Home

After a very smooth but long journey, we made it home safely last night. Mindy was at the airport to meet us and it was wonderful to get to see her again. We were able to stop in and see my parents on the way home. They even had some dinner waiting for us which was much appreciated and enjoyed! (Mom's cooking - the BEST! Hot and hearty soup, fresh rolls, chocolate cake!! It was yummy.)

We arrived home at about 10 PM and were greeted first by Alyna's friends. They had been standing out on the sidewalk, for I don't know how long, in the 20 degree weather. Now that's true friends. It didn't take Alyna long to disappear to the cousins where a party was in progress. It's no wonder she loves being here!! She has so many wonderful friends, and she even gets to be related to some of them.

Andrew was also waiting and it was so great to see him. Less than a week and he'll be a married man!! Wow, my baby boy is all grown up. I am so excited for him and Lindsay. They will be wonderful together.



The house looked great! Lisa had come up on Wednesday and she and Andrew worked hard to change it from it's frat house condition to a home that will be ready for all the activities and guests of the week. It looked great and I so appreciate their hard work and willingness to have things ready for us. THANKS KIDS! Mindy, Alyna and I are going to do some work this week to get our stuff out of the office and upstairs kitchen so that Lindsay and Andrew can have their own little "apartment" to decorate and do as they please once they get back and settle down.

I am so happy for the chance to see and be with all my kids, their spouses and fiances. What a lot of great memories to be made in such a short time. It is also wonderful to have a chance to see all our extended families and friends. I certainly appreciate all their support and love. It certainly makes these big events in our lives a lot more fun when surrounded by those we love and who mean so much to us.

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This is my favorite view from my kitchen window. We will have several opportunities to be in the Logan temple this week. Wonderful!!

A Good Thought

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. --Etienne de Grellet


This quote came up on my "good living" message today and I thought it was really good. I need this reminder and motivation. We have a neighbor whom I have been introduced to once when we first moved here. We never see them come or go from their house and I don't think either the husband or the wife speak any or much English. We have heard that the wife has cancer and is not responding to chemo well. I saw a home oxygen system delivered the other day and there are other, professional looking people coming and going, (Doctors make house calls here if you are too sick to go to them but don't need to be in the hospital.) I would like to do something for this lady, but I don't know what or how. I probably need to talk to some other Dutch people to see what would be appropriate in this situation and see if I can find out more about her circumstances.

Small words of kindness are a wonderful way to brighten a day. When we were in Germany, I needed to use the WC. The attendant was a young black girl and as I went in I heard her singing. She had a beautiful voice and I complimented her on it. I didn't think that she would understand me, as most Germans don't speak English, but I think I was able to convey my thoughts because she got the biggest grin on her face. It was really cute.

What a Sweetheart!

Today, Dennis took Alyna, a friend and me shopping all day. I've been wanting to go to Oberhausen Germany to shop at a big mall to see what I could find to wear for all weddings. So this morning bright and early we got up and drove to Germany. We went to Koln (Colonge). Schildergasse is reported to be the biggest and busiest shopping street in Europe. It had a lot stores we have become familiar with but also a lot of new and interesting ones we explored. The window displays were quite interesting. At the H&M store, the mens display made me laugh. Rolled up pants, sweater and shirt tucked into slacks and just the whole color, style thing was enough to make me stop and take a picture.



We looked at most every shoe store for the perfect shoes for Lisa to wear for her wedding. (That was a great excuse for looking at shoes. Thanks, Lisa.) We found lots that we would have loved to buy but Alyna and I really don't need many more shoes right now.



We did find some cute outfits but the price tag on most of them were enough to discourage us from even trying them on.


After an hour of two of shopping it was time to eat. I'm sure Dennis would have chosen something a little more authentic but the girls voted for Burger King and so that's where we had lunch.

We then drove into Dusseldorf and shopped at a big grocery store there. We decided to still go check out the mall since we were only about 15-20 minutes away at that point. It was a HUGE, two story place. We set up a meeting time and place so everyone could go browse and shop to their hearts content. It was super crowded and sometimes the lines to the dressing rooms and check stands were so long that even if I found something I liked, I wasn't willing to wait. After all, we only had 45 minutes to look around. When we met back after 45r minutes, we begged another half hour and I think by the end of that time we all left happy. I would love to to back on a weekday when it isn't so busy but I really apprecaited Dennis' being willing to spend the day doing what we wanted to do.

What a Sweetheart! He does so many things to make me happy and make my life easier. I love him so much!

I Need to be More Thankful for the Little Things

I was planning on posting a blog tomorrow when I was a little more alert and had more time but I decided I wanted to post something I had been thinking about this morning. I got up at about 6:30 and was amazed. I hadn't had to get up to go to the bathroom during the night. That's when I realized there are a lot of little things that I need to be more grateful for. Here's some of the others I thought of:

Waking up in the morning with no pain.
Figuring out something to have for dinner and having all the ingredients.
Fixing a meal that everyone will eat. (Someone is getting a little better at eating though.)
Creating something and being pleased and proud of how it turned out.
Being able to mentally remember a two or three item list of things to do and getting them done.
Making a bed and having it look good. (Down comforters are just so hard to make look neat and crisp. They always look sloppy and lumpy.)
Having toes and fingers stay warm when visiting a Dutch home. (Many people keep their homes at about 65 degrees - or so it seems!)
Having skype and being able to talk to family and friends!!!!!
Having three computers in our homes so we can talk and work and play to our hearts content.
Being able to watch American TV shows here - thanks to the internet. Psych and American Idol are my favorites.
Having a smaller house to keep clean.
Having a lot less junk to try to keep organized. (I'm collecting stuff faster than I'd like to admit though.)
Not being able to speak or read the language much. (I'm beginning to learn that there are lots of sad things that happen even in our nice little village - and here I thought we were living in such a safe and happy little world.)
Days when I get on the scale and don't moan at the numbers that appear.


I'm sure I could go on and on but I'm finding it hard to keep my eyes open and my fingers typing the right keys.

Shopping and High Tea

The past couple of days have been fun and interesting. Yesterday, Friday, Alyna didn't have school so we decided to go shopping in Nijmegen. It was a nice day, as winter days go around here; the sun was shining most of the time but it was right near freezing. We had each explored Nijmegen before but had never done it together. We found an old Roman wall that we thought would be a fun spot for a photo shoot.




It's always a lot funner to take my girls shopping because they always find clothes that they look cute in and are willing to try on strange and different things. We found all kinds of fun things (mostly for Alyna) and found some great stores. Most of our favorite stores didn't look like anything very interesting from the outside but once you got in the door a ways, we found all kinds of amazing things; either fun clothes or stores that appeared small but turned out to be these huge department stores.



Today, Dennis and I spent the morning running errands, like grocery shopping, washing the car, etc. Then, this afternoon we attended a "high tea" party in honor of a couple in our ward. The wife had just turned 60 and the husband is going in on Tuesday for a major open heart surgery. Their son from Utah, and their daughter from Indonesia as well as the two daughters living here in Holland were all here so they had a huge celebration. It was held at a nice, very old, reception/restaurant center.



There were all kinds of teas and little cakes and things that I have no idea what they were but most of them good, as well as crumpets and muffins. There were tributes given, silly songs and old songs sung and then they brought out the little sandwiches and the quiche. It was a very good, it just seemed like a strange order to serve things in.



Carlo's tribute to Armanda made everyone chuckle and quite a few teared up. I wasn't one of the teary ones, only because I didn't understand much of it. They are wonderful people and have been such a help and blessing to us as we've gotten settled here.

Flowers

This weekend we have gotten a lot of nice flowers. It is amazing to me to see all the tulips for sale at the village markets and in the grocery stores. It's a really nice way to get through the dreary days of winter.


We bought these at the village market in Ede on Saturday. The piles on tulips were about three feet high and about 12 feet long. We paid $10euro and got 50 tulips and then we divided them and I took a bouquet to the missionary couple that we went to eat with on Sunday. These were closed up tight on Saturday. Aren't they sweet?!



This large flower arrangement is what Dennis got for his birthday from the company. They sent us one about the same size for our anniversary. It is so beautiful!



A neighbor had some hyacinths like these in her house and they smelled so good I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and bought some. They are very powerful and can be smelled throughout the house.



I have a few house plants also starting to bloom so our house is looking quite cheerful right now. Maybe I should have braved the cold last week and gone and bought some flowers!

A Good Day for things 'Lost'

Today started off a little rough. I have been looking, or more acurately, meaning to look for where I put the charger for the camera after we got back from Utah. I thought I might just spot it one day but that hasn't happened and so it was time to start looking. But there were several other items that seemed more pressing. I couldn't find my glasses that I need for detailed work, like threading a needle. Also, I looked briefly for my passport yesterday and didn't find it and looked again this morning for a minute, while looking for my glasses but I couldn't find any of them.

I was starting to panic, after all, we don't have that much stuff here so were could they be hiding. I thought I might have to take drastic steps, like cleaning out my whole closet. But first it was time to start some laundry. While taking the sheets off the bed, I noticed the camera battery charger on the nightstand. That was exciting but now I was more panicked about not finding my passport. I need to get it renewed before I come home next month, at least that was what I was told at the Salt Lake airport when we left at Christmas time. (I'm hoping that I can just send it to the US consulate here and get it back in time. If time is an issue, I will have to go to Amsterdam and do it in person.) So I started going through the closet again. It's a fairly big walk-in affair with drawers and such, so just about every miscellaneous thing gets put in there. I cleaned off one shelf, and waa-laa, there were my glasses. Just where I thought I had put them but I had already looked there two times and not seen them.

Then I thought about all the places I could have put my passport. I looked through the logical places like the purse and backpack I used, and then wondered if it could be possible that I had just never taken it out of my coat pocket since we got back from Utah. It is the coat I wear almost every time I go out so it didn't seem likely that I wouldn't have noticed that but I looked - and there it was, buttoned safely in the inside pocket.

So I guess what I've really lost is my mind. If anyone happens to notice it laying around, would you let me know. In the meantime, I'll try to remember to call the consulate tomorrow and get all my documentation to renew my passport ready to send off. Would someone check with me and make sure I got that done. Thanks.