Celebrating Marilyn

September brought Marilyn's 80th birthday, and five of her children to New Mexico to celebrate! Pictured above, from left to right: (standing): Paul's wife June, daughter Michelle, Dave's wife Chris, Kathleen's daughter Erika, daughter Kathleen, (sitting:) son Paul, son Terry, Marilyn, son Dave, Kathleen's husband Kirk. We enjoyed visiting, hiking, and shopping in Santa Fe.

Calvin Cross Country: Off and Running!

The Inaugural Calvin Invitational, and the first race of Tim's senior cross-country season, was run last Saturday on the Calvin campus in Grand Rapids. The guys and gals did wonderfully, with both teams winning their events. Tim won the men's race in a time of 24:58, and really enjoyed the run, as can be seen by the smile above as he crossed the finish line. He also got to set the course record, since it was the first running of the event on this course. You can see more about the race, including recaps, results and photos, here:
http://tinyurl.com/nen3o
And you can see an article about the team from the Grand Rapids Press here:
http://tinyurl.com/ls8uw

An Exciting Adventure for Tim

As if the start of the cross-country season were not enough for Timothy, he has new excitement afoot, and it has been a real revelation in the wonder and the care and the providence of God!

Tim is a senior electrical engineering student at Calvin, and that means the big Senior Design Project this year. This is a large, discipline-integrated, year-long project. After several failed attempts at putting a group together and coming up with an acceptable project, this week it was as if the clouds parted. Where there was no direction on Monday, an amazing plan is in place on Friday! And all along, God went before Tim, planning and guiding in amazing ways!

Tim will be working on a team with three chemical engineers to design a bio-fuel power generation and power grid system for what will be the first (and only) distinctively Christian University in Cambodia! Through an amazing series of things, which all looked unrelated to us at the time, Tim has taken an excellent class in power systems and grids, so he feels excited and prepared for the work. And it looks like he will be able to take a trip to Cambodia during the January interim mini-semester, spending almost three weeks in the area where the university is being built, and seeing the site and talking to folks in the area about the university. How is that for amazing!

So, we would appreciate your prayers for this endeavor. Since it is so obviously God's plan, we are moving ahead, though we are unsure how Tim will raise the funds to go, and despite the fact that they fly into Bangkok, Thailand, where there was a military coup this week. We'll keep everyone updated on his adventure here! And you can see some more information about the interim class here:
http://tinyurl.com/fmfr8

The completed project: and a new one begun

Here, after many hours of added construction, followed by deconstruction and many hours of polyurethaning, and driving 1700 miles or so with the smell of poylurethane filling the car, the loft bed is completed and Ben's apartment in Bloomington, Indiana is serviceable, and homey. Ben is now an Assistant Instructor in the Classical Studies Department at Indiana University. He is working on his Masters in Latin, and assisting with a mythology class. What a new and exciting advernture! And Bloomington is an adorable city, with the impressive and large campus dominating.

Building Project

One of the major projects near the end of the summer was building a loft bed for Ben, complete with a computer space, desk and shelves below. We are not woodworkers, but Ben's efficiency apartment in Indiana made this necessary. His efficiancy space is 14 X 14, and that includes the closet and bathroom! Here, Tim, Dave and Ben (in our garage) complete the bed frame, which our friend Charlie Bell said was strong enough to hold a car-- and weighed about as much as one! Charlie was a BIG help in getting it all done and together.

Fun with Friends

While the summer just flew by, we enjoyed the opportunity to get together with folks who came to visit. We had visits from Chris' sister Jeni, our dear friend from D.C. Jan Adams, and the "college kids" were around. Above, the old debate crew enjoys hamburgers on our back porch. {Starting with the striped shirt and continuing clockwise: Elsa Johnson, Emily Thomson, Carolyn Thomson, Tim, Josh Baer, Joey Piotrowicz, Jesse Piotrowicz, and Ben}

A Visit from Elsa

We enjoyed a wonderful week this August with Ben's girlfriend, Elsa Johnson. Elsa hails from Minnesota, and is a Junior at Hillsdale College. We enjoyed showing her our neighborhood, and appreciated her parents, Donna and Chris, sharing her with us. {Above, Ben and Elsa at Overlook Park, overlooking the Rio Grande valley, about a mile from our house.}