More of Lincoln, Hope and the whole fam

Tuesday morning I got to play with Katie and Linc before heading back to Holland. He wakes up in the morning  and sings in his crib until someone comes to get him. Then he just bops around the house playing and eating and making noises that always sound like, "mamamama."

We met the family for lunch at Good Earth, one of our very favorite Holland spots. I ran into Becca, an old SIB friend, and it was so good to see her. Linc continued to be the main attraction of our lives.

The rest of the day got filled up with Holland shopping with Bethie, working on my new friendship bracelet stockpile, eating dinner with the fam and watching some quality tv before bed.

This morning I went back to campus for chapel part two, this time with the Sibs and ran into old friends Chris and Kristin too. I love coming back to Hope and getting to know these girls who are right in the middle of their college experience. This was a place I loved so much, grew a ton, learned a lot about the world and myself and had so much fun.

Today I got to have coffee at JPs with Becca and Brigid and their new babies Grace and Maggie. Coffee dates are my favorite and it was so fun to get to sit and talk about Sibbie things and learn more about each of these girls.

On this trip I've been happily amazed at how I keep running into old friends. I was just walking down the sidewalk when Allison drove by and pulled over to say hi and then Lindsey walked up. They were YL girls I worked with when I led in college and now they're Hope students. It's so fun to see where they are now.

I love Hope College. I love anchors. I love Dimnent Chapel. I love seeing friends on campus. I love places that feel like home. I love 8th St. I love still making new friends here. I love how some things never change like how Hope people are always so friendly. I love remembering silly things I did here like climbing trees with Lani, riding the hoopdi with Keri, and long boarding with Casey. I love Hope College.

I posted my anchor pic on Instagram and a few hours later I was tagged in this copy cat picture. Andrew, one of my awesome students, is touring colleges with his family this Spring Break. I was so excited when he told me he would be in Holland at some point. I just love this photographic caper with the same caption no less. So fun.

I would say a funny quote Lincoln said today... but he doesn't talk.

Wanna know one of the best things about having my parents retire to Holland, MI? They're just five minutes down the road from Hope College. This morning I met up with Susan Haigh, one of my old YL girls, to go to chapel in Dimnent Chapel. 

Hope has an optional 30-minute chapel three times a week, an awesome recharge of faith and connection that I loved so much during my time there. Today Kate, a Hope chaplain, recognized me when I walked in and then gave an awesome talk about how because of Easter we can't go back to what we knew and were before. 

It was so fun to get hang out with Susan for awhile, to run into Erin Drews in the library for a quick chat and see Nora leading a tour on the sidewalk. Amazing how even after four years away I can still recognize friends here-- I love that.

I came home to hole up in the living room with Mom and Gma for the afternoon. Mom and I worked on quilt bindings while we all watched NCIS and Murder She Wrote; pretty much the perfect afternoon.

Shauna's new book Bread and Wine is full of recipes. If you know me at all you know I don't really cook, so I thought being at home would be a great opportunity to try out some of these recipes. Today we started with the Gaia Cookies. 

When the first batch spread out pretty thin on the cookie sheet we decided to get creative and cook the rest in muffin tins. These oatmeal cookies are full of cranberries, raisins and chocolate chips. I'm a fan.

*Disclaimer: If you don't like babies/have no heart/don't care about baby Lincoln you should stop reading at this point. Everyone else, continue on.

I drove out to Katie and Nick's house for the night and found baby Lincoln just waking up from a nap. We love how he's just on top of his quilt and almost all of his stuffed animals in his crib.

He remembered me from yesterday! Best. Friends.

We ate bbq pork and asparagus for dinner that were equally delicious. Lincoln catches on to when we think he's funny and keeps laughing for a little while which makes picture taking a little easier.

Katie and Nick are doing a great job of raising up a responsible little guy. He now carries dishes from dad at the table into the kitchen to give mom to put in the sink. Holy cow I can't even handle his awesomeness.

When Nick went back outside to finish up with cutting down branches Linc and I had to go play too. We went on the tree swing, took a ride on the tractor, went down the slide, took stuff to the compost pile and ran around.

We warmed up back inside and ate a Gaia Cookie for dessert.

And then it was bath time. I think playing in the sink and drinking out of the faucet might be Linc's favorite part of the whole day.