Marc's Messages 3.0

Brothers in gaming

In the mornings The Van der Woude brothers wake up early to play some their favorite games.

Merry Christmas!

 

The Van der Woude family wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The picture shows the Dutch polder landscape as seen from our apartment in Utrecht on the two days a year we have snow. Lucky you in Montana, Canada, Finland, Austria and the indoor skiing slopes in Dubai. ;-)

Winter in Holland

A beautiful and quite rare Winter day in Holland. I took my son Peter for a walk and a pancake. More pictures here.

Peter and Baloo

Peter joined a drawing competition at the local supermarket and received a call today that he won the first prize: a gigantic Baloo bear (from the Disney movie Jungle Book). He was overjoyed. Hard to imagine that Karolien transported the bear by bicycle and that he even fits in our apartment. I told Peter: "Now you have Baloo, he can cuddle you, and Mum and Dad can have a week off." He didn't buy that argument of course. :-) Click to enlarge the picture.

Walking Lieske

The boys enjoyed a walk with their little niece Lieske, but of course the real fun was in pushing the baby stroller through the forest.

Autumn hike in Limburg

The boys are spending their Autumn holiday with my parents in Enschede, so Karolien and I took the opportunity to go on a short Autumn hiking trip to Zuid-Limburg. This is the only part of the Netherlands that has hills, the rest of the country is as you may know as flat as a pancake. The weather was beautiful and we walked a quite long track through the Gulp and Geul valleys. More pictures here.

Two missing sacred fingers

On our way to Limburg for a few days hiking, Karolien and I came across this Sacred Heart of Christ statue in Leende. The text on the statue says: "From the parochians of Leende to their King." About 83 years ago it was placed in the centre of town, and in 1999 moved to a more quiet part called Boschhoven's Pleintje.

Now, for some reason the statue is missing three fingers: the middle and index fingers that form the sign of blessing, and Christ's thumb.

Colours of Autumn

It's beautiful Autumn weather, so I took the boys to the flower gardens of Gooilust, near Hilversum (open: Saturday and Tuesday afternoon). They love to search the forest for coloured leaves, branches and chetsnuts.

Orange under pressure

I feel quite a lot under pressure these weeks and struggle to find focus and motivation for the season ahead. Partly it's the unclarity of the transition we're in, which silently sucks away creative energy. Partly it's being structurally tied (and likely overburdened) into project coordination and admin tasks which don't make me tick. Partly it's my personal working style that is not the best expression of a healthy balance of family, work, friendship and relaxation. Partly it's personal discouragement of unmet expectations - or is it midlife crisis already, having reached the magical age of 40?

The peacefulness of Gooilust

This weekend we enjoyed the sunny Autumn weather on the premises of Gooilust estate and the Spanderswoud, east of 's-Graveland and west of Hilversum.

David the builder

Our David (8) loves to build. For years he played with LEGO and created his own 'cabins'. Now he also develops his computer art skills and launched his own weblog. I promised to 'plug' it for him, so if you have a chance check it out: there's a cool Tom & Jerry clip, lots of smileys and pictures he likes, and also some of his own creations.

To move or not to move

Last month, just before we left for our four-week family trip, Connect friend Jeff and his colleague Cevin came by for a good Dutch pancake. Jeff then asked the inevitable question: "So how about your plans to move?"

I realize we've been talking about this for some time, and nevertheless are still sticking around in the Utrecht area. Things are going less fast than we hoped and anticipated (we already cleaned out our house and I phased myself out of local and national projects), but we are taking concrete steps based on our current state of 'seeing' in which direction God might lead us. Our trip to Germany, checking out potential places to live and possibly start a community and training base, was one of those steps. We even found two places that would fit our vision quite well, though they're quite beyond our budget, if you could even speak of a budget.

Family trip - week four

The highlights of this week:
- An outing to Chamonix Mont Blanc, where we took a mountain train up to the Mer de Glace, where you can walk through the glacier. The glacier shrunk significantly, so maybe Al Gore was right after all.
- A stroll through Geneva's beautiful Botanic Gardens.
- Water cycling with the boys on Lake Annecy in the French alps.
- An overnight visit to Florian and Iris of the Dream House in Taunusstein, near Frankfurt.
- Spending a few days with my parents, where we celebrated Peter's 6th birthday.

More Chamonix Mont Blanc pictures here.
More Botanic Garden pictures here.

Family trip - week three

The highlights of this week:
- A few relaxing days at Lammert & Conny's place in Geneva. A country house close to the centre, which offers a good base for outings.
- Getting soaked at Geneva's impressive Jet d'Eau, with 140 meters, 200 km/h and 7,000 litres of water the largest fountain in Europe.
- Spending a day with the Mudriks on their way from Taize to Prague, catching up on plans to develop community.
- A visit to CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, where the World Wide Web was born.

- Because it was raining for three days non-stop, we also spent an afternoon at the Museum of Natural History, which had an impressively extensive collection of animals, stones, and more.
- A stroll along the Rhone river to the old city with the Gallery of Reformers in the Parc des Bastions. Don't visit the International Museum of the Reformation; it's deadly boring, only portraits of John Calvin.
- A day-trip up to the Saleve range, from where you have an excellent view over Lake Geneva.
- Climbing the top of La Dole (1678m) in the Jura mountains.
- Swimming in Lake Geneva - quite cold, but refreshing.
- Watching 'The making of The Lord of the Rings', a story as impressive and epic as the movie itself.

More Geneva, Saleve and Jura pictures here.

Family trip - week two

The highlights of this week:
- Enjoying a few quiet days at Wolfgang & Mercy's place in Feuerbach, an idyllic village with fruit trees and vines in the Black Forest.
- The boys wanted to sleep on the balcony because they thought that would be more fun.
- Walks in the forest and a visit to the bird park in Steinen, where they do impressive shows with birds of prey.
- We also looked at some houses in this region.

More Black Forest pictures here.

Family trip - week one

The highlights of this week:
- We saw a whole series of rainbows, one after the other, when we drove through Saxony on our way to Herrnhut. Beautiful.
- Revisiting Herrnhut. Something that unintentionally happens once a year. This town holds a special place in God's story. We caught up with pastor Frank, and I was encouraged to read in the history of the Jesus Haus (the house of prayer) that God used Dutch missionaries to ignite the youth revival that touched Herrnhut in the Seventies.
- We looked at several houses in East Germany and prayerfully asked God and ourselves: could we live in this part of Europe?
- A fresh walk in the wetlands area of the Spreewald, where we saw a toilet being used as garden decoration.
- Reconnecting with friends Kerstin in Berlin, and Andreas & Christine in Magdeburg.
- A two-day DAWN team meeting in a hotel in East Berlin with an interesting view on the typical socialist-realist architecture of the Commie times.
- Meeting the wonderful Eichler family, who offered us a bed in the Christian Center in Reichenbach, and shared some of their experiences with ministry in East Germany.

On the road again

The next four weeks I'll be travelling with my family through Germany and Switzerland (and a little bit of France). We'll be visiting various friends, meetings and places, and have some holiday time as well in the Black Forest and Geneva. Will catch up when I'm back, or maybe halfway.

If I were a king...

What if you would be a king or queen and could advise the prime minister? What would you do? Interesting challenge for the kids in 'group 2' of reformed primary school 'De Wissel' in Utrecht. Our Peter (5) drew himself (click to enlarge) and said: "When I become king I will eat a lot of icecream." And talking to a friend whose mum just became director of the school: "If your mum isn't good enough, then perhaps my mum could become the director."

New life in Overvecht

After having lived in Overvecht, one of the Dutch government's 40 'social hotspots' or 'problem areas', for 13 years, we sense it's time for us to move on. At first we were a bit hesitant - why leave an area without seeing a Christian community planted as we envisioned? - but two recent developments give us more peace about this decision.

A visit to Noah's ark

Over the past decennia hundreds of archeologists worldwide have been searching for Noah's Ark, but today we accidentally found it. It's actually much closer to home than we thought - in Schagen - which proves that Noah didn't get stranded on the Ararat, but on the Dutch North Sea cost. Anyway, the boys really enjoyed it, as well as the add-on outing to the beach in St. Maartenszee. For those interested in details of Noah's Ark: it was built over a two-year period by evangelist-ship builder-creationist Johan Huibers, and is a 20% replica of the original ancient ark. So the original was even five times bigger! Didn't see Steve Carell by the way... More pictures here.

Dutch scenery in Vijfherenlanden

We went for a walk in the area of Vijfherenlanden south of Vianen, and came across this beautiful piece of Dutch scenery. The standard mill is the oldest wooden type windmill in the Netherlands. The nearby griend forest of Bolgerijen is one of our favorite walking areas, because it's quite off the beaten track. Once you find it, you're probably the only one around. Last year I made some pictures there.

Tracking William of Orange

On our way back home we paid a quick visit to Burg Nassau, to see where William of Orange, the founding father of the Netherlands, came from. The Dutch national anthem states that we have German blood, and for our royal house this is certainly for 75% true when you consider the fact that William was a German and that many royals after him married a German as well. So it seems to me that the Germans and Dutchies are convicted to each other. ;-)

Walking in Luxemburg

We spent three days in Luxemburg, enjoying the beautiful weather and the variety of nature in this tiny nation. Based in the youth hostel in Bourglinster, where the obscure Mrs. Marx provides yoga courses, we walked the rocky area of Echternach, where we BBQ'ed with Alain Tshinza (aka Gospel Emcee) and the international church he's part of. Yesterday we spent most of the day in the Haute Sûre nature park. More pictures here.

Grandma's birthday

Today my grandmother turned 85 and threw a party for the Van der Woude branch in her old people's home in Enschede. It was a good opportunity to catch up with family members you only see once in a while. My sister made an impressive slide presentation with pictures covering the period from 1922 till now. There's not much chance that my grandmother will ever read my blog, or even touch a computer, but at least she is now on the web.

Easter 2007

We spent a few days in Twente in the east of the Netherlands, where my family lives. Another weekend of beautiful Spring weather. I went for some nordic walking with my dad. Yes, it's clear that I'm nearing the age of 40. ;-)

Springtime in Baarn

It's beautiful Spring weather in the Netherlands. We made some walks on the premises of castle Groeneveld near Baarn.

Band of brothers

Peter caught a flu and has to stay in bed. David makes sure his little brother gets his daily dosis of hugs.

The Ten2b virus

If you want to pray an apostolic prayer, go for Luke 10:2b. Before Jesus sends out the 70 (this is where the disciples become apostles, sent ones), he teaches them (my interpretation) to go with multiplication in mind. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Emmaschool revisited

Today I was in Enschede for a reunion of my primary school. Hadn't seen most people for 28 years. An interesting experience to 'jump' in time from age 12 to 40, and realize how fast life goes, how much we changed, and how much we're still the same too...

Life starts at 40

Happy birthday to Karolien, who turns 40 today. They say life starts at 40. I still have to wait 7 more months to reach that mature age. But what can happen when the clock of life hits 40? Good biblical connotations like 'time to enter the promised land' (Joshua) and 'deliverance from the Philistines' (Samson). Or, for those who believe in bigamy, 'marrying two Hittite wives' (Esau). ;-)

Jesus helps me with everything

Yesterday I taught the boys a new game: Yahtzee. Already in one of the first turns Peter threw a full house. I said: "Well done, Peter, you have a full house, good for 25 points!" Peter replied, very excited: "Yes! You know, dad, Jesus helps me with everything! He also helps me to throw high points."