Marc's Messages

Spelling at five

Peter developed chickenpox. For consolation and to stimulate him in learning to read and write, I brought him a spelling pad. Click to enlarge the picture to see his progress so far. In the meantime David is playing a computer game in which he has to beat up pizza monsters. It's amazing how fast he is, and he figured it out himself.

Winter wonderland

On our way back we did a little detour in the northern part of the Black Forest, and suddenly found ourselves in a winter wonderland. A big contrast with New Year's Eve, but a nice opportunity to test our winter tires.

Happy 2007 from Germany

Best wishes for the new year from the Black Forest, where we're spending a few days with the Simsons. With 14 degrees Celsius it feels like Spring is in the air... Yesterday we drove up to the Blauen, where you have a great view over the area. Always nice to look into 2007 from a mountain top. In the evening dinner with the Guidicis (together with Thomas Wolfgang wrote 'Der Preis des Geldes', about the influence of Mammon and how to break that power system). Lots of good conversations over excellent meals. No, we didn't eat starfish.

Christmas 2006

Dad, this is art!

Yesterday our 5-year old Peter drew a picture for me. The conversation went like this:

Dad: "Wow, this is a beautiful picture, Peter. Well done."
Peter: "Dad, you're holding it upside down. You have to turn it around."
Dad: "Ah well, now I see. It's a snake, isn't it?"
Peter: "No dad, can't you see? This is not a snake, this is art!"
Dad: "Art? Do you have any idea what art is?"
Peter: "Yes, art is that you make something beautiful, but don't know what it is."

Sunday morning walk

Late morning sunshine in a damp forest near Den Dolder. The boys are looking for little animals.

An apple pie for Monkey

It's Monkey's birthday, so Karolien helped the boys to make an apple pie, and we sang him a birthday song. In the afternoon we watched the astonishing documentary 'The March of the Penguins'.

Boy in a box

David discovered he can fold himself in three wooden storage boxes and turn himself into a table.

Cycling in the rain?

Six weeks ago Peter fell from his bicycle, and since then he resists giving it another go, no matter how hard we try. He's very creative in finding excuses. Today he said: "Dad, I'm willing to cycle, but only when it rains." (He knows that when it's raining, he can use that as an excuse not to cycle.) Then I tried the 'imagine you could do this' approach: "Close your eyes, and imagine/picture you take your bicycle, go the elevator, push the button, go down, etc." Peter interrupted me: "Dad, I don't have these pictures available in my memory, the space where they used to be stored is empty." Aaaargh....

Mushroom time

The forest is beautiful this time of the year. We made walks near Leersum and Ede, and I came across a wide variety of mushrooms.

Change of plans

The boys are spending a week with my parents in Enschede, while Karolien and I planned to head to south Germany to walk the forests and visit some friends. Unfortunately the generator of our car broke down just after we crossed the border, so we decided to return to Utrecht to have it repaired and 'relax a bit' at home. But this morning Rob called that the rain was coming through the roof of our office, because the building contractors who work there didn't cover it properly.



I was quite irritated, as I double-checked with them beforehand to make sure there would be no damage. We cleaned up the mess and decided to move office already this week instead of 8 November. The downside, apart from the extra work, is that I will be less online over the next few weeks, as our telephone and internet connection is not yet activated in the new office.

On the road to Bethsetera

Peter has his own way of combining Bible stories, and it's always hard to tell whether he didn't listen properly or just wants to make fun of it. Today I told him the well-known story of Joseph and Mary on their way to... "Jerusalem", Peter says. "No, it's not Jerusalem. It's the town where Jesus was born. Do you remember?" He thinks for while and answers: "Jericho!" "No, that was the story of Joshua. Try again." Peter: "Babel?" "No, Peter, but you're right that it starts with a B." "Ah, I know," says Peter. "It's Beseret!" "No, let me help you. It starts with Beth..." Grinning all over his face: "You mean Bethsetera!"

Quiet waters of Vollenhoven

Sunday leisure at Vollenhoven estate in Zeist. The boys found a funny tree to play with.

A day in Amerongen

To celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary, I took Karolien and the boys on a surprise outing to Amerongen. We made a walk along the Rhine, visited the castle (it was Open Momuments Day), had coffee with apple pie, enjoyed the Griet Market, and watched a historic open air play about King William III. It was fun. In the evening Henk Vink threw a garden party in Heemstede, which was a good opportunity to catch up with many friends.

15 years married

Pssst... don't tell anybody - today we're already 15 years married! It feels like ages ago that Karolien and I said YES to each other on a sunny September day. We were sooo young and sooo cute. On the Big Day we looked incredibly cool in our Van Gils-Laura Ashley combination. For our honeymoon we hitchhiked to Germany, putting our thumbs up in our 'just married' t-shirts. Or at least tried to, we only made it to Arnhem, and it started raining, so we continued our journey by train. Would I do it all over again? You bet, and I would even throw a much bigger party.

Three-day wedding party

My sister-in-law Anneloes and her fiancee Wulf got married today in Vught, and are throwing a three-day party on the premises of Huize Bergen.

Late mover advantage

Does the term late mover advantage ring some bells? That's the competitive advantage held by firms that are late in entering a market. Late movers often imitate the technological advances of other firms or reduce risks by waiting until a new market is established. Well, I have some suspicion that that's Karolien's strategy too. Since half a year or so she's been connected to the internet, working on my former notebook. But today she suddenly overtook me. Peter had accidently kicked her already aging notebook into the grave, which resulted in Rob fixing Karolien a much faster and more fancy Acer Aspire, which gives her a tool with which she can seriously compete - if not beat - me. Life is not fair.

Cleaning up house

One of the things we sense God is saying to us as a family is to travel lightly, to get rid of unnecessary stuff and prepare ourselves mentally and physically to move. To help us focus in the selection process of what to keep and what to sell or give away, we set ourselves two goals: 1. to get rid of 50% of all the stuff in the house (including furniture) and 2. to get rid of 40% of the books, CD's and videos. That should render us some space.

Now, how to prevent irrational considerations to influence our selection, like "perhaps we might need this thing sometime in the next 50 years" or "I've never read this book, but likely it offers some good insights on page 144, so it might come in handy at some point"? We use a simple guideline: we only keep those things we effectively use now or will use in the next two years, and get rid of the rest. What still has value or usability will be offered on Marktplaats or eBay, or given to a charity. We only keep those books, CD's and video's that really inspired us, offer clear 'resource value' or will be read/listened to/watched in the next two years.

The first items are already on Marktplaats. You might be interested in this original porcelan plate with a painting of the Oude Gracht in Utrecht, an extensive collection of Barbie dresses, or a 2-3 person iglo tent.

The monkey clowns

David and Peter showed their creative side again. This morning they dressed up a like two 'monkey clowns' and gave a whole musical performance. Afterwards Karolien and I took them down to the street for their second cycling lesson. Yesterday I picked up two bicycles at the Wensink family and we committed to run daily behind these bicycles (getting some much needed exercise too) until the boys can ride for themselves.

Happy birthday to Peter

"Dad, wake up, wake up! It's my birthday! We're going to have presents, and cake, and candy!" Peter jumped on my bed this morning to make sure I wouldn't forget that today is the most important day of the year. Our little boy is becoming five. Yesterday he assured me it would mark the end of the diapers era, and that he would learn to cycle. Let's see. Karolien bought him a nice race car and a medium-sized backpack that made him even look small again.

The Yorkshire Dales

Our time in Silverdale is over. Today we drove south through the Yorkshire Dales national park. More pictures here.

Eskdale and Wastwater

Today we drove to Eskdale and Wastwater in the western Lake District. Again, beautiful scenery, although a bit clouded. More pictures here (bottom).

Peter goes Indie

Our boys love to ring at doorbells, especially when it's just for the sake of fun. This morning I took a picture of Peter, ringing the doorbell once again on our way out, and uploaded it to my Flickr page. Within an hour I got an e-mail from Sarah in New York, who writes for a rock magazine and runs an Indie label called Stolen Transmisson, asking permission to use the picture for a new soon-to-be-released CD. So our little red man is becoming famous, at least in the underground music scene. With at least one family member engaged in this area, I might dare to show up at Freakstock.

Countryside flowers

It's not really a male hobby, but I love to capture flowers. Today during a walk through the gardens and hills of Silverdale, I came across a lot of them. More pictures here.

A sort-of rescue operation

Today we went up north, taking a mountain pass from Windermere to Ullswater, in the Lake District. Halfway we went up for a walk to a mountain top to enjoy the wind and the beautiful panorama. While Karolien and the boys went back the same route we came, I descended from another slope to meet them at a certain point. When I reached the point where the path went down, suddenly a helicopter came out of the valley with a roaring noise and wind, hovering right above me and dropping a group of National Trust guys with helmets. I thought someone was wounded somewhere, and thought it would be cool (though not likely) if they could give me a ride down. But not yet...



The helicopter had a bag with which it carried big rocks from one place to the other. Halfway over my head the bag tore apart and the rocks landed twenty meters higher from me, kickstarting a rock avalanche. Great. So I had to jump away to escape the rocks whirling down. The guys realized this was not really cool, and offered to fly me down. So I had my ride, but not after they nearly smashed me, while playing the A-team. Down in the valley we took a dive in one of the lakes. How refreshing with nearly 30 degrees. More pictures here (second part), as well as a few new sunsets for the romantic folks.

Grange-over-Sands

On the other side of Morecambe Bay, in Cumbria, is Grange-over-Sands. Several miles west of that sea resort we walked on a peninsula with a great view to all sides. The boys enjoyed playing in the water. More pictures here.

 

The Arnside coastal path

Today we walked the coastal path around Arnside. A very nice walk, partly rock-climbing, overlooking the sands, that even Peter with his little legs completed. Well done, boy. More pictures here.

Views from the Arnside Knot

The Dutch would call a hill of a few hundred meters a mountain, the Brits call it a knot. The Arnside Knot offers a cool view over the region.

Romantic sunset

I thought sunsets couldn't get much better than in Istanbul, but the evening light over the Morecambe Bay is also special, and romantic too. More pictures here.

Walking peaks in Longsleddale

While Karolien and the boys enjoyed a quiet day, I headed for a hike over a mountain range alongside the Longsleddale valley in the Lake District. I love walking peaks because of the panoramas to all sides. More pictures here.

The Lake District

Today we made an outing to the Windermere area of the Lake District (Cumbria), and returned over the Wrynose pass. What a beautiful scenery, and what a great test for a beginning driver. More pictures here.

Sandy Silverdale

Morecambe Bay is comparable to the Dutch Wadden area. At low tide whole parts of the bay dry up, and a vast area of sandbanks emerges, which is fascinating and stunningly beautiful. The banks can be quite dangerous though, because of quicksand and the relatively fast high tide. Today we made two walks along the rocky coast of Silverdale. The countryside along the coast is very pastoral, with stone walls separating the meadows, creating a small paradise for sheep. More pictures here.

Mitchell residence

The next two weeks we stay in Silverdale, a small village in the Morecambe Bay area, on the north-west coast of England. It's what the National Trust calls an AONB, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and we hope to explore that in the coming days. Roger and Sue Mitchell were so kind to lend us their large house with garden. We met them in 1994 when they co-pastored Ichthus Christian Fellowship, and later in the context of Target Europe, a major prayer initiative for our continent. Roger currently works on a promotion research on 'church and empire', to support the call for a new reformation.

Through Northumberland

It's fun to be on the road, especially in the British countryside, where every curb hides another fascinating panorama. We drove through the Northumberland national park, nearly hit Hadrian's wall, and dived over the Pennine range into Lancashire. More pictures here.

Isle of tides

We paid a visit to Lindisfarne (Holy Island), the main former Celtic missions base in Northumberland, founded by Aidan from Iona. Just made it in time, as with high tide the peninsula turns into an island. One of the mysteries of the Celtic apostles is that they founded their monastic bases in the most remote places, while at the same being extremely succesful in missions.

Arrival in Newcastle

When we left IJmuiden it was grey, and the passage was quite rough (enough for Karolien to get seasick), but this morning Newcastle welcomes us with a clear blue sky.

Crossing the North Sea

Tonight we'll take the IJmuiden-Newcastle ferry to spend some family time in the UK. We'll be hanging out in Silverdale, Lancashire. For the boys it's their first ferry trip, it takes 16 hours. Let's hope they show the World Cup finals on board.

Sunday morning walk (2)

One of the blessings of not attending church meetings is that we can enjoy Sunday morning walks in Gods own cathedral, and glean some wisdom from the ants and flowers. This morning we continued our track in the water and meadow area of Tull en 't Waal.

The quiet waters of the Linge

Went for a day canoeing on the Linge river between Enspijk and Acquoy, one of Holland's most pittoresque water landscapes. Why don't I do this more often... probably no-one would look back on his life wondering 'why didn't I spend more time in the office'.

Sunday morning walk

It's another hot day. We strolled along the Dutch Water Line between Tull en 't Waal and the Honswijk fortress at the Lek dike. One of those water and meadow areas that make the Netherlands so beautiful.

A day on the beach

For daddy day (some fun time together) I took Peter on a bicycle trip in the dunes of North Holland, and several hours on the beach.

Mother's Day 2006

It's still wonderful Spring weather, so we went for a walk in the polder area of Tienhoven. Afterwards I made some pictures of our favorite red-orange-yellow tulips, Karolien's present for Mother's Day (photo album here).

David's birthday

David turned seven today, which we celebrated with a picknick party in Bolgerijen. And yesterday we had a handful of little pirates over from his school for a treasure hunt in the forest. Was fun, especially because dad jumped into a muddy ditch. Because David loves to do things on the computer, we bought him a Nemo PC game. The guy on the picture who looks so disturbed is his little brother Peter.

Springtime in Bolgerijen

It's wonderful Spring weather, so we made an excursion to the 'griend' forest Bolgerijen, a wetlands area south of Vianen, with a lot of birds. Photo album here.

Rabbit's birthday party

"Today is Rabbit's birthday," Peter announced this morning. He decorated his favourite cuddle toy, put him on the sofa, and instructed us to sing a happy birthday song. He had also wrapped some of his toys as presents for Rabbit, and convinced Karolien that we really needed cookies for the party. Later that day David took another cycle lesson, with mum's shawl around his waist to keep him on the road.

Flying with Phil

Today the Andersons flew over from England in their small Golf-Foxtrot-Mike-Alpha-Mike, and we spent an enjoyable afternoon together. I met Phil at one the 24-7prayer roundtables, several months after his pilgrimage flight to Herrnhut where he did some research for his soon to be published book on the Moravians. He took us and the boys up for a flight over the polder landscape between Hilversum airport and Utrecht. More pictures here.

The Aamsveen wetlands

Made a long walk in the Aamsveen, a moor/wetlands area south-east of Enschede, on the border with Germany. Many birds and the first signs of Spring. More pictures here.

A little nostalgia (2)

Tonight we put up a beamer and filmscreen to watch my dad's 8mm early Seventies home movies. It's incredible what kinda cars they drove back then. But the hair and dressing style would be quite fancy retro these days. I compiled a few pictures of me and my younger brother and sister in the various stages of life: on the left as preschoolers, in the middle as (terribly bored) teenagers, and on the right as we finally grew up (well, did we? ;-)

Happy Easter!

Nine-course dinner

It's incredible that we made it back home. My parents arranged an eight+one course dinner in a romantic restaurant in Usselo, which included eight+one glasses of wine. It was excellent - "like little angels were peeing on your tongue", as the Dutch expression goes. Glad I didn't have to drive.