Yes. We're still here. We haven't forgotten about the blog. It's been a crazy week. After preparing to move and moving Monday through Thursday, we're now living in Spring Lake with Keri's parents for the rest of our time in Michigan. We're heading up to the cottage for the holiday weekend, so we probably won't have another update again until sometime next week.
One request that we do have for all of you reading is that you would be in prayer for our friends Beth and Mike Werkheiser and her family (the Fosters). They received word this week that Beth's brother died while serving in Iraq.
Again, thanks for reading. Sorry for the post sparsity lately...
Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
What's up with...
What's up with daytime TV commercials. Don't they know that more than unemployed/need-to-go-to-college/sue-happy/old people watch TV during the day. You know, like people who moved with their wives for her fieldwork and work for their engineering firms part time at home over the internet. Not that I don't enjoy a good Hoveround commercial with old people "hovering 'round" in formation to some fake Beach Boys music...
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Knapp Reunion
This past weekend was another Knapp House Reunion (minus 2 couples). During Keri's junior year at Calvin College, she lived with 5 other girls in a house out in the country. Their times in the house including rusty water, collapsed sewage pipes, mushrooms growing behind the toilet, Tae Bo (you know you loved it Jenni!), "The Bachelorette", and house dinners formed lasting friendships! All of them are now married and try to get together at least 1 time per year. In November, everyone was able to make it to St. Louis where all 12 of us fit into our 2 bedroom apt. and we played "4 on a couch" until 3 in the morning.
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Knapp House Reunion in St. Louis last November
We all camped in Julie and Derek's backyard in Holland, MI. (We missed you Ruth/John and Alicia/JP!). On Saturday, we got to take Derek's Grandpa's boat and sea doo out on Lake Michigan. It was really cold, but fun! It rained the rest of the time, but we were stubborn about having our campfire to roast tonka pies, smores, and a new camping dessert for us: elephant tails. For this tasty treat, you wrap a crescent roll around a dowel and roast it. Then you roll it in butter and cinnamon sugar and go into a sugar coma. Just kidding, they were amazing! We played games both nights including Taboo, Catch Phrase, and Scum. Good times had by all! Finding true "lifers" (life-long friends) that you can completely be yourself with is hard, and Keri is incredibly blessed to have these girls as a part of her life (we both really enjoy their husbands too)!
Keri and Julie on the Sea Doo
Julie, Rachel, Jenni, and Keri on the porch swing
Keri making an elephant tail in the rain
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
"Cheesy" Update
It's been a while again. When we talked about what we should put in our next blog post, Keri suggested cheese. She may have been joking, but I (C.J.) thought that this would be a good chance to learn a bit about "The Creamiest": Velveeta cheese. Velveeta is a cottage tradition, so this is at least somewhat applicable to our experiences of the last week or so. Note that there is some "normal" blog content at the end of this post, so you can skip there if you're anti-learning :)
As you can see above, Velveeta has been "Pleasing families since 1928"--almost 80 years! All seems well and good until a closer examination of the advertisement above is executed. You can barely make it out (is this intentional?), but Velveeta is actually not cheese at all! It's a "Delicious Cheese Food". Now I realize I am no longer carrying out my wife's wishes of writing about cheese, sarcastic or not, but I will press on with some highlights of it's illustrious history.
According to their website (where I'm getting most of my information), Velveeta was introduced to the market after several years of research. I don't know what about cheese would require so much research time, but the end result was a cheese food with unique "creamy texture, meltability (definitely my favorite attribute), and nutritional value." Two years later (I assume spent on more "research"), Velveeta introduced its second variety. I would have loved to see a nice Gouda or provolone, but they decided to go with Pimento. During my failed attempt to find a good "Pimento Velveeta" picture to add, I discovered that old boxes of this variety of Velveeta are collectable. Click here before August 15 and you can be the proud owner of a vintage Pimento Velveeta box.
In 1937, Velveeta was introduced in Germany as Velveta (maybe it was cheaper without the 3rd "e"?). This may have been a bleak time in German history, but the people loved Velveta so much that the Lindenberg plant could hardly keep up with demand.
Not much besides some packaging changes happened between 1937 and the 1980's. Some would ask how you can improve on perfection... Then, in 1982, Velveeta decided to capitalize on American laziness by introducing pre-sliced Velveeta...perfection improved? Velveeta "improved" again with the introduction of "Mexican" flavor varieties of Velveeta in 1984, and in 1985, after three LONG years in the making, extra thick Velveeta slices were put on the market...FINALLY.
Velveeta again appealed to our laziness in 1987. Shredded versions of three of its popular cheese food varieties were introduced, and Velveeta addicts were given a healthy break with a "Light" version in 1990. The last 10 years have seen the introduction of three more varieties of Velveeta (mild cheddar, pepper jack, and 2% milk), as well as a variety of other Velveeta products such as cheesy potatoes and the ever-popular Shells & Cheese.
I hope that you've enjoyed this brief history of Velveeta and that you are more successful than I am at getting the Shells & Cheese jingle out of your head.
"Normal" Blog Content:
Keri and I really did have a pretty good last week or so. We've had quite a few chances to see friends and family during the week, and we had another beautiful weekend at the cottage. Lake Michigan was warm again and even had some small waves. The surfer in the picture below was out for quite a while, but it really didn't look like it was worth the effort for his scant 1-2 second rides. Keri also got to stock up on her beloved blueberries before the season is over. She (with her aunt, uncle, and cousin) picked almost 25 pounds of blueberries. For our plumbing's sake, I hope they last for a while!
Looking south from the top of the dune
The persistent surfer
The fruits of about 3 hours of labor (Hooray Puns!)
On a more serious note, we do have some prayer requests that we would love prayer for. Please continue to pray for patience in this time of transition and busyness for Keri. We've also started to check out our housing options in Nova Scotia. There is a CRC church in Halifax, so we're hoping that we may be able to find something through connections there and maybe even find a place for me to work/serve through the church while we're in Canada. Again, thanks for reading our blog. We love you all and appreciate your comments!
As you can see above, Velveeta has been "Pleasing families since 1928"--almost 80 years! All seems well and good until a closer examination of the advertisement above is executed. You can barely make it out (is this intentional?), but Velveeta is actually not cheese at all! It's a "Delicious Cheese Food". Now I realize I am no longer carrying out my wife's wishes of writing about cheese, sarcastic or not, but I will press on with some highlights of it's illustrious history.According to their website (where I'm getting most of my information), Velveeta was introduced to the market after several years of research. I don't know what about cheese would require so much research time, but the end result was a cheese food with unique "creamy texture, meltability (definitely my favorite attribute), and nutritional value." Two years later (I assume spent on more "research"), Velveeta introduced its second variety. I would have loved to see a nice Gouda or provolone, but they decided to go with Pimento. During my failed attempt to find a good "Pimento Velveeta" picture to add, I discovered that old boxes of this variety of Velveeta are collectable. Click here before August 15 and you can be the proud owner of a vintage Pimento Velveeta box.
In 1937, Velveeta was introduced in Germany as Velveta (maybe it was cheaper without the 3rd "e"?). This may have been a bleak time in German history, but the people loved Velveta so much that the Lindenberg plant could hardly keep up with demand.
Not much besides some packaging changes happened between 1937 and the 1980's. Some would ask how you can improve on perfection... Then, in 1982, Velveeta decided to capitalize on American laziness by introducing pre-sliced Velveeta...perfection improved? Velveeta "improved" again with the introduction of "Mexican" flavor varieties of Velveeta in 1984, and in 1985, after three LONG years in the making, extra thick Velveeta slices were put on the market...FINALLY.
Velveeta again appealed to our laziness in 1987. Shredded versions of three of its popular cheese food varieties were introduced, and Velveeta addicts were given a healthy break with a "Light" version in 1990. The last 10 years have seen the introduction of three more varieties of Velveeta (mild cheddar, pepper jack, and 2% milk), as well as a variety of other Velveeta products such as cheesy potatoes and the ever-popular Shells & Cheese.
I hope that you've enjoyed this brief history of Velveeta and that you are more successful than I am at getting the Shells & Cheese jingle out of your head.
"Normal" Blog Content:
Keri and I really did have a pretty good last week or so. We've had quite a few chances to see friends and family during the week, and we had another beautiful weekend at the cottage. Lake Michigan was warm again and even had some small waves. The surfer in the picture below was out for quite a while, but it really didn't look like it was worth the effort for his scant 1-2 second rides. Keri also got to stock up on her beloved blueberries before the season is over. She (with her aunt, uncle, and cousin) picked almost 25 pounds of blueberries. For our plumbing's sake, I hope they last for a while!
Looking south from the top of the dune
The persistent surfer
The fruits of about 3 hours of labor (Hooray Puns!)On a more serious note, we do have some prayer requests that we would love prayer for. Please continue to pray for patience in this time of transition and busyness for Keri. We've also started to check out our housing options in Nova Scotia. There is a CRC church in Halifax, so we're hoping that we may be able to find something through connections there and maybe even find a place for me to work/serve through the church while we're in Canada. Again, thanks for reading our blog. We love you all and appreciate your comments!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Mary Free Bed Fieldwork
Hi all! It’s Keri for the first time on this blog. My dear husband C.J. has been keeping our blog up so far, but I wanted to give my own update on how my fieldwork is going this summer. I am already 6 weeks in to my 12 week fieldwork for occupational therapy at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. I work in inpatient therapy, and am part of the Spinal Cord Injury Team. At Mary Free Bed, instead of each discipline being grouped together (OT, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, etc), the disciplines are grouped by the diagnoses they serve. The four teams are: SCI, Stroke and orthopedic injuries, Brain Injury, and Pediatrics.
I work with an OT as my clinical instructor (CI). At the beginning, I was only observing her doing therapy, but I am now up to a caseload of my own of 3 patients and that will grow to 4 soon. That is close to a full caseload because each patient sees us 2-3 times per day for ½ hour to an hour sessions. Even though they are “my” patients, I can’t charge insurance for my time with them, so my CI, Amy, is there for most of my sessions. I am slowly becoming more confident in my skills and independent in planning treatments, doing evaluations, and documenting.
Overall, I am really enjoying it! The SCI team is a ton of fun, and the hospital itself is amazing. Our therapy gym has a ½ of a car in it to practice getting in and out of cars, a simulated café and grocery store, a fully functioning apartment to practice Activities of Daily Living, and tons of other stuff to practice real life skills. We also have a pool for pool therapy. I have been so impressed with how functional the treatments are (i.e. not always making them do things like stack cones and pull beads out of theraputty, but doing things that are meaningfully and important to the patient). I am learning so much and LOVE working with the clients. I am definitely meant to work with people!
The only downside has been that I come home pretty tired most days. I love what I’m doing, but I don’t always have much leftover to give CJ when I come home! You can pray for patience for him during these 6 months of focus on my career, and for times of relaxation and enjoyment of each other in the evenings.
So, it’s going well! Sorry no pictures this time--that would break HIPPA :) Thank you all for reading our blog!
I work with an OT as my clinical instructor (CI). At the beginning, I was only observing her doing therapy, but I am now up to a caseload of my own of 3 patients and that will grow to 4 soon. That is close to a full caseload because each patient sees us 2-3 times per day for ½ hour to an hour sessions. Even though they are “my” patients, I can’t charge insurance for my time with them, so my CI, Amy, is there for most of my sessions. I am slowly becoming more confident in my skills and independent in planning treatments, doing evaluations, and documenting.
Overall, I am really enjoying it! The SCI team is a ton of fun, and the hospital itself is amazing. Our therapy gym has a ½ of a car in it to practice getting in and out of cars, a simulated café and grocery store, a fully functioning apartment to practice Activities of Daily Living, and tons of other stuff to practice real life skills. We also have a pool for pool therapy. I have been so impressed with how functional the treatments are (i.e. not always making them do things like stack cones and pull beads out of theraputty, but doing things that are meaningfully and important to the patient). I am learning so much and LOVE working with the clients. I am definitely meant to work with people!
The only downside has been that I come home pretty tired most days. I love what I’m doing, but I don’t always have much leftover to give CJ when I come home! You can pray for patience for him during these 6 months of focus on my career, and for times of relaxation and enjoyment of each other in the evenings.
So, it’s going well! Sorry no pictures this time--that would break HIPPA :) Thank you all for reading our blog!
Monday, August 6, 2007
174 Schultze Reunited
We hung out with C.J.'s college roommates and their spouses this past weekend. Josh Jarrard and his wife Cassie drove up to Grand Rapids from their home in Indiana to hang out with us for a few days and to meet Kirk and Amy's new son Caleb (see the "It's a boy!" post). We all try to get together a few times a year, but it was nice not to have to drive to see them all this time (Kirk and Amy live about 10 minutes from us in GR)!
We all stayed at Kirk and Amy's for the weekend and had a lot of playing around (like the good ol' days!). Sunday morning, C.J. got a chance to play percussion for a special music piece with Kirk during the offering at Kirk and Amy's church. We really miss playing/singing every Sunday at Damascus Road (our college/career group in St. Louis), so it was nice for C.J. to be able to play again.
We really loved being together again and look forward to possibly all hanging out together again this summer before we leave for Nova Scotia.
Josh holding Caleb for the first time
Keri with the smooth stroke
More put-put
Caleb not enjoying his new hat and blanket
We all stayed at Kirk and Amy's for the weekend and had a lot of playing around (like the good ol' days!). Sunday morning, C.J. got a chance to play percussion for a special music piece with Kirk during the offering at Kirk and Amy's church. We really miss playing/singing every Sunday at Damascus Road (our college/career group in St. Louis), so it was nice for C.J. to be able to play again.
We really loved being together again and look forward to possibly all hanging out together again this summer before we leave for Nova Scotia.
Josh holding Caleb for the first time
Keri with the smooth stroke
More put-put
Caleb
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