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?

And God said " it is good"

What a relaxing weekend, courtesy of Steve and Sheila. Seriously. i love them. I'm so unbelievably glad that they live so close and are so kind and willing to just let me hang out here whenever I want. The Wetselaar house was very full this weekend since Maurien had her sister and family over, so I escaped to Steve and Sheilas :o) I slept until way past the time of getting up on Saturday (didn't realize I was that tired) watched some "Friends" episodes (always a great way to spend a few hours) read 1/2 of a book my mom bought me this summer. (and yes mom I LOVED it.. however I think I"ll need a therapist by the time I'm done reading it because I laugh 1 min and am crying the next!), ate some Domino's pizza... which lets pause on that for a second.. normally I am not a fan of Domino's pizza. They take way to long to deliver and i just don't think they have good pizza. But once I finished giggling over the fact that they have Domino's (and pizza hut) in Holland we ordered in. It literally took 20 min from the time we ordered until the time it got here. AMAZING and it was hot, fresh and delicious! maybe the U.S could take some tips from the Dutch Domino's.... moving on.. then I took a nice relaxing bubble bath to end my perfect Saturday (oh and of course I went for a bike ride because it was a beautiful day!) Then today I woke up and went to church with Steve and Sheila, then we went to Bagel Alley for lunch.. pause again. Bagel Alley is sort of an Einstein and Brothers bagel place, so I got a delicious Club bagel and (pause for dramatic effect...) a MOUNTAIN DEW!!!! I knew at that moment that God was smiling down on me saying "See I told you it would be alright. I got your back girl" haha. Silly I know. But seriously. Guys, it's amazing. It's the stupidest little stuff that I miss and yet I can find it here if I just look. Honestly, sometimes I forget that i'm in Holland.. until I turn on the TV, or try and read a sign or listen to the people.. but sometimes I just get so lost in appreciating the beauty and God's faithfulness in providing the silly things like Mountain Dew that I just get so excited and know without a shadow of a doubt that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. I can't remember a time in my life where I had this much peace on a daily basis. I wake up totally un-stressed, and really look forward to my day. Even Mondays when I clean all day because heck, I"m cleaning in Holland! :o) I don't know how to describe it. But it's truly a wonderful feeling. I know God is just smiling saying "see Angie. I told you it would be alright. No need to fret. I know how good it can get, so just enjoy this moment and say It (life) is Good."

I'm looking forward to these next several weeks. Lots of happiness will be happening in Angie's world. On Tuesday some friends and I are going to see the Queen in her Golden carriage, later this week I'm meeting up with another American girl (also named rachel). She just got here last week so she and I are going to meet up for coffee and walk around den haag for a bit one day. Then Friday Steve and Sheila offered to host a little BBQ for the American's that are here (along with some non-Americans too) so I invited the Au Pairs that I know and we are going to grill burgers and such. can't wait! Then that next weekend Val and Erv will be here, 2 weeks after that I'll be house sitting for Steve and Sheila (yay!) and then I think the following weekend Rachel and I are going to Brussels! october will be one busy month. I can't wait! Hopefully November will fly by just as quickly and I can find a really great deal on a plane ticket to come home for Christmas!

P.S. I can't believe I've been here a month already!!! Time flies when you are having fun and doing God's will! Well. Dinner is ready. And football is on. gotta run! Have a blessed week!

Can't sleep

It's 11:30 and I can not fall asleep no matter how hard I try. Maybe God wants to tell me something? Maybe I'm thinking to much (about what I don't know...) maybe I had 1 to many cups of delicious dutch coffee. Who knows. So here I sit. In my sweatshirt and sweatpants with warm socks on in my chilly room on my bed blogging about nothing really. I really thought I'd fall asleep easy since the rain is pouring down and making a lovely sound on my window. Oh well. Here goes the blog..
Well. Sheila took me to Delft the other day for lunch. It's such a cute little town! They have an "Old church" and a "New church" I don't know when the "Old Church" was built but apparently there were some Van Wyk's that went there (according to Sheila's daughter she saw a Van Wyk on the roster of members.. I didn't see it, I"ll look again next time). The "New Church" was built in the 1500's. Ha! It cracks me up that it's new, yet so so old. I love going into these old churches. They are so big and beautiful. And so sturdy! They lasted through wars, rain, hail, snow and heaven only knows what else. So cool. But then Sheila and I got to talking about these old churches, and the churches they build now.. What are we leaving for the generations to come as far as church buildings go? They are not nearly as big, beautiful or sturdy as these old old churches. Just a thought. Anyway. The weather was yuck (go figure, the locals keep saying this rain is not normal, but I don't believe them...) so I didn't get good pictures, but next time I go I'll try and get some good ones. The town is really really cute!
Today Sheila (I love that she includes me! Such a sweet lady!!!) invited me for lunch with her and her friend and her friends daughter. So I went and this other lady works at the International School here in Wassenaar and she said that they are really needing teachers, subs and volunteers. Guess who is signing up! Not for the teaching part since I have a job, but I think it would be so great (and amazing experience) to sub or volunteer at an international school. Plus it would give me something to do during the week while the kids are at school. However.. if any of you know of anyone who is a teacher and is wanting to come and travel this school will have 2 open positions starting right after Christmas.. just sayin'

I've started a quote book/scripture book to flip through so that when I get a bit homesick, or I wonder why in heavens name I"m here I can look through it and be encouraged.. if anyone has any quotes/verses to add I'd love to hear them. I'm not homesick yet. But I do miss being able to just pick up my phone and speed dial 2 (to get my mom at work) or speed dial 3 (to get my house) whenever I want. this time difference is tricky. Thank goodness for Sheila and Rachel! And maybe Maurien one of these days.

Maurien drives me crazy some days, but then on days like today I really like her :o) She was very appreciative and affirming of me today (which has not really been the case up until now) and she wants to spend an afternoon together next week. I'm looking forward to it. The kids and I are really getting along. They think it's funny that I laugh at myself so much, especially when I do something stupid like trip UP the short little dutch steps. I don't think Maarten and Maurien quite know what to do with my laughter and silliness.. But I don't think they mind. Maurien said today to Max that she thought they were quite lucky to have someone who loves to laugh a lot. That was nice to hear. Especially since it feels so nice to laugh, and when I have the choice of laughing over something stupid that I've done (like clean the bathroom with Windex since both cleaning bottles look the same and I can't speak Dutch so I didn't know..) or get frustrated and cry. I'll pick laughing for now.. maybe in 5 or 6 months when I should know better, I'll get frustrated. But for now. I"ll just laugh :o)

Well. can't wait for the weekend. I'm sleeping at Steve and Sheila's since Maurien has family coming into town (I'm still welcome here, there will just be a lot of people, 11 plus me to be exact who all speak Dutch, who are LOUD and who might want me to babysit and do alllll the dishes.. so i"m escaping to Sheilas) :o) Sleeping in, watching movies and hanging out with them sounds great! Hopefully the weather is nice so Rachel and I can go to Utreict or go to the Madurodam. The mini Holland.

Ok now I"m sleepy. Better stop rambling. Feel free to leave quotes or verses :o) Have an outstanding rest of your day!!

Oh what a BEAUTIFUL day!

Can I just take a minute and thank God yet again for a spectacularly beautiful day! I mean, honestly! SO beautiful! It was about 75 here today, and no rain! It was so great. Today is the warmest day since I've been here. So.. Thank you Lord once again for an amazing, warm, blue sky, fresh air day!
Ok. Moving on :o) So today Rachel, and her friend Jaclyn and I explored the Haag.. again. But it was way better today. Wait.. lets back up... So I wake up so full of energy, my cold is pretty much gone, I just have the lingering cough, I feel really rested the sun is shining, I know today is going to be a great day. So I hop on my bike and head to town.. *side note.. I haven't ridden to Den Haag by myself yet, I've always taken the bus because of the weather, and I'm not Dutch enough yet to brave the rain on my bike* But I think to myself, just go straight, look for familiar landmarks and we'll be just fine. So in go my ear buds, on goes to praise and worship music, along with the occasional country song and off I go. Full of confidence. About 10 minutes into the ride I start thinking, I don't remember this.. but I'll keep going until I see a sign that says Den Haag.. a couple min later I see the sign so I follow it, but nothing is looking familiar. But I think to myself, I must have just not been paying close attention I'll keep going.... 30 min later (it's only supposed to take maybe 20) I have no idea where I am.. but off to the left I see a building with Leiden University on it.. OH NO I think! There is No way I'm in Leiden! This is just not possible. (remember, I've only been here 2 weeks and I have no sense of direction) I start freaking out a little, but I calm myself by thinking, you are following the signs, it's ok.. So I stop this man (why is it always a man I run into? weird.. anyway) and I ask him where Central Station is so he tells me I'm about 2 k away, so then I say, and how far am I from Leiden ( just to make sure I was indeed in Den Haag) and he chuckles (now.. pause here... in the 5 seconds he laughs about a million dreaded thoughts fly through my head about how I'm probably in Leiden now and how stupid am I and I thought it would take longer to get to Leiden etc..) then he says, Oh you are about 20k away. WHEW! Oh but I felt so dumb, because then I realize that Leiden is the other way. Lol. Oh gosh. So I FINALLY make it to Central Station where I meet Rachel and Jaclyn (15 min late.. it took me 45 min to get there!) And off we go. We are ready to conquer this town!
We start wandering around aimlessly ( like true tourists) and stumble across a very looong line of people waiting to get into this building. Turns out it's Parliment! Today was our lucky day! Most of the major buildings that are not open for tourists were open for today and some were open tomorrow! It was so so cool! Here are some pictures:
Inside Parliment building.. this is not where parliment meets though.
This is where the Queen gives her speech that opens Parliment on the
3rd Tuesday of September (which I'm going to by the way)

I think this is the Queens Chair..


Parliment with the looong line of people to get in
I give this experience 2 thumbs up!

The outside of Parliament
*side note.. Pien, just told me that the building I was just in is called the Ridderzaal. Also called the Parliament building, but people get confused and thing this is where Parliament meets all the time. It is not.. I have no idea where they actually meet.. just thought you should know that bit of info.

He's important. But I don't know who he is.. The caption below was in Dutch. Darn it!

Eerste Kamer Der Staten Generaal.. aka Assembly hall. This room is used as the assembly room for the Senate of the Dutch Parliament. But again, this is not where they hold the whole session (or so I'm told)

Pretty ceiling huh? Maybe someday I'll paint something like this on my ceiling. HA!


Not 100% but we think this is the Peace Palace...


Ginormous doors! Right after we took this someone started talking on the intercom.. we ran away :o)
Post card picture :o) This is the backside of the Peace Palace, if that's what it is..Pretty building in the pretty garden.. It's probably important, but we had no idea what it was..Look! The queen and I are so close she lets me hide in her skirts! ;o) Actually, this is in the Tweede Kamer Der Staten Generaal.. Aka REALLY COOL BUILDING! This was one of the only pictures that I was allowed to take, so I'll just describe the building. It looks like a plain old boring downtown city building. Inside. MAJOR security! We waited in like for almost an hour to go into this incredibly cool room full of books. I mean full full FULL! 4 levels of wall to wall, floor to ceiling on 3 walls with a staircase off to the side so you can get to the books. These books go back to 1815 and they are all of the word by word documentations of all the House of Reps meetings. There are over 30,000 books! If you want to see pictures/read some of the documents you can go to www.tweedekamer.nl so far they only have from 1995 until now on, but they are working on getting the rest on the web as well. It was really really neat!
That was the last place I saw because I had to get home to babysit at 4 and I wanted to leave early so I had pleanty of time to get home.. just in case.. Good thing I left early, because somehow.. and I honestly don't know how, I got lost. Well, sort of lost. I kind of knew where I was... but it was not the most direct route home. I think I'm going to have to take directions to the haag for dummies next time! Seriously. I believe God gave some people a good sense of direction, and some no sense at all.. he gave me no sense of direction what so ever! Good thing I left early!! Sheeish. Never a dull moment for me when I'm in Holland! I really think I'm going to take Maurien with me next time so she can show me exactly what to do.. I'm pretty sure where I went wrong, but not 100%. Oh well. There are worse things!
Well everyone. I'm off. My uncle Jim comes tomorrow for a few hours, yay! Can't wait to show him around.. I think we'll take the bus so we don't get lost though. Lol!

TGIF!

Instead of having Labor day on Monday, I had my labor day today :o) The kids had a school field trip to an amusement part about 2 hrs from here (I don't remember doing cool trips like that..) So they were gone all day today! It was so nice. I slept in a little, took my time doing my morning chores, and then Rachel came over and we tentatively planned our year! Yay! It was really exciting planning all the things we wanted to see and do.. However, my initial goal of 12 countries in 12 months is not going to happen I don't think.. Maybe. But probably not. We decided that we wanted to do the big things like Paris, Rome, Brussels, and Berlin.. But we plan on seeing lots of the Netherlands while we are here on short little day trips, and I think that will be equally as fun.. I guess that just means that I'll HAVE to come back some day. Darn it anyway :o) Maurien did mention to me that maybe in February they might go to France and I can tag along if I'd like. And I said OF COURSE! Free trip to France. I'll take it! :o)
Max, the middle child, he's 10, is so funny! He makes me laugh so hard! He can be quite the pill but he can be so funny tonight. And he really catches on to things sometimes. For instance, last week the kids and I were getting ready to eat dinner and I said " rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, amen" b/c the family never prays before dinner and they don't really stop talking, more like yelling, over each other long enough for me to even get a quick silent prayer in. So my prayer is usually while I"m fixing it. So after I said my quick summer camp prayer Max repeated it and then later asked why I said that. And I said, well Max. I think we should always thank God for the food, but I know that you guys don't pray before meals, but I think that little camp prayer is ok. He said, oh.. and then walked away. So tonight he says " Lord, rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub. Amen" and then everyone started laughing, including me, but I was so proud too. I was glad that he listened. Maybe this is the start of something beautiful for him. Eventually I hope to say something along the lines of " Dear Lord, thank you for this food. Amen" But I don't feel like now is the time to get thaaaat religious :o) I'm just so excited to see the kids, but especially Max grow this year. I really believe that someday he will grow up to be very successful and I hope that he becomes a Christian and uses his humor, his organization and his smart little brain to show others the love of Christ in a new and original way.
Wait.. have I even talked about the kids much? I don't think so... But I've been here 2 weeks, so now I have a feel (sort of) how the kids are.. so here we go.
Pien, the oldest and only girl. She is 11 and very much a girl. So sweet, and so wants to fit in and wants everyone to like her. She is a little shy at first, but she's coming out of her shell I think. She got her first pair of real hoop earings yesterday, and boy did she feel grow up. She came running up the stairs and showed me immediately and asked me to help her put them in. Then she ooohed and ahhhed at herself in the mirror. She is so precious! She wants to do very well in school so that she can do well on this terrible test in February. ( this test determines what high school she will go to, and then basically what college she will get into.. crazy huh?) I think she doesn't like school, but she knows she needs to do well so she studies hard. She loves to bake in the kitchen and just hang around me. It's nice, she reminds me a lot of Lauren. It's fun to have a "little sister" around, and I think it's fun for her to have me around. Can't wait for some good 1 on 1 time with her.
Max, is HILARIOUS! So funny! Easily distracted, but a good kid. He likes to push the limits a little and is very strong willed, but good news, so am I.. it will be intersting. But he loves to please people. The other day Pien made her bed (which is actually part of my morning chores, make the kids beds and clean up their bathroom) so I was praising her and telling her how happy I was that she did that on her own, so Max runs into his room and makes his bed and is looking pleased as punch when I walked in and praised him too. So cute. And so funny. He will make this year fun, and crazy for me I think.
Jonas. The youngest. He's 8 and clearly the baby of the family. He gets what he wants by crying on the spot. It drives me crazy! He doesn't like to speak English, sometimes I think he does it to annoy me.. but Maarten and Maurien always correct him and make him speak English. He has the "good soldier" mentality. He'll do what he's asked even if he doesn't like it. But he won't go above and beyond. Part of that is his age, and part of that is being boy I think. He will be the challenge child I think. But sometimes the challenges are what make the year the most worth while because I think you see the most change (in you and in them) in the challenges. I'll just have to remember that when he's testing my patience. He is very good at Tennis and loves to play soccer. He say's he's going to teach me some soccer tricks so I can kick Josh's butt when I get back.. I wouldn't take it that far, but it will be fun to let him teach me soccer while I teach him English. We will both learn a lot!

Well. I think that's about it. Tomorrow we are going to see another museum and Sunday my uncle Jim comes. YAY! Can't wait! Have an outstanding weekend!!

Content

So I woke up this morning with a stuffy nose, stuffy ears, and a sore throat. NOT wanting to get out of bed. Perfect day for sleeping in. The family can make their own breakfast and lunch right? So I hit snooze. 5 min later the alarm sounded again, this time I woke up.. I don't know how to explain it, other than God was saying, "ahem.. sleeping is not the reason I brought you here.. I have a much bigger plan. Get up sleepyhead!" So.. I got up. But with an energy I haven't had since I got here. I mean. Wide awake. Ready to take on the world.
It's been truly amazing here. Really, really amazing. My heart was breaking when I had to leave my family, and yes I cried.. but I was still at peace. My heart felt like it was being split open when I said bye to Josh at the airport, but as I walked on that plane, it was as if God was standing right there saying, "hush now.. it's going to be alright. Just wait and see what i have planned for you" And just like that. All tears were replaced with excitement. And it's been like that since then. It's great. I'm not afraid to jump on my bike and take off on a little adventure. Or email total strangers and ask to hang out sometime soon, and God is rewarding me left and right. I know without a doubt this is where I'm supposed to be. My first Sunday he blessed me with a new friend. Then, he blessed me with Steve and Sheila Van Wyk being about a mile away, then he blessed me by giving me some warm clothes and a winter coat (things I needed), and just this morning, he blessed me with a new friend who goes to the university in Leiden. She is here for the study abroad program so we are going out for coffee soon and she's going to introduce me to some of her friends. God is so good. And so faithful. My biggest worry about not meeting people right away was so silly. Really it was. Now I have friends AND family that live close by.
I love God's faithfulness. All the time. And I love that I know that no matter where I go, as long as I'm walking on His path, I will be so content. Even in the struggles I can be content. Even when I'm all turned around and lost on my bike, I can be content in knowing that hey, it's ok. I'm in God's perfect will at this moment maybe he's showing me something new like.. a bakery! ha! Or maybe He just wants me to get lost in Him. Maybe he wants me to just be still in the middle of the forest and say, Ok Lord. Here I am. Now what. Either way. I'm content. And i LOVE IT!!!!

on my own

Well, today Camille left. Poor Pien was trying so hard not to cry, and Jonas (pronounced YO-nus) didn't even want to give her a hug. He just wanted to say a quick bye and leave. None of this girly hugging business. Max has the sniffles.. literally only sniffles so he stayed home.. and Jonas said he was sick too, so Maurien picked him up after being at school only about an hour. I think they were just sad about Camille.. So Maurien played along. I guess you have to pick your battles.
Right after Maurien got back from dropping Camille off I took of on my bike for a little adventure. Actually it wasn't even an adventure. I just wanted to see if I could find the Etos (kind of like a walgreens) in Wassenaar. So I headed out with my iPod and my bike. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Seriously one of the better day's I've experienced here. The sky was blue, the air had the smell of fall in it, just a little crisp, but not really cold. Perfect day for long sleeved shirts, jeans and a light jacket. It was glorious!! So there I was, riding my black bike, with my trusty map, camera and cell phone in my purse riding on the bike path looking at all the beautiful tree's, listening to some praise and worship music, and a bit of Sound of Music ( I have confidence in me song) and I see a group of older people riding their bikes.. that was cute, but what was really funny to me was that one of the ladies had a cane on the back of her bike too! It cracked me up! She can ride a bike, but needs a cane to walk.. it was just funny to me. So I keep riding my bike, hoping something looks familiar.. then something does. The amusement park... yay for something familiar.. not so yay when I realized I passed the road to the town center probably 2 miles back! Ha! (by the way I'm terrible at guessing how far distance is.. i just know it took me about 15 min to get back.. it could be 5 miles or 2 miles.. who knows, so just take whatever milage I say with the knowledge that you might need to round up or down 2 or 3 miles) :o) So I turn around and try and find my street.. So i find the cobble stone street that marks where I need to turn ( i think the names of the streets are to hard to say so I don't even try, I just look for the land marks). So I turn and I see the sign that says Center. yay! I'm almost there right? No, dumb me turns down the wrong road.. the sign was kind of at an angle, so I went down the wrong road. Oh well. I'm in Wassenaar so eventually I have to get somewhere familiar right? umm nope. But the good news is that I found an outstanding cake shop! Apparently they are famous.. so I bought a little treat for myself while I was trying to figure out where in the world I was.. So I turn around AGAIN and see what looks like a little alleyway with a street at the end.. nope. Dead end. Lucky for me it was a retirement area and this sweet old man in very broken English told me how to get to the center. Geeze. I didn't think it would be this difficult. But, the good news is that, I think I can figure out how to get to the center. AND I got the scenic tour of Wassenaar. Lol. Once I finally made it to town I took my que's from all other bikers and rode where others were riding, and walked my bike where others were walking.. I need to figure out all the rules here, it's a little tricky. After stumbling around town I finally found the ice cream shop so I knew kind of where I was, so I stopped in and got a "dutch portion" of coconut ice cream (this is a very small scoop for a very small price) and the guy showed me where to go.. So I head down the street, but he forgets to tell me that I have to turn down an alley.. So another sweet dutch man tells me that I have to turn down the alley and it's to my right. Thank goodness for nice old men! Sheeish!!! Finally.. SUCCESS! I find the store. Laughing at how crazy this is.. I get to Etos.. they don't have what I'm looking for. So I bought shaving cream and nail polish remover and a coke just so I could say it wasn't a wasted trip. Lol. What an afternoon! And the funny thing is.. I didn't even mind being lost and turned around here. It's so nice and pleasant, and I don't feel like I'm in a rush. It's really nice. Plus, I found a great place to get a nice treat :o)
Well, it's time to fix some dinner. Yum! Tomorrow my new friend Rachel and I are headed to Leiden for the morning, and then to a museum tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited to get to know this girl! She is from Ohio and she goes to my church. Yay God! Thanks for providing again!! Now I have a friend to see things with, AND I don't have to sit alone at church :o)

Happy Friday to whoever is reading this! :o)