Christmas Memories 2008

Christmas 2008 is now just wonderful memories. I smiled as I looked at these pictures again and was reminded of the times that we had together.

There was the engagement of Zach to Christina Prince of Holland, MI a few weeks before Christmas. We are so excited for them. She is perfect for him.

There was the hunt for the tree and the decorating of it. We'll need to get used to doing that with just the two of us now.

There was the bad weather that Josh, Lauren & baby Ruth and Christina had to drive in to get to our house on the 23rd. We were so thankful as each of them drove up the driveway. My extended family Christmas that is usually held that night was canceled because of the weather. So there was no throwing of the wrapping paper this year.

There was the joy of having a baby in the house. Ruth is such a precious baby. She was just starting to smile and interact with us. Several early mornings we enjoyed time with her and let Josh and Lauren sleep in. We all enjoyed that time.

There was the hunt for the pickle ornament which Zach won - again.

Having a baby in the house at Christmas seemed to naturally draw my thoughts to the infant Jesus. How could God the Father send his son, God also, into this world knowing what was to come?
My human mind can not comprehend the heartache of God. What was heaven like during those 33 years?
As the angels rejoiced over the shepherd's fields, did they already know what lay ahead? Did they know the battle that was to be waged because of the Father's great love for us? Did they know of Calvary?

I am in awe of the depth of His love. At times I think that I am starting to understand it. But, then when I take time to really consider all that He has done, I realize that I have yet to begin to understand His "unfailing love".

So, as you also consider the tremendous love of God, I share our Christmas with you.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good. His love endures forever. Ps. 118:1

I have been blessed in so many ways. I could change the famous quote of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to “How am I blessed? Let me count the ways.”

I would start with the blessings of God Himself and the salvation that is found in Christ alone.
“Praise, (bless) the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me,
Praise His Holy name,
Praise the Lord, o my soul,
And forget not one of His benefits.” Ps 103:1-2

From there would come the blessings of family: parents, brothers, sisters, children, daughter-in-law, grandchild :) aunts & uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews….etc.
Always and forever…family.

There’s my church or spiritual family which consists of many wonderful people whom I love dearly and whom I love serving our Lord with. They are people who hold me up to our God in prayer and who count on me to do the same for them. There are the teens that I love working with, who help keep me young and excited about what God can do in a life.

There’s our friends, our health, our jobs, our home...

Our Thanksgiving plates were full and soon so were our stomachs. We had an abundance at my parent's house and they were glad to be able to share it with others. Then we also went to Mom & Dad Vinson’s for a later dessert.









“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above all heavenly hosts,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
by Thomas Ken

I am blessed!

Family Camping '08

For the past, oh, maybe about 15 years, once a summer we go camping with family. When the boys were home it would be with Terry & Sandy and their kids, our family and also my parents. Early on Mom and Dad used to take just the grand kids for a fun weekend and give us some time alone. Then we all started going. Usually we stay in WI. One year we headed out to Colorado and had a wonderful time out there in the mountains and another year we went to Missouri – now referred to as “misery”. Sorry those of you who love it there. Picture 90 degrees and humid and us having our usual campfire while we sit 20 feet away. It was nuts!

Slowly the kids started dropping out of the camping scene as they moved on and out. The first time that we camped without either of the boys it just didn’t feel right. There was definitely a void. Now we are used to it and we are the ones at the campground and beach watching young parents with their kids. A number of times we’ve said, “Remember when….?”

This year we went to Ottowa Lake. It’s a state park near Eagle, WI just a little west of Milwaukee.

It is a little campground with a nice lake but not a lot of other things there at the park to do. Nearby there were hiking trails which we didn’t go on because the mosquitoes were AWFUL! We never even had a campfire in the evening because: a. the mosquitoes were so bad and b. it was too warm. So that was really weird for us.


I had 35 bites on one leg from the first night.

Dale's following at Ottowa Lake.

We spent one day at “Old World Wisconsin”. It is an historical park with century old homes that have been moved there and restored. They have people working there as if it were the 1880’s. It was a beautiful place and thankfully there was a tram that brought us from one area of homes and old stores to another. Each area was a little different because they were built by settlers from different countries.












Dale found a little hiking area with a trout stream and unbelievably clear pool where we spent a little time. It was called Paradise Springs. About 80 years ago it had a hotel, horse track, spring water bottling plant and a water turbine. Now all that is left is some of the stone walls. Of course, Dale wasn’t too interested in that. He spent his time fishing. He caught 2 while we were there. We could see them in the clear spring fed pool. But, after that he couldn’t get them to bite. He said that he tried every fly that he had with him. Believe me, that’s a lot.


Looking for more














For suppers we took our turn making supper for the 6 of us. That gave us the other meals off. That has really worked out well and we have fantastic meals.
After that we played “Jocker”. It’s a fun board game and it is the men against the women. Boy, do we get competitive. This year we tied at 4 wins each. We’re going to have a tie breaker in the near future.

Reunion Pictures

For all of you family who were not able to be at the reunion, I've put together a slide show.
It will run on it's own or you can click on the arrows on the top or the little pics below. I tried to get some of everyone, but I know that I didn't. Sorry. Everyone is on the group picture. It's hard to see clearly so that's why I sent along the group picture separately.

Enjoy.

The next entry below has more of a write up about the day.

30 Year Family Reunion

Last Saturday was a very special day. Our family celebrated the 30th anniversary of the “Kruis Invitational” best ball tournament. Now it wasn’t special because of my love of golfing. Oh, not by any means. Those of you that know me, know that the only time I golf is this weekend in July. But, it is “family” that makes this so special.

Each year one of my aunts & uncles from the area organizes the golfing. Those golfing register one month ahead and from there the foursomes are set up. There will be one good golfer, an average golfer and usually 2 people like me – non golfers in each group. We never golf with our parent or spouse. We get to spend 2 + hours with members of our family that we usually don’t get to see much. One very important rule is that each group has to take a tee shot from everyone – even the non-golfer. That way it isn’t just the good golfer carrying the group.


I don’t know if you know what a “best ball” tournament is. It means that each person hits their ball and they then decide which of the balls is in the best location. I then go pick up my ball :) and we go on to the farthest one.
Near the end of the course I still hadn’t hit any tee shot worthy of taking. The pressure was on. So my cousin, Mike, loaned me his big, new, Callaway driver. I couldn’t miss with that big head! I actually had a very good hit. You know the sound of a good hit that you hear on TV or when you’re with a good golfer? Yup, that was mine!! We were all so excited. To be honest I did have a few other shots that we took, just not tee shots.

After the golfing we all headed to River Park for the reunion. My Mom organized this part. For the first time ever we had all family members join us. Usually just those 16 & over went to where we ate and had prizes. But this year everyone was invited and we had quite a range of ages, from my Mom’s oldest brother, Hermie – 88, from California to the 2 infants born in June. Name tags were very helpful.

The meal was catered by a local restaurant and afterwards prizes were handed out.
Each of my aunt’s & uncle’s families were asked to stand so that we could see who people belonged to. There were about 110 people at the park and with my quick calculation there were maybe another 50 who could not make it.


Greetings were read from family members who were not able to be there and my nephew, Daniel who is in Iraq, sent greetings through his wife, Donna, who came from NY. My brother, Terry, was “Big Bob” sharing his knowledge of the connection between golfing and birds and giving us each some great laughs.

Cousin, Maggie, led us in a time of remembering those who were no longer with us. They were those who prayed for us, taught us & loved us. There were those whose lives were much shorter than we had wanted.
We love them, we miss them.

Family reunions are a time of honoring our families, to recognize who & where we came from, to get to know our extended family better. It was a time of thanking God for His blessings- for my Grandparents, Henry and Anna, and their love for God and family. I remember Grandpa always ended his journal entries with “All is well”. Years ago I wrote out his diary and learned more of the battles in his life. It was God who he turned to, God who helped him to see that “all is well” even when things were hard.

I am rich – blessed because of my family.

There are many people to thank for making this big event happen:

Mom, Betty and family, Irene and family, Maggie and family, Terry (Big Bob)

God for bringing sunshine out of a rainy forecast.

For His watchful eye through Tiffany and Olivia that kept a young boy's slip into the river from turning tragic.

God is Good!

Oh, yah. In case you were wondering.

Yup, that's me!