Catch up...

Sorry for the lack of post for the last week or so, but we have good news that says we should have our own connection on or around Oct. 2nd! Yeah!

Here is a recap of what's been going on with us here. (this is probably going to be fairly long - feel free to scroll down to look at the pictures if you don't want all the details)

We've had appointments with friends and missionaries that live in the area. It has been great to get information about the area (practical stuff - like what is their substitute for Neosporin when Keiric gashes his foot and, more importantly, information on missions strategies that they have used and found helpful)

Sonja, the woman I was able to live with while I was here in 2000 for 6 months, is giving me Dutch cooking lessons. She comes over about once a week and helps me with ideas on what to cook and classic Dutch recipes - it has been a great experience to renew our friendship and the kids are enjoying the new foods (though technically - there are a few vegetables she's tried that they didn't like so much.) Since you all know how inept I am in the kitchen, this has been a fun challenge. We have 2 McDonald's, 2 Subways and 1 Burger King in the entire city - people do not eat out very often around here. This means that I have made dinner every night since we've been here - SO different from our life in Phoenix - even Laveen has more fast food! I have made more meals in the last 2 months than I did in 8 years of marriage! It has taken some getting used to - but the kids are really enjoying it. Kaylie loves that we now sit around the table to eat, no TV, and the music CDs given to us playing in the background.

On Friday, my mom was able to fly in for a visit. She was apparently on strict orders to see that we were properly taking care of her grandchildren and to report back to all our family and friends back home. It also was a great time to show her around and introduce her to those we know here. She also brought lots of gifts and goodies for us - In fact, she brought both kids an entire winter wardrobe as neither of them had many clothes for winter. In Phoenix, there is not much need for those! Thanks to everyone who sent something with her - we appreciated all the tokens from home. We walked around town the next day in the rain and were able to see into some of the old buildings (the city has Monument Day once a year where all the old sites give free tours). City Hall was very interesting as each room had ornate furnishings and decorated ceilings. Kaylie was most excited to go inside the "Grote Kerk" (Big Church) in town - but I think all of us were dissappointed once inside. It was huge and beautifully ornate, but had as much atmosphere as the Phoenix Civic Center - it was completely devoid of anything spiritual. There was even a coffee shop off to one side, and mom said it reminded her of the story where Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers. The most interesting part was reading the inscriptions of the floor tiles -They apparently used to bury notables and church workers under the concrete slabs of the church - where now there is no sense of reverence to the God who made it all, or to the dead who were once religious or gave their lives in service.

Saturday night we took advantage of our free babysitter to have dinner with the youth pastor and his wife and then to go to the Youth meeting for their beginning of the year kick-off party. There are about 10 youth and we had fun getting to know them and hanging out - though Jeremy lost pretty bad at Dance Dance Revolution. It was also the first time we had not been with the kids, and we enjoyed a bit of freedom. We also were able to attend an English speaking church in another town that meets on Sunday nights because mom offered to watch Keiric. We took Kaylie because we thought she might like to interact with other children who speak English. It was a very interesting service. It is considered Anglican and there were many hymns we were not familiar with and repeated and echoed phrases - but it is always such an amazing experience to worship and praise God in a new place with other believers. There were about 30 people in the service, and I think everyone of them came up and introduced themselves to us - we felt very welcomed. The pastor is a missionary from Great Britain and just agreed to another 3 years of service, and we enjoyed talking with him and listening to his sermon on unity of the believers.

Monday we went into Amsterdam to try to meet up with some YWAM staff (Youth With A Mission) but they were closed in the morning and we'll have to try another time (Jeremy was at Tyndale and we had to rush back to meet up with him) - but we did make a contact with a woman we met on a boat tour who offered to show us more of Amsterdam and seemed to be looking and open for more friendships. We exchanged phone numbers, and I am hoping to connect again in the next few weeks.

Tuesday morning mom and I went a women's Bible study that I will get to be a part of. It is an interesting assortment of women who are struggling with a wide scale of issues. I look forward to being able to be part of the this group and contributing and sharing in the study as well as encouraging and supporting the women. Tuesday night we had our international cell group again and it was annouced that because the leader of the cell is leaving in January for 6 months, Jeremy has been asked to take over some of the leadership responsiblities. He was also able to attend a meeting for the leaders on Wednesday and will begin helping this week. We are preparing to study 1 Peter beginning with a study on the author.

On Thursday we took mom to Haarlem, which is where the Corrie ten Boom house is. If you have never read "The Hiding Place" or even seen the movie I would greatly recommend it. It is an amazing story of courage and faith during the dark history of Nazi occupied Holland during WWII. The tour begins with the story of the Ten Booms who were a Christian family that risked (and gave for most of them) their lives to help protect and save Jews from the concentration camps. In the tour they clearly share the message of Truth and it is uplifting and wholly glorifying to the Lord. However, as one of the Dutch men at our church said,"It's the story that everyone in the world knows - except the Dutch!" In fact, as I stood on the street looking for the sign, a resident of the city asked me if she could help me find something and I told her what I was looking for. She looked puzzled and said she had no idea what I was talking about. As she walked away, I saw the building, probably not 5o feet from where we were. Unfortunately this is true of this culture, Anne Frank they know - the young Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp after hiding in a secret room but who left a written journal of her life. I had done that tour before while in Amsterdam in 2000, and you walk away sad, depressed, and confused at the utter depravity of humanity - but of a story from the same time and the same basic storyline but full of Christian faith, persevering, and God's Sovereignty, even those living nearby have no knowledge of it. I have used the Corrie ten Boom story before, even taking Dutch people to the tour so they could hear of the Promise within the tragedy.

Saturday morning we took my mom back to the airport. The kids were sad to see her go, but we had a great visit and amazingly the weather had cooperated! We had 6 days of sunshine and no rain - a first since we had been here! After telling her about Holland,the people, and the ministry here for over 9 years, it was great to be able to share it with her.


Grandma and the kids in front of Molen van Piet, the most famous windmill in our area
The YWAM building in Amsterdam - it says Jesus loves you across the top and is right outside the central train station.
Some pictures from our afternoon on the beach
Here's a video from the beach
Kaylie loves the monkey bars and Keiric loves his sister
This is the outside of the Corrie ten Boom museum - it is still a watch shop downstairs.
How do the wooden shoes look? Do I look dutch?
Ashlyn just got her drivers license - this is the car mom thought we should get for her. It seats 2 and the top speed is around 30 mph.
Kaylie loved her Southern Belle (or little bo peep) costume Grandma brought.
Keiric still loves his sister!
This is what the kids looked like after we took Grandma to the airport.