End of the rainbow

End of the rainbow, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

I always wondered what was at the end of a rainbow…

…and I know that we live somewhere very special.

This was our view this morning.

Door in Venice

IMG_2328, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

Was scrolling through some old pictures and came across a group of pictures that I took when we were in Venice a few years ago. I’ve always enjoyed seeing unique doors and thought these were cool. You can click on the flickr link on the side to see more of these and other pictures that I haven’t posted on the blog.

Ethan – middle school basketball

IMG_6171, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

This year we’ve added another sport to our family roster. Ethan’s never played organized basketball before with the exception of one rec team in 2nd grade. He’s really enjoyed playing on the middle school team this year and has done very well. I think his height, bulk and raw aggression (don’t know who he gets that from!) has been helpful.

Oh yeah, and he got his head shaved this week – decided he didn’t want to mess with long hair anymore.

All is well – jumping back into the 3rd quarter at school, preparing for tennis season and enjoying the amazing weather here in PV.

Yeah, that’s me

Zambezi river bungy, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

Over the Zambezi River by Victoria Falls. Same bungee as in previous post.

Wild Bungee

The bungy jump over the river by Victoria Falls between Zimbabwe and Zambie was one that Anna and I did this summer. After we did the jump – we realized that the safety measures were definitely not up to snuff as the AJ Hackett sites in New Zealand. I vowed that we would never do another bungee jump that wasn’t an AJ Hackett site. My mom forwarded me the info about this tourist that jumped from the same bridge – and probably the same rope that we used this summer. Wild!

http://www2.wspa.com/news/2012/jan/09/video-woman-survives-broken-bungee-cord-fall-ar-3014285/?referer=None&shorturl=http://bit.ly/zbpUSD

Summer – at the vet once again

Pitiful Summer, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

If Summer were a cat, she would have far used up her 9 lives. If I were to list all the non-dog food items she’s ingested over the last 7 1/2 years, it would take up a full post – but here are a few:

Rat poison (twice) – of course, once over a holiday weekend and the next time she spent 3 nights in the doggie ER with numerous blood transfusions.

An entire frisbie (and pieces of many others) washed down with a can of bacon grease – yeah, that was a fun afternoon.

A whole platter of food from a cookout (we made the mistake of putting her inside when she was bugging everyone outside for food) – she bellied up to the kitchen island and helped herself to brats, burgers, hot dogs and cheese – leaving behind the tomatoes and lettuce.

A Koosh (kids toy) that actually made it’s way through her entire digestive system and came out in pieces (we wondered why she had major gas for a few days).

Part of Sam’s alligator loafer

6 packages of bread (we now keep it in the cabinet).

A bag of whole wheat flour (she started to eat it, then decided it would be more fun to run around the house carrying the bag with her). Unfortunately this was when we were out of town and my parents had to deal with the aftermath!

1/2 bag of chocolate chips.

Lunch boxes, backpacks (usually just eating through them to get to the lunches left inside – she always leaves behind the fruit though).

Trays of cookies unwittingly left too close to the edge of the counter.

The list can go on and on.

THIS TIME – she got into a trash can that was filled with left over halloween candy. Earlier this week she threw up a number of wrappers (snickers, smarties, kit kats) as well as an entire sucker stick. This was earlier this week and she seemed to recover after feeling a bit “punk” on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Last night when we got home it looked like she had had another seizure and was barely moving. She was lying strange, groaning and moaning and breathing rapidly. We watched her closely and were almost to the point of taking her to the emergency vet but she seemed to settle down once she went outside.

After another day at the vet, x-rays and numerous tests, she’s returned home in good spirits but a bit tired. Our wallets are lightened once again thanks to this crazy dog (who also had surgery last year to put a metal rod in her leg, but that’s another story).

We love this crazy beast and so does pretty much everyone who has met her. Our thanks to those of you who were praying for her and keeping her in your thoughts as she was sick this week.

Let’s hope the next 7 1/2 years with her will be slightly less eventful – and we’ll try to be a bit more careful with anything remotely edible in our trash cans!

2011- Van Voorhis Year in Review

What a year 2011 was – great firsts, great blessings – many things that changed our lives.  We are thankful for our families, our friends and our health.  A few health issues, but for the most part – we stayed in one piece!  We circumvented the globe again as a family and experienced things that we’ll remember forever.

Here’s a brief review:

January:  Anna and Ethan continued to play in tennis tournaments and excelled at their sport.  Sam had a successful back surgery and began his rehab to strengthen his back as well as lower his cholesterol (by 100+ points!).  

February:  Sam took over a hotel that we had invested in and completely turned it around – re named it the “Sunrise Garden Resort” – put in many hours of sweat equity and smart business sense and made it into a very successful venture.  I took a trip to Disney with the kids and Sam’s sister Julie and her son Cameron.  It was his first trip to Disney and a great weekend.  We hosted a super bowl party – enjoying both the cooking and the time with friends.

March:  Sam and I celebrated 17 years of marriage with a long weekend trip to New York city.  It was a “Madison Square Garden” weekend with a basketball and hockey game as well as a Bon Jovi concert.  It was nice to have a weekend away just the 2 of us.  We also got a quick weekend escape over to Watercolor in the Florida pan handle, which was beautiful.  My brother Steve visited with his son Adam over their spring break and we enjoyed some family time with them.  We also had my Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary swing through as well as my brother John and a number of missionaries as well – a busy month for the VV bed and breakfast.  

April:  My bff Jill and her family visited from Ohio and I also was able to host my annual girls trip down on Anna Maria Island with 10 of my girlfriends – always a highlight of my year.  The core group of girls has been doing girls trips with me since the 80′s – so 20+ years of girls weekends makes for great friendships.  Anna and Ethan continued with their high school tennis team, both playing well.  The boys team won districts for the first time ever, then proceeded to win regionals and head to the state tennis tourney.  They lost at states – but had a great season and some amazing matches.  

May:  The kids finished their 7th and 9th grades of school and we took off on another epic RTW journey.  Still only bringing back packs and duffle bags as our only luggage for 60+ days.  We started the trip in Peru – visiting Lima, Cusco – hiking the Salkantay Trail and winding up in Machu Picchu, which was a highlight.  While in Peru we visited missionaries in Lima working with unwed mothers and a medical clinic and orphanage in Cusco – fantastic people doing great work.

June:  Our trip took us to Turkey where we enjoyed the food, the people and amazing scenery.  We visited Sirince, Ephesus, Urgup and Istanbul and took our first hot air balloon trip.  From there we traveled all around Africa starting with safari in Botswana, Victoria Falls in Zambia (complete with bungy jumping and a helicopter ride).  We continued on to South Africa where we fell in love with Cape Town as well as some great people in Zululand who are running an orphanage for children affected by AIDS.  We ended our time in Africa by visiting Kenya – going to the Kibera slum in Nairobi and seeing amazing work being done there to help impoverished and abused children.  We also took a quick day trip to Mombassa to visit an eye clinic.

July:  Fantastic travels in Cambodia with my brother John and his family.  Siem Reap where we visited Angkor Wat and the trek to Battambang where we were touched forever by the children in the Asia’s Hope orphanages.  We continued to Thailand where we visited orphanages in Doi Saket and Waing Pa Pow (where they killed a pig in our honor – quite an adventure there!).  We ended our trip with a quiet week on Koh Samui where we increased our love for Thai food with the help of our in house chef.  Our travels home took us through Tokyo and we arrived back in Ponte Vedra at the end of July where we bought Anna her car for her 16th birthday.  

August:  The first week of August we helped Sam’s dad move out of his house of 30 years and into a retirement development where he has a very nice apartment of his own and a lot more social interaction.  He has someone renting out the house for now, so we did some cursory cleaning out of a lifetime of memories.  We also had the opportunity to visit Delhi, Louisiana with Sam’s dad to celebrate his Uncle Paul’s 50 years of pastoring his church there.  It was a really nice weekend to catch up with the Lipe side of the family.  Anna took a defensive driving course, Ethan celebrated his 14th birthday and A and E both continued to play and excel in tennis tournaments.

September:  Another Disney weekend with Anna – this time for the “Night of Joy” concerts – always an enjoyable time.  Sam and I took a trek to Miami to see the Ohio State Buckeyes lose to Miami – aside from result of the game, the weekend was nice.  I had jury duty for the first time ever – an interesting way to learn how the justice system works (& is abused!).  

October:  Anna and I went to New York city to celebrate her 16th birthday with her friend Isabella and her mom.  We did a ton of sight seeing, shopping and eating – a fantastic weekend with great weather as an added bonus.  Sam and I also tried to head out to the Prairie Club in Nebraska to golf, but were thwarted by American Airlines and ended up having a golf weekend at Barton Creek in Texas.  We also enjoyed a visit from our friend Kyle and his wife Emily.

November:  Anna turned sweet 16 and got her drivers license!  I went up to Ohio with the kids for a weekend and enjoyed time with friends and family.  We celebrated Thanksgiving by spending the week with Sam’s family at his sister’s house in Richmond, Virginia.  20 people for turkey day – much fun!

December:  Ethan made the middle school basketball game, I did a ton of Christmas baking and hosted a baking day with 25 girlfriends stopping by.  We had friends over for a small Christmas party, were involved with “Bethlehem” at our church (live nativity and city) and enjoyed spending Christmas break at home with Sam’s dad visiting for the week and my parents coming over for Christmas day.  We also had an evening with our friends the Meyers who were down here visiting family – we had the whole crew over for an intimate dinner for 20!  New Years eve – Anna had 6 girl friends over and we set off fireworks to celebrate.

This year Anna’s hair went from blonde, to red, to blonde, to dark brown and from long to having 8 inches off.  Ethan continued to grow and is now just a couple of inches shorter than Sam.  I continued to play tennis and have now started playing golf a bit more consistently as well as joined the board of First Coast Women’s Services.  Sam’s enjoyed having his hand in a number of things and has gotten back into playing tennis and golf after his recovery from back surgery.

The most amazing part of the year was our trip this summer – we want to always remember the suffering that is going on around the world and continue to reach out to help those in need.  We’ve also seen a lot of hurting here in the state’s – with friends facing serious medical issues as well as sadness of divorce.  Our desire is that we can show the love of Christ to our friends and family as well as others farther away.

Thanks so much for checking in on our blog from time to time – I know this is a long winded post – but trying to cover a full year in one post is a bit daunting!  We appreciate everyone who follows us and keeps in touch by commenting.  We are truly blessed – have a wonderful 2012!

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to my dad

dad, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

My mom had her birthday on Thanksgiving this year, and my dad’s is always 2 days before Christmas. So nice to celebrate the holidays and also get to celebrate my parent’s birthdays as well.

Tonight we all went out to Ruth’s Chris for a bit of celebratory steak and potatoes for my dad’s birthday. Anna and Ethan have learned to enjoy a good steak, but I think we’ve set the bar high. Sam’s dad is here in town with us – so it was nice to have both the dads together.

I am so thankful for family – and glad to at least have our parents in town with us this Christmas. I can’t say enough about my dad – everyone that knows him loves him. He is the epitome of a servants heart – will do any thing for anyone at any time. A hard worker – and dear to my heart. Love my dad and try to emulate him as much as I can.

Excited for Christmas to finally be here but hope that we can not just focus on the gifts, the food and the wonderful time with family – but that we can truly remember what we’re celebrating at Christmas and be thankful for all that God has blessed us with and try to remember to live lives that bless those around us.

Full belly, full heart. All good.

Anna’s new shorter hair

anna short, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.

About 8 inches came off this time. She liked it long, but it was getting bothersome when playing tennis. We also recently changed it from blonde to dark – for the winter.

Anna with her long hair before her hair cut

anna long, a photo by SisterPV on Flickr.