the bled forest

Doug wrote this on his myspace blog today and it's so beautiful... i must post it here... (forgive me Doug...)

we should climb a mountain.

mountains like these.
and travellers.
and events that happen to them.
and they are versed.
trade a physical mountain for a spiritual mountain, stands between each soul and its goal.
we dwell here in the valley and travellers from valley to valley. we'd rather go 'round.
content to listen to the beards and flannel, the men with dogs and abused army issue artifact.
we in sight of the mountain our entire lives, and never enter wilderness.
only accompanied by the experienced guide do we take the best and least dangerous route.
only alone determine the will to take luck and grace and the unmarked trail.
in the bled forest i'll reach out my hands and find another hand and we'll join hands and it'll be my brother's hand. we storm castles this way.
at the top maybe we'll find you, and we'll find others, and we'll discuss our varying, no single or fixed number, non repeatable routes.

teaching fungus

Hey guys! Just wanted to add a litttle pic of me teaching my fellow students about .... well... fungus!





Ad this is of me finding... fungus. Great stuff!



Enjoy!

Cheers

Carl

This is my thanksgiving and this is my family (26 people and still growing). Below is Jaron, one of the two newest additions. Little Lydia somehow evaded the camara.
...God is good!!!

Thanksgiving sentiments

"To live with compassion means

to enter others' dark moments.

It is to walk into places of pain,

not to flinch or look away when another agonizes.

It means

to stay where people suffer."

--Henri Nouwen












I am thankful to share life's journey with you all--my friends.

I count it a blessing from God to know you.

Andrew

Hallo from the Vander Laan's :-) this is Andy and Tine

coldplay and plumb...

this gets me every time... especially the instrumental bridge to the chorus... good grief...

and all of this... is so beautiful to me...

every ounce

"Live. And live well. Breathe. Breathe in and breathe deeply. Be present. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70-degree day, roll down the windows and feel the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. ... Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of life. Because it is most definitely a gift." - Kyle Lake

how does this thing work?

i know blogger.com is rather confusing... so here are four steps that will hopefully make this experience a little less painful...

1. go here: http://www.blogger.com/start
2. type in your username and password
3. click on the green plus sign to the right of life really lived
4. click publish post after you say whatcha wanna say

also, whenever you publish something, at the bottom of your post you'll see your name on the left and a comments link on the right... please click on the comments link to see how other people are responding to your post...

one more thing... if there are certain web-sites you frequent or give us more info on what you're up to or blogs that you really enjoy reading or organizations that you really respect... please let me know and i'll put a link to it under your name in the right hand column...

thanks you guys... love ya...

Hey Ya'll,

Signing in and say'in howdie.

Shawna, congratulations on the decision to get married!

and Hans

I think that look is good on you ;)

Cheers

Da Carl in da House!!

Hey guys... im in!

Hope everything is dandy wherever you are!
Here in DK it's all good.. I still think aboutu that awesome wedding we attended i germany. Thats was great seeing most of you there!

Well just wanted to announce my presence here at blogger, and Treasure... Is Grouper still running? My comp cracked and all my progs were erased :(

not goood!

Well

take care guys!

Carl

Douglas and Hans in the house!!!

can't wait to hear what's happening with each of you! post, post, post!!! :o)

another wedding!!!

hey you guys, this e-mail is from Shawna!

Hello all!

I pray that all of you are doing well. I am doing great! I do have some big news for all of you:

As you all know I am getting married, the date has changed...from May 20th 2006 to Dec. 10th 2005 (1.3 months away). I know many of you are shocked. I am too!

Andy and I have moved the date for multiple reasons:

1) I am finished school after thanksgiving break (Nov 28th) - reason: the classes next semester don't really apply all that much to me because they are primarily internship prep courses, and I am not going on internship.

2) Because I am not continuing in school I will no longer be allowed to be in the USA, that is without getting married.

3) Most importantly: God has called Andy and I together for a greater purpose than we know; What we do know is that we love each other deeply and we feel we can do more TOGETHER than apart for the furthering His Kingdom ("One person can defeat 1000 deamons, two people 10,000!")

We trust Him and lean in Him alone for guidance and direction, He has proved Himself faithful again and again - we have no doubt in our minds that this is God's plan for our lives - He will provide and bless His chosen ones.

This is big news I know, but wait...there's more:

Because I am done with school sooner than planned, I am not able to leave the country (go home for Christmas to Canada). So the wedding location has changed form Vancouver Island, Canada to Bloomington, Minnesota USA. We will be sending out invitations as soon as we book the church and reception hall - hopefully tomorrow.

This is just a heads up to let you know what is going on in my life right now and that you are all invited to my wedding on Saturday Dec.10th 2005.

If you are a christian I ask that you would be in prayer for Andy and I and the sudden change of plans and the large amount of stress that comes with this next month. We are looking for an apartment in the Bloomington area and praying for a caretaker position - manager of apartments - because we get free rent that way.

We know God has called us to this place and the church we are part of for such a time as this - For those of you who don't know, Andy and I are both leaders in our church youth group of 60 kids and growing.

I am sorry for the short notice, but God's ways are highter than our ways - and the plans that HE has mmade are good and true!

I love you all and miss you immensely,

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to e-mail me, or call me (if you leave a message I'll get back to you ASAP)

Thanks and God Bless - To God Be The Glory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shawna (& Andy)

yeah Shawna!

wow, you were quite sneaky, signing up and all without even saying hello! welcome, welcome, welcome my first floor roomie! :o) so, so glad you are here!

small prayers, big faith

Hello! :) Treasure said I should share this so here it goes...
I did a dumb thing tonight. I locked us out of the house. No spare key, no open windows, no cell phone and no car keys... So, I jogged down the road to where I work. Liz and the kids piled in the car and came to lend a hand and anything else we could find to help pick a lock. A half an hour later and nothing was working until Will (5 yrs old) said, we just need to pray. He dropped down and as soon as he started praying, the door came open. I almost wonder if that wasn't part of the reason for the whole evening... God is good!

so awesome!!!

welcome Alicia, Dayspring, and Sam!!! it looks like the invitation worked okay??? it's so awesome to "see" each of you... now start posting like crazy!!! :o)

and more from Tom!

thank you!

this place is asking for a wedding!

and here it comes...

the Reverends

the Bride and Groom

could those chairs be any farther apart? oh wait... they were... until Andy scooted over...

dusslingen

this place is asking for a party!

and here it is...

the newest Vander Laans and Ma and Pa Vander Laan

Bruce, Jan, Tine, Andy, Cindy, Tom

Damaris and KAS reading the wedding newspaper

anyone hungry?

Horst and Hildegard with the Vander Laans close behind

Damaris and KAS emceeing

it's 2, no 4, 3, it's 3...

this is just too good not to be blogged about...

so i was just wandering around evergreen's forum and i came across this link... i think this is the coolest thing i've seen online in a long time... i won't even tell you what it is... you'll just have to check it out... also here and tell me what you think???