Snow and Holland and More Snow!

Hello again! It's been a long time, and since a lot has happened! So lot's of pictures, sorry if there's a little too many!! I also am not computer literate enough to know how to put the pictures in a certain order, so I'll give it a go but be patient with me if we're flying from Holland back to Canada a few times. It is cheaper this way ;)

So much snow in late December! This is our cozy home, made even cozier by the soft white blanket and a few Christmas lights and red ball decorations inside! We'd love to have you come visit!

A little childish and a lot of fun. 

I came home to a backyard campfire a few nights ago, so gezellig.

So blessed to be able to call this home.

Croquette making is made much faster with a little dancing it turns out...

In the middle of a 17 hour travel period! So excited. And a little exhausted.

And now we're quickly flying to Holland, this is in Haarlem, the underground passages where citizens would quickly dive into after hearing the air raid sirens. It's incredible to be inside my history text book pages!

Cobblestone streets, tiny shops, smells of croquettes luring lingeringly in the air, friendly smiles, and bikes, be still my heart. Haarlem's a beauty.
 

Ironic to see German military gear for sale in a vintage store in Haarlem.

No words for this.

Corrie Ten Boom's house, where 800 precious lives passed through on their way to freedom during WW2. On Feb 1944, the Nazi's were tipped that Jews were hidden here and the Gestapo raided the home. 35 people were arrested, including Corrie and her family. 6 Jews were saved, safely hidden in the hiding place. They stayed in the cramped space four three days before they were rescued by the Dutch underground. All 35 of the arrested were incarcerated. A woman acting in faith paid with her life. So inspiring to see this freedom house and hear the story again. 

Out for dinner celebrating our seven month anniversary! Where has the time gone?!

The smoochiest cheeks. So infatuated with the nephews!

Famjam obligatory pic ;) So good to spend time getting to know all these people better!

Obligatory Holland picture, happens to be beautiful as well! 

Rescuing tired parents for an afternoon couldn't get any better!  

Wine and Christmas with special friends.

10:00 jetlagged mornings of speculaas cookies on bread breakfasts (yes that's normal here!! This place is speculaastic! Sorry for the teacherisms...) 

Maurits claims that Dutch sushi is way better than Canadian, so we went out for sushi one night!

And now jumping back to Canada, our last day of Christmas break was spent, again jetlagged, on top of Elk mountain! Breathtaking enough to forget that we were on 5 am Holland time! We appreciate these views so much more after being for a while without them.

Two weekends ago Maurits was going four bying with some friends. Someone pulled up with my old beast (landcruiser) from my Smithers days, and I couldn't resist going along! I've never been fourbying in the snow before, but after spending almost 8 hours stuck I think we've all resolved to stick to summer fourbying! Still, so much fun was had in spite of many dents and scratches and sore tired muscles. 

Conversation with the Japanese tourist we took along: 

Kim: So, are you enjoying this crazy Canadian experience?

J man: I'm cold, tired, sore and haven't eaten in eight hours because we were supposed to be home four hours ago, and nobody knows were we are. So not really. At all.

Kim: Hmm, so you wouldn't do this again?

J man: absolutely NOT.

Poor J man!

The creek turned out to be easier driving than the road... 

Until... Bryan found a little drop off in the creek and also needed a tow.

My poor beast got stuck ways too many times to be healthy. Very sad, very sad. 

I should really take a computer course with all those old ladies. Anyway back to Holland and our second nephew! So squeezable!

Doing manly things. 

A trip to the Kinderdijk with my handsome Dutchman! One of my favorite things about Holland was spending relaxed, fun time together. So enjoy spending time with my hubby! 

Skating. Notice how cute and confident we look?

This is more realistic... girls skate without picks here and this girl had a really hard time feeling like an elephant learning to walk...

And evening walks... mmmmm 

And morning bike rides... 

Out for dinner with the famjam for Maurits' birthday.  

Yup, I'm 28! And so fun and shameless and handsome and hard working and considerate and just amazing!!  

"O we have a ski hill!" they said. Yes indeed, an indoor 400 m hill with home made snow and this Apres Ski bar! Very fun. 

And now were back to work and routine, and as always loving life! 

Blessings,

Kim

Im sitting on my cozy blue chair in the kitchen, waiting for potatoes to boil, listening to the rain and the birds and thinking that theres really nothing exciting to post about. The past couple years have been full of firsts and overwhelming and adventure and excitement! And now things are slowly settling into peaceful routine. This gentle quiet, though new is not unwelcome in the least however and we wake up each morning, fresh, forgiven, and excited to face the days challenges.

Maurits has been doing very well in his job. I love his enthusiasm about his work! Plus a few oudated dutch items on the side are always appreciated...My job is going extremely well also, and every day I smile at how very blessed I am to have the job that I do. My little guy has been such a pleasure to work with this year, and he is an example to me in his kind and joyful spirit. Even before morning coffee (that one I am still in the process of learning...)

Were loving the regular normal of being married. I have an amazing man to share life with and Im so thankful for that! Especially this thanksgiving weekend its easy to miss family and close friends at the small dinner table. Yet I also have the choice to focus on all the many blessings we are showered with, to create our own traditions (not hard when the hubby is a fantastic chef!), to make these events special by dressing up, making a fancy dinner and eating on the floor (still gotta convince the man about that!) and be content about where God has placed us.

We also are starting up a gift basket business together with our landlords! Right now we are in the sales process, taking orders and finalizing our ideas for a christmas basket. So much fun to plan!

Well, the potatoes are ready!

May you all be blessed as you think about the many reasons for thanks this weekend!

Summer shenanigans

There is something magical about the word, "Summer." Hot dog breezes, salty sea fragrances, warm wind softly brushing against tank-top skin, tousling wind waving through sun-bleached hair, bright colored summer dresses and tanned arms contrasted against big white shell necklaces looking up at brilliant sunny smiles. 

At the time of our marriage we thought that it might be impossible for Maurits to work for the minth if August due to visa processing times, but we were very thankful to hear that he could still work throughout the month of August and on! In fact we just received a few days ago that our visa was received, and therefore Maurits can keep working for the next two years that it takes to process. Hopefully by the end of those two years Maurits will be a Permanent Resident of Canada! Although we had a major scare with the entire application being returned to us after the deadline to send it in, we were able to send it in again with the missing paper and they still accepted it, despite it being thirty days late. Thank you God!!

Because Maurits is working, we no longer had August to spend on our honeymoon as planned. Although Maurits (and his bosses) were so glad to keep working, I still wanted my honeymoon.  So, off we wandered to Vancouver Island. 

Fan Tan alley, narrowest street in BC we found while exploring Victoria.

Victoria's Parliament buildings

This was the day of the free tour of Parliament! Woohoo for free!

First Heinekin since Holland!

Hiking Mount Benson, getting lost in bicycle trails but finally making it to this amazing view.

Nanaimo sunset shenanigans

Exploring coastal caves

Obligatory honeymoon shot

Great food in Nanaimo

Walking Pipers Point

Our next door beach

Back in Chilliwack on a day trip with our landlords

Maurits ;)

Maurits again, a little more succesful this time!

Driving with the boat two feet from the cliff, our depth sounder read 160 feet deep. Perfect for cliff jumping!

Home made blackberry wine, Maurits latest project! 

12 liters of squeezing towels. This is Maurits' "next time we buy wine from the store" face. Way more work than we thought, but after a few weeks of fermenting it tastes amazing!

Quick business trip to Smithers. Playing Twister in style with the sista's!

Boating with Marion

Downhill biking in Smithets, keenly aware of the bear that makes his home on these trails that my brother was five feet from smashing into last week :/

Second sewing project on the new sewing machine! So fun to design my own clothes.

Another project, made out of an old but beautiful pillow case!

Nannying these kids throughout the summer, this is what happens when you trust me with your kids ;) 

Maurits made sushi!

August 4, officially one year since leaving Holland!