Thought this was pretty funny!

Don't you just love the look on her face.....she really does think housework rules! ha

Birthday Orchid

One of the missionary couples got me this beautiful orchid for my birthday. I had never seen one with these kind of colors before. Houseplants in Holland are very popular but houseplants and I never seem to have a good relationship. Someone told me once I need to talk to them. "Hi there sweet little orchid....." :)

29th Birthday in Amsterdam!

Steve took me to one of my favorite places in Amsterdam for my birthday to have dinner. It is a Uruguayan steak house. Steak and fries!

Steve in Leidseplein watching one of the street shows.
The big 29! I'm hanging onto my last year as a 20 something :)

Levend Water (Living Water Church)

http://www.levendwater.nl/

Today we attended our new home church in Delft. We felt so welcome when we came in and were introduced to the church. They were having a baby dedication this morning and I noticed that the church had a lot of young families. Kees went to the nursery and heard some of his first Dutch from his teacher and his new friends. I think there were about 10 toddlers his age in his class. After the service I talked with one of the moms who has a little boy who was born on the 13th of January the same year as Kees. She lives a block from the house we hope to get and was very helpful in answering my questions about finding a doctor for Kees, swim lessons, etc. The pastors wife Melanie was also very helpful. She and the pastor have two daughters ages 12 and 10. After the service we had lunch with the leadership team of the church and are looking forward to working with Levend Water! Above is the link to the church website.

Zaandam

Today we went to visit our fellow missionary and good friend Judy in the city of Zaandam. Judy came to my baby shower here and had only seen Kees when he was a few weeks old. After our visit Kees went for a ride in the stroller and Steve rode on his bike into the city center. Here is Kees in the picture fast asleep.

Kees had his first pannenkoeken today. I had been having a craving for one for a year so we went to a great little place in the city. They even had toys in the restaurant! I had the Hawaii pannekoek with ham, cheese, and pineapple. Steve had the bacon pannekoek. So Lekker!

Steve found the sports shop. The Dutch are still very proud of their placement in the World Cup.
My favorite time in the city......market day! Here is a picture of one of the beautiful flower markets. We are still living near Amsterdam and waiting to hear on a house we looked at in Delft. We hope to hear by Monday about the house. We have our first time to the Dutch church we will be working with in the morning. Kees will meet his new friends in the nursery. :)

Stop to Smell the Flowers!

This is a funny story. We were driving on the highway and I hear a sniffing sound coming from the backseat. I turn around and Kees is in his car seat looking out the window and sniffing with his nose. I turned to see what he was looking at and I saw a big truck with flowers painted on the side going by. He was sniffing the flowers...haha He keeps us laughing!

A Little Dutch Boy!

Kees has been enjoying trying all the new things to eat in Holland. He LOVES stroopwafels!!
Kees had a fun time playing outside today when the rain stopped. Here he is practicing his soccer.

Playing with his new toys this morning and reading a few good books.

Kees enjoying his yogurt a little too much and playing with his corvette and U of O cars. Kees has been enjoying not being in the car seat and getting to be out for walks and loves taking rides in the stroller. Today we went and had fries with mayonnaise....thats how they do it here. Kees loved it. He also had his first stroopwafel! Kees got to go the toy store and pick out some new toys too. You guessed it he chose a ball and a fun toy with shapes and keys that open small doors that you can put little plastic shapes in. We looked at a house in Delft and are waiting to hear if we can rent it. We are looking forward to having a home! We are now staying at a missionary house who is now in the states. It has worked great for us to have this house to stay in until we find our house.

One Long Flight

So we were going to have a direct flight. I thought we can handle that I will pack Kees a backpack of toys he hadn't seen before and a bag full of snacks. We got on the plane and sat for about 2 hours when the flight attendant came over the speakers and told us that the plane was having a problem and that we would need to exit the plane. Well in that two hours of sitting on the plane Kees went through most the snacks and half the toys and Crayola crayons were rolling across the floor. So we gathered our things and headed off the plane. About 2 hours later they told us that we could get back on the plane. So we gathered our things again and got back in our seats only to hear one more hour later that there was still a problem and that we would have to stay in a Hotel and try for a connection flight in the morning. By the time we got to the Hotel Kees has gone through the rest of the toys and I was throwing up sick....I'm thinking now it was food poisoning like you need that in this situation! So the next morning we boarded the plane sleepy and still sick and headed to the NL. Steve was great with Kees on the plane. He played with him and they looked at books while mommy was busy running to the bathroom and using her flight throw up bag. We made it to Amsterdam and met our Netherlands missionary friends. Everyone here has been so helpful to us! We are all getting rest and mom is feeling much better!

Kees Helps with Packing

Kees has been helping mommy with the packing! We leave on the 22nd so we have been busy. Kees is a good little helper!

Here is Kees with our 4 action packers that we will be taking. We will have these 4 boxes, 2 suitcases, stroller, and car seat. We are looking forward to finding a home in Holland. Well....I'm off to Walmart to get a few last minute things then it's back to packing.