spring!

i figured since the view outside our window has slightly changed since my last post, i better write again....

a few weeks ago nate and nicole spent a weekend of their spring break with us. nicole treated nate to a wrigley field tour and we tagged along, which was also my first time in the stadium. i think i'd like to go back when it's a little warmer!




fast forward a few weeks and it was spring break for matt and i. so we hopped in the car and drove 15 hours to denver with two other teachers from timothy. we survived western nebraska and eastern colorado with a rousing game of "my cows" and several bags of starburst jelly beans. we were able to catch up with family, some people matt got to know during his time student teaching, and enjoy the beautiful weather. only in denver can you wake up to snow and then enjoy 65 degrees in the afternoon! we went to red rocks on a beautiful sunday afternoon...



...went snow shoeing in rocky mountain national park. (the views were well worth the shortage of oxygen and these plain dwellers weren't used to!)



...and just enjoyed the view of majestic mountains!


in other news....student teaching is done! i was at timothy christian for 11 weeks in the 3rd grade and absolutely loved it. but my last day of student teaching also meant getting on the job hunt. i've been sending out my application a lot of places and had a few interviews since the beginning of the new year, but nothing has worked out. to be honest, it's really been a struggle for me. i'm starting to feel that matt belongs right where we are, but nothing is opening up for me...leaving me feeling a little confused as to what i should do or where i should look. filling out those applications and anxiously waiting by my phone and email is teaching me a lesson in patience and trust....but i'm not so good at it all the time. so as i wait, i trust that God will provide again in His timing, as he has so many times before. :)

well, that's about all from illinois. here's to ever warming temperatures and a sun-filled spring!

double snow day

we already knew on tuesday afternoon that school was cancelled for wednesday, so we hunkered down for "blizzard 2011." this is what we woke up to on wednesday morning...

15+ inches on top of our picnic table

just as i was going to take matt's picture, the wind picked up and blew snow right in his face :)

in our section of the parking lot, we pull right up to a retaining wall. this van had snow that was level from the back of the van to the top of that retaining wall. when he dug out the van and pulled it out of the spot, we could read his license plate from an imprint in the snow drift!

our car just a couple spaces away from that van...the whole front end covered.

a weird drift next to the sonata.

matt digging out the front of the car.

so what do you do when 15"+ fall in less than 24 hours? well, we started off with a blizzard brunch with our neighbors...complete with scones, omlettes, and bacon. then we (or i should really say matt did most all of it) dug out our cars and our friends' cars, plus a couple other neighbors that were attempting to dig that much snow with anything from swiffers, ice cream buckets, rubbermaid lids, and ice scrapers. and that night we played some great rounds of wii bowling. i had the game of my life, bowling a 275 with 10 strikes and 1 spare....too bad i can't do that in real life!

that afternoon we got the news that we have snow day #2 today! apparently the side streets weren't plowed and we have very cold temperatures today, so we get to relax at home for another day. double snow days call for blizzard brunch #2....and the school work i put off from yesterday! i hope everyone stayed warm and safe this week!

teaching moments

i experience my first read-in day at timothy christian this past friday. it's a day where all the kids from K-6 get to come to school in their pajamas with pillows, stuffed animals, and bags of books in tow. the whole day is dedicated to reading - reading silently, guest readers, reading with friends, teacher read alouds, reading with parents - you name it, we read it. matt was one of our guest readers, so it was nice that the kids could make that connection.

the other day i had a pretty great teaching moment. while the 3rd graders were working on their little netbooks with an online math program, one of the students raised her hand. usually they have questions about concepts that we haven't learned yet. but this time, the little girl says.....mrs. van schepen! this makes so much more sense to me now that you taught us about decimals! i will admit that i may have had a little bit of pride in that moment...forgive me. but i won't lie...it's nice to have verbal confirmation straight from the mouth of the students sometimes!

after next week i'll just about be 1/2 way done....crazy! i'm really enjoying my time and learning a lot....especially how hard my own mother worked when she taught AND took care of her family at the same time. it's just me and matt and i feel like i'm in a perpetual losing battle against our dirty clothes hamper! thanks, mom :)

a month in a nutshell

i had full intentions of getting a post on here about Christmas break before i started student teaching. obviously that didn't happen. it was also a little bit of me not quite knowing how to adequately wrap up those 2 weeks into something coherent. so a month later, here is my attempt - please forgive the randomness....

Christmas break started with a weekend of emotional highs and lows. and since life keeps speeding along at its crazy pace, i'm left feeling inadequate in knowing what to say. how do you put into words a man that has fathered and mentored generations, loved without restriction, and would never think of putting himself before anyone else.....a man that raised a family in a commitment to Christ - truly showing how Great is His Faithfulness....a grandfather that knew and loved each one of his grandchildren in their own unique way, making everyone feel at home when they were with him. i guess it's the same with anyone that's lost someone they love. but we had a beautiful weekend celebrating grandpa's life and rejoicing that he is now painlessly praising our Lord on the streets of gold.

after a roller coaster of emotion that first weekend, matt and i set off for minnesota and then on to iowa. matt was able to ice fish...and i stayed by the heater to read my books and drink plenty of hot apple cider. thankfully, we had dry roads every day we had to travel - that part of christmas always stresses me out! one of my friends here in chicagoland told me she is just amazed at the amount of miles that we log. maybe i'm used to it already, but when you finish a 10 CD book on tape before you even start the trip home, and the back seat and trunk are packed pretty full....for 2 people!...i guess it's quite a trip.

and now it's on to student teaching. i'm in 3rd grade and love it! my school just does 1 placement, so i'll be there through the end of march. starting next week, i'll be teaching everything but reading and writing, so things are getting busy. i love the teaching part, just not all the formal write ups that i have to do for my college. my class is great (actually spoiling me too much b/c they are so well behaved) and my cooperating teacher's wonderful.....plus matt and i get to carpool! i'll have to take my camera with me some day and catch a few pictures.

the rest of our life is usually basketball. matt's done with basketball next weekend and i'm done the following weekend. matt's team just lost by 1 in their conference playoffs tonight to a tough team they beat 2 times in the regular season. my team is doing well - i think we are sitting 3rd in the conference but are just starting the second time through playing all the teams. they are a really fun group of girls to coach, but i won't lie - the afternoons will be nice to have back when i start teaching full time in february!

here's some pictures from Christmas break...

this present is matt in a nutshell - a Bill Nye bobblehead

tyler wins the prize for the most creatively wrapped present

it was a veeery frosty, beautiful morning when we left edgerton

i guess it's only appropriate that all i have is the crazy family picture on my camera...mom and dad - you should work on better faces for next year :)

the van wyk valley view farms version of the stonehenge

since i post so infrequently...and matt posts even less, i thought i should include some of his exciting things from the past week. first, he saved up and got the sale he was looking for to get this ice house. notice that it takes up our entire living room when it's in full form - this only lasted for about 15 minutes and then i made him put it back in the bag. :)

and matt finished his 3 year project of crocheting a blanket. yes, he did this all himself....he wanted me to make him one but i told him we had plenty of blankets. his response was....fine, teach me how to do it and i'll crochet one myself.....so he did! even to the point where he would take out a stitch if i did it b/c he wanted it to say he did the whole thing. it's quite impressive....and quite large.

well, i should probably start thinking about the teacher's manuals sitting all over my couch around me. matt and i are headed up to holland this weekend b/c timothy girls and boys basketball plays holland christian tomorrow, so it will be a short weekend! hope everyone has a great weekend!

winter wonderland

this is the view outside our window that we woke up to this morning...a winter wonderland. it's just so beautiful when it's untouched and bright, and every little branch is covered in white. plus, it's great snowball snow! :) pretty impressive for the first (substantial) snow of the year!

give thanks

...for a church family that braves the cold all for the sake of fellowship and supporting their community

...that my father did not get injured while running around on the football field with high schoolers. :)


...for families to be together again

...for friends that have become family

...for wonderful traditions that stand the test of time and distance

Violet Ann Eloise Lewicki

...for new life

...for lifelong friendships

...for unconditional love

...for a God that answers our prayers...and grants patience for ones yet unanswered

...for everything HE has given us and so much more


give thanks


Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126

my 2 cents

this year we are struggling to form a freshmen girls basketball team. last year i only had 7 girls, and this year only 7 girls came out again. now before you go thinking that i'm scaring them all off before they even get to high school, it's not true....really. it's a trend that we are seeing in sports across the board at timothy christian. as coaches, we're stuck scratching our head and wondering why we have to beg kids to stay playing or search the halls far and wide to find enough bodies to fill our uniforms. i ran across this quote from a volleyball coach's blog in an entry titled "my love letter to athletics"...

“We need to encourage parents, coaches, sports leagues, the culture itself to go back to multiple sports participation. And there needs to be real off-seasons with unstructured play. No adults. No rules. No leagues. No registration cards. One of the best sentences a parent can utter is ‘Go outside and play.’ One of the worst is, ‘It’s nine a.m. Get in the car, we’re going to practice.’” (Warrior Girls)

"go outside and play." pretty sure i heard that one a time or two. but that "play" is now what i love. so i realized i need to say a big thank you to my parents and coaches who instilled in me a love for play with the right perspective....and my siblings and friends for being my teammates. a love for play in its pure, hard-working, sometimes unstructured but so very rewarding form.