back to the drawing board

Here we are back in the grind....yep. So today we tackled painting the family room. Next we are going to continue on the tiling. Here's what it looks like so far. I can't wait to finish the decorating in there! I have to figure out curtains and a little rug. Oh, and let's not forget that I still have no idea what we are going to do with our kitchen and foyer floors since they definitely need to be replaced, as well as the kitchen cabinets. The whole project just got way out of control, so now we are left clueless. I think for me personally I am frustrated enough to just go buy them at Lowe's at this point.  We have so much work to do!!  It's overwhelming.

back to Grace Bible College

We made the trek back to Grand Rapids to get the boys moved into their apartments.   Kyle's apt is HUGE...I personally think that the upperclassmen should have had the opportunity to get the best apts, but I guess the staff at GBC didnt' see it that way.  Anyhow, the boys have all their stuff (hopefully), but it will be days (weeks?) before they have it all organized and arranged.  

This is the last shot we took right before we left them there, right BEFORE the tears started to flow...

It wasn't AS bad as last year, but it still feels like my heart is getting ripped out every time I take them back and say goodbye.  I suppose that's because I'm their Mom it is only natural that I should feel such a crushing pain being separated from them.  (also, today was Kyle's 19th birthday and we didn't really do anything).  :(

It's so hard to do, but again I have left them in God's hands, trusting Him alone to care for them until we have them back again.  It is so hard to say goodbye to those precious boys.   I can feel the tears in my eyes even as I write this.  

Tomorrow it is back to NJ to start painting the family room and then finishing the tiling.  More projects after that.  I have come to the conclusion that life won't be "normal" again for a long time, if ever.  

back to Michigan

 Doing some music at the cousin's house...

 "I pledge allegiance to the flag" ...lol

 dinner with the Rolf's in Holland, Mi

cool bike

We've been in Michigan for the past several days, visiting with Darryl's family.  

We also had such a great time at the beach on Lake Michigan with Hilary and her family.  I don't have pictures from that day yet, but I hope to get some soon.  We had a lot of fun jumping off the pier into the lake, and just relaxing on the sand.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a lovely breeze; a perfect day for our families to hang out together.  Later we went to an Irish Restaurant called The Curragh.  After dinner we walked through town to watch several street entertainers.  (Nope, no pictures)

Genesis 3 - The Fall of Mankind

Ryan's Bible Reading:

Genesis 2 - A Perfect Companion

Ryan's Bible Reading:

Fun crazy times

Here are a couple of pictures of the beginning of our floor in the family room. Darryl and Paul put in radiant heat, which took over a week. The tiling has been started as well, but I can't find the picture...

Here is our new fire pit, which we stupidly only used once!  We are such dummies.

At least that one night was fun.  Kyle bought some really huge marshmallows and made smores.

(Kyle, Ryan [reading his Bible as usual], and Austin)  

We had a little get together before coming to Michigan.  The Records, Christina, and Paul, Darlene and Austin were there.  It was nice.  We did Mexican (Tacos and Enchiladas).  I made a cake for Kyle's birthday celebration.

 "Happy last year of being a teenager" (Ryan's sentiments)

We drove to Michigan yesterday.  Kyle drove all the way out here!!!  9 hours under his belt now.  I was so proud of him.  Here's the bridge he went over.  His first time driving over it. lol  

That's Darryl's car we are following...decided to take the 2 old bikes that were going to be tossed and let the kids use them at college.  Glad we kept them!!

We met Alysha's boyfriend, Nate.  He was playing some blues here, Ryan was attempting to play lead.

So, anyway....we are in Michigan since last night.  Hanging out here for 3 days then headed to Grand Rapids to hang with Hilary's family at the beach.  I feel like there is so much to talk about but I don't have time to sort my thoughts out.  Things been kinda crazy the past few weeks....no time to catch my breath.

No more braces for Ryan! =)

It's been almost 3 years since Ryan had braces put on (for the 2nd time) and he FINALLY got them off!! What a happy day! Now I need to get a family picture before he leaves for Michigan.

Ethnicity Concert video

Here is the concert video. There is a little buzz at the beginning, but it goes away after the first song, or thereabouts...

 Enjoy the treasure.

 

B.L.O.G. bloopers

oh yeah, here is our "Blooper" video of the making of the Blazing Light of God video.  We played it at the concert, but the sound was so messed up you couldn't even hear a lot of it, so this is much better.  We had a lot of fun making the video (mostly the boys and Darryl), I only helped 1 night out of 4.  But I'm glad I was out there for some of it, to see how they were doing it.

Some people think it is so dark and creepy, but if they knew the boys behind the vid, they'd know they are so full of God's light and love, and they are just trying to share it in a cool way.

Here ya go:

(Heavenly) Ethnicity in Concert

Yep, it's already Sunday night. The concert was 2 nights ago, and I'm still trying to find my equilibrium...I've been pretty bummed out and emotional, to be honest. I keep thinking about how many hours, days, weeks, and months were spent preparing and practicing for the concert, and then hardly anyone showed up. I was pretty crushed.

We had a few technical issues that didn't occur during our practices (including the live stream), so that was also pretty darn frustrating.  But the boys did a FANTASTIC job!!   Kyle played 5 different instruments (djembe, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, H-PIG (lol), and piano.)  Ryan did a superb job with his songs!!  Some folks came up to him afterwards saying that he was a musical genius, and he got tons of other positive feedback....not to mention they made a decent amount of money (selling CD's and T-shirts) compared to last year when a lot more people showed up.

Now that it's over, we are all trying to figure out how to go back to a normal life for the last week that they have home for the summer.  Maybe that's another reason I'm kinda bummed and sad is because I know we are taking them back soon....and I really dread it.

Well, I never did get any pictures of the boys performing at the concert (b/c I was running the computer (badly)...lol) but I will post some in the future once we get the videos all sorted out and uploaded to YouTube and whatever else we have to do to get some stills out of it.

I'm so glad my boys are level-headed and calm and patient.  I'm so proud of them I could burst asunder.... I guess as their Mom, it hurts me that a ton of people didn't show up to support them.  I am going to have to dig deep to find some grace.

Guess what!  On Tuesday Ryan finally gets his braces off, after like 3 years of metal torture.  yay!!

the work continues...

So, the family room is now empty, and we had to put some of our furniture in the kitchen. I kinda like having the couch in there. lol, I always did want a little b'fast nook, so I might just have to get me a little couch for in there permanently. The big truck came the other day and delivered some of our floor materials, and so I guess we are hoping to get it somewhat done before Paul and Darlene head back to Michigan (whenever that is).

Hard to Get by Ethnicity

a busy Sunday

The boys led worship, and also performed one of Ryan's songs that he will be doing at the concert. (will post it later)

After church we hung out at church. The boys did some practicing while I got some work done, and made hot wings and watermelon for the church picnic.

The picnic was nice...everyone had a good time. We tried to make a quick dash out before the rain hit, but we got pretty soaked on the way to our car!

Well, back to church tomorrow for another full practice day.

Heavenly Ethnicity's new site!

here ya go!!  Ryan did a splendid job creating a new site with his own domain name.

Heavenly Ethnicity (Bringing a little slice of Heaven ...to your home)

The garage sale today was pretty pitiful.  It was way too hot and people weren't in the mood to be outside.  Tomorrow might be better, but then again, we might get thunderstorms, so we'll see.  The whole thing might be a bust.  In which case, we have a lot of stuff to get rid of!  ugh... This is why I don't like to do garage sales.  I am pretty sure this is absolutely our last one.  For all the work that goes into it, it's really not worth it.  I think next time we'll just pack the stuff up and cart it off to Good Will.

Anyways, enjoy the rest of the day!!

Sweet Chaos

We worked outside, weeding, gardening, painting, preparing for our garage sale tomorrow.  There is so much to do sometimes we feel like we are going insane.  The boys had no time to practice for the concert.  We were all busy from morning till now.  We are all really glad we didn't decide to go camping at Wildwood this year.  We have so much to do between now and the concert.  Plus we have house guests coming next week from Michigan to attend the concert.  We are hoping they are going to give us a hand with our family room floor!  lol...

Here is our family room.  We don't have any floor in there yet and everything is a mess.  I have to confess that the house is getting on my nerves.  Darryl keeps telling me it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  And forget about the kitchen!!  I seriously have no idea what we are going to do with it at this point.

Proverbs 16:28 A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

Here is a song Ryan wrote called Sweet Chaos. We all cry out to the Lord in anguish from time to time. If we surrender it all to Him, the turmoil subsides, and we will have peace. This song is harsh in the beginning. But do yourself a favor and listen to the end. There is a sweet, delightful ending to the chaos. It is really quite beautiful. I love the sentiments at the end of the song so much!!

Ethnicity concert practice

My 2 wonderful sons practicing for the concert.

It's pretty awesome to see Ryan and Kyle working together on projects. They both help each other, and I think any Mom would agree that that loving behavior makes our hearts happy.

Ugh, Kyle and I both caught the sickies that were going around in VBS.  That's probably why I was so worn out and crabby last week.  So now that I am feeling better and thinking more like my normal self, I have decided to stick with CBC....haha... yeah, like there was ever any danger of me quitting.   Not likely.  I never have any trouble with the kids there.  I think it's because they know me.  And even though I can be a little quirky at times, I am still lovable AND the kids know I love them too.  I mean, come on, I even paint my fingernails blue and do wacky songs with them.

Concert:  one thing I love about Ryan's music is that he does such an amazing job of portraying the struggles of life, but then always turns it around to show God's love, grace and power to overcome.  I have heard a couple of people refer to him as a musical genius.   I would have to agree with them.  He is so good at telling a story through music, and letting God ALWAYS be the winner.  Where there was once a darkness, God's light shines bright.  It is by God's grace that I see my boys both humble themselves, and surrender to Him.

I pray that many people will come to their concert to experience for themselves the greatness of God and the victory He brings.  All glory goes to the Lord, and I am grateful that Ryan and Kyle are willing vessels, and put so much work into this production.