Now I’ve had the time of my life
No I never felt like this before
Yes I swear it’s the truth
and I owe it all to you
‘Cause I’ve had the time of my life
and I owe it all to you.
Paul was one of the official photographers for this yearly 5K, honoring our hometown steeplechase Olympian, Brian Diemer. The proceeds benefit three local non-profits. The rain held off and it ended up being sunny for the festival afterward. I didn’t run because of a stubborn stomach bug, but the kids had a blast. Aden wouldn’t run with his 3-yr-old group, but did run about 1/4 of the way around the track with Eli’s age group! He thinks he’s 5 like big brother. 
Brian Diemer at the start line with the 8-yr-old girls group. (Lydia is in the purple pants)
5-yr-old boys with Brian and some of his Calvin cross-country team bringing up the rear. (Eli is in the black shorts)
Simon takes his running very seriously.
Mom and Clara watch the awards ceremony.
Here’s a shot of the first crew to try out one of the three ziplines at Spring Hill Camp over Memorial Day Weekend. Despite a Biblical-proportion plague of mosquitoes, our time playing and praising with the DuMond and Fester families was a blast! (l to r: Zoe, Paul, Lydia, Joey, Grant)
Nice surprise to see a photo of the kids on the Absolute Michigan blog fishing at the cottage, from summer 2006.
The boys were talking in the bathroom the other day. Eli, now an expert on bodily functions after a unit on the body at preschool was admonishing Aden:
“When you eat food, it goes down into your tummy, gets all squished up, then goes into your big contestant, then your little contestant, and then comes out in the toilet!”
Clara has a small ear infection and an ouchy diaper rash. Three new teeth have made an entrance, for a total of 6 now. This pic, taken a few days ago, says it all! (T-shirt courtesy of Oma). Being the nice sister that she is, she shared the ear infection with Eli (or maybe vice versa). I have a prescrip ready to go if Aden needs to get in the medicine dose line in a few days, thanks to our doc, a father of five, who understands not wanting to bring them all in again in a few days! Lydia is healthy as a horse. Clear ears, no temp or runny nose. Whew! Incidentally, we saw Aunt Molly at both places today as she thought Anna also had an ear infection (and they weren’t even together recently to share the germs!). Time to fling the windows open for fresh spring air!
At 11:46 pm on Monday, February 25, 2008, a pixie-faced girl rushed into the world. She was named Clara Johanna, which means “Clear and bright” and “God has been gracious.” She has a clear and bright countenance that reminds us of God’s grace (ie : He graced us with an easy 4th child)! Blessed be the Name of the LORD.
One of Lydia’s writing assignments this week was a catalog poem, where you start with a named subject and basically list characteristics or attributes describing that person or thing. On her own, Lydia wrote this poem for Eli. There is enough hitting & arguing some days that these loving words are good medicine. It’s things like this that help me understand more how lovely it must be to God when his children love one another. It’s His greatest wish for us and mine for my kids as well. A great Christmas moment.
My brother
Who is always getting himself into trouble
Who can make great snowmen
Who always laughs at my silly jokes
Who loves to make forts
Who loves to play games
-To my brother Eli Hart…
…Who loves me so.
With love from Lydia Hart
Lydia and Daddy went out Friday for a short nature walk. We took pictures of contrasts in nature and wrote down what we saw. When we got home, we downloaded our pictures and created a presentation to share with the family. Check it out!
