Three months of Dutch life

 I am hoping that my English is still intact after three months of improving our Dutch as intensely as possible. So, any spelling mistakes, please write it off to that. We have finished our first three months in a new country, incredible. This is often the hardest part, I hope. It has physically not been hard, after long days of no power and heat, this is easy; but emotionally there are a lot of switches to flick. 

Carl has been enjoying his work, working hard. He comes back at night, very tired. Myself and the children have been living up the home life. With corona getting worse as the winter creeps in, we are very limited to where we can go and who we can meet. So, we'll take you through the last few months with some pictures. Most of our normal people pictures have been replaced by tree pictures, beautifully changing from deep green to sticky fingers reaching to the sky.

We were just in time to see the last of the hearth- plants the grow in poor grounds. God makes it possible to grow even when the spiritual food we receive is scarce, His Spirit lives in us. Rom 8:5-6

The tenacity of trees is a good example to us- keep drawing close to God. James 4:8

When we draw near to Him, He invites us to come spend time with Him in the secret place. Mark 6:31

from this place and time comes our strength and our Hope for the future. Pro 23:18

Praise God (I am 5)!

He is our Good Shepherd. John 10:10

And our Father (Rom 8)

and our guide (Ps 48:14)

and our Joy (Neh 8:10)

and Light (John 1:1-14)

the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)

Therefore, walk in my way. Micah 6:8

We have also tried to enjoy some of the more dutch traditions:

Out and about on the farm- where we are blessed to live.

on the bicycles

on our feet

even on our backs;)

and when we are naughty, even on our bottoms.

Only kidding. This was from a special trip the kids and I made to an exposition on the freeing of the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War.

All made with sand, was great to see.

If you are scared, after all those pictures, that these children are running ragged, not schooling. Don't worry. They are currently working very hard on their dutch, and will hopefully next week start with their next year of home schooling. This will probably be our last before they will start to go to school after the summer. End of an era. (Isabel will go sooner, soon as the paperwork is finally done).

Still alive

 I read our last entry as if I am a spectator from the outside. It feels like years ago, simply because so much has happened in the meanwhile.

So, shockingly, we now live in the Netherlands. It was like a slow realization that came over us as things changed in the world over the last few months. Traveling has become harder and harder, immigrating even more so. So, as options fell away, one after the other, we were left with the Netherlands. Not a bad predicament. We were just never in a position to even consider it. But now we had to leap....

Carl took the boys on a hike, Humpback Rock on the Appalachian trial 

The laws just made it harder and harder to get any foot in the door. We also realized that the farm will need a lot more than our little African experience would provide. God brought someone on our way, literally out of the blue. He started to take over the day to day managing jobs, and Carl could pull back. 

It was difficult few weeks, and eventually Carl decided he could do more while being in Holland, preparing for us. So, on 30 June, he flew from Washington DC to  Amsterdam. We still didn't want to take the risk with the children, and I couldn't get a visa for Holland anyway, since all the consulates etc were still closed. We could stay behind, and my family were so gratuitous to allow us to stay in the house, while they started to modify it so they could fit in, with their bigger family. 

Myself and the kids helped out at the farmstall:

   

I think the most precious of this time, was the time we could have with our family:

Anyone for water?

And then it was time to pack our bags again:

At the last moment I could see some precious friends from our time in Zambia:

And so the day came to say goodbye:

on the way to the airport we saw a bit of Washington DC

And then on the airplane:

To meet Dad:

And start a new life in the Netherlands:

Will this be it?? I don't know, I have stopped trying to guess. We just follow the road, and see where God leads us. Our time in the US was precious, and now we believe and hope God has a new season planned. So onwards and upwards:

May 2020- Labour of love

How different the world looks today, than even a month ago. On all levels. We thank God for His providing us with a long telescope. The changes we are going through can be seen through the lenses of an eternity, a pandemic free eternity, which makes it all much easier to handle. We need to be HOPE to those who are stuck on the findings of the microscope.

Paalman Quarantine:

 ps. the trampoline has blown away on a few occasions due to the incredible winds that come through the farm

 Yes, that is his mask being used for all kinds of tasks

 The farm's farmstall, ready for business.

Strawberries everywhere, any complaints,no!