My life as I know it...

I'm gonna have a go at this.

2011-02-01T12:19:00.001-05:00

Summary:

Certain food groups (like grains, dairy and legumes) are probably having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent (or non-existent)? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you train, or are pretty lean but still have a little extra puff on your midsection? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat – even the “healthy” stuff. So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you? Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the inflammatory, insulin-spiking, calorie-dense, nutritionally sparse food groups for a full 30 days and let your body heal, recover and reset from whatever effects those foods may be provoking. What, exactly, does that mean? Super strict, by-the-book, 100% Whole30 for the next 30 days.

2011...

2011-01-16T22:34:00.004-05:00

How is it that I have not posted anything on my blog since December 2009? I read blogs quite often but haven't seemed to put anything on my own. Well. Well, things have changed but that's normal.

I got my hair cut off last Tuesday. I love it. I needed a change and my scalp needed a break.

Homemade For The Holidays

2009-11-06T11:25:00.004-05:00

I know I've been slightly MIA lately but I'm hoping to keep my blog up to date is the coming seasons.
Yet again I'm opting for homemade holiday gifts...I'll keep you posted.

I'm working on a quilt at the moment for Chet, my boy friend.

It's for christmas. I'll post pictures soon.

Daddy and me...

2009-03-29T16:21:00.002-04:00

I love this picture...
It's from last summer but I just thought you should see it.

Chicken transfer...

2009-03-19T13:34:00.003-04:00

The Terpstra Family chickens have moved...below is a little note from Ethan...

Your 3 hens sunbathing by the pool. What a life

Here are your Mottled Cochins. My brother David has named them Laurel and Hardy. The family thinks they are hilarious and love them.

We considered naming the Egyptian Fayoumi, "Cain," since he killed his brother, but went with "Ra," instead. Ra is an ancient Egyptian sun god. He has been a good boy since I put him with the goats. I will give him a few Phoenix hens to see what the chicks look like. He is terrified of my roosters. This is his "before" picture, as I hope to restore him to his former glory, complete with new tail.

This post is mainly for my little bro...

Elijah's 2nd Birthday...

2009-01-11T21:53:00.006-05:00

Today was Elijah's 2nd birthday. Each year Laura and her family invite myself and my family down to their house for a little birthday party. I was a little nervous about going because I hadn't seen anyof them since my brothers wedding in April. There were 8 of us from my family this year: Mom, Dad, Eli, Evan, Kim, Grama, Grampa, and myself. All in all today went well. We got the party about 3:00 and left at about 8:45. We got to watch Elijah by ourselves for a few hours today while his family went to their church group, it was fun to have him to myself for a little while. I'm hoping to have a few more pictures to share soon...

These are the fish I made for Elijah's birthday present...

they all go in this cute little bag.

5 fish of assorted colors.

They have magnets in their noses that 'hook' to a magnet on an old ice fishing rod my dad found for me. Eli's brother, Benjamin showed him how to use it.

Eli got a really cool Thomas the Tank Engine set that runs on a battery. I think he played with it to the point of killing the gears already.

I learned from his mom, Laura, that he LOVES water...baths, sinks, showers, etc.

This was his favorite activity of the afternoon...

I love this boy...

School...

2008-12-19T03:36:00.003-05:00

So my very first semester as a college student has come to a close. I went as well as I could have imagined, except for my political studies class. Government is not my cup of tea. I had 13 credits, all night classes with the exception on my friday morning class and I enjoyed it. However it trained me to be a night owl. I'm blogging at 3:40...that's just plain wrong. I like going to school. I love to learn. My next semester is going to be very different and very challenging for me. I have 16 credits and a lab science course. Here's my schedule...
Sorry if it's hard to read...I'll break it down for ya.
Monday: Biology class 12:45 - 1:45
Biology Lab 2:00 -4:00
Spanish 7:00 - 9:00
Tuesday: Geometry 10:15 - 12:30
Circuit Training 12:45 - 3:00
College Writing 4:30 - 6:45
Wednesday: Biology Class 12:45 - 1:45
Spanish 7:00 - 9:00
Thursday: Geometry 10:15 - 12:30
Circuit Training 12:45 - 3:00
College Writing 4:30 - 6:45
Friday: Biology Class 12:45 - 1:45

See what I'm saying about it being different?
Last semester it was one class a day. Each class one night a week. Condensed classes. This semester is kind of a test. I wanted to do day classes to see if I can handle it both ways. I wanted to figure out what I like best and in what type of class set up I succeed in.

Okay... So I'm sorry about my last post. I started to update it twice and got destracted both times. I'm a pretty good multitasker however Apples to Apples is a little more fun than blogging...ha.

I need to go to bed but I have a funny story to share. I was driving around tonight and I was out on alpine. I was driving to Walmart to pick up my friend Jenn who I brought to Dr. Grins with me tonight. While on my way there I drove past a lot of really bright and distracting store signs but one in particular caught my attention. I tried to get a picture to share with you all but it didn't work out so well while I was going 45 mph down the road. It said "Bed, Bath & Beyo." You may not think that's funny but I couldn't stop laughing at the fact that this store claimed it could provide you with B.O. Haha.

Fife Lake...

2008-12-02T23:26:00.006-05:00

Story to follow...

Auto Insurance

2008-10-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across this today while I wasn't doing my homework. I laughed pretty hard...because I've been there.

Ps. dont watch this with your kids...you've been warned.

My 'Family'...

2008-09-13T23:44:00.001-04:00

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Enjoy...

2008-08-30T13:20:00.001-04:00

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My new office / sewing room...

2008-08-18T00:57:00.000-04:00

Given the fact that I now have lots of time on my hands I've decided to make the best of it...
This is what I finished today...

My sewing machine...old yet faithful

My desk and my iMac...love it

Okay...i had to put this up. It's a self portrait of my youngest brother, Eli.
I love the potato wedge eyebrows...

This may look like a disaster but I assure you it is organized chaos...

This is probably my hardest 'in progress' sewing project.
It's a summer dress I was making for my ex-boyfriends graduation from boot camp.
It'll more that likely stay there just like that for a while...

This is a one of a kind.
Eli drew my name for his make gift this past Christmas and knew I needed a spool holder.
This is what was under the tree for me. Can you tell what it is?
For those of you who maybe don't sew...It's a gigantic bobbin.
I know you're jealous...

Encouragement...

2008-08-18T00:48:00.000-04:00

I've recently learned a few things that will better my life in the long run...

-be your own best friend
-when you believe in yourself you can do anything
-when things get tough look to the Lord for comfort...

These may seem rather obvious to most of you but it never hurts to be reminded.

I wrote this on Marcia's driveway as a personal reminder of the last one...

My hair...and stuff

2008-07-30T05:28:00.000-04:00

I was told I need to update so here it is...

First...I chopped my hair off. While I did not fully intend to lose 12 inches, I do like it. You?

Oh yeah...it's blonde too. :)

Second...August 24th I'll be changing to 3rd shift at CompX. I'm doing this so I can continue to work while I'm going to school. All of my classes are at night except one so I think this will be better than going to 1st shift. I am fully aware that this is going to be hard but I'm going to do it until I'm no longer able. However long that may be...

Third...and probably most important. My Grandma Kruger has Aggressive Onset Alzheimer's. She is getting bad fast. My mom is out there (South Dakota) for 3 weeks to try and get a grasp on the whole situation. It's really hard on her...she might not admit it but I've known her long enough to be able to hear it in her voice. My grama doesn't always know who my mom is, she asks my grampa 'is that lady still here?' I can't imagine what that must be like for my mom or my grama for that matter. My grampa gives my grama more credit than she deserves in regards to all of this...I'm hoping it's just denial and that it'll pass. She and the whole family need some serious prayer coverage. It only gets worse from here.

Forth...on a lighter note. Remember our chickens? Yeah...well, when we got them we were hoping to have a total of 2 hens and 1 rooster of each breed. As they continued to grow we were having trouble telling the gender of each bird...all of the Chochins seemed to look the same besides the coloring. Well, as it turns out we appear to have 5 roosters and a single hen. We're totally bummed. I'm sure you can imagine...ha.

I guess that's enough for now.

Emilie

Elijah turns 18 months...

2008-07-11T05:15:00.000-04:00

Elijah is 18 months today. My emotions are mixed but mostly I'm happy for both him and his whole family. He is the cutest little boy. It's truly hard to believe that he is a year and a half already. He walks and talks and does everything a little boy like him should. I know this isn't as 'momentous' as a birthday or anything but I still wanna show you how he's grown...

Things have moved on since his birth and sometimes I find myself 'overlooking' what happened. It's not to say that I forget or don't think about it, it's just that he's growing up and so am I. We just happen to be doing it with different families, me with my parents and he with his.
-This fall I'm going to school. I'm following through and one of the major personal reasons for my adoption decision. I know that people change majors all the time but right now I'm leaning towards Elementary Education with a focus on Foreign Language.
-I have a job. I work 40 - 50 hours a week doing Metal work at CompX DuraSlide in Byron Center. I really like working there. The people are great and I usually only work 4 [10 hour] days a week. I'm going to stay there until school starts in September. I might look at changing shifts at that point or finding something little less demanding.

For those of you who have been here with me through it all [you know who you are], Thank You. From some place deep inside my being, I need for you to know that without you I'm not really sure where I would be right now.

Emilie

Garden and Chicks Update...

2008-06-29T16:41:00.000-04:00

The Gardens are in full swing...

Some Jalapenos and Tomatoes are growing too...

The Chickens are Growing!!

These little ones are the Egyptian Fayoumi chicks. They're about a month old and are starting to change from their original brown to their new silver, black and white.

These are the Cochins running around in the back yard...

Eli has a different kind of relationship with these birds...

they follow him around like he's their mother.

They like to hang out in the gardens eating the ants and other assorted pests.

Evan's Wedding

2008-06-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

This is late in coming but I still feel the need to share it with you all. The wedding was April 26th. It was beautiful and well worth all the effort put in to it. It was wonderful to see everyone who could make it there. I think my favorite guests are the ones in the picture below...

In case you couldn't tell this is a 5 generation picture. From youngest to oldest: Elijah VanZoest (15 months), Emily Terpstra (22), Jon Terpstra (46), Joan Terpstra (69), Daniel Koppenol (95). This is a very special picture to me. I don't know alot of people who can honestly say they have 5 generations still alive. Not only are they still alive but they're all still married with the exception of my Great-grandpa as my Great-grandma passed away in 2004. My generation in the family is the first to have a children outside of marriage. I believe there are at least 3 of these situations between myself and my cousins.

Okay, Okay back to wedding stuff. I was in the wedding, obviously, as a bridesmaid. I looked good in my dress, which is a good thing considering how much it cost. Everyone looked amazing.

This is one of the coolest wedding things I've ever seen. Kim (Evan's wife) won the use of a photo booth at a bridal show. Normally this would cost about $1,500 everything included. They got it free with 2 operators, 2 copies of each photo (1 for the guest and one for the bride and groom), they make a scrapbook with all of the pictures and a little piece of black cardstock that you can write a little message on with a silver sharpie ( the scrapbook left with the bride and groom at the end of the night), and digital copies of all of the pictures. Way cool, Eh?

Below are a few more pics from the reception...

...I love this one!

-Emilie

Chicks...

2008-06-15T19:06:00.000-04:00

These are our new chickens...I love them. They're beautiful. We got 6 of them, 3 of each kind.

Cochins...2 Hens and a Rooster. They're gorgeous. They have feathers one their feet. To give you an idea of how big these birds get...When you go a restaurant and get a piece of chicken (or don't if you don't swing that way) it comes from a bird that weighs about 2-3 pounds. These birds will get to be about 10-12 pounds. They also make great pets as they are very docile.

These ones are called Egyptian Feyoumi. They're crow at 4 weeks and start laying eggs at 4 months. However the downfall of these chicks is that they're soo skiddish. They're still pretty little. Just over 3 weeks old.

We'll have eggs in a few months. I'm excited. They do a really good job of taking care of the bugs in the garden. We let them run around in the lawn and graze as they like.

HELP!!!

2008-06-10T01:24:00.000-04:00

So, as I may have told most of you, this year I'm going to try square foot gardening. Here's how they look so far...

They look all well and good from about this distance until you get down closer. This is what I found this morning when checking for damage from the rain...
There seems to be some sort of insect devouring my plants...all of this damage happened in just one day. They were gorgeous on sunday and now i'm a little worried. I looked around in the plants for a bug that might be just hanging out but I found nothing. I did walk past this HUGE ant infestation in the lawn about 2 feet from my boxes...

It's about 2 feet across and full of ants. Do they eat plants? I planted the marigolds to keep animals away but I think the rabbits are the least of my worries at the moment...

I'm really not wanting to powder my garden with poison. Any ideas?

Good Ol' Michigan Weather...

2008-06-09T02:37:00.000-04:00

Normally I'm totally okay with Michigan's Bi-Polar weather but this past week has been almost too much for me to handle... 90 degrees in the morning, hailing in the afternoon, near frost at night and debilitating fog to boot. Last night I sat on my roof watching and taking pictures of the storm roll through until about 3:45...

Then today after church on the way to Auntie Elaine's Birthday party Lily, Rosie and I happened upon a river running through Ivanrest. I'm fairly certain it was at least 18 inches deep and flowing rather rapidly through someones lawn, down the driveway and right across the street. I first saw it a little before 1 this afternoon and then drove back through it around 3:45. It was still flowing strong. It's supposed to storm hard again tonight but we'll see what happens with that...

Count me in...

2008-06-07T22:20:00.000-04:00

So, here's the deal with this whole blog thing...I started it mainly as a way to share pictures of Elijah and things with my family. However, after some thought and reconsideration I decided that this might be a good way to keep in touch with my favorite people who I don't get to see as much as I would like.... I can't promise that I'll always have something interesting or thought provoking to share but I'll do my best.

Pictures

2008-01-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

I've created an online photo album of Elijah's 1st birthday party for you guys to see. Take a look and see how big he is now.

Emilie

2008-01-20T14:21:00.000-05:00