God+1Year+1day+Raphael=Happy Me :)

On the 28th of April 2007 Raphael and I got married in a beautiful little church, on a beautiful Sunny day in Holland (!!!). It's been a year and a day since that day and it has been such a blessed year for me and Raphael. On our wedding day we received an album from one of my colleagues and her boyfriend with some photos of "my children" at the school where I worked... a souvenir to always remember them... and they also added some pictures of our engagement. At the end they put... "to be continued" - So I thought a year after I could offer it to Raphael again with some pictures of what this year has meant to me. So... a friend and I went to the beach in Cannes... she brought her cool pink camera and I brought a bag full of things to see if I could somehow make pictures of what love was for me...

All the pictures were taken by Tuuli, a friend from church... I thought she did a great job at taking them and going ahead with all my little crazy ideas. I would just set up things and she would snap away... it was great because often times I would like to take a picture of my hands or so, and I would need a third arm to take it.. so it was great to have Tuuli there. She admited she had never taken such pictures, but I think they turned out great. Thank you Tuuli!

I did edit the photos some to add text or colour...and make them a bit like what I saw in my head... didn't quite work as well because I'm not very good with photo editing programs at all... and I just had a short time to work on them, but it did get me interested in learning more about photo editing...

Anyway here are some pictures :)

The idea was to make a little album of what love meant to me in our marriage. So on one side of the album I put a "love is.." picture and on the other side I put a picture of what it was...

Because of my disability I find that love... or how Raphael shows his love to me is by being patient. Tuuli later commented on how the love I felt was coming from him was love from God, and she was right on!

"Love is..." "...Marriage"... to me ;)

Well... in this case I put what it was in the same picture... :)

Les Petits Nounours :)

I love the way my simple kitchen matches look in this picture. Had no idea they were so photogenic!

Tuuli wasn't sure love was really forever as it kept being blown away... but I assured her it was...as God is eternal.



I have many more pictures that I used for the album but just wanted to share a few here...

In the morning we exchanged our old vows again and put on our rings for fun... Raphael gave me a huge bouquet with beautiful flowers and took me to a lovely restaurant in the evening close to our house. We just walked there and later walked back home in the cool of the night. We also got some phone calls that made our day! It was a lovely day to remember our wedding and the verses we used... :)

"My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
Song of Solomon 2:10-13

To any young lady reading this that would love to get married one day I will say this..."I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please." Song of Solomon 2:7

It's not easy to hear to "wait", to "not look for" or "find" but it is so worth it when we do wait on the Lord... trust me, but most of all trust the Lord who loves us more than we can ever imagine. :)

God bless ~

Net Hoy... o_0

Today is my little borther's Bithday, but I can't get in touch with him because his phone broke and there is no other way to get in touch with him... so I think this is the first year I will not speak to him on his Birthday... and that's sad... for me :(

So, I thought I would post a picture of him... and oh why not, I'll put my other brother in there too.. and wish him a Happy Birthday on my blog.


I won't say much about him because I don't want to embarrass him, but I will say that this little brother of mine does inspire me because of his maturity, his sensitivity to others, his really funny laugh, and how he can encourage his much older sister to be strong in the Lord, trusting always, only looking back to remember how God has been present in my life.

I didn't write a post for my other brother on his Birthday (which was last month) because I talked to him... but all I can say about him right now is that I have not seen him in way too long! He lives in Spain where he seems to love it, but God willing we will be able to see each other next month. I love both my brothers, I miss them, I wish I could see them more often, I think they are great guys and I just pray that they will both learn to put their trust in the Lord for all things. I've always been very happy with having brothers :)

Feliz Cumpleaños Carlos David!
днем рождения

What I've gotten myself into...

Raphael and I just returned from a short trip to Paris... we got to see family and share some good time with them. We even got to see a very old wedding album from his grandmother's sister... great-aunt I guess. That was fun! I don't have any pictures of the Eiffel tower, but maybe next time... we'll be going back soon God willing...

As I've mentioned before, Raphael and I have started a Bible study at home... it has been our prayer to have a study at home and now that we have one we are praying for those the Lord might want to send our way.... like our neighbors? We live on a very cute little street, and lately we have gotten to know our neighbors a little bit better and I have also started to go to an association on our street where they have activities for children and adults. The lady in charge would like to form activities that would allow people to share their knowledge with others in town. I thought it would be a good way to get to know people around so I have been going to get French lessons and have recently started going to their cooking courses.... well, Wednesday was my first class... we had a Tunisian lady over who taught us how to make "King's ears"... which is a Tunisian specialty... it was a very small group of ladies, but it was fun... and of course they asked us if we knew how to make any nice typical dishes or whatever... I don't know why, maybe I felt some pressure, but I actually said that I could make something (arepas I think)... so now they are all excited and the lady called me to ask if I could teach them how to cook something in two weeks... I don't recall saying that I knew how to make anything well... I told her I would think about it, I think I should make something because I do want to get to know these ladies and share with them... but I have no idea what I could teach... I was thinking maybe pancakes... they don't have pancakes for breakfast in France so maybe I can make some... it's not typical at all from where I come from, but it's the only thing I can think of that I'm quite good at, and I can make from scratch... the lady that was teaching us told us that she always has her hands in dough... she makes her own pasta and all! If anybody has any easy good ideas out there... they are more than welcome!

Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa

View from the villa with 7 gardens....

Today I went to Cannes with a friend. It might sound really fancy to some people... or not, but we just walked around, looked at nice shops, had lunch, talked a lot, walked by the beach, had a nice cup of hot chocolate, and played Scrabble at a coffee bar/restaurant... how cool is that! The Cannes Film Festival is in a few weeks so there is a lot of work going on. I took some fun pictures of Joanna on the "Red" carpet... with her camera. It was nice to have a girly day out, and Joanna is a lot of fun. :)

On train trip from Paris to home :)

As soon as we see the sea, we know we are almost home!

Today Raphael and I went to Menton, it's on the border with Italy. In the morning we taught some children in Nice and then we drove down to Menton. It was a beautiful day and I really do enjoy going out with Raphael... he's great, funny and he loves chicken! I don't have any pictures of Cannes or Menton, but I do have some other nice pictures... and I've noticed that people like pictures... so I will quit writing and post some pics...

Lady teaching us how to make King's ears...

Our street... :)

Et Voila!

Thank God for nice funny friends to hang out with, a super cool husband, King's ears and happy birthday to my brother!

The End -
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- Not the End-

Raphael just mentioned that I couldn't put pictures of a pink villa without talking about what it was... I guess in case anyone thinks we live there. Well, we went there two weeks ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I told him I wanted to visit a garden and he took me to a pink villa with 7 gardens. It was a beautiful place in St. Jean Cap Ferrat. There is a link to the website under the picture... I also saw many beautiful houses/castles/villas today, and I think "Wow, that's amazing!" but what's even more amazing is that I'm sure no matter how impressive they are, they are nothing compared to what the Lord is preparing for us :)... can't wait :)