milestones

This weekend was an exciting one in our household…

Levi was baptized this weekend. It was Curt’s first baptism, and he was able to baptize his own son. Dad Kuiper, who baptized Emma and Claire, also played a part in this event as he read an adaption of Psalm 46 after Levi was baptized. It was a really special event…we’ve been on an interesting church journey over the past year that many of you are now familiar with–because of our process, it’s been challenging to know how to go about this occasion. Madison Square Church, which we have been connected to over the years and has been a real place of growth and healing for us, is where we baptized Levi.

Pastor Dave from Madison has been a mentor to Curt over the years and has been meeting with us regularly as we navigate what is next for us in our church journey. Pastor Joy led the service on Sunday evening, which was personal and powerful. She took some time to mention the meaning of Levi’s name–”attached.” To us, his name has been reflective of his place in our family–attached, drawn in, harmonious. He has most definitely resembled the meaning of his name in personality and place in our family. His middle name–Benjamin–means “son of my right hand.” Besides being a family name on Curt’s side, the meaning of this name is also special, as he is our only son and we desire to love him and nurture him to be a man of God. Pastor Joy, in mentioning the meaning of Levi’s name, talked about how it is so easy to become “attached” to things, concerns, worries, even hopes, that fall outside of our purpose or distract us from our “attachment” to Christ. She encouraged us, when examining Levi’s name, to nurture and parent him in such a way that he will learn how to be and live in such a way that shows and supports his need for and attachment to Jesus.

Our friend Kelly graciously took photos of the baptism, so I’ll be posting those when they are available, but we took a couple pictures of the weekend as well…

Dad Kuiper and the kids

Another milestone that happened this weekend was Emma lost her first tooth!! She lost the same tooth that has just popped up as the first tooth in Levi’s mouth! It seems like yesterday that she just got her first tooth (and the many sleepless nights, fevers, runny noses and dirty diapers associated with getting this first tooth!!). The tooth had been loose for a while and on a dinner out with Mom and Dad Kuiper this weekend, she used her tooth to open a lid on a cup which (painfully and with many tears) dislodged the tooth even further. Sunday afternoon she was eating a sandwich and felt a little pop. I looked in her mouth and the tooth was sitting on her tongue. She was SO excited, as you’ll be able to tell from the photo. The toothfairy does visit the Kuiper household and Emma requested that instead of money, that the toothfairy leave “seeds that I can plant in the ground and grow into flowers.” So sweet, but we stuck with the idea that the toothfairy delivers cash so we don’t have to face 20+ under the pillow “prizes” for her over the next couple years :)

So excited to have just lost her first tooth!

I’m also posting some pictures of the inevitable, Levi being dressed up like a princess by his sisters. Poor kid! I guess this is what he can expect, being the youngest and having 2 older hands on excitable sisters who dote on him all day.

Playtime before dress up

Levi likes playing with cars...and anything else he can chew on.

10 years!

I wish I knew how to scan pictures onto this blog–old, hard copy pictures–because I know you’d all love a reminder of what Curt and I looked like 10 years ago on our wedding day…Dec 29, 1999. Ha! Many of you probably remember that day–it was a 50 degree sunny Iowa winter day and everyone was anticipating what Y2K would bring. All we knew is that we’d be on our honeymoon when the clock switched over and the world ended–and that was okay with us! Two weeks after our wedding, we moved to West Michigan, and have been here ever since.

Curt and I have experienced alot of life together–the decade of our 20’s with all the searching and identity confirmation that brings, 3 little wonderful babies being born to us, multiple jobs as we’ve both searched for a good fit, several home environments–from our first home to living with 10 college students, among many other life experiences–both wonderful and painful. We’ve grown to love West Michigan, something we both never thought would happen. We’re now raising our family together. We’re both in careers that are satisfying and enriching, where we feel like we’re using our gifts. And we can both with all honesty say that we are in the most wonderful year of our marriage so far. God’s grace, for sure.

To celebrate our years together, we drove to Iowa. Okay, we didn’t stop there–we just dropped off our three little ones with Mom and Dad VK for 8 days. Now, providing this tender loving grandparenting for 8 days is quite the anniversary gift–thanks, Mom and Dad!! From there, we flew to California. We stayed in Palm Springs at a beautiful hotel (thanks Mom and Dad Kuiper for letting us use your timeshare!). We created so many memories, many of them enjoying the outdoors together-something we love to do together–running, hiking, sightseeing in the San Jacinto Mountains. We enjoyed alot of local restaurants, something else we love to do together. We lounged alot–gave ourselves permission to fully unplug for the week. This was awesome! At the end of our trip we drove to Huntington Beach, stayed with our dear friends Anne and Dennis, and ran the Surf City half marathon together. Yes, we missed our kids, but I don’t think we’ve ever savored or enjoyed time away from them like we did this trip.

Our return to GR was pretty eventful. We flew back to Iowa, literally sprinted across MSP airport to get our connecting flight (this was the day we ran the race and we were SO sore!) Good thing we sprinted because they had just closed boarding when we arrived at the gate! The flight attendant laughed at us because we were so out of breath. After boarding, we promptly waited on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting for our flight to take off. And then our luggage didn’t arrive. And then we left DesMoines and only made it 37 miles before we pulled off in Newton, IA for the night due to weather. And then the next morning we left again and only got to Joliet (outside of Chicago) and pulled off and stayed the night again….quite the adventure. Curt and I were so exhausted by the time we got home. The kids were so wound up, excited from their 2 nights of pools, jumping on hotel beds, having pizza for supper, and watching America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Now we are home, getting back into the swing of things. Entering year 11 together…

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Sunrise the first morning in CA–from our hotel balcony. Saw the sunrise due to the 3 hour time change!

Palm Springs Streetfair–lots of artists/booths

Some of you may want to keep this one for future use…

Hike at Indian Canyon. Beautiful oasis’ and fan palms.

A treat for us Michiganders in January…

Trio restaurant, downtown Palm Springs. Recommend it!


We took a tram (the world’s largest, in fact) up to the top of this mountain. If we would have known this was here, we would have brought heavier hiking gear. There are miles and miles of wilderness hiking at the top. The view was unbelievable.

Next stop, Joshua Tree. This place is other-worldly. Strange, but beautiful in its own way.

There’s been so much rainfall this year that this area called Barker Dam in Joshua Tree was full of water. This is very unusual. We hiked around this area for some of the day.

This is Emma’s favorite photo of our trip.

Again, such a treat in the winter.

If Curt ever looked like a giant…
(Surf City marathon expo)

The medals were cool. And it was fun to run with 20,000 others on such a beautiful day.

oh how the years go by…

curt has taken a picture of the same pose with each of our little ones when they were about 5-6 months old. can you guess who is who?

pic 1:

pic 2:

pic 3:

Recent Comments

  • milestones (3)
    • Mom: Oh, my! I can’t believe it’s been 7 days since I’ve checked this site! Congratulations, Kuiper household, on all the...
    • Jessica: love the dress! that’s hilarious!
    • Aunt Judy: Nice dress Levi. I had to think for a minute that dress was so familiar. Thats over 25 years ago!!! When we made the dresses we...