ValerieDykstra.com

an easter hallelujah

 

jessica's daily affirmation

This is such a mood lifter for me. What a spirited child. I like her.

redneck woman

I love this video as it reminds me so much of me. I see myself in every one of these women. You be the judge. I hope you laugh.

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Lethbridge Dragon Boat festival

This race wasn't our finest performance, but I think you'll agree that it's not exactly a poor performance either. My team in Wahine Kei Waka (lane 2). We photo finished in 4th place. That means it was so close between 3rd and 4th place that the winner was determined by photo. No medal for Wahine.

This race was in Lethbridge Alberta a few weekends ago.

This past weekend, we raced in Leduc Alberta. We raced seven times over Saturday and Sunday and one of those races was a 2-kilometer race. (I 'bout died.)

So, what do you think?

something to smile about

deborah's recital

Here's my baby girl Deborah at her Winter Recital. I'm so proud of her.

hippo - the lion sleeps tonight

evolution of dance

This is good for a few smiles and memories.

A Spectacular Wedding Entrance

You have to watch this. I woke up grumpy this morning. But then I found this in my email. I feel sooo much better. I smiled, laughed and got chills. It once again reminded me of how little creativity I had on my wedding days. However, if I'd been this brave and creative, someone would have needed to carry me down the aisle on a stretcher because I'd be laughing too hard to actually walk, much less dance.

Please, please watch it and leave comments on what you thought.

Girl holding breath on YouTube

So let's see how long this girl can hold her breath. If I could look like this while I held my breath, I swear I'd never breath again. This is for my mom. The first time she saw this, she got hysterical.

funny at the gym

This is just a couple seconds long. You must watch it for a quick laugh.

This could soooo happen to me. Matter of fact, something similar has happened, but we won't talk about that.

Deborah's French Narrative

Do you want to see a wittle Dutch girl speak French? This is Deborah doing a narrative in French. She kind of goes overboard explaining it in English. Feel free to jump to the French part. I only know one language so seeing Deborah speaking French is a thrill for me. I love her expressive-ness. Watch it long enough to see her emote. :-)

Join me in the thrill, will you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDOHi0Ot_c

Happy Anniversary to us

Today is our anniversary. 16 years of bledded wiss and quite a few years of being happily incompatible (note I don't claim 16 years of happiness). To celebrate the day I wore mascara and lip gloss to work. I'm living dangerously, pulling out the stops. Oh yeah, I also wore White Diamonds perfume. White Diamonds isn't "me" anymore but it's what I wore on our wedding day so I wear it every May 22.

Last night we listened to "Home" by Rich Mullins. Gordon and I both love this song and it was played at our wedding. Last night I was so struck by how prophetic it was to us. My goodness, it's like we played our own prophecy at our wedding. I smiled and smiled listening to it, totally aware of how unaware I was 16 years ago. Wow! was all I could think as I listened to it last night.

Home, by Rich Mullins

I see the morning moving over the hills
I can see the shadows on the western side
And all those illusions that I had
They just vanish in Your light
Though the chill in the night still hangs in the air
I can feel the warmth of morning on my face
Though the storm had tossed me
'Til I thought I'd nearly lost my way

And now the night is fading and the storm is past
And everything that could be shaken was shaken
And all that remains is all I ever really had

What I'd have settled for
You've blown so far away
What You brought me to
I thought I could not reach
And I came so close to giving up
But You never did give up on me

I see the morning moving over the hills
I feel the rush of life here where the darkness broke
And I am in You and You're in me
Here where the winds of Heaven blow

And now the night is fading
And the storm is through
And everything You sent to shake me
From my dreams they come to wake me
In the love I find in You
And now the morning comes
And everything that really matters
Become the wings You send to gather me
To my home
To my home
I'm going home

As I reread it I marvel at how it reflects our life. I'm very very thankful. I'm thankful for what God has taught me since becoming a wife to Gordon; for God saving me from myself because I would have settled for so much less; we both had so many illusions about what our life together would be like and somehow God burned those away and gave us something better than our illusions. (I'm speaking for myself here. Gordon's post would look entirely different, I'm sure).

There is still a "chill of the night that hangs in our air". When we lost custody of Steph and Christopher it was the end of the world for me. I thought I'd never recover. That "chill of night" is still here but the "warmth of the morning on my face" is prevailing. That storm tossed me and I thought I'd never find my way again. But I did and it's a better life than I ever imagined. I feel the rush here where the darkness broke. And everything He sent to shake me came to wake me to His love.

I'm thankful for it all.

Happy Anniversary Gordon. I'm glad we're sharing this journey.

If you have any desire to read my profound thoughts and writings on marriage and Gordon and things like that, you'll find a host of them right here.

2009 Mother of the Year

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=sgigb4qZmonIyqTryIYPbzE0NTIzNTI0&referred_by=16899956-AjyXPux&p=moveon

I can't tell you how humbled I am by Gordon's nomination.

Enjoy the Ride video

This is a lovely video called Enjoy the Ride. Watch it and smile.

Britains Got Talent video

Proof that you can't judge a book by its cover.

I was brought nearly to tears as I watched this video.

Deborah's Recital

Perhaps you recall that one of my 2009 goals is to post regularly on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I hope you've noticed so far, so good.

Tuesday evening Deborah had a piano recital. I videoed her at the recital but I couldn't capture her face. I videoed her at home too and captured her sweet little face and hands. It's a sweet video of my little musician. She plays four songs. The last one is called Alien Abduction. She made it up herself. She's gifted, you know.

Please enjoy my little Dobber's music. And if you see fit, Deborah and I both would like to hear your praises.

Labels: deborah, video

Mom brings the cake

Here is a super short video that my mom sent to me today. Funny.

Labels: video

Hannah's Video

I got a new camera for Christmas. My old one was on its way out but I wasn't expecting it to die. However after giving it to Rachael it passed on to Canon Camera heaven.

I think I've told you these things:

1) Hannah is a goon. She's always coming up with weird zany things to say and do, sometimes producing some hilarious concoctions.

2) We have extra dogs in the house, creating some interesting scenarios.

My neice Mindi is an amazing photographer. I'll never be as good as her but I do hope to improve this year. That to say, I'm playing lots with my new camera and in my play I captured this video of Hannah being goofy.

The context of this video is the dogs chasing the cat. One dog actually got her cornered and, bam, Tawny surprised the dog with a paw in the face.

Which is now a saying we are over-using around here: "Bam, paw in the face."

Enjoy. And please comment as Hannah is so embarrassed that I put this on youtube.

Labels: funnies, Hannah, video

Psalm 23

I posted this before but think it's so sweet and could cheer up anyone who needs cheering.

Labels: video