About
PROFILE: LLOYD CLARENCE VANDERKWAAK
Date of Birth: December 25, 1956
Place of Birth: Terrace, British Columbia, Canada
High School: Caledonia High School, Terrace, BC, 1974
Married:Vicki Veenstra on August 13, 1977
College: Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa, 1978 – Bachelors of Arts Degree — Majors: Sociology, Psychology, Social Services
Graduate School: University of Wisconsin - Parkside, 1981 — Masters of Public Administration
Employment Experience:
— Attendant Care Coordinator/Society’s Assets, Racine, Wisconsin
— Director of Community Development/Society’s Assets, Racine, Wisconsin
— Executive Director /Society’s Assets, Racine, Wisconsin
— Director of Client Services/Hope Haven, Rock Valley, Iowa
— President/CEO/ChildServe, Des Moines, Iowa
Awards:
— Distinguished Alumni Award 2002/Dordt College
— Impact Award 1997/Good Samaritan Urban Ministries, Des Moines, Iowa
Activities & Interests:
— Running & Marathoning: Chicago 2003
— Urban Ministry activities
— Diaconal activity
— Leadership & Management
— Non-Profit Board Service
— Housing renovations
— Learning and growing in our understanding of what it means to work and live from a Biblical Reformed world view
— Reading Biographies
PROFILE: VICKI LYNN VANDERKWAAK
Date of Birth: February 13, 1956
Place of Birth: Racine, Wisconsin, USA
High School: Case High School, Racine, Wisconsin,1974
Married: Lloyd VanderKwaak on August 13, 1977
College: Dordt College, 1978 – Bachelors of Arts Degree — Majors: Sociology, Psychology, Social Services
Graduate School: University of Nebraska - Omaha, 1992 — Masters of Social Work
Employment Experience:
— Social Worker /Becker Geriatric Center, Racine, Wisconsin
— Social Work Consultant/Lyon Manor, Rock Valley, Iowa
— Coordinator International & Minority Students/Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa
— Therapist/Bethesda Christian Counseling, Sioux Falls, SouthDakota
— Social Worker /Hospice of Central Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa
— Therapist/Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Pella/Des Moines, Iowa
— Medical Social Worker/Mercy Hospice, Johnson, Des Moines, Iowa
Certification:
— Licensed Independent Social Worker #01063/Iowa
Awards:
— Distinguished Alumni Award 2002/Dordt College
— Impact Award 1997/Good Samaritan Urban Ministries, Des Moines, Iowa
— Regent’s Tuition Scholarship/1990/91 University Nebraska-Omaha.
— Sister Rosemary Ronk Scholarship/1990 Nebraska NASW
Activities & Interests:
— Running & Marathoning: Lincoln, 2001, Twin Cities, 2001, Grandma’s, 2002, Des Moines, 2002, Boston 2003, Chicago 2003
— Stain Glass Artisan
— Urban Ministry and refugee resettlement activities
— Diaconal activity, relational ministry
Lloyd and Vicki VanderKwaak
If you really want to understand who we are, you should know who Abraham Kuyper is. (Go ahead, now, and look him up on a search engine). He, and his thinking, have had a major impact on the way we think about reality, and our place in this world. This Kuyperian philosophy has provided a paradigm for the way we have gone about choosing our various jobs, parenting, and other activities. There is one particular quote of his, that can be seen framed and hanging in our home:
“There is not a square inch on the face of this earth, over which Christ has not proclaimed, ‘This is mine’.”
If anyone reading this is interested in learning more or dialoging about this Kuperian philosophy, we would be thrilled!!! Let us know!!
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FIFO
A very important principal in our household has been FIFO. ( First in, first out). It has to do with not wasting food, and revolves around the idea of choosing to use ingredients FIRST, that are at most risk of spoiling! This way, nothing goes to waste!!
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Reading
Some of our favorite authors over the past few years have been: CS Lewis, Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen, E Stanly Jones. Over the past year, we have been enjoying our daily 7:00-7:30 AM coffee time even more, by reading aloud to each other from these various authors. Lately, we are reading about the 15 “disease germs”. E Stanley has categorized the major things that cause breakdown in our physical, mental and spiritual health, into 15 items. We have been spending at least a week or so, on more in-depth look at each of these 15 things. The germ we have most recently been reading about, is Self –Centeredness”. Jones does not leave a thing untouched!
Music
We’ve tried to make an intentional effort this year, to be “more musical”. We did this, by purchasing tickets to 4 different Des Moines Symphony concerts scheduled for this year. We put the dates on our calendar, and thought, “there, now we will be more cultured”. Well, NOT! So far, we have had to give away the tickets for 3 out of the 4 concerts we had planned on attending. We are out of town a lot (our kids keep us hopping), and at least one of the times, we decided we needed to go to bed by 9PM (the concerts usually start at 8PM). We are just getting so old and “runned out”, that we can’t stay awake very late anymore! So much for being more cultured!
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Our Children
Kristin was born April, 1979, Nick was born November 1980, Reuben was born July, 1982, and Kim was born July, 1983. She came to join our family at age two, from Korea, in July of 1985.
Kristin married Curt Kuiper on December 29, 1999. They now live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Kristin recently completed her MSW at Michigan State and is currently employed as a medical social worker in the cardiac unit of Spectrum Health. Curt will graduate in May of this year, with his Masters in Ed. They are going to have a baby in August of this year!!!! This will be our first grandchild!!!!!!
Nick graduated from Dordt College with a computer science and business degree in May 2003. He is currently living and working in Chicago. He signed up, along with Lloyd and I, to run Grandma’s Marathon, in June, 2004, in Deluth, MN
Reuben married Heidi Kooiman on October 3, 2003. They are currently living in Sioux Center, Iowa, where Rueben is finishing up his degree from Dordt College. They are busy applying to graduate schools (Heidi) and work (Reuben), with an eye for landing in Chicago near Nick.
Kim has been living in Des Moines since graduating from Johnston High School, in May 2002. She has been living in various apartments with various friends, and has worked various jobs.
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Salome
Salome, who came from Nigeria, to live with us, in January, 2000, is now a sophomore at Dordt. She is wanting to attend law school after graduating from Dordt anticipated in May of 2006.
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Michael
Michael (now 11) and his family are doing GREAT! We will hope to tell more of his story soon. We talked about his story a few years ago, when we had to give a chapel speech at Dordt, as the distinguished alumni. If you want to check it out, look at:_________
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Here are a few pictures of our early courtship and wedding, and then a series of photos that we used in our annual Christmas letters since 1982. You can watch our kids grow, and watch us age!!!!!!
