Our New Home

Wow it's been over a month since I last blogged.  I had such high hopes of getting more time to write, but life has a way of sapping all my free time away.

We have some very exciting news to share, I have been waiting to put it on the blog just because one never knows until you sign on the dotted line... but in a matter of a couple weeks we should be moving into a new house!!  Well, the house isn't really new... it's rather old, like over 100 years old.

So you want to here about this sweet little house?  Its white and currently has green shutters.  It's an old farm house that used to be part of a 60-80 acre farm.  It was built probably in the late 1800's.  The township's record of the house only says "old house".  But thanks to the current owners, we have names of former owners and I think that I will be able to search out some more info about when it was built.  It only has 1 full bath and a tiny half bath upstairs.

Every room but the kitchen and living room were at one time used as a bedroom.  The owners prior to the current owners raised 10 children in that house.  There is even a "room" in the the michigan basement!  There are currently 4 legal bedrooms, but one of them is need of some love, so we won't be using that one for a little while.  It still has the original cellar steps from the outside into the basement.  It also still has it's tornado shelter... and trust me, if a tornado made a direct hit on that house, I think you would be just fine in that shelter!

It has an amazingly big kitchen with as many cupboards as I had in my old house (if not more).  It has a cute little porch that if I was so inclined, I could hang a porch swing and watch a sunrise (but, I'm more likely to skip sunrises and move to the other side of the house and watch sunsets).  It has 2 garages that equal 7 garage stalls!!  In our wildest dreams we never thought that we would have more garage space than our old house.  Even our house plans, the garage was smaller than our old one!  One of the garages is going to be used as a wood-shop for Kevin.  He is so excited about that!

Are you ready for the coolest part??!!  I think this is what our whole family is most excited about... It has a BIG RED BARN!!!  The barn was built without using 1 single nail.  It is old and beautiful and I wish, it could talk and tell me all about the animals that is sheltered and what life was like a 100 years ago.  I have dreams about that barn.  My kids are all excited to climb all the makeshift ladders and explore the whole barn.  The barn does have 4 horse stalls... just in case God decides to bless us with a horse or two.  There is also an area where it was used to milk cows, attached to the barn is the "milk house".  The current owners were explaining to us a little about the milk house, but I think I will have to do more research about why they were made to build it and what exactly it was used for (I know to store milk, but I need the nuts and bolts of it).

There is also a silo, a granary, and a chicken coop.  There are 3 pear trees, 1 apple tree, 1 plumb tree, and a cherry tree and did I mention all this is on 5 acres?  Can you imagine??  God is soooooo good!!  In my wildest dreams I would have never imagined that all this would one day be mine!  As long as I can remember I have always wanted a white farmhouse with a big red barn and look what God did.  He took my dreams and blessed me with it.  There are no words that could express my thoughts about all of this.  Maybe at some point I will write out the whole story about how we got this house, but for right now, I will just say that God's hand was all over it.  There is no doubt that this is where God wants us and it's a place I NEVER thought I would live.  I think I actually said I couldn't ever see myself living in 'this' town.

So in a few weeks, we will pulling our home for the last 7 months to our new home.  It is our plan to live in the house this winter, making a master list of all that we need to do and a list of we want to do.  The house has been well taken care of but it is in need of some love, a skilled hand, and a vision of what it could be.  I possess the love, Kevin possesses the skilled hand and together we have a vision.  This little farm house is going to be amazing when we are done... if only you could see what we see in our heads!

Before I sign off I want to say this...
The time that we have lived in our trailer has been a true blessing.  We have had some bumps in these past few months, there are times that the trailer seemed really small.  There were times we all wished for a little more space.  But the lessons we have learned here are invaluable.  There was a time that I would have said that I needed a master suit with my own bathroom.  You want to hear something funny?  I think our "master bedroom" is going to be what was used as a formal dining room... it's not a bedroom at all and our old house had 3.5 bathrooms and our new one has only 1.5!!

Our relationships have grown.  Just the other night Jilli started crying.  She said that although she is excited to move into our new house she is sad because she will miss the nightly talks that she and her brothers have.  We have discovered that what we need is not very much and life is more beautiful with less stuff and more family time.

I have more to say, but will save it for another day.

Blessings!!

Plans and Update

For every season there is a purpose...  I firmly believe that.  I was talking to my friend last week and we were discussing my current living arrangements.  She started laughing and said, "God has such a great sense of humor!"

When most people hear that we are living in our trailer full time we get all sorts of comments from "Oh Wow"... to "Where did you screw up."  I can only imagine what goes through most peoples minds. I am sure many think we are crazy.  But my friend, who has the most amazing way of looking at things, loved what God was doing and thought Him funny. In her words... "All you wanted was to get out of the city into the country away from people and neighbors and God plops you in the middle of the city, in the middle of a campground with neighbors right on top of you."

She is right, but in the words of another very special friend I have.. "You are living in God's plan right now as you wait to see what His ultimate plan is."

Over the past few weeks I have been able to see with clearer eyes, the truth in that statement.  Had we not been here, I would never have met and befriended some amazing people.  I would have not been here when life issues came crashing down.  I would not have spent hours with them listening to their struggles and offering prayer and support.  God had a reason for us to be here, God has not released us from this place yet and I am at total peace with His plan for us right now.

To add to this very interesting living arrangement, I have been added to the staff at the park.  I have been cleaning bathrooms and working in the office.  As of right now the plan is for me to continue on staff here next year.

It's been a long time since I have had the responsibility of a job and there are times that I feel a little restricted with my freedom to come and go as I please.  But overall it's been a positive experience and a very interesting experience!  You would be shocked with how much people tell you when you are cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the laundry room, or checking them in to camp.  Listening to so many stories, I realize that mine is nothing... N O T H I N G... compared to theirs.  I am so thankful for my relatively boring, none interesting, life.

In other news, school has started back up again and it's been an interesting year so far.  We are working around my work schedule and activities that we have scheduled, but I find it far easier here in the trailer than in our old house.  Why?  Because I don't have all the responsibilities of caring for a house.  Life seems more simpler here and although we have far less room, we have so much more time to concentrate on things that are important.  It's been a blessing for sure.

We also made a huge decision to buy a car for me to drive.  Going from driving a huge truck to driving a car is going to take some adjusting, but so far I have enjoyed it.  I was told today that there are more computers on my car than on the shuttle!  No wonder I have to take classes to learn how to use the computer system that is on board.  It's really crazy if you think about it.  As of right now I have only driven it twice.  Not enough time to learn it's personality yet, but over time I am sure we will be great partners as it takes me from place to place and hopefully from state to state!!

I am trying to get back into a schedule for blogging.  It's been tough though because when it's beautiful outside, I hate to be inside, but I think I will get this blog rolling again over the next few weeks as we slow down in the busyness at the park and gear up for winter camping!

I have much to share.... I am almost overwhelmed by all the pictures I want to show you and stories I want to tell... But if I pick them off one at a time, I think I will get to a point where I am current again.

I will leave you with this picture from one of our summer escapades to Michigan's Adventure.  It was the first amusement park that we have taken the kids too.  So much fun!!

Blessings!!

Home is Where the Heart is...

Well, here is our new update...
The piece of property that we were purchasing... we walked away from it...
Why?  Because when God talks we listen.

There is too much to go into on a public blog, but I will share that both Kevin and I received confirmation from God that it wasn't in His plan for us.  We are both completely OK with that.  We are praying and waiting for Him to show us the plan He has for us.  Is it easy to sit back and wait for the next step?  It's easier for me than Kevin, but we both want what He has planned for us and to walk outside of that plan is a place neither of us want to go.  I have such peace about all of this...

Our home is currently our trailer and yes it is our home.  Home is not a place, an address, a location.  Home is where my family is, so until we further notice... Home is a 40ft trailer.  As of right now, we will be living in it through the winter.  So things might get a little more tough as the temperature drops, but again, I am OK with that as long as we are in God's plan.

Do we regret selling our house?  Not for a minute!!!  We are both so thankful that we were able to get out of that neighborhood.  If I have to live in my trailer for several years, I will not regret selling the house, because we truly believe that was all in the plan God has for us.

Some other changes that have been happening... my kids are growing up!  It kills me and excites me all at the same time.  Micah is involved with Youth Group at our church and is having a BLAST!  He has made some really good friends there.  A word that I keep hearing over and over about Micah is "sweet".  I can't tell you how many parents have come up to me and told me how much they love Micah and how "sweet he is".  There is one family that calls him Sweet Micah when talking about him.    There is another family that told me that although their son goes to public school, they would like Micah to come spend time with their son because he is such a great kid and they want a solid boy for their son to be good friends with.  The Youth Pastor's wife came up to me and said, "Lyn I know we know your family and have spent time with all of you, but we are really getting to know Micah and he is such and sweet boy."  It does a Momma's heart good to hear encouraging words about their child.

Girls... well that is a subject that is starting to be talked about regularly here at home.  I am not prepared for this next season of raising kids!! Ugh!!  I just keep encouraging the boys to be great friends, and the the whole "I like you" stage can wait awhile.  You can think they are cute, and like being with them, but right now the most important thing is to just be a friend.

Thanks goodness Jilli hasn't started that stage yet, but I am sure it's closing in fast.  She has made a friend here in the campground.  The family lives in their trailer too and will be staying the winter here.  It's been a lot of fun for Jilli to have a girl who lives "right next door."

We are both excited to see where God leads and takes us over these next few months.  We have some ideas, but we keep those ideas close waiting for His direction.  God is so faithful, I have no doubt that he will reveal all things in time.  His plan is WAY better than our plan!

Brookelyn

We finally have wifi that I can use to get on here...  It has been a bumpy ride trying to access the internet.  The campground that we are at has finally upgraded to a point where I can attempt to blog again... YIPPY!!
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Today I want to write about something that happened 6 days ago.  I struggle to share it with you because it is difficult, heart-wrenching, unimaginable.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, there was excitement in the air because the very next day was the day the family was leaving on a Missions Trip with several other families.  It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, the mom jumped into the shower and her daughter and son headed out on the golf cart to head down the driveway just like they have done a hundred times before.  As they neared the end of the driveway the daughter started turning the golf cart around and in an instant life would never be the same.

Carter, the 6 year old brother called to Brookelyn, he tried getting her to move, she never responded.  There was blood everywhere, Carter was trapped under the golf cart, unable to run for help.  Brookelyn's body was trapped, but her spirit had already taken flight into the Heavens with Jesus.  A little while later Mom came looking for them and she discovered the horrific scene that will forever live in her mind.

Her beautiful baby girl, was gone at only 10 years old.  Her son, was airlifted to the hospital.

This tragedy happened to our church family.  The Mom is Micah and Tyler's Sunday School teacher.  Brookelyn was in their class of about 10 kids.  Carter, is in Jilli's Sunday School class.

How do you go on?  That is a question that I have been processing since the moment I heard the news. How as a mother do you bury one child while the other child is recovering from the accident...

I pray that I never know that pain, I pray that I am spared from such tragedy.  But... How do you go on???

What is there to hold onto in this world?  You push God and religion out of your life.  You go day to day just living and enjoying life, planning out all aspects of it.  Years go by, you forget what it was like living with eternal hope, you start to believe that either it will be there when you need it or you don't really need it at all.  And then something happens, what do you do?

You have a two choices... You either fall into the arms of Jesus or you fall away from Him.  That is the answer I keep coming back to as I contemplate the question "How do you go on"?

It's times like this that a mirror is put in front of your face and you take a good long look at yourself and your family.  Am I moving towards or away from Jesus... today... because if tomorrow comes and I need to bare a pain that I can't imagine, I need to be already in Jesus' arms to hold me as I walk through it.  Is my family moving towards or away from Jesus?  Am I teaching my children about Him?  Am I planting the seeds of faith and watering them so that they will grow into individuals that have a solid faith in Him?  Or am leaving my children with nothing to hold onto as life's struggles come?

The pain of losing Brookelyn is easier to bare because we know where she is.  We don't understand why this happened, we are confused by the loss of such a beautiful little girl.  There is anger mixed in with all the other emotions... Which is OK, because God can handle it.  But through it all... we know, we KNOW where she is!!  Praise God her parents did plant seeds of faith in Brookelyn and watered them.  They only had 10 years with her, but because she had Jesus, they will have eternity with her and isn't that what every parent wants for their child?!  Eternity in Heaven!

Saturday Brookelyn will be laid to rest.  Please remember her family in your prayers.  These next days, weeks, months, will be especially hard.  Please also remember our church family and our Pastors Greg and Josh in your prayers.  This has rocked us all.  We are so grateful that we have such amazing men of God leading us all through this difficult time!

I guess I am going to leave you with this... Are you walking closer to Jesus or walking away?  This tragedy stands as a reminder that life is only a blink, there is no promise of tomorrow, even for a child.  So if tomorrow never comes... where will you be spending eternity?

I will be more purposeful in walking towards Jesus and holding the hands of my children as I show them how to walk closer to Jesus....   my prayer is you will be doing the same.......

Homeless and Loving It

I'm not sure how to really start this blog post.  My mind goes in so many different directions, so I guess the best thing to do is jump right in.

We sold our house.

This has been a dream of ours for a long time.  We have wanted to buy a piece of land (several acres) out in the country where we could build a home for our family and live with more freedom than what we could in the city.  My dreams are of large gardens and chickens, Kevin's is of tree-houses and ATV's flying around a track.  We both dream of a quiet place to finish raising our kids and a place our grandkids will love to come to stay with us.

I would be lying if I said leaving the home we brought our babies home to was easy.  It was hard, it still is hard, but every day it gets easier.  All the planning and decision making keeps us looking forward to our future instead of always looking back at our past.

For now we are living in our trailer camping the summer away.  We are loving the pool and "toys" in the campground and when we need a change of scenery we hook up and take a break camping with our friends at a different campground.

Our family is looking at these next few months as an adventure.  We know that this plan seems crazy to some, but to us, it doesn't.  I am sure over the next few months we will hit some bumps in the road, we know that camping all summer the sun will not always be shining, but we trust that God has the details worked out and during this process we will grow closer together as a family.  As we work along side each other to build our new home, we pray that our family will always look back with smiles and "remember whens."

As the months tick by I will keep you updated with what is happening on our house and pictures of the process.

Let the building being!!!  ..... cuz winter is right around the corner!!!!

I Will Be Back Soon!!

I don't mean to ignore my blog, I have so much to write and share... but as many of you know life in the Peters' house is a little crazy right now.  For those that don't know, I will share about it really soon.  I just don't have time for about a week and a half to write and gather my thoughts.  So please forgive my lack of blogging, you will understand why soon.

Here is a quick picture from the past.... I love these three!!

Taken in Sept of 2009 down in Indiana

St. Paul's Chapel

I have some pretty incredible pictures (at least to me) that I am going to share with you today.  But first I need to share with you a picture that makes me laugh every time I see it.

Tim, Lina, and I just exited "the tunnel" (I don't know the proper name for it) and Tim pointed out a gentleman that had a very unique jacket/hat on.  He stood out like a sore thumb so of course I had to photograph him.

Let me explain why he stood out so much (besides the fact he was dressed in fur from head to almost toe).  I very quickly discovered that New Yorkers have rules about what to wear during winter months.

Rule #1 Your Jacket must be black or a form of black (like gray or dark gray).  I regretfully didn't inform my sister of this rule before her trip to NY (she wore her bright green jacket).

Rule#2  Hunter boots are the footwear of choice for women.  Comfortable, durable, water proof... perfect for all the walking you do in NY especially during the winter months where I think it's more wet, than snowy.

If you ever go to NY (which I think all people should at least once in their lifetime) and it's during the colder months, make sure you wear black!

You all know my love for history and places that have history wrapped up in them.  Let me introduce you to the oldest public building still in use in Manhattan.  This church was built in the colonial era, it's the only church from this time that remains.  Here is the coolest part though... In 1789 George Washington came to this church to pray after he was inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

St. Paul's Chapel

I love how our first president knew the importance of prayer.  I will be writing more on this subject in the next week or two, but it hits me right in the heart.  How prayer was so important to the man who will forever be remembered as one of the best presidents of this country.  I am sure that he was feeling the full weight of the responsibility that was just bestowed upon him and he turned to the only One that could give him the peace and wisdom he needed to run this new nation.  Amazing.. thought provoking.. humbling..

St. Paul's Chapel is beautiful.  I walked passed it often during my visit.  I would love to go back to this place and be still for awhile.  Thousands of people are racing by this church everyday, and who stops to truly see this church for what it is, a holy ground, a place that has been since the birth of our nation, a place that God was called upon by some amazing men, a place that God met with them and walked with them during some very scary times in our history.

Tim and I walked among the gravestones.  They are broken, crumbing, and beautiful.  The Chapel is located very close to ground zero and when the towers fell the ash and dust covered the grounds.  It was very thick, the tops of gravestones peaked out of the grey dust.

Here is a picture I found on the internet after 9/11.

The Chapel was open for people to go through, it is right now set up as a 9/11 Memorial.
I took this picture of a sign that explains why all the pews were so scratched up.

Here is one of the pews...

A uniform worn by a fireman on 9/11.

I believe that most of the items in the church will be moved to the new 9/11 museum when it opens later this month.

Even though the steeple stands no chance of towering over the huge buildings that now surround it, it still stands in strength for the significance that it has as part of our nations history.  Even the history as recently as 9/11.  As the huge towers fell, St. Paul's Chapel stood as a shelter for those that lived and worked at ground zero.

Foggy Beginning

My first morning in New York, Tim and I decided to walk the city.  He was going to take me around lower Manhattan with Lina while Melissa went to get her hair done.  It was really foggy when we started walking up the river... 

The Statue of Liberty is the island on the left and Ellis Island is the island on the right.

This is just the coolest looking building in New Jersey... Sorry but I have no idea what the name of it is.

Here is one more of New Jersey... the fog was just spectacular!

We enjoyed a nice walk up the river to Chambers street.  Tim pointed out all the interesting touristy things to me and started schooling me all all the different neighborhoods in Manhattan, which change every two blocks (at least thats what it feels like).  Most of the neighborhood names are acronyms, so here are a few...

Battery Park (no acronym that I am aware of)

Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal street (I had to look up this one))

SoHo (South of Houston (pronounced "house-ton"))

NoHo (North of Houston)

FiDi (Financial District)

Catching on?

Good Morning Baby Girl

It was early when I first heard her.  Tim was trying to keep her quiet so that I could sleep, but I had had a great nights sleep and I was ready to spend some time with my niece.  I think I went to their room around 6:45 and asked if I could take her so they could sleep.

Lina and I hung out while her Mommy and Daddy slept in.  One of my favorite places to stand was at their living room window.  I loved to look at the apartments across the street and down at the river walkway.  I would stare at the Freedom Tower.  But my first morning a thick fog had moved in.  You could hardly see the Freedom Tower and had it not been for it's lights, I don't think you would see it at all.  Can you see it in this picture?  All you can see is it's bright white lights peeking in between the other two buildings.

Here is what the view looks like without fog!

picture courtesy of tvd photography

I took some early morning pictures of Lina... I still haven't taken my big camera out, so this is all with my phone.  Don't worry my big camera does make an appearance later on in the day... Tim took me on a walking tour of lower Manhattan and I looked like the paparazzi or at the very least a tourist that is a little over the top.

An Evening in New Jersey

January 10, 2014 was a day of lots of firsts.

You all know about all the firsts with flying and going on my first solo vacation,  and the first time I had met Lina and held her.  This day was the first time Lina left the Island and travel to a different state.  First time I ever slept while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge (every good Van Dyk sleeps while traveling... the early morning killed me).  Lina and I met some of our cousins on the Van Dyk side of the family for the first time as well.

When I figured out the dates I was going to go to New York, I asked Tim if we could make a trip to New Jersey to see Kevin and Liz.  Kevin is my 1st cousin on my Dad's side of the family.  I also wanted to meet their children especially little Sofie.

Sofie was the baby who has a heart condition that caused Kevin and Liz to go to California for her birth and first open heart surgeries.  She is not much of a baby anymore... Here she is with her Daddy.  She is a "mini-me" of Kevin.  If you were to look at their baby pictures side by side you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

Aunt Carol (Kevin's Mom) came and brought my cousin Arlene's two boys, Nick and Zac.  The last time I saw them they were boys, now they are at the brink of becoming young men!  I couldn't believe how big they were.  It was so nice to see my Aunt Carol and spend some time talking with her (she gave me a well deserved scolding over not blogging more often).

Towards the end of the night Greta (Kevin and Liz's middle daughter) got a little tired, Tim was holding her and she fell asleep on his shoulder.  It was so sweet!

I am so bummed I didn't take my camera with me for this visit.  All I had was my phone that was just about dead... So these are the only two pictures I took.  You would think that I would learn my lesson.  I always feel so self conscious hauling out my big camera and then later regret not taking more pictures!