Treasuring the Moments

I have some very good news to share! You may remember that my luggage was lost at the very beginning of our trip. It wasn’t even showing up in the system. But, after 5 weeks of being “lost” my suitcase was found and returned to me. Everything was intact – not a thing missing. So thankful for that. Although most it it was replaceable, it’s hard for me to find clothing (maybe because I really dislike shopping?) but there was this one little tin that holds my bobby pins that I was really sad about losing. It was given to me by my oldest son when he was about 8…

After we left Haarlem, Netherlands and Corrie Ten Boom’s home, we took a drive to the Atlantic Ocean. To warm us up from the chill we went to a restaurant on the beach and had some delicious hot chocolate.   The hot chocolate and soup were served in glasses.   Attractive presentation. I really liked their decor. After getting warmed up and our tummies filled, we walked down to the beach. I wanted to stick my feet into the Atlantic Ocean while standing on Holland soil, but then I decided my hand would work just fine. haha  Too cold. Our traveling companions who now want to see the world.Oh boy,…

After leaving the Ten Boom home, we wandered down the street to a large cathedral calledc St. Bavo’s, Haarlem. Haarlem is the name of the town and it is actually the town the Ten Boom family’s home is in. The original part of the church was damaged by fire in the 1300’s but in the 1500’s the church became what you see now. It began as a Catholilc Church but became Protestant in 1578.   This organ is called the Christian Muller organ and has 5068 pipes. The longest pipe is 32 feet. In 1766 Mozart, who was 10 years old at the time, played this organ and Handel also…

You might remember in the last post that I mentioned that when leaving DR Congo the flight attendants had sprayed what looked like air freshener throughout the plane. Well, thanks to someone who knew more than I did I found out that, more than likely, this was a scented insect killer to kill any mosquitoes that might be on the plane. They’ll do this to prevent mosquitoes getting transported to other countries that do not have malaria. Interesting tidbit that I thought you might like to know. While we had been in DR Congo, Serenity and her cousin were staying in the Netherlands with some friends. I’ll share a few…

Our night was short since we needed to leave for the airport at 3:30am. The streets were empty except for here and there when you would see one walking. I have no idea why they would be out and about at 3:30 in the morning. Our driver tells us that drinking is not a problem here like in the U.S. and smoking is frowned upon (which I know would not induce one to get up at 4 in the morning, but I thought it interesting none-the-less!) Driving along, viewing the empty streets that are usually filled with people we are completely unaware of the complications we will run into at…