462

462 papa, as we called him. he would have been 102 if he made it to today. instead we said good bye in october 2001 good bye to a man of conviction and character who lived through the second world war in the northern part of the netherlands on a beautiful farm papa, oma, 4 kids [5 more to come] until the war took it all first, the german soldiers moved into the downstairs, while papa cared for oma, then pregnant with al, and created as much security and consistency as possible for all the littles. the man who steadfastly walked his wife and daughters through the loss of the oldest son, brother, age 8, when he was crushed under the tires of a neighbor's tractor and adri, adopted in for the years of the war from a family that lived in the city once they could no longer provide for her livelihood. papa, who lead his little family to a new land with only a few dollars to start again having left the family farm that had been handed down from grandfather to father to son [the farm that would have belonged to my father next] now, a treasure, the audio recording of papa and oma telling us all about these events how they journeyed through the loss with hope through the fear with confidence and with the pain, by way of joy because our God is faithful. his words, not mine. his words, now mine also. for teaching 9 children and 25 grandchildren, and 40+ great grandchildren perseverance in adversity faithfulness in life's ups and downs. forever grateful.

443-461

443 deer in the yard 444 wild flames in the fireplace 445 wall clocks with hour and minute hands 446 chubby robins, back for spring 447 lingering white tulips over the kitchen sink 448 hand-crafted mug collection 449 instagram conversation about mugs and their names 450 laughter to myself when no one needs to know 451 finding that j's nanny kids live in the same neighborhood as mine 452 the disney princess cupcake game 453 m+m, dancing princesses, paper plates for stones on the living room floor 454 short conversations with s. 455 books books books 456 when they arrive at my door in padded manilla envelopes 457 wesley hill, speaking out in humility on behalf of the hurting 458 cybex. 459 schedule that allows for 60-90 minutes 3x/week 460 that i can still use the gym, free of charge [thank you grace bible college] 461 a little nudge from d. and now i'm aware