Zachary and I went to Iowa to visit my aunt and her family.  We had a wonderful time and I just thought I'd share a few snapshots.  This is Ziggy on the plane and then with my Aunt Norma and her daughters Jennifer and Heather.

Full Color Poster

Engedi Church to Host World AIDS Day Benefit Events

 (Holland, MI
– November 9, 2007) In conjunction
with World AIDS Day on December 1,
2007, Engedi Church of Holland, Michigan will host events, open to
the public, at the downtown Holland Park Theatre. The schedule includes a 1:30 pm showing of the eye-opening film Yesterday and a 7 pm benefit concert featuring Holland
favorite Ag Silver with special guest Jamin Dunn. All proceeds will directly
benefit World Hope International's work in Zambia,
a sub-Saharan African country particularly hard hit by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Specifically, the Engedi team hopes to raise a minimum of $3,500
needed to drill a well and provide clean water to as many as 2,000 people in Zambia.
Local businesses including Steven F. Fox Photography, Firehouse Guitars, Sage
Direct, Globe Design and Vision, Lemonjello’s and Eggenschwiler Design have
partnered with Engedi Church
to sponsor these events.

 World Hope International is a faith-based relief and
development organization committed to providing effective, sustainable
assistance to the AIDS-devastated communities of Zambia.
Throughout the past two years, Engedi
Church has worked closely with
World Hope in an effort to bring restoration to Zambia.
Event coordinator Christina Aulick describes Engedi as a "movement of
people who together experience and extend the grace, healing, and joy of the kingdom
of God on earth."

 The events hosted on World AIDS Day highlight a growing
effort by Engedi Church
to raise awareness within the Holland
community about the devastating issues facing Africans, and to develop a spirit
of hope and solidarity with the people of Zambia.
“Through visiting Zambia
I was able to witness the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS firsthand,” says
Brian Aulick, Engedi lead pastor. “I talked with one man suffering from AIDS
whose life consisted of being dragged out of his house on a mat in the morning
and then being dragged back into the house in the evening. Though pain
like that is hard to see, it’s been a great privilege for our church to support
the care of nearly 500 Zambians affected by HIV/AIDS, mostly children orphaned
by the disease. As Americans we have the incredible opportunity and sacred
responsibility to make a difference.”

 While it’s no secret that AIDS-related statistics are
staggering, the facts pertaining to one country the size of Texas
can be downright overwhelming. The life expectancy in Zambia
has decreased from 45 years of age in 1996 to 30.5 in 2007. Today, Zambia has
over half a million orphans—more than double the population of Grand Rapids—making
it the country with the highest number of orphans anywhere in the world. In
fact, more than 46% of all households in Zambia
care for orphans. 

 On World AIDS Day, the community is invited to an engaging viewing
of the HBO film Yesterday. It is the
fictional but realistic account of a South African woman and her family struggling
with the impact of AIDS on their lives. The film, airing at 1:30 pm, is appropriate for mature audiences. (A donation of $5 is suggested.)

 At 7 pm,
singer/song writer Jamin Dunn of Western Michigan will kick
off the evening’s benefit concert. Tickets are $10 at the door. Heralded as a
performer specializing in “music for people that love
music,” audience members are sure to enjoy Dunn’s heartfelt, personal songwriting. Ag Silver will keep
the night going with their soaring, anthemic melodies and captivating vocals. Winner
of the 2003 Aris' Hometown Rock Search, the largest battle of the bands in Michigan,
Ag Silver is locally based but known and loved worldwide. One fan writes, “These are people that care about music and
set their own goals and are not satisfied before everything is perfect.”
That drive for musical perfection coincides with the band members’ impetus to
perform for something beyond their own gratification. Lead vocalist Jon Ornée
echoes Engedi’s desire to make the reality of AIDS hit home when statistics are
more readily available than stories. “The AIDS crisis in Africa
can seem so overwhelming and statistics tend to paralyze people into feeling
like there’s nothing we can do,” says Ornée. “We’re excited to partner with
Engedi because they’re doing a great job of putting flesh on the issue and
setting an attainable goal that will make a real difference in the lives of
real people.”

I took some pictures of the boys yesterday.  I think these show their personalities quite well.  I bribed Jonah with everything I could think of to get him to sit down with Zachary for one picture and he just refused!  So I got a couple of great shots of them individually.  Oh well! 

It was hard to believe we had such a gorgeous day on Saturday but we were able to do a lot of outdoor pictures and had a beautiful setting for them.  Renae's mom runs Cafe 58 and is well known for her excellent cookies.  Al's family owns a dairy farm so the guest favors for the evening were milk and cookies.  I can attest to the fact that Sue's cookies are awesome and went great with some chocolate milk. 

I was going to wait a few days to post more pictures but I couldn't resit.  This series just cracks me up and I had to share.

We loved the home we stayed in last week and I took some pictures to share.  We were also able to see two of the other rental homes that were empty during the week and I took a few photos of them as well.  Ok, more than a few but they were so beautiful and I wanted to capture as much detail as possible.  The pictures on the website are really good too but I wanted to post some of my own.

The Barn Cottage:

Steve and I stayed in this room.

Jonah loved playing up here.

The Farm House:

This was taken from an upstairs bedroom.

I thought the bedrooms here were so cozy.

The Schoolhouse:

Not a great shot but I wanted to show what the view would be from here with the lake in the background.

What an amazing week.  Today I'm just posting some random fall images I took while exploring the area.  My next post will be of the house we stayed in as well as some pictures of the other houses - they are so beautiful.  We didn't really get a lot of pictures of us or even the boys.  Jonah is a moving target and if I ask him if I can take his picture he simply refuses.  You'll see in the one or two photos I will post of him.  We have a wedding tomorrow so I'm sure we'll be posting some shots from that soon too.

Just wanted to give a quick update on our vacation.  We are LOVING it here.  I just took a drive this morning and I am so thankful for this time and this beautiful area.  I have really fallen in love with it here and I am hoping that this might be the start of a great family tradition.  I am sitting at a little cafe in Beulah and am planning on going for a quick walk around in a few minutes to see if anything is open.  The only bad thing about this time of year is that a lot of things aren't open.  That's ok though, I don't really need to shop... 

I though I'd post this picture of Jonah that Steve took the other day.  The house we are staying at is in it too.  The wood planks dead end into a beautiful lake.  I'll post some of my pictures of the woods and the lake when we get home. 

Steve, the boys and I are going on vacation tomorrow for the whole week.  We are so excited and looking forward to some good family time.  We are staying south of Traverse City at the "Barn Cottage" http://barncottage.tripod.com
for the week.  It is such a beautiful place.  I can't wait to take
pictures of the boys and we'll be sure to take pictures of the area as
well.  We are hoping to see Tracy and her family while we are there as well.

I just got back from a weekend conference called "Hearts at Home" and am excited to share some new things with Steve and try some new techniques with Jonah. 

Steve and I met up with Krystal and Jud at a park near Lover's Lane in Kalamazoo yesterday afternoon and had a wonderful time walking with them, watching them feed the ducks and then going downtown to some very cool locations.  Then we hung out for dinner at the Old Peninsula and got to know them better.  Very nice evening and we are looking forward to their wedding next June.