Sermon on the Mount

In 30+ years of attending church, I have never heard a sermon like the one we heard this morning at our new church in the Hague.  Don't get me wrong, I miss Alex's preaching ALOT (the podcasts help, but it's just not the same), but this was amazing.  He preached the Sermon on the Mount.  No, that's not a typo, he didn't preach about the Sermon on the Mount, he actually preached THE SERMON... by memory... in its entirety (sp?).  It was unlike anything I've ever listened to before.  

I was riveted, I hung on every word, I was moved by the simplest of phrases that have for years only been memory verses.  It was the first time that I felt like I experienced a glimpse of what it must have been like to hear Jesus preach in person.  

If you've got 30 minutes of uninterrupted time (I know this is a luxury for most of you), I would highly recommend going to the church's website and listening to this (click here).  [I'm not sure why the sermon is called "The Singer", just ignore that.]  I promise it will be well worth the 30 minutes.  You could even use it as your quiet time because you will be listening to the WORD of God!  I know that it won't have the same impact as being there, but listening should be one step above reading.  I hope you are blessed 1/2 as much as I was this morning!

I miss you all!

It'll never happen again!

This will never happen again, so don't get used to it, but I actually posted two blogs before my friends Sterling, Misty, and Jenn (ubber bloggers) added a new post to their blogs!

I am enjoying my quiet evening in Germany, watching the Rhein River pass by. I miss Bryan and the girls, but it is nice to have some "me" time even if I have to work some while doing it. The trip did not start off well. My train was 20 minutes late an I only had a 15 minute "layover" at the Utrecht train station, so I had to wait 2 hours for the next train to Cologne. Then, that train was 20 minutes late getting into Utrecht! Oh well, I'm here and life is good. If you're reading this before Friday, 11AM Houston time, please pray for Bryan. He has the girls by himself for two days!

If you're not already sitting down, you might want to...

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned that Kaeli has been saying very funny things lately.  I forgot about a recent story that is totally hilarious, so sit down before you read this (and hold on to your chair because you might fall out of it!).

Bryan was giving Kaeli a bath the other night and she asked what the pink things on her chest were.  Instead of telling her they were "chest buttons" (you know, like a belly button) like I do, he proceeded to tell her that they were nipples.  Kaeli then wanted to know why she had nipples.  Bryan told her that whenever she became a mommy that she could feed her babies milk with them.  When she got out of the tub, she came running to me to tell me (OK, now imagine Kaeli in her cutest voice with complete and utter excitement in her tone):

"Mommy, when I become a mommy, I'm going to feed my babies with my nickels!"

Our First Day Trip (at least the 1st one where we remembered the camera!)

We went to Keukenhof this weekend (www.keukenhoff.com).  We had a great time.  The earlier you get there, the better because the crowds and buses loaded with people start to show up between 10 & 11.  We got there about 9:30 and pretended it was Easter because we got zero pics last Sunday (long story!).  Here are the pictures.  Enjoy!

Here is Kaeli posing in from of the "pink" tulips and Avery in front of yellow ones.

Our attempts to get a picture of them together.

Avery touching the flowers.

K-Rae, the super model (we're in trouble!).

Pictures of the tulip fields and other flowers (most of these Kaeli took herself!)

From the mouth of our 3 1/2 year old...

OK, so I was going to post our cool pictures from Keukenhof (a big tourist attraction here in the Netherlands with LOTS of tulips), but Bryan is on the Mac (where the pictures are), so I'm going to post something that will hopefully make you all laugh.

So, as most of you know, Kaeli is a talker. She's never been shy and certainly loves attention (Bryan and I argue as to which of us she gets this from). Anyway, we had the preacher from one of the churches we've been visiting and his wife over for dinner last night. Of course, Kaeli wants to say her prayer, which is usually quite cute. She learned it at Kids R Kids: "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. God bless everyone. Amen. Let's begin." Instead of this adorable little prayer, out comes: "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our poopy. God bless poopy, poopy. Amen. Poopy, poopy." I was totally embarrassed!

Other things she has said lately:
"Daddy, you are sooooo strong. Just like Snow White." - Bryan wasn't sure whether he should be proud of this or not.
"Mommy, if you can't reach the scrunchy ball, Daddy can get it because he's strong and handsome like a prince!" - This one made him laugh.

Gotta love being a parent!

Avery's 1st Birthday

Today is Avery's Birthday!  I can't believe she is 1 today.  This year has been such a blur.  As soon as the sleepless nights were over, we started talking about the move.  Then, the sleepless nights began again.  Maybe that's why I can't remember much (except the pregnancy and birth which I do not want to do again!).

Anyway, we had a 4 day weekend and got to spend some great quality time together as a family.  We had a picnic at a park just down the street and met a couple of other families from the US that we know through work.  Kaeli rode her bicycle (Thanks, Carlsons!) all the way to the park.  Just 4 weeks ago, she could barely ride it just down the sidewalk.  Here are some pics from the party.

But, more about Avery since today is her birthday...  We think she is super cute and she still has gorgeous blue eyes.  Her hair is growing out and is looking a little curly in the back.  She is such a funny baby, well, I guess I should say she is such a funny toddler because she is certainly toddling.  She laughs at everything, especially her big sissy, Kaeli.  On Sunday, she started giggling for no reason.  She was giggling so hard that Bryan couldn't get her dressed!  She was bound and determined to be walking before she turned one, and today she walked all day at school and all around the house this evening.  Along with walking, she has become alot more confident and thinks she can do just about anything her big sister can do.  She climbed up both flights of stairs this weekend.  She refuses to eat anything that she can't feed herself, but also refuses to hold her own bottle!  She is off of formula and on to soy milk, which she loves.  She drinks sooooo much of it.  I don't know if it's the new surroundings or the weeks of sickness, but she has become much more cuddly.  She never liked to snuggle when we were in the US, but now she will nuzzle with just about anyone who holds her.  She has also started giving kisses and waves "bye bye" and even says "Dag" (that's "bye" in Dutch).  She got a birthday hat at day care today.  We put it on her at home and she didn't like that so much, but she did love the cake that Kaeli picked out for her.  She's now sleeping soundly with her little bottom up in the air, just the way Kaeli used to sleep.

More pictures of the birthday girl:

My (not so glamorous) trip to London

So, I called my mom this week (I had missed her when I called the past two weekends).  We had to briefly discuss their upcoming trip to NL (can't wait to see you all!) and our plans to go to Paris as a family.  Pretty cool, but I had to make it quick because I was running out the door on my way to London.  "That's exciting!", my mom says to me...  Well, not really.  All work and no play, but I thought I would share with you all my journey to London on Monday so that you are not too jealous of me getting to travel Europe while we're over here!

• 05:45 Alarm rings and I get up to take a shower and get ready
  
• 06:00 Kaeli (or Avery, I can't really remember now) wakes up yelling "MOMMY!" (or possibly just crying, can't remember that either!)
  
• 07:00 I am dressed, so Bryan walks out the door for work and I finish getting the girls breakfast and dressed for school.
  
• 07:15 We're out the door on the bike to ride (OK, they get to ride, I get to pedal with an extra 70 pounds of kid on the bike) 30 minutes to day care.
  
• 08:00 Leave day care and bike to 2 grocery stores (we're out of milk and I am being a loving wife by not going out of town with no milk in the fridge - Avery is off of formula now, so this would have been detrimental to our marriage.  1st store didn't have soy.)
  
• 08:45 Back at home to finish packing and put together stuff for Kaeli's swimming lessons since Bryan would be taking both girls by himself (dinner for A, snack for K, swimsuit, towel, etc)
  
• 09:00 Walk 15 minutes to the office with my suitcase in tow
  
• 13:00 After several hours of working, I call my mom as I'm walking out the door.
  
• 13:30 Walk 5 minutes to tram stop, take tram to train station, buy train ticket, miss train, get back on tram to the other train station to catch next train to Amsterdam.  Once in Amsterdam I  take a ferry to the other side of the river to another Shell office bldg where I have a meeting at 3pm
  
• 15:00 Almost late for my meeting (which I am facilitating), but all goes well.
  
• 17:30 Leave offices, walk back to ferry, take ferry back to train station, take another train to airport (suitcase and laptop bag still in tow)
  
• 18:00 At airport with 1 hr until flight leaves.  Walked briskly to the very end of a very long terminal (why do I always get the gate at the end?), just in time to get through security and board the plane.
  
• 19:00 Flight leaves NL
  
• 20:00 (19:00 London time) Arrive at London Heathrow.  Tired of public transportation, so I took a taxi to the hotel.
  
• 21:00 (20:00 London time) Make phone call to US to make sure work is getting done on some projects while I sleep!
  
• 22:00 (21:00 London time) Wait!  I forgot to eat dinner.  Down to the hotel restaurant to grab something to eat and then off to bed (luckily, I couldn't connect to the internet so I did go to bed).
  
• 22:45 (21:45 London time)  Sound asleep with no kids or husband to wake me up in the middle of the night!  OK, maybe the trip was worth it.  Ha!

See, not so glamorous afterall!!  Of course, the worst part was the following morning when I got into a cab to get to my meetings and he pulled out a map!  I should've known I was in trouble!!  Was 15 minutes late for THAT meeting.  I hate being late!