Happy 5th Birthday Celebration Part 1

As you know we like to go to Red Robin for our birthdays.

Who doesn't???  

We did not get to go as a family this past year for Loren's or my birthday so we are incredibly grateful we at least got to go for Gracie's.

We had to head to good old Yakima today to hit up Costco and it just so happened that Red Robin sent Grace her free Birthday meal via email a few days ago and BINGO-we decided to make an afternoon/evening of our time there.  We were even able to swing a trip to Target to get Grace a new bathing suite and an outfit for her Jazzercise birthday party.....polka dots and leggings, baby!  

Probably one of my most favorite photos of these two together

Grace can only be "serious" for just so long and then the silliness begins

I love my husband and daughter so much that my heart actually feels like it's going to burst at times.

Our drink of choice-water w/ lemon.  Except baby girl gets a chocolate milk every time.
And, yes-that is Grace in the background picking her nose-just darling.  Funny thing is she's never picked her nose before.  Odd.

Yummy!

My little shy boo hiding behind daddy's arm

I can't get enough of her.  

Let the ice cream eating begin.  

Soooo very good.

She's always a sticky mess afterwards-the best part.

Just 6 more days to call her my little 4 year old.  

Let's make the most of this week my sweet pea.  

A gloomy Saturday spent.....

.....hanging out with new little and not so little friends.

For some reason Eburg decided to be gloomy and yucky this weekend.  I had high hopes of going hiking but with rain, chilly temps and the possibility of snow, we decided to wait.  

With the unpleasant weather we thankfully managed to find other ways to have a good time.

Today we had the pleasure of baby sitting a sweet little 6 week old for a friend while they worked.  

G-Monkey was not thrilled at the idea of watching a baby boy (she likes girl babies best) but after he arrived and started cooing and crying she decided he was cute and that she did like him.  

She is going to make a great little mommy some day. 

Slydog and I have not had a baby in the house for quite some time.  

It was very different from what we are presently use to.

We asked ourselves a few times...."What do you do with a baby all day?"

But we figured it out of course.  He ate well & napped well (thank you Baby Whisperer).  

And, he was a good little snuggler.  

We had a lovely five hours together. 

I hope we get to watch him again very soon.

It also made me extra grateful that we are passed the baby phase 

(not that I don't adore babies because I do, it's just super lovely to have an very independent kiddo her does her own thing AND  does not require diaper changes, baby gear, being put down for naps, being held all the time, burping, etc.).

I will gladly babysit for my friends any day so I can get my baby fix and then sit  afterwards with my sweet incredible family of three and be content.....although I do miss this sight (see below).

My favorite moment of our time together

It brings back memories of this

On a totally different note....

We signed up with the Central Washington University Community Friends Program and were paired up with Tetta.  He is an exchanged student from Tokyo, Japan.  He is here for 4 months.  Our "job" is to hang out with him and show him how Americans live.  We are technically suppose to get together with him 1-2 times a month but our goal is to hang out with him once a week-if our schedules match up accordingly.  We don't want to pass up a single opportunity.

We met him last Thursday at a CWU get together for the Community Friends program.  We knew instantly we would have a wonderful time with him.  He is here to learn about the American Culture.  All of his classes are in English and his text books are in English as well.  He is having to learn the language very quickly and is doing an incredible job. We can tell he is a hard worker.  He is going to school for Business and would love to be involved in Trades.

I am excited about this opportunity and know we will have a lasting friendship with him.  And, not only is he learning about America but we are learning about Japan as well.  He has so much knowledge to share.  The only tricky part is translating it.

And, how great to be able to go to Tokyo some day and have a friend and personal tour guide to show us around.  One day.....

At Utopia.  Our favorite FroYo place in town.

Our next get together with Tetta will be at G-Monkey's birthday party on April 2nd.  I am thrilled he is going to come and experience an American Birthday Party and a Jazzercise one at that.


Speaking of G-Monkey's birthday coming up I have a HUGE favor to ask of you.
I am going to be putting together a special Blog post just for her.
I need all of you to pretty please either send me a special/funny memory/story about her, words of wisdom, a saying or scripture verse that makes you think of her. Anything that I can add to the post to make it even more memorable for her for when she looks back on it many years down the road.


Thank you!!!  You can reply to this blog post under Comments or you can email me at mstatema@gmail.com

Memorial Service Photos

Here are some photos from the Memorial Service weekend.  It was an incredible time of celebration and mourning; of reconnecting with family and friends; of stories told and arms embraced.  I am still amazing at how God can use a time of sadness to bring so much change and joy into our lives. 

 Last minute preparations with Lori West at Starbucks

 Friday night family dinner at Harris's 

 The kiddos

 A wonderful time of sharing silly stories of the past.

 Harris and his two sisters and brother.  A wonderful moment in history.

 Andy Wolf singing a Rich Mullins song: Bound To Come Some Trouble.  

If you have never heard this song before please listen here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9J3w1Jeo2I  

What a powerful song.

 Loren giving the Eulogy

 Reading Revalations 21: 1-5

 Ericka reading a few different passages.

 Mark giving the Family Statement 

 Dave giving the message 

 Dan Davison 

 Memory Table

 Friends sharing funny and moving stories.

A Eulogy By: Loren Statema

What to say about our dear Kevin? Reading through the comments on the Facebook page and looking through pictures, we have been reminded of many of his wonderful attributes and several entertaining stories from the past.

Some of the qualities and memories that stand out most as of late are:

ADVENTUROUS
He cycled across US and around Ireland, somehow convincing unsuspecting homeowners to allow him to either camp on their lawn, or better yet, stay in their house.

His subsequent Planes, Trains & Automobiles trek back involving speeding across the Midwest in a rental car with "2 old people with bad hearts", as he put it, catching up with the train that he missed, while the flight he supposed to be on continued above with his bike and bags on board.

He loved snow skiing jumps and daring-do, involving many attempts at cliff jump glory, many of which were successful, but not near as entertaining as those that we not.


INTELLIGENT AND WITTY
He was a masterful teacher that made learning attainable and fun, including a first-day-of-class survey asking his new students to, among other things, draw a picture of a cat. He apparently devised some Math puppets to aid in his teaching. Although we never saw these, we are convinced they must have been both hilarious and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Loren remembers sitting in on one of his math classes at while he gave a test. He had to hold back his laughter as he read the story problems that all involved a cat in some sort of peril, requiring the use of mathematics to save them.

He was also, without fail, the funniest person in the room wherever he went.


GENEROSITY
He was generous with his time to kids through Bellingham H.S. Young Life, volunteered to work on mission trips through The Inn at Western, helped friends new to Western to meet others, and very giving to high school students when teaching math, giving hours of free tutoring to students after school. He always wanted to give, in whatever way he could.


MISCHIEVIOUS
He seemed to always be up to something, a fact to which his parents and many others can attest. Whether it be lighting off LARGE illegal fireworks in the sleepy town if Lynden, WA, planning a creative Halloween costume, or planning his next great adventure, he always seemed to a step or two ahead of everyone else.


THE COOLEST GUY IN THE WORLD
All of these qualities, and many, many more, add up to someone that everyone wanted to be around. He made life fun and full of opportunity. As the oldest brother, Mark & Loren idolized and wanted to be like him in numerous ways. And we know they were not the only people who felt like this.

There are so very many ways to remember the dynamic, intelligent, passionate, kind, generous, wonderful man that was our Kevin. Our prayer is that we all come away from this day with these things indelibly etched into our minds, because he was, in a word, unforgettable.

Wearing his dad's fishing cap

He worked at a full service gas station

Kevin always loved Ireland. 

Kevin and his friend, biked across the entire country: From WA to Boston, MA

Mark, Kevin and Loren

On his incredible journey across the country

He made it to Boston!!!  

We love and miss you Kevin!

It was two weeks ago today that we found about Kevin.  

Since then our world has been rocked.

It has brought such heart break but also some truly remarkable  occurrences as well.

We have been blown away by the love and care of those around us.

My bible study group collected gas money for us since they knew we would be making some long trips.

A friend dropped off a check to help us out so we didn't have to worry about finances during all our travels to Puyallup and Bellingham and back.

People lent us their vehicles, prayed with us & for us, called us, emailed us, texted us, sent us cards, babysat for us, and people we didn't even know came to Kevin's house in Bellingham to help us clean it out!....to just name a few things.

And, there are so many more people who are helping us put together the Memorial Service and are taking care of some of the details,  singing, playing piano, donating center pieces..... and the list could go on.    

We are so blessed!

Witnessing this has made me want to give back.

To find someone in need and shower them with God's love even if we don't know them. 

There have also been some challenges....

Loren, who usually can lay down and fall asleep with in 60, now has a hard time falling asleep at night.

This has been going on since the day he found out about Kevin.  

Please pray for him!

And, due to the stress of coming home straight off of a 12 day vacation and having to deal with all of this, lack of sleep, running around, cleaning out Kevin's house, etc. we all got sick-bad sick.  We usually never get sick and Grace hasn't been sick in 3 years so we knew we had to stop and relax.  Thankfully, after one day Grace was 100% herself again.  Praise God for her incredible immune system.  And, Loren and I are on the mend!  

Thank you for praying for us and our health.  We needed it, especially with the weekend to come. 

In just 3 days we will hold the Memorial Service for Kevin.

For those that can not attend, this is the order of the service.

Prelude: Bound to Come Some Trouble by Rich Mullins

Performed by Andy Wolf

Call to Worship

Hymn: It Is Well With My Soul

Congregational Sing

Eulogy: Loren Statema

Scripture reading: Ericka Statema & Melissa Statema

Slideshow

Statement from the Family- Mark Statema

Song: Grace by U2

Message

Final Song: Oh Loving God by Paulette McCoy

Performed by Dan Davison

Prayer & Blessing

Dismissal to Reception

    

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.       

The Spokane Statemas (Mark, Ericka, Katie and Tyler) make the 5 hour drive to Puyallup tomorrow night late and return Sunday.  We, the Ellensburg Statemas, will head over the mountain (only a 2 hour drive for us) Friday early morning and we will return home Sunday as well.  A lot of other family and friends will be driving from far distances on Saturday.  If you could cover us all with travel safeties we would be incredibly appreciative.  

 ***I will post Marks Statement To The Family after the Memorial Service is held and we get back from Puyallup!

Psalms 31:9          

 O' Lord have mercy on me in my anguish. My eyes are red from weeping, my health is broken from sorrow.

John 16:33            

I have told you these things so that you will have peace of heart and mind, 

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but cheer up, 

for I have overcome the world,

Amen and Amen!

Weekend Blues

Sadly we have spent our weekend "Sick as a Dog," as they say.  Our bodies finally said "enough is enough already" and forced us to stop, which we haven't done in about 3 weeks.  Of course as sickness goes, it never seems to pick a good time because well, no time is a good time to be sick.

We have a lot going on this week and would appreciate your prayers for healing for our house hold and that Grace does not get sick.  

On a side note: We would love it if you could join us in Celebrating Kevin's Life at a Memorial Service on the 19th of March in his honor.

Here is a link for the event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135184126550565

         Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:4