids had their school Christmas programs. Tyson's was Tuesday night and Jori's was Wednesday morning. It was fun to see them both up on stage performing. They are still young enough that they are excited about what they are doing and actually want to be there!

Here are a couple videos from Tyson's program. He is in the second to top row, far right side, second kid in wearing a blue shirt. 

I love this version of "How Great our Joy". It was a little peppy and upbeat and I love to see kids dance!

Darin couldn't make it to Jori's program, so I made sure to take plenty of video for him to see. I tried taking pictures, but because of the Christmas lights on stage, they all ended up looking pretty blurry.

This one is a little fuzzy, but I love watching her do the motions:

 I love this one too, especially during the second verse when her "no" is a little ahead of everyone else.

And one more, just because she's so cute:

I wish we could have been this close for Tyson's program, but it was CRAZINESS in the church and we are just glad we didn't end up in the balcony. 

Giving Gifts-2010

Tonight we exchanged gifts with the kids. This next week is going to be a busy one and the kids and I are already flying out on Saturday morning for Washington, so we figured today was the least busy day to do this, and it gives our kids plenty of time to play with their new stuff. 

Our leaning tower of tree-za

 A couple weeks ago, when I was wrapping some presents, the kids asked for some wrapping paper to wrap things up for Darin and me. They worked very hard at their wrapping and had been waiting patiently for us to see what they chose for us.

One of the presents they wrapped

 We let the kids take turns photographing us opening our gifts. Here is the most flattering shot of me and a headless shot of Darin.

 Jori gave up 2 of her bears, Tyson sacrificed a reptile book and a compass, we each got a stem from a broken pair of glasses, some cardboard "computers", a bookmark and the most useful gift of all, a pack of gum.

Our little pile of goodies

A pack of gum the kids swiped from our drawer : )

Next, it was time for the kids to open their gifts. They each started out with something small, but as you can tell, it doesn't take much to make these kids smile!

Tyson and his new pill box

Love these kids!

Next is Tyson with most of his "big" gift. He is now the proud owner of a harmonica and instruction book, a motocross shirt, and a NASCAR racing outfit. The pill box and harmonica set are a couple of the things that Darin and I picked up at our small group white elephant gift exchange earlier this week. Thanks Louzons!

Our harmonica playing race car driver. What a combo!

Now it was time for Jori to open her gifts. First she opened her own package, and while she seemed to like it, she was also kind of ambivalent. Then she and Charity (her doll) opened Charity's gift and she got a little more excited. See for yourself!

Matchy match fun!

We all had a wonderful night, complete with an excellent dinner that I will post about later! Enjoy the videos, but please ignore my impatient sounding voice!

Boo. For some reason I can only upload one video! I've tried several times, but it is not working. Just imagine Jori opening up her little outfit and kind of tossing it to the side, then opening Charity's little outfit (after first having Charity try to open it herself) and still not really getting it, then Darin saying "Doesn't that look like something else" and then she realizes they are matching little outfits and she is happy. Hopefully we'll get the video up another time!

Update 2010 (also known as the annual Christmas letter)

It's that time of year again. Time to update you all on what the Fey's have been up to over the past 12 months and what's coming up for us in the new year.

As most of you know by now, our family is going to be experiencing some big changes in the coming year, we are just not sure when these changes will be occurring! In April 2010, Darin started corresponding with an acquaintance in South Africa and over the next couple months, a plan was hammered out that has brought us into a business partnership that will eventually see our family moving overseas. Yes, we are going to be business owners, once the business is built! We thought we'd be heading over to South Africa already in January, ready to figure out how to run a petrol station/convenience store, but as with most plans, things come up and the "plan" goes right out the window. Now we are hoping to head over sometime before June, but you'll just have to keep checking the blog to see what happens!

So that is our BIG news, and even though moving overseas to start up a new business is a life changing event, there really isn't much more to say about it at this point because we are kind of facing a world of unknowns. As of right now, we don't know where we are going to live, we don't know what it will actually look like to own part of a petrol station, we don't know where the kids will go to school, we don't know what else we might get involved in. What we DO know is that God has all of these details and many more worked out already, and we are trying to daily rest in that thought! We are excited to see what He has in store for us in South Africa and we look forward to renewing many friendships that we made over there in 2008.

Now, how about a glimpse into what our daily lives are looking like now.  We'll start with the littlest Fey, who is not so little any more! Jori will be 4 1/2 on December 18. She is so excited to add that "half" to her age! In September, Jori started preschool at Georgetown Christian. She absolutely loves it and it has been such a joy to see her learn and grow in this new environment. Jori loves to sing and dance. She also loves to play with her "guys", especially her special doll, Charity. So far Jori is excited about moving to South Africa. She has informed us on several occasions that she gets two suitcases to pack all her stuff, and the rest of us may have one. Jori still has the big belly laugh that we have come to love so much, and she is generally full of smiles.

Tyson will be 6 1/2 on December 16. He is in first grade at Park Elementary this year and is loving everything about school, especially recess and snack time. Tyson started reading over the summer and hasn't stopped! He loves learning and you can almost see the wheels turning in his head when he is trying to figure out how something works. This fall, Tyson started Cadets at one of the local churches. He absolutely loves being part of this group and enjoys telling us about the fun things that happen on Wednesday nights. Last week Tyson came home with his first badge and he was glowing! Tyson is excited to move to South Africa to see his friend Fetsi again and he also has big plans to help Darin build the petrol station.

After being at Innotec since graduating in 2000, Darin took a position with a new company in January 2010. After 9 1/2 years of dirty hands and greasy clothes, Darin is now a purchasing agent at Nuvar Inc. This new position has been a perfect fit for Darin and his love for this new job has made our upcoming plans to move a little bittersweet. Another big change for Darin is that he sold the vending machine business that he started way back when we were first married. After years and years of trips to Sam's Club to stock up on candy and treats and many Saturday afternoons spent filling the machines, this has been a big change for our whole family.

In many ways, I have probably changed the least of anyone in our family of four. I have enjoyed helping out at Tyson's school this year and doing "girl" stuff with Jori on her days off. I am still part of a wonderful Bible study at our church and have loved getting to know all the women this year. The past few months have turned me into a much better house keeper, but that is only because our house is on the market and it needs to be ready for possible showings. I'd say the biggest change I've experienced is that I finally feel content with my life. Funny how getting ready to move to a different country away from friends, family and all things familiar has caused me to have such a great appreciation and love for the life I am living right now.

God has been so good to us this year and we know that He will be going with us as we head into whatever He has in store for us next. This year, we anticipate the birth of Christ as snow falls around us and temperatures dip below freezing. What a joy to know that, next year, even though we will now be celebrating Christmas during the summer (opposite hemisphere=opposite seasons) we will still be celebrating the same Emmanuel, God with us, that we do right now.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend this year. As you may recall, our last 2 Thanksgivings have been humble affairs, although Thanksgiving 2008 at least found us eating turkey products! This year we were so blessed to have part of Darin's family join us in Michigan. His parents, brother Israel and little Rosa arrived late Wednesday night and were able to attend the Thanksgiving service with us at EGM. We were especially thankful to have them make it to Michigan because Darin's mom had hit some ice on the drive up (they drove two separate vehicles for part of the trip) and had slid across the median and over the oncoming lanes of traffic before ending up in the ditch! As Israel said, the angels were certainly watching over them! We managed to put together a wonderful meal, although technically what we had qualifies more as Easter dinner, complete with ham, party potatoes, corn and strawberry fluff-minus the strawberries that were in scarce supply at our area Family Fares.

Enjoying our meal

Cheesy Rosa enjoyed her cheesy potatoes

Grandma Karen brought her sewing machine along and was able to help me patch up jeans for Darin and Tyson and also make some fun new things for Jori. Both kids loved watching Grandma sew, but Tyson was especially entranced by what Grandma was doing and how the sewing machine worked. He even helped her sew a little.

Learning from Grandma Karen

Turning a broken "gown" into a fun new skirt!

I had found a pattern to make Jori a dress a few months ago, and in one day, mom made it a reality! I followed the instructions on line, cut out the 2 sides of the dress and even sewed a little. Mom made the straps how I wanted them, without a pattern, and sewed the majority of the dress, which I could not have done with such wonderful results! She did this while also helping me finish up Jori's Christmas present, which included making a shirt for Jori's doll, Charity, turning a long sleeve shirt of Jori's into a super cute short sleeve shirt and appliqueing butterflies on both of these. I can't WAIT til Christmas!

Jori's dress

It used to be a men's shirt, so the dress back was the shirt front

On Friday, we went with Darin's aunt, uncle and cousin to the Bodies Revealed exhibit at the public museum. Rox and Al were supposed to go to Edgerton for Thanksgiving, but decided to stay put because of the weather. Amy is at Calvin and was going to ride home with them to see her family. We are glad they could come with us!  It was pretty interesting to see. Even the kids enjoyed it. They also liked looking around the rest of the museum. Tyson was especially impressed with the Amway exhibit because he got to dress up in a lab coat. Jori liked touching the animal pelts. I also liked the Amway exhibit because I was able to prove to Darin that I really do have abnormally cold hands and he should not make fun of my when I keep my gloves on inside! They had one of those machines that you can stand in front of and the "hot" parts of your body show up red or orange and the cold parts are blue or green. My hands were the only blue/green ones of the bunch! Grandma Karen's nose was also green. Darin and Tyson were all red.

On the carousel (click the picture to view it full size)

The whole gang, including Rox and Al, and Amy.

On Saturday, all the guys went out for breakfast. Darin went out and got us donuts first for the women-what a guy. Jori ate one donut too many and ended up feeling sick the rest of the day. When the guys got back home, Mom and I took the boys to run some errands. First stop was Meijer to get the long promised Lego Star Wars set! Tyson was so happy to finally have it in his hot little hands. Then we ran to Target to get Jori some new polka dot pants as Grandma managed to get her to give up her old polka dot pants that were two sizes too small, as well as 3 other pairs of too small pants that she loved. I must admit, I will miss seeing her little buns squeezed into those pants! After stopping to pick up some more sewing supplies, we headed home. Then we started sewing. While we sewed, we also made cookies for the kids to frost. It was a bit of a mess, but they had a great time.

Topless Jori-she got wet "washing" dishes for us

Jori's final product. Got frosting?

He really was having fun

YUM!

Dad and Rosa stuck to eating peanuts

Then the men took all the kids except for Rosa to the bowling alley. Mom and I kept sewing until the needle on the machine broke! That night Mom and Dad treated Darin and I to dinner. It was so nice going out with the two of them. The kids did great for the babysitter and were all still smiling when we got home. Even Jori, who was laying on the sofa with a "throw up" bowl next to her when we left had perked up. After getting all the kids to bed, mom and I got right back to sewing with the new needle we had picked up before dinner. It was nice to sit and chat together.

On Sunday morning it was time to say good-bye. That is always the hard part. First the kids got their Christmas presents, or should I say the rest of their presents as they had been weaseling gifts out of Grandma all weekend : ) Tyson opened his gift first. He actually pulled it out of the bag and assumed it was for Israel. When Grandma said it was for him, his face just lit up! It was a whole box of Lego pieces. He was so happy.

Tyson and his Lego's

 Then Jori opened her gift. First she pulled out a coloring book and a CD, and then she hauled out a book that literally weighs about 5 pounds. She thought it was so cool to have such a big book!

Checking out the big sticker book

Then it was time for our guests to leave. While we watched them drive away, Tyson started crying. Later on in the day, Jori said her tummy hurt and after ruling out all the reasons why she couldn't eat she said "I think it's because Grandma went home". So sad! We are so thankful for the time we could spend together as we know we won't be able to do this much longer! Thanks again for making the drive to see us. We love you.

Denial...

...it's where I am at and where I plan on staying for as long as possible. Maybe it isn't healthy, but I don't think I am ready for reality yet. Reality means having to say good-bye to my friends and family. Reality means no more play dates for Jori and JJ, no more Cadets for Tyson, no more house on Elm Avenue with our path, pond and backyard ice cream shop. Reality means having to actually try and grasp what it means that we are moving overseas LONG TERM. We don't know how long this will be, but we assume it will be at least 5 years. Reality means I can't call my mother-in-law in the middle of preparing my first whole chicken to get her advice. It means I can't just call my mom to tell her Jori thinks describing my hair as a sand hill is a major compliment. Reality means I can't stop in to see Rachel before I get Jori from school and I've already touched on how much I am going to miss Rachel. Reality means no more phone calls between 9 and 9:30 from my sister Laurie as she drives to work in a time zone 3 hours earlier than where I am. Reality means no more Wednesday morning Bible Study with a group of women that I have come to love and respect over the past 3+ years that we've been meeting together.

This afternoon, reality tried to slip in, but I quickly shut it out. Rachel called to see if we would be available to do something on March 23, 2011, and the reality is that I can't commit that far out. I don't know where we'll be at that time. Reality creeps in when I think about wanting to go see my friend Tami in California and realize that I can't keep "thinking about it" and need to get a ticket or time might run out! That's the kind of stinky part of our reality right now-we don't really know when any of this is going to happen. In my mind, we are now going to be here til May or June (even though we still say March or April), so if things happen to go a lot faster than that, I am in big trouble! I am not ready to switch gears from denial to reality. It makes me sad. Really sad. Even when little bits of reality sneak in, it impacts me for a few days. I cry during TV shows and commercials. I try to share sweet things that the kids said and my voice gets all choked up.

I find it easy to get down on myself, especially when I hear about the realities that a lot of other people are facing-death, disease, all kind of loss. When I hear about these kinds of realities, I feel guilty for being sad about something that we have chosen to do. I am trying to work on that, as I do believe that I am allowed to grieve and hurt and feel sad, I just have a lot of mental conversations with myself about needing to suck it up and deal-then I go lay on my bed and have a good cry.

So, at least for the next couple months, I am planning to stay in denial as much as I can. I know I'll have to face reality this Christmas when I see my family for what could be the last time in a couple years. I don't look forward to the sadness, but I also don't want to miss out on letting them know how much I love them and saying whatever needs to be said. Ugh. Now this is making me cry, so I am going to step back and embrace denial again for a while, while still being thankful that I have such a great reality to miss!