The calm after the storm

Invitations. Having enough food in the house to host family and guests. Wedding programs. Ordering flowers that dont cost $120 per bouquet. Decorations. Chair covers. Worrying about the weather forecast. Food for 200 people. Rings. Photographer. Minister. Wedding dress. Pens to sign the registry book. Dress alterations.

Nine weeks.

Done.

*breathe*

After a fairly hectic post-engagement, a perfect wedding day where emotions were probably too overwhelmed to truly feel deeply the significance of the occasion, and so many people, so much noise, so much  hustle-bustle, we have arrived.

Married life, the end goal of these two years, one of long distance and the second year of living in the same town, has finally arrived in all its peaceful glory.

Our smiles are no longer for the eye of the camera and 200 witnesses, but just for eachother.

And as the weeks pass by, that smile just is getting bigger. After living with Maurits and getting to know his habits and personality even better (I didnt think that was possible!) I have learned that the man I get to call my husband is a man of the greatest honesty,  integrity and joy. He is such a privilege to spend time with. At the same time a few little quirks from both of us come out and we can put in practise  our wedding text, "Love never fails." It is an amazing thing to be known also for my faults and still loved!

Anyways enough mush for you, heres some pics!

We planned to take our honeymoon in August, and I joined Maurits for a business trip to the Okanagan just afer we got married. 

Maurits worked in the mornings and early afternoon, but we had most of the afternoons and evenings free for things such as wine tasting in an Okanagan winery!

And swimming in Shuswap lake...

Business trip a few weeks later on his own :/

Friday evening fourbying with friends.we set up our campfire in this somewhat raunchy smelling, but beautiful spot. A few minutes later we found the source of the smell... napkins with a brown stripe as well as poop everywhere! Iguess it was used by the next door campers as their outhouse! 

Maurits boss gave him two free tickets to see Vancouver Whitecaps!

Two new nephews from Holland in the last few months

Not much for summer weather lately...

Wedding gift from the landlords, used most nights!

Hike up The Chief, Squamish

Camping in our new eight man (but 20% off!) tent near Squamish

Drinking wine (or something)

Arriving back from the honeymoon to find this...

And this.. (all empties unfortunately!)

Enjoying the backyard pool 

Making sorbet with backyard berries

Taking carebof Katie and her Aunt while Mama recovers from surgery 

This is how deliveries to the candy store that Maurits supplies are made! 

Very proud of the wood shed he built from scratch! I get credits also for holding boards for hours !

Watching Fireworks i Vancouver with some friends

Missing my kids! 

So theres a bit about life lately! Hope you are all enjoying your sunmer as well!

wedding wedding wedding!

June 4, 2016. 

35 degrees of sunshine and happy.

70 out of towners could honor us with their presence.

25 more towels as gifts, ahhh!

1 very organized mom.

2 of the happiest, most blessed people in the world.

The Golden Road

Since our engagement life has taken on a sparkling shine that somehow pulls upward on the  corners of my mouth so irresistably. Having made the choice to marry Maurits, my (mostly misplaced) doubts of the past have disappeared as I now make the conscious choice to love  him in the very best way possible. Being absolutely certain about where God is leading adds so much stability. And being absolutely certain makes a two month  engagement seem too long! All our planning is done, now it is just a matter of waiting!

We are so enjoying the excitement of anticipation, talking about how to decorate the house we will share together and beginning to make it a home, having a few surprise engagement parties and sharing this excitement with my colleagues and students, (and the gifts, o the gifts!! Im afraid that on my will I will have to include the hundreds of tea towels and allot them to my children as I don't think i will be able to go through them in my entire life time...)

We were speaking yesterday about how God must be a priority in our lives, actually the biggest priority. Yet so often, especially in exciting times like these where the road is paved in gold, I almost seem to forget Gods presence except for a quick prayer of thanks to God before bed and a brief devotional in the morning. Sure, we still show the character of a Christian but are we doing this simply because this is our character or are we setting a higher standard- "whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord". I have realized that I am living in the excitement of the moment more than I am living consciously for God in my daily tasks. It is helpful to have Maurits as my accountability partner who loves God as much as me, and wants our relationship to make me more holy. We realize that we have to take more time out of our day to spend  time communicating with God.

On another note, my room mate moved out yesterday!  The house is getting emptier as most of my stuff is also being moved to our new home! Changes are in the air!

Life has been so full lately, with planning for the wedding, finishing Maurits visa, three soccer games per week, playing piano for  a wedding, maintaining quite a bit of a social life...the list goes on! When the visa and wedding are done I think we wont know what to do with ourselves...

On Saturday we had a coEd soccer game. I scored my first goal! (From eleven feet away from the net on a penalty shot, and I even used a toe punt which  makes me an official woman player! Still, I scored a goal ;) Maurits scored his fourth hatrick of the seaseon but I think was more excited about my goal than his three! Gotta love having a cheerleader on the team when there are no moms around to embarrass you by cheering so loudly  :/  After the game we went for drinks (and mac and cheese for me :) with some of the soccer players and their wives. We stayed til midnight, thoroughly enjoying the evening and were thr last to leave! I love that Maurits is so social too, can have fun and chat with everyone. And he is soo good looking!! Sorry, but it'd just one  week before the wedding so i have a legit excuse! I really feel like an infatuated teenager lately, I just cant stop thinking about him! Typical i hear of the engagement period, and we are enjoying every little moment of sucking the marrow out of life!

Lenie and Pieter arrived yesterday. It was amazing to see them again, even though they were dead tired when they arrived. We kept them up for a bit, but couldn't hold them for long before they needed their beds. Excited to share this week with them though!

Maurits spends a few days per month in the Okanagan on a business trip. Thats actually also where we are going after our wedding, and then hoping to do something bigger in August while Maurits visa is processing and he cannot work.

Life in a hobby farm when the sheep get loose!

Meanwhile, Miss country chick takes selfies with cows (I think im becoming citified!)

Been doing a few hikes with different friends up tea pot hill, just fifteen minutes from my house!

Falling so deep for this guy.

Friday date night at Fort Langley

My smart cookie, the sweet boy who has taught me Gods love, has grown incredibly since the beginning of the year, and who I am so excited to work with again next year!

Hiking tea pot after work with these gals

Road trip to Smithers last month, teaching these beauties the duck face pose!

 Next week my family comes on Wednesday, and the week will mostly be preparing for the big day. There are not a lot of last minute things to do, but I think enough to keep us busy yet at the same time enjoying our company. Its so nice to have no stress!

I SAID YES!!

We are so thrilled to announce that WERE GETTING MARRIED!! 

We have no solid plans yet as far as when and where. We hope to know by the end of this month about visas, and can make plans based on that! We're praying that God would open doors for us to stay here in Canada for now at least, but are able to end with "Your will be done". Wherever he leads there is so much reason for joy :)

Life is Beautiful in Spring!

Spring has sprung in all it's vibrant splashes of beauty. I am thoroughly enjoying weekends sitting on the dock, doing small hikes, taking time off work to be a tour guide to a Manitoba snow girl, and showing some of Maurits' dutch friends around! 

Cultus Lake sunshine

Maurits Valentine's gift that he made himself!

This man takes care of me so well, makes me laugh til I fall off the couch, is trustworthy, and a great friend. 

Hiking in the States

Ladies ski free! Except it was $50 to rent and the snow was almost slush so we only did four runs :/ Still a fun day!

Girl's evening with Miss Anthea's school girls!

Spot something strange in this picture? Yup, the wooden cutting board burnt to a crisp on the bottom, and the pizza top also burnt, while the bottom of the pizza was still mush. Note to self: next time don't use a cutting board as an oven tray! It was still worth it tho!

I stretched my miniscus in my knee a week ago at the first Co-ed soccer practise. My sweet room mate figures that chocolate can cure everything, and I'm pretty sure she's got the best cure!

A weekend spent with Aunty Cec! It was a nice treat for her to be away from Manitoba snow world and into the sunshine and flowers!

So many good chats, laughter and selfies :)

The morning after I stretched my miniscus I couldn't walk so my handsome brought me a delicious breakfast! He's a champ!

Brad also rolled his ankle so these two invalids took a day off work. Misery loves company :/ And Sudoku!

Harrison Hotsprings with the Dutch guys! It was really neat to see this place through their eyes for a couple days, they couldn't imagine how we could get used to such a beautiful place! It reawakens in us the eyes to see the majesty of God's creation, to breathe deeply the clean air, hear the stillness and be surrounded by God!

Family Day weekend spent with the famjam!

This was a $200 view with the Dutch guys. O man. (rant alert). So everyone in BC has Spring break in the next two weeks. Like everyone. Except for this one school in Harrison. I was taking Maurits' two dutch friends to Harrison lake two days ago, as he was working. Anyway, first off we started with getting lost. After half an hour we decided we should turn back and we found the right way. Then, my GPS stopped working. I'm pretty sure the guy in the passenger seat wasn't showing it enough love, it is quite temperamental and needs tender care. And now my 'A' doesn't work on the GPs so he was probably using man hands to try make it work... Anyway. Spring break. After all that we were finally on the right track, following some highway signs to the lake. When. suddenly. From behind. Came some flashing lights. Joy to the world, a police man stepped out of his ghost car, and told me I had just gone 67 through a school zone. Well, hello respected police officer, it is spring break so I don't have to slow down to 30. Well actually miss Devries, this little school, in the middle of nowhere, is probably the ONLY school in the WHOLE province!! that doesn't have spring break at this time of year!! Well ok, that makes me going 37 km/hr above the speed limit, and if you go 40 above the limit your car gets impounded. Plus I had two guys in the car that don't speak English very well, and didn't know what I meant when I asked them to get my insurance papers out and spoke in Dutch in front of the officer so he was probably wondering what on earth a young girl was doing in the car with two 30 year old guys that don't speak English! It was so funny though! Anyway, I got off with just a $200 fine, pretty good considering what it might have been! And the guys thought the whole situation was hilarious. They promised not to tell Maus when we got home but I was so conscience stricken that I told him almost as soon as he came in the door!