The White Family Adventures Together: May 2010

"For The Moments I Feel Faint"

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement.
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

[Chorus:]
Never underestimate my Jesus.
You're telling me that there's no hope.
I'm telling you you're wrong.

Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong

I throw up my hands
"Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

[Chorus]

I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
Gather my insufficiencies and
place them in your hands, place them in your hands, place them in your hands

There is a tradition here in the Netherlands to throw a huge party for the Queen's Birthday on April 30th. Actually, the current queen whose birthday is actually in January, chose to keep 'Konninginedag' celebration on April 30th, her mother's birthday, so that the weather would be nicer for all of the outdoor celebrations that typically take place. So, technically, the Dutch celebrate the queen's birthday on the dead queen's actual birthday. STRANGE!

The story goes that the night before Queen's Day historically brought on alot of rioting, so to combat this, the royal family decided to also celebrate Konninginenach (Queen's Night), the night prior to Queen's Day by throwing a parties throughout the Hague. Surprisingly, this actually worked and now the night before Queen's Day is also a big party. Unfortunately, with two little kids, it's difficult to celebrate this as all of the babysitters are out partying too!

The biggest party on Queen's Day is actually in Amsterdam, which I've heard is a sight to be seen with a HUGE parade along the canals and total chaos. We chose the more family-friendly celebrations in the Hague.

Anyway, we decided to celebrate in true Dutch style this year by hanging out with our Dutch friends, the Grisnigt's, from Kaeli & Avery's old day care. Looking back, it's quite amazing that we are still friends with them. Kaeli and Judith were fast friends, but we arrived in January and Judith turned 4 in April (at which point she left the day care and went to school). In 4 months only, Kaeli wanted to spend more time with Judith and truly missed her little friend when she left for school. Now, we still got to see Judith and her sister, Dianthe, at day care since Dianthe was in the class between Kaeli & Avery, but when we moved day cares in September, I was afraid our friendship would end as well. Luckily, it has not and we continue to get together with the Grisnigt family at least once a month! And I digress....

So, to get back to the point, we all got dressed up in orange (the color of the royal family) and headed off on our bikes to a children's carnival just across the street from our friends house. It rained nearly all day, but not before we get to participate in a little parade. Then birthday party at the Grisnigt's, then back out to the party to see the orange blowup cow, orange tiger, and bouncy castle, which had rain gathered in the top of it which ended up all over Kaeli. Bummer! Rain pulled up enough to let us ride home on our bikes without getting totally drenched. We had a ball! Happy Birthday, Beatrix!