Oh No!

Someone in the Kuyper's house had surgery this week!  

Why didn't you tell us about it? you ask.

Why didn't we all troop to the hospital to wish them well?  you are wondering.

Why didn't we bring casseroles and homemade cards? you are telling yourself.

Well the good news was that it was an arthroscopic outpatient surgery for Tony's torn Meniscus, and it was a success!  The surgery was a very quick outpatient surgery.  It was scheduled very soon after we found out it needed to be done, and thinking back, I didn't have much time to let people know and be asking for prayer.  

However, everything went well, and Tony is back on his feet- he wasn't even using crutches this morning. 

The surgeon came to see me directly after the surgery and showed me these really cool pictures of the inside of Tony's knee.  The meniscus is the part right below your kneecap (your patella) and if the tear is in the center it can simply be shaved off.  There is no point in repairing it as that part of you knee does not have any bloodflow, so the wound would be unable to heal.  If the tear occurs near the edge the surgeon will most likely do a minor reconstruction, which has a longer recovery time.  

We were praying that it would be in the center (centre) where the tear could simply be shaved down as the surgeon said it has the quickest recovery time, and Praise God, that's what it ended up being.  

Tony used his crutches for all of a day and a half, got back to driving yesterday, even swept the front porch on Saturday.  No stopping him!


We thank the Lord for our good health and that this was able to be taken care of quickly.  God gives us so much we don't deserve and this surgery was just another example.

Good News

My baby brother is engaged!

We threw a big engagement party at Mom and Dad's last Saturday for Randy and Taylor.  He proposed at the beach and brought her to the in-law's-to-be for some dessert and coffee.  Only he didn't tell her there were fifty people waiting for them to celebrate! Hmmm... sounds familiar.

Kate and I did the flowers (which wouldn't have been possible without the generous floral donations from Kate's mother's garden- thanks Mary!).

Sweet Pea's from our garden

The finished product

Baby Dylan loves his Uncle Tony.  He sat happily for hours with him while Kate and I did the flowers.

Stuck Sisters

The Dad's praying for their newly engaged children- my favorite part of the night.

Our Family is getting bigger!

As usual, big thanks to Kate for sharing her camera and pictures.

See all of her pictures at:

Randy and Taylor's Engagement Party

Easter... from Kate's Perspective

I'm so thankful my sister-in-law remembers to take pictures. 
Here are a few highlights :-)

Family Picture 

Minus Dylan who was taking a nap

The Easter Snapper (courtesy of New Zealand)

Easter Pavlova, a combined Kuypers creation

(also courtesy of New Zealand)

Uncle Tony

(once again, courtesy of New Zealand)

A lovely 'do from the newest hair stylist in the Family

Easter Earthquake

How many people does it take to feed one baby?

Uncle Tony and Aunty Katie are so helpful 
at locating "hidden" Easter Eggs

Check out more great pictures at the link below:

Kate's Easter Pictures

My Husband is Wonderful

I just spent about four hours (well, it felt like four) fixing all the craziness that happened to our blog when I tried to edit the background- just the background, mind you.  I wasn't even trying to do anything fancy!

After several episodes of "Project Runway" to keep me company, countless questions asked of the not-so-helpful Google Search Engine (I needed Ryan Slack) and even a few grunts of despair, it's all back to the way it was, sans the boring black background.

I've discovered several truths in the process-

1. I am not a fan of Blogger

2. I am a fan of Project Runway

3. I am not as dumb as I thought I was, if the vast amounts of people asking the same questions about blog issues on chat pages are any indication

4. My husband is pretty cool - he deals with this stuff all day long, only does it much faster and it looks WAY better.  Good job sweetie!

Happy Easter

Kuypers Easter Basket

Cadbury Mini-Caramel Eggs for Tony

Giant Cadbury Creme Eggs for me

I guess we're Cadbury Egg People

Sheepy looks hungry.  No candy for you!

Mom and Dad also gave us Easter Baskets.  

We'll be eating candy for years to come...

A New Interest in the Kuypers House

Last month our book club read 
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." 

Thanks Carol for the great recommendation!  We each had a fantastic time reading it.  It took me forever to finish because I kept looking up all the other authors mentioned in the book and reading their books and essays. 

We held the meeting at our house and Tony joined us for dinner, invariably getting sucked into the discussion.  He mentioned a TV mini-series that offered a different perspective of the same topic called "Island at War."    

*Warning: This movie is not for children and is a real life depiction of war, so don't watch it if you're squeamish or easily disturbed.  I've let Tony finish several episodes by himself.  

My New Love

I'm in love... with the crock-pot. 

 Katie hadn't used it since she got married a year and a half ago, 

so I put it to good use this morning cooking short-ribs in a homemade b-b-q sauce.

  Can't wait to eat it!

Garden Update

It's lookin' good!

Sweet pea's, lettuce, beans, peppers, 
grapes, spinach, herbs on one side-

Delphiums, miniature roses, pansy's, lobelia, and sweet alyssum on the other side.  
It's about to explode with color!

Our peas are almost ready to eat.

Hot Cross Buns

Yummy!  

Turned out great, but much credit is due to the breadmaker.

Thanks for the inspiration Leonie.