A day for smiles.....

Happy Halloween!

Just remember....when life gives you pumpkins.....make pumpkin pie!

Hayride and Chili Dinner

Tonight we had our annual hayride and chili dinner at church. Our day started out with a LOT of rain and then rain/snow mix, but by the time we were ready to start the hayride, the sun came out! What a fun night we had!!! After the hayride, we had lots of family relays and games, which was followed by a great chili dinner!

Trick or Treat?????

The newest member of our family, Brock, is decked out in his little "punkin" outfit and ready for Halloween! How cute is that????
He'll be ready when Halloween comes - now he just needs his "goodie bag!"

Detroit T I G E R S !!!!!!

In 1984, Bob and I got tickets to the final game of the World Series - and that was the night the TIGERS won it! What excitement that was! People were jumping, yelling, throwing sod from the field (which we caught and brought home!) and celebrating such a great victory.

Can we do it again this year????? We've got a great team....

GO TIGERS!!!!

Detroit Tigers Line up:
1. Curtis Granderson, center field2. Craig Monroe, left field3. Placido Polanco, second base4. Magglio Ordonez, right field5. Carlos Guillen, first base6. Ivan Rodriguez, catcher7. Sean Casey, designated hitter8. Brandon Inge, third base9. Ramon Santiago, shortstop
Starting pitcher: Justin Verlander

Happy First Month Birthday, Brock!

Today is Brock's fist month birthday!
This morning he weighed in at 11 lbs. 4 oz!
Happy Birthday, Brock!

Three weeks already!!

Just wanted to share with you Brock's three-week pictures!!!!

More and more snow !!!!!!!!!

Just thought that those of you that live in sunny, warm climates would like to see a few more "snow" pictures taken this morning! Yesterday's light dusting of snow has turned into a full-blown snowstorm! We found the shovels, and had to unearth our boots! The Bible says "He maketh snow like wool..." and we certainly have a lot of it on the ground! "This is the day the Lord has made....(snow and all!) and I will rejoice and be glad!"

SNOW ???????????

When you live in Michigan, the saying is, "If you blink your eyes, the weather will change!"
Well, our weather has certainly changed this month of October. October 2nd we were helping Daniel side his house, and the afternoon was sunny and near 80 degrees! Today, October 12th, we have snow falling, and about 1" already on the ground, and COLD temperatures - 28 degrees! Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! Hopefully, this is just a "quickie" and we'll get back to our fall weather soon! Want to come and help make a snowman?????

The Woodpeckers Might have to GO!!!

Our beutiful fall leaves are getting water-logged and falling off of our trees so quickly as we are getting a LOT of rain this week! It seems that our fall weather in Michigan can bring a lot of rain with it.

Deuteronomy 11:14 states:
"Then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain..."


Here is a cute poem on Rain from a young student

The Reason for Rain

My teacher asked me to explain
what makes the clouds pour down their rain.
I said, "I know, I know that one!
Dad makes it rain to spoil my fun.
See, often on a Saturday
- the day I go outside to play -
Dad makes it rain and I know why.
He wants chores done until I die."
At least that's how it seems to me -

My teacher seemed to disagree.

Beautiful Lake Michigan and fall colors

Today on our day off, Bob and I went on a beautiful color tour. We started in Traverse City, and then went to Empire where we walked along Lake Michigan and the sand dunes.















Driving back through Frankfort, Buelah and Mesick, we saw such vivid color with our fall leaves ...so many reds and yellows with a lot of green pine trees intermixed. What a wonderful day we had! Only our Creator God could make our different seasons so breath-taking and so different!
*****Just a note about Michigan weather ...on the news they said we could get some snow-flakes in the air this weekend! I'm not ready for that yet!

Happy Columbus Day!!!!

Did you know???????

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451.
He wanted to find a trade route to get to India and China because land travel was risky.


After King Henry of Portugal declined his request for ships and sailors to discover the way to the Indies, he approached Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain.

Columbus set sail with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and ninety sailors on August 3rd, 1492.

On October 12, they landed in Haiti.
He thought he was in the Indies and called the natives Indians. He named the island San Salvador and claimed it for the King and Queen of Spain.

He returned with two ships to Spain, leaving some sailors on the island. He then returned to the island with 17 ships and 1500 men.

He died in Spain in 1506.

In 1937, every October 12 was proclaimed as Columbus Day by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1968, Columbus Day was declared a federal public holiday on the second Monday in October by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Daniel, Candice and Applebees.....

Today we had our AWANA conference in Big Rapids. We had 17 AWANA leaders from our church there. The theme of the conference was "Follow the Shepherd".

During one of the sessions, Bob and I managed to sneak off and meet Daniel and Candice at Applebee's right in Big Rapids. Candice flew in this morning and will be with Daniel through Monday morning. It was so fun to see them and have lunch together. They are just great and it's exciting to see their relationship growing! Thanks so much for coming, Daniel and Candice.

We then went back to the conference, where our church was awarded a plaque for following the "10 standards of Awana" and for our excellent club. We praise the Lord for such dedicated AWANA workers and leaders - and for over 150 kids that come each week.

Brock Benjamin Godfrey's Update.......

Newsflash on our beautiful grandson, Brock!!!

Brock is now just over 2 weeks old, and growing so quickly. When Brock was born, he was just
7 lbs and 19" long. At his one-week checkup, he had gained 5 ounces. At his two-week checkup, he weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz, and was 20 1/2" long!!!! He sure is filling out!

He loves his time with Rebekah when he nurses, and what fun they have together. Rebekah sings, reads stories and Bible stories, they "talk" and have a great bonding time together. Of course, he loves it when his Daddy comes home from teaching in the afternoon too!

It's hard for this Papa and Nanny to be so far away.....watch for some more pictures coming soon when Rebekah and Ben send them!

Eeeeeeeek....what a leak!

Recently the north and west wall of the front of our church has begun to leak when it rains. Today the "fix it" trucks rolled in and began digging a ditch next to the wall. The church foundation will get sealed, and then they will put lining down and fill up the new ditch with rocks. Hopefully, this will take care of the problem of "the leak" at church.

It's just not fun going into our Little Lamb room, where small kids play on the carpet, and have the carpet already soggy. That carpet does take a lot of abuse...juice gets spilled on it, playdough gets ground in, and sometimes little one can't get to the bathroom quick enough! We're going to replace the carpet soon...but before we do that..."this leak" must be stopped!

It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away!

Monday was the day we had planned to help Daniel side his home. We awakened to cloudy skies, but Daniel called and said Grand Rapids was having a major thunderstorm! We started checking weather reports, and praying, and decided to drive there anyway, praying the rain would stop and we could get the house sided. When we arrived around noon, the rain was coming down in buckets and the sky was so black! We ate lunch, and watched the noon news, which said that the storm was leaving the area! By 12:45pm, the rain had stopped, and the sun was coming out, and it was "just like Jesus to answer our prayer and roll the clouds away" and bring in a perfectly beautiful blue sky and 80 degrees! Praise the Lord! We were able to finish 2 sides and half of the back by 6:30pm! Daniel's roommate Tim was there to help us too.....I was mainly the "gopher girl" - helping to meaure, cut and hold, and of course run errands and feed everyone! What a different look to this cute home! And what a fun day we had!
I love the song..."It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away...it's just like His great LOVE!"....and that's what we were praying all morning...and our prayers were answered!

Enter His gates with PRAISE

Today marks the first Sunday Brock Benjamin will be going to church! He may sleep during the entire service, but he will begin life being a part of the family of God on Sundays.

"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." Psalm 122:1

I love going to church on Sunday - hearing God's Word, being a participant in the praise time, and having wonderful fellowship with God's people.

Aren't you glad you're a part of the family of God?