Merry Christmas!!!!

Merrry Christmas everyone!!!!! I hope that this blog finds each and every one of you well.

It is so good to be back in the good 'ole USofA! Seriously, so so good. I'm so glad that I was able to come home to spend Christmas with my family, and spend a week with Josh. My 1st week was a whirlwind of a week. I got here Tuesday, Wednesday Katey and I celebrated our birthday together for the 1st time in 3 or 4 years. That was way fun! Then on Thursday Josh kidnapped me and took me on a very fast roadtrip to Chicago, Memphis, Branson, KC then to Pella and then back to KC. It was buuuusy!! We went to Chicago and Memphis to pick up and move some of his stuff and some of his brothers stuff, then to Branson to drop some stuff off and go to a wedding and see some friends before he goes off to Med school in Mexico, then to KC to see some friends then to Pella so he could say bye to my family and then back to KC so we could go skiing/ I could drop him off. It was crazy busy, but I sure had a blast! We crammed a years worth of memories into 7 days. It was great! :o) And now I'm home, listening to the sound of my brothers playing, mom wrapping presents, Katey laughing on the phone, Lauren watching a movie and smelling the delicious date nut balls that my dad is making. I'm truly blessed.

Right before I home I picked up a Max Lucado book from my church in the Hauge. It's his Christmas collection. I highly suggest this book! It has 3 stories in it, the 1st one is the best in my opinion, but they are all great! Here is a little piece from the 1st story called " An Angel's Story"

This is Gabriel talking about Mary

" Do you know who you hold, Mary? You secure the Author of grace. He who is ageless is now a moment old. He who is limitless is now suckling your milk. He who strides upon the stars, now has legs to weak to walk; the hands which held the oceans are now an infant's fist. To Him who has never asked a question, you will teach the name of the wind. The Source of language will learn words from you. He who has never stumbled, you will carry. He who has never hungered, you will feed. The King of creation is in your arms."

Cool huh? I love the way Max writes. He always makes me think. So as you celebrate Christmas tomorrow, remember this little passage. Remember how He did come down as a helpless infant, who came to save us. Remember the sacrifice that God made in giving up his son. And remember how much he loves us. All the joy that we feel this season is nothing compared to the about of joy He feels towards us.

Merry Christmas everyone! I pray that you will all have a blessed Christmas and that next year is full of blessings beyond your imagination.

its almost time!!

When I was little, I would count down the days until Christmas by making those little construction paper rings and tearing one off everyday. Or I would look at the advent calendar waiting for the 25th of December to hurry up and come. Now.. I have a countdown clock on my blog, and one in my head that tells me how many days until I can come home. And now finally... the time is almost here!! I can't believe how quickly this time has gone. And I can't wait until I come back after Christmas to explore and learn and grow some more. But seriously. I can't wait to come home for Christmas. I can't wait to get that warm hug from my parents that I miss so so much. I can't wait to go to the store and ask someone for help and them be able to understand me and actually be able to help me. I'm excited to bake with ingredients that I'm familiar with. I'm excited to be able to wear my pj's all day if I want to and do nothing but watch TV on the couch in my pj's while drinking hot cocoa if I want. I'm excited to laugh with my family. I'm excited to hang out with Josh. I'm excited to see my Branson friends. I'm excited to eat flavorful food. I'm excited spend my birthday with my sister and celebrate together. I'm excited for everything. I'm excited to get away from the blunt dutch culture for a few weeks, I'm excited to drive a car instead of ride my bike in the snow, I'm excited to not be corrected all the time, and I'm excited to have pretty much no responsibility (pretty much are the key words) for 3 whole weeks. It's going to be glorious. Even if I do nothing the entire time I'm home other than just sit among friends and family and stare at eachother I'm totally ok with that. It will just be so nice to be around people who understand crazy, wacky, Angie :o)

Lets just pray that the weather cooperates and that I sit next to a lovely Polish grandmother on the way home :o) See ya'll the day after tomorrow! WHOOP!

Germany!

Well. I went to Germany for a day. It still sounds so funny to me that I really did go for just 1 day. I mean really? People go on vacation to Germany for days and days and days, nope. Not me, I just hop on a bus and go for 1 day. ha! But now I can say that I've been to Germany. I tasted the gluvine (which is a warm, mulled cider wine. So good!), ate a bratwurst and did the Christmas Market. All were FANTASTIC!! I really don't know how to describe this Christmas market that I went to.... First of all, it was in Düsseldorf which is about 3 hrs from my house. My friend Rachel got on a bus with 30something other American and British ladies (mostly mom's) and left around 7:15 Saturday morning. (we heard about the trip through Sheila because it was her son's school that was hosting the trip) When we got to Düsseldorf the sun was shining brightly. It was sooo nice! Especially since all last week it was freeezing and snowy. It was pretty windy most of the day, but the sun and the gluvine made it bearable :o) The market was divided up into 6 parts, so we certainly got our exercise for the day! All the markets pretty much had the same things, but they were each a little different as well. The 1st and 2nd one had a lot of wood and glass things that you could buy, the 3rd and 4th had a lot of nik-naks that you could get, and the 5th and 6th one were just a bunch of food and drink stands with a few product stands mixed in. The 6th one also had a small outdoor ice skating rink. It looked like a lot of fun, but Rachel and I decided shopping was more important than skating :o)

Between the 4th one and th 5th one you walked down the Rodeo Drive of Düsseldorf and yes, we did go into Gucci just to say we did it.. and yes, we were VERY out of place in our target shoes and H&M clothes. haha. But it was still fun to have the man in the suit open the door for us :o)

I really don't even know how to begin to describe the beauty of the market. It really was magical. It wasn't really what I thought it was going to be, I'm not sure what my expectations were going into it, but I know I didn't walk away disappointed. My favorite part was when the lights all came on around 5:00 right as it was really getting dark and the snow started to fall. It really was like walking in a winter wonderland. Truly beautiful. And I would absolutely recommend going to a German Christmas market if you ever get the chance. You won't regret it!

Welcome to Germany!

A hand carved nativity. The man who carved this gets his wood from Jerusalem and carves and sells it at markets in Germany. The detail was incredible!

I think that I'll make this into a puzzle... (great idea aunt Rosa!)

Pretty lights, TONS of people. About this time we started being herded around like cattle...

mmm.. gluevine, tasty and warm

No, I didn't drink both of those mugs.. 1 had terrible eggnog in it and the other had the gluvine, luckily Rachel liked the eggnog and traded with me :o) By the way... when you buy the drink you put a deposit down on the mug, so you can keep it or get your money back. We kept these little boot mugs, they were to cute to return. And yes, we did walk around scoping out the stands that had the cutest mugs before we bought our drinks ;o)

Simply beautiful

Friday!

It's Friday! Yay!!! This isn't just aaaaany old Friday either. This is the Friday before Sinterklaas comes! I have really really enjoyed seeing all this Sinterklaas stuff, and learning about the tradition of it. It's such a fun holiday. But it can be scary for little kids for sure! For those of you who don't know Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa. But he was a religious man ( I think). Many Dutch people don't do Santa because they have Sinterklaas. And they celebrate this holiday December 5. Sint comes into town on a boat from Spain with all his Zwarte Piet (black Pete). Black Piet is an elf of sorts who was a bad child and got taken away in a burlap sack when he was a child. And he now works with Sint in Spain. Do you see how this can be scary for kids? And as if that isn't scary, black Piet is sooooooo black. They paint their face, ears, neck, and noses very very black and it's just a little creepy to look at. But the holiday is fun. In the parade Piete throws out lots of candy and such for the children and Sint comes in on his white horse. It's pretty fun to watch. Then he gives a speech and away he goes. Then on the actual day he comes and rings the doorbell and drops the gifts off. It's sweet. I'm excited to see how the actual day unfolds. I'll be gone for most of the time that they celebrate since i'll be in Germany :o) But, I'll be back for the end of it. can't wait!!

Here are a few pictures from the Sinterklaas celebration at the school


Sinterklass Stage where he gives his speech.


Black Piet


The Sint himself!


Giving his speech. I don't really know what he said other than " Welcome children and parents! Have you all been good this year?" That's about all I got...

Yay!!! I got my picture taken with them! To bad they are frowning. I must not have been as good as I thought....

so...

SO. It is a mere 16 days until I get to come home I'M SO EXCITED!! I mean really. I'm about ready to burst with excitement! How in the world am I going to last 16 more days? Is it to soon to start packing? lol. All I know is it's a good thing I have plans for this coming weekend and the weekend after that. And then.. dag holland! (bye holland!) and hoy (hi!) home!!!! :o)

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! I don't know about all of you, but I have so much to be thankful for this year. Just to name a few:

1) Friends and family who love and support me
2) A job
3) Shelter and food everyday
4) Warm clothes to wear when it's cold
5) A new brother
6) New friends in Holland
7) The opportunity to live in Holland for a year
8) My good health, as well as the good health of all my family
9) Shoes to keep my feet warm and dry
10) All of my senses

Those are just 10. The list could go on and on and on and on. The Lord is so faithful and so good to me. I don't even know why. But I am so grateful that He thinks I'm so special that he would continue to bless me on a daily basis. Even on Thanksgiving. He provided me with good friends and a place to go have a huge Thanksgiving dinner with some new friends. It was wonderful. There were about 47 people who showed up today. All but about 5 were Americans. All far from home, and just wanting to spend a holiday with some friends. It was so nice. However, as a side note... It was a little odd being in a room full of people where I understood every word that everyone was saying... That hasn't happened in about 3 months. It was strange and wonderful.
A friend of mine has a blog and he asked people to write what they were thankful for. Here are just a few.. Some are things I never thought about being thankful for.. maybe this will give you some ideas for when you are sitting around the table with friends and family and everyone is asking what you are thankful for..

I’m thankful for my family, friends and a camera to capture all of the moments

I’m thankful for eyes & hears to hear & see my lil girl & wife. They bring me so much joy & to be able to see my daughter grow & hear both her & my wife tell me they love me just brings me so much joy! Not too mention I love being able to see the beauty around me & capture that with a camera as well!!

I am thankful for a beautiful family to share a warm meal with, a roof over our heads, and the love that abounds in my heart for the “little things” everyday

I’m thankful for the opportunity of being able to attend University. The fact that I’m able to be educated makes me so fortunate. There are so many people in the world who are unable to attend school or receive any formal education. In a way, they are they reason I go to school, because I can! I’m so thankful for that

I am thankful that my life has purpose, that no situation in my life has been wasted, and that i am loved unconditionally

Though I am thankful for many things, I am most thankful for having a job after being unemployed for most of this year.


I hope each and every one of you have a very blessed, turkey filled, laugh until your tummy hurts Thanksgiving. I am so incredibly grateful for each of you. Happy Turkey day everyone!!
Gobble Gobble!!

Yay God

Can I just say YAY GOD? Seriously. He is so good. So so so good. I mean honestly. We tend to stick Him in this little tiny pocket sized box and take him out when it's convenient for us and put Him away when we don't want to deal with Him. And yet, He still loves us and He still loves to show off for us and show how much he loves us. What brings this on you may ask.. Well, today I met with my new friend Sarah. Now, Sarah is an amazing woman of God, one who struggles on a regular basis and isn't afraid to admit it. But she is also a woman who gives all the credit to our very very BIG God. Anyways, she and I are working together to put costumes and props together for the Christmas program at our church. She and I had only briefly talked in church, but she invited me over to her house today after she got her kids off to school so we could chat and brainstorm. Obviously God had another agenda. Sure we got the planing done, but He had much bigger plans in store for me when he placed her in my life. You see, here it is November. And I am loving Holland. But because I am human I am always alway always looking to see what the next step is. I don't just "sit back and enjoy the ride" for very long. So she and I are talking about how I got here and why I am here and what I think is going to happen next. I tell her I have absolutly no idea what I am going to do in August. Josh will be in Mexico in Medical school (yay Josh! SO proud of him!) And I will be back in the states (or that's what I think now.. God may move me to Bali or something). I explained to her that I really do feel like I am supposed to be a teacher but that stupid, ridiculously hard PRAXIS test is standing in my way. And I'm telling her how I plan on taking it 1 last time when I get back and we will see what happens from there. What I didn't tell her is that I am also looking at getting my ESL (English as a second language) certification, because with that I can teach English pretty much anywhere in the world. So she pipes up and says, "Angie, I really think that you should look into getting your ESL certification. I don't think you are going to teach in the USA your whole life." Now. Time out. For quite some time now (we are talking years) I've felt like I won't live in the states for a long time, so for her to say that and then bring up the ESL thing was a little weird to me. As if that was not weird enough a bible verse popped into my head( I have no idea where it is from, or what version it is but it goes something like this) I will take you from your land that is familiar and you will do great things before I bring you back again. (that is VERY loosely translated. I think it's somewhere in Jeremiah...) And then the song " if you want me to" popped into my head and it goes like this:

The pathway is broken And the signs are unclear And I don't know the reason why You brought me here But just because You love me the way that You do I'm gonna walk through the valley If You want me to  No I'm not who I was When I took my first step And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet So if all of these trials bring me closer to You Then I will walk through the fire If You want me to  It may not be the way I would have chosen When You lead me through a world that's not my home But You never said it would be easy You only said I'll never go alone (yeah oh oh)  So when the whole world turns against me And I'm all by myself And I can't hear You answer my cries for help I'll remember the sufferin' Your love put You through And I will walk through the darkness If You want me to  'Cause when I cross over Jordan, I'm gonna sing, gonna shout Gonna look into your eyes and see you never let me down So take me on the pathway that leads me home to you And I will walk through the valley if you want me to  Yes, I will walk through the valley if you want me to

So after that little verse and song popped into my head I got all goosebumpy. You know, the kind that you get when you know that God is about to do something that is going to totally blow your socks off? The kind that you get when you realize that life is about to change again so you better be ready.. Yup. Those are the bumps that I got. So Sarah goes to get the costumes and such so we can start sorting and I pick up her Bible and say, Ok God. I don't know what is next. No clue what so ever... So you do your thing and I'll just stand here and watch you move. So I open up the Bible to Psalms  32:8 " I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you... Many are the woes of the wick, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him." Uhhh... Ok God. I get it. I will trust you. I don't know guys. I don't know where I will be in August. I don't know if I will be getting my ESL certification, I don't know if I will be in Bali, Poland, Mexico or Iowa. No idea. But I do know that God showed up big time today. And I know that life for me is about to change again. So, prayers would be appreciated. I don't even know what to pray for really, I guess just prayer that my heart and my mind would be totally open to whatever God has is store for me. 

But seriously. Yay God. Yay for showing up and using Sarah to speak out loud what I had only been thinking privately in my head. Man, I am so excited what comes next! Yay!

Belgium

What an amazing weekend!! Holy cow, I had so much fun! The rain couldn't even damper my mood, maybe my feet, my head and my backpack, but not my mood. The girls and I finally made it to Belgium. And we had so so so much fun! It would take ages and ages to write the things that we saw, did, and laughed about. So, I"m going to try and outline this, I'm sure it will still be long, but hopefully it isn't sooooooooooooo long :o)

Saturday:
~ 3 of us left to meet the other 2 in Antwerp. We get to the station, purchase our tickets, the person tells us that we don't need to switch trains again after the 1st stop. So we hop on the train switch trains at the 1st stop and get a few towns down the tracks and notice that our train now says that it is going to Amsterdam... So, we get off and try and figure out what the heck is going on because we were heading South towards Antwerp and now we are going North? What???? So the train guys tell us that our ticket seller didn't know what he was talking about and that we missed our connecting train by 10 minutes and the next one leaves in an hour.. Frustration because we were supposed to meet the other girls at 11 and our phones didn't work in Belgium so we couldn't call. The man felt bad for us girls and gave us free coffee coupons... I think he must have been married because he knows coffee and chocolate cure all :o)
~ We finally make it to Antwerp, turns out the other girls got there just a few minutes before us so it was fine. We head out of the station into the rain. Map in hand and an idea of what we wanted to do we headed to find the castle.
~ On the way a man stops and asks me if I am from Iowa because I am carrying a Hawkeye umbrella, I said yep! Turns out his daughter is going to Iowa for college. Small world :o)
~ We found the oldest Gothic church in Belgium (supposedly) on the way to the castle. Words can not even begin to decribe the coolness of this church. I mean seriously. HUGE. GINORMOUS and BEAUTIFUL are just 3 words that I can use to start to describe it. I'll tell you about it if you ask.. really. It was incredible! And it was built 3 or 4 CENTURIES ago. Cool huh? Ya. Way cool.
~ On the way to the castle we noticed that Sinterkalus was going to be coming, but there were so many kids that we got away from the crowd and went to this bridge to see all the chaos from afar, and we got free red fleece hats with an "A" for Antwerp (or Angie) :o) Pretty sweet since it was cold and rainy out!
~ Finally we made it to the castle but we couldn't go in.. but we didn't know we couldn't go in... So Rachel starts pulling on the door and this brute man with his pants rolled up flings the door open (causing 3 of the 5 of us, and no I wasn't one of them) to scream and jump. SOO funny! Oh my gosh we laughed about that the rest of the day. The castle troll, as we so lovenly named him, told us in no uncertain terms that the castle was closed.
~ On the way back we got our 1st sample of Belgium chocolate. and it was wonderful! It was extra yummy because they put chocolate liqueur (sp?) in these little chocolate cups. So so good. Mmmm!
~ Before getting back on the train we made a very important stop... Starbucks. You see, here in Holland you don't really have Starbucks, and Europe in general (well, Belgium and Holland is all I know...) doesn't really have Starbucks everywhere.. Anyways, this Starbucks had the toffee nut, and gingerbread lattes. So we HAD to stop of course :o)
~ We decided to skip Ghent because we didn't really know what to do there and it was getting dark and still raining.. so we went on to Brugge.
~ Once in Brugge we walked around in circles about 25 times before we finally found our cute little hostel. It was down this little alleyway (don't worry, it was well lit and perfectly safe). We got checked in and our 1 night roommates were 2 girls from the states and they are studying in London. We were glad (or at least I was) that we didn't get put with some crazies :o)
~ Now, as you know Belgium has, chocolate, waffles and beer. I love the 1st 2, can't stand beer though. ICK! Seriously, something that smells that bad can't taste any better. Ew. But since I was in Belgium and our dinner came with a free beer I tried it. Ya, I was right. It is still just as nasty as the last time I tried it. Even in Belgium. However, I did try a rasberry beer and that was quite nice. It tasted more like juice than beer so now I can say I had chocolate, waffles and beer in Belgium. But I still don't think I'll start buying beer. *shudder* ick.

Ok. Give your eyes a break... Ok.. you good? Ok. Here we go again...

Sunday:
~ We were determined to sleep in since nothing opens until 10 so we set our alarms for 9:30 and went to sleep. At 8:30 we were all awake. This au pairing business is making it tricky to sleep in on the weekends. Our bodies are so used to waking up at 7 that 8:30 is really sleeping in. HA!
~ We had some yummy waffles for breakfast. I had one with chocolate. I mean, why not? I'm in Belgium. Who cares? And it was delicious! :o)
~ We went and saw a couple random things... well, 3 of the girls went to these museums, another girl and I went and bought chocolate :o) and then we were off again.
~ We found the chocolate museum. It was a little interesting to see how chocolate became popular. But I wouldn't recommend seeing it. It was kind of lame. The end was neat though because they had huge statues made of chocolate.
~ Then we found the french fry museum. That was a little better than the chocolate museum, but still pretty lame. But hey, we got fries at the fry museum and chocolate at the chocolate museum so I guess you can't really complain :o)
~ We spent a lot of Sunday wandering around. Nothing super exciting, but it was a lot of fun. We headed back to good 'ole Holland early evening and now here I am. Back in 1 piece.

I survived my 1st Hostle experience. Had a beer that I kind of enjoyed, ate lots and lots of amazing chocolate and had 3 waffles. And memories to last a lifetime. I would say this weekend was a great success. And I would absolutly recommend seeing Brugge if you ever get to Europe. It is such a sweet, cute town. I loved it!!

I'll post some pictures later. I'm way exhausted tonight. But they are on my facebook if you are dying to see them tonight. ha!
Have a great week everyone!!

T minus 34 days

34 days!!! I can't believe I'll be home in 34 days! ahh!! Ok. So. Sometimes I feel like I complain a bit about situations here or things in general that I don't like. And since this is November I think I should make a list of things that I do like about being here...

1) The family. Even though we sometimes get on each other's nerves at the end of the day, I am so glad that I live with this family. The kids love to laugh (so do the parents for that matter), they tease each other (and me) just like in my family, they love to play games and they pretty much accept me for who I am.

2) My bike. Silly I know. But seriously. I love having a bike to ride around on (unless it is raining and then I am a wimp)

3) The public transportation here. It rocks. I get on and off at the bus stop less than 2 min from my house. I can take the train pretty much anywhere and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It's pretty much the equivalent of a 1/2 a tank of gas. It's great.

4) My church. I love my church. It is a very diverse group of people who go there. We have people for lots of different countries and cultures and it makes it really fun to go and meet people.

5) Holland in general. I love how small it is. LOVE it. In the states you drive for an hour and you get to Des Moines or Springfield (depending on who you are that is reading this and where you are). In Holland you can be in Belgium, or a long ways from Den Haag (depending on if you take the stop train or the fast train). It's great.

6) Skype. I love love love skype! It makes everyone feel so much closer somehow. Just being able to call and see their smiling faces makes all the difference. Heck, even just using skype to call without the video is nice. Just hearing the people that I love is so great.

7) Sheila (and her family). This family is truly a blessing to me. They took me in right away. They live super close ( 3 songs away on my ipod to be exact). And they are just so kind. I still can't get over how good God is. I mean seriously. Of all the places in the world that I could have gone, God sends me to Wassenaar, Holland and I have family less than 15 min away (by bike). Honestly. How cool is that?

8) I'm so thankful for this amazing opportunity. I mean, how often does someone get a chance to go live and work in another country for a year? I always wanted to see Europe but I never knew how it was going to work since I knew I would have to work in order to see any of Europe. And now I have the chance to work with 3 delightful (sometimes ornery) kids AND travel on the weekends. Even if I don't get to see even 5 other countries while I'm here, I'm so glad that I get to be in Holland where my Dutch roots run deep and explore the motherland.

9) Haagelslag. HA! Seriously. SO GOOD! (it is pronounced haggel- sla) its tiny little chocolate sprinkles and get this.. they eat it on their bread for breakfast! WONDERFUL! Where else can you eat chocolate on your bread for breakfast? I mean really? It's great (i'm also glad we live near a gym...)

10) Finally, for today I am so incredibly grateful for the friends God has blessed me with for this year. I remember praying, more like begging/telling God to give me at least 1 friend that I could hang out with this year, and he has given me 3 good friends (plus I just met a new girl last week). Way more than I asked for.

I am so blessed. So so sooo blessed. I sometimes wonder why I think God won't come through. With friends, finances, tickets to come home for Christmas or my need for a Mountain dew fix (Sheila is my hook up for the last one). He always always does. Sometimes I think he likes to make me sweat before he comes in at the last minute. But I know he will always come through. In some way he always does. Maybe not the way I thought he would, but always in the end he does.

So. Thank you Lord for all these blessings and all the thousands more that I can't think of now. And thank you for all my friends and family who give me support in all that I do. Thank you father. Thank you so very very much.

picture blog

Ok. I forgot to post pics in my last blog. So here are lots in this one :o)


Bike "garage" in Amsterdam
Diamonds.. a girls best friend


I amsterdam
Central Station in Amsterdam

Jonas and his pumpkin

This is how Max felt....

Pien and the pumpkin guts

The bike you ride if you have little kids

Fall is coming! yay!!

hip hip Horray!

Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! It is NOVEMBER!!!!!! Which means, I have successfully survived 2 full months in the motherland. It has been fun, challenging, exciting and sometimes boring. But I have survived. I've already learned so much, its amazing. I've learned a few basic phrases (don't try and speak dutch to me when I come home at Christmas though because I'll still look at you like you have a foot growing out of your forehead), I've learned how to navigate public transportation, I've learned how to ride my bike on a crowded street (and be aggressive) and I've learned to never ever ever judge what the weather is going to be like just by looking outside. Honest to goodness truth, people all over the states say "just wait 5 minutes it will change." Guys, you got nothin' on Holland. It is crazy!!! I'll be at the beach and it will be raining and literally 2 minutes later the sun will be shining and the clouds will go away, I'll go inside to grab some lunch and when I come back out it is pouring down rain. It's nuts. I just don't even know how to describe it. So seriously, I always carry an umbrella, a rain jacket and wear boots everywhere. Lol. Also, I've learned to never ever talk politics with a Dutchie. Just don't do it. They know way more about the Politics in our great country than you do. Guarantee. The only thing is, they get their information from the "International Tribune" and those writers are usually Dutchies writing about the States. It's funny to read their version, and then go onto Foxnews or MSN news and see what is REALLY going on. It cracks me up. But seriously, the Dutch love to talk politics with Americans. Maurien and I talk about politics quite often, and even though we are on completely different sides of how politics go, it's interesting to talk to her about them. To hear her opinions. The only thing is... the Dutch are also very proud and think they are always always right. And that's all I'll say about that. HA!
Moving on. I honestly can't believe I've been here 2 months. And in a short 6 weeks I'll be on a plane getting ready to land in Orlando to catch my connecting flight into Des Moines. I just can't wait. Really I can't. And at the same time I wonder what it will be like for me. I mean, here I am, in a totally different country 7 time zones away (well, 6 for 1 week since we already had daylight savings time) doing my own thing. I take care of 3 kids for a few hours a day and the rest of the day is mine. If I want to go anywhere I hop on my bike or the bus or the train and go. The food is more bland here, but the sweets are wonderful (not as sweet as in the states, but still scrumptious!) There are oodles of museums to see and lots of forest to explore. So I'm a little nervous about going home for 3 weeks and not knowing what to do with myself. I'm sure it will be fine, but I still can't help but wonder. The best part about the whole time will be the fact that once again I can just pick up the phone and call mom or dad and not have to calculate the time difference. And even better than that I can just wait to see them when they get home from work. Not to mention that on the glorious day of December 14th, 2010 I will be seeing Josh! Whoop!! Bear with me for a second while I go into "ohhhh Josh" mode. Being away from him (7 time zones) has been a challenge for sure. But it's kind of been fun. Not fun like whoooo-hooooo fun, but fun as in,, I feel like we are learning more. It's cool. Don't get me wrong, some days I miss him so much I feel ill, but for the most part.. I'm so grateful that we get this time to really discover more about us and to really get our relationship more God focused. Most of you have been there, in the dating scene where you are so wrapped up in each other that sometimes God get's pushed to the side just a bit. So I think it's so good that we can refocus and come out better. Ok. Throw up now if you must. But I'm done. (p.s. josh if you are reading this.. only 42 more days! yay) ok. really, I'm done now :o)
Last week I did get to carve pumpkins with the kids. It was SUPER fun! Halloween is just starting to come around here so the kids haven't really carved before. I think Camille did it with them last year, but it was still really fun for them this year, and Maurien couldn't get over how good the pumpkins looked. :o) The kids went "trickertreating" (that's how Max wrote it on his note to me) Saturday night and I passed out candy when I got back from Amsterdam. It was fun to see all the costumes, but here they think that it all has to be scary. Nothing cute and innocent. It's all sculls, dead brides, evil witches, Frankenstein etc.. no pigs in a blanket or static cling or bumble bee's... And no, sadly I didn't get to see the Princesses. Bummer. Well, at least I don't think I saw them....
Saturday during the day we headed to Amsterdam instead of Utrecht. It was really fun. We walked around a lot.. and now I know 100000% what weed smells like. I wasn't totally sure before, but now I KNOW. Ick ick ick! We passed so many "coffee houses" it was unreal! And they were all full for the most part. Old men and women, younger kids, hippies, business people, toursits, you name it, they were there. And it was so funny because a lot of the places offered "free breakfast before 11:30" we cracked up every time we saw one of those signs. haha. We went to the Van Gough museum and the diamond museum.. they were pretty cool. I went to the Van Gough one the 1st week I was here, but I was so jet lagged that I didn't remember a lot of it.. but the diamond museum.. that was cool. And we decided since we were having a girls day we might as well go in (actually its more like a girl's year, but still...) They had huge diamonds and teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny little diamonds (including the smallest diamond ever). It was neat. It was a small museum but it was still fun to see.
This weekend Rachel G and Niki, a new au pair, and I are going to Belgium. We are going to Brugge and Ghent on Friday and then on Saturday we are meeting Rachel P and Jaclyn in Brussels and then we are going to take a late train home on Saturday. I can't wait! Its going to be so much fun!! And yes, I will be eating Belgium waffles and Belgium Chocolate :o) I think I'll eat really healthy the rest of the week so I don't feel so bad this weekend when I eat all the bad stuff. Hahah. Well, this is turning into a novel. So I should go. Hope you all remembered to vote today!
Dag!! (pronounced daah, it means bye)

Happy Hump day!

It's Wednesday which means I am 1/2 way though the week! (well, I guess that means you are too.. .not only me...) The kids have today off from school. Teacher work day or some such thing. So Maurien's sister and her kids came down to play for the morning. And then later this afternoon we are going to carve pumpkins. Can't wait!!! I'm so glad that Camille introduced them to this last year, its going to be great!!
Today is a pretty dreary day in Wassenaar... the weather can't decide what it should do, so it decided to just be gray and windy. Finally this morning when I took Bumpy for a walk I saw a few tree's with some yellow leaves on them.. no red, or orange ones.. but hey, I'll take what I can get! :o) Now that the leaves are changing that means that Halloween is almost here.. which means its only a few more days until I can say "I'm going home next month" Whoop!!!! Yay! *little.. ok, BIG happy dance* And this also means that it is only 1 month and 2 days until I can break out the Christmas music... I don't know if I'll be able to wait.. but I'll try.... And even if I can make it until then, I've been told that Christmas doesn't even really start to happen around here until December 6th.. the day after Sinterclause. Sorry people, I'm American.. Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving... I won't be able to wait another 11 days... So... only 1 month and 2 days till Christmas music starts playing in my room... and only 6 weeks and 5 days until I go home. Yiiiiiippppppeeee! I can't believe I've been here 2 months already. Time really has flown by.. and I think I'm finally starting to find my way here. Yesterday I went and signed up at the gym for some classes.. I'm going to try Zumba and Yoga.. which means I HAVE to go shopping.. darn it anyways. I need to get some new shoes (they check to make sure they are clean before you can walk into the gym...) and a yoga mat. Shucks anyway. Hate it when I'm forced to do some shopping :o) I'm really looking forward to the classes though, it will give me something to do a couple mornings a week, get me out of the house and doing something productive. It will be quite nice I think... Well guys. I'm off to run to the nursery to pick up some pumpkins.. I'll post pics of us with the final product.. can't wait! Have a happy hump day! See ya'll in 6 weeks! yay!

Gouda or bust...

So Saturday Rachel and I decided to meet at Central Station and then decide where we should go for the day. So we decided on Gouda. Which, sidenote.. I've been saying wrong (and I bet you have too) my entire life... it is indeed pronounced... how-da (use a slight hairball on the "h" and you should have it). Anyways. We had zero idea how long it would take to get there, so we find a couple empty seats on the train and make ourselves comfortable.. about 20 min later we were there. Crazy! I for sure thought it would take at least an hour! It was a very pleasant surprise. But, much to our dismay it was pouring down rain. And I do mean pouring. Sheets and sheets of rain. So. Here we are in a town, no map deciding to go exploring in the pouring rain... lucky for us we remembered our umbrella's.. 1st stop was to find a shop that sold hats so our ears wouldn't freeze off our heads. Next stop, the market. We figured we were in a town named after cheese surely there would be some awesome cheese vendors... not so much. just a few and they all smelled like cleats that got left in a gym bag after football practice.. PEEEEWWWWW-WWEEEE! So we walk around a little more, find this adorable little church looking place, go in and find out it's a museum. So we get our tickets and start exploring. The first thing we see in the museum is this little sign painted on the wall:


Right about then we realized this was not going to be a normal museum, but we kept going. We saw lots of old stuff, nothing super interesting.. things like old chairs, old wood burning stoves, old silver brushes etc... then we got to this room that sounded like someone was dying in it.. it was TERRIBLE. We literally ran through that room. I'm pretty sure there were graves in there, but the room was pretty dark and they had this overhead projector showing weird images on it.. we didn't stick around to really examine them.. the next room was filled with swords and such and then we went downstairs where they had some monk looking robes and shackles and chains and hand cuff things.. I think maybe they tortured people down there.. another reason not to become a monk.... anyways, so we went back upstairs saw some other interesting things ran back through the creepy room and back outside. Not impressed. We were so disappointed that the building looked so cool, and yet it was so so weird. Here is a picture of the little archway we walked under to get to the building..

and I think this is the view of the church from the alley way, I forgot to take a picture of it when I was out front..
No wait... actually... I think this is the church with the super cool stained glass in it, but you had to pay just to see the stained glass.. we decided we didn't want to have to pay to go into church.. maybe we are becoming true dutch women.. penny pinchers... anyways.. so after our little creepy museum/church thing we decided to warm up with some hot cocoa (which tastes like warmed up Yuhooo, or however you spell it). After warming up we decided to see the cheese museum. I mean, we were in cheese town, you have to see the museum right? Wrong. Apparently some tour group reserved it for the whole afternoon. Lame. So we tried some cheese and headed home. It was an extremely disappointing trip. But we decided that it's a pretty cute town, and maybe, just maybe we will come back in the spring on a nice day... But now I can say I've been to Gouda, and had some cheese there. Yum!

Kids are smarter than I thought!

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ok. So. Here I thought that me coming here would be to maybe be a "bright and shining light" for this family. I had no idea what my purpose for coming here would be. I knew that this is where I was supposed to be, but I had zero idea why. So, I've been doing my own thing mostly. Chatting with the kids, trying to be the best example I can be. Giving English lessons etc. Well. Buddha is kind of a big deal in this area apparently.. or at least in the school that the kids go to.. or maybe Max is just friends with Buddhists.. I don't really know.. but he always asks questions about Buddha. Now.. let me remind you that I grew up in a christian family, and was very involved in church and pretty sheltered. After I left home I went to Branson, MO.. aka Bible Belt USA. Went to a christian college. No Buddha. Never really been exposed to Buddha. I just know that he is something that I don't believe in, something that kind of gives me the creeps when I think about it. And something that makes me sad when I hear about people worshiping Buddha... Now lets come back to today... Max and Jonas got into a fight right before Max had his English lesson. Max lied to me about what happened so for our Bible lesson (Maurien really encourages this) I decided to read the 10 commandments. Everyone should at least be aware of these, and I can never read them to many times because they are always relevant. So. We are reading them and I'm doing my best to explain them to Max as we go along. So he asks what it means to have no false idols and to not worship any other god other than the real God. Which then led into a talk about Buddha. And apparently Maurien has been teaching Max about Buddha as a cultural lesson. Which is fine. He needs to know about Buddha so he can make his own opinions about him and such. So Max asks if Buddha comes from satan. Crap. Pretty much I felt like I was going down a slippery mudslide faster than I was ready for. So, Max and I googled where Buddha came from and how he was a person and how people now worship him. I told him I think Buddha is a false idol and worshiping him makes Jesus very sad. And worshiping Buddha won't get you into heaven. So then he asks about Allah. Again, I know NOTHING about allah. Zero. Other than he comes from the Koran. So Max tells me that Allah is a gentle god and yada yada ya. So I tell him this, Max.. my God is the only God. He is a God that has been around since the begining of time. He made the earth, he made animals, he came to earth, died and rose again. He is a God who loves us no matter what. And He is a man of integrity, and someone who I can't live without. All these other "gods" are recent "gods." They have been around for a very short time compared to my God. So then he asks if these other "gods" come from satan. I know that the answer is yes, so I tell him I'm pretty sure they are. So..we finish our English lesson. Maurien asks how it went. I tell her it was excellent and that Max had lots of interesting questions. She asks if they are about the Bible. I say yes. So she tells me that the last time Max and I talked about Buddha he got upset with her when she was trying to tell him about Buddha. And told her that Buddha is from Satan and he doesn't want to learn about something from the devil............... Crap. Good for Max, however I think its important that he learns about this stuff that way he doesn't look like a deer in the headlights like I do when he talks to me about this stuff... Anyways. Maurien asked if she and I could sit down and talk about this stuff. I don't want to step on toes, and I don't want to cross a line, but I don't want to be timid either. She needs to know that this is garbage. That buddha is not a real god. Yes he might have been a real person but he's dead now and that's the end. I'm nervous to talk to her about this. I"m glad Max asks great questions but sometimes I wish he wouldn't, especially when its about something I know very little about. I wish that the church would offer classes about other religions so we could see the differences. I know they offer Alpha class, and that is great. It does prove that God exists.. but its frustrating not knowing about anything else. And I think its ridiculous that we don't know about anything other than our God. Like I said, kids are smarter and more inquisitive than I gave credit for... Does anyone know of a good book I can read that explains these different religions so I'm not caught off guard again? Or a good book that i can share with Max about different religions and how our God is the real God?

Not always rainbows and butterflies

Well. I think I've hit the 2 month slump. Honeymoon period is over. It was fun while it lasted though! :o) I felt pretty discouraged and pretty homesick for my mama's hug and my daddy's "hang in there" chat. But thank goodness for technology because it gave me the gift of Skype. After chatting with mom for about 30 min I felt better. So I jumped on my bike rode into Wassenaar and bought some cute dutch looking material to do a craft with, and stopped at the flower shop to buy myself some Gerber daises on the way home. I didn't even mind it when it started pouring (and I do mean pouring, hard pellets of rain) on me. It was sort of refreshing.. kind of like God washing away the bad mood, the homesickness and anything else that needed to be washed away. I started singing "Healing Rain" by Michale W. Smith in my head (I can't carry a tune to save my life so I thought I'd spare nature and anyone who happened to ride by the sound of me singing like a dying cat). When I got home I changed into sweats and did my craft and then played games with Jonas when he got home. It was really nice. We ended up having about 2 1/2 hrs to ourselves between the time he got home and the time everyone else made it home. I"m feeling much better today, Maurien seemed a bit upset with me this morning. So I apologized for (I took a guess at what was really bothering her..) a poor attitude due to some homesickness yesterday. She appreciated it and then went on to let me know what I "should be doing with my time here." Aka.. find stuff to do during the day so you are away from the house. I think I will join the gym and beg the church office for something to do once a week and see if the other au pairs want to get together for coffee once a week. That will give me at least 2 hrs away from the house a few times a week. Hopefully that will help smooth things over and maybe keep be from getting annoyed as well. Like I said. Honeymoon period is over. But that's alright. I'm very much looking forward to the next couple of months! I'm going to Belgium with my friend Rachel (from Georgia) the 1st weekend in November and we are going to Germany the 1st weekend in December. I can't wait! Its going to be so much fun and then before I know it... home sweet home! Yippie!! Can't wait! Oh.. and here are some pictures of what I've been up to around town lately..








Wittenburg Castle


They even rolled out the red carpet for me :o)

Mexican restaurant.. sort of.. pretty good for the Dutch version of how Mexican tastes and since there are only a handful of these places in Holland, I won't be too picky :o) P.S. That is Jonas


Pien! I had a funny picture of Max holding a bottle of "tequilla" (bottle full of water as a joke for the kids) but I didn't think it would be a good picture to post just in case....



The Queen

Prince and Princess ( I don't know for sure which prince this is...)

Breakfast of champions. Even people in castles know how to eat a good breakfast :o)




This is the "oude Wassenaar" castle. Pretty cool. The locals use it for meetings and such now.. it was locked so I couldn't go in, but it was pretty to look at on the outside

laaaaaazy weekend

So this weekend is a lazy weekend for sure! Steve and Sheila are back in the states so I'm watching the dog and the cats for the weekend. It's nice to just have a lazy girls weekend sometimes. Rachel is coming over tonight to spend the night with me and I think tomorrow we are going to go into Den Hauge to a museum. Pretty low key. But next week the kids have their fall break so they will all be home, with friends, all week. crazy time! But I'm really looking forward to it. One day we are going to Maurien's dad's house and another day we are going to Rotterdam and another day we are going to Amsterdam. Lots of time with the kids and maurien but I'm really looking forward to it! And in a couple weeks Rachel (from Atlanta) and I are going to Brussels!! Yay!! I'm really looking forward to that!! It should really be a lot of fun I think! Well. Not much else to say. And my delicious chocolate chip cookies are done so I better grab 'em :o) Have a great weekend!

Twas the night before Friday

Twas the night before Friday and all through the house everyone was sleeping except for one who was weeping (with joy of course)
You see this girl realized with glee tomorrow was Friday so she shouted YIPPEE!

haha. Ok I probably got a bigger giggle out of that than you guys will but hey, it's almost Friday!! Yay oh yay oh yay! This week has seemed to drag on and on and on! Wait, I take that back.. Tuesday and Wednesday dragged on and on and on.. today went pretty quickly. I have no plans so far for the weekend and that is just fine with me. Hopefully I'll get some sleep in time. Get a good bike ride in and maybe go someplace new. We'll see.
Today I met up with the girls (rachel, rachel and Jaclyn) and we went out for coffee at coffee and company. They have this funny drink called a bambino. Its as fun to write as it is to say :o) It's basically glorified chocolate milk from what I understand.. but apparently it's delicious. I had a chai latte, I think I'll get the bambino next time. Then we went shopping. Always a great way to spend a day.. and some money.. I got a sweater (on sale of course) and a coat (also on sale of course) it was a good day. Should any one decide to come to Holland. Never leave your jackets at home. It's a terrible idea. You should also bring winter boots, rain boots, t-shirts and mittens. Actually. Just pack your whole closet. You'll need it all in a week. The weather cracks me up. Everyone always says " sunny one day, snowing the next.. welcome to (insert state here)" in Holland it's more like.. cold, dreary and pouring down rain? Go downstairs get your coffee and by the time you are done it will be 70 and sunny. Seriously. Its nuts. On Tuesday I went to the beach for lunch, it was dreary, and chilly. By the time the waitress got around to taking our order (after we flagged her down, but thats another story) it was sunny. Crazy. But I don't mind. You know what they say "just roll with it"

Well guys. I'm off to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a busy day, ok not the morning but the afternoon... Maurien's big SOS Childrens fund dinner is tomorrow. She's crazy stressed (say a quick prayer for her) and she will be gone all day. That means I get the house, and the kids to myself. yay! I'll also be taking my 2nd Taxi of my life tomorrow. And I have to figure out how to pronounce the name of the street that we are going to so that we actually get to where we need to be. Hah! Since Maurien will be gone this means she can't take the boys to swimming. They have lessons at 3.. they get out at 2:45. It's a 15 min bike ride... So. She is getting us a Taxi (heheh, I'm excited) and i'll take it to school, then to the pool then back home. Then the boys and I will make pizza for dinner and watch a movie, probably transformers since they are obsessed :o) And then.. it will be Saturday. I'm doing a pre weekend dance, you should probably do one too..
Well goodnight. Have a great rest of your day! Hugs to all (especially my parents. Love you both!!)

I've been initiated

Well guys. Good news. I've been initiated. It's true. Now I can say I really live in Holland.. but 1st a little back ground information...
Today is freedom day, or something like that in Leiden. They won some sort of war or something. I don't really understand it. So a whole group (it started out as 4 and ended up with 10!) Went to Leiden to check out the festival. We decided to meet at the train station at 9:45am and head on in. So since it was a beautiful morning I decided to hop on drope (i decided to name my bike drope because it's very black, and very dutch just like the candy.. heheh) and ride on into Central Station. So we hop on the train to Leiden, stop in Starbucks (it's not a common thing here, so now it's tradition.. Leiden = a necessary stop to Starbucks) and then we headed into the city center. Well, we realize that not much is going on, so we head to the market and then ask someone when everything starts. This person says " the rides open at 2, the parade is at 6 and the music starts at 9." Awesome. It's 11:30.. what are we supposed to do for the next several hours? Eat. and Eat. and eat. I think I"m going to have a junk food hangover tomorrow. We had a delicious sandwich, pofferjes, soda, Starbucks, and then later pizza. Now.. let's not forget that I live with a family who try's to be healthy, so junk food is no longer normal for me, so to eat this much junk is terrible. Ick! Anyways.. So we ate, rode this big swing ride that takes you clear up high so you can see the whole city and then sat down in a park. By now it was about 3:30 and I was partied out. Lot's of walking and lot's of eating, I was ready for a nap. So my friend Rachel (the one from Atlanta Georgia, not the one I met at church) and I headed back to Den Haag. Well on the way back we decided that we were hungry and Domino's sounded really great as did watching some Glee or something American. So we headed to her house to pick up her bike and it starts to drizzle a little. No big deal. We get the bike and within 10 min it is raining a little harder, by the time we got to my house we looked like a couple of drowned rats. Mascara all over. Soaked to the bone. And good news. I didn't have a rain jacket or anything. Just this flimsy "emergency poncho" which does nothing for you really. We just had to laugh though because we left and it was so sunny, and we got home and we looked like drowed rats. We decided we had been officially initiated by Holland. Lol. So we threw our jeans in the dryer while we waited for the rain to calm down before heading over to Sheil's to watch some good TV and figure out how to order pizza in this country (turns out it's not to hard, you just have to listen to them jabber on about their special and then say, "English please" then they don't repeat it but they say ok what can we get you.) p.s. I like that I don't always understand what they are saying b/c then if they say something crazy I don't know, and it gets me out of talking to a lot of solicitors too. haha! After a nice pizza, good tv and being dry I headed home, in the rain (with my rain jacket this time) and now I'm headed to bed to sleep off this junk food. I'm hoping that today I rode my bike fast enough (I beat a record for getting home on a bike I"m pretty sure) and long enough to have burned off at least some of the calories from today's food and last night's food! haha
Speaking of last night.. if you ever have a chance to go to Rodizo's, GO! It is so yummy!! I went to 1 in Springfield a couple years ago, and we went to one last night with Val and Erv, and Steve and Sheila, and Barb and George (I think that's his name.. sorry if it isn't!) it was so much fun. They bring all different meats out to you on a stick and just cut some off and then they bring out more and more and more. If you walk away hungry.. it's your own fault! And this place had Brazilian dancers. It was so fun!!!!
Well ya'll. I'm beyond exhausted. Time for some nice shut eye :o)



yum



I think this pretty much sums up Leiden. Lot's of canals. Heck, I think this pretty much sums up Holland..


haha!! LOVE Val's face! The Brazilian Dancers would come around and pick people to dance, and they wouldn't take no for an answer. Thank goodness they left me alone :o)


Poor Erv. He wanted nothing to do with this girl.. but he managed an embarrassed smile
The 3 dancers

I know that you are for me,..

Well. Wed and Thurs I had my first bit of homesickness. Which totally caught me off guard. I really thought that maybe it would hit towards the end of next month.. I guess the whole not being able to just pick up the phone no matter when to call home or call friends made it hit faster. Curse you time zone difference! :o) Consiquently I was pretty grumpy. But I think I did a pretty good job covering it up. Thank you mom for sending those peanut butter M&M's they helped. Also devouring about 5 chocolate chip cookie bars helped :o) Now I feel better and about another 3lbs heavier but hey, I ride my bike so I'm not worried! hah! Anyways. While I was so homesick I watched some Louis Giglio video's. Now. If you haven't watched anything from him you don't know what you are missing out on! He is really great at explaining how big our God is. And how even though he is so big he loves us so much. It's way cool. Here is the link to just 1 of his video's. There are 4 or 5 parts to this, but here is the attention grabber 1st one :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKMw1ndl-EY

Anyways. So after I watched that I was thinking. Wow. So cool. Thanks Lord. feeling a bit better. Still a little homesick and hating the crappy attitude maybe I'll dig into my Bible and find something encouraging. He did not disappoint. I love that. So after eating a few more M&M's I went to bed last night determined that today would be a better day. It had to be. You just can not have 3 bad days in a row. And I had decided that no way was today going to be bad. Because it was going to be a new day. It was going to be Friday. I was going to eat some yummy American food at Steve and Sheila's and hang out with 8 other girls. It had to be a good day. So I woke up. Feeling grumpy and I said. Ok self. Listen up. This is just crazy. Get over it. You are just fine. Snap out of it. Get your butt downstairs. Make the breakfast and put a smile on your face. So I go downstairs praying for a good attitude. After breakfast I come back to my room and my Bible is on my bed. Now. I don't remember putting it on my bed. In fact I am positive I put it away last night. Weird. But I say ok Lord. Give me a happy verse. One to boost my attitude. So I open to Psalm 16:11 (which is underlined in my Bible so that's where I looked) and it says " You will fill me with joy in your orsence with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Thanks God! But I notice on the back of this page something is highlighted so i turn back and also in Psalm 16 it says " I will praise the Lord who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord ALWAYS before me. Because he is at my right hand I will not be shaken. THEREFORE my heart is Glad and my tounge rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because YOU WILL NOT ABANDON ME TO THE GRAVE." Yup. Thanks God. Thanks for filling me with joy and for always being before me and for not abandoning me. I sure appreciate it. Instantly. Attitude gone. Instantly I remember that He cares about every detail. He cares about me. He know's I felt homesick. He knows that I needed that verse. I love it. I love that he is so faithful. So all day I have been singing Kari Jobe's "You are for me" song. I love it. Here is the link for the video. The 1st 45 seconds is her explaining the video but the song is after. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSMfL5LuSo

and fyi. not homesick anymore. feeling much better. and really looking forward to a night of BBQ, Jello (which they don't have here! Isn't that crazy? Good thing Sheila smuggles American food in when she comes back!), Pepsi, new friends, lots of laughter and GLEE!! :o) (also courtsey of Steve and Sheila they have American TV on their computer so they tape Glee for me) yay! Have a great weekend everyone!

Prinsjesdag- aka: Prince's Day

OK. Well. I don't have much to say about this other than it was really really neat to see. My friend Rachel and her friend Sarah ( I think was her name...) and I went at 9am (it didn't start until noonish..)to stand as close as we could to the Parliament building. And we succeeded! We got pretty close. But that meant more security. But that's ok. It was still super cool to see. Even if the police were in the way :o)
The thing that makes Prinsjesdag so special is this: The Queen and the Royal family ride in her Golden carriage. They go to the Parliament building where she gives her opening speech for the year and that opens Parliament. Then she leaves in her Golden carriage, goes to her "work palace" and gives the budget speech (because the dutch love to know where all their money is going and when it's going). We couldn't get to her work place because it was packed out. If we would have made it we could have gotten the famous picture of the royal family waving from the balcony. I guess I'll just cut it out of the paper tomorrow :o) Anyway. Here are some pictures. The rest are on my facebook account if you want to see more.

P.S. Why doesn't Pella have a real golden Carriage for the Tulip Queen to ride in... I think Pella is slacking off on the traditions.. Sheeish! ;o)



Not all the children were dressed in Dutch. Just this particular classroom did. Lot's of kids just had orange construction paper hats that they made.


The bigger the hat. The better. For a moment I thought maybe I went to the Kentucky Derby fashion show..
Her's is my favorite! Ha! She was with the Red Hatter's and they were going to High Tea. She just bent over and let me take her picture. I didn't even ask her to. ha!


This guy makes me laugh every time I look at this picture!I don't know what the deal is with the fur.. but it makes me laugh. He was the only one wearing it...

Part of the Royal family.. or some really important people. I don't know for sure. I just know they had 3 of these carriages with people inside before the Queen finally made her appearance
.
Ta-da!!!!! It really is made of gold. SO beautiful!!


She even waved at me! We are now best friends. She is making me an appointment with her hat maker so that I can have tea and scones with her next Friday. It will be such a treat to tote along with her. haha!

The Prince's wife. Apparently there is rumor that the Queen is stepping down soon, which would make this dude the 1st King in almost 200 years! How cool would it be if that happened while I was here?! History in the making for sure :o)



Isn't the back of her head lovely?