Catching up with Pictures Part 1

Here are some pictures from our last few weeks here. Sorry we are so behind, but we hope you enjoy these shots. We also had our good friends, Kaitlyn and Joy, here for a few weeks. We had a great time showing them our area and our ministries, and they were a great help babysitting a few times so Jer and I could do some ministry and just spend time together. Thanks ladies - we appreciate all your help and we hope you had a good time!

The flowers are all in bloom now and it is beautiful!
A good-bye party for 2 of Kaylie's friends. They were the foster children of the Hays, whom we work with. Though they were sad to leave, and we were sad to see them go, it was great to see them both pray and talk to Jesus since meeting Him a few months ago.





Going to the beach with Auntie Joy and Miss Kaitlyn who were in town - Yeah - it was so much fun!
One day we went with Kim and Barbel to the Keukenhof, which is a famous flower/tulip garden - it was beautiful (even though it rained off and on)

The Alkmaar professional 'footbal' (soccer) team AZ (pronounced; ah - zeht) took the championship this year - which apparently hasn't happened since the 80's, so there was A LOT of celebrating in town. There was a huge production put on in the center of town, and everyone was talking about it.

We also took a day trip down to Antwerpen (Antwerp) Belgium for a little sightseeing with Joy and Kaitlyn and of course an authentic Belgian Waffle - which they just call waffles. I know that this sounds crazy and exotic, but being only about 2.5 hours away, it would be like taking a short drive down to Mexico from Phoenix. It was very interesting to see, and we all had a good time. This was the day that Kaylie's first tooth came out (with a little encouragement from mom, Auntie Joy's hand to hold, and the enticement of her very own icee!)

Here's Kaitlyn trying her belgian waffle - they were really good!

This is not a happy face from Kaitlyn who was not excited about the lack of personal space on the train on the way home - little did she know how roomy this was going to be compared to the metro on the way to the airport :) I guess public transportation is not for everyone!

April 30th is Koningindag - which translates as Queen's Day. The is also a very big celebration, and it is the only day that it is legal to have a yard sale - so the whole city is like one big flea market. In the little village near us they had booths set up in the center of town with games for the children to play. Kaylie and Keiric were hesitant at first, but they soon were having fun playing the games. Kaylie was also able to use her tooth fairy money to buy an art kit from one of the stands, and Keiric bought a handful of little cars for 10 cents each. Later in the afternoon we went into the city center, but by that time it was pretty dirty from all the street stands and the crowds were getting kinda rowdy - since now most people celebrate it by drinking A LOT. Later, we found out that someone had tried to attack the Queen and her family as they were celebrating and had driven through a baracade and injured and killed many people - so keep their families in your prayers.

One of my favorite places in Holland is Haarlem where the Corrie Ten Boom house is located. If you have never read The Hiding Place, you must! Also in Haarlem is the St. Bavo church, where the Ten Booms went to church - this organ was the largest organ in the world when it was built in 1738 and and many famous musician have played on it including Mendelssohn, Handel, and the 10-year-old Mozart in 1766.
We also saw, at the city hall in Haarlem, 2 weddings! Since you are required to be married in a city hall, and it is very expensive to book a Saturday, people usually get married during the week. As we watched a bride and groom taking pictures outside the "stad huis" (state house), we realized they were waiting for their turn as another bride and groom, followed by their bridal party, left the building.
Kaylie also thought it was cool to have Auntie Joy curl her hair up and wanted to take pictures - she definitly knows how to pose!

In other news - we want to send our Congratulations to my sister and her husband: Alainna Mae arrived a few days ago to join big sisters Ava and Addison. We are so excited to see our beautiful new niece!