5 from '15

     This year was one full of adventures for team Worth, some desired, other not so much.  Through it all, however, we have come to one definite conclusion: our God is faithful to His promises and He has provided for our needs!
     Most significantly, God saw us through, and held us up, when we couldn't stand after the death of our father/papa Steve Worth.  He leaves behind a beloved legacy of integrity, steadfastness, and most importantly a deep and devoted relationship with the Lord.  We miss him dearly and are longing to one day join him in heaven in the presence of God Almighty.
     2015 is the first year in a while that we failed to even set our 5 goals (other years we simply failed to meet them), so instead of recapping how we did on our goals, we would like to list 5 significant accomplishments of the last year.

1. Finished off our NJCLASS loans, which were our highest interest college loans.  We started with over 25,000 dollars of NJCLASS loans and finished them off well ahead of schedule, saving our family a ton in interest over the long hall.
2. Got pregnant!  For the 5th time God blessed us with a pregnancy and we are excited (and a little scared) to now have our children out number the adults.
3. Took the kids to the Cabin in the Upper Peninsula for the first time.  This cabin is Mark's favorite place in the world, and it's where he vacationed every year of his life prior to marriage.  It also happened to be Papa Steve's favorite place as well and it was a great joy to see him enjoy his grandchildren there!  God blessed us with this opportunity only a week before Papa Steve passed away.
4. Live on our own.  One of our 2015 goals would have been to move out from living with Ben and either buy a house or rent a place.  Through certain circumstances (and the extreme generosity of our brother Ben), he actually moved out and began living at our parent's apartment.  So we were able indeed to live on our own in his house.  This blessing is the main reason we were able to finish off our NJ Class loans this year.  We are blessed!
5. Made progress on not being "That Family".  We have not yet arrived, but we have worked hard on getting to events on time.  Perhaps it was a natural result of ]\\ not having an infant to be up with at night or get ready in the morning, but either way we went from 10+ minutes late to being on time at most events.  We would like to think this will continue to get better in 2016, but lets be honest, with Baby #3 on the way, we could be looking at a backslide.

We would like to wish everyone a happy and blessed new year.  Place your hope and joy in the Lord and He will lift you up.

Happy New Year,

Team Worth

PS look for our 2016 goals to be posted tomorrow!!!

Playground 4 of 30: Pine Park

Playground #4 was visited on May 18th.  This playground held special significance for Mark because he grew up playing soccer games at Pine Park.  The playground is vibrant and tucked away in the pine forest.  Aunt Amanda was with us for the playground so that made the day even more special.  Enjoy some pictures from the day below!

Park #3: Pere Marquette

On May 14th, Katie and Amanda took the kids to Pere Marquette and they enjoyed a day of Playground and Beach!  Titus was interested in the water, but would back off as it rolled up on him.  He and Eden seemed to enjoy the sand more than the play equipment, and fun was had by all.  Enjoy a few pictures below!

All in all, a day worth remembering!

Park 2/30: Smith Ryerson Playfield

Sometimes in life we realize that great things have been so close by for so long, but we never knew.  Today, we visited our second playground in our journey to play on 30 playgrounds.  We found the Smith Ryerson Playfield which is only a few miles from our house yet we have never taken the kids there before.  Certainly this will not be our last visit.

We kicked off the afternoon with a "Healthy" picnic in the pavilion

Then it was playground time!

We finished off our time there with a few runs down the sand dune!!!

All in all, it was another fun trip to the Park!!!  2 Down, 28 To Go!

A 30 Park Summer: Mullally Park in North Muskegon

As an attempt to document and enjoy our summer we are going to take the kids to 30 different playgrounds.  Saturday May 2nd, Katie and I got our first sunburns, so it is only appropriate that we also started this journey.

Mullally park is a sports complex that we visited in North Muskegon to play frisbee golf.  They had some really nice play equipment for the kids as well!

In spite of all the great equipment, 

Titus' favorite toy were the rocks

Meanwhile, Eden was making friends like she always does!

 

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

More parks to come!