The beginning of the end (or the beginning of the new beginning...)

These past two weeks have been pretty busy, and a ton of fun. I helped out with the summer camp that the church puts on. Hearing all week a language i cant understand was a pretty interesting experience... "bla bla bla Engels vrouwen!" meant "pass the ball english woman!" Many inspiring stories were created, from a prostitute coming to find peace while at the church with us all week, to the little kinderen who shone God's light in their homes by singing the songs we taught them (many were unchristians). I managed to convince my kids for a few days that my name was Frankenstein ("its a Canadian name!"), and met a lot of inspiring people,  once again.

After the busyness of the last few weeks we finally have a chance to reflect, also on the changes ahead! For the most part we are very excited, a little uncertain, and ready to embrace whatever comes our way! Yet these last couple weeks are booked full with good bye dinners with family and close friends. Last night the whole family was together for a last time, perhaps in a year. For the next three evenings there are more good bye dinners... So the excitement is a little shadowed by reflecting on what we leave behind.

Yesterday was spent with an  old friend on the beach!

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I make my home on the farthest sea, even there you are with me, your right hand holds me fast. -psalm 139:9

Beautiful blue skies

This past week some friends from Alberta came to visit! I was their tour guide for a couple days, as we enjoyed more beautiful weather. 

The Netherlands and Canada are beautiful in their own unique way. Yet there are so many differences, not only in the landscape and the language, but the people are also quite different than Canadians. While I am in Canada I typically say proududly that I am Duth, but here I am forced to realize I am actually way more Canadian than I am Dutch! It is wonderful to be here and live a totally different world, expanding my horizons and views. At the same time, there truly is no place quite like home, where one can take off their shoes and relax, completely understanding what is going on around and being completely understood myself. It was really refreshing to spend time with these girls, not having to constantly translate languages and also being able to communicate on culturally at the same level! With that being said, I love my Dutch roots homeland more than I can say, and I think that while in Canada I proudly say that I have Dutch roots! Its nice to be taking a part of this place home to Canada as well through Maurits!

Yeah, this guy kinda forced me to drive his scooter home one day. Last time this happened a duck almost became road kill, but we are both still alive to tell the tale!

Boquet from my english class on our last day

Bouquet  now just a week and a half until we are travelling back to Canada. We try to always look forward, and we are pretty excited about what the future will bring. Maurits is especially excited to begin, and is counting down the days! I am excited to begin a job I love, but terrified at the same time when all the little worries crowd in...what if Maus doesnt like his job...why is he stepping away from the job every young guy dreams of...will having no family in the fraser valley make things more difficult...how will friend groups shift after being away for so long and no longer being single...what if a bee stings us on the way to the airport and we swell up and have to go to the hospital and miss our flight while we are unconcious with needles all over us....aah yes I am sometimes a bit of a non-rational woman.

But life is quite the adventure, and even in irrational moments I know that God holds our future and He promises to make our path straight. Anyways, whatever happens we are still  belonging to Him and that is most important! For now we try to be wise and follow Him, simply trusting.

And for my faithful followers in Smithers...see you in just two weeks!!

Summer highlights

Some quick highlights of the week:

A day off sometimes calls for fresh chocolate chip cookies. A delicious carrot cake also came with it, birthday cake for one of the bro's that evening. Lekker.

Esther Souman is in Holland, and I got to go with her, her mom and two brothers to Loevenstein castle. This history buff absolutely loved it, and it was also a ton of fun spending the day with them and a couple Aussie relatives. It was also a little exhausting ;)

Part of Rotterdams Oude Haven (old harbor). Another girl from the Fraser Valley (Amy Vanderhoek) needed a tourist, and after 20 kms of biking and a bit of hiking it made a perfect finish to the tour

A really bad picure of me, but these guys are so stinkin cute. And a ton of fun.

A small town we explored with Esther... Zaltbommel. These narrow cobblestone streets catch my cameras eye every time!

Church in Zaltbommel

Kubus houses in Rotterdam, part , part of your online tour ;)

Dinner one night

Beautiful Holland

And as per usual, falling pretty hard for this guy. I am so incredibly blessed.

This week was a barbecue.

The week here in Rotterdam was pretty much a barbecue. Most evenings were spent basking in sunshine, skin getting a little crispy next to a lake, with good friends and family, and ten different types of meat on the grill. Which is why my belly is jiggling a little bit. And a bit squishy. And the rest is a little sunburnt. Evidence of a good week ;) On wednesday Maurits took the day off work and we went to a beach town 30 kms away (an hour by scooter) and spent the day swimming in the ocean. Which was 16 degrees, numbing enough to enjoy it.

Last night finished with a chocolate covered ice cream at 11:30, we couldn't ask for a more perfect (and unhealthy...) finish to the week!

On Friday I spent the day polishing Maurits boss' s boat, and the paycheck was a saturday spent on the water with the boss and his wife! 

Holland's cozy coastline

Every evening this week finished with a beauty sunset

Falling pretty deep for this guy

New sunglasses from the market!

Rotterdam by boat. Notice the green water, these guys drink the stuff as their drinking water (filtered with UV but still! No wonder theyre a little crazy!)

In church yesterday a nice old man asked if he could take a picture :) This girl is from Iran, a muslim country. When she converted to Christianity her property and family was threatened so she escaped to the Netherlands. A very inspiring story. 

Dinner (sushi!) with the company. Maurits boss is on the right, his wife sits beside me (no, thats not Maurits, although pretty close! They have a great relationship). The evening finished in a wine tasting bar at about 11:30, after which we had to bike home for an hour. Usually biking is the best, but at 12:30 with a really full stomach its a little bit too Dutch!

I tutored some children at the local reformed school here for a few months. As school is out so am I, which is really unfortunate! One of my sweet students gave a thank you gift on his last day. I love teaching.

Typical bbq. Way too many delicious flavors and varieties to not become round.

At some point we also climbed the euromast, I think its the tallest building in Holland. Notice how green the city is!

Doing laundry for Maurits mom. For some reason she didnt believe my "this is how we always do it in Canada!"

This past week Maurits also confirmed a house in the Fraser Valley where he will rent. Perfect location, price and home. 

2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all you need, you will abound in every good work."

I hope you all had a great week as well, enjoying some summer weather also! Blessings on your coming week.

The Path Forward- Our One Year Plan

For the past year many people have asked about our long term plans. There is a lot of uncertainty and we have always been able to say simply that we are trusting God to provide, as we just have no idea what the future holds. Whatever plops on our path we will embrace and simply work with it! We are now really excited to tell that we do have a one year plan! A few weeks ago Maurits received his working visa to come to Canada for one year and work. He gave his notice at work, and we booked the flight a couple weeks ago. August 4 we will be in Canada together! After 2 weeks spent in Smithers with the family we are planning on finding a place to live and work for Maurits in the Fraser Valley. As of yet we do not have either a job or a place, so if you hear of anything let us know! Again, there is uncertainty but it stretches our trust muscles yet a little further, and we know that with exercise comes extra strength. So we go forward, believing this to be our best option and from there simply working with what God will provide.

I hope you are all doing well also! Enjoy your week, 

Maurits and Kim

Weddings and sunshine!

As you may have guessed by the blogs silence, there has not been too much spare time in the agenda! At times it feels like chaotic busyness, running around like a chicken  about to be butchered, but mostly i am so thankful to be busy. If there is too much time for myself than I am worse than a chaotic chicken running around without a head (these metaphors you learn from having previously lived in a chicken hobby farm...)

A 'refined' looking chicken famer and her handsome man at Maurits' brothers wedding

And just because we think we are so good looking...

A nice evening walk. 

Actually Kirsten and Leeaane (from Smithers) came along as well. Kirsten amd I decided it would be fun to walk on a narrow dike type of thing, after which the incoming tide forced us to get wet pants.

Exploring Rotterdam for free! With a Rotterdam pass you can do a lot of activities either ondiscount or free. Here we went on a boat where they gave a tour of the habour. 

Boat life. The white bridge in the background is the Erasmus bridge, a famous landmark of Europe and quite ingeningenious if you look at the design.

I found out I graduated this past week!

Last night we also went for a walk, and we ended up in a park with  lots of rabbits. Maurits bet me a McKroquet burger from Mcdonalds that i couldnt catch one. So of course then I definitely had to catch one! So here we are, 10:30 at night eating a delicious dessert. Sorry rabbit!

After work relaxing in the sunshine

Eating kibbeling (deep fried fish) and strawberries at the Market

Another incredible sunset

Beach day and a Porsche

Lately we've been settling into a bit of a routine, which definitely still includes some unexpected last minute beach saturdays, some out of the blue sick days, some spur of the moment visits to friends, and an unexpected weekend with a porsche!

Maurits boss has a porsche (its pretty old but hey its still a porsche) and he asked him if he wants it for the weekend.  A very generous offer! So after hours of hemming and hawing (ok not even half a second) Maurits said sure! On the weekend we had no plans for saturday, so we decided to drive a few hours to a little town called Hoek van Holland. Its a really cute beach town. The weather was beautiful as well, making it a peaceful relaxing walk along the beach.

In 

the afternoon we had a treasure hunt type of  activity organized by the church. It is so good to get out and do stuff, and be able to say yes! to just about any random invite! It was also a great opportunity to get to know and have fun with other people from the church, which is always also a great experience. The people here are so welcoming, they truly are wonderful. I have a picture of the whole group but i cant download it so maybe next time i post i'll have figured out how to download it!

Through this all Maurits wasnt feeling so great.  He pushed through it without complaining, but I could tell he wasnt doing all that well. Anyway, Sunday afternoon we stayed home from church as he couldnt drive. We listened to an English sermon from Uncle Seve instead. Monday morning he started hyperventilating, with tinglig fingers that turned white, and finding it hard to breathe. As he couldnt drive I had to take him to the doctor. But he cant drive. And obviously couldn't bike, so there was nothing to do but to give me the car keys. So i drove the porsche actually only a few meters away to the doctors office. He now has some medication and us slowly recovering. But after coming out of the doctors office,we saw an old woman closely inspecting the car. I think she was a bit crazy in the head, anyways she was talking to herself and feeling the car. So i went up to her and i said, "excuse me, can ik u helpen?  This is my car." She looked at me, then looked at me again, then laughed scornfully and said "i dont think so". Well hello lady, why on earth would you think it wierd of a little 21 year old girl with a hunched over coughing boyfriend to have a porsche? Like, seriously. But she walked away anyways!

Monday and Tuesday Leeanne and Kirsten are here. So this morning we went shopping for dinner, and are planning on having a nice dinner and dessert ready for when Maurits and his mom get home. They were also here on Friday, so we took them for a tour.

Driving the Porsche topless so i had to lend my handsome a scarf.

The Oude Haven (old harbour)

Cubus houses

So theres a taste of our weekend! The week was spent mostly helping various people with English. It was a good week :)