The morning that my husband was offered a job in the Netherlands, my younger son and I enjoyed time in the Pacific Northwest sun (the power of which you can not understand without experiencing first hand) with friends while my daughter sat with her very best friends at their school, which happens to be one of the best in the state. We were blessed. The children were thriving at school and with the security of friendships and access to family, and I felt very fulfilled by meaningful friendships of my own, as well as the civic and creative outlets our way of life afforded me. And my husband was just past halfway through an MBA program which was already delayed by a move from the Midwest a few years prior. Really, after years of moving around, we considered our roots to be planted and had no intention of starting all over again. Then came the offer...
It's easy to walk away from something when it's not going well, but it is hard not to get carried away with doubt when what you leave behind is good. It takes faith. Faith that the God who has blessed us before will be with us still. Faith that part of being blessed is choosing gratefulness. Faith that choosing opportunity and not fear is a wise decision. And that's why we're here.
Three months later, after endless phone calls and emails and form after form - after numerous trips to the ups store and government offices - we stepped off an airplane to a warm Amsterdam morning and our adventure began.
Where we live:
We live just outside a small country village an hour and a half south of Amsterdam. Our home is a farmhouse (more modern than traditional) surrounded by beautiful gardens with trees for climbing and flowers for picking most of the year round, and our gardens are adjacent to the rest of the farm which serves as home for 12 miniature horses, four hens, a rooster, several doves and three duck families which live in the pond outside our kitchen window. In the surrounding fields live three dairy cows, two (full size) horses, plenty of roosters (or so my ears tell me) and a handful of goats.
The village market, which has been more or less inhabited for 3000 years, is surrounded by restaurants and shops, an ice cream parlor, a small sanctuary and a gazebo which hosts live musicians on the weekends. It is a charming hub of Dutch activity, and, when combined with the beauties of the farm, proved an irresistible argument for living in the country for the three or so years we're here.
I will begin to post photographs and vignettes of our little life here in the days and weeks to come, when our computer and camera arrive. Thanks for stopping by.
Tot ziens!
