The Homeland Tour

Jeff and I have just arrived home from what we endearingly call "The Homeland Tour"--a visit to Holland and England (the lands of Jeff and my ancestors, respectively). We had such a good time and it was refreshing to spend time together, especially after the events of this past year.
We visited both major cities in each country. London was my favorite. Here you can see us in front of the House of Parliament. We did so many fun things like afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, a service at the Westminster Abbey, a ride on the London Eye, we saw all the big sites and my favorite event was watching "The Merchant of Venice" in the Globe Theatre.
After London, we rented a car to head out to see some other parts of England. Jeff did an excellent job learning to drive on the opposite side of the road. We were able to visit Market Bosworth--which is the earliest town that we can trace my father's family's roots to.


We were also able to visit other towns and cities including Oxford and Bibury. Here you can see Jeff trying his hand at punting on the River Cherwell in Oxford. Do not be fooled by old sketches you might see of Oxford boys punting with their true loves down the river--it is not as easy or romantic as one might originally guess!
Next, we headed to Amsterdam where we saw many beautiful canals and even more bikes! We were also able to visit some old Dutch Reformed churches which have sadly lost most of their original purpose and are now used as tourists sites and not for the teaching of the Word of God.
We were able to do a very special day trip out to a small town called Edam where some of Jeff's family still lives. We had a fun day meeting his cousins and his Tante (Aunt) Hill and exploring the town on our bikes. They spoiled us rotten. We had such a nice time.

Our little man, Joost

It's quite an overwhelming thing to realize that your first baby is now a child. Everyone says it, but the years pass more quickly than I thought they would and now he is on the verge of turning four. His gentle (most of the time) and careful spirit has made parenting a joy. He loves to learn and read books with us and his memory astounds us daily...he has learned many answers to the children's Westminster Shorter Catechism and helps mommy remember her grocery shopping list at the store!

Thomas the Train is his long standing favorite playmate and Grace comes in at a close second. He can spend hours setting up tracks, building stations and bridges and telling train stories.

We are fortunate that inspite of the two hour distance between Joost and his cousins, he remains quite close to them. Below you can see him and his three cousins (Joshua, Emily and Kassie) who are all within a month of Joost's age.

Our amazing Grace

Our Gracie girl is growing up so quickly. She's 20 months old and not much of a baby these days. She keeps up with Joost, plays with her baby doll and carriage like a true girl and eats with a spoon and fork. She's at a fun age and delights us daily with her cheerful spirit and fun antics.



I took these two pictures in March. She's wearing a vintage coat worn by an earlier generation in my mother's family.


These last two pictures were taken in May at a local studio.

Our new home

As most of you know, we moved to Harrisburg in the beginning of the year. Shortly after, we bought a house (after the quick sale of our home in Philadelphia). Jeff and I are huge fans of older homes, and much to our delight, we found a beautiful little bungalow in a lovely little neighborhood.


The house was built in 1918, and we're trying our best to learn as much as we can about the Arts & Craft style of decor since we're slowly repainting and redecorating some of the rooms. The house is not a "fixer upper", but a few of the rooms need fresh paint or a touch of our personal style.

It has a small backyard and detached garage (which you can't see in this picture). It's the perfect amount of yard for us because Jeff and I are not huge fans of yardwork to begin with. Plus, there is a park and a beautiful hiking trail only a half a block from our corner. We feel like we have the best of both worlds.

We really see God's blessings in every aspect of this move from Philly. This home is one of them. We thought we'd never be able to find a house that we loved as much as we loved our Mt. Airy home, but we have found one that fits us exactly.