So .. last post I was going to post pictures of the house… but we have been doing a lot of painting, redecorating, and rearranging so we will have to wait until the house is all done to get those pictures!!!!
Life has been busy for Alex and I!! Alex has been busy with the house and with work. He has stayed busy this winter despite the lack of snow! We have had a good winter together hang out with friends, working on our house, and relaxing!
I have been busy with work. It has been fun working with patients and having more experience on hand so that I am not such a ” newbie” at it!

So Alex and I have pretty exciting new… well maybe just for us.. but it is exciting and will involve some change! We are going into foster care! We are in the process of getting licensed which involves 10 3-hour classes in Sioux City. They have been pretty interesting… even enough to capture Alex’s attention!!! We will have to get a lot together… starting from scratch getting a carseat, all babystuff, crib, booster seat, and toys. We decided to go for 2 siblings ages from 0- 5 and hopefully doing foster care to eventually adopt. It will be a challenge, but we are ready for it. We have longed for children and feel that this is where God is calling us to go and do. So we still have 3 home studies to do ( first on the 28th) , 6 more classes, and then hopefully we become licensed. They say their is a large need in this area so I have a feeling pretty soon after that we will get kids!!! So we appreciate your prayers during this process and if you have any old baby or children’s stuff you don’t need we will be willing to buy it or take it off your hands! We are not giving up on having our own kids..but it’s time to look for something else for us too keep our minds from dwelling on what we don’t have, but instead looking for what we have to offer others.

Other than that.. life has been good. Looking forward to a summer with family visiting and of course my little sister’s wedding in August.

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Could not resist but here is a sneak peek of the house! WE are full blast in packing, cleaning, organizing, and throwing away! We are going to have so much room so we had to buy some new furniture, found some decorations at garage sales, and I got some shopping to do! hehehe! It is very exciting/ sad/ overwhelming/ tiring thinking of the next week but we have a bunch of good help! Hope you like it…. More pictures to come once we get settled in!

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Hello All!

Wow, August was quite the month! I am glad it is over, yet it was a really fun and exciting month ( well the last part of it that is! ).

I have been feeling better everyday from my medical issues, still taking some pills for my stomach because it is not quite right yet.. but getting there! Dr. wants us to wait a while before trying to get pregnant as he said he removed a huge septum from my uterus… needing time to heal. Here is a picture of what he removed if you are interested… the septum just would cause a miscarriage or can even prevent the pregnancy. http://www.uptodate.com/contents/image?imageKey=PI%2F18512  Then he wants us to try new pills…as well as some other things like IUI which at the point we start that insurance will stop covering everything. It is SO hard to know what to do…. anyone have ANY experience with this? I just have to trust God and pray that he directs us and the Dr. to do the right things.  Anyways.. enough about that.. I have 2 more months to worry about that!!!!!

So the 23rd – 30th I had VERY special visitors! My sister Sarah braved flying out her with her 7 week old, Elizabeth as well as her 5 year old Sammy. It was SOOOO good to see them.. and meet my first little niece ( on the Feucht side that is! ) . It was so special she could bring her out her while she was still little as I probably would not have met her until she was walking! She is such a little sweetie… I tried to steal her but her mommy would miss her too much. Sammy was a joy as usual… talking a mile a minute, full of smiles, and a lot of fun. He LOVED playing outside with Bentley, the dog. I was SO happy to see that Bentley played well with him since I am always worried about that big dog with kid… just jumping on them and knocking them over or else licking them to death! Sammy had fun being the only boy, however he did miss his brothers quite a bit I think! We got to do a lot of stuff like shopping at second hand shops finding a BUNCH of brand new or slightly used clothes for Lizzy for cheap, pampered Sarah with a haircut and pedicure, went shopping more, the butterfly house, swimming, playing with my other nephews and nieces, the butterfly house, and Alex even brought the fire truck home with lights and sirens and surprised Sammy ( oh and the neighbors )    The owners of our new house let us bring Sarah though it so that she can see where we are moving too! It was a lot of fun and it is always hard saying good bye I wish that they could move here, however with Andrews specialized job it is just wishful thinking.  However, I have thankful for the time I got to spend with them and hopefully get to see them soon!!!!

Then the NEXT week was my friend Judy’s wedding! I was a bridesmaids along with 3 other girls, two of them being my really good friends from Dordt! It was So much fun… and Judy was an AWESOME bride! We only had a couple stressful times with decorating the reception ( who plans for wind outside to keep destroying our outside decorations!!! ) We used our heads and figured it out! IT was SO beautiful at a winery and it was such a laid back and relaxing reception.  I bride and bridesmaids were just a little late for the wedding ( 20 minutes! Whoops!) giving the groom and his family a little scare… but we always need a dramatic entry .. right??? All in all it was a wonderful night and I am so happy for Judy, Phil, and their little son Kaydrian. 

Now it is back to the grind of thing… we are now preparing full blast to move in two or so weeks. I am hoping for a relaxing move… but we will see how that goes! At least we won’t have to do any major painting to the house or renovations, just going to do some deep cleaning ( baseboards, carpets, cupboards, drawers)  so that I don’t have to do it for another year   .  I can’t wait to post some pictures of our house.. I think you would all love it!   There will be another guest room so everyone is invited to come stay at our house, you are ALWAYS welcome!!!

Now here are some pictures… no captions but I bet you can figure them all out! Enjoy!

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Hello All,
Sorry it has been a long time since blogging, but life has been very busy for the Van Voorsts. Only my faithful readers will actually be reading this.. as I am guessing everyone else has given up on this blog!

Have no fear… here is a update.
Life has been good for Alex and I. We have kept busy working full time. Alex has been striving to grow the business, which he has been doing a great job about. He works very hard. I continue to work at Physical Therapy in Orange City. I love it there… giving all my patients a hard time and working them hard. We have a pretty good time!

Alex and I also had an interesting month and a deal on a house came open that we could not resist. We put our home on the market and thankfully is now sold after a week and a half! All the updates we did really paid off to help it sell faster. We will miss this house a great deal as we spent a lot of time and effort into our 1st home! We do love the new house and it will be exciting to move in it.

Also we, well I have been dealing with some medical problems. I never really talk about them publicly as I am embarrassed about them… or more like ashamed because it. It has been a struggle … or a thorn in my flesh that God has given me. However, since you are my faithful followers I will tell you about it so that you can pray with us and walk with us as we deal with this. Alex and I have been trying to get pregnant for a little more than a year now… and we started doctoring in March for it. We tried an OBGYN to help us with some issues, but she referred us to an Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Hanson in SIoux Falls. He has been really good and really jumped at it… We discovered that I had a septum in my uterus which would be a cause of infertility and miscarriages as well as poly cystic ovary syndrome. Also know that I had a blocked tube, which with surgery found out it was caused by a small amount of endometriosis. So I had a surgery two weeks ago, which was supposed to be a same day surgery, however the Dr. did nick my bowel, causing some complications. He was able to remove the endometriosis and did remove the quite large septum in my uterus. However, with this complication I did end up in the Orange City Hospital for 5 days on IV antibiotics. It was a close call for another surgery, however thankfully the bowel issues resolved themselves and no surgery was needed again! So… from here on… who knows what the Lord will do. I see the Dr. Tuesday and see what the next step to this is. It is scary, but I am very hopeful that Alex and I will have children someday. The Lord has really brought us to himself during this whole ordeal and you learn that the only thing you really can have hope in, is himself and trust that this is all in his will!

So sorry, that was longer than expected… but now you all know whether you care or not! Hope all is well with everyone! The next couple weeks will be exciting for us as next week my sister is coming from Washington with her baby girl, Elizabeth who will be almost 2 months and her 2nd boy Sammy. I am so EXCITED to see them! Then on Sept 3, my good friend Judy will be married! So it will be a really good time!

Well thanks for reading, I will post some pictures of my niece and nephew, Judy’s wedding, and our new house when we get some!

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Hello all!

Its has been a while since I updated! We have been really busy lately with work and things around the house. I have been working and then after work I have been teaching a core muscle class in our therapy pool. It was a fun class to teach however I am glad it is now done, ended this Wed. Alex was really good at making dinner at night, which I appreciated a great deal!! Alex has been well, Spring is here so he is gearing up to be busier. He kept himself busy through the winter  and was so busy that he did not have time to do some projects here around the house, which can wait for next year! We had it home to washington for a week which was a lot of fun. I love being with my family and nephews~  We had a busy week there, going to Lynden one day to meet up with Alex’s Aunt and Uncle then we got to meet up with my college friend Laura and her husband Zack. Then another day we drove down to Portland, OR with my dad and he showed us the sights of where he grew up and also went and did a little bit of shopping!   We also met up with dad’s sister, Aunt Gloria and Alex got to meet her for the first time.   Other than that we spent a lot of time with the boys, going on a lot of walks, took the 3 older ones to a movie and ice cream, and teaching my family my favorite game of sequence.  Alex brought his window washing tool and washed Sarah and my mom’s windows while us girls went shopping! When it was time to leave Sammy thought he was coming with us and he was so excited to go to Iowa and was so heart broken when he found out he could not really come. It is always hard to say good bye, but hopefully we will see at least some of my family before next year.

Other than that we are all doing well We can’t wait for summer to grill and go boating with friends and hopefully family!!!

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Our boy
Hello all!
I really have nothing to exciting to say, but I have a movie of our crazy dog. He has been spending some time inside because of the really cold temperatures and it is always interesting with him! Hope everyone is staying warm!

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Hello all,

We are back after a BUSY week in Florida! We stayed outside Orlando in a nice condo with our friends Tim and Darla Mantel. We made many arrangements before hand, which helped a lot with the trip. We went to Disney Land, Magic Kingdom, Sea World, the Blue Man group, the Atlantic Ocean, the gulf coast, GatorLand, and the Kennedy Space Center all together putting on  805 miles on our rented mini van. Everything was very interesting with the Blue Man group with front row tickets being the most entertaining thing I have seen in a long time. Sea World was really enjoyable with not so much of a crowd and really enjoying the Dolphin show.  The Space Center was really interesting, we went on the bus tour and got to see where the spaceships take off.  Disney was really busy and often had to stay in long lines for a ride, maybe I was not as “in touch” with the whole magic of Disney . However, it all was a great time with some good friends. Darla took a LOT of pictures which I will show you all some when I get them, I only took a few with my camera but soon realized I could just still Darla’s instead of having a lot of copies!

Another cool thing is that my friend Judy and Phil got engaged! They will be getting married sometime this fall and I will get to be a bridesmaid! It will be an awesome time and I am excited for them and their little family with Kaydrian.

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Well, life has been pretty fun lately. We have had busy weeks and time has been flying by fast! Next week this time we will be in Florida enjoying the weather, which I am looking very forward to. This cold weather gets to you… it is time for some sun!

Well anyways…. Alex has been telling me he got my anniversary, valentines, and birthday gift for me ( they are all within a month and a half of each other) and I have been waiting patiently ( well sorta patiently!!) to find out what they were. So finally friday he told me at work that he finally got them and they will be at home when I came home from work. I was SO excited to get there and this is what I found

Then I opened it up and he got me a brand new washer and dryer!!!! I have been telling him that these ones were neat and would be helpful to have a bigger washer and dryer for all his window cleaning towels.  However, he is a good old dutch man and thought I would never get these until the other ones were on their last leg!

And they are amazing. I am washing everything in the house, just because I can. And the other ones we had did go to good use in his rental house. The family is really grateful for their “new” washer and dryer.

Then he had another surprise for me!! He built me much needed shelves in our pantry room so that I can de clutter the kitchen shelves a little bit. They are awesome and it helps out with space!!

Here is the start to them being filled up! Alex sure does spoil me more than I deserve but I am so thankful and grateful for everything he does for me. I am always being reminded constantly how wonderful of a guy he is …. not because he buys me things like this.. but he is so thoughtful and loving to me. He is so kind and really is my perfect match. I loveeeeeeee loveee lovee him!

Since we love house projects, another thing Alex did was crown molding in the hall and living room. It is not too much but I think it looks rather neat He did a good job!

We have also had several couples over lately. We love to play games so it is a fun past time. Here are some of them being silly.

Last but not least, our “child” is doing well. He is dealing with this cold weather well….. I gave him a bath so he had to stay in the house for quite a while until his hair dried or else he would probably freeze to death!!

Other than that everything has been going well! We are taking classes at church which are almost every week and that has been fun and learning a lot. Other than that that is about all!! Hope everyone else is doing well.

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We have seen a lot of snow here in Iowa! Alex has been busy with his crews scooping almost 150 houses and businesses. I have been trying to keep up with my 86 year old neighbor who scoops his driveway every 2 hours even in the worst of storms. I gave up. It is way to cold out there to keep up with him! Bentley has been loving it, however I think our neighbors think he is freezing because he now has a donated large blanket  that just showed up in our yard. Bentley however thinks it is something else and has been seen quite often humping the blanket. I really don’t get that dog  Don’t worry, he also is not freezing to death. He is actually pretty spoiled and spends a lot of time in the winter in the house or the heated garage. Also, I have been finding out that many people actually stop by everyday to talk or pet the dog. Even the mail lady said she comes by every day and pets Bentley!! He has been getting to be a lot more calm which is nice.

Since it has been cold we decided that we needed some sun so the end of the month we will have a vacation to Florida! It will be fun and we will be going with another close couple. We got tickets for Disneyland, Sea World, the Space center, and front row tickets for the Blue Man group. It will be a good, much needed,  and relaxing vacation.  Then we bought tickets for March to go home to Washington. It will be so fun to see my family and other friends that live there!

Anyways, hope you are all staying warm this winter!

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I hope to hopefully keep in touch a little better! This blog will now be the official blog of Alex and Rachel Van Voorst!

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