Travel with the Boefjes: August 2011

We've had lots of fun and a very productive couple of weeks. We have visited Corrie ten Boom's house in Haarlem and Sint Bavo's church, where she attended services and played as a little girl. Mozart also played the organ there when he was just 10 years old. If you don't know the story of Corrie ten Boom's life, I highly recommend one of her books. 'The Hiding Place' tells the story of her life. She and her family hide Jews during WWII in their home and worked closely with the dutch underground. They were discovered by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps. Her story is one of God's provision during this incredibily trying time of their lives and forgiveness. Corrie was the only one in her family to survive the concentration camps and after her release she began an international speaking ministry at the age of 54 that lasted for over 30 years. She was a remarkable woman. It was amazing to stand in her house where so many lives have been saved and touched by the ten Boom family. Below is a photo of us in the secret hiding place which was built behind a wall and accessible by a sliding door in the bottom left hand closet. It was a very tight fit but was to hold up to 8 people. There were 6 people hiding there when the ten Boom family was taken away. They were not found by the Nazis and escaped.

The Sint Bavo church was also having an exhibition while we were there with airplanes. It was a bit strange to see airplanes in the church... but the boys were allowed to make paper airplanes and flew them a bit. The photo is them with their planes in front of the organ that Mozart played.

Our days in Amsterdam were filled with school, markets, ice cream, and walking the streets. Here the boys are enjoying a warm stroop waffel from the market. It's a warm wafer thin butter cookie filled with something like carmel. A sticky and yummy treat we can't get at home!

We've spent this last week at Bart's parent's second home on the island of Texel in the north. It's a beautiful spot of unspoiled country that we always look forward to visiting. Time seems to stand still there. It's full of green grass, cozy villages, and farms... sheep, cows, cheese, fruit, vegetables, tulip bulbs... everything you can imagine. There are little stands dotted around the island filled with fresh produce and boxes for customers to just drop their money in. Everything is on the honor system. We get our daily excerise by biking everywhere while we are there. We spent one day biking around the entire island, which was 28 miles. We made a day of it and stopped at the baker for fresh bread, had a snack in the dunes, walked around one of the villages, had a fresh fish lunch at the harbor, and ended it in 'our' village walking around the market. We've biked everyday, but because of the weather, that was our only 'big' day of biking. The weather turned quite cold (a couple of days in the 50's), spotty rain and very windy for the rest of our stay. It doesn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves though, we just throw on more clothes and keep on going! All the following photos are from Texel...

Here the boys are relaxing after a biking adventure...

Typical Texel...

There are wild horses and Scottish Highland Cows in the dunes on Texel. Here the boys are trying to sneak up on them... they didn't realize that Mommy was not being as sneaky as them while taking their picture!