The Year in Review
I can’t believe this is the last day of 2010! I decided to take a look back on the year and list some highlights to show what God has done in our life this past year.
The year started off on a sad note. My Grandpa Geurink had passed away the first week of January. I really struggled with his death because he was my last Geurink grandparent. I miss writing letters to him; I knew I would never get a letter back because I’m not even sure of his ability to write anymore, let alone read what he had written. But I knew he appreciated them. He was a man of God who I will forever leave a legacy in my heart.
The end of January we headed down to Columbus, Ohio to visit Adam and Lindsey, who are good friends of ours. It was a beautiful drive, a great getaway weekend, but more importantly, a great weekend to spend with friends.
Much of February was spend watching the Olympics. We were rather obsessed. There is something about watching the world come together for sporting events!
The beginning of March we went to the National Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago. It was such a refreshing and teachable weekend. We are still using what we learned to this day – we even saw TobyMac in concert!
The next weekend after the conference I went on a scrapbooking weekend with my sister Kari’s church. I always try to get caught up in my scrapbook and also start making my Christmas cards – I was able to accomplish both!
And of course…in March…MARCH MADNESS BEGINS! I was glued to the tv for the next 3 weeks and watched every bit of college basketball I could. I drew up the brackets once again on the huge chalkboard we have in our house. We always make it a Geurink family affair where we send our brackets to each other and compare bragging rights 🙂
Amongst all this so far, we dogsat many times. It’s kind of become a new “hobby” for us, though we’ve been doing it for awhile. But we have 5 families that we dogsit for, so between them all, we keep pretty busy. Many think we should start our own business, but I think it would be too much!
Also, I was able to make some trips up to Borculo to help with the wedding planning for my sis Katie, who got married in October.
At the end of April we went to Greenfield Village & the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, for another little getaway. We LOVED the weekend it was such a great packaged deal that we found! If you ever want more info, let me know!
On May 12, Dan and I celebrated 4 years of being married!
Memorial Day weekend all the Geurink kids went to Hart for a camping trip. We had excellent weather – even tubed on the lake!
Then our crazy summer began!
We went on vacation with the Geurink family the 3rd week of June to Hess Lake. I always look soooo forward to that vacation! The next week Dan was the spiritual life leader at the Benton Harbor/SJ SERVE, which Dan’s parents run (though they are taking the year off this year).
We had one week in between and then we headed to Newark, New Jersey for our high school mission trip. Will ALWAYS leave a lasting impact on us and our kids – it was truly life-changing – AND WE ARE GOING BACK THERE THIS YEAR!!!
We had one week in between and then we went on Dan’s family vacation to Interlochen. What a gorgeous town and area! We did a TON of fishing, went to Sleeping Bear Dunes, and also visited some friends at Glen Lake the last day. What a blast!
August included more dogsitting, showers, my cousin Matt’s wedding, Michigan’s Adventure with our kids, and plenty of beach volleyball, which we played ALL summer!
In September we enjoyed the company of our friend we had met in Newark, Jon Rudd. Also went to a Michigan football game, and also started the process of figuring out what to do with kids.
October brought the joy of seeing my youngest sister get married to John! What a GREAT day it was and what a beautiful wedding! Will always remember that day! I also had two heart tests done, that concluded that my heart condition would offer too many risks to my life to have our own biological kids. We were devastated, yet knew this is what God wants for us.
November is kind of a blur because most of it involved trying to move on from the news we had heard in October. Though with Thanksgiving around the corner, it was a gentle reminder that despite ALL circumstances, we are to be thankful to God and be joyful. That truly was a lesson learned.
December we did a lot more dogsitting and also spent a lot of time with family, for which we are thankful. We are incredibly blessed to have such close-knit families. I also see this month as the “moving forward” month. I feel we are moving forward in the process of how to move on in our lives without our own kids. We enjoyed a lot of game nights with various friends, family, and kids. We are truly blessed.
I know this is a rather exhaustive list, but this just shows God’s providence, God’s sovereignty in our life, and His work in our life. Granted I am not able to list EVERYTHING that we have done this past year…it would take a year to type it out. But God keeps us active and moving. God continues to use us. We are excited to see what God has in store for us next year!
I want to conclude this already long post 🙂 with the lyrics to Blessed Be Your Name. It is a testimony that God is the ultimate one we serve, no matter what the circumstances! Blessed Be Your Name, Lord God!
