Yesterday morning my dear friend, Karen, and I walked around Reed's Lake ... the entire lake! It was a gorgeous morning to walk with one of the nicest people on this earth, enjoying her kindness and friendship. It was perfect.
I've hardly ever spent any time around this part of town, so I'm not familiar with it at all. Karen lives close by, so she showed me the new boardwalk area that goes out into a swamp/bog kind of place ... so beautiful! We could hear the frogs talking. The colors out there were just stunning ... and the lily pads! The lilies hadn't opened yet, so I didn't take any pictures of them ~ perhaps in a few days, I'll go back and see if they have bloomed. There were several cool webs along the boardwalk ... it was windy, so they weren't perfect ... and thankfully, the spinner of this web was nowhere in sight!
These delicate wild flowers were everywhere. I just love them. I'd love to dig a bunch of them up and transplant them to my back yard flower garden!
These two photos are the underside a flower that looks just like a sparkler on the 4th of July!
"I will praise Him from the bottom of my heart. Lord, who can compare with you?" PSALM 36.10
This is such a pretty place, isn't it? 
The beauty of the place and Karen's company made quite a long distance walk (for me!) very pleasurable ... And then! I got to see something I had never ever seen before in my life ...
This swan couple had FOUR cygnets with them, although it's difficult to see all four of them in these pictures. I took so many pictures, hoping to get a few that would capture their amazing gracefulness and dignity ...
But that was the best I could do! I'm not sure I'll ever have another opportunity to photograph baby swans. But it is enough for me to have seen them with my own eyes!
I've been TRYING to hold off posting the announcement of our newest grandchild. She was born two-and-a-half days ago! Her parents have a nice blog and regularly post pictures and newsy tidbits for us on it ... and I know they will post her beautiful pictures and all of the statistics regarding her birth as soon as they are able. Since I do not have any pictures of her, other than ones I could blatantly "steal" from their FB page, I can't show you her beautiful little face. Adam and Emily are hosting Emily's folks right now and I am certain they are too busy to think about blogging, etc. But I do not want to risk falling into the category of horrible mother-in-law and/or wicked step-mother ... so I have compromised with this posting. Her name is Jasmine Genevieve. She is perfectly beautiful, and she is our sixth granddaughter! "Jasmine" means "little flower" and "Genevieve" means "white wave" ... aren't those cool meanings? Jasmine has very graciously evened the score of our grandchildren to six granddaughters and six grandsons. While we were waiting to hear news of her birth last week, I went shopping and picked out three darling interchangeable outfits for her.
I can't wait to give them to her! And I designed a special card for her birth ...
The Scripture on the inside of her card: "You gave me LIFE and showed me your unfailing LOVE." Job 10.11Welcome to our family, Jasmine!
Dylan is 27 today. The year he was born May 28 fell smack dab on a Monday, which also happened to be Memorial Day. He has always had a quiet spirit. And he was the easiest baby ever ~ not the fussy sort at all ~ contentment has always been a personality trait of his. Gentleness too. He has a gentle sort of kindness that is wonderful to be around. Dylan is also a man of deep personal faith. He has just finished up his first of two years at Calvin Seminary. If I'm not mistaken, he has furthered his studies there in Greek, took a class or two in Hebrew, as well as beginning to learn Latin. That's a lot of ancient languages! I like to listen to him talk about what he has been learning because he is passionate about it. So what is he going to do with his education? He's not 100% sure, but since he is strong in relating and communicating to many different kinds of people, he is talking about hospital chaplaincy for awhile at least. But that's another year from now and there are other directions he can take with his studies as well. We're sending Dylan birthday greetings today, and hoping that this next year, whatever it brings, will be an amazingly HAPPY one! 
These pictures of Dylan were taken at he and Kelly's wedding rehearsal dinner/picnic over at Ada Park (July 2010).
I've been trying for a few days to get some pictures of the birds at our feeder, but they haven't wanted to cooperate with me one single bit! Today, it has been raining most of the day ~ one of those kind of steady sprinkles ~ I love a day like this. So I quietly stepped out into the wetness this afternoon and tried to hide myself behind one of our bushes and catch those rascal birds that have made themselves so at home at our feeder. At any one time, we will have a dozen of them flying back and forth between the large spruce tree across the street and over to our yard. I've seen cardinals, sparrows, VERY annoying black birds, blue birds, a few mourning doves who feed off the spillway on the ground, and lots of these little "house finches." I did see a pretty yellow finch this morning as well, but she flew away as soon as she saw my camera! 
These are not the best photos ... but they are better than nothing. I have been so delighted this week watching all of the activity in our front yard. I just love it that these beautiful birds come over to my house to eat! And they sing the loveliest songs! Thank you, Lord, for making these sweet little creatures.
I can't remember if we met Andrew before or AFTER the two of them jumped ... yes! ... out of a perfectly good airplane at over 10,000 feet. This was completely beyond EXTREME adventure in my book! Completely CRAZY. This picture (above) is actually Sabrina and Andrew flying through the air, above the ground and clouds, plunging to the earth in total ecstacy! I think, but I'm not sure, that this was the Autumn (or Fall!) before they got married. And I also cannot remember if Sabrina let us in on this little escapade until AFTER it was over (not the wedding, but the jump).
But one thing I do know for certain is that Sabrina and Andrew have been married now for EIGHT years. This is such a great picture of them, isn't it? I loved their wedding. It was at such a great location (at a mansion overlooking Lake Travis), Sabrina looked absolutely lovely in her gown, Andrew was so kind and easy to be with, and we had so much fun that day. I like looking back on it and remembering the happiness. We love you both, Andrew and Sabrina, and wish you the happiest of years to come! This is the beautiful passage of Scripture Andrew and Sabrina chose for their wedding:PHILIPPIANS 2:1-2: "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."
P.S. It seems I have made a BIG error in this posting ... this is NOT Andrew jumping with Sabrina ... it is Sabrina's jump instructor! Andrew did jump at a different occasion, but did not have enough experience to tandem jump with anyone. So this is NOT Andrew. Sorry, you guys. (4:00 p.m., 5/24/11)
The first weekend of June in Grand Rapids always means one thing to me: Festival of the Arts. We drove downtown yesterday afternoon and parked over by the fish ladder. I haven't been down here when the river has been this high for quite awhile! 
Isn't that a pretty sight? We walked along the river and then crossed over to where the action was ...
I love going downtown for Festival of the Arts. It is so much fun to walk around and enjoy the aroma of all kinds of wonderful food cooking on grills! And little kids and grandparents are everywhere ... together! There is face-painting and great crafts to do ... I was badly wishing our grandchildren didn't live so far away!
This is Calder Plaza, where most of the arts and crafts tents are located. I didn't really spend much time looking at the great stuff on display and for sale because I wanted to be sure to be at Rosa Parks Circle in time to hear Dylan and Kelly's band play. 
Their band has changed names several times. Presently, they are known as "Handmade." I like the name! 
Dylan plays bass guitar, harmonica, and keyboards (if available).
I love to see Dylan this happy! He is completely in his element with these good friends and their music. They are a very talented group. They write all of their own music.
Kelly is the lead female vocal. Her voice is pretty amazing. She is just FULL of music and I love to see her perform.
It was a mild and wonderful breezy afternoon. Nice sunshine. "Handmade" played for about 30 minutes!
I absolutely love this picture of Dylan. He is so completely into this! 
I had a lot of fun walking around the stage with my camera, taking shots here and there. I had even more fun last night editing all of the pictures. 
This is a wonderful picture of Kelly, except the microphone is kind of blocking her beautiful smile. She is a natural performer.
After their set was over, they had to tear down so that the next group could occupy their space. We didn't see them afterwards, but walked to where we could get a bite to eat. I ate the grilled shrimp kabob and garlic toast ~ yum!
I so intended to get back downtown today and have a good look at the art, but so far I haven't done it! Maybe tomorrow ...
