Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters

Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters!

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons melted dark chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups whole almonds

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat. Place a teaspoon melted chocolate on baking mat; top with a small handful of almonds. Drizzle almonds with 1 tablespoon melted chocolate. Repeat process with remaining almonds and chocolate. Transfer to refrigerator and chill until firm.

Elmo Pajamas!

A very special package came in the mail today from Grandma Linda. Kees got a new pair of Elmo pajamas! He was so excited to put them on. I saw him looking at himself in the mirror tonight and smiling at how he looked in his new pajamas.
Just before bedtime with Elmo.
Kees is holding his picture book Auntie Angie made for Kees. Kees loves to look at pictures of the family!!
Reading before bed one of our special times we have together just before bed. Thank you to Grandma for the super cute pajamas! I don't think Kees is going to ever want to take them off!

Bath Time!

Celebrate

Today we signed the contract to our new house! We went to our favorite cafe in Delft to celebrate! Kees enjoyed his kids pannekoek and toy car mouse that came with it.
Boy did he like that fruit smoothie!

Home

We just got our internet at the new house today so I wanted to get back to my blog! We feel so blessed by our new home...it is perfect in ways God could only know the details of. A small example is the light in Kees' room is a bee light and the theme of his room is Winnie the Pooh. Thank you for all of your prayers. We are still facing problems with the real estate agent not letting us out of our contract at the old house but at least for now we have a safe mold free home.

I was unpacking again the other night and pulled out a painting given to me by my grandma Nancy. It is a painting of a house and it says, 'Home is where the heart is.' On the back my grandma painted the verse Philippians 3:20 'But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.' It really spoke to me that evening. I'm thankful for the hope we have in heaven and that I'm a citizen of heaven. It will never truly feel like home until we are in heaven with our heavenly father. That helps put packing into perspective!

New Mittens and Moving

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers. We are in the middle of moving to a new house. We still haven't been released from our contract but we have a mold free place to stay now! We have been busy moving and go back and forth to pack and use the internet. I wanted to keep the pictures up of little Kees! While I have internet here are some new pictures of Kees. He got new mittens and didn't want to take them off! So, he ate his lunch with them on.

Prayer

I wanted to fill you in with the situation with our home here in Holland. After professional inspectors came to the house it was confirmed that there is a serious mold problem in one of the bedrooms and possibly under the floor and walls in the entry way. We have a year contract but because of the mold you would think that it would be no problem to end the contract. Well....the real estate agent is saying that we can't break the contract. Things are done a bit differently here in Holland. He is going to talk with the owners if they will allow us to break the contract so we should know we hope by Monday if it is possible. In the meantime our Assemblies of God leadership has told us that we must move as soon as possible because of the mold and health concerns. We have found another house in town that would be perfect for us. It is a new building so no mold or older house problems. We can't sign the contract or get the keys for the new house until this real estate agent will let us out of the one we are in now. We are looking to stay with missionary friends until the situation is resolved. It could be big potential problems so if you would pray for us that would mean so much. We know that God has His hand on everything in our life so we are trusting in Him. I will keep you posted.

Train to Amsterdam

Yesterday we took the train from Delft to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam to meet our missionary friends Butch and Pam Frey. They had a layover in Amsterdam so we met them at the Starbucks at the airport.
The trains...
In Holland people keep to themselves on the train so it usually is silent on the train. That morning we had been telling Kees that we were going to ride on a train so about half way into our trip Kees starts saying, "Choo Choo." I think he was still looking for the train!
We had a nice time seeing Butch and Pam. Kees enjoyed getting to know them too. Elmo also came with us on the train and met Butch and Pam too. I have to say I have loved that Starbucks has come to Holland. Dutch coffee is the best but there is just something about knowing the Starbucks Pumpkin Late and Christmas drinks are not so far away!
It was a busy morning for this little guy. Here he is on the way home on the train sound asleep.

Outside!

It was a warm afternoon after church so Kees and I went outside to play in the yard. In the picture above Kees meets a snail and the snail meets Kees!



We made our own sandbox with rice!

Rieuwerd

This is Rieuwerd. He is Kees' new friend. It is really cute when they see each other in the nursery....they smile and say "Hi" to each other. Rieuwerd was born on January the 11th 2009 a few days before little Kees!

Holland's Got Talent!

This is Kees at 6 in the morning watching his 'Elmo and Friends Sing Along' DVD. Since coming to Holland his sleeping schedule has changed and now instead of 7 or 8 it is now a 5 or 6 wake up call. As you can see in the picture he is ready for the show to start even at 6! A church gave us a gift bag one service a few months ago and in it was a little red flash light. Kees began to play with it like it was a microphone and it has become one of his favorite toys! He watched Steve preaching on the stage with a microphone for a year during our travels so he just wanted to be like Dad!
He really gets into it! He has dance moves that he didn't get from his parents. :) It is just all pure Kees talent! When we are in a store and he hears music he always has to stop to dance. I guess this is what happens when your husband puts his ipod earphones up to your pregnant belly for 9 months!