Queen's Day Celebrations... I wonder what they'll call it next year?

  Queens Day is a big deal in the Netherlands. Who knew?  I sure didn't.  I didn't even know they had a queen. She's only been in charge for 33 years!  I thought England and some tribal territories in Africa were the only places left on the planet with monarchies still running.  I have a lot to learn.  

Anyway, we decided this would be a good occasion to celebrate in our ongoing effort to make heading to Holland for a year seem like a good idea to all of us.  So, although we didn't wear orange, as apparently the rest of the entire nation did (thanks to guys like this one), we did enjoy ourselves.

The Queen abdicated (retired) and the new King, her son, Willem-Alexander, and his wife, Queen Maximá, have three young girls, I mean princesses!   He is the first king they have had in 123 years, so no wonder it's "Queens" Day!

Sounds a bit like a fairy tale!  I wonder what they'll call next year's festivities?

Consider the Ravens and the Lilies

Anya's coping mechanism!

Anya drew this a few weeks ago when she first learned we were moving.  She wasn't thrilled, still isn't.   This is part of how she was coping, a pretty good mechanism I think! 

The script says: Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap,they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Luke 12:24 and 27

Nora is just ready to go on an adventure, go to a beach (any beach- we're Mid-Westerners) and eat Gouda cheese!  

I'm so proud of both my girls how they are handling the big changes coming up in less than 3 weeks now. 

Yikes!! Did I really just type 3 weeks?   

Going fishing in the Netherlands?

 Matt attempting to remove the hook from Nora's big catch last summer!

Maybe it was trying to get the hook out of this poor little guy's mouth while fishing with Nora last summer, I'm not sure, but  at some point in the last few years we began to wonder, what would it be like to really be "fishers of men"?   Jesus calls us all so clearly to do so, to share the truth of the gospel in ways that are compelling and convicting.

Perhaps Matt, the little boy who spent hours at a farm pond and even won a few fishing competitions, has decided to improve the equipment in his tackle box for "fishing".  

In a way,  that's what heading to Tyndale  for seminary is all about. The opportunity is pulling him, just like the old farm pond used to.  At least that's how I see it, and I started the blog! ;)

And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

A Sower Went Out to Sow... and found a gift!

The task itself was not a hard one.  We had already done the "hard work"days before, transforming our beloved garden into a big empty dirt patch.   But the hard work of this day was emotional.  It felt like a real commitment to actually sow grass seed, so that possibly someone who didn't want the work of a huge garden might still want to buy our house.   So we deliberated.... again... but in the end, it was done. Our garden has retired.... and although I will miss the mid-western tomatoes this summer, I can't say that taking a year off sounds like a bad idea!

Amazingly, as we tore out the garden a week ago, (and I wondered what impact that would have on my kids little phyches) Nora discovered a burrow of baby bunnies.  

These little guys charmed them so much that there was never a word said about the loss of what has been a pretty major part of their childhood.

It made me think of this verse: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  Matthew 7:11