Here at our place in Nazareth.. a christmas song by Nils

Nils was singing a sort of christmas song and we were wondering where he had learned this song.. Now we found out during the christmas play at Nils's school..

A Swiss kind of dixieland

During the rebuild we have to put up with minor unpleasanties such as pipes all over the place and a dixie in our front garden....

The great rebuild 4

The foundation plan is layed out and cement is poured in. Now we wait until the 5th of january when they start to build the floor. In the mean time dad will have to install a new electric fuse box in preperation of the required 3 phase electrics we need for the aplliences we are going to install in our new kitchen.

Merry christmas!

Tonight we were invited to Nils's school for a christmas evening. Nils and his classmates performed a play of Jozef and Maria going to Betlehem. Nils had a few parts as well and sang a couple of songs with the other children. It was quite a good play keeping in mind that most of the actors were only 4 years old... Afterwards Nils and his classmates were rewarded for their effort with a book and an orange. He also showed us his christmas tree he made as the "asignment" they get every week. Our neighbours kept an eye over Wende during the evening and all went well..

The final echo

Today we went to the hospital to see if the baby is growing okay in Gorinchem. All looked well amd I took a videocamera with me to record it. Lisette's mom and dad were with us too!

The great rebuild 3

All is now ready for the poles that will be drilled in tomorrow (monday). We are adapting mor or less to the situation, that is, no luxury of a dishwasher and very limited space in the kitchen. We are also getting used to the holes in some of our ceilings..

This morning we went to the swimmingpool and Wende floated by herself in the water and loved it! Nils jumped from the diving board! What a day.. In the afternoon we went to see Sean who was having a birthday party for friends and relatives, we gave him a cool remote controlled montser truck.

The great rebuild 2

All of what was our extension is now gone, a big excavated site is left and markings are placed where on monday metal poles are to be drilled into the ground (13 meters deep)

The great rebuild

Yes, finally the great rebuild of our house has started.
The builders came and first a part of our house went.
At that time I (dad) was at a training course in germany but thanks to modern technology I could see the progress (or rather regress) through the webcam. And when I came home I saw so many things to do, how great.....There is no turning back now, we'll just have to make the best of it for the next 5 months at least.

The training in Germany was in Würzburg and we stayed in a very luxury hotel with swimmingpool and all. Unfortunately there was little time for christmas shopping as the course started early in the morning and stopped late in the afternoon. But I was able to shoot some nice pictures.

Last weekend we went to the woods for a walk. In Nederhemert. What we didn't expect was that the track was changed into a mudpool. Nils, ofcourse, loved it. Ofcourse he fell a couple of times and at that point we stopped trying to warn him because it just didn't make a difference anymore, he was covered allover with mud. Wende even did not want to get out of the trolly. The weather however was great, warm sunshine and trees of all colours.

Dear old tante Jet

Our "tante" Jet died last tuesday night at the age of 90. She always told us that she wanted to live at least until 90.. and she did.

She was not really a relative of us but a relative in the way someone just belongs to ones family because you know them so well and so long.. Ever since I can remember, she is a part of our family. Every birthday or days like christmas, she was always with us, nipping her glass of port and smoking a cigarette. And no, she did not die of an illness caused by smoking no, she died of old age and the weakness of a cancer in her stomach. If it wasn't for the falling to the ground in her house one day, she would probably still be alive and living on her own in her house she loved so much. Instead, she had to be taken to hospital and never would go home again. I am glad we visited her as often as we could and in a way prepared ourselves for what was to be inevitable. We were able to show her our daughter Wende and our son Nils. We could see how she loved to have children around her even until the point that we couldn't make out if she really knew we were there.

As far as I know, she didn't have any "real" relatives anymore but very good friends like Mimi and Gerard who took such good care of her. and showed what good friends do for each other in good and bad times.

This monday we all pay our last respects to tante Jet, each with our own memories to share with one another. To us she was extraordinary. She had friends of all ages and new all about what was going on in the world. Never complaining, always friendly to everyone. She was our "tante".

We will miss her and never forget her.

And if there is a heaven, she is probably looking down at us saying things like, "my goodness, stop mourning and have a last glass of port or whatever, on my behalf".