Month: November 2016

Today is my Dad’s 77th birthday.

I find myself full of gratitude today.

Grateful for his health and ability to be actively involved in my life.

Grateful for his leadership and his willingness to share all he has experienced with me. I have a greater level of
confidence in the spaces I lead because I  know I can seek his input and guidance.

Grateful for his wisdom and how he speaks with truth and conviction and grace.

Grateful for how he has modeled to us that the world is a place to explore, travel is an opportunity and people of all colors, faith and experiences will enrich our lives if we take the time to know them. I so enjoy watching his facebook comments grow with wishes truly from all over the world.

There is so much to be grateful for!  I love the memories we create through annual winter travels, summer golf games, banket making, cottage renting, and living together and sharing life as a growing family of 20+.

It is sheer joy for me to watch their grandchildren appreciate, admire and interact with him as they are growing into influential young adults. I am delighted that both of my parents are blessed with good health and able to watch how their lives and their stories continue to shape the decisions of future generations.

I could write a book about my Dad. I believe his life would teach you about calling, conviction, leadership, action, laughter, honesty,  family, work ethic, commitment, and grace.

I love you Dad and hope this year will be another year of embracing God’s goodness and provision in so many ways.

 

 

Today I have struggled to find words.

I have started many responses to friends FB posts and erased them. Somehow my words don’t feel clear, or helpful, or able to communicate what I really want to say.

I just typed it and I believe this is it. And because I blog so in many many years my nieces and nephews and their kids can remember what Aunt Trish was like and what I longed for, I share it now in this format.

On this day, the day after Donald Trump was elected president I want to say this. I say this not because of how I feel personally about the outcome, I say this because I believe that to be a great nation it will have less to do with the president and more to do with the people.

May we be people who live honestly and with great courage. Full of kindness and finding ways to lift each other up, encourage one another and stand united, even when we don’t all agree.

That is all for now!

 

Today’s political outcome will be written about in history books. This political season has been complex. We all know that. Emotions are running high and insults fly freely. The conversations that surround our future provoke fear for many. It is hard to listen to and the implications of how our world will change under new presidential leadership are yet unknown.

When I consider what the next hours will be like as we watch the votes unfold, I will say that this complex day is full of mystery.

I love my work with Visiting Angels of West Michigan and am passionate about providing excellent care to our clients. I am blessed with the greatest multitude of angels ever who go into homes and care well for others. Navigating the needs of others is not a simple task, but it is so very rewarding. For 13 years I have fully believed that I am so grateful to be able to work every day in my area of passion.

In the last year, we have not been able to hire enough good people to meet the needs that come to us every day. We continue to provide excellent care but our current group can not continue to work the number of hours they do. The challenge of where to find the people who desire to work in the area of home care fill my thoughts. The tension of hiring people who we believe have excellent potential only to have them quit 48 hours later with a full schedule because…

Serving others, being an excellent employer, balancing the costs of a small business in West Michigan make me realize that this complex day is full of mystery.

Today my friend lost her daughter to cancer. I can not imagine the loss of a child. And my dear friend, at age 70 has had to bury her husband at a young age, her two sons and now her last surviving child. My dear friend has confronted every day with amazing faith and trust in a God that she loves with her whole being, even when the events she must hold are gut wrenching and unfathomable.

When I consider what this day has held for Jeanine and I wonder why one woman would face so much grief and loss I will say that this complex day feels full of mystery.

Politics is not the only thing that makes today complex and full of mystery. It is on the forefront but there is so much more. I want to walk into the complexity and mystery of every situation with courage, confidence and a willingness to say the unknown can provoke many different things in my heart.

And so in the mystery and complexity that will prevail in this day and every day forward. In the grief and the loss and the sorrows. In the decisions I face day in and day out as I navigate living my life with purpose and passion, I continue to return to a verse that I will hold close to my heart.      Forever grateful!

 

 

I find these words to be full of invitation…

I find these words speak to my longings  and what I long for for others….

I find these words to be about giving and receiving….

I find these words to be about courage and kindness…

I find these words to be true for all ages, all cultures, all faiths and all people.

“Dare to Be

When a new day begins,

dare to smile gratefully.

When there is darkness,

dare to be the first to shine a light.

When there is injustice,

dare to be the first to condemn it.

When something seems difficult,

dare to do it anyway.

When life seems to beat you down,

dare to fight back.

When there seems to be no hope,

dare to find some.

When you’re feeling tired,

dare to keep going.

When times are tough,

dare to be tougher.

When love hurts you,

dare to love again.

When someone is hurting,

dare to help them heal.

When another is lost,

dare to help them find the way.

When a friend falls,

dare to be the first to extend a hand.

When you cross paths with another,

dare to make them smile.

When you feel great,

dare to help someone else feel great too.

When the day has ended,

dare to feel as you’ve done your best.

Dare to be the best you can –

At all times, Dare to be!”

— Steve Maraboli

I have been posting a fair bit on FB lately about the difficulty we have in getting applicants in the door in this past 6 months. It is a new challenge in my 13 years of owning a business. I often find myself wondering how this employment stuff will all shake out for my growing nieces and nephews.

I am so very thankful for the bunch of kids that I have been blessed to be an aunt to. I love them individually and I love them as a group. They are best of friends, thoughtful, goofy, loud, prayerful, thoughtful….

But now back to the job thing….

Today Jean Marc detailed my car. At almost 13 that boy is amazing. He went about it systematically in clearing it out, wiping it down, vacuuming, sudsy water, drying it, dusting it…. I was proud of the way he went about the task. I was proud of the way he completed the task.I was proud of how he enjoyed the task. We talked about how he could do this for a source of income and he was eager to engage that.

Johanna was talking on the way home tonight, not having been with Jean Marc and I at all when discussing the car detailing, and she asked what I thought of a hot chocolate stand. She pontificated for quite some time about how in the summer she has a way to make money but she is trying to think of a way in the winter. The big kids joined in and they discussed a thermos system or other means of ensuring the product you are selling is warm. I was struck again by the entrepreneurial spirit….

And then tonight I got an alert on Facebook and this is what it said….

From the page Liv, with love (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1217034871705363/)

dear people I love,

I’ve decided to try my hand (literally) at making cards. I’ve made an assortment of everyday cards, and plan on transitioning into ones to celebrate the upcoming holidays also! Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas cards, bad puns, off color humor, or just because cards can be personalized by request. I will be selling the cards at $3.50 per card (envelope included) or bundles of 5 for $15.

Contact me on Facebook with questions, inquiries and orders!

I love this picture….

It represents so much of our family story.

There is the Friesian flag that represents the roots of my Mom. It is the land in which she was born into and the land she left as a 10 year old girl when her parents immigrated to Sussex New Jersey. For those of you who know a Friesian you understand that there is something about those Friesians. This land will always have a piece of my Mom’s heart. We loved being there together in the spring of 2016.

These two boys are awesome. They are the sons of my oldest brother and my youngest sister. They are a reminder to me of the goodness of God’s gift of family.

Jean Marc and Sonta joined our family 11 years ago and this picture is evident of God’s plan to in intertwine our hearts with Haiti. We find our hearts grateful to a Haitian couple we do not know. Adoption has changed us, shaped us and enlarged our family in wonderful ways.

Isaiah is wearing his Navy sweatshirt. A sweatshirt that speaks to the legacy of Navy in the service of Len, Nick and now Andrew who is at Annapolis Naval Academy. As Isaiah proudly dons his Navy Sweatshirt and as Jean Marc reminds me of God’s provision for our family, they both remind me of Len and how our lives have changed since the car accident that took his life in 2012.

This picture invites me to many places in my heart.

This picture represents the past, present and future.

This picture speaks to God’s plan, presence and provision for us in so many ways.

I wonder if you went and sifted through some of your pictures what picture might be the one that reminds you of elements of your story. I wish I could come over and see and hear your remembering. Give it a try, it is fun and good for your soul.

Last night I was struck by the sound of silence.

I haven’t had much silence in my life these past weeks and so when I got home and turned off all noise, I was struck by the sweetness of the space I created in my soul. I was able to journal, to think, to reflect and to feel. I envisioned scenes and faces of the last weeks that I have held but not had time to be grateful for. I considered the spaces that feel difficult and was able to sort out a bit more clearly where I stand and why.

My time of silence was a gift…..

The sound of silence left me with space in my soul and hope in my heart.

I believe everyone’s sound of silence tells a different story for it comes from within each person’s heart and all it holds.

For some the sound of silence will be difficult to sit with.

For some the sound  of silence awakens deep sorrow and grieving.

For some the sound of silence awakens life changing reflection.

For others the sound of silence brings deep peace and/or uncontainable joy!

For me the sound of silence was able to remind me of what is true in my life, of who God is and who I am. The echo I heard in the silence was that He has created me to be in relationship with people, on the good days and on the hard days.

I was invited to embrace His gift of forgiveness.

I was invited  to embrace redeeming love

I was invited  to reclaim it is well with my soul.

 

This morning I listened to my nieces sing the solid truth in the lyrics below. I have included it for your encouragement today. If you need to seek the song of your soul, consider the sound of
silence so you can hear.

If you need to be reminded about who God is and what is true and the peace He offers….listen to Janneke and Karolyn sing about it.

I am thankful for silence, song and truth.

,