Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Oh Betty, Oh Betty - she wanted a picture with tante Mar.
Cousins!!!!!!!!!!

Tante Jannie - she came to visit as well. They are getting so old (but then so are we)


Are you getting sleepy with all this Dutch Betty?



Chris and his daughter - she was extreemly tall.



Tante Mar in her apartment in her favorite chair. We had such a great visit with her, she even served fish for lunch - and they were scrumptious!! She is still such a sweetheart.
This was on the way to Den Helder - the Afsluitdijk - the highway thru the sea. As you can see, it was quite cold, very, very wintery.

In the distance - you see the ark. It was in the harbour at Harderwijk - amazing to see. And the real ark that Noah built so many years ago was actually 14 times larger than the one shown here. The man who built this ark would like to build one the actual size. Incredible!!!


Going into the ark.



Sorry - Tante Zwaan turned out sideways - we were very happy that she came to visit, she stayed overnite and left the next day.




Tante Riek and her one and only favorite brother - lovely pose don't you think?
Sitting stiffly on the couch in our trailer for the picture - we did have a great time together, despite the pose.

Having breakfast at Ome Jan and Tante Dine in the lovely home.


Betty with Tante Riek - so cute!



Enjoying Christmas dinner at Ome Jan and Tante Tine - even Betty helped prepare! It was delicious!




More Holland

We even had Noortje and her hubby and baby daughter come to visit us - we had a lovely time reconnecting.
A typical Dutch scene!

Having supper at Tante Dineke's.


Having supper at Tante Greta's - yummy macaroni that she prepared herself! Tante Riek was with us - after which we went to a choir concert altogether.



Tante Nettie posing in her home. We had a lovely time with her as well. She is my dad's step-sister, a real sweetheart.




Some More From Holland - better late than never!

Well, well, well, guess who we met in Holland - friends from Australia. Mrs. Vanderveen with her daughter, she is Mary and Erics' aunt. Sure was neat!
Tante Riek - such a gorgeous smile!

Pap and I played the harmonicas for the 40th wedding anniversary!


Pap and Tante Roelie having a great laugh about a joke on the computor. How cute together!!



All of the Breukelman sisters except Tante Frieda, Anna and Allie whose anniversary it was. What a wonder and blessing that they could all be here.




Thursday, February 18, 2010

OK, this is getting silly, seems I never have time to put pictures on the blog - b/c it takes so long for them to upload onto the blog - so I thought, you know, I don't only have to put pictures on - I could tell them, whoever is interested, what I do all day!!!! Today is Thursday, February 18th and I got up this morning, had coffee with Freek and then he left for work, to install rock on a house in Athabasca. It was -4 degrees, but it was supposed to be a beautiful day. I read the Clarion, kissed Betty goodbye - as she left for school, then proceeded to get dressed. Did some dishes and vacuumed our bedroom and TV room, spoke to Lorraine on the telephone for while and then left for Karen's to babysit for the day as she had to go to Vega Hall to decorate for the Valentine's Dinner to be held tomorrow night. Angie and the kiddies and Ciny and her kiddies came at lunch time as well as Gerry, so we had lunch altogether. Did the dishes with the girls - had coffee and then took Iris, Summer and Caden on the sled to our house to pick up some things for the girls. I gave Janelle a little trim so that her hair would be more blunt in the back, as her hair is quite thin and will thicken out if she keeps it short. Karen came home at 4:30, so we all went home after that. Made supper for us, soup and omelets w/toast, did the dishes and then got ready for choir. So that was the extent of today. Pap also came home early, as they were finished scratching the house, so that was nice as well.

Anyway, that is what I did today, as well as thanking the Lord for the beautiful weather and for taking care of all of us for another day.

Also - we pray that Frieda arrived safely and wish you all a wonderful time with her.

I will try my utmost to keep this up regularly DV.

Tomorrow morning I will bring Richard and Ciny to the airport, as they are going to BC for a week with the children to Richards mom and dad - gives him another week to recouperate. They are picking me up at 6:30 - so that will be the beginning of a new day, so the Lord wills.

Love you all and have a good nite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Friday, February 5, 2010

Some More of our Beautiful Day

A remarkable building - the airport!A Ukranian Orthodox Church
The Statue of Freedom - after communism!


One of the many statues we discovered!



The Famous Opera House - it was closed the day we were there, but it was a beautiful building!






Some Beautiful Buildings in Lvov

This was the taxi who brought us to the airport.
This was the "opera" which means down-town!!

Some of the beautiful architecture!!


This was the train station in Lvov where we arrived from Rivne to go back home.



I can't believe that we were here, but this is the proof! It was quite the experience! Unforgettable!




Monday, February 1, 2010

Some More

Typical Ukranian look!
Checking out the market in Rivne! That is the city that Rev. Drost and his wife Ria live.

Ria checking out the live animals at the market. Large rabbits in this case.


Our church in Rivne - such a beauty!



The children of the minister that we visited both played this traditional instrument and sang. It is like a harp and guitar at the same time - sounds wonderful!!! Very talented.




The Ukraine

The pictures are a little mixed up, so you will have to bear with me. Anyway, this is a photo of Rev. Drost (in the black leather coat) with one of the members of the church. He is a farmer and was eager to show us his farm. It was soooo tooo bad that we could not converse with each other, Ukranian is such a difficult language. But they are so very friendly and went out of their way to make us feel welcome.
Here I am with the farmer and his wife - I was so happy to be on a picture with them.

One of the colourful houses in the village.


When we came out of church - the cows were coming home. They know exactly where to go.



Rev. Drost with the minister of the church in the village that we visited. We took part in the service and it felt so awesome - to be one with people of a completely different culture and language. It made us feel so special - God is great and gracious!!!!




Oma and A Few of the Grandchildren

Our Frippy Freddie - big soft cheeks.
Little Jayda looking dreamy on Oma's lap!!!

Iris is lookn' pretty intelligent, don't you think?


Oh Hope - you loveable, kissable doll!!



And then there is Summer - curly haired Summer - our little poser!!!!