Final Post

Sunday night we were given the opportunity to talk about how we saw God work during our year in Holland. It made us really reflect on what God did in and through us during the year, and as we finished our wrap up, I realized that this truly means our year is over. So this will be our final post on this blog. Here is a slideshow of pictures that we put together for our presentation, and I hope you enjoy seeing the places and people that were a blessing to us, and hopefully, that we were also a blessing for. Thank you all for your faithful support, prayer, and love for our family. God Bless.

For those interested in seeing our family's continuing story you are welcome to check out our new family blog here.

This Sunday Evening

This Sunday evening, 6 o'clock at our home church, Laveen Baptist, our family will be presenting what God did during our year in Holland. Our friend, Joy, will also be sharing about her 4 months in Thailand. If you're interested in hearing the details, we'd love for you to come out.

Back and Settling in

Well, most of you know that we have been back for a couple weeks now, and we apologize for the lack of posts recently. We are in the process of writing a last post with our reflections on the past year, but it has been a hard thing to sit down and write while there are parts we are still processing. However, in the meantime there are some updates we want to give you as well as some prayer requests.

Jeremy arrived home with the kids and ALL their luggage - an amazing thing when flying standby with 10 checked bags, 5 carry-ons, and both kids! Fortunately he had my mom with him. He jumped right into looking for a job for the coming school year, and we are so grateful to say that last week he was offered a position at North Pointe Preparatory in Phoenix. It is a college prep charter high school with about 700 students that pushes high academics, character development, and leadership, and we are very excited about the possibilities. He will be teaching junior English and will probably be focusing on British literature, which contains some of his favorite authors. The other positive is that the school is nearby where we are currently living up in the north valley with my parents. We do not know how long we will be there, but for the moment, it is very convenient.

I arrived back a week later with my sister Ashlyn, but our flights weren't so smooth. We got stuck in Philadelphia for 8 hours until a flight from Philly to Vegas was open because the Philly to Phoenix was canceled. We arrived in Las Vegas late at night - without our luggage - and went to a hotel for the night. Luckily there was a morning flight from Vegas to Phoenix that we were able to catch, and when we arrived our luggage was waiting for us. We got in just in time for lunch at our favorite Mexican restuarant, Manuel's - boy, I missed that place! Mexican food is just not done very well in Holland :)

It has been a great couple weeks going back to our church and seeing family and friends to catch up. It's funny how it seems like things have changed and yet stayed the same all at the same time. Right now we are visiting Jeremy's family in California, where we are enjoying great weather and the kids are having a blast with their cousins.

Here are a few of our current prayer requests as we adjust and transition back:

* Our landlord from Holland is being very stringy on returning our security deposit, from our private funds. He is planning on finalizing and returning what he deems "appropriate" and is trying to include damages that we know were there when we moved in. Please pray that we can reach a fair agreement and that it is returned quickly and that our other financial obligations are resolved.

* Our renter for our Phoenix home is looking to renew the lease which would be a good thing for us financially as we get settled, but there is paperwork and red tape involved that we pray is arranged quickly.

* Jeremy begins his job July 27th. We believe that God has divinely lead him to this school, and we pray that he transitions well into the school and staff and that God will use him in a great way on this new campus.

* Kaylie is busy preparing to re-enter the American school system where she will be a 2nd grader. Being in the Dutch school for the last year was a great experience and she learned many things, but there are several gaps that we need to fill so that she is ready for the coming school year. We have been reading (English books) a lot to help her comprehension, calculating with American money, and working on English grammar and spelling. She is doing great, though sadly I can already see how relearning the English is making her begin to forget her Dutch, but her biggest struggle is actually in math. She needs to be able to do timed addition and subtraction tests, and being a meticulous student, she is struggling with the timed aspect. Pray that she quickly learns the things she needs as we practice every day.

* Pray for us as a family as we transition back into American culture. There are many things that have been great to come back to: Mexican food, grocery stores open on weekends, and having 2 cars to drive (yeah!), but there are also many things that we enjoyed in Holland: a slower pace, more of a priority on family than on activity, and a cool/wet climate. Pray that we can combine and assimilate what we need between the cultures and that we will work together as a family to renew our "home" in America for as long as God wants us here :)

Lastly, we just want to say, Have a great 4th of July! Today we get to celebrate with family and friends the great country that we live in, and having lived in a country that calls themselves "free" in action to do whatever they want, their freedom was superficial and government had their fingers all over it. We are grateful to be American and from a country founded on Christian principles - a country that men and women have been proud to serve, live, and die for. We thank you and are gratful. Enjoy your BBQ's and fireworks today, and take a moment to reflect on why we have that opportunity.

Pictures from our last week here

Youth BBQ



A few of the other members of my quilting group. They call themselves the "Quilting Babes" and feel it is there job to make quilting cool again. They think I should start a Phoenix division - who knows!
Kaylie loves being a big sister - apparently tying Keiric to a pole in the backyard is part of that job.
Saying good-bye to new friends

Jeremy, the kids and my mom left Tuesday morning, leaving my sister and I to finish things up - here is our airport send-off

This is right before Keiric turns around and yells "I love you mom!"

Stateside

At this moment, Jeremy and the kids, along with my mother are stateside and are en route back to Phoenix from Philadelphia. It is weird to be here without them but they are excited to see their family and friends. This week I will finish closing up and returning the rental house, bikes and other assorted items. I will also be taking photos at Tyndale's Graduation ceremony. Then on Tuesday, Ashlyn and I will return to the States to meet up with the family. It is very weird to know that we are now at the end of our time here. So much has happened and we will all be forever changed.

Thank you all for you prayers and we ask that you continue to pray for our next steps which are still unclear and that Jeremy will find the right job opportunity.

I will post more pictures from the last few days soon.

Whirlwind

These last few days seem like we are in a whirlwind - I can still hardly believe that our year is almost over and Jeremy and the kids are headed back to the States next week! I will follow the week after so I can finish up a few things with the house and take pictures for Tyndale Seminary's graduation.

Last week we had a baptism at the lake where 3 individuals shared and showed how Christ had changed their life. It was a great experience to stand with the church as we celebrated their decision together.Also last week my mother and sister flew in to help us pack up and get home. The kids were very excited to see Grandma and Auntie Ashlyn, and they have been a big help as we've started packing everything up, and they have also babysat many times so Jer and I can together participate in several ministries.During the weekend we also got a chance to see a play at the European school performed by the high schoolers which was a tribute to Anne Frank and her step-sister, Eva Schloss. It was a wonderful production with live actors but also made a great use of technology with interaction from taped segments by Holocaust survivors. It was a very moving and educational evening, and I am glad that we were able to be a part of it. Eva Schloss herself was able to be there for the production and answered questions after the performance. One of the questions was whether she was able to forgive the perptrators of The Holocaust - to which she answered no and that she had no desire to, even though she has had offers of people willing to pray for her to have the ability to. Though I understand the unwillingness to consider forgiveness, it was a stark contrast to the story we heard yesterday of Corrie ten Boom, and The Hiding Place, where by God's grace and provision Corrie was able to forgive her captors.

Here's Ashlyn in The Hiding PlaceBecause it is the end of the year we had a BBQ for our International Cell from church. The weather cooperated beautifully (which is always in question here), and we had a great time hanging out with our group and some friends we'd invited.Sunday and Monday were holidays here - 1st and 2nd Pentecost days - and since it's considered a bank holiday and Kim didn't have to go to work, we decided to take advantage of the weather and see some of Holland. Kim's dad also decided to come along, which was very cool since I had only met him a few times.
Muidersloot Kasteel Keiric made a new friend!They let you dress up in one of the rooms of the castleAshlyn checking out the dungeonTuesday morning I invited the women from the women's Bible study to come over and catch up (we hadn't seen each other since the study ended in early May), and one of the ladies generously volunteered to teach us to give Spa Pedicures. So we had the opportunity to wash each others feet, similarly to what we were studing in John when Jesus washes the disciples feet - I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but in the end we all had a really good time!

Here are some more miscellaneous pictures from things we've been doing:

Kaylie at the beach with her friend OliviaKaylie and Olivia making dinner so we could have dinner with their familyKim's Birthday partyJeremy's last guitar lesson and Joran his teacher

Kaylie's last day of school, and I had a meeting with her teacher - in short, she is very smart! Apparently the kids at Kaylie's school learn an average of 2000 Dutch words a year and Kaylie scored 3000! We are so proud of her accomplishments this year. I am sure that starting 2 new schools in a new country and completely in a new language was overwhelming, but she handled it like a champ!Out bikingAshlyn sporting her new "European" lookKeiric loves his poffertjes (mini pancakes coated in butter and powdered sugar)Out shopping with Miss SonjaKeiric's all worn out

The Skate Park

I just wanted to tell a little about an experience I had yesterday afternoon. When the weather is nice enough, I try to spend an hour or so, a couple of times a week, at the local skate park, trying to make conversations with the teenagers and witnessing to them when the opportunity arises. Today I had two conversations that I found interesting, though they were also sad.

The first was with a young man. I asked him if he ever goes to church - he said, "No." Then I asked if he believes in God - He said, "No." I asked him if he knew where he would go when he died - he said, "No." I asked him if he knew what the Bible said about it - he said, "No." And then I asked him if he would like to know what the Bible said about it, and he said..."No." I talked to him a little about it anyway, but he was not at all interested. Then I asked him if he knew anyone who believes in God, and once again he said, "No."

It is unbelievable to me, but it is very common here for people to not know even a single person who believes in God at all, let alone the God of the Bible.

The second was teen was a young woman. I didn't even have to try to make conversation: she came up and introduced herself to me. She asked where I was from and what I was doing in Holland, and we got into a discussion about her understanding of Christianity. She knew a lot of bits and pieces, but it was obvious that what she had heard was not what the Bible says but more what friends had told her or she had picked up from television. I explained the Gospel to her, and she listened, but she said she didn't want to accept Christ because, she said, every time she tries to "find God" she gets "scared" and shakes. I don't know what this means for sure, but it seems to me that Satan is trying to keep her from hearing the Truth.

She would not give me her email address, but I gave her mine and told her that she could contact me if she wanted any more information. I also told her that I would be praying for her.

Please continue to pray for these two young people as well as all of the youth in Holland. It is a very dark culture they live in, and from most appearances it is only getting worse.