Family Vay-cay!

Family Vacation!  

One of my absolute favorite times of the year!  

My aunt and uncle own a lake "cottage" on a little lake in Michigan.  They graciously allow my family (and many other families) to come and spend some time there.

This year only part of the family was able to go.  Jim, Krissa and kids weren't there and neither was Joe.

Just Mom and Dad, John and Amy, Ben and I. 

But it was a lot of fun =)

Our first stop after Mom and Dad picked us up from the airport was breakfast (we got in at around 8:45 am).  Second stop was an open-air produce stand on the side of the road. We got all kinds of things!

The view from the stand overlooked a beautiful farm!

So many fresh fruits and vegetables! One of Ben's favorite veggies is beets.  Our family never really ate beets, so we were unsure how to prepare them.  A kind gentleman also shopping at the stand told us a few pointers.  So mom bought some beets.  They turned out great! (at least Ben says so...they aren't my favorite).

This was our shopping list for the week (and I think a second run was made a few days in).  My mom is so good about getting every person a little something that is their favorite.  Whether it be Oreos for Ben, Salami and olives for John, tasty creamer and ice cream for Amy, potato chips for me, Chips and salsa for dad or some nice gluten free products for herself...everyone was HAPPY when it came to food =)

View from the porch. it is such a relaxing place!

My brother John is a serious boat driver.  He knows how to handle that machine quite well. 

And he means business.  He always knew how to give us a good ride. 

Ben and I on the tube.  

Sorry, he just looked so professional.

My cute parentals enjoying some time together.  Windblown and wonderful.

Oh and my mom is a great water-sports woman!  Got up on a wakeboard on pretty much the first try and stayed up!

My handsome hubby enjoying the day!

Dad too was a good driver.  A wee bit more cautious than John =)

in addition to being a good driver, John is an excellent wakeboarder and skier.  

John and Amy get some quality tubing time in!

Mumzy and Amy adequately prepared for some "toodling" around the lake after dinner. 

John decided to forego toodling for some fast-paced jet-skiing instead! 

Ben got domestic with my mom and helped make some DELICIOUS gf oatmeal cookies! (with LOTS of chocolate chips...i think they doubled the amount.  They were sweet enough to bake me a few without any chocolate though!) 

Final product.  I think the cookie dough was about as delicious as the actual cookies! 

John and Dad de-pooping the shrimp.  As you can tell by their expressions this was not the lovliest of jobs.

mmm yummy mixed veggies for the kabobs! 

And there they are all put together.  A family vacation tradition! 

Me and Daddio put them together. 

Enjoying some time with Ben 

John and Amy enjoying some quality time too!

The grill master right here.  (At least when Krissa isn't here...she's the true grill-master at family functions!)

Me and my college roomie, Jamie, tubing.  She and her husband Arek live in Grand Rapids and came up to spend the afternoon/evening with us!  It was so great to see them and catch up!  Wish I got more pictures, but we were too busy having fun! 

My dad is an intense ping-pong player.  Like, really good.  It brought out the intense competitive side of Ben.  But I think my dad still won.

Better luck next time, honey!  maybe we should get our own table so you can practice for next family vacation!

He was intensely playing, and John was having fun photo-bombing. 

Crazy guy. 

Big Pine Island Lake...so beautiful.

Overall it was a fantastic family vacation.  We missed J,K,K,E and J...it's never the same without them.  But we still had lots of fun.  Devotions, singing, laughing, games, sleeping, eating, boating, tubing, relaxing...exactly what a vacation should be.  There were only a few questionable tubing moments when the riders thought they were going to die.  But everyone made it out alive, so that's good. 

At the end of the day, I always enjoy time with my family.  And thankfully, so did Ben.  It is such a blessing that he gets along with my family and they like him.  My mom pointed out how great it was to spend time with us as a married couple and see how good we are for each other (especially how good Ben is for me.)  She said that he reads me well and knows how to handle me and respond to me, whether it be giving me some space, just sitting and being quiet with me, talking through things with me, giving me a back rub etc...

He's pretty much the greatest thing that has happened to me since Jesus. 

Although I did realize something.  I am not quite sure always how to balance being "Married, grown-up Suzy, wife of Ben"  and "Suzy, daughter and sister and part of the Tom Klotzle family."  I feel like they are still a little separate and it will take time for the two to mesh together.  I enjoyed the opportunity for growth in relationships with Ben as well as my parents and siblings.  

Anyway, there you are! a snippet of a fun week with the fam!

Agape

Hey Folks!  

I admit, when I'm not inspired to write anything, I tend to just not blog, period.  It is lame, I know.  I mean what if I was a real celebrity!  what if my income depended on it?  Good thing it doesn't.  

But hey, today I'm inspired.  And honestly, I just need to sit down and start typing, and usually things flow.

I titled this post Agape because of what inspired me to write today.  After a super delicious dinner last night (chicken ciabatta sandwiches with goat cheese and caramelized onions--I was pretty proud of that one), Ben and I sat in the living room to read our book together.  It is called:  Love, The Greatest Thing in The World. 

The first part of it is a little essay written by Henry Drummond in the late 1800s about 1 Corinthians 13.  I'll admit, it was not the easiest read.  The guy was like CS Lewis.  No word is wasted.  One sentence holds so many nuances and carries much weight.  *sigh*

But the rest of the book is written by a man further down the Drummond line named Lewis.  He proceeded to expound and expand on Henry's writing to make it easier to understand and unpack his loaded paragraphs.  

Last night we were reading about Agape love.  And the section quoted another man named Nygren and said: 

God does not love that which is already in itself worthy of love, but on the contrary, that which in itself has no worth acquires worth just by becoming the object of God's love.  Agape has nothing to do with the kind of love that depends on the recognition of a valuable quality in its object; Agape does not recognise value, but creates it.  Agape loves, and imparts value by loving.  The man who is loved by God has no value in himself; what gives him value is precisely the fact that God loves him.  Agape is a value-creating principle. 

Wow.  Go back and read that again.  Seriously.  That explains how we had no worth until God loved us.  And we love him, because he first loved us.  

Lewis Drummond said later in the section:  We must realize that love is not God; God is love.  He is a Person, not a principle, who personally loves us.  

I am both relieved and in awe that the Agape love of God has made me worthy.  This kind of Agape love is experiential.

I don't even know how this fits into my life fully.  I don't know how to have agape love and not the self-serving love of Eros (which isn't just sexual love, by the way...the book tells how it is, at its core, merely egocentric).  How many of us love because it makes us feel good or gives us something in return.  Strings attached.  Being a Christian is about experiencing, knowing and living this agape love, which is value-creating.

What a high calling. 

Lewis Drummond also says that this kind of love "far exceeds mere 'warm and fuzzy' sentimental feelings about God and ourselves."

He points out that Paul said it best in his prayer for the Ephesians (3:17-19)

"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;  and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you  may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

Amen.

Now on to some lighter newsy stuff

I have been looking for jobs for a while now...attempting to get back into working with troubled kids.  Every job I've applied for hasn't panned out.  The other morning (Tuesday), I was browsing random jobs online, applying for anyone that looked remotely up my alley.  I found one where the tagline said, "Want to work with a great team to help make a difference in kids' lives??  Apply today!"  There wasn't too much more information on the website than that, but I applied anyway...what could it hurt?  

That afternoon I got a phone call from their office and the lady said they got my application and wanted to set up an interview.  She said she knew it was short notice, but could I come in the next afternoon?  

Wow. talk about neat. 

So I made the appointment. 

Insert a little something about myself:  I hate being put on the spot for answers.  Tests, interviews, the testimony before my baptism....stuff like that.  I know what I know.  I know it well.  I can articulate it quite nicely....on my own time, in my own way, without a date set. 

I wish getting a job worked this way:  you are discovered in your element doing what you do best, without the pressure to be what they want/need you to be and without having to try to sell yourself.  (not in a nasty way, but in a "I'm the best fit for your job opening" kind of way...which i am NOT good at).

Anyway, went in for the interview, and basically i love the concept of the job.  Exactly what I've been looking for.  It was a preliminary interview, just a get-to-know-you type thing, where they ask a few questions, see how you answer them and decide if they want to proceed further.  

I felt confident.  Until they said that if they choose me as a candidate to proceed, they will have a few more extensive interviews.  

i got sick to my stomach. and it lasted all afternoon. 

So as long as I don't think about what comes next, I'm great!  it looks promising.  They are launching a new program and are hiring all new people as far as I know, so that ups the chances of me getting a job, right? 

Anyway, say a prayer if you think of it.  I have to keep reminding myself that if this job is for me, God will make my paths straight and open the right doors.  That is a comforting feeling...except for when my heart doubts that truth at times when I think I could have said something better or more complete or not laughed nervously or shook his hand with my sweaty palms.  

I shall post a post next about family vacation.  with pictures. =)

au revoir. 

the picture post.

Know why it's called the picture post?  Cuz it's got lots of pictures. 

here we go. 

Ben likes my cooking. proven fact.  or posed picture. whatever. point is, he's not dead yet. 

went to our first benefit dinner together.  Gotta love the name cards.

see we're so happy to be at the benefit dinner.  

WE GOT A VACUUM.  this was probably the most exciting thing that happened that week.  because we had been sweeping our floors (not super wonderful when it comes to trace amounts of dog hair.)  

But NOW. we can vacuum it all =)  this is good. 

awww look who else likes to vacuum.  

ugh he's so cute.  

Just look at that crazy grin!  he's such a happy kid.

ok this was my favorite dinner.  Meatloaf and potatoes and green beans.  Healthy, well-rounded, and Betty Crocker did NOT let me down. 

happy kids on the way to the zoo!

my lil' friend

"I want to do it myself, Auntie!"

Easily entertained by opening and shutting lockers. 

This is our pre-rinse.  

I built that table.  

That's right. Built it.  Followed directions like my Dad taught me and used a wrench and lots of little bolts and nuts and screws and put it together.  I was pretty proud of myself. 

Giggles and good times at Kavya's 1st birthday party. 

My handsome brother and beautiful sister-in-law (parents of the cuties in all the pictures)

this is Kavya!  she's a little girl that a friend of mine watches.  she just turned 1.  had a pretty great celebration for a 1st birthday too. 

Miss K hitting the Pinata 

Ender giving it a go! 

She kept swinging one-handed.  

And finally stopped looking where she was hitting so she could look at the candy on the ground. 

Oh. this was a good one.  Chicken and Zuchinni sauteed together.  Roasted red potatoes and a Tomato/Mozzarella/Avocado salad.  Mmmm. 

I hurt my back a little while ago and when my sweet husband got home, he made me dinner in bed!  He's such a good guy.  

This crazy mutt loves digging holes.  Anywhere she thinks there is something that smells enticing.  

Then she comes up for air and has dirt all over her.  Silly dog. 

Sweet Corn at the State Fair.  This guy is happy. =)

Ok, you may think this is my brother Joe.  But it's not.  It is a kid in a play at the fair that looked JUST like him.

You gotta admit, that looks like him, right?!  I couldn't stop gaping.  

I always wanted to go to a fair with a guy.  Seemed like a great date night.  And it was.  =)

Almost a year ago to the day, we had gone to the fair with a mutual friend.  I totally liked Ben, and one minute he seemed interested in me, but the very next minute he'd seem totally cool just being friends.  We decided that we needed to come back to the fair to commemorate how we were MFEO (meant for each other) even way back then =)

Ben told me he had two things he wanted to do before we left the fair.  But he wouldn't tell me what they were.  

One of them was a really old boat ride called Ye Old Mill.  It was cute and fun and romantic =) 

Then there was this. 

We rode the sky tower and saw the full moon out in the distance.   So beautiful!

Ben knows how much I love city lights, so he took me on this to get a good view of the Cities from above.  It was so sweet of him. and I loved it! 

Then we got Sweet Martha's cookies.  Oh my.  $14 for that bucket piled high.  As the guy kept putting more on, I almost made him stop.  But Ben wouldn't let me.  Cuz he is a cookie lover. 

See how happy he is?  I kid you not, he ate about a dozen over the next 10 minutes.  

Boating with the lovelies. 

\

this kid knows how to do it right.  Neck-supporting life jacket, blanket and Nuk.  

Windblown and beautiful. 

These next pictures are a little dangerous for me.  

So I am going to make it a public apology too:

To the super sweet and patient family who owns this pool (you know who you are),

I am so sorry for what took place there a few weeks ago.  Our water-loving dog just bound for the water and jumped straight in before we could stop her.  She proceeded to swim for almost an hour straight, hardly stopping to rest.  She was so happy, that we didn't take her out right away.  It wasn't until afterwards that we saw how much dog hair she shed.  So we proceeded to put Ardie to work, and skim the pool.  We even came back later that evening to finish the job after the rest settled.  I hope it didn't mess anything up....I think we got pretty much all of it.  I know my dog has never been your best of friends.  

I hope this doesn't ruin our relationship.

I am truly sorry for this happening without your permission or knowledge.  

sincerely, 

your surrogate daughter. 

She really did love it.  And every time people would jump in and not come up right away, she'd swim as fast as she could to them, whining the whole way, then attempt to save them.  

It was super cute.  

But she is a shedding machine.  Huskies have two great sheds a year.  Right now is one of them.  her hair/fur comes out in clumps.  It's gross.  But I think we got it all cleaned up =)

There you have it.  Snippets of the last month or so.  

Sorry it's been so long.

Au revoir!