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Health Check

2008-08-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

Selah was at the pediatrician's office today and all went quite well. She is up to 10lb 14 oz and she gained 2.25 inches in height and a number of cm in the size of her melon. Of course the most traumatic experience was the four immunization shots Selah was scheduled for. The screams crescendoed with each prick! But she settled down pretty quickly and made it pretty uneventfully through the rest of the day.

Outdoors on the Lakeshore

2008-08-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful weekend and we enjoyed a good deal of it out of doors at neighborhood picnics, in the backyard, at the farmer's market, and on the Lakeshore. We took a ride north of Muskegon and enjoyed some blueberry picking, and trip to the beach. Selah loves and she sleeps well afterwords!

Flickr Pics

More of Selah

2008-08-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

Selah is growing and growing, responding more every day. She's getting to be quite the character. We tried catching her big fat lip (she's developing a reputation as a drama queen), but all we have to show for it are the below smiles and sneezes. Enjoy.

YouTube clip

Flickr pics

Rinsema Family Vacation in Bridgman, MI

2008-07-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying a wonderful time of sun, food, water, family, and relaxation. A time to reconnect, for new cousins to get acquainted, etc.

More Flickr Pics

YouTube video of Selah Sounds (sorry it is sideways. . . )

Selah growing

2008-07-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Selah is growing like a weed. Everyday she changes and looks less fragile and lithe like the day she entered this world. Happy and loving pushing her body to get stronger and independent. Full Size Pic

Baby update

2008-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Not as many pics of the last week but we are still enjoying Selah/Norah. She is up to eating 4 oz at a feeding and is growing quickly. She is much more alert especially in the later afternoon/evening. Enjoys walks in the stroller and anything to do with water (even sitting near the sprinkler), but especially her bath (see YouTube video below). And of course Naked Baby Time (right).

Selah bathing

Enjoyed the Rest of the weekend

2008-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Had a great time with Mom and Dad Rinsema, lots of friends, and meeting and greeting lots of others while out and about on a social Fourth of July weekend.

More pics posted at Flickr

Bath time with Grandma & Grandpa

2008-07-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad Rinsema are up for the Fourth and we had a great time giving Selah a bath!

More pics at Flickr

restful weekend

2008-06-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

enjoyed a slow weekend at home after all the excitement of last last weekend.

See our most recent flickr pics and a new video

Thanks to everyone

2008-06-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of people have been stopping by, sending mail, dropping off dinner, bringing us much needed baby gear etc over the last week. Thanks to all of you!! Great to feel support and encouragement in this new adventure.

Summer in the City

2008-06-26T15:52:00.001-07:00

Summer Celebration started today and everyone is looking to enjoy the great outdoors. Even baby during naked time!!

5 days old

2008-06-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

Norah turned 5 days yesterday and is still proving to be an easy baby. She is gaining weight (she was four ounces over her birth weight at four days), sleeping well (last night we were up for just 30 minutes right around feeding time, and generally seems pretty content. Looks like Sarah's parents dreams of colicky revenge are not materializing, at least yet.

Two more pics

Video of her eating

Something Unexpected update

2008-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today we took Norah (name given by birth mother, subject to change) home as her foster care parents. The process to adoption usually takes about 2 months from this point, depending on numerous factors. There are some issues that still need to be cleared up but we love her and are happy to have her in our home.

Short video of Sarah holding her

Set of pics

Thanks to all of your for your prayers and encouragement.

Something Unexpected

2008-06-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight.

Tomorrow.

Today. We got a call from our adoption case worker that a baby girl was born in Kalamazoo who needs a home. It is likely that this baby will need a family to be adopted by.

Tomorrow, we will travel to Kalamazoo with our case worker to hopefully pick up the baby from the hospital, bring her home to Muskegon, and begin the process to a possible adoption. We covet your support. What a journey!

Stay tuned for a post tomorrow.

gentrification in portland

2008-05-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

Interesting article with some interesting insights into how blacks and whites interact.

Racial Shift in a Progressive City Spurs Talks

Fractured Community: reflections

2008-05-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a new Mexican restaurant had its grand opening in the neighborhood business district right near our house downtown Muskegon. We've been in Muskegon five years now and while noone can claim to have a real pulse on a community, we've been trying, and it's been a growing experience.

The interesting thing about the opening is that our neighborhood has some extremely fractured groups all sharing the same space and time. And when this small piece of real estate opened up again after years of being vacant, it was like all sides poured in eager to "claim it". Corner boys, racial healers, do gooders, small time investors, politicians, historic preservationists, welfare moms etc.

Usually, if these groups interact at all, it is from a distance and in passing. So it was interesting to see different groups at tables next to eachother, eyeing eachother, and not quite sure what to make of the new space.

That image came back to me today when I read the following blog posts from friends from a similar context in grand Rapids.

Lighthouse Dave
for original context of this blog entry read here

Livingston Steve

For me, everyday something comes up that reminds me of these divides that tear apart our, and I'm guessing all, communities. I'm pretty sure these feelings will never go away, but maybe there are things we can pick up that will allow us to possibly get better at sharing this time and space.

Juno - Best Movie in a Long Time

2008-05-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to seeing this movie that I put in the Netflix queue in February about the time of the Muskegon Film Fest, when I led a session about screen writing and the guest and the audience had a love-in over Diablo Cody and her most recent movie Juno. And after watching it, we were in love, so much so that we promptly watched the movie again the next day. Characters are real, issues are real, and just done all around with a lot of class and style. And to top it off, I discovered in the credits on the second time through that an old family friend, Brad Van Arragon was one of the co-producers. How cool is that!! Check Juno out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

RiverBank Run

2008-05-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

Had a nice run on beautiful day yesterday in Grand Rapids at the River Bank Run. Was worried my knees would be screaming the second half of the race, but that never materialized and I was able to pick up speed through the second half of the run, finishing in 2:06, averaging 8:04 miles. Now it's on to prepping for the Chicago Marathon, October 12!

Muskegon Hotel Demolition

2008-05-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

Kind of a sad day. Demolition on the old Muskegon Hotel located at 593 W. Western Avenue apparently started yesterday, though I just noticed it today. It wasn't really a surprise as the city of Muskegon had opened bids to have it demolished prior to Muskegon Summer Celebration, if the property owner didn't do it himself. The demolition that is taking place is being done by the property owner. I was headed down to Heritage Landing when I saw it taking place and went home to grab our camera and snap some pictures and a video as well. A sad day.

Flickr Photoset of demolition

YouTube video of demolition

Original video file of demolition
(26 MB)

Article from Muskegon Chronicle about the opening of the Muskegon Hotel in 1914

Fabulous Fugu

2008-05-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

We once had fugu while living in Japan, and also we lived quite close to the town spotlighted in this interesting NYTimes article on the future of fatality-free fugu. I think that they might be right that there is more entertainment in eating a potentially poisonous fish, even if the pate created from fugu liver is the culinary equivalent to foie gras.

If the Fish Can’t Kill You, Is It Really a Delicacy?

Cool Downtown Muskegon Link

2008-04-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

In 2005 just prior to a road construction project I helped to set up a webcam downtown Muskegon so anyone, from anywhere, could check on the progress. I have taken screen shots from time to time, but nothing like this Flickr user has done. This is fantastic. Click the below link to view the photo set.

http://flickr.com/photos/21186823@N08/sets/72157603525665865/

If you view it as a slide show you can skip to the end and then press the backwards play button to see the progress from start to finish. An amazing look at where we've come from.

Movable Feast Carries a Pollution Price Tag

2008-04-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Food and Energy; could either be a hotter topic? Not only that they are becoming increasingly intertwined as food prices are causing riots worldwide in large part because more agricultural output is making its way into the energy market. This NYTimes article explores the true energy cost to what we eat. And they even have an interesting video on one of our favorite fruits, the mangosteen. YUM!

Movable Feast Carries a Pollution Price Tag

More on Housing Crisis

2008-04-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

The more read about this the more you just shake your head. Banks, units of government, lenders, everyone involved just didn't understand what they were involved in. This story of Maricopa, AZ in today's NY Times just blows me away. The most amazing fact is how many of the loans were sub-prime. I thought of subprime loans being more rampant within urban, city areas, but some of the facts presented in this article about the number and types of loans people were taking out in newly developing exurb areas was amazing. And the unsustainability of it all, and the dislocated social mileus that were created really make one think seriously about a societal mindset that can undertake such projects. It will be very interesting to see how this continues to play out.

Link to Story

Jeremiah Wright controversy (race in america)

2008-03-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Some links related to the Wright controversy.

Text and Video of "A More Perfect Union".

Defense by Sieplinga of Bethany Church Muskegon

Article by Martin Marty, University of Chicago theologian

Roundtable of panelists on PBS Newshour

Sheilds and Brooks commentary on "A More Perfect Union"

Blast from Past in Chinese protests

2008-03-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

I can still remember the taste of the yak yogurt and homemade honey from our 2001 visit to Xiahe like it was yesterday. About two weeks ago Sarah and I, by chance were going through some old pages on our website read a piece she wrote at the time about our experience talking to some Tibetan monks in this western Chinese provincial city. And when we got to the dramatic end of the poem about fearing for China, we looked at ourselves and thought maybe we had been a little overly concerned given the fact that not much had happened in the intervening five years. All that changed this weekend with the news of protest breaking out in the peaceful city we knew 7 years ago.