New House

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise

The City of our God,

The Holy Place

The joy of the whole earth.

Great is the Lord with whom

we have the victory.

He aids us against the enemy

We bow down on our knees.

And Lord we want to

lift your name on high

And Lord we want to thank you

for the work you've done in our lives

And Lord we trust

in Your unfailing love

For You alone are God Eternal

Throughout earth and Heaven above.

- Steve McEwan

Today we "Moved Into" our new church building.  We've been waiting for such a LONG time for this day!  Years.  They built it right beside our "old church", so we watched the slow progress and waited in anticipation.  I never went inside until today.  Lots of people (including my whole family!) went in for previews at various stages of progress... I wanted to wait until Today.  I'm not sure why, but I just really wanted my first time in there to be when we got to worship together with our whole church family.  And that was probably my favorite part of today.  The WHOLE family together.  We've had 2 services for the last many years, and today, we were able to go back to ONE service.  It felt complete.  Loved that.  I understood completely why Ryan's Mom really wants us to come home for Christmas every year.  All together. 

This is the bell tower.  I took these pictures yesterday, when Ben practiced ringing the bell.  He was chosen to be the first official Bell Ringer to call everyone to worship.  This is our Pastor, Lou... and the call to worship that began with the bell... I thought it was really moving.

and the view from outside... Ryan took this with my cell phone:

And looking up into the bell tower...

Next we sang "Lift High the Cross" they started bringing in things from the "Old Sanctuary" to show that this is where we worship now... the cross that sat on the Communion table, the bible for readings, the Communion elements (bread, juice), and the fabric that hangs over the lectern... not sure what you call that.  It was all so moving, and my pictures are TERRIBLE because I was so emotional, my hands were shaking.  You have no idea how long we've been waiting for this!  So I stole these pictures off Debbie Warren's facebook page:)  Thank You Debbie! 

                                       

Micah carrying the cross....

                                      

                                          

                                              

Dick Mayer laying out the bible...

                                          

                                         

This is the Prayer Chapel that is in the sanctuary... you can see where it is in the coming pictures.  It is so quiet and peaceful in here.  It's an oval shaped alcove, and there are candles lit... we went in after the service and said a prayer of thanks for our little family!

                                    

The back side of it, and that is the entrance on the right.

                                                

After the service... there are many design elements that were added in for their theological meaning.  Such as the 14 hanging lights leading up to the cross, which represent the stations of the cross.  I will get the rest all wrong, so I won't even try to say what they are, but I do know that it was all well-thought out and purposeful. 

                                         

The guy in the red shirt is Ryan!  And you can see the stone wall of the prayer chapel on the right.  It is right off to the side in the sanctuary.

                                 

And because I thought it was cool... the sink in the women's bathroom!  HA!  Very fun.

                                     

The outside courtyard, and the door on the right is the Old sanctuary, which is now the fellowship hall where the coffee is!  It was a fun day and we are so thankful for this new building to worship in... it's JUST a building, but it sure is nice!!!

Chillin' with the Cousins...

Visiting Great Grandpa

We went up to the nursing home to visit Grandpa Tuinstra.  It was such a nice visit!  He pulled Ben right into his lap and said, "Hi Benji!".  We were really thankful for a good visit with him, and that he knew who everyone was, even the little kids!  Carly wanted to get her new Webkinz in the picture, of course...


Chillin' with the Cousins!

oh my word, did Ben and Carly have a blast with their posse of cousins! 

Carly introduced her little cousins to Webkinz...

Good times playing in their Daddy's old room....

ALL the kids got a long so great all week!

HA!  Even BEN!  He was tired of me taking his picture, not so much his cousins!  These boys LOVE watching each other play the DS...

The Boys Pajama party... the girls had one in the camper!  LOTS of giggling going on here!

Can't forget the SWIMMING!  Grandma and Grandpa have an indoor (HEATED!) swimming pool that all the Grandkids LOVE!

Seriously Chillin' with the Cousins...

Playing outside... THANKFULLY for the FLORIDA people, there wasn't MUCH snow, and we DID get to see a LITTLE falling, so the best of both worlds! 

McGregor Sled Rides... pulled by the 4 wheeler!  Apparently it was fun... no way was I trying it out for myself!

Wipe Outs are part of the fun!  Don't worry, Uncle Josh was driving VERY slowly... unless it was just Ben, then he went a little faster:)

Renae made a snowman.  Those are chocolate chips for the eyes, etc.  Nope, they didn't melt!  HA!

My favorite picture from the whole trip!  Might because it's Classic Isaiah... AIRBORNE, chasing the other kids... might be the WalMart bags on his feet (his boots were at home!)... LOVE IT! 

So sweet... Ben on the sled with Adriana.  Trying not to touch her.  Nice.

Even Eli came out for a turn... with his Dad... going REALLY slowly!  He didn't cry, so we think he liked it. 

Last Bits of Random Fun

It's so hard to remember EVERYTHING.... we really did have a fun time and LOVED loving on these cute kids!  Here are a few last minute memories:

Somewhere along the week I had a birthday!  Isaiah and Carly were going to help me blow out the candles, but Uncle Ryan stopped them... Sweet moments with Isaiah sitting with me, telling me all about his life and how he can read.  I really loved that and will cherish those quiet moments... it's so hard to get that with all the commotion of over 20 people under one roof!

Ryan's Annual Snowman.  We thought he was going to have to be happy with Renae's mini, but eventually it warmed up and he was able to come up with his Vision of the Year.  Renae graciously shovelled snow off the back deck to make it happen for him!  He had a few little helpers making hamburgers and running into the house for spatulas and scarves, so it was a family effort.


Get out of the city, these kids are cute!

You can't deny these kids are ALL cute... Matthias with his Aunt Randee (and Mama of Coming-Soon-Grandbaby #11!!!)

Mr. Eyelashes, Eli! 

She looks so much like her Mama, Ryan couldn't resist calling her Nae-Nae all week!  Little Keira is a doll!

Julean... he holds his own with the big kids, it's easy to forget he's only 2!

Chloe... her sweet looks perfectly match her sweet, quiet disposition!  She's really come out of her shell alot this time, and seemed to love playing with her Girly Cousins!

Adriana... the only girl among 3 brothers, I think she was happy for her cousins to be visiting! 

Caleb... he looks so much like his Uncle Ryan and acts so much like Ben!  So, you guessed it... he's a GameBoy!  Love seeing the family resemblances in all these kids!

Isaiah... again with the sprinkles!  HA!  He has more energy than any kid I have ever seen, but he also has a very sweet, sensitive side, too... it was fun to see that this time around!

And Carly... she entertained us with her great dancing skills!  Oh, and her Gestures skills... She can do a mean "Hungry" pantomine!  HA!

Ben... he DID get a haircut since this picture was taken!  Aunt Randee hooked us ALL up with new do's!

Can't forget Mom and Dad's faithful Pooch, Sam.  Nothing like going for a run and Sam going along!  He's ALWAYS up for it!

Look at all those people!  THANKS Mom and Dad for a GREAT week, and a GREAT family! 

Good Times in Michigan

We had such a FANTASTIC time in Michigan... here are a few of the highlights:

The Movies

Ryan REALLY wanted to take some of his nieces and nephews to see the new Chipmunk movie... fortunately, we talked his parents into going with us, as we bundled up SIX kids:)  They were all so cute and so GOOD while we were there...

in our Entourage we had the "Oldest Grandkids"... Ben, Carly, Isaiah, Caleb, Adriana, and Chloe.  4 Big bags of popcorn and 2 big drinks.  We loved listening to the giggles!



Cookie Decorating With Aunt Rochel

Always a hit... and the cookies were YUMMY...

Adriana...

... and her big brother, Isaiah... note the amount of green sprinkles on that cookie!  Yes, about 6 of us yelled out, "Isaiah, Isaiah, Isaiah... that's enough!!!"  HA!

Even Grandma got in on the action. 


"Christmas Eve"

Ryan's Mom had new pj's for each of the kids, and they each took a turn with her hanging an ornament on the tree and reading part of the Bible, learning about the different names of God.  It was pretty neat.

Even the littlest one had a turn!

Look at all those CUTE kids!  Here are the 10 McGregor Grandchildren... (Left to Right, Top to Bottom)
Caleb age 5**
Isaiah age 6****
Carly age 8*
Ben age 10*
Keira age 21 mos**
Chloe age 3**
Matthias age 9 mos****
Adriana age 4****
Eli age 13 mos***
Julean age 2****

if you are REALLY clever, you can figure out that I put the same # of stars by the names of the kids that go together... and the number of stars by their names coorelates with the birthorder of their McGregor Parent.  Get all that?  And if you've never even SEEN these kids before, you probably scrolled right past it... ha!

Randee's the Winner

As soon as we all got situated for this shot, Johnny yells out, "Randee's Pregnant!" hoping to get a GREAT shot of reactions, but no one believed him... funny thing is, He wasn't kidding!  She wanted to tell her family at Christmas, so they are already 11 weeks along... Ryan couldn't be prouder of her for keeping such a great secret!  We are all pretty happy for Randee and Johnny... and well, happy for all of us!  Um, of COURSE Ryan is holding a coke bottle.

We all got tons of nice presents, which the "Adults" opened on "Christmas Eve" while the kids were in bed:)  Also, while the kids were in bed, we spent quite a while talking about our favorite Christmas memories, and it was really moving and funny!  It was a great tradition to start, to just kind of slow down and reflect on what is important.



"Christmas Morning"

All about the kids!  They loved opening all their presents from their family... They were all so cute!  We loved having Great Grandma and Great Grandpa McGregor over for the fun!  Love this sweet picture of Grandma giggling about something!

And because I KNOW my sister, Tracy, wants to know... KEIRA got the sandwich this year!  Great McGregor Tradition... and this cutie was THRILLED for a snack!

After the hooplah.... Ben hiding under the now empty Christmas tree playing his new DS game, and  little cousin Isaiah cuddled in with him to watch. 

So sweet.

OK!  More fun coming in another post, that I am post-dating so that it all falls in 2009! 

(photo's are either by ME, Renae, Rochel, or Randee... we got copies of EVERYONE's pictures... yup, there were about 3 cameras snapping at all times!)