One of my Dreams achieved - cross it off my bucket list

Nick & I began our adventure at 2am yesterday. We traveled to Titusville to view the last launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. We arrived at 6:30 to claim our great spot and spent the day with "a couple thousand of our closest friends". It was a fun atmosphere and excitement built as countdown approached. Communications from NASA were broadcast into the park. Around T minus 20min. it was announced there was a glitch with East coast computer screens & the mission was a "no go" until T minus 2min., at which point the NASA commander would make the final decision to "go" or scrub the mission... we could hear the Discovery commander saying they were ready to go, weather was a go, the glass tile was fixed after coming off during the locking of the hatch, Kennedy & Houston were a go... (I must admit I was praying hard) and at 2 min. we heard her say, "it's a go"! Count down continued until blast off at 4:50pm... we were able to see the ignition fire, the shuttle launching with a trail of orange fire (the narrator over the speakers announced that this fire could drain an average swimming pool in 25 seconds), and witnessed the boosters coming off as the shuttle separated ... soon we heard, "Discovery, you are in space".
Wow, it was emotional & AWESOME!... Nick captured this picture.
We arrived back at Ft. Myers at 1:45 this morning. Our van left Space View Park at 5:20 & traffic was so congested it took us until 10pm to reach the Orlando expressway... So we had a 23hrs. 45min. adventure for 4min. of viewing to the naked eye, I had binoculars so I watched for another 3-4min... as Nick says he loves me, but it was a once in a lifetime experience!... Incredible!
We kept in contact with Mom & Dad and they were able to view the launch from a fish camp near Mims... also a great time.

Dordt College Talent Show 2011

Dordt had is annual talent show last Saturday night. The BJHaan Auditorium was packed full of students. Following an impressive voice impersonator, superb glow stick routine, inspiring piano duet and more, at 11p.m. my friends and I were the last act to perform. We had a lot of fun making the routine up. The people who's heads you see are using their hands to be the feet, and each have a person standing behind them acting as arms. Hopefully that makes sense : ) My roommate's Rochelle and Amber are on the left, my friends Josh and Dan are in the middle, and my friend Katie and I are on the right. Our friend Doug, nicknamed "Dougie Fresh" was our surprise guest, and two of our engineering friends were kind enough to help us build the stage. Enjoy!

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJHLVtkHDv8&feature=player_embedded

VanDrunen Movie Star Look-A-Likes

So I've have been house sitting at Kyle and Kelly's casa for a few days now and I wake up every morning to a photo of Keelan. Every time I see it, I see a stunning resemblance of Channing Tatum(a big time movie star). I decided that I needed the family to determine if we might have a future movie star in the making. On a scale of 1 to 10 you can cast your vote on The VanDrunen Movie Star Look-A-Like Game. Standard blog rates may apply.

I've got all my sisters with me!

Leaving the cold and snow behind, all six sisters (Yes, "Sharon" is officially a sister) along with adopted sister Sue, enjoyed a WONDERFUL week in Florida. Our time was spent relaxing, reading, swimming, "punching it down" in water aerobics, shopping, talking, laughing, dining out, cheering on the Pack (except for the sister who was too nervous to watch), visiting Pastor Dave TerBeest and Lambert (our new best friend) and celebrating Kelly's 50th birthday with Elvis. FUN time was had by all.

TCC Alumni 3-on-3 Champs

Every year, Trinity Christian College hosts an alumni 3-on-3 basketball tournament for Alumni. There's always the competitive division and the recreational division. My team (Los Polos Locos) is made up of soccer players who really don't have any discernable basketball skills... we're remotely athletic and we like to play.

For the last 5 years, our team has been slowly getting better, and this year (last Saturday)we won the "best of the rest" rec. league title. It's not quite a Connor or Green Bay Packer level of accomplishment... but then, what is?

Other observations from these pictures- man am I getting fat and bald!

Wes and I have great news.......We are ENGAGED!!!

The short story of this: 1.God moved powerfully. 2. We obeyed (Praise God for strength to do so) 3. Now God is preparing us for marriage. And we are so excited!

Mark your calendars. Our wedding date is Saturday, November 19, 2011. :)

Blizzard of 2011

Thought it would be cool to share some pictures from the aftermath of the "Snowpocalypse". Yes, that's a pile of snow bigger than Sawyer (who's now 3 feet tall at age 2). Through some raw man-power, I cleared our driveway... took about 2 hours.

Timothy Christian (the school I work at) has had 2 straight snow days. Here's one amazing picture of a huge snow drift that literally engulfed our middle school entrance:

So there's some from our neck of the woods... anybody else got some to share?