And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying...

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

For those who are interested. Two weeks ago my mom, brother and I went to the south of Holland, Limburg, to get a bike for me. Most people in Holland ride a bike to school, work, the stores, the park... everywhere. I used to bike well when I was a child, but after TM I more or less chickened out of it, afraid I would fall. But last year a good friend of mine really encouraged me to go bike, and I went with my dad to the forest and after a little while I realized that I could still bike quite ok. I never tired it in the city because my legs are not strong enough to stop a normal bicycle in a normal way... don't know how else to word it... you'd have to see me to get it. But... I found a Three-wheeler online (I refuse to call it a tricycle), for a good price and decided to go for it! My lovely family is and has always been so supportive of me and both my mom and brother went all the way down there with me, and my little brother managed to get the bike on 3 trains, a bus, and then he biked home with me on the back! =) Now let me tell you... it might look easy and simple to ride... but I assure you it is neither. It is not at all like riding a normal bike. You should come try it just for fun. When I first tried I almost ran right into a car, and then a tree trying to avoid the car... my brother... he did worse. But, now I feel a bit more comfortable with it and once I'm really good at it I would like to bike to work. It is getting kind of cold over here... but we'll see.

Well,
I have moved to another place once again... Two years ago at a costume party I dressed up as a Pirate but everybody thought I was a Gypsy for some reason... That's kind of what I've become in a way. In the last two years I have lived in 5 different places and I just keep moving from one place to another for different reasons. But I do long for that one place (in the near future I hope) I will be able to call my "real home". The kind where you can draw on your own walls and it would be ok because you are the boss. For now... I must say good-bye to my old place up in an attic. I will miss...

Here is something that made me Smiiile :)

Enjoy if you are like me!

I went to a Monkey Zoo with my mom a few weeks ago... it was a very nice day and the weather was great. Just wanted to share a few photos!

I don't know why it's getting harder to post... I guess because I have just been thinking too much lately so, I still have to process all my thoughts. But here is an update on some way old news... my trip to Peru.

Well, My desire was to post some pictures on some 'online photo-album' thing, but I sort of chickened out at the last minute. So... I'll just post a few here.

I would like to say that I highly recommend Peru. I had a blast, and I absolutely loved the people. Honestly, they were the best part of Peru in my opinion. My friend Mariel was an excellent tour guide in Lima, Limon... and she is just "super cool". Gracias Mariel!!! Then Machupicchu was magnificent... I couldn't get enough of all the mountains and the air, the smells, the mates de coca and the kids... there were kids all over the place... cute ones.

I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I won't post pictures of Lima this time or Mariel for that matter because I didn't ask her if I could... but if she gives the 'ok' then I'll put a picture of her, especially as she loves being in as many pictures as possible.















Now, of all the things that I saw, this was the one thing that impressed me the most. It's a sacrificial table. you can see the three little steps on the one side, and the little hole on the other side was to tie the sacrificial animals. The reason I was really impressed is because of this. See.... when I was in school I learned quite a lot about the Incas and the Mayas and Aztecs and so forth... and I never really understood the whole sacrificial deal. The killing of people so appease the gods or, for whatever reason. I always thought of them as cruel people and that's it. But I had been a few days in Peru and I had been reading a bit about the Incas and I was really impressed by their constructions and their knowledge of astronomy and agriculture... their language, art... noem maar op. But here was not just one sacrificial table but, there were many in fact... I remember seeing at least three and I didn't even see the whole place. There was a neat one in the shape of an eagle, and you could see where the blood was supposed to run though. But when I saw them I was in awe because, they looked like very important places, were very important things happened. As I thought about it more and more, I wondered "How can such advanced people make such sacrificial ceremonies involving animals, people.... children!!! How come?" But then it hit me.... there is no other way! See.... these people knew exactly what it was about... the blood. To most of us blood means death and pain and horror movies. But I think that blood can also mean the opposite, which is life. We need blood to live. I tell you these were very intelligent and wealthy people, but in all that glory and knowledge, they knew that they weren't the greatest. There had to be a God, the Sun god for them and that the only thing that was pure enough to offer to him was blood... everything else they could make or do would fall short in God's sight. Why... because God is pure and powerful, and someone to respect. And why care about God? Because they believed that all they had came from God. All their wealth, all the wonders in the sky... in their knowledge they knew that God had to be the answer and if all these things where from someone so big, they better be on His good side. To them the only really pure thing they could offer really, was blood, especially children's blood. They needed blood to celebrate, to give thanks, to be forgiven, to ask for help... All this sound horrible? Here comes the good news... or well, first a little bit of more bad news... this whole thing still applies today, and to each of us. If we want to come and be close to God, and be on His team... or on His good side at least, we'll need blood. Mind you, God only has a good side. He doesn't want all your money and riches, He doesn't want your super cool Ferrari... if you are a good singer, great! But He's got angels singing to His glory, and I bet that's more impressive. You think you are a pretty good guy or gal... ? That's a lot of good,... but how much good do you reckon is enough to please God? I could go on, but let's get to the good news. The good news is that, because God loves us and wants us all to come to Him, He sent His Son Jesus, who offered His life so we wouldn't have to pay the price...not even try to. He sent his Son (who was perfect, pure, good, without any blemish) so that through Him we could be called sons and daughters of God. As I stood there looking at this stone... and imagining a sacrifice I imagined someone running up to where the priest, the crying mother, the amazed onlookers, the brave or scared sacrifice were, and yelling... "Stop... we don't need to do this anymore... ever again! Stop... the Son of God has died, so we could have life....forever."

"Animal sacrifices accompanied many important Inca occasions. Each day witnessed many sacrifices to celebrate the sun's appearance. Human sacrifice occurred in times of natural disaster, other great times of distress, and important occasions; children were often sacrificed. In order for a child to be sacrificed, the child had to be perfect, and be free of any blemishes. Usually the finest young children were taken from each village to Cuzco to meet the emperor, and were then taken to the highest mountains and were then sacrificed, most often with a blow to the head. The children were elaborately adorned with fine clothing, and jewelry. This process left many mummies."

I'm back from my Summer Holiday!... It's funny but when you haven't posted for a long time you sort of don't even know how or where to start anymore... I'm feeling kind of shy here and this is my own blog! Well, I guess most of you know that I've been to Bonaire and Peru these last weeks. I had an almost perfect Summer... almost prefect because it just wasn't long enough. But I'm glad to be back... (I'm sure I'll be glad if I keep telling myself that over and over again.)

No, but.. seriously, The Lord is good. The verse I had in my heart through my trips was this.

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." - Jeremiah 33:3

Call to me says the Lord, and I will answer you... so, I called to Him, where ever I was... and I did indeed see great things... and mighty things which I knew not. The greatest thing I saw was Machu Picchu, and well... my desire was to see the Lord in all that I saw, and He answered me. I'll write more about Machu Picchu and Bonaire and all that, but right now I'm working on adjusting to time again... so it's way past my bed time.

But here is a little preview of what I saw during my Summer Holiday :D.. Yay!

{right to left.... I'm learning Hebrew now}

1) One of the many cute kids I saw in Peru
2) Sunchi, my little bundle of JOY and a few fleas here and there!
3) Little stones and sand in Bonaire
4) A Lama and I
5) My dad :)
6) Moi in Machu Picchu
7) Machu Picchu
8) Cusco
9) Mate Coca

God bless!

Ok, well... as some of you may or may not have noticed I have not been posting for a long time. It's because of several reasons. ONE, I didn't have internet for a very long time, TWO, it was taking forever to download, THREE, I've been busy with work, FOUR, there is this whole World Cup going on, FIVE, I like to watch Football, SIX, I didn't have internet for a long time, SEVEN, I felt like nobody was reading my posts anyway, EIGHT, well, I knew some people do read my posts, but you know how you like people to tell you to do something that they enjoy from you, but you sort of have to hear it first before you do it, but then nobody lets you know that they actually do want you to do it?, NINE, my favourite number, TEN, I didn't have internet for a long time, ELEVEN, it hit me last night that perhaps the reason it takes a long time to download is because of some HTML errors, TWELVE, I had also been a bit ill for sometime, FOURTEEN, I was actually really sick actually, but I'm feeling better now, THIRTEEN, I didn't have internet for a month or so.

What have you been missing out on? A lot, there is the World Cup thing going on (which isn't much of a "World" Cup right now), and France is about to win the whole thing just like that. Holland is still using ORANGE as their representative colour and I couldn't eat Tangerines for a long time... But they are out now, because of the Portuguese who are also out now because of the French, who are about to win the whole thing if the Italians don't stop them. I can't think of the Brazilians, who are also out because of the French, without feeling sad, but as I'm a good sport I have to admit that the French played better, and that the Brazilians played, as my uncle said, as if they were playing against their mothers. Then the poor Germans were kicked out of their own party by the Italians. I wouldn't invite any of those countries again if I were Germany. Anyway... I haven't just been watching football the whole time though. Today was my last day of work. The kids have a long 6 week break and some will go to other schools, while others will stay for another year. I'm also on vacation now, but I think I'll do a bit of work on Monday and Tuesday before I go away on vacation!!!! Anyway... a lot of things have sort of changed, but I'm happy to say that God doesn't change and that's why we can alwasy trust where He said He would be, what He said He would do, and who He said He is. Tomorrow I will be moving out of my rooms for the Summer.

A Happy Summer Holiday to anyone going away on vacation. God bless...

Ok, I'm really almost done with my Paris posts, but there are still 1.5 days to go. I was happy that there wasn't really anything planned for day 6, at least not until later in the evening. I spent the morning reading, and not doing much else. Delphine suggested we have crepes for dinner and Raphael thought it was a good idea so off he went to the kitchen. I can't really generalize but I think most French people enjoy cooking. I'm not sure, but I do know that French cuisine is famous world wide and that this family loves to cook. They enjoy cooking together and love to sit around the table to eat and talk, laugh and drink. I think it's one of the reasons they are such a close family. Delphine was busy with school-work so Raphael made the crepes. I was supposed to help but I was more interested in observing and taking pictures. I love crepes. My favourite kind are spinach with cheese crepes. Lekker! There is a very nice restaurant in Paris where you can get a whole menu for 8 euros. You get a dinner crepe, a dessert crepe and a jug of apple cider. Anyway.. here are some pictures I took.

I think I think a lot. And this morning I was thinking about God. I have been a bit sick for the last two days, so today I'm going to take it easy. As I was going down to have breakfast, I grabbed one of my favourite books, "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. It's really a great book in my opinion. Anyway, I went on to read the preface, which I tend to skip in some books, but I really like this preface, and as English is not my first language I seem to understand some things better or discover something else each time I read it. I read something that I hadn't understood before, and needed to hear. These couple of last days I have been sort of fighting with my Spirit. I've been discouraged by a few things, I have felt weak in my faith, and I have experienced how rebellious my heart can feel towards God for no reason! I had also been discussing religion some weeks ago, and this isn't always very uplifting. Many things were discussed and I learned some things, but God, and the things of God were missing in all that theology. I could just feel it in my heart. I decided on purpose to not get into a Bible quoting argument, because I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just wanted to understand where this person was coming from, which maybe isn't a good thing to want after all. I don't know my Bible very well, but I know that I feel confident in my walk with God. My confidence is not in me as I know how weak I can be, but in God's love towards me. It's about trusting the Holy Spirit guides us in our walk, and in being able to discern what is and what is not of God. So, I was reading the preface and this is what he says:

"Current evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing."

I think I can apply this to my life. There is this "program", this "order" that I can come up with or get from someone that will make me a better Christian, and I could stick to it and feel "safe", within my well structured and healthy program. And, well... it may or may not be safe, it's better than being indifferent, but will it really really feed me? Will it satisfy me? Will it make me grow?

"For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts."

To me it means that knowing God is not all about going through the motions, but about a personal experience, an intimate relationship, and just as any relationship we may have it can grow, improve, be lost, suffer, and so on. I like this, because it's about an interactive God. About a living God. I've always known that He was this way, but I have not always known or understood that it can also concern me, and these times. After going through this little short desert in the last days, I realize that when my soul is quiet and rests in Him, there is no better place to be, even if there is sand blowing in your face, and that we must be careful of all the mirages we may encounter in a desert. The only real oasis is in Him. The book is also online in case you want to read it. It really is a good one. "The Pursuit of God"

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." - 2 Corinthians 3:17

I was thinking that I should hurry up this mini France trip as I've been back for two weeks now, and a lot of other things are happening right here. So, ok... on day 5, which was on a Sunday, Raphaël and I went to church in the morning. I mentioned before that I was understanding French better so I was able to understand the message quite ok. I don't remember the name of the church. I figured I was going to go to a quiet church, where you sat quietly, sang quiet songs and listened quietly. The preacher that morning was a pastor from another church. I don't know where he was from as he didn't look French to me, but he spoke with a clear deep voice, his eyes twinkled as he shared and everytime he asked people to sit down he would put his palms up, smile and bow his head. He shared about Jesus' resurrection. I know there were two points he wanted to share but I don't know if I understood completely. I think the first point was about how Jesus rose not for himself, as in, not to prove something, but he rose for us. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't know if I have this right... but it was something along these lines, and the second point was about how Scripture supports this...?... I hope he doesn't read this blog. :( I don't really remember well as I couldn't really understand everything, but I was very blessed to be there. This church was indeed a very quiet church, but it was very active as well, and they even clapped their hands when somebody stood up to thank the preacher for sharing with them. Somebody else also stood up and mentioned how it doesn't commonly happen that they clap their hands but that he was (touched?) by the message... It's funny because before going to church I was hoping deep inside that I would get a chance to clap my hands in church. Anyway, these people were just standing up and sharing prayer requests, commenting on the message, reminding each other of the weeks activities, and it was all good. I was happy to be there.
After church we had some lunch and then went to meet Raphaël's parents and his grandmother at the grandmother's country house. When we had dinner with her some days before she had invited me to see her country house. The house is 150 years old, and it has every good thing you would want to find in an old house. A fireplace, a well, old books, wooden beams, old trees and much more. Here are some pictures.


Then I saw the cutest little house. This is the house where Raphaël, Delphine and their cousins used to play as children. It was actually a place to keep rabbits but they made it into a play house. It's been years since any children have actually played in it, but when I walked in and heard the stories I could just see it all before me.



That evening Raphaël was invited to go to a birthday party, so he invited me to go as well. I didn't take any pictures of the party but there are some things I do want to write about. See, I have been to France a few times and the scariest thing about the French to me was that they seemed to be so unpredictable. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something soooo very... strange. But well, now I know that there was nothing wrong really. I just didn't know much about them, and now I've concluded that they are just peculiar. Back to the party.

When going to a French Birthday party (at least in Paris) know this:


1. You will be kissed by everyone. People that know you, know your friends and people that have no idea who you are. You will be kissed, twice usually, thrice if they know you come from Holland, and four times if they really like you or your friends. By the fifth time, if you are still standing there, they have either lost count, or there is something else going on. Most of us would offer a hand, but here it can be seen as being rude. Yes, I've been rude in France. But please note that if it is a business meeting you should not kiss the people you are meeting. This is not correct.

2. When you enter the house and are greeted by the B-day girl/boy, do not, do not give them the Birthday present you brought for them! What? Yes, it's true, infact... hide it as best as possible. Under the coats, under the table, under the couch, in the oven if it's not being used, or sit on it. If you are thinking, "Oh, they like to play 'hide-and-seek the presents' games"... no. It's just so that giving the present right away is not fitting. So you sort of walk in with a present in your hand, you 'kiss' and wish the person a happy B-day, and then continue to walk in as if you never intended to give the present. So when do you give the present?

3. Nobody seems to know exactly when is the right time to give the presents, so just keep your eyes open for the "right" moment. When in Rome do as the Romans do, or the Parisians in this case. In this party they turned off the lights and came with the B-day cake all lit up and sang a Birthday song. Then when the candles were blown out, the lights came on, and you could see the first gift concealer going back to his hiding place and soon everybody else followed. Coats flying all over the place, paper bags opening, tables being turned over... ok, maybe not the last part.

{4}. I don' t know if this is normal, but there was no music at this party. All you could hear was people talking and laughing and that was pretty much it. Little groups were formed and some people kept walking form one group to the other. But really, no music. I put this one in brackets as I don't really think this is a norm.

5. This one is for sure. If you happen to be the French person getting the present, you do not kiss the person that just gave you the present. At least not until you have opened it first. Which in my opinion is not really good for two reasons. First, it shows that you don't kiss because you got a present, but because you liked it, which you always must appear to have, as you have to kiss the person anyway! Which brings me to the second reason. Isn't it easier to kiss a person before you know what they got you, rather than after you've opened the present and you don't really like it? Oh, the complications of our cultural social behaviors.

6. The part I really liked was that most people brought something to eat to the party. I liked this idea of sharing very much. However, I don't know if people were asked to bring something to share, or if people just bring things without being told to.

I found everybody at the party to be really friendly and even met a few people who also spoke Spanish. This was one of the longest days I had in my trip. I woke up early and went to bed quite late, but it was a day full of good experiences that I was thankful for.