Christmas at Grampa's

Grampa Groen enjoyed showing off his train and village which is set up under the tree every year. Douwe was quite interested in seeing all the details and the moving train.

Christmas Eve

Here's a nice picture of Grandma Jan with her current quad of grandchildren on Christmas Eve.

Douwe hears the Story

This trio of pictures is quite special. For one thing, Douwe's eyes are on the same page that Steve is reading, as if he hears and understands! Although Douwe heard a reading of Luke 2 in Sunday worship a few hours after these photos were taken, it looks as though Steve is the first to present the story of Jesus to Douwe. We were scrambling to get some food in the oven for Sunday lunch and Douwe was fussing, so we said "Steve, please read something to Douwe to keep him occupied for a few more minutes." This new book brought over by our neighbor last night was Steve's choice. Friends, do not be slow to entertain "strangers" in your home, they may very well be angels (messengers) in disguise! Merry Christmas.

3 months old

Douwe reaches the three-month old milestone this week. It is fun to see him develop a greater awareness for his surroundings. He has found his hands, he tries to mimic our facial expressions and sounds, and he absolutely loves kicking the water in his little bathtub.

Soccer

Steve is having a great time playing indoor soccer this winter. A good way to improve coordination and get some energy burned off on these short winter days.

Seven Years

It's been seven years since we tied the knot!

Proud Grandparents

Douwe was baptized today in a Christian church, and so is beginning his story of belonging to the people that call Jesus their God, Savior, Lord. His grandparents are pictured here holding him after the service of the sacrament.




Eight years ago when I tried to transfer my church membership to a Presbyterian congregation, I had the unfortunate experience of being told by my two church elders: "Since you were raised in this church we can be sure of your salvation, but if you leave, your children will not be raised here and get the Truth."

Of course that was a bully threat to manipulate me, and make me afraid to leave, but it makes a woman think twice about having children if they are put in hell before their birth by ignorant church men.

And so now we navigate a tricky path to pass on a special heritage of belonging, family, gospel and grace to Douwe, while knowing that mixed in with that heritage is still some rotten stuff of threats and exclusion and gang mentality.

Newborn Douwe, you don't have to "get the Truth" before you are included. Presenting you for baptism today means you belong unconditionally, you are loved by a most inclusive Redeemer, and that the Truth, Jesus Christ, has already "got" you.

Thanksgiving 2007: Thanks for Women Mentors

This year, as our household experienced pregnancy and childbirth and caring for a newborn for the first time, I have realized how important and amazing it is that women support each other with wisdom and education and encouragement. I was helped and enriched, not only by women who are already friends and family, but also by various women who spend time helping people they don’t really know just because they care about the health and joy of women and their babies.


I started my pregnancy bewildered and nervous about entering “the baby information realm” and terrified about the agony of labor. As the year progressed, my body flourished in its pregnant state, Douwe’s birth was a wonderful experience, and Douwe and I have been enjoying nursing without any discomfort or tears. I could say I’m just lucky, but I believe that it has to do with the mentoring that these women have provided:

Carol. I called her off the Lake County La Leche League page early in my pregnancy to ask a few questions about pregnancy and labor resources. At her encouragement, I started coming to LLL meetings early in my pregnancy and learning about so much more than just nursing. She also recommended finding a Bradley method childbirth class, and looking up books by Dr. Sears and Dr. Bradley.

Lisa and Danielle. Friends I made at Schererville library LLL meetings who used the various soft baby carriers so well that I knew I needed to get some. All of their experience with various baby questions regarding nursing, diapers, sleeping arrangements, schedules and their willingness to talk about anything helped me gain knowledge and confidence to make my choices.

Chanda. Chanda was our childbirth class instructor and the encouragement and education she provided was absolutely priceless. She made us take prenatal nutrition and exercise seriously and helped us overcome fear of the unknown and fear of labor pain by teaching us what the body does so well when it is time for baby to be born. Each week she taught the two hour class on her feet with her baby in a carrier who nursed or slept or looked around, and modeled how mobile a mother/infant pair can be.

Michelle. Michelle was our midwife and she enthusiastically supported us in our wishes to deliver at St. Catherine's Hospital with as little medical intervention as possible. She was willing to sit on the floor to catch the baby, to allow me to deliver in a position that was so much better than in bed on my back. I remember her saying at the time, “You wouldn't get a doctor to sit on the floor.”

Alison and Leann. My sister and my neighbor gave me the following books to read, and they were so helpful: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, The Bradley Method of Childbirth, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon, and The Nursing Mother's Companion by Kathleen Huggins.

Thanks be to God for providing women everywhere with the gift to help and support each other in our unique and challenging role of childbearing. We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Little Pumpkin

Thanks to a gift from a neighbor, Douwe had a few appropriate clothing items for trick-or-treating.


Steve and his friends created a gruesome scene of a man with a pumpkin for a head decapitated and buried alive. Douwe found his cousins Snow White and Mr. Dinosaur out on the sidewalk.

Sunday Walk in the Woods

Jeff and I found some time to head out to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and walk a trail we hadn't done yet near Miller Beach. Douwe loves rocking and nestling in the Maya Wrap sling carrier, and I'm in love with it as it is so much less cumbersome than unloading a stroller or lugging the car seat around.

Some 1sts for Douwe

Whether quietly looking around with a serious expression, or sleeping soundly through it, Douwe is taking in many new and first time experiences. Welcome to this wonderful world, little one!

Visit from the Gurgels

Jeff's sister and family came out from Idaho to meet Douwe and enjoy some family time. Jeff, his parents, and the older kids spent a special day downtown and went to the top of the Hancock building. We had another birthday gathering for Steve and Chloe, took advantage of the warm weather with a trip to West Beach, and spent a lot of time playing Steve's new games. Steve received an introduction to the world of Webkins with a gift and orientation from his cousins Charlie and Chloe.

Steve is Eight!

Steve had a great day celebrating his eighth birthday. The festivities began with an early morning present, a box full of Rescue Heroes along with their headquarters. Later in the morning, Jeff headed downtown to Dave and Busters with Steve and three of his friends where they had lunch and enjoyed some arcade games. In the evening the fun continued as we all headed to Lucas' b-day party in Wicker Park. Happy Birthday Steve and Lucas!

Favorite photos of Douwe's first week

Unexpected Visitors

We took Douwe home on Sunday morning and were surprised to notice a stork on our front yard! Thanks to Steve's 2nd grade classmate Kevin's family, we now had a way to notify the many neighbors who have been looking forward to hearing the baby news.

On Monday morning we said goodbye to a nest of visitors, with the help of Guardian pest control: bald-faced hornets who kept their beautiful creation hidden from us until last week. They are said to help with bug control and abandon the nest within the first couple frosts, but they are also said to be aggressive without provocation, and the nest is quite close to the mail carrier's path and our neighbor's lawn mowing route.

On Wednesday, the cable guy showed up to replace our modem, which had broken and put our internet and phone lines on the fritz for two days.

On Thursday, the Sears delivery team came for a visit with a new dryer, since our dryer chose the opportune time of Tuesday laundry session to give up its linty ghost.

On Friday, the Sears delivery team came for another visit with another new dryer, since yesterday's delivery was defective. I was glad that I had put up a clothesline last week when I heard some wheezes and squeals from the dryer. The warm sunny weather and the fact that my sister lives a block away took some of the load off living with brand new baby and no working dryer.

On Friday night, the NIPSCO truck came out since Jeff was smelling gas near the dryer hook-up and yes there were traces leaking from the hook-up site and a few other places. Nothing to evacuate the house for, but a hassle none the less as this repair calls for a plumber!?

Thankfully Jeff had taken the week off to be at home, though he got more work than he had planned on!

We also had a perfect amount of hoped for guests: grandparents, niece and nephew, best friends, and close neighbors to come see the handsome new member of the Groen household.

Welcome Douwe James

We're pleased to introduce the newest member of the Groen Family, Douwe James. Douwe arrived at 7:43 am on Friday, September 14 weighing 8lb 1oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. Early signs point to a resemblance to his dad, which would make sense, considering he was born on Jeff's Birthday! Under the skillful eye of midwife Michelle, and with the helpful staff at St. Catherine's Family Birthing Center, the whole process could not have gone any better. For those wondering, Douwe is a Dutch name, and was the name of Jeff's grandfather who immigrated to the U.S. from Amsterdam. We're very thankful for all the well wishes from Family and Friends, and are excited to begin this next phase in our lives.

Summer Fun with Food

I've been inspired by the book I've been reading this summer--Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--to take more time to find local produce for meals and for preserving. My mom always canned a lot when we were kids, since she was raised on a farm where the kitchen garden fed the family during summer and winter.

In June, my sister, my neighbor and I picked strawberries at Johnson's, which were enjoyed fresh with cereal, strawberry shortcake, and the rest are in the freezer as whole berries or freezer jam.

In July, I made a quick trip to Stateline blueberry farm, and several pounds. Some turned into a blueberry buckle which kept us grinning for a week of desserts, and the rest were frozen as whole berries.

In August, I froze some corn, which is as easy as boiling the cobs for a few minutes and cutting the kernels into a freezer bag. The best corn we have tasted this year is from Bultema's farmstand on Route 30 in Lynwood. That same week, my friend Emily came over to show me how to make a loaf of bread from scratch. We finished the morning by enjoying a tomato sandwich on LaBriola panini bread which we can get at Ron Erik's Village Farmstand in Cal City.

My next project was some jalapeno-mint jelly, which is the first boil-processed canning I've ever tried without my mom around. I made one small batch which only turned into about 5 4-oz jars, but the pale green jelly looks beautiful, and it used up a ton of mint which grows wild near our garage. That gave me enough confidence to try canning a small batch of Michigan freestone peaches, and the 7 pints I processed came out just fine, and they all did that vacuum seal pop thing.

We used three more Michigan peaches to make a batch of homemade peach ice-cream on Labor Day weekend. For my birthday, Jeff gave me an ice-cream bowl attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer, so we had to try this out when Jeff's family came for dinner. The initial result is a soft serve consistency ice cream, but we put the rest in a container to freeze solid. I tried some this morning and it is absolutely delicious. This is fun! I'll never be so ambitious as to put up the bushels and bushels that Grandma Cora always did, but I feel proud of these little attempts to help our household consume more produce from local growers.

If the baby waits till the end of the month, and my mom and I can pick a date to get together, September will bring some jars of applesauce using apples from County Line Orchard and stewed tomatoes using tomatoes from Buiter's farm.

Labor Day Weekend

Jeff's brother Mike and his friend Jackie came to visit for the weekend, so we spent Saturday and Sunday with Jeff's family.

On Saturday, the highlight was a bike ride with Mike's friends the Fiekemas on the Oak Savannah Trail from Griffith to Hobart (and Jess did stay home for this event.) There were a few falls and some tired children by the end of the ride, but everyone had fun.

After church on Sunday, we packed a lunch to take to Whihala Beach (the west end which is in Hammond right by the Horseshoe Casino. It was like having our own private beach, and the water was a perfect refreshing temperature. For the evening meal, we grilled out, and here's the family making a toast to Mom and Dad on their 41st anniversary.

Final Weeks

With a due date at the end of the month, Baby Groen is enjoying the last few weeks of pre-natal growth. We are excited and nervous and as ready as we can be without knowing exactly what we're getting ourselves into. Keep checking, we'll post the news and first photos on this blog as soon as we meet Baby ourselves!

1st Day of Second Grade

Steve is off for his first day of second grade at Kenwood Elementary. He is very excited to see many classmates he hasn't seen since last December.

North Pond

Jeff and I had a special dinner out to celebrate my birthday and Jeff's new placement at IRI. North Pond is a Chicago restaurant we had been interested in trying for a few years now, as they are affiliated with the Chef's Collaborative, which makes a priority of creating menus based on local, in-season, produce. August is a great time to go to a restaurant like this, since produce is peaking in this area. Everything was delicious and it was a beautiful night to be in Lincoln Park.

GORGE Pool Party

Baby Shower

My sisters and mom hosted a baby shower for Baby Groen to celebrate the coming addition to our family. A very special surprise was a blanket with a crocheted border that my Grandma Cora Bleyenburg had made before she died and given to my mom several years ago to keep for this occasion.

School Uniforms

Steve and I lucked out on a PTA sale at school where we could rebuild his wardrobe for school. Kenwood requires uniformity of color rather than uniforms, so we have quite a bit of flexibility as long as the colors are red, white, navy or tan. He looked so sharp in this ensemble that I said he should be a model for school clothes!

Canoeing and Camping

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend at Chain O Lakes State Park, about 2 hours east of us on Route 30. This park has a chain of small lakes linked by shallow wood-shaded channels, so it is a fun place to canoe.

The campfires were expertly prepared by Jeff and Steve so we could cook our meals and s'mores each night.

One of the highlights for Steve was getting in on catching some food (minnows) with the naturalist before the Feeding Time event at the nature center.

Rhonda's wedding

The best weather ever for an outdoor ceremony at Taltree Arboretum, beautiful flowers, and a glowing bride . . this was a special wedding to attend and be a part of. Rhonda and Matt made their vows and celebrated this day with many friends and family. A great time was had by all!

Pool Party

Today several girlfriends from high school had the pleasure of enjoying a pool party and pizza lunch, thanks to our host, Carli. Rhonda is in from Pittsburgh for her wedding in two days, and Patti and Sara are in from their homes in Europe to visit family and friends. We had an enjoyable afternoon.

Janey Mac 2007

Another great week in Holland with the Lantings! For the third year, we have rented a cottage in Macatawa near the marina and the big lake. Our biggest decision each day is whether to lounge at the marina pool, on the beach, or on the sailboat. An added cottage luxury this year was the golf cart, which was highly utilized to get up and down the steep dune road to our cottage.