Heidi's Birthday!

Well, I guess it would be wrong for me to post on my birthday and not mention it at all. It was a nice birthday. The funny thing about it is I probably wouldn't have cared too much, except for the kids. They are SOOOOO into birthdays. They love to sing "happy birthday to you" also. So we went out for dinner tonight at the Olive Garden (one of my favorite restaurants). We can't remember the last time we went out to dinner with all the kids and it was certainly one of the best times we've had going out to eat as a family. No fights, no spills, no tears! What a great day.

I didn't have 31 candles on my cake. Instead I had a "3" and a single candle next to it!

Sidewalk Slab Project

Here are the pictures from our latest house project. We wanted to put a sidewalk/cement slab along the side of our house for easy access to the backyard. Heidi's dad's cousin, John Walters, has a concrete business and he let us hire his laborers to do this project for us.


Here they are setting the forms.


When the truck came for the pour, Caleb and Gideon were very interested. It was lunch time so they just ate their sandwiches by the front door and watched the excitement.



Here's the final product!

You know you live in the city when . . .

. . . you drive by a dairy and your daughter says, "What's that smell?" Eliyana didn't enjoy what I used to call "the fresh, country air" when I was growing up!

Then just last weekend when Josh was driving with Caleb to get the wine juice, Caleb also reminded us that he lives in the city. The winery is located near some farmer's fields (corn). Caleb noticed the farmer's fields and got very excited because he thought he was going to Grandpa's church! (Grandpa's church is in Northern California in a very rural area next to some fields). I guess he doesn't see too many farmer's fields where we live.

So other news from the Van Ee Home:
Josh will be ordained by our church next Sunday night. His parents and my parents will be here for the occasion. We also have some other family and friends in the area who plan to attend. Some people have asked what being ordained will mean for Josh. Basically it is our church calling him as a minister of the Word, but with the calling to teach at Westminster Seminary. He won't be paid by our church since he already gets his salary from Westminster. It is very common for professors at the seminary to be ordained by their local church as their role is to teach future pastors. He will continue to serve in our church as Sunday school teacher and pulpit supply.

Sorry, no pictures to post this time. Though I will post some soon from our latest house project.

Getting More Juice

This was the weekend the winery was selling their Rose juice. Friday Josh, Gideon, Caleb and Aunt Becky drove up north to pick up the juice. I had to miss out on the fun this weekend as I worked Friday afternoon. I sent the camera along with Josh to take pictures this time. They had an hour long wait to get the juice so there was plenty of time to remember to take pictures.


Here's the line of cars and trucks waiting to get the juice.


As you wait for the juice, you can sample it. Caleb and Aunt Becky are enjoying their samples. Last weekend the juice was red and Caleb and Eliyana got big red mustaches from their tastes!


Here they are filling our containers with hoses.



Here are our barrels of juice in the stand Josh built. The top is the Rose juice and the bottom is the Red juice. It will take about 40 days to finish fermenting. During the fermentation time, the containers can't be sealed because the juice gives off gas. Once the fermentation is complete, we close the containers to seal out the air which can turn the wine to vinegar. We like to bottle the wine soon after it is complete, but it can stay good in the containers as long as we keep the air out and it doesn't get too hot. The containers have spigots to easily remove the wine and the sediment stays on the bottom of the barrels. It is a very easy, natural process to make wine.

Gideon Helping Matthew Unpack and Getting our Wine Juice

Today Matthew unpacked more of his boxes which had been in storage during the summer to get more settled in his room. Gideon loved to visit with Matthew while he was working in his room. Here's a picture of Gideon "helping" Matthew unpack his box. Matthew is very good with the children. It's fun to hear stories of his own children and also of their antics. Children are the same no matter where in the world they were born!

This morning Eliyana, Caleb and I went about an hour north to get our grape juice to make our wine with Becky and John Walters (John is my dad's cousin and Becky is his aunt). Becky and Jimmy have been making their own wine for years and a few years ago we decided to give it a try. It's a very simple process to make wine. The juice naturally ferments. When it is finished after about 40 days, we seal up the barrels until we are ready to bottle it. I brought my camera along to take pictures of the winery where we get our juice and also how they fill our barrels, but I forgot to take a picture. Josh will head up next week to get a Rose juice. This week they had a Red juice. Maybe I can convince him to try to take some pictures!

Meet Matthew

Meet Matthew Chiangi, the newest member of our household!

Matthew is Pastor and a seminary student from Nigeria. He studied at Westminster last year and we got to know him as he also attended our church. We offered to house him this school year when we heard he was struggling to find a place to stay and after hearing of his difficult time living last year. We are glad to have him stay with us this year and hope to provide him good food and fellowship. Matthew has a wife and 4 young children remaining in Nigeria while he is here studying. His youngest son was born while he was in the States last school year and he finally met him this summer when he was home. He enjoys playing with Gideon who is almost the same age as his baby. Matthew hopes to finish his M.A. degree this year to go back to Nigeria and possibly teach Hebrew or Old Testament in their seminary.

Other News

Gideon turned 10 months old last week. He is standing up very well and scooting along furniture. He sometimes lets go and finds himself standing without holding onto anything. He's still getting into everything. Here I caught him in the act of rummaging through the trash can. He loves trash cans. He also loves playing in toilet water. At least this habit is motivating me to keep the trash cans empty and the toilets clean!


Gideon decided he was done nursing this past week. It isn't exactly the way I was hoping he'd be weaned, but so it is. We wonder if that might not be an early indication of his independence. Here he is with big sister helping him with his bottle.

It was Caleb's 4th birthday on Sept 4. We had a small birthday party on Sunday after church. It's great having a pool to entertain the kids. They had a great time. Caleb actually fell asleep in church that night and he's never done that before. Usually he's a ball of energy during church and its all we can do to keep him still.

The evidence of the Spiderman cupcakes! The kids all had red or blue icing all over their hands and mouths!

Today was Caleb's first day of preschool. We decided to do a 2 day/week program at the Christian school since we already need childcare 2 days/week. Caleb does very well with a structured program as we've seen with Sunday school, so we thought it would be good for him. The first day went very well. He came home chattering about his day and proud to be wearing his backpack. We hope he continues to enjoy it.

Catching Up

It's been a good couple weeks. We are all getting used to the new routine of school. Eliyana being in school 5 days a week is an adjustment. Our house can be a little chaotic at 7:30 AM as we quickly put together her lunch and get everyone dressed. Buses are not common in San Diego County so we must bring Eliyana to school and pick her up everyday.

Last weekend we visited with Heidi's great-aunt Becky Walters and their family. We had a nice time playing in their pool and eating good Greek food on their patio.